| Feb 26 2004 | Feb 27 2004 | Mar 05 2004 |
| Feb 26 2004 | Feb 27 2004 | Mar 05 2004 |
|
When I heard about Five's plans for Back To Reality and especially when I saw the contestants I knew it would make riveting tv.
Little did I know that the nation wouldn't tune in. What a disappointment for Five. Personally, I can't see any real reason as to why people aren't watching it. Five isn't exactly the most watched channel available, but the publicity surrounding the show should surely have aroused interest as it did with me. Perhaps the timing of the show was a mistake. I mean, no reality show is going to come out on top in a war with the soaps and being that the main show is aired at 8pm, the time of Eastenders and Corrie, it was, I suppose, doomed.
The presentation of the show leaves a lot to be desired. From day one there has been too much of the presenters and not enough of the action within the house. Every two minutes they cut to the presenters who drone on and on and make you want to turn off. The other fault I have found is that we are subjected to repeats of the same thing we saw before. For as entertaining as Ricardo's drunken drama may have been, I don't think there was any need to repeat it 5 times.
Other than those faults, I really cannot imagine why the nations reality fans haven't been tuning in.
The contestants themselves have been disappointing. I've been gobsmacked at just how full of themselves some of them really are. I mean, they really believe themselves to be something special when in reality they are Z list celebrities who, for the most part, have found fame by making a complete arse of themselves in front of the nation.
Jade, in particular, really needs to be taken back down to earth. She really believes that she is the 'Queen' of reality tv. I've lost count of the times she's said words to the effect of "I don't need the public to tell me I'm Queen of reality." And her callous justification for wanting Peter (the member of the public allowed into the house for 24 hours) out of the house - "He hasn't been on tele or anything so he really shouldn't be here". She needs to remember where she came from, I think! I can see why people want to keep her in the house though. I mean, she does make good tele. But, I believe she mistakes her entertainment value for people actually liking her. They don't. They like watching her make an arse of herself. There's a difference. I for one am sick of hearing how she isn't two faced and hates liars. That girl has a short memory. She forgets that we all watched her on Big Brother when she was in cahoots with Adele. Yes she lies and no she doesn't always tell people what she thinks of them.
Her treatment of Rick didn't damage her popularity enough. I thought maybe people would realise how nasty a piece of work she really is when they witnessed that outburst. After all, she couldn't blame alcohol this time. Jade is favourite to win the series and she may well do so but it won't be from my support. The quicker she fades into obscurity the better.
Jade is not alone in being too full of herself. Ricardo takes the biscuit in that department. What a disgrace of a person. Highly entertaining to watch, but what an awful person. It's the likes of him that give ordinary gay people like myself a bad name. He too was rather callous in his justification to remove Peter from the house, saying words to the effect of "He's not a celebrity so I cannot speak to him." How awful. Similarly, his treatment of Maureen was absolutely appalling. Some people would have smacked him one in the face for his disgraceful drunken behaviour, but Maureen opted to throw water on him instead. Good on her! The thing that really disgusted me about Ricardo was when I heard him whispering to Sarah in the girls bedroom that he thought Maureen was "a bit simple". How dare he! Maureen is a far better person than Ricardo can ever hope to be!
Another disgrace of a person is Nick Bateman. After the ridicule he suffered following Big Brother, you'd think he'd have learned. But no. Not Nick. Of course, he denied (in his post-eviction interview) that he had any 'agenda' but we could all see through him. His plot to get everyone paranoid and turn on Josie was as transparent as cling-film. Thankfully, his arse was booted out sooner rather than later, and hopefully we won't see any more of him. Nasty piece of work.
I was very disappointed with Craig when he voted for Catalina to leave over Nick. I didn't buy his reason - "I have loyalty to Nick" ... bollox! He may very well have known him for a long time but he knew what Nick was up to with his 'mole' theory but yet he still voted to keep him in the house. He went way down in my estimations that night.
Catalina, Josie and Sarah all come under the same category for me - there to make up the numbers. None of them are particularly good entertainment, even though it has to be said that all three seem to be extremely nice people, especially Sarah. Josie suffered a lot throughout the 'mole' thing but she bore it with great dignity. Can you imagine Jade or Ricardo braving that kind of shite with the same dignity? I think not. Good for Josie!
