Big Brother 15: Week 3 Assessment

 Big Brother 15: Week 3

 

 Stand back, there’s a hurricane coming through…

Or at least there was, as three weeks into the show the British public once again made one of their trademark terrible decisions by removing Toya Washington from the Big Brother 15 house, and with it remove the source of a large proportion of all of the conflict from the series within the past week, but coming from a public which rewarded Sam Evans 100k for being attractive I cannot say I’m surprised.

As I said last week in my week 3 assessment Toya’s departure was not one which was unexpected, I was left with the feeling that when the decision was made to allow the housemates to put one of the two power housemates up for the week that the decision was made to orchestrate Toya’s departure from the show, which at the time was something that I was supportive of as I considered her abrasive but without any kind of pantomime quality to redeem her behaviour, you could argue that her delusional interpretation of herself was an example of that but you are stretching it however. By the end of the week however she was someone who I was actively rooting to remain in the show, she begun to show a lot more depth as a personality in the show and whilst she still wasn’t my cup of tea compared to some of the others in there she was practically Ghandi. Someone said it best when they described Toya as the best third placer that never was, and I think that her departure should be used as evidence to production that whilst twists are a necessity for drama that too many of them can create this kind of situation in the future robbing us of future Toyas.

Where I will give production a lot of credit for however managing to make this eviction so competitive, this eviction should have been a cakewalk basically designed to crown off Toya’s departure from the show, and yet through clever editing, some carefully chosen twists and the self destruction of the housemates in week 3 we ended up turning this into arguably one of the most competitive and passionate evictions of the Channel 5 era. I struggle to think of the last time that I saw an eviction which people got so wound up over, creating an eviction atmosphere which was passionate to the point of being hostile. Not only through Toya’s actions early in the week which of course played a part in her eviction but also through the emergence of Ash as probably the worst contestant of this series. I always had issues with Ash from a very early stage of the show, but within this past week he began to reach almost Kris Donnelly levels of obnoxiousness, arrogance and self entitlement which is completely unjustified, someone who believes everything should be handed to him on a silver platter because he’s attractive despite the fact that he is in fact boorish, dull, sexist, arrogant, egotistical and one of the least interesting characters of the series. It’s the main reason more then anything why I had such issues with Toya departing this week, not so much because Toya was so amazing as a housemate but because the potential uproar that would have come with an Ash downfall would have had long term effect on the house as well as giving us an eviction which would have given Sezer a run for his money, instead however keeping Ash in the house has left a dull personality in the show and at the same time helped enable his side of the house (consisting of an obnoxious male foursome and Helen) to dictate the flow of play within the show. The only consolation I can make is that keeping Ash does avoid the possibility of a Helen underdog redemption arc, but once again I am clutching at straws for that one.

Aside from the result though I cannot fault week 3 from an entertainment perspective, a week that had a large number of major arguments and in the process helped to bring a number of minority characters to the forefront. Matthew finally emerged out of his spineless shell to be the unlikely combatant against Helen’s house tyranny, and whilst I did find it refreshing to see a combative side to Matthew I also felt that he was quite lucky to have some cards fall into place for him in the show, there is a slightly snobbish and bitchy side to him during any of his interpersonal conversations and yet due to being well spoken and against Helen’s side of the house I don’t think the wider public will pay too much attention to these shortcomings. Ashleigh was another one to emerge out of the woodwork this week, it has taken me a long time to really get a grasp on Ashleigh in the show, as for me personally her role in the show had been to be a Sophie Reade style figure to remain grounded and relatable against a sea of obnoxious forces, pleasant enough but devoid of any engagement, and yet this week saw her as the victim for Helen’s side of the house and pushed into somewhat of a protagonist role and as a result somebody who might be considered something of a dark house, an underdog position, likeable and with a sidekick in Danielle to take any of the public’s ammunition should she find herself in trouble.

Aside from the emergence of them two Helen of course stole the headlines with another aggressive and berating performance against Matthew which warranted a formal warning and yet more calls for her free pass to be revoked, I can’t believe now that I had her down to be a boring filler housemate when I did my launch night assessment. Whilst Helen is aggressive though I still stand more on the positive side of her as a housemate simply because of the drama she is bringing to the show and the passion she is generating in the audience, and with more confrontational housemates falling by the wayside Helen’s presence as a consistent source of arguments until the final is a good safety net to fall back on. What this week and the argument with Matthew did do for Helen however was get to the source of the reason for a lot of her problems, namely the need for control in a group dynamic, her issues with Matthew stemmed not through Matthew himself but through Matthew not seeing Helen’s interpretation of fun himself. Helen comes across to me like somebody who probably would like the group to get along, but only as long as it is on her levels and to her approval, and the reason why she has associated herself with a group of spineless alpha males who both share Helen’s interpretation of fun and are too scared to speak up against her.

As entertaining as BB15 has been I do have a number of issues with the structure of the series so far. Firstly I have a small issue with the future portrayal of Mark on the show, whilst I do agree that Mark has come across as a lot more likable this week then what I expected this past week has also seen him being used a lot more as the light relief contestant, getting a huge number of individual tasks to distract away from the negative atmosphere that the show has generated, and I get the fear that the over-promotion of Mark in this role is going to lead to him becoming incredibly irritating to watch, something made worse when you also consider the air of contrivance surrounding a lot of his actions. The second issue stems from the Power Housemate twist this year, whilst I am somebody who does like the power twist and support the idea of the twist continuing I do feel that one of the things it has done structurally is lead to a lack of long-term story-arcs within the show, instead containing nearly every major house storyline to a weekly basis, beginning with Pauline’s downfall in week 1, Chris as the anonymous PH in week 2 and Hurricane Toya in week 3, part of this being down in my opinion to the consistent changes in the PH process not allowing for the consistency needed for a good, aggressive storyarc.

Which of course brings us to the Girl Power housemates of this week. Yes it’s terribly unfair and incredibly desperate on behalf of production but it is in my eyes one of the best twists that they could have come up with at this point in the show. Three female housemates have already gone so far this series and thanks to the house dynamics two more of them (Danielle and Ashleigh) were being lined up to follow shortly afterwards, and even for the biggest of Big Brother diehards the idea of Helen being surrounded by eight largely dull male contestants is enough to make you reach for the remote control, so I am all for something which protects the show’s bigger characters and eliminates a poor contestant instead. My one worry with this however once again stems from Helen’s need for control, as I feel that her abrasive and aggressive presence is going to lead to her getting her way and making sure her lackeys remain safe from the wrath of the public, which is why the number of boys safe this week will be a crucial production decision. It should be logical, as three boys guarantees one of Helen’s group misses out, but after what happened with Toya I wouldn’t put my faith in the Channel 5 team.

Big Brother 15: Week 2

Big Brother 15: Week 2 Assessment

So we have come to the end of Week 2 of Big Brother 15, a week which saw the inevitable demise of Pauline in an eviction result and downfall story arc that even Ray Charles would have been able to see coming on the first launch night, but whilst the result may not have been for those who like their shocks and surprises it has been entertaining and for a channel which more often then not makes fatal misjudgements in their production I felt they handled the Pauline eviction week as well as they could, remaining the same overbearing and harridan house lynchpin but also using her presence to set up other characters to take over her torch once she departed, I do think that production maybe could have given her a bit more airtime this week but I understand that there was a necessity to hid her to try and create some kind of eviction tension for the Friday night.

Of those which have stepped up to the mantle to replace Pauline it has been Toya which taken the largest leap to the forefront, I always did have Toya as someone who had all the potential to be a lead antagonist within the series, but certainly not this early in the process and with this sea of aggression and venom, if we compare her to her BB13 counterpart then Toya has well and truly woken up and smelt the hummus, and in the process made herself the primary target with the British public. The other man to step to the forefront is Stephen, somebody who at one point looked like being lost in the sea of Apprentice reject males, and yet has instead broken through with an intriguing mix of manipulative aggression and troublesome self-consciousness, a particularly fascinating character if not a particularly likeable one, and somebody who could have the potential to be the unravelling, Callum Knell character of this year.

