Happy New Year to all our readers. Let’s hope 2014 brings us opportunities galore for profitable punting on TV betting events. The year certainly gets off to a bang with Celebrity Big Brother, Dancing on Ice and Splash starting this weekend. The following weekend, The Voice returns. We will cover the latter stages of the last-named event, but in the meantime, do give us your insightful thoughts on everything else.
Whos ready for CBB 2014? Lee Ryan is pre show favourite which i just dont get!
I imagine it’s because the CH5 demographic suits him.
I don’t follow the celeb-sphere, so I didn’t know who half of those people are. Having watched the last night, Ollie stands out as being the favourite.
The specials trader for Coral was either still under the influence from their new year intoxication, or had his keyboard up-side-down when setting the prices. I hope you all paid Corals a visit last night!
The limited me to a £2.60 bet so opened another account elsewhere
Happy new year tash. My initial thoughts are to back ollie but I’m holding off for now.
Took 10/11 for perrie to win splash. Printing money surely
I don’t like the fact he’s put into heat one, surely there is going to be some more contenders in heat 2,3 like last year.
But being put into heat one is an enormous advantage on Britain’s Got Talent, Boki, so I don’t see why it should be any problem here. It gives him a chance to build up momentum on YouTube and social media and the ratings are likely to be higher for the launch episode than the following two or three. Also, when the quarter or semi final comes around everyone will be tuning in to see him again, having waited longer to see him than most of the others. This is, of course, if he gets through his heat but I’m expecting him to storm through it at the top of the leader board and with an enormous public vote.
Glad to see others have the same confidence in Perri as me. A challenger will probably come in one of the later heats, but it’s very difficult to pick who at this stage.
You might be right Tim, I was reflecting on last year where Eddie came out of nowhere and heat 1 wasn’t that strong. Anyway, I don’t want to back this kid at this insane low price before I see him in the air (preferably from a pimp slot).
Feel silly now. Hills were offering 6/4 for Perri,but I turned my nose up at the price. (Was hoping for 2/1+.)
Instead I took 50/1 for Ricky Groves – on a hunch based on a whim!
Am currently sweating on Sheffield United staying 1-0 up against Villa…
Argghhh! Bloody Vanilla have just scored in the 75th minute. Damn! I had United at 25/1 to win 1-0.
Took the 10/11 for Perri. And also really liked the 9/1 EW for Austin Healy.
Backed Healey EW again with a bigger bet. He’s my best result now (better even than Ricky).
You too stoney 🙂 I backed ollie 2 days ago with pp and got 10/1. Very confident a female isnt going to win this one! Perries on evens now but will stay away from betting on this one
Only evens with betway I believe. I couldn’t be bothered to sign up with them and then get limited to a crappy amount so I just lumped on with betfred. 8/11 was almost immediately bought in after my bet was placed. He obviously had a big part in winning bgt with diversity and would surely be most naturally suited to diving.
As for cbb this double elimination twist is what’s putting me off jumping in at the mo
Unibet are the worst I’ve found.
I recall they limited me to something like £1.45 win on a 7/1 last year.
They limit me on every bet. I’ve complained to the affiliate manager, as I don’t see any point in recommending their odds any longer. What’s the point in pricing up a market if they’re going to limit players to pennies?
With Coral I took loads from all the BGT betting I did last year thanks to stoney’s daily calls on the semi final 1st and 2nd placers. Since then they’ve let me bet less and less. I put a big bet on Susanna on Bet Victor for Strictly and the day after they emailed me telling me they had shut my account! All the rest seem to be ok for me, at the moment anyway! I’m hoping I have better luck after getting stung by Susanna not winning!!!
I know it doesnt count for a lot at the moment but Dappy is the most popular on BB facebook page and I can see he is going to be entertaining to watch and likely top 3. The only thing is he is paired with that awful women and is in great danger of going on wednesday. Ollie is the absolute safest of the lot as he is paired with Lionel. Was he paired with Lionel for this reason? I’ve never watched MIC but what I saw of Ollie on his VT i found him quite funny. The girls apart from Linda Nolan all seem like a bitchy bunch and won’t go far IMO. The 7/2 for Linda being top woman looks like great value. I’m saying Ollie at this stage but will keep an eye on Lee Ryan
Happy New Year to all btw 🙂
Looks like perri is likely to go from the 10 meter board. Instant vote winner unless he belly flops of course
Ricky Groves! What was I thinking! Hahaha! This is going to be hideous…
I thought ricky made a good job of that guido. I met him in clacton a year or so he’s a really nice fella. Came across the same on camera then. Wouldn’t be suprised if he sneaked through tonight. Think he deserved more than michaela marks wise
Yeah, he was surprisingly ok, and gave good interview. And easily better than Gemma M as well. Oh! Gemma’s crying… Feel that vote magnet in action…
Just wacked a load on perri to be heat 1 winner. Can’t get stung by the favourite again lol
Cor 1/6 wasn’t he? A safe enough bet though
I got 1/5, did it just in time!
Should have got on the 10/11 outright. That’s long gone now
I needed to make a bit of quick cash and im a bit wary of backing an early favourite to be honest. Any idea of when the final is? Also when the CBB final is?
Aint got a clue to be honest. I think cbb only goes on for 2-3 weeks. Splash is at least double that
Good old Wiki, final is Fri 24th Jan
Shouldn’t Perri be wearing contacts?
Wow!
The only shock in tonight’s show is the fact perri is 18!!!! Unbelievable
Got in while I could with the 3/1 available for ollie, no way in a million years would him and Lionel leave Monday
Ive already topped up 3 times, luckily got him at 10/1 pre show, 3/1 and then took a bit a 5/2 last night. Dappy on last night highlights, what a pervy letch he was with drunk Jasmine! Lee Ryan seems a bit arrogant, Sam Faiers might be alright but as it stands, Ollie is the one to beat at this early stage IMO
Jasmine and Sam are now also immune from eviction btw
Jim and Linda are also immune.
Another couple will be immune also, think there is a task which is being done today
If 3 couples end up being immune that only leaves 2 couples up for eviction? Dappy & liz v ollie & lionel would be tight. Even if you the lee&casey into that mix it would be hard to call
I think there’s some sort of twist though but im not 100%
Anyone taken an early look at Eurovision? I just couldn’t wait… Ukraine and Albania have already selected but not looking like contenders at the moment, though song changes and/or remixes can still change all that.
The red hot favourite in Latvia is Dons with “Pēdējā vēstule”(“Last Letter”), which if they send, will be the first decent Latvian entry in about 10 years I’d say.
Finland have a fairly decent selection with the two Swedish-speaking acts Clarissa feat. Josh and Dennis the favourites, with Lauri and Hanna possibles, though I don’t see any of those doing amazingly well in ESC either.
I have a tenner on Hanna Sky at 4.0 to win UMK. As for Latvia, I thought all the buzz was going towards “Cake to Bake?”
Hey Ben, keeping an early eye on things but Eurovision fans are going to have to be patient this year. First three up – Ukraine, Albania and Belarus – are the most likely to re-work their entries – and otherwise January is looking relatively quiet, as the other Ben says.
The market usually jump-starts with the Danish and Norwegian competitions, but both are late in the season this year, rather than early. Coupled with a very early contest (final on May 10), there will be less time for meaningful speculation, which may be no bad thing – the period between songs being selected and rehearsals beginning can drag on.
Tomorrow is an important date, as the EBU should confirm the participation list. Here’s hoping the semi-finals aren’t too small as a result of withdrawals.
Yes. Us! Melfest & Finland markets already covered.
I had contact with all of the main bookies asking when they plan to price up an anti-post market. Coral seem the most willing to price up early. I reckon we’ll have at least one bookie by the end of January. Betfair also said they’d be in place for end of January. Betfred were in place end of Jan last year. I don’t they’ll be first this year given the 20/1 pounding they took on Denmark :p
My advice is for everyone to contact the bookies and ask. The more people that ask, the more chance of the respective traders pricing it up.
Happy new year all. I’m just waiting for Eurovision to kick in to be honest. January’s a bloomin’ quiet month it seems.
Lee Ryan has drifted out to 5/1 with some firms I guess we will find out why tonight. Or perhaps it’s because he is in with a chance of leaving Monday?
He’s been snogging the face off Casey!
I thought a good old showmance was supposed to help people’s chances. He is no way as sleazy and repulsive as Dappy
It’ll hinder his chances as girlies may get jealous and not vote! Urgh, Dappy is a sleazy litte rat! What a complete lauging stock! No doubt Jasmine will gain popularity, she’s actually alright and livens up the house! Ollie is lovely to look at. Im hoping his odds will drift out slightly at some point so i can top up again 🙂
Only seems to be shortening at the mo 🙂
Yes he does but when someone else’s odds rapidly shorten im hoping this will ease his out a bit. Charlotte’s odds last year were even shorter than Ollie’s at this stage but kept pulsating every now again. I’m like a carnivore waiting for it’s prey ha ha.
Ill be annoyed if he drifts now ive wagered my full amount on him. Can’t see him getting any bigger than 3’s though. The only one who could force him to ease out is Sam
Looks like ollie is being unleashed tonight 🙂
That was definatly a vote winner 🙂
7/4 now. Cant remember charlotte ever being that short until the night of the final
God damn it why did i decide to withdraw my splash winnings rather than re-investing, arrhhhh, it best be back in my bank tomorrow!! He is in a league of his own now in that house, most of them seem to love sucking each others tits or be involved in general frolicking, others are boring old farts where as ollie is just being the mr nice guy who’s character will shine above the rest when some of the bigger characters leave
It’s not so much ollie winning it more like the others are laying it on a plate for him. Happy days thus far 🙂
Kind of similar situation when Sam was in the BB house and he went on to win 🙂 Also, this fake eviction things is also exactly the same as what they did in the series he won so yeh stoney, its all gravy baby :)………………so far anyway!
These are up for nomination – Evander, Luisa, Liz, Jim and Jasmine nominated. Not sure if there will be an eviction market as eviction is tomrrow?
EHi all
Lee, Evander, Liz, Jim, Lionel, Linda will definitely not win.
Ollie and Sam need more airtime to have a chance. Ollie is a bit dull and Sam is hardly there.
Dappy has fans and apart from his early, cringey sex nonsense is now avoiding controversy.
Luisa is interesting. Loud, confrontational, overtly sexual and a bit of a schemer but not nasty. Can’t see her having a journey or a narrative of her own, more a player in other people’s dramas.
Jasmine is gorgeous, fun, free spirit but Emma Willis hates americans on the show and although she’s generated interest I don’t think she’ll win.
Casey has a victim narrative already and has shown a lot of dignity. She’s brught, funny and good looking but also a girl who would be a good mate to a girl and a top burd for a bloke to be mates or mate with.
Right now I think it’s between Dappy and Casey with Casey as favourite if only because she’s taking a more active part in the house. I think depending on odds she’s a fantastic each way bet.
I don’t see Ollie doing much because there’s not much to him. Nobody watches a reality shiw to see someone do the washing up.
On a side note, Lee Ryan – what a muppet. Plus he looks like Beavis.
I expect first eviction to be Liz. She hasn’t done enough to inspire support and it’s a vote to save. Linda as an outsider maybe. Jim, Luisa and Jasmine should be safe at this stage.
Mistook Linda for Evander in first eviction vote. Imo that makes Liz an even bigger favourite to go.
Watching Lee crying is hilarious. Jasmi e is trying not to laugh. If they were alone in a ropm without cameras I suspect she would say such things that he would never be able to get an erection again.
Another thought against Dappy is that he has mase an enemy of Luisa and declared it to her publicly. Imo that is a huge mistake. In the comtext of the house Luisa is a very dangerous enemy to have. She is calculating and scheming and suntle and oblique but quite vicious in her attacks. For example she started calling Lee/Casey ‘the lovebirds’ as soon as they became cuddly and tried to turned what initially seemed quite sweet and genuine into a tacky and embarassing either shiwmance or juvenile affair (I don’t thijk she minded which as long as she sullied it). She went on to tell Lee how much Casey liked him and emphasised it in a way that was to my mind at least, a clear attempt to scare him off. And she does it in a way that makes her seem helpful and kind.
It will be interesting to see what happens between her and Dappy. She has more allies in the house at the moment but there are plenty of strong personalities to challenge her if she slips up. Certainly they don’t all trust or even like her but Dappy has marhinalised himself a bit so he is also vulnerable. The two in the safe house may become aware of plotting before anyone else. Anyway imo that situation is worth watching. It could make or destroy Dappy.
Eviction twist: Some choice will be made between the bottom two (so Liz and AN Other).
I was shocked to see Luisa and Evanser go b2 last night. I thought Evander’s boxing fame and Luisa’s (ahem) spunkiness would see them safe. Evidently Liz’s vegetarianism and animal rights stance has motivated a few votes in her favour and Evander’s anti-gay moment will certainly have demotivated a few for him.
The Luisa-Dappy comflict exploded last night, as predicted. Personally I think Luisa is a great housemate, very entertaining, and I hope she stays in for a while yet. The suggestion that she had sex with five difgerent men in a single night probably won’t help her cause though. I think this has been brewing since Luisa elbowed her way into Dappy’s attempt to seduce Jasmine and ended up marginalising Dappy and winning Jasmine for herself. Add to that Luisa being saved over Evander, whom Dappy admired and liked, and he went for her.
I think this will reflect well on him with most CBB viewers. Luisa is clearly not much liked.
Ollie and Sam are staying off radar most of the time. I know a lot of you consider that a good thing. I’m not so sure.
Interesting that Jim got the most votes of the potential evictees. The Jim-Linda feud continues simmering with other hms feeling obliged to take sides and Lionel is clearly finding it increasingly difficult to conceal his nasty streak. I wonder if being safe will affect Liz. I suspect not.
Casey appears to be looking at Lee and wondering what the hell she was thinking of to fall for him but is remarkably free of anger towards him. Her stated intention is to hang out with Ollie and Sam so she’ll be under the radar for a few days too since there are much more interesting things happening elsewhere.
I’m finding it tough to call a winner but for now I’m sticking with Casey and Dappy. Luisa is unpopular inside and outsidethe house and should go next but if I was tptb I’d move heaven and earth to keep her in. She’s tv gold. If you didn’t see her row with Dappy on CBBBOTS last night watch the main show tonight. It will go down as a BB classic.
Forgot to memtion Jasmine. I expect her to try to build some relationships apart from Luisa. She knows that she’s unpopular outside and her best hope of staying in is to avoid the public vote. Luisa even said they need to make friends with the others in case one of them goes. Jasmine needs a new narrative but I’m not sure what she can do apart from sexy-gorgeous, and that’s not working for her at the moment. She’s used up all the available men.
Lee is just a self-centred prat. Or an ocean going Dreadnought Class dickhead. Either way he won’t trouble the scorers. He’s the comic relief and he doesn’t know it.
By the way, where is everyone? Noone but me has posted since 6 Jan.
Great analysis Jessica. Interesting to see Jim’s odds shooting down. Wonder if he can go all the way.
I hope not. Sadly society is probably more receptive to Jim’s divisive, repellent attitudes now than it has been since the 80s and he can show a certain charm and likeability. Like they say in politics, “Events, dear boy. Events.” I think it depends on what happens over the next few days. Linda Nolan’s attacks on him are gaining him sympathy and so far he’s not lost his temper although it’s been close. Lionel doesn’t like him, nominated him and complained about him in the diary room while being friendly to his face which may well work for Jim and against Lionel who leaves himself open to accusations of fakery and playing a game.