James Hewitt is rather dull really, but I can't help but feel sorry for him in a way. His insecurities are as glaringly obvious as ever and I do think he's had a bit of a rough deal over the years. He seems to be a nice enough bloke albeit he is very obviously controlled by his nether regions! What a tart! Actually, he was dating a friend of mine in London for some time and she always maintained that he really is a nice bloke. I don't doubt it. I have been very impressed with the way he has mixed with the likes of Jade and Lizzy who are obviously completely different people from completely different backgrounds to him. Good on him.
Lizzy was surprisingly dull during her time in the house. I expected her to be mouthing off willy-nilly. But she seemed to be biting her tongue, I think. She won brownie-points from me for how she took Maureen under her wing and also for the way in which she conducted herself during her eviction interview. After I saw her on Wife Swap and especially after I discovered that she was creaming £40k off the State, I despised her. I've no idea if she is off of benefits now, surely she must be, but I have to say that she went up in my estimations, albeit only slightly.
Rick Waller, I'm sorry to say, does absolutely nothing for me. Except make me want to vomit whenever he opens his mouth. I don't care what anyone says - he's been playing the sympathy card since day one. The way he is always trying to 'be there' for people is, in my opinion, false. He may very well be a nice enough person, but, for whatever reason, he comes across as totally false and I think people see this. His hygiene habits (or lack of) are also proving a bit much for me. Sleeping in his clothes is, I believe, unnecessary and quite disgusting. How they let him cook in the kitchen is beyond me. I'd rather eat Jade's muff than anything he's cooked!
I was glad when Uri left. He was doing my head in! All that psychology crap really pisses me off. As Rhona said on I'm A Celebrity - "Uri would analyse a fart".
I've saved the last word for Maureen - my favourite. I don't think she has a hope in hells chance of winning but she bloody deserves to! She's been the most entertaining of the lot! What's more, she's been entertaining without degrading herself or, more to the point, anyone else. What a lovely lovely woman. No matter how far she gets, she's been the star of the show for me.
Overall, I'm enjoying the show. It provokes various emotions in me, which is good, and I'm totally riveted.
I do, however, think that someone needs to remind the contestants that they are being paid to be there and, more importantly, they are doing it for charity. So far, with only a few exceptions, it's been "Me Me Me Me Me".
I'd love to give some of them a good hard slap to bring them Back To Reality!
Update - February 26th 2004
Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse - Five f*ck up again.
It's now been confirmed by Five that Jade's partner Jeff Brazier is being sent into the house. Quite bizarre. No, change that - totally f*cked up. I mean ... what are Five thinking about? It makes absolutely no sense. You can't send someone in midway through a series and expect people to believe that it's a fair competition. Furthermore, you can't expect people to believe that the show is not completely biased towards Jade winning.
I haven't heard what the other housemates think of this decision yet, but if they have any sense they will get together and tell Five where to get off. It's not fair on them at all.
Another thing which has pissed me off lately was Catalina's behaviour upon being evicted. What a complete cow! Who does she think she is?! The British public didn't like her (hardly anyone even bloody knew her!) - she was dull - she got voted out - build a bridge, dear, and get over it!
To say the things she did was outrageous and I can't imagine it would have done her any favours. The way she bad-mouthed Maureen and Rick was terrible. The quicker she f*cks off back to America the better.
And then there's Jade. Surprise surprise she continues to piss me off. What a nerve she had saying to Rick - "Don't you think you should have been in the bottom two by now?" What a cow! Okay, I'm not Rick's number one fan but I certainly wouldn't be making his life a living hell in there just because I didn't like him. And f*ck all the Jade fans who say "At least she speaks her mind ... blah" - BOLLOX! She is a bully who hates it when she doesn't get her own way. How anyone can be a fan of hers is totally beyond me.
But the thing that has really pissed me off is the blatant favouritism which has been shown towards her by Five and their production company. It's long since been obvious that they want Jade to win, and the decision to put her partner into the house midway through the show simply backs up that theory. If they wanted to give her 'profile' a boost they should have given her her own show for three weeks and be done with it.
