Becki was doomed from the moment she went in there. We knew it; she knew it and you could be damn sure the producers knew it.

She seemed false and over the top from the start and I’m still not entirely convinced that she wasn’t just a plant put in by producers to shake things up, as at times her reactions at times seemed those of a sub-standard actress rather than genuine emotions.

She did bring out different facets of the other housemates, Ahmed in particular and I suppose she served her purpose in that regard.

Quite what Endemol think they are doing with the eviction show, I’m not entirely sure. It’s a mess though isn’t it? In previous series it was the highlight of the week, but it was going downhill last season and this year they’ve lost the plot completely.

Whipping up a baying mob to greet the evictees has long been an Endemol tactic, remember Adele’s exit in series three? However, attempting to conduct the post eviction interviews in such circumstances is ridiculous, making uncomfortable viewing and placing unnecessary stress on the departing housemates.

Oddly enough, I was slightly unaware of quite how bad Becki’s ordeal was at first, as I was typing up our news report on it while it happened. Sometimes you can concentrate too much on what’s being said in those circumstances to fully appreciate the atmosphere. Your reactions, both on the forums and in your messages to the live updaters led me to view the coverage again (good old Sky+) and it was only then that I was able to fully appreciate what a cheap nasty piece of television it was.

However, it wasn’t just the mob that made it so. Davina may have doing this far too long now as any mask of impartiality has gone out of the window. While she was all over Marco last week, so much in fact that you’d think she was one of his lip-gloss bitches, this week she didn’t make an attempt to hide her disdain for Becki, who looked scared at the whole experience (the first time in twelve days I thought her reaction was genuine).

Endemol need to entertain us, of course they do, but they’ve proved they can do that in previous years without subjecting their cannon fodder to the hostility Ms. Seddiki had to face.

Something else Becki didn’t deserve was the venomous bile served up from Kevin O’Sullivan of The Mirror. “The big nosed moron from Morocco” and “odious little tart” are just two of the phrases Mr O’Sullivan saw fit to use to describe her. What a wonderful human being he must be.

I said in my previous column that any further drama would need to be prompted by producers and they are doing just that. Their reaction to the silent protest was even more childish than the protest itself. Contestants are told that they can use the Diary Room to talk to Big Brother at any time, an important psychological crutch in those circumstances and to take this away seemed to me to be not just childish but a dereliction of the duty of care they owe to their charges.

I wish Michelle had set their camera on fire. They were asking for it.
It’s obvious now that they were stitched up on the school task or the army task wouldn’t have been possible.

The boot camp task is just another way of manipulating the contestants’ emotions and the way it affects those facing the public vote certainly puts paid to those pesky Jungle Cat voting strategies. This is a pity in a way because I fully expected Victor to stab Jason in the back this week in the same way he stitched up Dan and Vanessa a few weeks back.

I thought Nadia would crack first but I made the crucial school boy error of overlooking Ah-mania.

I’ll comment more on the army task in my next column, but I tell you this, if I had to take orders from a smug narcissist with a chip on his shoulder I’d go AWOL.


Dean’s Book

I suppose it’s no surprise to me that I enjoyed Dean O’Loughlin’s book. After all we’re around the same age, both Brummies, both like our football (though he’s a Birmingham supporter, anathema to a Villa season ticket holder like me) and it transpires we both like a tot of Jamesons’. He seems like a good bloke.

I was sort of expecting the book to have a bitter slant to it and though it is certainly direct and has some pithy, even angry moments, as a whole it comes across as a reasonable and immensely entertaining account, so much so that having opened the book for the second time in bed, I found myself so engrossed that I read on till three in the morning.

One of Dean’s major concerns was the portrayal of both himself and his housemates in the edited highlights shows. I’m sure he’s right about this but my own recollection of series two seems to be more in line with Dean’s own version than the one he portrays the highlights as showing. I can only presume that I must have watched more E4 coverage than was probably healthy for me and hence got a more balanced view.

The time in the house is by no means the best part of the book. It’s at it’s most fascinating when dealing with events with little Big Brother connection at all, including a gripping account of bad drug experience in New York. I'm sure the author has many more interesting tales to tell, perhaps we'll get extra stories if there's a second edition.

For Big Brother aficionados (you must be to be reading this), you’ll find the audition tales fascinating, while Dean is at his most scathing when talking about the aftercare housemates receive.

The real surprise, and part of the reason I wanted to read the book, was to see how someone as articulate and intelligent as Mr. O’Loughlin got swept along with the whole thing in the first place. I’m still not entirely sure about this but I’m going to read it again to attempt to get to grips with it.

The real thing that strikes me is how honest Dean is, about himself, those around him and the impact of his exploits on those he loves. He doesn’t pull any punches but manages this without being disrespectful to his former housemates, though I doubt Narinder would enjoy the passages about her.

Very insightful and a cracking read, if you like Big Brother, you’ll want to read this.

So what did I learn? Well I now know that should I ever meet Dean socially I should offer him a Jamiesons, not a bowl of sugar cubes. More importantly I know what not to say should I meet Archie Gemmill. Thanks Dean.

But mate, naming all your chapters after song lyrics, what's that all about?

More on Tuesday or possibly Wednesday.