At the moment I think there are others motivating voters more than he is. How they handle it as the house disintegrates (and I think it will) will be key. Ollie may run away and hide. He is not good at confrontation. I think Sam Faiers is quite strong but she has nailed her colours to Linda’s mast. I don’t know how that’s going to work out for her. Imo Jim is winning in the Jim Linda skirmishes so far but it’s ongoing. One wrong word, badly-timed quip, ill-judged tantrum could make a big impression on the voters.
One thing, and I think it’s in his favour, I don’t think he’ll change to please anyone.
He’s popular on Digital Spy but that forum is, imo, no longer particularly relevant or representative.
So yes, he could go all the way but you could say that about quite a few of them at the moment. One inrimate emotional revelation, one big arguement, one inadvertant sexist/racist/homphobic remark, one person eating slugs and snails in a task or facing a fear and it all changes again.
Following the first show I backed Sam at 5/1 with a smaller bet on Ollie at 5/2. A Sam win would be a decent result. Although most people seem to favour Ollie, I just find him a bit cloying and thought that people might get a bit sick of it after 3 weeks. Both have been keeping very low profiles – I was worried that Sam might have done a bunk over the wall without anyone noticing. However at the moment I still don’t see anyone else really being in with a chance. Luisa, love her or hate her, is the only person who makes it worth watching, but she has no chance of winning.
She’s clearly playing the game – but her plan is based on knowing that she cannot win so it’s just about making an impact.
Yet another night with no air time for Sam & Ollie.
Its not going unnoticed.
http://uk.omg.yahoo.com/gossip/the-juice/celebrity-big-brother-stop-lee-ryan-show-114635643.html
HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER!!! Am I alone at being stunned, agog, agape, utterly bewildered by the sheer awfulness of Splash!
I mean SERIOUSLY! DUDE!!!
Jo Brand got the gig as a judge and just gave out advice to “breathe deeply”.
I’m listening to a CD of Dannii Minogue remixes at the moment and I still feel culturally superior to anyone in the audience for Splash!
I know the reality tv well is pretty dry at this time of year but isn’t this a bit like betting on flies crawling on a window pane?
I can’t turn it off but this must be how Tom Sawyer felt when he took a special interest in the decomposing corpse of a dead cat.
And Holy Jesus I just saw Keith Duffy’s trunks.
Oh my God! MY EYES! MY EYES!!
I have just realised that “For Fuck’s Sake” is actually a technical term in television criticism.
I bet I’m going to get hooked. 🙁
Big Brother!! WOW!!! I can’t keep up with all this. What I will say though is that this series is nothing like the summer borefest that welsh Sam won. If Ollie and Sam don’t get involved soon they’ll have no chance.
Jim is starting to look like a strong contender after a hug with Linda and giving Luisa a pep talk while also admitting he’s a reactionary old shit who wouldn’t last 5 minutes in the house if he was his true self.
I have to say I would be seriously considering laying Sam AND Ollie. Neither of them featured in tonight’s show. Even Liz, who’s like a shut-in even when she’s at the dinner table, featured more than those two combined. They’ve been pretty much invisible so far. There are only two weeks left. It’s as if they’re scared of saying something unpopular so they say/do nothing. The others are making mistakes but from there they can make up and get a sort of redemption and a narrative and a journey.
Fwiw I find I am warming to Jim and I wouldn’t have thought that was possible. If he can have that effect on me……….
Ollie still leads all the online polls as well as clear favorite with the bookies
Yeh by quite quite a lot aswell but lets hope he gets more air time. Whens next eviction?
He should get airtime tonight.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2537956/Sam-Faiers-set-secret-task-says-fancies-Ollie-Locke-whilst-Luisa-Zissman-catches-Lee-Ryan-no-good-Celebrity-Big-Brother.html
Next eviction on Wednesday I think.
I saw this on Tellymix but the only problem is, this secret task also caused a huge row between the girls so that will swallow up and over shadow anything to do with Ollie! There’s 12 days left and still 11 people in. 5 people left in on final night so i assume there will double evictions from now on to get rid the other 6
If it’s a final 5 I can see it being
Ollie
Sam
Casey
Jim – if he can keep a lid on it
and possibly Lionel
but I could well be wrong.
I’d put Dappy in there to replace Lionel. And Jasmine looks ready to boost Casey by getting into a pointless row over the magnificently pointless Lee. Oh I do hope so.
I don’t think Ollie’s lack of airtime will affect his chances.
He is wisely steering clear of the bust ups and it is very unlikely that housemate’s will nominate him for eliminations which means he will be there right to the end.
The tears, tantrums and triangles will be forgotten as the controversial characters are eliminated and Ollie will be shining as he gets more airtime.
I was late getting involved because he show was well underway when I got back from holiday but I was happy taking 5/2 and 9/4.
topped up again yesterday at 6/4.
I share the same thoughts as you and probably Stoney does too. Welsh Sam that won BB in the summer had little airtime at the beginning and about halfway through he started to get more airtime and shone all the way to the end. I backed him early at 5/1 and had the best result ever. I have faith that Ollie will follow a similar trajectory and was lucky to get him at 10/1 pre show, also topped up at 3’s, 2.5’s and 15/8 but will leave it there for now lol
I agree that keeping his head down will see Ollie to the last night. Not so sure this is like last summer’s BB though. That was a particularly poor set of hoysemates and Sam won by default. Gina was hated at first, became faviurite after drinking something noxious in the quarantine task and the knife thrower but was then so awful she became disliked again. I think the current crop of housemates have more to offer. The Geordie Shore girl did a lot more than fly under the radar. Joey Esaex was a massive favourite but the voters got bored of his stupid schtick. Admittedly IAC is a different audience but I don’t think flying under the radar is always a winning tactic. When those characters win, Rachel Riley, welsh Sam, it’s because the series has been crap and the housemates rubbish. This years is looking vintage. Still.. I can see your reasoning and it gas a certain validity. Personally I think Jim is giving himself a really good shout. He’s coming across as the most sensible person in there. Jim effing Davidson! Who’d a thunk it.
Well you didn’t do bad I think I got my 3/1 on launch night. Tash got much bigger pre show.
My only doubt is that he is sitting on the fence a bit too much. He is going to have to do a bit more in this next week
2 points. First of all ollie shortening with most firms. Guesing this is an indication of good screen time coming tonight.
Second point. I flicked through the Voice last night. Ricky and kylie a million times better than danny and jessie. The first guy was similar to James arthur and I quite liked the girl on the violin. Definately no bets at this stage, not sure if front loading works the same in voice as it does in x factor?
One other thing – I write my bits here at least as much to entertain as to inform. You are almost certainly more astute than me in the business of actual gambling.
Casey confuses me. On the one hand she’s the wonderfully down-to-earth girl who takrs custard pies in the face with a smile and has nary a qualm standing up to Jasmine and Luisa, the house Mean Girls. On the otger hand she’s still carrying a torch for the überplonker Lee. Mind you, for those who love precedent I think Sophie Reade was a glamour model who a man wronged the year she won.
I thimk Jim was mobumental tonight though. Jasmine has clrarly decided to try to break Jim and make him lose his temper and he walked away from it 3 or four times, saying I know when I’m beaten. Thiz is starting to look like a long, hard walk to redemption for Jim, and let’s not forget he spent last year being investigated by Operation Yewtree. A quick but perhaps unwanted reminder that no ex TOWIE or MIC cast member has won a reality show though Amy Childs, Mark Wright, Hugo Poshkid, Kirk Norcross and Joey Essex have all tried.
I’m hoping that Lee will go on Wednesday. The bloke is totally inane yet at times it’s been like a one man show. No-one else gets a look in. The ‘triangle’ was OK (as a storyline) for a couple days but it’s more than run it’s course now. Unfortunately it’s looking unlikely as at the moment I can see Jasmine / Louisa and Jim / Lionel topping the nominations – they’re all going to nominate each other, and pick up a few other votes, so Lee might even escape the public vote.
And then there’s Liz – she’s just sitting there hoping that someone will release her from this living hell as soon as possible. I’m sure the public will oblige – if they get the chance.
So it looks like we might be stuck with Lee for a while yet.
If Jim is going to get to the final he’s going to have to survive Jasmines’ best efforts – and I’m sure Linda is building up to give him the full blast too at some point – so it will definately test his will power. However if he doesn’t blow his top then yes he could be a contender.
Ollie and Sam should be sailing through at the moment, and Casey too.
Jim, Liz, Jasmine and Luisa up this week. Liz beat Luisa on Friday. I wonder if there’s a sympathy bounce for Luisa after the Dappy row.
I know it’s the unwanted position here but in terms of entertainment I wish Ollie would go. He brings little or nothing to the party in terms of entertainment. As to who actually goes… I think Jim will be safe but other than that I have no idea. Maybe something will happen to make it clearer between now and Wednesday but right now I’m not touching it.
Is there a market for top girl / top boy?
Hey Jessica, here you are:
http://www.oddschecker.com/tv/big-brother/celebrity-big-brother/top-man
http://www.oddschecker.com/tv/big-brother/celebrity-big-brother/top-woman
Thanks Daniel. I wonder if Wednesday is a double eviction. If so it could mean the end of Luisa AND Jasmine. That would totally change the house.
They certainly need a double eviction, perhaps (and probably) two to get down to 6 housemates for the final. I’d be surprised if one came as soon as this Wednesday though, and Luisa and Jasmine are providing far too much entertainment to lose both at the moment.
I wonder how the Luisa-Jasmine friendship is going to stand up over the next few days. There are, to my eyes at least, the beginnings of a few cracks and I’m expecting those to become more evident. I’m not sure it will go as far as a full blown row but I think they will separate a bit and try to do things that will attract individual support both within and without the house. Until this vote is over they are rivals.
Ollie has been nominated for a gay man of the year award by “Out In The City” magazine. Does he have a significant gay following? He identifies as bisexual, has never been with a man and only seems interested in women but perhaps in terms of support that’s all irrelevant.
The sex task was interesting. I was watching it through half-covered eyes. I think tacky/cringy sex behaviour, if it has any effect, tends to put voters off. Having said that, watching and 203 year old Lionel Blair shout “suck my cock bitches” or whatever was worth the years of therapy I’m going to have to endure.
Sam and Ollie, predictably, took as little part as possible. I think that was wise.
Hi CBB fans, I’ve written a blog post titled ‘Operation Jim D’ for your reading pleasure, and here it is: http://wp.me/p3nip6-2c
Having placed bets on Ollie and Sam, I reached the point last night when Jim’s chance of winning could no longer be ignored. Having placed a small bet on Jim this leaves me hoping for the (at the moment) unlikely senario of a Sam win, as Ollie / Jim would be little better than break even. The odds on Jim have shortened again, and he is now second favorite.
This is still finely poised – Ollie and Sam still look like they would sail through to the final, but niether have really made any positive impression in terms of achieving a win so far. IF Jim can make it through to the final, I think he could well beat both, but he’s going to have to survive nearly another 2 weeks first.
If Wednesday is just one to go, probably Liz, then that’s not going to make much difference to the balance of things.
Interesting post Tim. Thanks for the hat tip btw.
I like your point about game changing moments (events dear boy, events). Last summer Wolfie broke down in the diary room talking about how bad she felt about herself and how she was there for all the people who had ever felt bad about themselves. As soon as it was shown she switched from being smelly unkempt hippy lesbian to massive favourite. The crowd chanted ber name at the next eviction. She heard them and became increasingly arrogant. I can remember her tone of voice as she dismissively said to one housemate “everyone knows I’m going to win anyway babe”. Her fate was sealed in that on line. Out the following Friday. Gina had a similar trajectory. Disliked untol quarantine, drinking gunk and facing her fear of being upside down. She then became massively popular but couldn’t carry her favourite status with grace. Her attitude during the Queen Bee task, particularly towards Hazel, put people off her. They turned to Sam, imo, not as the most deserving but as the least undeserving.
I’m less convinced that tptb have a chosen one. Experience shpws that the more they try to control the show, the less interesting it is. I think they try to create interesting, coherent storylines from a confused jumble of multiple interactions but that is all.
Typo *** Her fate was sealed in that ONE line. ***
Jim davidsons odds are surely a massive overreaction to him winning the vote to save against unfavourable characters the other night. I doubt he would have won if dappy was up for example
Jim is the person with the momentum at the moment. He also may well gain from event coming up if he keeps his cool. He didn’t let Jasmine and Luisa break him, and he was even nice to Jasmine after the nominations. Lionel seems to have some agenda, and Linda is building up to something (unless she always looks like that). I thought a fall out with Linda might go against him, but if she causes an argument, and he wins without turning nasty, this could also favor him with the public. Of course it might all go wrong, but if it goes right for him he could gain further.
I’m currently working 9pm to 4.30am so only get to see the show on catch up with post-watershed bits removed.
Couple of quick thoughts about last night…
To me Sam comes across as genuine, mature, a strpng person. Her behaviour during nominations did her credit both as nominator and potential nominee. Ollie, by contrast, seems flaky, immature and weak willed. He is awfully sweet though.
Jim comforting Jasmine, as he did Luisa, was huge because it belies much of what they say about him. He did similar for Luisa a few days ago. Defying preconceptions again, Jim looks like one of the nice ones, especially compared to Lionel who seems like nothing more or less than a nasty, selfish old man.
Luisa and Jasmine make a lot of Jim’s sexism and believe he dislikes them because they are “strong women”. I am a feminist. I believe Jim Davidson has a lot of sexist attitudes. He confessed to abusive behaviour towards previous spouses in his autobiography. Right now, as a viewer, I prefer him to Jas and Luisa.
Cazey will improve her chances massively if she can find a way to best Lee. He is as dumb as a bag of hair but she is too kind to think of taking advantage of that. She appears a bit sunbmissive and weak. I don’t think doormats do well.
I have no idea who goes on Wednesday but my gut feeling is Luisa. I’m not betting on it though. I think Jim will get cheered when his name is called. Name chanting may even occur. If people ha ven’t got a hero they will make one.
Lee is a horror. If he hadn’t had a nice voice he’d be driving a minicab. Blue bandmates must be head in hands right now as they watch the final hopes of a comeback tour circle the plughole.
Luisa’s face on being nominated was a picture.
Great episode again tonight. This really is shaping up to be a vintage seties. That suggests to me that the winner will be someone who has takrn an active part in the house and is seen by voters as having gone through some kind of rire of passage or “journey”.
Lots of Jim and Luisa last night, a bit of Jasmine and nothing of Liz that I can recall. Pretty clear who tptb are motivating votes for and whom they want us to forget about. BB voters are well known for punishing the controversial characters even though they make the show interesting so the producers’ strategy makes sense. Also Liz may not have been very interesting. It must be difficult to sustain a narrative arc for someone who is so withdrawn and taciturn when the focus of the show is about relationships. Luisa was a lot of fun last night and Jim seems to have a solid support. Jasmine is involving herself enough to be noticed and seems to have a few fans so it should be Liz tomorrow, however she’s shocked me once already. She KOed Evander Holyfield.
The most interesting thing for me last night was Lee. I tried to post something yesterday about how I thought his “jokey” nomination of Sam was a pick-up artist’s ‘neg’ (for some reason it didn’t take) and his conversation with her last show confirmed this for me. He trivialised his showmance with Jasmine to Sam because he wants a go on her too.
The reason I think this is significant is because of the potential for a game changing confrontation with Casey which if it happens at all will probably occur in the final week.
As an aside, Lionel’s reaction to his long, loud fart in the garden sounded like the same little gasps and whimpers men make when they’ve had an orgasm. There was much mirth at Casa Hamby.
Difficult to see Jasmine or Liz getting many votes tonight.
Things could be very close between the pair of them and IF the voting lines reopen after Jim and Luisa are announced safe then Jasmine may well find herself in trouble.