In terms of protagonists for the show however this is where we particularly find trouble, although I am always one who does find the villains of a series much more intriguing and enjoyable to watch I do also at the same time want to have somebody appealing to root for as well, and right now I am left with the feeling that the selection of proposed protagonists are either too dull and too flawed to ever truly succeed in such a role. Chris is a great example of this for me, whilst I feel that Chris did brilliantly with his role as the Power Housemate, not only in being able to appease the will of the British public by nominating pretty much every single hate figure in the show and avoiding a Pauline style downfall I am still left feeling that I can’t get behind him in a way that the show wants us to and in a way which I logically should as well, he should be a great underdog in the series and yet lacks the warmth and vulnerability that a protagonist needs. Similarly this is an issue effecting Jale, who I do have a bit more time for as a contestant but still with the nagging feeling in the back of my head that there is a very nasty side underneath and one which has benefited from the luck of the draw to put her into an underdog position which in reality I don’t feel she truly warrants.

One of the things which has been noticeable with this series which I find particularly interesting is the way in which production have gone out of their way to appease the increasingly demanding public, one which thanks to the Power Housemate voting, has become more drunk with power then ever before, firstly through orchestrating Pauline’s departure through Chris’ ‘power trip’ and now through turning what could have been an intriguing week with Toya in control of the house into what could very likely be a week to eliminate her from the show assuming that the British public have a say on proceedings with the voting app. The question I have with this though is why have C5, a channel which when compared to Channel 4 have gone out of their way to protect antagonistic characters in the past for the sake of entertainment, suddenly become fascinated with disposing of them at the first opportunity? Part of it I feel is down to the need to strike the iron when it’s hot when it comes to voting revenue so as not to repeat the same mistake that they made with Wolfy’s eviction in Big Brother 14 but also because I feel that this series more so then the other recent Channel 5 civilian series has a large catalogue of high-quality villains to choose from, and there could be this feeling that the show could afford to lose a couple of them without denting the quality of the product in the long run. I can understand this to an extent but Channel 5 do need to be careful that they do not go overboard with this approach before we end up with an inevitable Marlon, Ash and Winston final three.

Whilst I do feel that Big Brother 15 is still delivering I would have to say that compared to it’s predecessor BB14 I think it is suffering, yes there is a stronger housemate depth and certainly enough arguments to make anyone’s inner masochist happy there is a real lacking of fun with this series, even though BB14 could at times be a bit of a slog Dexter and Gina as characters were so over the top that they could make these kind of situations entertaining, and that is something which the housemates aren’t delivering on, no matter how many shock suits production decides to rely on. Amplify the fun a notch or two and this series and this could certainly give BB13 a run as the best C5 era civilian series.

Big Brother 15: Week 1

Big Brother 15: Week 1 Assessment

 

Well ladies and gents we have managed to survive the first week of Big Brother 15, and if you aren’t one of the many who have abandoned this series to watch England’s inevitable first round departure with the World Cup you will have been rewarded with one of the most action packed launches that the show has had, even if the anonymity of it’s first boot would make you think otherwise.

And of course for all that Big Brother changes and evolves over the course of time one consistent statistic remained, the severe lacking of a Y chromosome within the first evictee, as the British public were given the choice once again of evicting one of three females from the cast for the 15^th year in succession, a streak which will soon enough be troubling The Undertaker at the rate it’s going, and thus giving me more then enough reason to up my campaign for Brock Lesnar to be a Big Brother housemate. In all seriousness though the fact that another female has been evicted is very alarming, and only goes to highlight the issues I have with Big Brother and it’s audience’s interpretation of women, something which is particularly worrying from an entertainment aspect of the show.

What was particularly interesting about last night’s eviction as well was the metaphor it made for the traditional battle between the hardcore forum members who dissect the show and are more cynical and world-weary in their interpretation of the show and the casual audience that much more impulsive and weigh personality a lot more strongly in their housemate assessments. The expectation should have been that a much more abrasive housemate in the way that Danielle has been this week should have been all but gone this week and yet the fact that Tamara, somebody whose departure was fuelled by ulterior motives, went instead could indicate that for this season it could be the diehard fans who are in control of the proceedings, and as one of those diehard forumers who cares about Big Brother more then any sane man should I wholeheartedly agree with the decision that was made.

Tamara is in my eyes one of the stranger first boots that the show has had, with a large proportion of these first boots there is a notable social personality flaw that is very apparent from the early stages and sees them ostracised and out-casted from the group at a very early stage, be it through Scary Mary’s  (BB6) introspective approach to the show or Sallie Axl’s (BB14) abrasiveness,  and yet with Tamara this wasn’t really apparent at all, even if the company that she kept wasn’t the best she seemed pleasant enough and we’ve certainly had other air-headed housemates which were much more irritating and dreary, in fact I would make the argument that she is one of the few housemates in Big Brother history who have been evicted not so much for her own merits but instead as a symbolic message to her allies in the show, seeing these kind of evictions is rare enough but to have one in the first week is incredibly striking and demonstrates just how much negativity that side of the house has generated in such a short space of time. I do think however Tamara was the right choice to leave this week however, not only for the message it does send to the group but also because it killed off any potential showmance with the odious and dull Winston, something the producers were particularly pushing towards based on last night’s highlights, but it also eliminates the dullest of the three nominees and somebody who in my eyes didn’t have much more to give in the show.

And of those giving anything to the show right now it brings me onto my housemates assessments and in particular to Helen and Pauline. Big Brother is a show noted for the way in which it can take these supposedly normal people and yet through the pressures of the environment, a couple of carefully selected tasks and selective editing create a cartoonish villain that would even make Stan Lee envious, but even I have had to marvel at the fact that it has taken just one week to create two personalities that have generated so much venom in the fan base. Helen has been a revelation in her role, as somebody who dismissed her on launch night as largely dull stunt casting she has proven a revelation in the role; bitchy, cynical and with an air of self importance and bravado which I can all but see continuing in the forthcoming weeks, whilst Pauline has mutated into arguably one of the worst housemates since the days of Carole Vincent in Big Brother 8, domineering, nagging, a massive ego, frustrating favouritism to anyone within her in-crowd and yet on top of that lacking the self-introspection to fully understand just how bad she is truly coming across. The fact that both of these two both saw their villain status fuelled by their respective ‘Power Trips’ indicate the success of the twist so far, and even if the twist doesn’t deliver in the forthcoming weeks the impact that they have on these two should deem it a success.

In terms of the other housemates Jale has been a refreshingly positive presence, whilst maybe not the most exciting contestant of all time she does have a relatability and grounded presence which is appealing and I can imagine her doing well in the underdog role, Danielle has been great fun thus far, a sea of comedic hypocrisy which can only be mocked as of now, although I am left questioning whether she does have more to give as the show goes on, Kimberly has been a great snarky protagonist character although I do see her editing taking a downward turn once the main villains are eliminated, similarly with Toya who has the potential to breakout but seems stuck in a lackey role to Pauline which she can’t truly break out of. As for the males though things are much less fruitful, it has a tradition that Channel 5 female housemates always manage to outdo their male counterparts, and yet the gulf this year is almost ridiculous. Winston as I mentioned is nothing more then dull vacuous muscle who almost certainly got off at the Elstree bus stop on the way to Essex, Ash is arrogant eye candy and nothing else, Stephen and Matthew have thoroughly disappointed by erasing all their potential by becoming butt-kissing yes-men whilst Mark is a combination of the worst elements of Charlie Drummond and Rodrigo Lopes. They are redeemed somewhat by the two Chris’, with Christopher emerging as a Dan Neal type figure jumping between both sides whilst Chris does have some redeeming qualities and is someone I can get behind as a protagonist, even if I do admit he lacks the true depth to ever really be a favourite of mine, maybe this task with him as the power housemate may just be the boost needed to see whether he is worthy of my interest.

And it is the twist that I will end the report on, as even now we are all but aware of Pauline’s imminent departure from the show come next Friday, and whilst the large proportion of people are celebrating her demise I am in somewhat of a mixed bag, as someone who does place a lot of importance on entertainment the last thing I want is for one of the biggest villains in the show to have such a blatantly orchestrated departure in only the second week, especially as it looked as if Pauline had done well for herself in building up a safety net around her to survive long past her reign as Power Housemate, but at the same time her brand of villainy is exhausting, the show certainly has enough characters worthy of filling the role but more then anything her role as a week two departure would be a great finale to her storyline and her fall from grace from beloved fun-mum to Carole 2.0, we saw with Big Brother 14 how production missed the boat in attempting to keep Wolfy around one week longer then her sell-by date, and production have obviously chosen to strike the iron when it’s hot.

