Seemingly gone are the days of meaningful punishments. I recall back in Celebrity Big Brother 7, as punishment for discussing a secret task, Jonas (Basshunter) was locked in a room with a housemate of his choice (Lady Sovereign) with his song All I Ever Wanted playing on repeat for seven hours. Louis, along with Marisha, for breaking the fundamental BB rule of not discussing nominations a second time was punished by being made to… wash dishes for a day. Just because he was lazy and never did any housework doesn’t make doing basic chores already expected of him a suitable punishment. Perhaps he ought to have been locked in a room being made to listen to, as he put it, the bad pop songs he inflicted on the public.
Despite failing shopping tasks and being on an economy budget, the celebrities were still given extra tasks to win parties and food rewards. They’re supposed to be on basic rations! Why is there practically a Chinese buffet in the storeroom? This doesn’t feel in the spirit of our Big Brother of the past years who we all know and love.
In BB’s defence, Bradley’s eviction was beautifully brutal and well executed. I thought nothing could top Matty’s letter from ‘home’ being an eviction letter from Big Brother in the last civilian season - having AJ meet Bradley at the rendezvous was an iconic evil twist that the housemates didn’t see coming, even given that some mentioned watching the last series.
Big Brother has traditionally been a little mean, playing with the contestants' minds to create bad moods and drama. Perhaps the switch to ITV, given the numerous controversies attributed to Love Island, led to an improvement in Big Brother’s moral compass. However, I believe this dilutes the show’s core values and appeal.
Maybe our Big Brother is losing his charm, and getting kinder with age. Maybe I’m the evil one for wishing he'd return to his previous antics and carry out his full wrath on wrongdoing housemates. I just think he’s being too nice.