I bet Liz won’t be shown being protective of animals tonight!!!
I’ll be at work and unable to post but I can see the site. If anyone feels like posting about the vote I’ll be grateful, especially crowd reactions (although I’ll watch it tomorrow of course).
Not sure it would be a vote for Liz more likely a vote against Jasmine.
This Lee buisness is becoming embarrasing.
Jasmine’s getting a lot of support for being a ruthless gameplayer. You may be right but last week she beat Luisa and Liz. If Lee was up I think he’d go but I’m not convinced Jasmine is seen the same way.
Also I don’t think people vote like that. They vote for who they want to stay, not in tactical anti-votes.
I don’t mean to put you off your selection btw. I can’t find a reason to pick any of the three women at all, or at least not a reason that can’t be convincingly opposed.
Nevertheless someone is going out tonight.
All opinions & guidance gratefully appreciated.
My stakes are in place.
I am just hoping that it does go to a straight 50/50 between Jasmine & Liz with the lines reopening as that does effectively make it a vote to evict and from there I see Liz receiving more votes than Jasmine.
biggest bet of the year so far.
Booing for Jasmine, Liz & Luisa as their names are read out by Emma.
Cheers & booing for Jim.
Jim safe, most votes.
Lines open again.
I have sent Luisa Green.
Liz now a painful Red.
Jasmine Out.
Least votes.
Does anyone have any ideas in terms of numbers of housemates in the final, and any vote freezes that are likely in the final.
Conveniently for CH5 the rules just say that vote freezes can be held at any time, and that any planned vote freezes will be communicated on air. This clearly gives them quite a bit of room for manouvre. This could be crucial in the final.
I suspect this did For Jasmine last night, using Liz as a vote against after the freeze. I don’t think Luisa was ever in any danger, as despite being unpopular with many, she is popular with quite a few, which always gave her the edge over Jasmine. The crowd noise was loudest for Luisa and despite the boos, there was quite a bit of cheering too – in terms of her game plan I’m sure she was made up by this. Pleased I didn’t bet as I thought it was too close to call, but probably would have gone with Liz to be voted out.
Similar question regarding Friday and how any vote freeze would work. Given Jasmine’s parting gesture of turning ‘the big twist’ into a damp squib (she is pretty smart at times) this could be quite interesting. Emma just about keeled over so I’m sure that wasn’t the intention. I assume they won’t want to give away too much in terms of who is leading a public vote – so I assume it will be something like top 5 anounced safe, bottom 3 continue after a vote freeze?
However Jasmine might have done then a favor, as this will give tptb a good idea of how things stand – as all the leading contenders are in the vote – if they did want to meddle.
Great result for you last night Andy. From what I can see online your idea of a vote for Liz as an anti-vote was correct. Thanks for the updates.
First of all, Jasmine you were a great housemate. I was sorry to see you go. I would have evicted Liz over you in a heartbeat. In my mind you left to cheers and a standing ovation. Saving Casey and Linda at the end was brilliant. I salute you.
Second, I miss Davina. I wasn’t impressed by the Jasmine interview at all. It seemed to me that Emma was (unsuccessfully) trying not to show that she thinks she’s cleverer or better (or both) than Jasmine. The way Jasmine quietly and easily took that shocking twist by the scruff of its neck, threw it to the ground and beat it into a bloody pulp while maintaining (nay intensifying) her beaming smile suggests this may not be the case. I don’t think she even twitched an eyebrow. The moment of silence that accompanied the rictus grin on Emma’s suddenly bloodless face was perfect testament to the power of that subtle blow.
Look on the bright side Lee. You can look forward to a lifetime of beating off in the shower to the memory of how the sexiest woman you’re ever likely to meet once let you lick her girl parts on a toilet floor. And you can start on Saturday afternoon when you get home from the Borehamwood Travelodge.
Sadly I can only watch the catch ups so didn’t get the chance to traumatise myself with Truth Or Dare. They didn’t show any of it.
Not much to say about the show except that it was great again. They’re well past the beginning phase now and the house environment is now the real world to them. This is the phase where true character comes out. Interesting then to see Ollie’s rap. That is surely a good sign for those investing in him. Sam, by cobtrast, was so absent that the suggestions online that she’s popping out during the day to put in her shift at a supermarket are starting to have a ring of truth.
Interesting to hear the cheers for Dappy. His conversation with Jasmine about her intentions for Lee was hilarious. He sounded like the father of the bride.
On a personal note I enjoyed Lionel extolling his own virtues in a conversation with Linda about Luisa. If I had to spend more than a minute in the house with that horrible, hypocritical, misanthropic old bastard I’d beat him to death with his own Werther’s Originals.
Kudos to Andrew for a great call on Jasmine. Personally I can’t see beyond Lee for Friday but would love to hear opposing views.
Now that Lee probably wants to get out I think it would be meaner to keep him in – but I agree that there won’t be many voting for him.
The downside to Jasmine’s choice was that Linda escaped the vote.
Other than that I hope Luisa gets through, as despite being extremely annoying at times, she can also be by far the most entertaining – the clip showing her practicing her eviction was hilarious (on don’t think this was shown last night).
I know it won’t happen but I’d love to see Jasmine be the main presenter / interviewer of the next BB. I think she’d be FABULOUS.
http://tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/big-brother/172779-celebrity-big-brother-2014-is-extended-agan.html
Extra few days due to high viewing figures.
I have added Luisa to my Green box.
Cannot help but notice a similarity between Luisa & Charlotte Crosby, Loud, Vulgar, Argumentative & Confrontational.
Jim’s melancholy likely to become tedious now the show has been extended and Ollie still sitting on the fence.
http://www.thisisbigbrother.com/
This poll is surprising.
I am not saying she will win, Just saying she could win.
Andy it’s another good point. Luisa is a divisive personality, and personally I have mixed feelings about her, but I do hope she goes further just for her entertainment value. For me she is making the programme (in terms of a viewer), where as Ollie and Sam and Liz and Linda are doing nothing they are just there. I would prefer to see someone come out and win.
Unfortunately I don’t see that happening. Ultimately as the numbers diminish, as you suggested yesterday people can effectively vote against someone rather than for someone.With a final two or three will (say) Ollie be the recipient of votes from all the people who just want a Jim or Luisa to win. In many ways I hope not, but suspect that this is how it will probably go in the end.
I think Linda deserves some credit for the single-minded pursuit of her vendetta against Jim. That woman has a mission. The way she sat on the bed early on with the female housemates and said “Now I’m not saying ALL YOU GIRLS SHOULD HATE JIM BECAUSE I DO” was so sweet and so sinister at the same time it was tangily delicious.
There’s a lot of love for Luisa on forums. I don’t use Twitter so I don’t know what it’s like there.
Lionel is less popular than Lee.
Hi David.
Its just the way I gamble, I try to cover any possible contenders coming up on the rails.
The price is around 10/1 at the moment so its a painless saver,
Ollie, Jim and Luisa are Green and at this moment in time and it is difficult to see any other housemate in the chase.
The twists and turns in BB are unreal.
Kudos to Jessica for some great posts.
I’m in agreement with your strategy. This is the first time I’v bet on Big Brother so I’m just testing the waters. I’m trying to limit myself to only risking the (small) profit I made on X-factor,and seeing how it goes. I started with an outlier in Sam (she was then 5th favorite) hoping that she would come through, with a covering bet on Ollie. With the chances of Sam rapidly diminishing I’ve added further stakes on Jim before the odds went too short and Ollie again as he drifted today. This still leaves some margin to top up these or cover others if needed, but as you say it’s difficult to see anyone else coming through, so at the moment I’m holding back. Luisa and Dappy are closest at the moment, but I think that even if they appear to be doing well, ultimately they will not win out of a final 2 or 3.
Anyway it makes viewing much more interesting, and I’ll probably be happy just to get out even.
Great entertainment again tonight.
Jim’s price may drift tomorrow if anyone feels like a top up.
The markets suggest its a tight call between Lionel, Lee & Liz in Friday’s eviction and its hard to disagree.
I am personally taking a punt on Lionel, I don’t believe any voting freeze or tactical voting of any kind can lift Lionel off the bottom of the public vote.
good luck to anyone getting involved tomorrow night.
Interesting. Out last night so wizzed through BB and BBBOTS late on. I think that in terms of the competition the big winner last night was Ollie, whilst the two protagonists were both losers. Not handled well by Jim, and as this is going to run much further I think this could pretty much be terminal to his chances of winning (even though he may retain quite a bit of support). Amusing that the only female supporter they could wheel out was Linda Lusardi (she’s fine in herself, but it doesn’t exactly dispel any stereotyping of Jim).
Sitting on the sidelines tonight – at the moment think it will be Lee – but good luck to those who get involved.
On these shows characters like jim davidson are only ever a moment away from slipping up and reminding viewers why they were not liked before they were in there. That moment came last night. Although it took longer than I thought and was funny, jims chances of winning were severely dampened last night
Short one today. Had a drink when I came in from work this morning which turned into *cough* more than one (unless you’re counting in bottles).
I thought Jasmine’s eviction might inspire a brief pause in the various conflicts in the house. Turns out not so much.
Personally I don’t think Jim did anything wrong asking Luisa if she missed having a man in her life. It could have led to an interesting conversation but instead Linda intervened and somehow contrived to make it a taboo subject. One would imagine from her response that the answer she was giving on behalf of all women was “yes but it hurts so much that I can’t bear to talk about it and so I’m going to try to make sure that you never ask this question again”. I don’t think that was what Luisa would have said. But Linda, you go girl. A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. If he liked it then he should have put a ring on it. Yeah. No wonder feminism has such a bad reputation – but for the avoidance of doubt that was not, in my view, feminism. That was a woman with a grudge.
Turns out tbe grudge was because Jim had a go (probably a drunken go) at Linda’s husband in a nightclub because her husband was previously caught on film stealing money from Frank Carson’s wallet (hubby went to court, pleased guilty and was fined). Jim was subsequently chucked out of the club I think.
Stop worrying Daniel. It’s true and even if it wasn’t you can’t libel the dead.
I don’t think Jim did anything wrong by bringing up the subject of the theft but the manner of it and his subsequent denial were all wrong. Linda’s emotional equilibrium (hah! that’s a hen’s tooth if ever there was one) seems to depend on secrets and denial and the things she hides eat away at her from the inside. She’s the kind of person who in any normal environment would be politely described as “difficult” and then avoided. No wonder the Nolans split up.
Liz, the other potential mother figure, is a huge disappointment here, navel gazing when she could be a point of realtive sanity for some of the housemates to rally around.
Huh?
Did I just write that about Liz Jones?
Silly me. Forget it then.
I didn’t think my opinion of Lee could get any lower but I’m beginning to move beyond surprise with this series. The simmering feud between him and Casey is now sort of out in the open but like so much in that house everyone is talking to each other about it except the people involved. The only question is whether or not the lid blows off before he gets evicted.
Liz, Lionel, Luisa, Linda…. Is there something about the initial “L” that makes people mad?
I thought the house would fall apart and it has. Mummy and Daddy are fighting and the kids don’t know what to do. And as happens in real life they don’t know the real reasons and nobody will tell them so they’re making stuff up. Oh well, at least, unlike real life, they’re not blaming themselves.
I stoll have Jim to win and Casey for top girl although I can see how those who favour the ‘keep your head down’ strategies of Ollie and Sam would be delighted by last night.
It has been suggested to me that CBBBOTS did a bit of a hatchet job on Jim last night. Don’t know. Didn’t see it. Not a big fan of Emma Willis though. I can only look at her beautiful eyes for so long before my own glaze over with boredom at the drivel dribbling from her otherwise delightful lips.
Best. Series. Ever.
Jessica, as usual I think you’ve just about summed it up.
Linda was smart in waiting until Jim had been drinking before bringing her cauldren to the boil – and the result was just what she wanted. He could easily have won the argument, but by appearing so two faced, the loss of temper and swearing, he lost out. In terms of winning the competition it may not be so much a loss of support which is damaging, as the growing numbers of people who will actively vote against. Clearly in order to do that, you have to know your vote will count – so you have to vote for who appears to be the strongest competitor – which at the moment is innocuous Ollie.
For what it’s worth my feeling is that in a straight vote of a final 5 or 6 Jim would probably still win, but as you pick people off one by one and votes transfer, he will lose out in the end.
I agree that from what I saw BBBOTS was a bit bias, if not quite a hatched job. OK they got Denise Welsh out to slag Jim off, but for many (most?) that would count the other way.
I don’t think last night is a problem for Jim. To err is human, to forgive divine. He has apparently already apologised to Linda. I think this little episode will make him stronger.
I know Digital Spy posters are up in arms about it but as I’ve said before, I don’t think that forum is representative of most viewers or voters.
I still think Jim is going to win it.
And now I feel completely f*cked. Don’t know whether to go for a walk or a lie down. Probably the former followed by the latter with a brief hiatus to eat something greasy.
This is the last time I start drinking at 5am.
I’m at work again tonight so any posts about the crowd reaction to names will be appreciated. I can follow it on Digital Spy but any insights here will likewise be gratefully received.
Probably no post from me tomorrow. I’m at my Krav Maga class so won’t be able to see anything till the catch up on 5* tomorrow which finishes at 17:20. If I have any regular readers, apologies.
Torn on tonight’s eviction. Would like it to be Liz but expecting her to survive. Staying out of it at the moment but may pop a fiver on one of the boys on the toss of a coin, just for shits and giggles.
One last (hah) thought. Closed communities like actors depend a lot on trust, like campers, travellers, bikers, sportsmen in a dressing room. Stealing afrom backstage is a huge thing.
Andy is now 2 for 2 (that’s assuming you didn’t lose on Evander). Well played. My coin toss said Lionel but I didn’t go in on him because I couldn’t at work.
Hi Jessica, I made a small loss when Evander was evicted but thankfully turned that around when David Seaman was bottom of the public vote on DOI Sat Night.
The shock of the night for me was Sam being called safe before Ollie. I have Sam as a red and judging by the crowd reaction she is in with a good shout at the title.
Her price went into free fall. 12/1 on Betfair down to 3/1 in a few minutes. I picked up a little at 5/1 but she would still be a bad result for me I the outright market.
Can I borrow your lucky coin 🙂
The ctowd also cheered Lionel. I don’t think they’re much of a barometer. The result on the other hand…. I guess it depends on how close it was.
Another interesting night last night, well done to Andy for spotting Lionel for eviction, and pleased I was sitting on my hands. Fortunately I was out again and watched it later, as I might have been tempted by Lee (not in that sense) as he continued to dig deeper and deeper.
Jim apparently leading was not too much of a surprise, but probably a real kick in the teeth for Linda particularly with the crowd cheering for Jim too.
I agree that you can’t read too much into the crowd reaction, but as Andy said a bit surprised to hear louder cheering for Sam than Ollie. After Jim and Sam were called safe it was noticable that Ollie was sat with a face like thunder before he was also called safe.
I don’t think you can read too much into this result as many supporters of Ollie may not have bothered to vote thinking he would be safe anyway.
Will Jim win? It’s possible, but I think a lot depends on vote transfers as others drop out and possible votes against. I feel that when Ollie or Sam drops out quite a few could transfer to the other, and they are also likely to benefit from any votes against Jim. This might propel one of them past Jim to win it. At the moment I can’t see anyone else in it. Dappy 4th, but I don’t see where he is going to pick up votes to pass the others.
PS – Dappy must not be evicted from that house – I don’t want to see him perform any trick involving changing something small and flacid into something long and hard.
Ollie’s face was funny. He looled constipated to me. I think he thought he was going to walk it.