And hot is certainly what BB15 has been thus far, there will be inevitable detractors who will use the low viewing figures as ammunition against it, but for those which do watch they are for now being rewarded. It can still go to pot, and we’ve seen many a BB series start off quickly and fizzle out to nothing, but as of now enjoy it while it lasts.

Big Brother 15 Launch Night Assessment

Please note: I put this together in the afternoon following the launch of Big Brother 15 on the fifth of June, 2014. However other arrangements meant that I was not able to post my review until today, during which time there have been a selection of new housemates which have entered the house, which will explain why some of this information may be out of date.

Big Brother 15 Launch Night Review:

Well ladies and gents it’s that time of year again, that moment when Lord Sugar sets his sixteen contestants a selection of tasks to see who is worthy of becoming his…

Wait a minute? Wrong show isn’t it? Well you would get the impression that this was a new series of The Apprentice based on our selection of housemates for this latest installment of everybody’s favourite guilty pleasure Big Brother, this time with the cryptic subtitle ‘Power Trip’, a theme which has garnered a lot of mixed reviews from it’s audience thus far with some claiming it to be a change too far for the show with others considering it a welcome change and an opportunity for the show to take something of a more upmarket approach, I was tempted to agree with the latter choice but the sight of Gina Rio’s cleavage in the Bit On The Side studio made me question otherwise.

But let us begin, in terms of presentation not much as changed, Emma is still our refreshingly upbeat Davina clone still doing her best to eliminate the memories of Brian Dowling, presiding over a house which, for all that we poke fun at, is one of the best of the Channel 5 era, I always find it refreshing when a house is designed around a series theme and Channel 5 have taken on this challenge for the first time and I’m pleased to say has done it well. Emma’s house tour was unfortunately a bit too rushed for my liking but considering in recent years the house tour has been something of a dying breed I am willing to take what I’m given. The crowd as ever were their same obnoxious and rude selves, ever since Davina threw out the ‘It’s all panto’ passing comment all those years ago the live crowds seem to have gotten increasingly aggressive and unjust in terms of their reactions, most alarmingly in how there is a significant degree of sexism in their reactions to each of the housemates. Most of the women presented themselves as strong, confident, independent and aggressive in their VT’s and were treated almost as spawn incarnated as a result of that whilst the male housemates arguably trotted out the same lines as their female counterparts and were praised and adored for their behaviour. I have for a long time felt that Big Brother was one of the most sexist shows on television for reasons such as this, and when you realise that this youth orientated audience that attend the live shows are the same which are also most vulnerable to pop culture you finally understand how things such as Blurred Lines are allowed to happen.

On the side of the cast so far I think it is one which is receives something of a mixed review, although in all honesty a lot of the negative issues with the housemates chosen are more down to the perceptions of the casual, less fantatical fanbase as opposed to my own grievances. On the positive side I find it thoroughly refreshing that for once we do have a group of housemates which on the whole are not so despairingly stupid that you are left fearing for your sanity whilst watching them, this is a group which seem very strong minded, independent and savvy enough about house politics that they could certainly make the much hyped ‘Power Trip’ gimmick for this season work,. As I previously mentioned a lot of comments of Social Media and Internet Forums compared the group to something more akin to that of The Apprentice, a testament that I agree with to an extent but one which I am positive about, especially considering that The Apprentice in recent years has produced some of the great Reality TV characters particularly on the female front.

The one problem with this however is that this is ALL that the cast is; one of the biggest appeals of Big Brother back in it’s heyday and to a lesser extent in it’s later channel 5 years has been the diversity of the cast and how these extreme and differing personalities interact with each other in the closed environment, and yet that appeal doesn’t exist thus far with the first ten contestants chosen, the women being the same pencil skirted Ice Queen as overly confident egotists. I understand why Channel 5 have chosen to go down this direction with the cast, it fits with the rumours we have been hearing about the ‘Power Trip’ and it helps to capitalise on the success of Dexter and Gina from the previous year in both of them two being of a good wealth (or presenting themselves as being wealthy in the case of Gina) and having a duplicitous game-playing side, the point that Channel 5 have missed however is that the main reason that Dexter and Gina stood out as housemates and got so popular as a result of that was that they were the only contestants like that in their series in a group that consisted on the whole of self-righteous bores and insultingly pandering try-hards, and by making their character type the norm for the house majority you end up losing the novelty that made their character archetypes so appealing to the viewer in the first place. To an extent I fear that Channel 5 made the same mistake as they did with BB12 in having a group diversity which is far too narrow for it’s own good, only this time shifting the Essex nightclub feelling of that series to one of a North London penthouse, something which in itself could also spell trouble in appealing to the audience, especially one which seems to glorify itself on working-to-lower class ideals.

As for the contestants themselves so far I stand on much more of a positive ground them. Tamara presents herself as having a bitchy persona but I still feel that there is a little airhead in there which could if given the right circumstances be somewhat endearing as she certainly is the weakest of the Ice Queen characters thus far whilst Danielle and Kimberly have good villain potential if they are given the chance to prove it, however with the voting public being their usual selves I can certainly picture one of them being out early, probably Kimberly as I feel production see more potential in Danielle for some reason, Helen is the major dud of the cast thus far, someone arguably cast more for her stunt story then for what I feel she can bring to the table on the show, although I could see her being the type to earn some unjustified cult following on the show in the same way Imogen did in Big Brother 7. In terms of the men Stephen and Christopher seem to have been carved somewhat from the same snobbish prat tree, Mark (arguably the only arguably ‘traditional’ BB housemate thus far) has all the makings of being a season long irritant who the casual viewer will inevitably take to whilst Winston will almost certainly earn a fan favourite status which will be unjustified just for being from Essex and having large biceps, initially I was willing to give Winston the benefit of the doubt as he does seem to be a bit more clued up then the traditional TOWIE type contestant, but once he couldn’t make the obvious connection between being called Winston on a show called Big Brother all hope was lost.

This leaves us with the two noted housemates of the launch night number one, Matthew and Pauline. In terms of Matthew we have a character who in some ways reminds me a lot of me and many other forum members inevitably posting similar blogs such as this, a snarky and at times almost camp approach to discussions whilst also hiding a shy, restrictive side, in a house defined by self confidence he stands out like a sore thumb and is all the better for it, he is going to be somebody who will be a slow burner, the type that will be an under the radar presence in the early weeks only to come out of his shell once larger and more obnoxious characters leave before him, if he can keep up a lot of the potential he demonstrated on launch night he could be a breakout star. The other contestant who stood out was Pauline, by a long way the oldest contestant of the series and by a long way the one that most casual fans took to their hearts, and it’s easy to see why, a sassy battleaxe with an aggressive side and a connection to patron saint of the lower working classes Kylie Minogue, everything about her was designed to appeal to the impulse audience and as the task showed it worked. I however remain somewhat cynical however, I have seen countless times in how contestants, in particular older ones such as Pauline, enter the house with high energy and bravado only to either become a fun-sucking irritant such as Carole or a grumpy house mum such as Jackie Travers, and there is a feeling that the same is going to happen with Pauline, not so much because of the ‘power trip’ twist as the show will like you to believe but through not being able to keep her act up for the course of the series.

