Big Brother TV's evil eye (U.K. hit program accused of using mentally ill contestants for ratings)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | May 31, 2006 | EMMA COX

[Stoat]

EXCLUSIVE

Big Brother TV's evil eye

Paranoid ... Sam
 

By EMMA COX

Deputy TV Editor

 BIG Brother was blasted by mental health chiefs yesterday — after ANOTHER vulnerable contestant was put into the TV house.

Show bosses have sent in pre-op transsexual Sam Brodie.

He’s the fifth housemate — along with Shahbaz, Pete, Lea and Nikki — to have mental issues.

One charity warned it was “only a matter of time” before the show was responsible for a tragedy.

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of Sane, added: “The show is playing fast and loose with people’s lives.”

Sam, 18, has already told housemates: “I’m the most paranoid person ever.”

He was booted out of home at 14 after telling his family he wanted to become a woman, say his pals.

 

Suicidal ... Shahbaz
 

 

His appearance comes after Shahbaz threatened to kill himself on live TV before walking out.

Lea has tried to commit suicide and suffers from body dysmorphia — hating her looks.

 

Sectioned ... Nikki
 

 

Nikki has been sectioned over her anorexia and Pete has Tourette’s Syndrome.

Ms Wallace said: “Housemates with vulnerable mental conditions are being used for entertainment. A trigger for suicide is putting these kind of people under stress. It is very dangerous.”

 

Dysmorphic ... Lea
 

 

Mental health charity Rethink said: “The programme should not profit from people having a breakdown.”

Dr Dee Dawson, of Rhodes Farm eating disorder clinic, added: “This appears to be seeing how people with different psychiatric problems behave in an abnormal environment. Many of them are clearly not managing well.”

 

Tourette's ... Pete
 

 

The Tourette’s Syndrome Association accused the Channel 4 show of “using” Pete, 24.

The storm came as George quit the house yesterday, saying he could not cope.

BB says a psychologist is on hand for housemates.

[Stoat]

Maybe that's why Michael Weiner - um, I mean Savage says it about every six minutes.

I'm not a regular listener but it seems that he does get some things right.

[durasell]

I wasn't aware of that. How very sad.



Just very, very exploitive. Most of the people are poor, so it's a thrill for them to ride in a limo and stay in a decent hotel overnight.

[Stoat]

Just very, very exploitive. Most of the people are poor, so it's a thrill for them to ride in a limo and stay in a decent hotel overnight.

Isn't Jerry Springer the one who would end each show with a "sincere" heart to heart monologue to the viewers,  justifying the show in a moral context of "now we understand these poor folks better" or some similar drivel?  And wasn't he a Mayor of Cincinnati at one time?  A Democrat, of course.  What an absolute waste of oxygen and living space, he is.

[durasell]

I believe so. The show is based in Chicago. The thing that was interesting in the show was the accents. A lot of Kentucky and rural Ohio.

The participants on stage were largely very, very poor folks who had some form of chaos in their lives. Typically this was the kind of chaos that arises from being poor and having a very, very short time horizon.

The folks in the audience -- basically a jeering crowd -- were blue collar. At the end of the show, they'd take a mic into the audience and allow them to insult the participants.

The whole spectacle was ugly stuff.

[Stoat]

The whole spectacle was ugly stuff.

One of the many reasons why I hardly watch TV anymore at all....mainly just South Park and occasionally Mad TV.  Most of the rest, in my view, merely represents time of your life that you won't get back.

[Wacka]

Who also paid for a hooker with a check!

[FreedomNeocon]

Who you callin' crazy?!?

I'll Muuduhlize ya!

[Stoat]

Who also paid for a hooker with a check!

Jerry Springer?  WOW....ROTFLMAO!  He probably views that as a feather in his cap, and I'm sure that it endears him to his fans.  A perfect representative of the Party of Clinton.

[Wacka]

It was while he was mayor of Cincinnatti and it bounced!

[Stoat]

It was while he was mayor of Cincinnatti and it bounced!

OH LAWD!!  I suppose then that there will be one Cincinnati hooker and one Cincinnati pimp who can no longer be counted upon as being loyal Jerry Springer supporters, but I'm sure that the rest of the Dems will find it all quite amusing and view it as further cause to support Dems in all political races.

[durasell]

I don't watch much TV, either. But what I do see I find disturbing.

[Stoat]

I don't watch much TV, either. But what I do see I find disturbing.

Agreed, although I try awfully hard to avoid being pessimistic.  I think that if I were a regular TV viewer, I would eventually become convinced that all people (except for me, of course) were complete idiots and in desperate need of intellectual and economic assistance....in other words, TV would rot my mind to the point of becoming a Democrat!   :-)

[durasell]

So much on TV these days is about "stuff." Flashy cars, flashy homes, flashy lifestyles. Much of the offerings have replaced stories of people with stories of "stuff." Though I'm sure some would dispute this, a lot of the images reflect a ghetto attitude.

[Stoat]

Possibly because the networks believe (rightly or wrongly) that ghetto and "hood" viewers as well as the prison population represont their largest and most faithful viewing demographic?

[durasell]

I didn't mean literally ghetto. I meant a "ghetto attitude." One of the best examples of this attitude is in McMansions, etc.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Lea has tried to commit suicide and suffers from body dysmorphia — hating her looks.

She just needs to take up eating and learn how to apply makeup.... or get rid of all the mirrors in her house.

[Stoat]

I believe it's been shown that the time spent watching TV is USUALLY inversely proportiional to IQ. I think that I heard that on some evil, right-wing hate-radio program at some point :-)

[durasell]

I dislike talk radio as well. Come to think of it, I pretty much dislike all media. It's a garbage dump of bad ideas.

[Stoat]

But....but...but...without TV I probably would never have discovered the glories of Raquel Welch  (sniffle)

or Tina Louise

"sigh"

[durasell]

Two kinds of people this world:

Hemingway -Fitzgerald
Penguins - Puffins
Welch - Magaret

I'm an Ann Magaret man...