The one surprise in last night’s show was that Ashley Cole has a sense of humour. Listen to him Luisa. Ashley knows what booing sounds like. He hears it every week.
Lionel was evicted and performed his favourite magic trick. He disappeared so far up his own arse that I expected to hear a mighty “Pop!” as the space-time contiuum ruptured and the universe turned inside out. We’re lucky Emma was there to climb in with him or life as we know it would be over by now. At least I think that’s what she was doing. I can’t think of any other excuse for that sycophantic parody of a post-eviction interview unless she only meant to give his bum a lick and fell in.
Lionel was a great housemate but, in my opinion, is a horrible man. In fact I’m really struggling to write about him except that I found him loathsome. He was, he is, a bigger liar than Lee. He is two-faced on an epic scale. I’d like to be witty and pithy and clever about him but I don’t want to think about him anymore. It’s depressing to think about living such a long life with a worldview informed by nothing but self importance. The only positive thing I take away from Lionel’s time in the house is in the last lines of Philip Larkin’s poem The Mower.
We should be careful of each other.
We should be kind while there is still time.
Lee continues to be contemptible. As self-deluding as Lionel but with the added bonus of being ridiculous his pale flabby body, his fading looks and his sexual incontinence make him look more like a stupid middle-aged man and less like a popstar with every episode. Listen to Luisa Lee. Jasmine doesn’t care.
I still have faith in my Casey. I love Casey. I want to be best mates with Casey. Her natural good naturedness took a blow when Lee lied so much and so comprehensively but she’s resilient and she’ll come bouncing back. I’m actually glad about Lee’s most recent lies. They’re even better than the play for Sam which I was expecting. As she sorts it all out in her mind Lee tangles himself ever more inextricably in his own web. When the confrontation comes Casey will have the clarity of truth and Lee will run to the diary room. At least that’s how it happens in my head. If it does I expect Casey’s vote to pass Sam’s like a Ferrari on a Smart car.
At this point it’s good to b reminded there’s a Sam in the house. Mostly I forget she’s there.
Olly, too, is mostly forgettable. On screen he oscillates between very sweet and very slappable. I still don’t think he can win.
I liked Liz’s journalism task. I’m glad they gave her something to do. Dappy’s presence was largely irrelevant but he managed to make his own drama out of it by telling Liz about his conversation with Lee. Dappy it doesn’t matter. She already knows he’s lying. They all know he’s lying. Whenever some swears on their own or a relative’s life they are lying. They’re just telling you that if you’re going to challenge them you better bring hard evidence to the party or they will “kick off”. Hard to believe that anyone about the age of eight thinks this is a viable strategy but remarkably a lot of people do.
Dappy’s response to the intelligence test was funny but I wonder if it wasn’t more a response to the shaming power of the dunce’s hat. They didn’t exist except in the kind of comics that were already old-fashioned when I was growing up and I’m glad they don’t now.
I was rubbish at school and I don’t care about your exams Dappy. I was more interested in your shirt with Messiah on the back. You’ve been looking a bit like Prince to me recently and I’ve found myself wondering about your third leg. Whether this is a sign that you’re winning me over or a sign that I need to get out more I’m not sure. I’m glad I got you as cover early on anyway.
Luisa’s sly demi-joke about Jim employing a call centre to vote for him got the tumbleweed response it deserved.
Jim’s apology to Linda seemed sincere to me. I like him. I didn’t expect to but I do.
Not much to say about Linda. For now just dump her in the pile with Lee and Lionel.
Typo ***anyone ABOVE the age of eight***
I agree – I might be reading too much into it but I though it was the first time he let the mask slip.
There are moments when he seems awkward to me. Once a couple of people mentioned to him that he hadn’t been nominated yet and he looled very uncomfortable. It may be that was his misguided niceness or something but he seems to me to have a clear ‘avoid cobtroversy’ game plan. I really hope it doesn’t work.
Everyone wants to be as successful as Jade Goody but they forget Jade was horrible BOTH times she was in the house.
Oh dear.
Just as I was starting to feel cobfident Jim isolates himself from the house and Dappy, great galoon, slips the knife between his ribs by trying to help. I want to take my boy aside and give him a pep talk. I don’t have a scooby when or how Jim effin Davidson became my boy but he’s carrying my money and everyone knows winning a small bet is far more important than keeping to your principles. Good to see he’s got his mojo nack omn the catchup show. The pressure is on him now. Much as I dislike Lionel he was a useful release valve for Jim. This is it sun. The long walk home. Keep on the balls of your feet, soak up the punishment and cover your chin. Gulp. Truth is I fear for him now.
Nice to see Lionel proving me right on BOTS. They’re all a bit scared of him and pretending that age makes narcissism charming. It’s not an epithet I award lightly but Lionel, you are a cunt. (Yes. I know. Feminist and all that. But in modern usage the word has more than one meaning e.g. the fucking fucker’s fucking fucked.)
Too rapt in BOTS to complete this now. Will try to finish it tomorrow.
There are times when one really does have to question where it’s all going. I’ve sat here and watched a song being sung. It appears that this is a collaboration between a 31 year old man who claims to have spent the last 15 years fighting his way through the the music industry as a member of one of the countries biggest pop groups, and a singer song writer who claims to have made 3 platinum selling albums because he has like a high IQ and A star plus in English Language and Music innit.
The lyrical content of this song is – Dappy’s Dick, Dappy’s Dick, Dappy, Dappy, Dappy’s Dick, repeat ad infinitum – I paraphrase the exact word order but you get the idea. And the great entertainers actually manage to sing this little ditty out of tune – well out of pitch, as there is no discernable tune. PATHETIC.
AND I AM ACTUALLY SITTING WATCHING THIS IN THE NAME OF ENTERTAINMENT. IT MUST HAVE ALL GONE WRONG SOMEWHERE.
I read this and laughed till I cried.
I know what you mean.
I really don’t get the love for Jim Davidson. I look at his red tomato face and cringe! I don’t find him entertaining i just find him ‘urgh’
He had me foled for a little while but I don’t think he’s changed either. His little spiel to Sam last night didn’t male me smile. It was more like being browbeaten than being entertained.
The only two in there I think I might like are Casey (although I wish she’d just punch Lee and have done with it) and Ollie.
I don’t understand how he is favourite in polls, like, favourite by a mile? He’s a miserable old git. I pray he doesn’t win, not only for the sake of my bank balance but because I find him revolting!
Dont worry tash hes drifting today while ollie is shortening, hopefully we will find out tonight why this is. Maybe they have exteneded the series by almot another week so that they can engineer jims downfall more easily?
Yes hopefully however, Sam was above Ollie in the vote to save so even if they can engineer a knock down of Jim, Ollie will need to overtake Sam. If they are in the final 2 I can see it being incredibly close
yeah dont forget most wont vote til the final, with people leaving we are finally beginning to see more of ollie, just hope its not too little too late, as his popularity is dropping in most online polls
There’s a week and a half left and every day in there must feel like a lifetime. I think he’ll crack. I’m torn because he’s carrying my money but I don’t like him.
I started to like him after seeing the night Jasmine followed him into the garden and, I thought, tried to wind him up and he walked away. Not any more though. Incredible series but they’re almost all ghastly. I’d be like Bobby Sabel and hate everyone within the first five minutes.
He’s getting more screen time which is a positive but he needs to pull something out the bag between now and the final, which has been re-scheduled for the 28th. There will potentially be a vote split if Sam and Ollie are in the final which won’t help matters
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sam and Ollie have the same agent. They had a weird almost robotic conversation about helping each other as the end approaches.
Much as I dislike the big characters I still think it would be a shame for Sam or Ollie, especially Sam, to win. If that happens they might as well scrap the next one and have a three week teeth-gritting contest instead.
I found this conversation really annoying. I’m sure Ollie is convinced that he should be the winner. It was the presumption that they will both still be there that got to me. Most people would have been a bit more modest and prefaced it with ‘if’.
I knew from the first night that he would irritate me before the end, and sure enough he is starting to irritate me now. I know I’m cynical (and a touch sceptical too) but I just doubt that anyone can be that genial and sincere all the time without being fake. It’s just not the natural order of things.
Hhe’s very passive. He was the same on Made In Chelsea. It’s possibly more fear of confrontation and the desire to please people than altruism.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s150/celebrity-big-brother/news/a545038/celebrity-big-brother-in-the-limelight-task-winners-revealed.html
im guessing this is the reason for ollie and sams odds shortening today
Intrresting. On BOTS Iain Lee seemed to think their effort was boring.
i dont think he said it was boring, just that it was dragging on a bit. although it does seem to appear that BB has an agenda on the go now
I see lots of bias but I’m not sure who their favourite is.
I don’t get the love for Lionel at all. How did he get this national treasure status. His career was reduced to charades as a game show years ago and that was teatime pap. He seems like a truly awful human being and probably stuck in a self-created closet. Reminds me of Rylan’s incomprehensible love for Jackie Tracers in the summer.
There seems to be a lot of Jim bashing and little faviurable coverage for him.
Do you think they have a chosen one? If so, who? Surely not Luisa. Great to watch but must be agony to live with.
One thing that is in Jim’s favour is that the public seem to dislike being told how to vote or who is going to win and often take against annointed ones in large numbers. Suzanna Reid and Joey Esex are the two most recent examples but you could possibly include Tamera and Rough Copy in there too.
Jim is the person even the CBB producers seem not to want to win and I think he’ll pick up a lot of votes out of sheer bloodymindedness. Ollie carries the burden of being dubbed the people’s favorite, even though many may not know much about him.
I go back to the point of why they have put back the finish, this would be perfect to get more time to engineer the finished outcome. And yes i agree that the public dont like being told what to do, but all we need is an evander holyfield moment from jim, which is highly possible in the next 10 days, and its game over for him. Also dont forget that its BB’s helpful highlighting which has made jim a favourite to win in the first place.
It’s a high risk strategy from then. Luisa and Linda are going to turn it up to eleven on him from now on. He could end up looking like the victim. Also while I agree an outburst of temper is likely, a rookie mistake like homophobia or racism is not.
Gone Zaraah bottom 2 @ 9/4.
Gareth to go @ 11/5.
Where do you get bottom 2 Andy, is it Lads only?
Yes Boki.
Took 9/4 yesterday and wanted a top up tonight but couldn’t find the market in running.
I haven’t seen bottom 2 market elsewhere.
It’s a shame that no one dares to offer in-running b2 market, bookies are you reading this ?
Apparently Dappy was considering walking out on the programme. His concern. That his fans might think he looked ‘stoopid’ after the Big Brother IQ test.
As Luisa said last night, people can be clever in different ways. For example I think that we can agree that by the majority of conventional measures Professor Stephen Hawking would be deemed to be more intelligent than Dappy. Now think Streetwise – is Professor Stephen Hawking more Streetwise than Dappy – I think not. So one up to Dappy there. Now think Music – can Professor Stephen Hawking write a better pop song than Dappy – probably not, although after last nights’ effort I’m not so sure. Lets say they’re equal on that one.
Anyway the Big Brother IQ test was as series of pub quiz style questions, it was a bit of fun not to be taken too seriously. In terms of appearing stupid in front of his fans, I really think that the BB IQ Test should be one of his lesser concerns.
PS – I’m regretting starting this as I now have an image in my head of Stephen Hawking singing ‘Dappy’s Dick’ and I just can’t seem to shake it off.
I had an image of Dappy’s dick in my head for a while too. 🙂
filth
🙂
Game Over.
The girls are going to bully Jim Davidson. He’s going to be the victim. Dappy’s going to thtow fuel on the fire while trying to help.
I think Jim’s won.
Yes Ollie LOL
A god awful piece of crap, sung dismally as well
It was tripe, wasn’t it. Jasmine has a tattoo that reads “Ruled By The Moon” on her wrist. Casey seemed to think he was singing about her.
The torture begins. Luisa’s giving it to Jim on a golden platter.
im not so sure what makes you think that, jim is coming across as a miserable old sod, hardly vote winning material, he has made a career out of making fun of the less fortunate, so i dont see many people feeling much sympathy for a few nights ruined sleep
I guess that’s why there’s a matket for betting on it.
I think the way Luisa was talking to him in the bedroom was vote-motivating for Jim.
Jim, Liz and Sam face the public vote.
It’ll be interesting to see who’s saved first out of that lot. Tactical voting could see one of the favourites go.
They won’t have a vote freeze or reveal top of the vote this week with only three up. Instead they will just go straight to revealing who is evicted.
Tim – thanks for that information as I was assuming that they would have a freeze – it probably generates more revenue for a start. I’m also wondering if the top two will be immune on Friday, with a possible double eviction based on a vote of the remaining six. This would leave six in the final and allow them to weed out Liz, Linda and Lee first.
This could be crucial to the eventual winner, even if as likely Liz goes. At the moment we know that out of eight, Jim and Sam are top two. I think Jim will have won that. Now it’s as good as a head to head, and we’ll find out if Sam can beat Jim. If by some miracle Sam does come out on top on Wednesday, then she’s going to become very difficult to beat, as she will be the natural recipient of any anti Jim vote. If Jim’s on top she can be as good as written her off and the gauntlet passes to Ollie,with Jim looking strongest.
Jim’s nominations were clearly tactical. Nominate the strongest competition in the hope of getting them out. No point nominating Linda, she’s no threat – and after the crowd response on Friday he knows that she’s a positive vote winner for him anyway.
Anyway this might force Sam to come out a bit more in the next couple of days if she’s got it in her.
Sam is currently 3rd favourite in the outright market brhind Jim and Ollie.
No odds up yet. Can’t sleep because of these stupid work hours.
Jim and Liz both said they noninated Sam because they want to go home and they think she’s got the best chance of beating them. Everyone else nominated Jim and Liz.
As a viewer I’m really not sure who I would LIKE to win. It’s interesting to watch the ebb and flow of popularity in the comments. I’m beginning to think it more a case of the winner being the least-worst option. For the moment that’s still Jim. If he does it he will have survived the onslaught from the others, good on him for that at least. Ollie has done next to nothing – and the more he appears the more irritating he becomes (I’m worried that this may be saying more about me than him). Sam has been invisible – in terms of being least-worst this is probably no bad thing – but I don’t think that’s enough to deserve to win.
I still don’t see anyone else in it. Lee is now beyond words (at least within the limits of my vocabulary without swearing) and I fail to comprehend how Dappy could possibly have been 4th last week. Linda – awful woman, I cannot even generate any sympathy for her as she wallows in her bitterness and self pity. My 50/50 love – hate relationship with Luisa has slipped to 33-66 as she’s gone from Luisa to Luisa on turbo boost. I know nothing of Liz beyond the programme, and really cannot be bothered to investigate further (I’m wasting enough of my life watching Big Brother without that too). She seems OK – she doesn’t half have problems – but she probably wants to go and that’s fine with me.
That leases Casey. As Jessica has said she could have been on the cusp of being a real contender, but instead she’s shot herself in the foot. If only she’d given Lee what for. I’m wondering about the task too. This was a great opportunity for her. The self parody was funny and she did it well, but could playing it straight worked even better? When she’s not moping about Lee she has come across well. When faced with the audience it can be easier to hide behind a mask. But no-one would have expected her to stand up and just talk as herself. It would have been brave and might have been a real winner. Sometimes if you want it win, you’ve just got to face up to taking the hardest option. And that’s also why I’m favoring Jim over Ollie and Sam (and possibly why my own trophy cabinet is empty).
I want to feel for Linda. Right now she seems to see herself as a leader in the house surrounded by hms she’s converted to the anti-Jim cause. She took her judging role last night so seriously she seemed to think Cowell was watching and she was auditioning to fill Sharon’s seat.
I want to sneak in and tell her.