Which brings me onto the 'power trip' twist itself, again this is something which fills me with both intrigue and dread as a fan of the show. As a fan of the American version of the show the advertisements, housemate choices and a number of choice words from Emma on launch night lead me to think that we could be getting a much more tactical and aggressive series this year, something which I will be all for as it will place the importance of the game in what is and has always been in my opinion a ‘game’ show. The problem I have though is the fact that I don’t have the confidence in Channel 5 that they will fully utilise this opportunity to embrace the twist of the series whole-heartedly, we saw with Big Brother 14 how the much hyped Secrets and Lies was reduced to a one week twist which served little to no purpose other then to rob us of the train-wreck potential of Sallie Axl and I am left feeling that this could be another potentially great game-changing attitude which could be ruined due to Channel 5 getting cold feet, although as of now so many red herrings have been thrown our way I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. The question however is will the public feel the same way? The British reality TV audience is one which has never taken kindly to chance, I’m A Celebrity still remains trapped in it’s 2002 bubble due to it’s unwillingness to change with the times whilst even with Big Brother itself there are people on internet forums in hysterics due to the diary room button being replaced for this year, such is their insistence not to embrace change, and I am left fearing that this unwillingness to change is going to impact how the show will play out. We saw with Big Brother 13 in how the change in rules in regards to nomination discussions was so badly received that it was rescinded after three weeks, and the same could very well happen with the 'power trip' if the response is negative, either through dismissing the twist altogether or, most likely, turning what should be something truly aggressive and challenging into the same pandering mix of suitcase removals and secret rooms. The show needs to evolve; it’s just a case of whether or not the public will allow it to.

I'm A Celebrity 2013: Cast Assessment

Well it is once again November, and in the world of television this means an influx of largely gentile and family friendly Reality TV shows to grace our TV screens, but this time Stricltly Come Dancing has begun shedding itself of it's dregg contestants and build up steam towards it's finale whilst the X Factor desperately attempts to cling on to there's in a desperate claim for tabloid inches, for most people however November in the Reality TV world largely belongs to I'm A Celebrity: Get Me Out Of Here. It's hard to believe that what started out as a overly simplified and Britified version of the classic series Survivor has managed to last 13 years on our airwaves, but that is what a comforting format and the family friendly humour of Ant and Dec managed to do for you, yes I do have some grievances with IAC, but it is welcoming enough and enjoyable enough television during the winter weeks, and with the 13th series just around the corner I think it's worthwhile that I check out this years batch of desperadoes looking to kick-start their career.

The one thing that I will begin with when looking at the cast is in all honesty a compliment, the argument could be made at this stage of a Reality Show's career the pulling power of the show and the demand for celebrities to appear can greatly be lowered, Celebrity Big Brother 12's cast of scripted reality rejects and unknown models (as good as they were) being a testament to that, yet IAC has in my eyes still managed to bring about a cast which does have some pulling power, with some names in particular really causing an excitement and interest which may have been lacking, so in this regard casting can be considered a success. However it has been noted in the past be it on IAC or on other reality shows that star power is not everything, more often then not in reality shows it is often the biggest names that fail to light the airwaves and instead falling to the last minute desperation signings who turn out to be the true stars of the show. Added to this I do have grievances with some of the potential entertainment factor of those cast, whilst other series' even pre show had names like Janice Dickinson and David Van Day who you knew could be amazing television nobody seems to fill that role of this group, and when also bear in mind that those expected to go far are some of the duller contestants pre show it does make me nervous that the series may run out of steam.

But general analysis over, let us look at our desperadoes:

Alfonso Ribeiro

For most people of my age it has been Alfonso which has caused the most interest and excitement, the character of Carlton Banks was in all honesty one of the most entertaining characters on television in the mid nineties, stealing the show in what was for all extensive purposes a glorified Will Smith vehicle, and the fact that his 2013 appearance on Graham Norton to do 'the Carlton dance' shows he is still a cult figure, so should Alfonso be anything like his character then we should have a potential contender on our hands. The big problem is however is that I don't think this will be the case, I am left with the feeling that people may have built up such a strong aura over Carlton that when they see Alfonso as the normal, middle aged man he is now that a lot of people will be underwhelmed in the same way a lot of people did with the similar Dustin Diamond during the recent Celebrity Big Brother. Alfonso does seem a pleasant enough chap, and a potentially MORP run in line with his pre-show status should in my eyes make him reach at least the middle stages, but  I cannot see him coming close to winning, even though he will be one which my heart will certainly be wanting to.

Amy Willerton

Amy is the biggest blank canvas going into this series, simply because myself and the British public at large know so little about her that it is hard to make a real assessment, this may be seen as an obvious detriment, as it means she will be coming in with the smallest fan base, but it in a strange way may also be a benefit to her. Whilst characters such as Alfonso will have to live up to pre show hype which they may not come close to Amy will have no expectations aside from being blatant eye candy, and as a result may take a lot of people by surprise should she come across as a decent girl, added to her chances is the fact that in past years we have seen eye candy contestants such as her make up for shortcomings in the personality department to go far, such as with Jessica-Jane during her series of the show. The one major shortcoming however for Amy could be her pre-show associations and the perception of those with the audience, namely that of Katie Price. The British public have been known to judge people as guilty by association, and should this side of Amy be brought to the public's eyes it could spell trouble for her. Also there are elements of her that could see her as an outside bet as the perennial trialist for the series. There is an outside chance of her going far, but the safe money is on her being an early boot.

David Emmanuel

IAC David's have always been known for being some of the best characters in the show's history, David Gest's crazy stories and name-dropping made him a cult figure in the show's history whilst David Van Day showed himself to be a fantastic, hammy and thoroughly entertaining villain, and on paper this newest David does have some elements to similarly shine, he too is notorious as being a bit of a name dropper himself and his demeanor could allow him to become somewhat of the grumpy old man of the camp. There are however two big issues which I have with David which make him skeptical as to how well he could do within the show, the first is that being one of the oldest contestants of the series David is going to struggle the most with the conditions, which in the process could limit the amount of entertainment and potential fun factor he may provide, we saw in previous years how the boisterous Colin Baker suffered in the conditions to the detriment of his success in the show, whilst the other is that I question how endearing a character David may be in the show, some of the camp's OTT characters in previous series were able to do so by maintaining a likability and pantomime quality within their actions, and I question whether or not David will be able to do this. This added with the likelihood of him being this year's 'medical grounds' contestant could see his stay in the jungle being a short one.

Joey Essex 

Unfortunately for myself Joey is my winner pick as of day one, and when you dissect his character it is very easy to see why, a cocktail of contrivance, endearing stupidity and good lucks which will directly appeal to the all important Tween demographic and you have somebody who on paper could be unbeatable, as well as this there is a also a real possibility of Joey due to his Towie connections being a contender as this year's perennial trialist, which if so will guarantee him more airtime and more opportunity for him to showcase and advertise himself to the audience. If there is a warning sign in regards to Joey it is that a lot of this was thought of during Mark Wright's IAC series two years ago, and yet despite a large amount of publicity and promotion from the producers he ended up losing out in the end, and with this year's potential Dougie Pointer coming in the form of Kian we may see the same again. As well as this there is also the perception of Towie from the casual audience, one which is largely negative and resulted in the backlashes of other Towie members such as Amy Childs, Kirk Norcross and Mario Falcone in their respective BB series, and with Joey being one of the more divisive Towie characters in the first place what is to say that the same may happen to him? In spite of this though he has to be considered the early man to beat.

Kian Egan

In my write-up on Joey I touched on the possibility of Kain being the Dougie Pointer to Joey's Mark Wright, and when you look at Kain on paper there is certainly a large number of factors which could lead him to being one of the strongest contenders to win, even though in all honesty I feel a lot of those are down to outside interests rather then Kian's own potential contribution to the show. It has been well established in the past that ex-boyband members have fared remarkably well on Reality Show's such as this, crossing over generation lines to appeal to the tween audience and to the housewives vote, both of which in a show such as IAC bare an utmost importance, and as a result even without much work I can see Kian making the later stages of the show quite easily. The question from that point however becomes how much further he can get, as I don't know about you but I don't seen Kian being that especially fun a character, hell I would even say that there is a probability being somewhat of a misery guts in camp, but the lucky break that he has though is that his pre-show fan base and appeal with the voting demographic is so large that even the most minimal amount of positivity should still see him being around to the end.

Laila Morse

No, this isn't Pink in 30 years time, this is the person who I have down as being potentially one of the show's biggest characters of the series, although whether that character is one which is positive or negative remains up in the air, although I do lean towards it falling on the latter side. Laila does have a lot going for her as a character, she is boisterous, seems quite up for a laugh as well as being relatively outspoken, and I can see a lot of people having the impression of her being a big fun-time grandmother figure, yet I actually feel what we actually have is somebody who could see themselves as somewhat of a grumpy battleaxe figure, while this may be a good thing from an entertainment point of view considering that batlleaxes are some of my favourite IAC archetype of year's past it is not going to be something which is going to win you favour with the public unfortunately. Even if she doesn't fall into this trap though the other worry Laila has is the potential to over-egg her entertainment pudding to the extent that the public end up being sick of her ala Rosemary. Either as a villain or as a try hard hero I don't see her lasting that long.