Five may well have taken this latest decision in order to cause controversy in an attempt to boost ratings. If that is the case, it's madness. All they will do is piss off the viewers and the other contestants. I'd be surprised if some of them didn't walk out. I know that I'd be thinking about it very seriously if I were in there.
In my opinion, Five have just nailed the final nail in their own coffin. Serves them right.
Update - February 27th 2004
I'm confused. It was announced on Wednesday that Jeff was going into the house as a contestant. Some of the housemates threatened to walk. Thousands of viewers registered complaints. The producers consulted the housemates and said 'something' and now Jeff's in the house but he doesn't have a voting number. The housemates haven't walked. What's going on? Is Jeff a contestant or a visitor? What was said to the housemates in order to make them stay? Totally bizarre.
From confusion to anger ... Jade's outbursts on last nights 10pm show. Five's editing, once again, showed complete favouritism towards Jade. I had watched the live streaming the night before and so I knew the content of the conversations following Jade's announcement to the group about Jeff joining them. It was quickly apparent that Ricardo, Craig and James were totally against the move but all of them emphasised time after time that their views on the situation were not personal towards Jade or her boyfriend. They were merely stating the obvious - the move was unfair.
Immaterial of the fact that they tried getting through to Jade umpteen times, anyone with a half decent brain would have realised themselves that the move was unfair. But not Jade. In true Jade fashion, she decided to make herself out to be the injured party. This ended up with her announcing to the nation that she was being bullied by the other housemates. Absolute lies! What's more, how can a real bully like Jade expect any sympathy for 'being bullied' after how she has treated Rick Waller?! If that wasn't bullying, I don't know what is.
If I were in Jade's shoes and they told me that my partner was being introduced to the show midway through the series, my initial delight at the prospect would most certainly have been dampened by the realisation that it would be totally unfair. I know for a fact that I'd have told the producers that I was against the move, and would more than likely got word to my partner to stay away so that the competition could remain fair. Had the housemates threatened to walk, I'd have joined forces with them.
But not Jade. She wouldn't know common sense, common decency or fairness if they jumped out of her soup and slapped her around the face with a wet haddock.
But Jade's outburst was typical and expected. The thing that disappointed me was the editing. They didn't get across the amount of time and effort that went into trying to get Jade to realise that nobody's views were personal against her or Jeff. As a result, the public obviously thought "Poor jade". Ricardo being evicted is evidence of that.
Talking of Ricardo - his eviction interview was fantastic! He didn't mince his words and didn't bother with diplomatic responses - he said it as it was. Good for him.
I must say that I didn't expect Ricardo to get booted out last night, although now, in hindsight, I can see that it was to be expected. For whatever reason, Jade has a huge following, and all those people will have hated Ricardo for being honest in his views of the Jeff situation. Perhaps we will see James and Craig in the bottom-two soon. If so, it will definitely confirm that the 'Jade machine' is working.
There is absolutely nothing that Five can do to save this show now. They've completely taken the piss with both the housemates and the viewers and have ended up with a white-elephant. I don't like to see anyone fail, but I have to say that it gives me great pleasure in this situation because, as I said before, it serves them right! The other, more popular reality shows may have had their flaws but none of them were ever unfair, and certainly never unfair in the name of charity. For that reason alone, Five and Princess Productions deserve all the negative publicity they are getting.
Update - March 5th 2004
Just a quick update to say how delighted I am that Jade is now out of the race. Her eviction didn't come a moment too soon for my liking!
Craig, James and Maureen remain for the final and, to be honest, I don't really mind which one of them wins. Having said that, in order of preference for purely personal reasons, I'd like Maureen to win with James second and Craig third. But, seeing as Maureen hasn't been getting enough votes to keep her out of the bottom two, it is highly unlikely that she will win. With that in mind, I hope it's James who wins, purely because I have found him to be fabulous entertainment over the last 3 weeks.
I must give special mention to Josie in this update as I greatly admired her for the decision she took to ensure that she was voted out instead of Maureen when they were the two least popular housemates. I've always liked Josie; she was never the most entertaining of the bunch, but she always came across as a really nice person and she proved this by opting to leave over Maureen.
Roll on the final tomorrow. I bet Five will be glad to see the back of what must surely be their biggest ever flop.