Linda love, after you’ve been booed out of the house they’ll ask you about two things – Jim and Frank Carson’s dressing room. Then you can fuck off back to Benefits Street.
I want to feel for her. But I can’t.
She’s back on about benefits again tonight. She’s probably blaming Jim for her spending all her money.
I feel this post was unneccessarily nasty now even though she’ll probably never see it.
Can’t say I like her at all though.
As an aside take a look at these links to Luisa’s companies. The operating capital makes interesting reading. I was wondering why a successful businessperson would take time out to go on CBB.
http://companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/master-bakes
And
http://companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/master-bakes
http://companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/sprinkles-and-sparkles
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/the-apprentice-final-2013-doubts-cast-over-luisa-zissmans-business-claims-8714526.html
http://companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/boutique-trading
I know it’s not directly relevant to gambling but maybe gives some insight into her character – a blagger.
Liz says she nominated Sam because she really wants to leave. She really wants to leave.
Jim says he nominated Sam because he really wants to leave. He really wants to win.
Oily says Jim nominated Sam because he’s playing tactically, but he’s not going to do that. Apparently some people in the house want to win more than others. I would put him at the top of that particular list.
On to CBBBOTS. Tonight the Jim kicking panel comprises Colleen Nolan, a Z lister from Emerdale Farm (it’s not Amos), and someone else in the middle. They really don’t want Jim to win. The anti Jim bias is now so strong that I’m sure he’s going to win.
At least we got some Psyco to analyse the housemate behaviour. She says Casey is chasing after Lee because she’s high on optimism (honestly). I wouldn’t chase after Lee if I was high on opium.
A few comments above about them not wanting Jim to win.
They give him loads of coverage, it’s the Jim show most days. TVland is very strictly PC controlled so it’s not surprising that all or most BOTS panelists feel they have to talk against him. BOTS negativity didn’t harm Aaron from “civilian” BB.
Being slightly less flippant, I think it is fair to say that the panel on BBBOTS last night was not exactly balanced. Colleen Nolan and Adele Silva both were quite clearly against Jim, and by his own admission had coerced the other guest into the same opinion. Now it’s possible that Linda Lusardi really is the only person they have been able to find to come on and support him. Maybe for anyone else who knows him it is only possible to have one view about him. Whatever the bias always seems against him. The thing is that I am sure, either by design or not, that this is actually helping him, it’s certainly not harming him. Even fair criticism is simply being lost in the sea of general negativity, which never really hits home.
I really don’t know whether they are doing this because they want him to win or lose, but the longer it goes on it will be the former that they achieve.
For me, nobody is winning me over – thy’re all getting worse.
I think Jim winning is a foregone conclusion. I don’t see how anyone else in the house can overtake Jims popularity in 8 days. Every HL show seems to be constructed around him and this so called ‘bullying’. I still don’t get why as I find his demeanour cringeworthy and imo he is a sexist, chauvinistic pig. Why can’t anyone else see this? I’m already starting to get over yet another loss!
Yeah ive written it off as well, ollies odds are way too short now, hes not gonna win this 🙁
Natasha, I don’t think Jim is popular in an objective sense. I don’t think he’ll return to primetime even if he wins. It’s just that all the others are so awful too.
Imo if he wants a career he’d be better off joining Ian McShane in Hollywood and try and get a few parts as a gangster. I don’t think much will happen for him here except maybe regional pantomime.
Also judged purely on the show he hasn’t been that bad. A lot of viewers didn’t know his stand up shows. If they know him at all it will be from Big Break and Generation Game.
I thought his comments about ‘knocking one off’ when he was led down with lee and ollie were totally vile and made me cringe!! I just don’t get it still??!
Natasha – this isn’t a defense of Jim, but I just think that this is normality for a lot of people. I go to a gym – in the men’s changing room you will hear a lot of conversations like that and worse. They don’t seem to care that other people might not want to hear it. You will hear some people having otherwise normal conversations, but every sentence contains at least one expletive for no reason at all. I think that it is sub-normal , and it drives me nuts, but it’s a reality. It might not make it right but there’s a lot of people out there like that – and they’re allowed to vote too.
To be honest listening to Lee’s five girls in five nights story, was far more distasteful than this, although it appears that for some reason the undertone of that story has bypassed Casey’s brain.
I’ve heard women say similar and far worse. I’ve made flick the bean jokes myself but it’s just crude banter. I don’t think he can be judged a sexist or a chauvanist because of that. In fact I can’t think of anything sexist Jim has done.
Compared to Linda and Luisa he’s been a paragon. I’m astonished that people find him so objectionable when Linda and Luisa have orchestrated a deliberate campaign to make his life intolerable.
I don’t think that it’s a foregone conclusion that Jim will win. I do think that he’s polling the highest individually at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t be beaten, if say Ollie picks up votes from Sam or vice versa. Sam in particular could also pick up anti-Jim votes.
The thing is that it’s become very difficult to make a good case for any of the others to win either. A win for Sam is the best outcome for me, but if she did win it certainly wouldn’t be on merit.
I had decided to stop blogging the show but last night was so full of stuff that appealed to my particular brand of psychobabble that I couldn’t resist.
First of Liz. Liz, you beauty. You star. Your scene in the bath was brilliant and if there is any justice you and your Vienetta bottom will be safe. Sam looks like she was made in a factory and sent back from future to kill someone. There is nothing sympathetic about her at all which is probably why she keeps silent. I hope to heaven (and I’m sorry for this because I know you have an investment David) that her day is done.
I loved Liz’s face when Olly said “but some of us want to win more than others”. If “what the fuck” is ever defined in the OED, all they will need is a picture of Liz’s expression.
Finally Liz has 69 million readers. Admittedly a large proportion of them will be in the US but even so it’s a point worth noting. Liz is currently 12-1 for top girl. Hmmmm……….
My big lightbulb moment was that Luisa, Linda and Lionel actually have no idea just how damaged they are. All the blag, bluster, browbeating, bullshit and bullying they do has just one pupose in mind. Don’t let the cracks show. There are so many elephants in their respective rooms that I’m surprised Liz hasn’t had them all transplanted to the African savannahs to distract poachers.
I think Linda’s immunity from the last eviction has somehow in her head translated into popularity outside. No Linda love. It was Jasmine who saved you because she doesn’t like you. Instead of remembering her vulnerability and that she hasn’t been tested Linda sees herself as the chosen one. Perhaps she thinks all that “kicking a widow when she’s down” garbage was moving rather than risible. Oh Linda, please. The others in the house don’t hang out with you because they like you. They started because they were scared of you and now it’s become a habit.
Her remark about how sometimes she feels like telling Jim he’s skating on thin ice actually made my eyes boggle. Denial really isn’t just a river in Egypt.
Casey has broken my heart. I’ve lost my best friend and I’ve never even met her. Oh Casey. How could you do it? Two days ago I was rooting for you, just waiting for you to punch Lee. Now I want to punch you. Add to the Lee shenanigans your nomination of Jim who befriended you and helped you with the performance task and your fall from grace is complete. Suffice to say I now consider my top girl investment on you wasted. I shall speak of it no more. My grief is too great.
Dappy, my saver, is still looking promising. He’s lost his street accent but I think he’s the better for it. He wears his heart on his sleeve and can’t understand why the others hate Jim. It warmed my (cough) heart when Luisa exclaimed over the size of his penis. Whatever the result I’m sure he won’t want for company when he leaves.
Luisa’s big moment for me was not her task but when she told Liz she’d be a good journalist becuase “you know how brutal I am”. Luisa knows exactly what she is and how she comes across and still complains because others aren’t “straight talking” like her. Oh God. I don’t even know where to start. I had a little spiel about how irrelevant brutality is in a world where what’s needed is not fighting over resources but equitable distribution. I wanted to talk about how Luisa, as a buisnesswoman and, potential if not actual, employer should know about the importance of good relations and oiling the wheels, how she should know well-managed supply chains are more important than brutality. Then I remembered that the last accounts her multi-million pound company filed showed a profit of £196 and her most lucrative recent activity was being photographed on a Dubai beach having ice-cubes thrown down her knickers and I decided not to bother.
Still, she’s a great role model for young women who want to be taken seriously in business. We know this because she tells us so.
I actually feel for Jim. Yes, he is an unreconstructed chauvanist. We know this too. He too tells us so. Somehow I’m more inclined to believe him about himself than Luisa about herself. Anyway, he’s also a product of his time.
My mother mostly kept the house and ironed my fathers shirts and he went out to work, earned a wage, changed the lightbulbs and wired the plugs and mowed the lawn. It was the way things were. Now both parents go out to work, it takes longer for them to pay their mortgages and they have less security than when I was growing up. Maybe that’s progress. I don’t know. Funnily enough my mum used to like a bit of ironing. She’d put on radio four, make a pot of tea (or occasionally have a tot of rum and coke) and make jumbled mountains of laundry into smooth, orderly, sweet-smelling piles. It’s one of my warmest memories of growing up. Perhaps that’s why I’m not outraged. Or perhaps in a world with female genital mutilation and girls getting shot in the head for wanting to go to school, being asked if you iron your husbans shirts isn’t something worth getting outraged about.
Olly’s outrage at Sam’s nomination was a dull, silly suicide note and he wouldn’t stop going on about it. Apparently he wouldn’t vote tactically because it’s unfair and he wouldn’t be unfair. What a prat. You’d think they had the choice to live together in the house forever if only no-one nominated anyone – except Liz and Jim of course but that’s ok because nobody wants them.
My sympathies have turned towards Jim again. Everybody has a right to live. When I saw Up! at the cinema it was preceded by a cartoon where angels delivered baby animals into the world. One angel got stuck with porcupines and snakes and alligators and all the creepy, crawly, dangerous, nasty things of the world and soon came to hate the cloud that gave them to him because he kept getting stung and spiked and bitten but by the end he came to see that they had their place in the world and he learned to love them. That’s how I’m beginning to feel about Jim.
He’s an experienced, clever old showman. He knows he doesn’t have to do anything other than carry on as he is to win the show from here and he knows that Luisa and the others are helping him and are too dumb and too stubborn to change. If he does win I don’t begrudge him it. Some of his attitudes might make me shuddder but I still think I’d rather be stuck on a desert island with him than most of the others in that house.
I haven’t got much to say about Lee except that when he said “Let’s have sex” to Casey he wasn’t joking, he was hoping. I much prefer Jim to him.
Apologies for the overlong sentences . I have to bang these out quite quickly, usually on my mobile, and can’t spend much time editing and proofing or I’d get nothing else done.
Of course for Liz to win top gitl at 12-1, Sam would have to be evicted (at 5-2). If you could find somewhere to take a double (which sadly I couldn’t) that would give you 30-1 which some people might cobsuder good value. 🙂
And if you do find a double please let me know. Seriously.
Hi Jessica – v much enjoy your posts.. I just noticed in this one your mention of a double and thought I would just quickly mention (for future reference) that bookies would not offer a double where the markets are linked like this. This is because one eventuality e.g. Sam going would make the other more likely to happen and they would not want to offer the same odds as they would two singles for a double in such an instance. For a double the two bets need to be independent events.
Hope that makes some sort of sense.
Cheers.
Perfect sense.
Thanks.
Glad you enjoy the posts. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was reading them.
Not going to say much about last night’s show. It’s clearly Jim’s to lose and the lightbulb moment for the huskies won’t change that. I think what we are seeing is the real Jim and he won’t do an Evander, a Wolfie or, from his reluctance to eat for solidarity’s sake, a Gina.
I think Sam will be lucky to survive tonight. In an earlier post I speculated about her closeness with Linda and how that might play out for her. Right now it’s looking like a big error and even if she does survive tonight I think she’s irreperably damaged her chances of winning (or any post CBB tv career except TOWIE come to that).
For the rest it’s jostling for 2nd place and post-show opportunities.
I hope Casey gets out soon. The thought of her getting involved in some Truth or Dare or bathroom orgy scene with Dappy, Lee and Luisa is sickening. I want her to get home to her family and friends and find someone who loves her.
Jim is right. Linda is evil. I wonder if in 30 years time Luisa will be the same.
Dappy has overtaken Ollie and Sam and is now 15/4 second favourite.
There may still be some value in Luisa (3/1) or Liz (7/1) for top girl since at the moment Sam is still favourite for that.
I think Sam will just scrape through tonight. I don’t think she will have lost too many votes from people who voted for her on Friday. She’s getting stick on DS for being so bland, but she’s never had support on DS, and this is a good chance for supporters of others to have a go at her. I think Liz’s 69 million readers was a bit of a red herring. Whatever the actual numbers, if she had this really big support why hasn’t she been higher up before? So if I was betting on the eviction I still think I would go for Liz.
I’ll not be betting – infact I’ll not be watching. We’re in a cup semi final – that’s so rare it’s got to take priority over the Z listers popularity contest.
Beyond that however I think both Ollie and Sam are now slipping into obscurity with Jim in pole position to win. At least that’s still a small win.
The new elephant in the room is Dappy with, odds dropping quickly. I have nothing on him and it’s too late now. My brain simply cannot comprehend how he is picking up any votes, so I just hope I’m right in my asumption that from here he still cannot beat Jim.
I had a little something on Dappy early on. I’m hoping voters will punish Linda indirectly by voting for Liz. Rather than vote for Sam to go I took the 12-1 for Liz to be top girl.
Alsso hoping some of her Friday votes were transfers because she seemed neutral and hadn’t featured much and voters wanted to make sure an unpopular hm went down.
As an aside, why did so many people favour Ollie and Sam at the start, especially given the Jory Essex result in IAC?
Jessica it’s an interesting question. I suppose the answer is because your trying to separate out your own preferences as to who you want to win, from who you think the viewers might vote for.
Ollie and Sam are wannabes rather than has beens, and don’t start off tainted or unpopular like Jim, Linda and Liz.
They appear on current programmes with reasonable viewing figures which gives them some sort of fan base. Not knowing much about them, Sam came across quite well first night – I failed to account for the fact that she might turn out to be as dull as ditch water. I had seen The Apprentice and thought that Luisa might be entertaining, but I also knew she would be divisive so ruled her out.
From what I could see Lee was well know – but also a well known dimwit – so again gave him a wide berth.
Of course we all have blind spots – I simply cannot see anything in Dappy at all, and cannot understand how he appears to be becoming more popular.
Anyway that’s my excuse.
In his fimal Betdfactor podcasts I remember Richard saying something about getting better odds before the show but better results from seeing what happens during it. That was my experience with my pretend bets so that’s the route I’ve chosen
Probably the only thing you can be sure of tonight is that you’ll be able to hear the chants of “Get Linda Out” in space.
I wish I could watch it live and see all their faces. Sam’s going to have an expression like a slapped arse (no change there then) when she realises the scale of her misjudgement in hooking up with Linda.
Did Jim seriously just say if he survives tonight he WILL win? Lets hope that puts a dampner on his votes 🙂
Big drift on Jim and support for Dappy on Betfair
Wow Ollie has drifted to 11/2 🙁
Not for long, hes back done to 4’s now with most, its not over yet!
It may be because he’s spoken out a couple of times since being up for nomination last night and ‘confronted’ all the housemates. He also had an ‘arguement’ with Luisa. He’ll feature a lot in tonights HL show or tomorrows depending on what times these events happened. I expect they’ll shorten again but only slightly. He won’t go tomorrow but at least we’ll be able to see what response he gets when his name is called (massive massive cheers hopefully lol)
And lets hope he tops the vote as well, that would put the cat amoungst the pidgeons!
Yes that would be brill however, not likely unfortunatley. Jim no doubt will be announced safe with the most amount of votes first, he’s still topping all the polls
The ebbs and flows have made this seties brilliant so far, haven’t they. Betting on it has made it very intrnse too. This is definitely the time when your boy needs to shine. I think the savvy ones will all fight for the airtime from now on.