Lucy Pargenter

I'm probably covering my basis here with Lucy, and that is mainly because of the extreme ways in which her character could go, personally I lean towards the more positive side with her, but it will take two episodes before I can truly assess her. Lucy does have elements about her which can point to her being a success on the show, starring in a popular ITV show in Emmerdale she is going to appeal to a large amount of IAC's audience as both show's have a major crossover appeal in regards to audience, plus her character of Chas Dingle is one of the show's more popular ones which is going to help her in that regarded, as well as this being an ITV show she is going to receive a lot of support from many of ITV's sister shows such as Loose Women and This Morning, and we saw with Anthony Cotton how their support helped to prolong a rather unlikable character further in the show then he deserved to be. However Lucy does have an issue in regards to personality, whilst I certainly see her as a positive figure in the show I don't see her as one which is going to be that prominent within the show, dare I say under the radar, so for that reason she could also see herself being the supposed 'shock' early boot of the series. As I mentioned it will take a short while to suss Lucy out fully, but once we know the outcome of whether she's very short term or a potential finalist will be obvious.

Matthew Wright

Now I am going to take a minority and controversial opinion on this one in saying that I don't have that big of a problem with Matthew Wright, I find his hypocrisy surrounding Reality TV somewhat of a turn-off but on the whole I found the guy witty and intelligent, but I've always been known to pick the wrong side when it comes to Reality TV contestants and Matthew is going to be another example of that as I just don't see him being that relatable to the public and feel that a lot of his short-comings are going to see him as a target in the show regardless of how he comes across in the show, similar to what happened to Kilroy back in his series. That for me is a real shame as well because Matthew has elements which could be positive in the show, he seems very enthusiastic and I can imagine him being quite witty, plus I also picture him being somebody who would very likely try really hard in trials, which is apt as I have him as a contender for being this year's perennial trialist. Unless Matthew is absolutely outstanding in their I just don't see him and the British public taking off, and as a result he could be one of the first to go if not the first, but then again I said the same thing about Carol Thatcher...

Rebecca Adlington

Talk about getting your timing wrong. Had Rebecca Adlington of competed in IAC in the aftermath of London 2012 then this would have been locked up, she would have won the series and in my eyes it wouldn't have been a close contest, a year on however the shine from the Olympic games has worn off and now Rebecca will have to be judged on her own merits, and whilst I think there are aspects of her which could see her go far I don't believe she is the lock to win that she could have been. The main thing Rebecca has going for her is her physical skill, she is going to have a lot of people expecting her to be a fearless challenge dominator, and as we have seen with David Haye, Martina Navratilova and Fatima Whitbread challenge dominators have proven popular with the public, added to that Rebecca does seem to be a sweet pleasant girl, albeit maybe not the most exciting and I can imagine the British public finding her endearing when given the chance, the worry I have is that I don't think Rebecca is going to create herself enough chances to showcase that, she isn't an OTT character capable of airtime hogging, and I do have fears that when the opportunity comes for her to showcase her challenge skill and personality it may be too late.

Steve Davis

Being a big sports fan I am naturally going to want Steve to do well, but I do feel that there are a lot of people who have him down as a contender when even I know this isn't going to be the case. Steve is for me just not exciting television in my eyes, even back in his prime in the 1980's the guy was somewhat of a hate figure namely because of how dull he was, and I can't imagine 20 years time doing his entertainment potential the world of good, in all honesty if I was to see Steve break out as a character it could potentially be as the resident camp grump in a similar vein to Joe Bugner. What Steve does having going for him though is that veteran sportsmen have seen surprisingly good performances in years past in spite of not having the performances in the show to justify it, both Jimmy White and Willie Carson were largely under the radar and dull characters and yet both got themselves top five finishes, and it is a strong possibility of Steve receiving a similar bounce especially considering that arguably his star shone brighter then those two back in his prime. Look for Steve to make it to the later stages even if his personality arguably doesn't warrant it.

My finishing predictions (excluding the inevitable new arrivals):

1) Joey

2) Kian

3) Rebecca

4) Lucy

5) Steve

6) Alfonso

7) Amy

8) Laila

9) David

10) Matthew

Agree of disagree with my predictions? Don't be afraid to comment.

Ranking The X Factor Winners

For my next ranking I will be dissecting (unfortunately not literally) the yearly Simon Cowell production line known as The X Factor. Whilst I admit that the X Factor does not top my list of preferred Reality TV Programming I do find some redeeming aspects about the show on a whole, it certainly is enjoyable Saturday night entertainment and a number of the acts to come from it have been decent enough performers, but for the purposes of this I will be focusing solely on the nine previous winners of the show and judging them from both a likablity point of view as well as a entertainment and vocal perspective as well. Prepare yourself clubs for a sea of MOR pop coming your way, as I get this ranking up and running:

 

9) Leon Jackson
The X Factor 4

When I started contriving this ranking in my head a few days ago I admit that I was still rather unsure over the final placings of many of those within the poll, however when it came to the contestant that would be last there was really only one choice, as Leon is arguably not only the worst winner in TXF history but also arguably one of the worst in the history of British Reality Shows, and based on his performances and persona it is easy to see why; dreadfully dull whilst at the same time lacking a real quality in his performances to make up for it. The fact that he is also arguably responsible for one of the biggest robbages in Reality TV history is another black mark to add alongside him.

For me any great Reality TV winner has to be one of two things, or preferably both. The first is to simply be an entertaining presence in the show, this is television after all and we certainly can't expect to be educated and informed on TV shows such as this, whilst the second is to simply be so impressive in your competition environment that it helps to compensate for any shortcomings you may have in the personality department (as another contestant in this list does). When it comes to Leon however neither of these characteristics can really be implied, first off the guy was incredibly dull in terms of personality and in his off stage persona, part of this I admit is down to the format of the show not allowing for it's performers to showcase personality traits in detail but that hasn't stopped others in the past from being able to do the same thing so I have to put Leon at fault for that. In terms of performance as well Leon is far below par, vocally he wasn't very strong and his song choices often consisted of Michael Buble style dreary ballads which came across as monotonous and dull, and when he did attempt to break away from this style his shortcomings as a singer were exposed, most noticable in a shambolic week one performance of 'Can't Buy Me Love' which arguably should have seen him shown the door at the first opportunity.

The other flaws with Leon weren't of his making, but they do affect his perception of him as a winner, after two years of slow build TXF finally broke out as a hit show with it's third series, and a big prominent and exciting winner was needed to capitalise on the hype that surrounded season 4, something which Leon's win certainly didn't do, whilst the other factor was simply who he beat in the final, Rhydian Roberts was for me a rare achievement in the world of competition reality shows, a novelty act that was able to back up his fun and showmanship with fantastic vocal skill and ability as well as having a massive stage persona which managed to endear him to the viewer, and for Leon to triumph over him in spite of very little skill and redeeming qualities on his own part left a lot of viewers with a sour taste in their mouths. I can defend Leon by saying that he was a nice kid who meant well but being nice is not enough to justify winning a reality show, especially a competition show such as this. Vocally weak and lacking much personality, Leon was a lock to be my least favourite X Factor winner.

 

8) Steve Brookstein
The X Factor 1

When it comes to assessing Steve as a winner of The X Factor I feel like I have to give him some kind of leeway when it comes to judging him, he was after all a contestant in the first series and as a result not only had the show's format been fully perfected but he was also in a field which was rather weak, but it does not for me hide the fact that Steve was still a very poor winner, even for the time of his victory in 2004, lacking in vocal strength, rather dull to watch and listen too and with the feeling overall of being more of a Butlins cabaret act then a credible musician, his status as the first winner and some of his personality traits do redeem him somewhat and save him from last place, but he was still very poor and another black mark in terms of X Factor winners.

