Big Brother Bully Boy
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Sian Pickles, MyVillage
Big Brother Bully Boy
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Bullying is something that many of us experience at some point in our lives, but to see it broadcast as entertainment is another thing altogether.
The latest Celeb Big Brother appears to be crashing on to our screens with the usual mix of odd balls, neurotics and orchestrated tension, however this year the producers are up against a bit of a public backlash with regard to the treatment of one particular housemate.
This is not the first time that the makers of BB have received complaints from the public with regard to the treatment of its ‘inmates’. However, this year the level of complaints received by Ofcom have tipped the scales at 10,000+, all of these relate to the treatment of Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood star, and appear to carry some rather unsavoury undertones.
Overall, the complaints all respond to what the viewers believe is bully boy behaviour focused on Shilpas ethnicity i.e. racism. Jackiey, Jade Goody’s mother, refused to pronounce Shilpas name correctly throughout her entire stay in the house, whilst Jack Tweedy is thought to have called her a ‘Paki’ (this has been disputed by the programme makers) and Danielle Lloyd has been seen to poke fun at her accent.
Whilst these occurrences have generated a record breaking level of complaints for BB, the ongoing media coverage has also proved to be great publicity for a show that seemed to be taking a nosedive. With the ratings on the rise due to this kind of behaviour what does this say about us, the viewer?
Just by looking at the general success of shows such as BB, Love Island and I’m a Celeb…, you can instantly see a trend that suggests that British viewers not only love a bit of voyeurism, but we also love to see human catastrophe, real life dramas and general individual persecution. After all it makes great television!
Continually, year after year, we sit in front of a growing number of shows where we watch real life people put through highly emotional situations only to break under the strain. Some of it is highly entertaining; some of it is highly emotive. Is it purely car crash television, or a way for us as individuals to tune in with personal experiences and relate to what these people are going through?
In the case of BB, I have to think that it’s probably the former. The whole ethos of the programme relies on the tensions between personalities. Contestants are chosen specifically so that they divide into two camps, rub each other up the wrong way and eventually re-enact scenes from ‘Lord of the Flies’.
After all, if BB simply consisted of a bunch of people ‘hanging out’, behaving rather well, being polite to one another, and never, ever stepping over the line, would you watch it? We have re-runs of Friends for that.
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