It’s one of the most fundamental rules of Big Brother, but this series it has been bent numerous times by Big Brother himself.
The Big Brother rules clearly state that while they are in the house, housemates will have no contact with the outside world. In BB7, much-forgotten housemate Dawn was ejected for breaking it, having set up a code with her family.
Yet, throughout the summer, the producers themselves have stretched this rule to its’ limit.
The most obvious example of this is the people that they’ve sent in for tasks — the special forces, the ex-housemates, Robin (the guy who dated Bea), the Queen lookalike and her bodyguards, and most recently Marcus’s mum and three impersonators — though being honest, this hasn’t really bothered me.
It’s one thing breaking the rule when it’s going to add to the show - The Birthday Week task was a good way to mark ten series (although it was typical that Federico told them of Michael Jackson’s death), and Rodrigo’s recent meeting with the ‘Queen’ was one of the best moments for years - I was in stitches watching it.
But it’s another when breaking the rule might take away from it, and what has bothered me is yesterday’s magazine task. Here is a line taken directly from the rulebook:
Big Brother will never discuss with Housemates how they’re shown on television; how they’re being represented in other forms of media; or anything else that has happened in the outside world.
So why did bosses give the housemates magazines containing articles about them and the series yesterday?
Thanks to this, Bea is unhappy that she has been dubbed ‘Bonkers Bea’, Charlie has learnt that BB9’s Luke and Bex have accused him of ‘pretending to be nice’ in their column, and Sophie now knows one mag thinks she is pregnant.
This could easily influence their behaviour in the house, especially considering we’re now in to the final few weeks and the finish line is in sight.
It’s a shame really, as I think this would have been a great task otherwise, especially as a shopping task. Would it have been that hard to find back issues of magazines containing no Big Brother coverage?
I’m well aware that Big Brother reserves the right to change the rules at any time, but to forget about the core principles of the show’s format is a crime.
If only we could send him to jail…