There is certainly enough ammunition to justify this low placing for Steve. In terms of his vocal skills Steve was an incredibly weak performer to the extent that I would even consider him to be worst then Leon, with a singing voice more akin to a local pub singer then music's next supposed superstar, this was not helped either by his rather poor stage persona and song choices which consisted of dreary ballads which alternated between being either dull or incredibly cheesy to watch, and when compared to more contemporary and entertaining acts from that series such as Rowetta or Tabby Callaghan it made his entire persona feel incredibly dated. As well as this Steve is also falls victim to the same faults as Leon in being perceived as robbing a far superior act in the finale of the series, in this case in the form of G4, whilst it is quite popular these days to rather dismiss the genre of popera as a rather naff haven of hormonal housewives you have to remember that at the time the genre was very niche and not yet exposed to mainstream audiences, and as a result G4 came across as something unique and quirky as well as solid vocally, and their win would have in my opinion offered the franchise the unique, extra-special winner that the show was marketed to try and find, rather then the cheesy balladry of Steve which has in many ways become the template for any winner of the show.

Where Steve does redeem himself however comes in the form of his personality, as unlike Leon he actually had one which showed itself during the show. Whilst recent series of The X Factor have seen it's contestants become increasingly inoffensive, soulless and almost puppet-like in their behaviour within the show Steve was refreshingly blunt and vocal about any criticism given to him and not afraid to voice his own opinion at times, something which he continues to do about the show to this day, as well as this he also gave the impression of being someone who was disliked by the judges and producers and somebody who they actively attempted to root against, which in many ways made him the first X Factor protest vote as well as the only arguably X Factor protest vote to win the whole thing. As well as this I also have a soft spot for Steve's win due to the fact that a show such as The X Factor which was so heavily youth orientated could be won by somebody who was middle aged for once, but by this point I am really pushing it to find positives about a winner which simply didn't have the qualities to be a winner of a show like this, and his return to a pub and club singer should honestly come as no surprise.

7) James Arthur
The X Factor 9

Now I fully expect to get some grief for my decision to eliminate James this early in my ranking, but I've always had issues with James as a contestant in the show and as an eventual winner, albeit for different reasons then the grievances I have with the X Factor's other successes, namely in his persona as a character within the show and some of the production influences that helped to bring about his eventual victory. I will confess that it was close between him and two others for this position, but it was that lack of likability that pushed James below the other two.

Most of the time when I'm judging contestants on a talent based show such as this my mine focus on judgment is around technical ability and skill in the show's genre (in this case singing), yet in the case of James I feel like a lot of this gets overshadowed simply by how unlikable I found the guy, James certainly wasn't offensively awful in the way that someone like a Conor McIntyre or a Russell Hantz was but I felt with him there was this underlying negative side to him which made him come across as rather big headed and self confident in a way which wasn't endearing as a viewer, not helping the matter either was the fact that the guy was also away from the stage dreary and a bit of a misery guts, which once again helped to hinder any attempt for me to root for him as well as many others during the majority of the season. It was a shame that these personal traits were such a dampener of James because as a performer I have to say he was quite good and certainly a darn sight better then compared to the likes of Steve and Leon, and some of his performances I can hold as particular standouts such as his version of Let's Get It On which arguably acted as his breakout moment, yes he still lacked the quality to be worthy of the 'music's next superstar' tag that the show warrants it's winners but he was good and by the time of the final 4 probably the strongest singer remaining in the competition. Another factor however that I feel harms James as a winner however was somewhat of an artificialness that came with his victory and the production influence that came with that. James' fan base during the early weeks had been solid but not enough to make him a front runner in the votes, yet during the controversial final 5 week which saw Ella eliminated production resorted to basically berating and slagging off the public for allowing James' near elimination to happen and as a result saw an upsurge in James' votes which would never have happened if not for the producers' influence, yes it denied us the horror of an inevitable Christopher Maloney win but it does taint James' win somewhat. James was solid enough as a performer, probably leaning on the above average, but the negative traits of his are just too much for me to ever warm to him and the reason why he's this low down in my ranking.

 

 6) Matt Cardle
The X Factor 7

Once again it is another rather dull MOR male which has seen himself eliminated in this ranking. I have to admit that the approach that I have taken in this writeup on Matt has had to change a bit based on the criticism and backlash that he seemed to have gotten from the rest of Sucks as a winner, something which has in all honesty rather taken me by surprise. Whilst I don't stand by some of the views expressed by Matt that he was this almost spawn of satan figure that some like to paint him as I will confess that he was rather dull and at time big-headed about his abilities, but still a singer who was very solid and not deserving of being placed with the dreggs of Leon or Steve, for me him placing as the middle contestant in the 'OK but flawed' category of winners feels particularly apt for him in my opinion.

Let us first begin however by addressing some of the issues with Matt and understand why there is such a poor perception of him as a winner, firstly beginning with his stage persona and personality. For a lot of people including myself Matt suffered from similar issues which thrawted James as a winner, namely in a lack of likability and warmth as a performer, as well as at times coming across as big headed and overconfident in how good he actually was as a singer, whilst he was strong, which we'll get to later, he certainly wasn't anything special even by X Factor standards, as well as this I was often left with the impression that Matt was at times rather too joyless and overly serious about the whole experience to ever truly warm to, although it does present itself otherwise The X Factor is at it's centre light-hearted Saturday night entertainment and yet Matt treated the whole thing as a humourless gamebot who appeared to look down on anyone who dared to treat the show with fun, something which was demonstrated with his attacks on the brilliant novelty act Wagner calling for his ejection from the show, and when compared with the warmth of other acts from that series, be it Rebecca, Mary or Wagner himself Matt is left looking both dull and cold as a contestant. However what redeems Matt for me as a winner was him as a performer, as Matt was in my opinion very strong and certainly one of the best of series 7 purely from a stage point of view, showing a great deal of diversity, good technical skills and a decent vocal to go with it, if at times a bit whiny for his role in the show of moody indie pop rocker, a role in which he did IMO far better then James in comparison. I also feel that compared to James Matt also stands in better regard with me because of the quality of his opposition during his series, whilst James was saddled with the status of only winning because of being the best of a bad bunch by it's end Matt pretty much dominated series 7 and did so against one of the strongest fields in the recent history of the show, beating the likes of Rebecca  and One Direction, likable acts such as Wagner and Mary and producer pets Katie and Cher, and yet in spite of this I was never left feeling that Matt had robbed any of those of the win, yes he certainly wasn't my favourite contestant that series, but I didn't resent him in the way that I did with Leon beating Rhydian or G4 losing to Steve. Being someone who Cowell was rooting against also works in his favour. I am certainly not a Matt supporter (his version of Many Of Horror is enough to confirm why), but neither do I feel he deserves the grief some have given him here, and that's why he's my number 6.

 5) Joe McElderry
The X Factor 6

And with this elimination comes the final of the three winners which I was continually chopping and changing up until the last minute. When putting this ranking together initially I had Joe in seventh place behind both Matt and James in this ranking, but as I begun to think about it more I realised that I had overlooked many of the positives aspects about Joe as a contestant and that in hindsight I was arguably quite harsh about him as a contestant initially and that especially as a performer there were some considerable positives. He still isn't what I would consider a great winner by any means (and this writeup will explain why) but I respected and understood why he did win and don't hold him back for it in the way I would someone like Leon or Steve.