Oh crap!!! A few ours ago I was skipping like a new botn lamb in a meadow. Now Liz has vone and taken my tenner with her and Jim….
Stupid bloody Jim.
He had it in his hands for chrissakes. All he had to do was not say that. I was going to post earlier that if Linda gets booed Jim will proba ly be capering around like Rumplestiltskin but he’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t get cocky.
And what does he do?
What does Jim effin Davidson effin go and effin do?
BAH!!!! Talk about a rookie error.
*and breathe*
*** TYPO ***
Hours, born, gone.
My rage has vapourised my brain.
Oh well. Still a week of this madness to go. I wonder if Casey can come back into the equation, plus Jim’s chances aren’t over yet.
A real roller coaster of emotions last night – and that was just the football.Back from the pub in time to see BBBOTS and a quick wizz through the highlights of the eviction show.
Sam did manage to scrape through – strangely she still seemed to get the loudest crowd cheer – and then slipped back to invisibility.
Jim managed to shoot himself in the foot – can he still limp to the finishing line in first place?
Dappy – what on earth is he thinking – Jim bigging him up must have gone to his head. I’m sure if you cut him in half it would not say ‘honest’. By nominating Luisa he probably thought he looked even more principled and honest – but I suspect this may well backfire. Luisa is the wrong person for Dappy to take on.
Luisa is already taking on Ollie apparently – she will win. Ollie’s trying to defend why he’s appearing to be fake. It’s probably because if you cut him in half it would say ‘fake’.
Lee and Casey now appear irrelevant.
Linda is just a prop for the Jim show. I don’t know if she realises that she is so unpopular and likely to go on Friday. Is she going to go for the showdown with Jim before that?
It’s back up in the air again. What I do think is that Luisa could now make a strong run to the final- even a double eviction on Friday is unlikely to take her out – and she may well finish top woman.
Sam got lots of airtime last night. Jim got a little. Liz got practically none. Sam survived the public vote. I have no idea why. Sam is like a cardboard cutout only she lacks cardboard’s personal magnetism.
To make herself seem interesting Sam attempted to hint at the possibility of romance with Ollie but even he wasn’t falling for it. For a moment he tried and gave one of his trademark brooding stares at the linoneum but then he shrugged his shoulders and you could almost hear him thinking “fuck it”. As if their relationship wasn’t artificial enough he tried to redeem himself in the diary room saying she was his rock. Ollie does remind me of Princess Diana with his gauche, blushing prettiness but Sam is no Paul Burrell. Her face is frozen into a semi-permanent expression of Moriarty-like calculation, not something you look for in backstairs staff. That certain something about them is not chemistry. It’s formaldehyde.
Linda ate dog food which tactically was a great move on her part. It got her own attack dog Luisa back on side, though Linda wouldn’t have known Luisa was wavering at that point, and gave her kudos points with the other huskies. Luisa thought Jim or Ollie should have done it. Dappy also thought Ollie should have done it. Neither specified why.
Recognising that Jim is, for the time being at least, popular with the public Linda sought a new outlet for her river of venom and found Casey. Poor sweet Casey. I don’t think the world of glamour modelling is ruthless enough to have prepared her for women like Linda, Luisa and Sam. Casey went to Sam to explain what the huskies had seen and suggest they distance themselves from the Jim-Linda wars. Sam narrowed her eyes like a contract killer as Casey spoke and I expected her to turn and say “you slaaaaaag” before popping a cap in Casey’s kneecap. Casey didn’t notice. Predictably a few moments later Linda accused Casey of playing a game while Sam bobbed her head up and down like one of those novelty dogs in the back window of a car.
It is a game Linda. It’s Big Brother. You’re all sleeping in a big dormitory and pretending to go to the North Pole in the back garden.
Lee and Casey are improvising a really bad comedy-drama about dating. I want Casey to be leading him on but she isn’t. Lee says he’s not with Jasmine. I expect that to last until he leaves the house and hears the distant sound of her snapping her fingers. The whole triangle sex farce gubbins is too daft to spend any time on. As Jim so accurately said of Luisa, it’s just a bit vulgar and obvious.
Liz went, and to boos.
I don’t understand the boos unless they were Rhianna fans or campaigners for men’s reproductive rights who also read her column. Liz didn’t do much but she was more interesting than Ollie and Sam combined. I would have liked to see her stay. Eccentricity and alienantion surround Liz like the cartoon cloud of dust around Pigpen in Peanuts. Something about her shrieks “mad cat lady” as soon as she walks into a room but she’s not a fool. She can’t be. Anyone who can afford to pay £85 on a pair of socks has to be doing something right.
Life in the house was never going to be easy for someone like Liz but she made the best of it and genuinely grew from her time there. From her colunns I had dismissed her as a selfish and unpleasant person but having seen a little more of her I feel more sympathetic. Farewell Liz. Enjoy your reunion with yoir animals. I hope you will enjoy life more from now on and not merely endure it.
With Liz going and a switch of emphasis to the possibility of a fauxmance between Ollie and Sam I hope I can continue to enjoy the show and not merely endure it. Ollie is as sexless as a Ken doll. He probably has a plastic seam down there. A romance between Ollie and Sam is even less credible than Charley and Dexter last summer. I hope they don’t try and push one on us. It will ruin the show.
Luisa is looking like a strong contender, as is Dappy. I’ve had top 3 interest in Dappy from early on and I hope he makes it. Luisa has played a massive part in the show and deserves to be there on finals night. With the women left she deserves top girl spot.
I don’t think Jim harmed himself significantly with his “going to win” remarks last night although I would have preferred if he hadn’t said it.
For me it’s still Jim to win, now Luisa for top girl and Linda to go on Friday, with Ollie if it’s a double. Of course I predicted Liz to stay and Sam to go last night so what do I know?
Events dear boy. Events.
*** CORRECTION ***
Lee to go if it’s a double, not Ollie. I’d prefer if it was Ollie though. He’s brought nothing to the show as far as I can see.
Firstly I thought tonights programme was probably one of the best of the series – it was just so funny. I suspect my views might be in the minority tonight, but we all know how important it is to express an opinion, so lets not duck out of this.
I’m amazed – I agree with Linda Nolan on something. Ollie needs to get an opinion. It doesn’t need to be anything to do with the house at all. We know Jim’s views on nuclear weapons, we know Liz’s views on animal cruelty but we know absolutely nothing about Ollie, he just seems vacuous.
Then we had the little speech. I have to say I saw this exactly as Luisa – it was just self justifying nonsense – all about Ollie. It amounted to saying I am scared to express an opinion, as rather than being able to hold a reasoned discussion, this may lead to an argument, and I cannot deal with confrontation.
Did Ollie really think that he could turn up and just sit there like a tin of milk for three weeks and at the end of it he would be anointed as the winner – apparently yes.
At least Luisa realises that this is not the real world. For most people it’s not about sitting in a TV studio being fed your lines. I’m a designer – and that’s all about opinions. You’ve got to have your own ideas and be able to express and justify them. You’ve got to believe in yourself. But just as important is being able to listen and understand other peoples views and ideas – to be able to take part in debate. Having an opinion has got nothing to do with argument or confrontation.
Luisa gets this, Dappy gets this (at last something about him which I understand). Jim speaking to Ollie at the end – he might as well have said ‘welcome to the real world’.
There are two sides to an argument and because of this I believe Linda will pick up votes tonight, not many votes because it seems that the vast majority of the voting public are on Jim’s side.
There is also a small percentage of Loose woman who may vote for Linda.
I am going to be taking any prices available on Lee for the next elimination.
The clown is likely to fly under tonight’s radar and get the boot 1st, Linda 2nd if its a double.
Lee 5/4 with ladbrokes.
Im happy with that.
Best of luck once again to anyone involved in tonight’s eviction.
I noticed Ollie at 1/2 for a top 3 finish yesterday and thought it was a gift.
Andy – I tend to agree with this. We konw Lee has at least some support, but as Linda hasn’t been up yet her support is difficult to access. However I think that she will actually pick up more votes than people are assuming. It’s fairly safe to assume that Luisa will be ahead of both Lee and Linda – so Lee to go.
Won a few quid the other night on a daft bet that the boys would somehow manage to squeeze past Man U, so I might as well squander it on this.
Best of luck David.
Lee cannot be polling very high and has been very quiet for a few nights. Linda getting lots of airtime.
If it was vote to evict I think Linda would be on the way but vote to save is completely different.
Im on a hatrick after
Jasmine and Lionel got evicted so fingers crossed.
Linda’s had the screentime but I find it hard to believe she’s motivating votes – more the opposite. She comes across very badly.
Another issue regarding Ollie’s speech was the clear bias and manipulation in both the highlight show and BBBOTS (again) which failed to show the full context. For those who didn’t see the clip yesterday here’s the background. (I assume the clip is still available on the website.
Ollie clearly failed the sitting on the ‘sitting on the fence’ task. Even Sam managed to do this without too much difficulty. It seemed pretty clear that not only was he reluctant to express an opinion, he didn’t even have one – hence the dithering and changing sides. Following the task Ollie was called to the diary room and effectively given an ultimatum – to start doing something or else. Ollie then went into the bedroom and actually told Linda and Luisa about this.
So when the speech came Luisa was hardly surprised she saw straight through it. Far from being something spontaneous, it was totally contrived. Ollie acting at playing Ollie. Luisa clearly misjudged her comments and the way in which she did it, but I do think her assessment of the situation was correct (in my opinion).
Yet for some strange reason this clip did not appear in either show,nor even alluded to, and there was no mention of the warning which Ollie had recieved from BB. I wonder why.
Where did you get this info from?
Natasha – there were links to the videos on DS yesterday. They’re probably quite a long way back so doing a quick look I can only find the second one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTqDGKb6Fwo
This is where Luisa and Linda mention Ollie being called to the diary room – but this part was cut out when the rest was shown last night.
The first video is where Ollie tells them that he had been called to the diary room but I can’t find the thread now – sorry.
ok thanks 🙂
olee out to 2/1 for next eviction linda as short as 1/3
i do believe that BB has some form of interference, Dappy was the first sign of this, he totally changed mid way into this series as he was heading for a quick end of career in the first week or so. If this stuff regarding ollie is true then its good news as they look to be engineering him into pinching the victory from jim at the final hurdle.
Lets hope you are right mate and hope they can pull it off
Why would they want him to win? If Jim is popular surely it makes more sense to engineer a win for him and offer him a show afterwards. Ollie couldn’t carry a handbag let alone a show of his own.
As an aside has anyone noticed how Luisa covers her mouth every time she’s about to tell a lie. She takes a drink and holds her hand over her mouth and here at Hamby Court we point at the screen and shout “incoming” and then she says something.
Well now we know – yesterday was engineered to give Ollie and Sam the biggest possible push when the starting pistol was fired tonight. Ofcourse Ollie blew it, so they contrived to give him an even bigger push. They must be desperate for him to win. I still think that Jim will be in the lead, but we can expect favorable editing for for Ollie over the next few days, and they’ll be hoping that he can still sneak it.
As usual I might be being cynical, but perhaps it’s the links to OK magazine and so on that are driving this. They’ve been given access for interviews during the show, and are no doubt already signed up for some exclusives afterwards, so if they’re the winners it would help. I don’t think that they are particularly against Jim winning – it’s just not what they expected.
I’ve invested most of what I was prepared to, and other than a win for Dappy or Lee nothing can upset me too much, so I’m tempted just to sit it out now and see how it unfolds.
Jim for the win and Dappy second or third would make me happy. If Casey could somehow manage top girl too I’d be over the moon but I can’t see that happening now.
I’ve wish I hadn’t missed the last two episodes. I bet they were great.
What were the reactions and facial expressions when Linda was announced? Did she realise she’d given it to Jim? Also how did Sam and Luisa look?
I can now envisage a jim first dappy second finish, with ollie probably taking 3rd. I would be willing to lump on this, only problem is sky bet are the only ones running the straight forecast ATM and im limited to a 7 pound bet!
Jessica – I had to reduce 3 hours of tv down to an hours viewing, but from what I saw I don’t think it has occurred to her that she might have been Jim’s greatest asset. In the interview she said that she thought that she was very popular within the house, but not having been up for eviction she wasn’t sure about the public felt. (the cheering for Jim obviously didn’t give her the clue). Anyway she said she really enjoyed it – I’d dread to see her when she’s on a downer.
Jessica – I watched them and BOTS. Linda is completely delusional. She had no idea she’d given it to Jim. She was aggressive with Emma Willis in her exit interview and seemed rather shaken by the public reaction. She could only justify it to herself by obsessing about how Jim was ‘playing a game’ (as if no-one else is!!!). Amazing. Jim for the win and Dappy second would make me happy too.
Thanks. It’s good to know other people also see what I see.
I fancy Casey to go this sunday, should be close between her and Lee but think lee may have the edge with his blue following
tonights splash- the value has to be with Richard Whitehead at 1/2 to qualify. A gold medalist paralympian MBE has got to be a cert i would think
Usually as each series of Big Brother draws to a close the house finds a sort of equilibrium. The most difficult housemates have been evicted and those remaining have either become friends or at least found a way to live with one another. This series is no exception as early on we saw Jim and Luisa and then Ollie and Luisa acknowledge their differences and get on together regardless. In fact Jim and Luisa had three conciliatory conversations but more of that later. First let’s pay a brief tribute to the turd in the cooking pot, the now evicted Linda.
Linda was born with bile ducts where her brain and her heart should be. The up side is that she’ll be a shoo-in for Amazing Bodies. The down side is that she is a truly horrible human being. Linda needs someone to hate the way the rest of us need oxygen and in a closed environment like the Big Brother house that makes for a truly amazing housemate because no-one can remain unaffected by her malignant influence.
Emma’s interview (at least what I saw of it) was excellent. She sat back, respectfully asked questions and allowed her subject to reveal herself. Linda’s reptilian stare and anxious, flickering tongue spoke volumes. It reminded me of a scene in a book by Dr Oliver Sacks when he saw a hospital ward full of deaf people laughing at a politician on the telly. He asked them why they were laughing. They all said, “he’s lying,” and none of them could hear a word.
Buddhists say that acting in anger is like picking up a red hot coal to throw at your enemy. It burns you to the bone before it hurts them and you might well miss anyway. I hope when Linda gets home she’ll have an epiphany and realise that holding on to grudges isn’t worth it. I think it’s more likely she’ll have a wank and a Pot Noodle but whatever. I hope it makes her feel a bit better.
If anyone believed there was a potential relationship between Ollie and Sam the conversation about farts while he gave her a massage must have set them straight. That’s not even friend zone. That’s “as soon as I get out of here I’m going to run away from you and get the fuck away from you as far and as fast as I can” zone.
It really is no wonder Ollie is single.
I’ll try to get to Casey. Lee, Luisa, Jim and Dappy in the morning. I’m too tired and drunk for now.
Suprised the owners of this site havent approached you to do a final write up, im pretty sure guildo did one before last years final
Thanks Stoney but I’m happier blogging away in the comments. Daniel asked if anyone wanted to write for IAC last year and I wrote a lot in the comments for that but didn’t want an’official’ article for that either. It’s nice that people like reading it. That’s enough.
Whos your fancy to go tonight?
I’m not sure. Casey is the obvious choice but Jasmine is coming in tonight and may motivate some sympathy votes, also she may be the recipient of anti-Luisa and anti-Lee feeling.
If you twisted my arm I’d say Casey but I’m not betting on it.
GREAT SHOW. Thought something like this might happen. Glad I didn’t bet on it.
