Big Brother UK - One Person's Trash is Another's Treasure
What can we learn from the return of this show?
Thursday 12th October 2023
So in case you missed it, Big Brother is back on our TV screens here in the UK and I for one am here for it!
Big Brother is a show that I grew up watching and loved and then I got to work on it and loved it even more. So when the news came out that it was going to be coming back, I was so excited.
Say what you want about Reality TV, but I feel like there’s a lot of treasure hidden in the label that it’s trash and I think that this year’s return of the show is already showing signs of some emerging gems in conversation that we can learn from.
Four days into the new series and I am, of course, loving sitting down at 9pm every day and watching what happens when 16 people from different walks of life are thrown together in a house for 6 weeks. One thing that I have always loved about Big Brother and that really shines through in this year’s series is the sheer diversity of this year’s cast. A wide scope of races, religions, genders, sexualities, disabilities, the list goes on.
Having this scope of people coming together in such a heightened, yet monitored way (not forgetting that this is a TV show and there is a duty of care and rules and regulations that housemates agree to prior to going in) is making for some insightful conversations that I think would be less likely to happen in a healthy way in everyday life a.k.a. The Outside World!
I know that sometimes I am guilty of judging someone based on where they stand politically and so when housemate, Henry - who said in his VT that he’d voted Conservative in the last election because Boris Johnson was the person who he’d most like to go for a martini with, my heart sank a little bit and my bias towards him instantly kicked in.
Pair that with self confessed feminist and left winger, Trish, I predicted that there would be tension and potential drama between the two of them. The verdict so far? It’s still early days but a conversation where they acknowledged that they probably would have never been friends in the outside world because of their political standpoint with Trish acknowledging that when she heard he was a centre right, she instantly thought- red flag. Yet they’re getting on really well and I am enjoying watching them together.
Another standout moment that was initially tense to watch was when Muslim housemate Farida, asked Hallie, a trans woman, whether or not a man would be considered gay for dating her among other questions. But this also turned into a strong moment of education between two people who again, would never have crossed paths in their day to day lives. Farida admitting that she’d never met a trans person before and Hallie being open to educating her and others about preconceived notions of what it means to be trans.
Whilst there are of course, dramatic tensions happening in the show -Farida ate too much of Olivia’s fish and the first shopping task brought up tension too with the battle of the egos in a workplace related activity- what strikes me as I’m watching, is this craving within myself to see unity when it comes to the fundamental differences that people have in how they live. I want to see more of them sweating the small stuff and crying over silly things that would only happen in a place like the Big Brother House.
Yes, I want to see drama! But I want to see drama over the petty things and not for the things that the world outside is already dividing people over.
I think it would be fair to say that as a society we are obsessed with cancel culture. This might be a bit premature to envision, given that we are only 4 days in and the harmony can’t last forever, but wouldn’t it be great if the drama that happened in The House this year was harmless, yet entertaining? That’s the kind of Reality TV my brain is wanting right now. Not something that is going to completely wreck someone’s life for what they did or didn’t say.
So this week, I’m left pondering on this. What could it look like if we embraced differences and tried to understand people whose ignorance might be down to their circles being so closed up that they’ve never been around a difference of opinion that makes them question what they believe?
Where in my own life do I instantly put up a wall to someone who doesn’t share my view and instantly brandish them the opposition?
We all need each other and I love that a show like Big Brother is inadvertently reminding me of this and challenging my mindset.
Now if anyone needs me, I’ll be sat reminiscing about how frequently I used to watch the lives streams of them all sleeping in the wee hours!
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Good for you for writing this, Nessa! I enjoyed the read AND can relate as Big Brother (US) is one of my guilty pleasures. Keep writing (and watching)! Hugs!