Let us begin however by stating the major considerable positive trait when it comes to Joe as a winner, namely in his technical ability as a singer. Watch any of Joe's performances during the live show's of the series and you will find that the guy was nearly always pitch perfect during any of his shows, yes his song choices and vocal strength were maybe lacking somewhat and certainly not to my tastes but considering the tools that he had to work with he made full use of them and really showed his skills and professionalism, I'd probably go as far to say from purely a technical point of view Joe is arguably one of the best TXF winners ever, added to this he was also quite a decent guy who seemed polite and pleasant enough, which was one of the main reasons why he ended up ahead of Matt and James in this ranking. Unfortunately for Joe though the positives ended there, and his high technical skill ended up masking a number of flaws with him as a winner which stop him from entering my positive side of this ranking. Quite simply for a show such as The X Factor which sells itself on finding performers with that extra something that makes them special Joe was just simply too bland both as a performer and as a personality to ever have the so called X Factor. His song choices were incredibly dull and cliched and often resorted to churning out the same overplayed ballads you hear on any MOR radio station, whilst attempts to try and go in a more contemporary direction (as shown in the farcical attempt to use him to cash in on the High School Musical market with his version of 'Ambitions') ended up falling flat on their face.Whilst as a personality Joe came across at times as almost robotic, soulless and little more then a yes man to Cowell's regime, this not being helped by any means by the inclusion of Jedward, Olly Murs and Stacey Solomon in that series, all three of which oozed charisma and showed up Joe's charismatic shortcomings plenty-fold, sure he was a nice kid, but in a similar vein to Sam Evans being nice is nothing if you can't bring anything else to go with it. The main question that comes with Joe's win is can one very significant positive trait be enough to nulify many negative traits, and the answer IMO is somewhere in the middle, Joe was great technically, but he was never a pop star and quite simply didn't have The X Factor which the show looks for, his current career as a stage performer is far more apt for a singer of his type.

 

4) Little Mix
The X Factor 8

Little Mix are a bit of a strange one to judge for me as winners, they came during a rather strange era of transition for the franchise which I feel the show has not yet truly got out of and arguably fell victim to a weak series which aided their win, but I feel that far more positive traits surpass the negatives associated with the girls, they were quite strong singers which showed great progress during their time together, they were pleasant enough as a foursome and also did so much in showing that anyone could win the show, especially when you bare in mind the perception of girl groups in the X Factor up until that point.

Let me begin however from stating that The X Factor 8 has a good claim of being one of the worst series of the show so far from a production point of view, from chosen novelty act Goldie leaving the process even before the live shows, four acts leaving the show in the first week which isolated more fans then it did win them, the decision to keep Frankie Cocozza around backfiring on production when news of his off-show antics emerged and the potential farce of Amelia Lily winning the whole show in spite of having previously been voted out. Baring all of these in mind the show desperately needed a winner which didn't necessarily need to be the best singer, but more then anything a good feelgood story which would gloss over the series' faults and show that all of these production issues were all worth it, and that is in my opinion what Little Mix proved to be. You have to remember that prior to Little Mix girl groups in the X Factor (particularly those which had been manufactured) had often been restricted to early week fodder to be disposed of in the early weeks, with the farcically overpushed Hope being the only exception up until this time, and for Little Mix to exceed all of these expectations and not only make it to the end but win the whole thing was a great underdog story that is rather overlooked. And looking at the girls from a musical and performance point of view it isn't hard to see why they proved so much more popular then their girlgroup peers, they weren't as overtly sexualised in a way that wasn't isolating the core demographics of the voting audience and allowed for their positive personalities to shine through during their shows, coming across more then anything in their on and off screen personas as humble and appreciative about their whole experience, I also felt that of all of the winners Little Mix were the act that in my opinion most grew as performers throughout the live shows, in the early weeks they were certainly solid but nothing special admittedly and yet by the time of the final had grown into a professional troupe that had felt like they had been performing for years. In terms of weaknesses for the girls the argument could certainly be made that their win was somewhat by default, series 8 as mentioned was a bit of a mess in terms of production and the final cast was also rather tedious, Marcus Collins felt like nothing more then a weaker Joe McElderry whilst Amelia winning as mentioned would have been a severely tainted premise, so the suggestion might be that Little Mix benefited from a weak series, but I am willing to give the girls the benefit of the doubt in this regard, the show had been wanting a group win for a long time, and I'm glad it went to a set of very pleasant and decent enough girls.

 

3) Shayne Ward
The X Factor 2

On paper Shayne should be somebody who I dislike as a winner of the show; another example of the horribly drawn out and tedious MOR balladeer who manages to win over both the housewives and teens, all accompanied by a persona which was never that exciting or rootable, especially when compared to those that he was competing with in that series, yet when all of his character attributes are put together the end product isn't the disaster that you would expect, far from it in fact as what we got instead was a solid all rounder who was able to show the flashes of pure brilliance that made you think that there was a possibility he could have made it as a marketable pop star.

Let us first begin with Shayne as a technical performer, and in many ways he was very similar to Joe McElderry in being someone who more noted for strong technical skill as opposed to outright vocal strength, in the process hiding what was at times a whiny vocal with near pitch perfect accuracy, where the two differ however was in the type of work which Shayne performed compared to Joe, whilst Joe got locked in a sea of mummy pleasing ballads Shayne was much more diverse and able to show his skill in very different scenarios, being pitch perfect on a ballad is hard enough, but to do it on a complex, upbeat number takes real skill, and Shayne in my opinion showed this, the standout example being a version of 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' which could have been an absolute disaster but passable down to Shayne's skill as a singer, and the moment for me which told me that he was going to win. In terms of persona Shayne was also fairly decent, nothing to write home about in terms of charisma but pleasant enough and lacking the arrogance and self entitlement of the likes of Matt or James. Shayne also is in good standing for me as a winner due to his status as a winner in regards to the X Factor franchise and the competitors he beat in his series, whilst series 1 was all about the show trying to find it's feet TXF2 was the breakout series that started to win over the public, and after Steve's lackluster stature as a winner the show needed someone to succeed which had the gravitas and skill to be sold as a potential star, and in my eyes Shane on the show managed to deliver that perception to the audience, yes his post show career wasn't the strongest but that didn't entirely matter to production at that point. As well as this Shayne managed to win against what was in my opinion a strong cast, Andy Abraham was a weaker singer then Shayne but arguably the most rootable contestant the show has ever had, Brenda Edwards was a great journey contestant and combined it with strong diva vocals whilst Chico emerged as the first breakout novelty act, and yet they were all left in their wake by the skill of Shayne, and I feel that at the end of the day nobody really resented him for doing it. Shayne lacks the vocals, gravitas or post-show success to compete with Alexandra or Leona, but he is IMO a strong winner who has unfortunately found himself somewhat overlooked by the TXF community.

2) Leona Lewis
The X Factor 3

 Well I think we all knew that it would be a double diva top two in this ranking right off from the start, the only question really was which of the two it would be which got my seal of approval as the best X Factor Winner, that quite obviously has gone to Alexandra but I don't want to use it as any indicator that Leona is in any way an inferior contestant that should be looked down on people, far from it actually. Leona is for me the first true superstar of the X Factor franchise, the contestant which helped to create the perception of the show for casual viewers that it was more then just glorified karaoke and that real stars could come out of the show, and came at a time when the show had really built up momentum and needed the mega-success that she provided, and whilst there were some issues with personality that ultimately was the reason behind her silver medal placing her skill and talent was very impressive and sees her as my number 2.

Let's begin with Leona from a technical and performance aspect of the show first and in doing so we start with by far the strongest aspect of the girl, even though I am a straight male who likes his indie music and doesn't buy into the hype of the X Factor as a show I will be the first to admit that Leona was amazing, vocally she was nearly always pitch perfect and combined this skill with a very strong diva vocal which made her more often then not the star of the show with her power ballad displays, yet in the process never succumbed to the temptation to fall into Mariah territory and overemphasize and enunciate for the sake of it, some may call this boring on her part I personally consider it a sign of professionalism, and truth be told Leona's ballads were so strong that she never really needed to go OTT in her performances anyway, as well as this Leona had a humility and likability about her which was endearing to us as viewers, she was never in any way exciting but you could see that there was a good person there and one which never felt as if she was big-headed about herself, which was refreshing for a diva balladeer such as herself. Plus purely from a personal point of view I loved Leona because she proved to be the only person that stopped the awful Ray Quinn from winning series 3, and anyone who manages to achieve that has to be give praise from myself. If I had to find faults with Leona as a singer it would be that she did somewhat play it safe with her song choices by sticking with ballads but also at times I found her rather cold and difficult to warm to, and felt that I could never actively root for her in the way that I could with the likes of Alexandra for example, part of this may of been down to her status as the untouchable day one victor but part of it may have been down to her personality or more specifically her lack of it, yes Leona had humility but I could never say she was ever that exciting a person, if anything though I guess we can use this as an indicator of how good she was as a singer that it never proved a fatal flaw in the way it did to someone like Joe. Leona however deserves praise as a singer and as a reality TV winner, and whilst her star has waned with the flop of her second album you cannot deny that she was for a short while a megastar, as well as being one of the first major success stories of TXF and for that I compliment her and place her here in this ranking.