The Casey-Lee saga rumbles on. Casey seems to think she can make Lee love her by sheer force of will. Casey love, it aint gonna happen. The best she can hope for is that Lee mostly sleeps in her bed and eats her food, doesn’t borrow too much of her money and keeps his extra-maritals discreet and occasional.
Lee’s not a cad. He’s not sophisticated enough for that. He appears to believe that things only exist when he is looking at them, a weirdly solipsistic view better suited to a three year old child. I keep expecting him to say ‘a big boy did it and ran away’. He gets away with because he’s hiding in a grown-up body.
Apparently Jasmine is coming back into the house tonight to make her feelings known. For a brief time Lee will have to acknowledge that she’s real and that he made declarations of love to her. It should be a nice moment but it won’t make any difference to Lee. Trapped in a state of apparently eternal priapism his penis really is the organ doing the thinking and he will say and do whatever is required to get those nice, funny, tingly feelings.
I can’t decide whether I think Lee is a shit or not. Mind you, if it looks like a shit, talks like a shit, acts like a shit and stinks up the whole damn place like a shit then it’s a shit. Don’t know what I was thinking for a moment there. Put it down to an outbreak of end of series bonhomie and let’s move on.
Actually Lee it IS your fault.
I hope Jasmine shakes Casey out of her silly love-struck daze. I still have feelings for Casey. We were very close at one time and I still care. Also, if she kicks that oxygen-thieving fanny rat in his nutsack I will win some money. I suspect the only cure for her now is to get out of the house but I haven’t entirely given up hope in her yet.
Dappy felt bad about Linda getting evicted, got drunk and went to bed. I wish they wouldn’t make such a big deal about it every time someone gets evicted. If it’s not insincerity then they’re so stupid it’s embarassing. It’s a game which works by nominations and evictions you muppets. A momentary pang for the loss to your small, temporary, ad hoc community I can understand but anything more is self-indulgent twaddle. I wish one day someone would stand up and say “thank fuck you’re going. I hate you to your marrow.” That would be a reaction I can believe in.
Anyway, I don’t think Dappy did his chances any harm. He’s still looking good for top 3 to me but it all depends on how much support the wildcards Samanoly are getting. They do appear to be polling higher than their show profiles merit.
Luisa and Jim to come but I need to organise my thoughts so I’m going to get get out of the bath and bake a chocolate and vanilla cake before I start on them.
Jessica – can we assume Lee didn’t manage to win you over with his eviction interview?
I was impressed by his maturity and willingness to take responsibility as, I’m sure, was everyone watching. 😉
And so to Luisa.
In an earler post I said that I didn’t expect Luisa to have much of a narrative of her own but to involve herself in other people’s stories. With the exception of her arguements with Lionel (oooh that bitchy old queen seems a million years ago) and Dappy I think that was the case. She inserted herself into Dappy’s attempted seduction of Jasmine, got herself invoved in the Lee / Jasmine story and then piggy-backed on Linda’s feud with Jim. I can’t make a coherent story out of Luisa’s time in the house. It’s just a mish-mash of arguements and cringe inducing sex. All the more impressive then that she’s still managed to make herself such a central character.
In his little psychoanalytic sketch Jim told Luisa he thought she was complex. I disagree completely. The key to understanding Luisa is simple. Most of us love people and use things, or at least try. Luisa does it the other way around.
She frequently speaks in slogans and cliches. “If in doubt smile and pout.” “I have the energy of the Duracell bunny and the sex appeal of Jessica Rabbit.” Blah. Blah. Blah. We haven’t had “I am woman hear me roar” yet but there’s still time.
The times Luisa has taken down her barriers and shown vulnerability have been with arch-enemy Jim but he has also been the person in the house with whom she argues the most. I don’t think this is as contradictory as it seems. Luisa doesn’t have a narrative because an authentic narrative (unlike samanoly) requires the person or people involved to show an authentic part of themselves.
Jim used to hide behind barriers but he has been hurt – by cocaine, by public rejection and finally by Operation Yewtree. To get through all of these Jim has had to look at himself. He explicitly said that he had to open up his life to investigation by his own lawyers to defend himaelf. Jim has examined himself (in the gnostic rather than medical sense) and has made peace with what he has found, good bad or ugly. That is how he has withstood the relentless provocations. He has a clear sense of his own identity and so could not be shaken. They couldn’t undermine him because he knows who he is.
On BOTS last night the panel suggested it was all an act. If so he’s very good because he’s lived
that part for three weeks without coming out of character. It’s Jim Davidson not the bastard child of Machiavelli and Daniel-Day Lewis.
I believe it is his clear sense of self that Luisa is both attracted to (hence her showing vulnerability and authenticity) and resentful of (because she wants the artificial sexy superwoman she has constructed to be taken for truth and Jim doesn’t do that).
In fact Luisa’s moments of serenity and vulnerability with Jim are the reasons I think he is genuine. If he wasn’t she wouldn’t, in fact couldn’t do that.
There are plenty of things one could add – how Luisa goes on about how attractive she is but when Big Brorher calls for the most attractive housemates to pose for a selfie her name isn’t mentioned (that must have hurt) or how often she says she’s honest when she’s anything but (shades of Lee swearing on his life) but they’re all supporting beams to the construct which is the way Luisa has decided shewants to see her. The point is that far from being the mosst genuine person in the house Luisa spends almost every minute of every day trying to be something she’s not.
It must be exhausting.
*** TYPO ***
the construct which is the way Luisa has decided she wants THE WORLD to see her.
Really interesting article by Liz Jones:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2545887/Inane-vain-terminally-moronic-The-pathetic-reality-life-Celebrity-Big-Brother-house-Three-weeks-ago-Liz-Jones-began-toughest-assignment-This-deliciously-barbed-verdict.html
Sam is now available at 33-1!
Hi everyone,
Am glad to see everybody seems to be in great betting positions. Fingers crossed on CBB for y’all 🙂
Shan’t elaborate, but I feel as though I’m in deep grief for the winners I’ve missed out on the last couple of months. Lately, I haven’t had the time to put in the hours of analysis. I should have won vastly more money than I’ve ever done. Truly gutted at the run of lost opportunities I missed and overlooked. Instead, all I have to show is diddley squat and a host of skim-analysed losers.
However, a late and small consolation has come into view, perhaps: noticed The Jump market and felt big relief to find that Laura Hamilton did not take part in yesterday’s opening heat.
Snapped up the 7/1 and further attacked the 6/1 (still available)
Imo, 5/2 is a price that is more (and most) indicative of her chances of winning the outright, of being the best jumper. (On that punning note, it would have tickled me if Gyles Brandreth had been taking part.)
The 1/2 for her to be top female should probably best be swerved. A 1/2 favourite in a skiing based celebrity reality show ain’t one to be lumping on.
I’m on goughie at 4/1
Nothing much to say about last night’s show except that it was funny to see Luisa say “carry on what you’re doing” to Lee in the morning and “I told you not to go to bed with her” to him in the evening.
I looks like they’ve given up on Ollie now. The odds suggest that Jim cannot lose. It looked all over on Saturday when they allowed Carol McGiffin to express some more balanced opinions on the ‘self important speech’.
Last night was the Lee show on both the HL show and BOTS. I really don’t know why they give so much time to that imbecile.I didn’t mind the eviction interview so much – as he just kept on digging and digging for himself, but last night, having been briefed by his agent what to say, Emma really did let him off too lightly – yet he still made himself look like the completly self centred idiot that he is.
Hardly anyone else got a look in last night with both Sam and Ollie being near invisible.
Casey’s mum will no doubt have won quite a few votes for her – but I still see her finishing sixth. Sam will probably finish above her due to her existing fan base, whether she deserves it or not. Luisa should be well ahead of Sam, on the basis of the entertainment that she’s given us – but I can actually see the votes being quite close either way.
I see the boys finishing top three – even though I would prefer luisa to make it. Rather than Ollie battling Jim for the win, I think he’s now battling Dappy for second place. Dappy seems determined to show us his ‘Dappy Dick’ before the final night. I would be panicing if Jim and Dappy are sitting there as the final two – even thogh I cannot see how Dappy could possibly beat Jim. However I think that Ollie will edge it – with a few anti Jim votes going his way and picking up votes from Sam, when she drops out.
Anyway that’s the way I see it going, best of luck to everyone.I’ll will be out on Wednesday – so I’ll know the final result before I watch it.
I completley agree with you David. I’m already over my 3rd consecutive loss 🙁 Those being X Factor, SCD and now CBB) The support for Jim is unreal and I imagine he will win by a huge margin with no one even being close. Time to take a break i think!
I’m the same tash although I didn’t lose any money on the x factor. Thank god britains got talent is coming soon. Can’t deny Jim the win at all though he’s been the best house mate and is the biggest shock winner since alex reid
Yes, looking forward to BGT, not on our screens till April though I don’t think? I won’t watch CBB tomorrow as i’ll be in a sulk lol
I disagree about the shock factor Stoney. I’ve been saying it’s Jim’s for a while now – since the night Jasmine followed him into the garden. I think it was you or Andrew who first suggested he was in with a shout after he was called with the most votes at the first eviction.
One thing about tonight – the winner might be done and dusted but there will probably be some action or a twist of some sort that may influence top 3 and top girl places for which there may still be some value.
Casey’s mum gave her a big help yesterday and if she can magic something up tonight she might yet be worth a punt. Might be worth keeping oddschecker open in case she does something special.
My mantra for betting on the show is unchanged. Events dear boy. Events.
I’ve been trying to write a long post about last night’s show which I really enjoyed but I’m really busy so may have to incorporate it all into either a pre-final’s night thing or even a post show.
I so wish I could watch it but I daren’t even take a night off because I’m on a one month rolling contract and if they don’t keep me I’ll need all the holiday pay I can get.
Bah!!!!
Anyway, I know it’s not over yet and I should have at least one if not two more opportunities to bore you all to death but may I give a quick premature thanks for the company. I’ve really enjoyed analysing and blogging these shows and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it. All comments are most welcome, positive or negative, but please keep it constructive. I’m more sensitive than you might think. 🙂
Yeah once hed been in there a few days the shock factor started disappearing but the night he went in there i didnt see many saying he could win it, most people know him and a homophobic racist, who missed last years show when he was arrested pretty much as he was about to go in, and most believed it was linked to jimmy saville. His odds were around the 50/1 mark, again i doubt too many backed him at that price. I could not see him winning in a million years, and im gutted cos i went to see him live a coupleof years ago and really enjoyed it, if only i supported him in the BB house 🙁
I don’t want to probe into personal grief but I’d love to know…. Why did you (and Tash) pick Ollie before the show started? From the first episode of Made In Chelsea he was always insipid and in Big Brother he was just the same.
In fact why did you pick anyone before the show started? When did you begin to think he wouldn’t win it? And did you back anyone else at that point?
It just seems to me that trying to back a winner before the show has started is a bit of a raffle. It’s like the Joey Essex fiasco in IAC. People backed him and insisted that he was going to win, citing as evidence the fact he was being picked for task after task when being picked for tasks is a sign that the public DON’T like you. It’s as if once they’ve picked a ticket they can only look at supporting evidence and can’t see anything else. It makes for an emotional ride but I don’t think it’s a great strategy.
Well probably the same reasons as most other people backed him i guess, seeing as he probably held the favourite spot for longer than any other contestant i would say. Just that i found him nice and inoffensive, appealing to both men and women, definate winning qualities. One of my mates actually said to me he fancied jim for the win at the 25/1 stage i said hes never gonna win it. Hes kicking himself now having failed to back his instinct!
Hey Jess,
I’m sure you’re aware of this, as I know you like your psychology, but for anyone who isn’t –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
One of the most fascinating – and dangerous – aspects of the punter’s mindset! So easy to fall into, so hard to guard against.
BTW, even though I haven’t been watching CBB, I’ve been loving your posts.
Good luck everyone for tonight!
Hi Andrew, can tell you’re not watching CBB. The final is *tomorrow* night!
Personally, as a Jim Davidson backer since launch night (and a much stronger one since then), I wish the final had taken place when it was supposed to, on Friday just gone. The extra few days wait isn’t doing me any good but I’m still 99.9% sure he wins it.
Thanks.
I knew it was a phenomenon but I’d forgotten the name.
You might like Irrationality by Stuart Sutherland. He looks at all sorts of things like this and is very readable.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/feb/24/featuresreviews.guardianreview27
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en-GB&redir_esc=&client=ms-android-tmobile-gb&source=android-browser-type&v=133247963&qsubts=1390943533948&q=irrationality%2C+sutherland%2C+review&v=133247963
Jessica – you could be right about the battle for second and third. Earlier today Sky Bet were offering 11/4 on Ollie and 6/4 on Dappy for second place. I’m fairly convinced that it will be one of them, and possibly favouring Ollie. You can cover both options and still get a 25% profit if it’s Dappy or 87% if it’s Ollie as long as one of them comes up. Not a bad return for one day. I don’t have a Sky Bet account, and I’ve already spent enough on this, but it does look interesting. This looks better than try to predict third place where Luisa may still come into the frame.
Returning to your question about why people backed Ollie very early on, I think it depends on your strategy. The best strategy is always the one which wins. If you back Ollie (the favorite) at long odds early and he wins, it looks a great strategy. If he doesn’t win it doesn’t looks so good. This was the first time I’d bet on Big Brother so used it as a learning curve. I also wanted to limit what I risked. I decided to put on about 25% of my stake at the start, hoping I would hit the winner. I bet on Sam at decent odds, which would have been a good win if she performed, and also put a covering bet on Ollie. This still left 75% to place as the series progressed. But clearly you need to be able to identify how things are going, and adjust the strategy to suit. In betting (and investment too) people are usually too reluctant to accept that they’ve made the wrong choice until it’s too late – I think you clever people have put up some links about this which I’ll try to read later. However I think one of the issues was the speed at which the odds on Jim dropped, going from around 20/1 to 8/1 almost overnight. By the time I got money on him it was down to 13/2, which has made it a bit tight to adjust to try to ensure a reasonable profit. However even at this point it wasn’t clear that Jim would win – just that he was in with a good chance. I’m fairly (probably very) cautious, so I’ll be quite pleased to come out of this with a small profit if Jim wins. Would I have done better by holding back? – probably not, Jim hasn’t been a clear winner until late on so I would probably still have hedged my bets, and more than likely at shorter odds too. So as a first attempt at this probably not too bad. Maybe the lesson I’ve learnt is that I’m not really cut out for betting on Big Brother even though I’ve enjoyed following it. (unless Dappy wins ofcourse).
PS – I’m sitting watching tonights episode – Ollie just seems to get more and more bizarre (I don’t think they need to worry about names for the babies). Apparently Sam will be speechless if she wins – we thought she already was.
Casey goes first tonight that much is clear. And I think the 2/1 for sam top women is generous. She has a big following and louisas sucking up to Jim the last few days should see Sam able to seal that position. Although the way I’ve called this series Sam Will probably go out first!
Another issue regarding potential winners was the perceived relative popularity of the contestants. Unlike Big Brother where everyone starts from the same base, in Celebrity Big Brother each person already has a base level of support, which may give an indication of possible votes.
I think that this did favour Ollie (MIC – approx 1/2M viewers) and possibly more so Sam (TOWIE – approx 1.1M viewers), who are appearing regularly on TV. The Apprentice manages 5 – 6M viewers, giving Luisa greater exposure, but only for twelve or so programmes, and far less likely to transfer into support than the other two.
Whilst I may have been disparaging about Dappy’s chances I have to acknowledge that he has indeed managed triple platinum sales (as part of N-Dubz at least) meaning approx 1M people have actually stuck their hands in their pockets to buy his music. Are the same people prepared to spend their money on votes? Blue have managed even higher sales, but much further back, and Lee has not has any individual success.