 

1) Alexandra Burke
The X Factor 5

When I started pre-planning this ranking it was always my intention to have a Leona and Alexandra top 2, and based on the high standard that both had in the show comparative to the show's other winners that was no surprise, but which of the two I would choose as my winner was a much harder decision and for a long time I did tease with having Leona in top spot due to her stronger vocals and her status as the first X Factor superstar but the more I thought about it the more I realised that between the two Alexandra was the better all rounder between the two, yes she wasn't as good of a singer as Leona but I felt that in nearly every other aspect, particularly those in relation to her relation with the audience, she was far superior and the main factor which swayed me in the direction of Mrs Burke.

The first key aspect I want to bring up in regards to Alexandra as a winner is the one which in my opinion most worked to her favour when putting this ranking together, which was her growth throughout the show and her storyarc which transfixed me as a viewer, whilst I definately felt that Alexandra certainly had positive traits as both a performer and as a singer during the show's early stages there was never anything about her which made me think that she could emerge as a realistic contender to win, the ballads were still shaky and she at times lacked a true star power, but as the series went on I found that Alexandra more so then any other X Factor contestant showed a massive growth in confidence and skill that made me endear to her and get behind her story by the end of the show, and to see the shy girl of the early weeks transform into a powerful Diva holding her own against Beyonce was a great storyarc and a great TV transformation. I felt as well what added to Alexandra's endearing stature as a winner was also her status somewhat as an underdog within the show, partly fuelled by her early season anonymity but also due to the support of the producer and public pets that she overcame against all the odds, be it the godawful housewives favourite Eioghan, producer's pet Diana or the late season juggernaut that JLS became by the end of the show, to see Alexandra succeed in spite of these was refreshing to see. As a performer Alexandra also impressed me, as I mentioned she wasn't up to Leona's balladry levels but she wasn't a slouch either by any means, very strong vocally and engaging as a performer but arguably showcasing much more of a warmth as a person through her performances in a way in which Leona never did, I also felt that Alexandra was also much more of a risk taker then Leona when it came to her song choices as well, while Leona at times got stuck in the safe hole of MOR balladeering Alexandra at times wasn't afraid to go for some upbeat numbers which in the process showcased her abilities in much better ways then what Leona never did, and this upbeat tempo is arguably the direction she focused herself on in her post-show career to great success. Alexandra for me is a great example of a great Reality TV all rounder, not the best performer, singer or underdog story, but rather somebody who achieved all three at such a high standard that I cannot ignore her for it, and even though her version of Hallelujah was unforgivable I am willing to overlook it and consider her my best X Factor winner ever.

Big Brother 14 Series Assessment

Secrets, Lies and Expanding Winkies

So another year over with and another 9 weeks of my life to look back over at with a mix of nostalgia, regret and fondness, and when it is all and other with do I think that Big Brother 14 was worth it, well that certainly depends in my view on which way I look at the show. There’s no denying at all that Big Brother 14 has been the strongest of the Channel 5 series to date, but it was still a fundamentally flawed series which at times let it’s drawbacks show a touch too obviously for my liking, this doesn’t mean to say that I dislike the series though, quite the opposite, this is a season which belongs with the likes of 9, 10 and 13 as a higher tier season, albeit one that is still too flawed to ever reach the gold arches of being a so-called classic.

Firstly we shall begin with some of the positives about this season, namely in particular some of the breakout stars of the season whom I feel have the potential to be considered full on allstars when discussed in the future. Gina and Dexter, both as a unified entity and as individuals, were absolutely fantastic television, and for a large majority of the show helped to carry it into being some of the most entertaining weeks of television this summer. Gina in particular was my preference between the two, with her Derek Laud meets Nikki Grahame hybrid personality Gina showed herself to be snarky, funny and managing to brilliantly walk a fine line of being ridiculous and over-the-top without ever being too overbearing about it, and added with her storyarc of being one of the most obvious first boots ever to being at one point a realistic contender to win made her the most engaging housemate of the series. Dexter too had a lot of great points as well, at first I dismissed him as another Sezer clone who would come and go in early weeks and yet he showed himself to be strangely rootable with his Alan Partridge mannerisms and goofy demeanour, whilst he did somewhat descend into Siavash territory by the later stages the product on the whole was thoroughly satisfying and earned Dexter a lot of my respect as a television viewer. Supporting members of the cast also delivered well in the show as well, whilst not ever leaving up to the ‘new Noirin’ prediction I gave her at the start of the season Hazel was a great contributor herself and proved to be a good foil for Gina in their feud, Callum was a revelation in going from a cautious and cynical game-bot overly sure about his outside perception to unravel to become one of the most unpredictable and offbeat characters of the show whilst Charlie Travers was able to escape her mothers shadow to become an unlikely central point of the show as the centre of affection in the Dexter and Callum feud, a brilliant piece of strategic manoeuvring which I don’t think gets as much credit as it deserves.

Some of the storylines from this season I also felt were particularly strong as well, and arguably at times had more depth and layers to it then what was comparatively seen in Big Brother 13 which descended into a rather basic ‘us vs them’ storyline. Not only did this give us the much lauded Ginxter alliance but also saw Gina and Hazel’s series long feud, the Dexter, Charlie and Callum love triangle beautifully mechanised by Charlie as well as sub-stories like the twins’ feud with Dexter, Sam and Gina’s live feed friendship and the random Sophie vs Sam feud which seemed to catch nearly all highlight show viewers off guard when it was brought up at the many face to face nominations. However one gripe that I will bring up in regards to the storylines of the series was that at times they did become too dominant for their own good and in the process strangle and slow some of the momentum of the later weeks, but at the same time they did culminate and end at the right time and prove for more fitting arc endings then they did in BB12 and BB13 comparatively (arguably because of the introduction of vote to evict).

But it is with the mention of vote to evict that I bring up some of the flaws of this series, beginning with the re-introduction of this much maligned process. Whilst the damage done with vote to evict wasn’t as bad as I had initially feared at the start of the series it still managed to show itself at times and in the process hurt the show, losing Dan over Sam and Sophie being the obvious example of this, and losing these bigger characters at times did cause a major slowdown of the show by it’s end, and the inclusion of the likes of Sam, Sophie and the twins in the later stages of the process does in my opinion highlight the issues with the process, in saying that however it was incredibly lucky that the Gina and Dexter alliance formed in the early stages and in the process allowed the public to turn VTE on its head and in the process keep them around in the show far longer then their obvious early boot statuses indicated.

However the biggest gripe for this season came in my opinion in the winner of the series, was it a series defining character that helped to carry the show in the show? Far from it actually, in fact it was actually someone who helped make me question the attitudes of the voting public and how casual viewers interpret this show that I love so much. I certainly don’t by into the perception on some internet forums that Sam was some vicious, vulgar yob (bare in mind this is the same show that cast Conor McIntyre) but there is no denying in my opinion that he is a thoroughly undeserving winner who has in the process robbed a far more deserving contributor to the show of their much more deserved win, almost akin to an extra in a Hollywood movie being rewarded the Oscar for best picture over the lead actor. It has also made me wonder about how the casual viewers of the show interpret Big Brother as a show, and what the show means to those casual viewers. As a hardcore, die-hard and at times overly analytical viewer I am left wondering because of Sam’s win what is the point of getting so emotionally involved in the show, digesting every bit of entertainment and storyline only to have the casual voting audience deciding their winner on such superficial and shall reasons? Sam is certainly more likable then some other winners that the show has had, but simply because of his irrelevance and lack of contribution to the series he has to be considered one of the worst winners ever.

It’s a shame as well because I do feel that the series is one of the better outings for the show, and certainly the best of the civilian Channel 5 era so far, whilst I do feel it was a bit more inconsistent in quality then compared to Big Brother 13 the highs of this series were Everest bound, with everything from Dexter and Gina in the safe house through to Daley’s ejection being some of the most compelling television going. Whether the series manages to hold the test of time I’m not sure, but what I am sure about is that as of now this series gets my hearty seal of approval.

7/10