Of course this was drowned by Liz’s claims of 69M readers (which I didn’t really consider until she said it), but whatever the basis of the numbers it certainly didn’t manifest itself in significant votes, but may explain why she wasn’t bottom.
Another clue might be social media. Again it’s difficult to assess how this might transfer into votes, but the numbers are interesting. At the bottom Casey has around 60k Twitter followers. Next are Lee and Luisa with around 120K each. Ollie is much higher at 500k- strangely close to the viewing numbers. Dappy has 700k, whilst top of the pile is Sam. I’m not sure what pearls of wisdom Sam disseminates through the ether but apparently 1-15M people are hanging on to every word. I certainly think that this was reflected in the 8 way public vote where Sam was in the top 2.
Ultimately however this is perhaps only an idea of a base level of support, and as the programme progresses you need to translate this into real support. Sam and Ollie appear to have failed.
I was hoping they’d throw in one last task last night for the hms to have fun that might clarify finishing order for us. As it is I have no idea.
If there’s justice either Luisa, Casey, or Dappy would get it. Ollie and Sam would be 5th and 6th. And Jim, of course would win.
I don’t think Ollie will do much and since Joey’s failure I’m not convinced that Twitter followers mean much but I wonder if Sam’s TOWIE cast mates calling for support might make a difference.
Tbh apart from thinking Jim will win I’ve got no idea.
I’m on Jim to win (nice profit), Casey to win and be top girl (a Casey win would be a great result for me) and Dappy for top 3 (cover all my stakes). I lost on Liz for top girl.
Whatever happens I’ve had fun. Part of me thinks it would be hilarious if Sam or Ollie came out of nowhere to win now (I wouldn’t have lost enough to hurt and it’s been a great ride).
For those who think Ollie can still make 2nd place a Jim – Ollie straight forecast at 4/1 looks good value. I think I might be tempted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPV2CQ_822k&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Jim davidson 4/9 paddy power is the longest ive seen him for a few days, is there a shock on the cards here? Dappy looking biggest threat, ollie coming in again, i think the key for ollie is when sam goes out, if sam goes out next he will pick up a big vote surge
I loaded the betting slip to snap that up but then my tube train went underground and the chance was gone!
Anyone know if the final voting figures are ever announced / published?
(I’m gonna miss the CBB markets)
i managed to get some on it, but not enough to claw back my losses, jim was a deserved winner, im glad dappy didnt pip him to the post. Voting percentages do get revealed, not sure when
The voting percentages haven’t been revealed now since BB summer 2012, which is a huge shame. It’s not like it’s the BBC! I’d be (very) surprised if they were ever released.
I’m pleased I was out – I would have been panicking. In the end the win for Jim and Luisa top girl was a good overall result. Stake money back and a decent profit, which gives me something to squander on The Voice now. Well done to those who spotted Jim early and stuck with it.
Great call on the Dappy / Ollie second place bet from David. I couldn’t see Ollie featuring in the top 3 at all. I hope someone took advantage of that.
I had a gag lined up about Ollie being so far in the closet that he’s taking tea with Lionel and Mr Tumnus but I can’t be bothered to write the blog to go with it so y’all can have that one for free.
Hearing the boos and cheers it strikes me that really the show is nothing more than pantomime. Or else pantomime has a lot more archetypal truth in it than I realised. Either way it doesn’t seem surprising that a seasoned panto performer won it. He knows about drama, he was given a great opportunity, he found a fabulous role with a powerful storyline and he played it beautifully. I wonder what the odds are on a Generation Game revival.
The villains got punished, the heroes got rewarded and true love prevailed (or at least Lee got found out). Good luck to all the housemates. Good luck to my sofabet fellows. My all of us get what we deserve.
Unfortunately I didn’t take advantage. In the end I decided to place the last of my stake money on Luisa for top girl, to top up a bet from last week. I actually based this on the Tellymix poll. Although totally unreliable in absolute terms, I think watching the swings between each weeks poll can be useful. The actual numbers of people voting for Sam had gone from low to virtually non existant, which suggested to me that she had even lost a lot of her base support. Enough to make me confident that Luisa would beat her in the end – and so it turned out.
Jessica – thanks for the blogs – it made interesting reading throughout.
Ok following on from my blind bet on the jump which fell at the first hurdle I’ve placed a couple of bets having watched a few episodes. Marcus at 5’s is my main bet with kimberly at 10s on a smaller bet which I may top up as she is looking good in more than 1 way!
In maison Cook it’s time to start catching up on The Voice. I’ve been allowed out from the isolation of watching CBB, and started with viewing week 1 last night. Mrs Cook has already seen these and identified a couple of favourites.
On first impressions I agree with previous comments that Emma and Marvin are a good combination for the presenters, and Kylie and Ricky seem a good choice too. The panel seems quite well balanced. There were some quite promising acts in the first show, with a good standard overall – probably better than the X-factor.
It’s very early days to be thinking about placing any bets, with just 18 out of 48 acts being chosen so far. However there do seem to be a few spoilers and rumours around as to who has and has not made it further.
If anyone else is watching, and happy to share their thoughts, I for one would be pleased to hear them.
Still with The Voice and first thoughts on who might win it. After two female winners in the first series, it wouldn’t suprise me if they favour a male winner this time round. I also think that Kylie might be a favourite as a coach (people love Kylie) and could well pick a few votes for her acts just for being Kylie. So if Kylie does have a decent male act in her team they may be well worth considering. Could Lee Glasson be that person? The good news for him is that personally I wasn’t too keen – which probably means he’ll do well. The strange thing was that I got the distinct impression that Kylie wasn’t to keen either. I might be reading it wrong, but when the others all turned I think she thought it would be churlish not to, as he was doing her song. She seemed obliged to comment first, but the comments and her pitch seemed luke warm, yet for some reason he still chose her – bad choice I think.
On The Voice choosing the right mentor is just as important as them picking you, and it’s surprising how many of the contestants seem to dither – you would think that they would have thought about this in advance. Based on week one I thought Beth McCarthy chose well going with Ricky – but Anna McLuckie made a poor choice with Will.
To what extent do we think acts on The Voice are guided towards their choice of mentor? I’d guess that as with XF the producers must go into it with some idea of which handful of acts they want to go the distance, and they won’t want to risk all of those acts choosing the same mentor – maybe the ones earmarked as cannon fodder get to choose who they like, but the select few they have their eye on get a nudge and a wink from a production assistant beforehand (“of course I’ve no idea if anyone at all is going to turn around, but if you have the choice I strongly recommend you go with Kylie”).
Lesher haughton is going to take some beating
Im sorry but even with the sympathy vote im saying perri walks the splash competition. I took some of the 6/4 before the show. Cant see that being around after tonight
The difficult things is, there are no online polls to get an idea of who the public like between Richard and Perri. Perri is evens now and Richard is 11/8 and his price will shorten after Saturdays semi.Is it a given that Perri will walk it over Richard MBE? I didn’t watch his dive so don’t know if he won his heat out of sympathy? Also didn’t watch Perri’s dive saturday so it’s probably best i catch up!
The voting public are very patriotic evidently love an olympic medalist in these shows as they have gone on to win. Louis Smith on SCD last year and Beth Tweddle on DOI last year. Eddie The Eagle was an olympic medal winner too wasn’t he? If I have missed any others that havent gone on to win these types of show then please correct me and also please add others that I may have missed off. Richard Whitehead is not only an olympic medalist, but a paralympic medalist who is seen as an ‘inspiration’. I can’t see how Perri can beat that?
Rebecca Adlington didnt do too well in the jungle, thats the one that sprung to mind on the negative side of it. Hes dive was decent enough to win his heat, but i cant see how he can move it forward very much, Tom has already said that he cant do summersaults cos of his center of gravity. I wouldnt be suprised to see them ease his marks down for the semi or maybe in the final. If this show was on BBC id say richard wins it hands down. But seeing as diversity are owned by Cowel id say perri will get every help to win the final. IMO of course
Yes, you are right, I forgot about her! I caught up on the shows I missed and I agree that Richard can’t do much else than what he has done already and the semi final requires 2 dives so he is somewhat limited. Perri messed up his second dive but I assume they will highlight his redemption in the final and score extra for this (that’s assuming he doesn’t f**k up). His dives were pretty awesome and did have the wow factor on saturday. What I noticed when watching Richard after his dive was the arrogance on his face when they read out his scores, like he wasn’t expecting anything less. I’m ruling out everyone else and see this as a 2 horse race. Lets get this one right lol
Law of averages say something has gotta come good sooner or later! I had a shocker with the jump too. Thought I was gonna end my baron run then marcus withdrew due to injury. I’m cursed at the moment!
Aw no!! Ladbrokes are still offering evens at present and have limited the amount you can stake on Perri. I’m sure after semi final 2 Richards odds will shorten slightly meaning Perris should drift back out to evens with the other bookies also
Yeah I think so too unless they use the semi final to start taming the support for richard. I doubt very much the 6/4 for perri will become available again. Id like to see perri pulling something spectacular out of the bag from the 10 meter board on final night which is definitely possible
So on to The Voice! I think that it is way too early to be putting down anything other than tiny bets. Besides, the battle and knock-out rounds have been filmed aready, so someone somewhere has the full list of (presumably) 12 finalists and I don’t really want to throw away money on an event that has already happened.
Trawling various sites for spoilers, I have the names of three of the finalists, although have no idea how reliable this information is. Would there any objection from the Sofabet team if I were to post these?
I’ve also heard that there are no “fast passes” to the semis this year which is interesting if true. Last year, amongst other tactics, it was used to push a favoured act (Leah) rather too obviously. I think it cost her votes either because the voting public didn’t like the blatant favouritism or they assumed that everyone would be voting for her anyway and therefore didn’t bother to pick up the phone.
Using gut instinct and an idea of past performance, there were two acts last night that stood out for me; Sarah Eden-Winn and Rachael O’Connor. The former being the BBC viewer-friendly sort of act that will win the competition, the latter being the sort of act that the coaches want to win.
Post away, Dan! Spoilers’r’us 🙂
Okey dokey then, but please take these with a massive pinch of salt. The three finalists I’ve seen mentioned are Jermain Jackman, Sophie-May Williams, and Sally Barker. Apparently, Anna McLuckie got knocked out at the battle stage as well..
I’m not too suprised that Anna McLuckie got knocked out. I assume she would be sans harp in the battle rounds and really that was half of the act. The harp and voice complemented each other really well – but the voice on it’s own? From what we’ve seen so far Will has quite a strong and diverse team, so this was the problem when she chose Will as mentor, as I don’t think she is the sort of act that would get his full backing. Did anyone get a chance to steal her?
In maison Cook we are now up to date with The Voice. Thoughts are starting to turn to just how much of the programme can actually be taken at face value. Unusually we are in agreement regarding personal favourites so far – Sophie May Williams (this confirms that she cannot possibly win). The performance was slightly lacking – there was a distinct lack of screaming , shouting and ‘look at me’ histrionics. But other than that it was faultless. However only Will.i.am turned. Now clearly I must defer to the 100 years combined music industry experience of Tom, Kylie and Ricky, set against my zero, but I just don’t find this credible. Maybe Will.i.am was right when he said ‘I don’t know what they’re listening to’ or maybe there’s a rabbit away here.
In the middle of the scale is Christina Marie. The performance wasn’t great, but equally it wasn’t dreadful. The basics are there but there were a few errors, and the choice of song wasn’t too helpful, if only because the comparatives are so strong. This time Tom, Kylie and Ricky all turned. Now they may well think that with a bit of coaching the errors can be relatively easily sorted of, and maybe they can, but with the auditions, battle rounds and knockout rounds filmed in such a short time, can the coaches make that much of an impact? Do they seriously think she stands a chance, or are they also perhaps choosing acts which they can afford to lose in the battle rounds.
At the other end of the scale was Jessica Steele. I don’t want to sound too unkind, but in my opinion she was absolutely dreadful. And yet it was a straight flush of coaches. They must be confident in their abilities because I doubt if Henry Higgins could sort it out in a month of Sundays. And that’s before you even start on the pitch and timing issues. Or have I lost leave of my senses (or at least my hearing)?
I’m starting to think that there’s more to The Voice than meets the eye (or ear).
The stand out contestant of week 4 was definitely Rachael O’Conner with her version of Clown. Ninety seconds isn’t long to make an impression, and it’s obviously difficult to get the balance right between showing enough and doing too much. Rachael seemed to get it about right and the judges were impressed. The pimp slot and amount of time allocated all seemed to suggest that they expect her to go a long way. I’m not sure about Andrew’s comment that she will appeal to the coaches, I honestly think she will appeal to the viewers too.
The thing about doing Clown is that you can make comparisons, so I spent a few minutes looking at Youtube clips of Emilie Sande as well as Sam B and Carolynn Poole on X-factor. Rachael’s version does stand up very well – she sings it straight and her voice has good tone. The only slight doubt is the lack of ‘tricks’. In Carolynn Poole’s version she uses some subtle vibrato as well as trills, which work really well (and impresses Gary Barlow) – Rachael seems to use moving her jaw to try to modulate the sound to get a similar effect but it’s not quite so good. However at sixteen she has plenty of time to develop these skills with a bit of coaching. But it might be an issue in the Battle rounds. Some of the others seem to use so many tricks, generally comprising of screaming and grunting, that it’s difficult to fit the singing in – and a lot of them seem to get through too – for some reason the judges seem to like it.
This is where Leverne Scott Roberts comes in. Her version of Explosion contains so much in the ninety seconds, yet it sounds beautifully crisp and understated. You’re so busy listening that you barely notice how good technically she is – and that’s exactly how it should be. Things like the little run were perfectly judged without appearing forced at all. Okay, once the judges had turned she did fall apart – but I think that was just emotion getting the better of her. Just don’t do it again!
Definitely two to add to the ‘ones to watch list’.
I might be cynical but occasionally – just very occasionally – I’m right.
http://www.ok.co.uk/celebrity-news/exclusive-interview-sam-faiers-opens-up-about-her-future-date-with-ollie-locke
It’s enough to make you want to take out a subscription isn’t it. Can’t wait to hear what they have to say.
Following on from my comments earlier I was thinking about why Leah McFall failed to win The Voice last year. Sure I think that the OOT pimping worked against her, but I think that there might be another reason. I don’t think she lost because she wasn’t good enough – it was more likely because she was too good. For Leah every appearance became a technical tour de force of her vocal ability, there was just one problem – she forgot about the singing. Of course having the technical skills is good, but these should be used sparingly to enhance the performance, not to take it over. On the X-factor they love to talk about ‘connecting with the song’, but they’re right, the best singers of whatever style can draw you in to their performance – the listener needs to connect too. With Leah you knew she was good, but at the same time you felt shut out. How can you feel connected when the performance becomes a series of vocal tricks? I thought that her version of ‘Killing me Softly’ was a prime example of how she managed to detract from what is a beautiful song. Take away the gimmicks and the voice just doesn’t stand up to Roberta Flack or Lauryn Hill.
In some ways I think that this is at the root of the problems with The Voice. The ninety second audition encourages contestants to squeeze in as many tricks as possible to try to catch attention. The Battle rounds tend to pit acts against each other into a ‘who can screech the loudest/highest’ competition. When you alternate one line at a time how can you possibly get in to the performance? In many ways it is the antithesis of what good a good singing performance should be about.
Andrea may not have had the technical skill of Leah, but I think that for the viewers at least, it’s all about the singing. You could feel an empathy with her, which you never could with Leah. Something to bear in mind this year?
KMN.