Tasha405
06-19-2004, 07:24 AM
The Associated Press
Big Brother wanted conflict, Big Brother got conflict. And how.
Several early morning viewers of the reality TV show phoned the police this week when insults, threats and the odd kitchen implement started flying in a boozy brawl that left the set a shambles.
Hertfordshire Police reviewed tapes of the incident with an eye for criminal charges and a university criminologist severed his ties with the show Friday as behavioral experts blamed the production company's pursuit of ratings for the fracas.
Faced with flagging popularity for a tired format, producer Endemol came up with the slogan "Big Brother Gets Evil" for this fifth series.
The house was made smaller to encourage discomfort and the 12 contestants chosen had little in common, including a political activist, an aspiring topless model, a former asylum seeker from Somalia and transsexual.
The volatile combination of different personalities and dirty tricks proved explosive and security guards were sent into the house early Thursday morning for the first time in the history of the show to break up the fighting.
Channel 4, which broadcasts the show, cut the live TV feed but several horrified viewers saw enough to contact police. OFCOM, the government's media watchdog, is also investigating after receiving complaints from viewers.
Behavior experts said the brawling was an inevitable — and possibly planned — result of a fake eviction last week.
The contestants left in the house believed that legal administrator Emma Greenwood, 20, and aspiring model Michelle Bass, 23, had been thrown out after a public vote.
They were in fact placed in a studio apartment on the same site and allowed to observe the others for a week, hearing several negative comments about themselves.
The pair were also encouraged to play tricks on the other contestants. They took revenge on their greatest critics by giving one a series of cold showers, placing eggs in the bed of another and cooking a chili chocolate cake for a third.
They were returned to the house late Wednesday evening, triggering a confrontation.
Greenwood hurled insults at student Victor Ebuwa, 23, whom she had seen accusing her of being stupid, boring and racist. She launched a serving tray at him and he retaliated by pouring a glass of wine over her and shouting threats.
Bodybuilder Jason Cowen, 30, screamed at 21-year-old student Marco Sabba who had instigated a food fight with Greenwood: "I'll knock you out! I'll take your head off, end of story."
Greenwood was isolated on the set in solitary confinement on Friday.
"Putting a group of strangers together in a tiny house is bad enough," said Professor Cary Cooper, professor of psychology at Lancaster University. "Take some of them into isolation and show them what people say about them when they're not there, and things are likely to explode."
But it paid off in ratings. Seven million viewers tuned in to watch the fracas on a highlights show Thursday evening, representing a huge surge in ratings after a big drop-off following similar figures for the launch show on May 28. The show's Web site slowed to a crawl Friday as it tried to cope with thousands of hits.
The incident prompted Professor David Wilson, a criminologist at the University of Central England in Birmingham who was a consultant with the show, to quit. Wilson said it was now "inappropriate" for him to be associated the program.
Cooper warned that the producers were playing a dangerous game.
"They have to be quite careful because someone could get hurt," he said.
http://entertainment.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=161705
Big Brother wanted conflict, Big Brother got conflict. And how.
Several early morning viewers of the reality TV show phoned the police this week when insults, threats and the odd kitchen implement started flying in a boozy brawl that left the set a shambles.
Hertfordshire Police reviewed tapes of the incident with an eye for criminal charges and a university criminologist severed his ties with the show Friday as behavioral experts blamed the production company's pursuit of ratings for the fracas.
Faced with flagging popularity for a tired format, producer Endemol came up with the slogan "Big Brother Gets Evil" for this fifth series.
The house was made smaller to encourage discomfort and the 12 contestants chosen had little in common, including a political activist, an aspiring topless model, a former asylum seeker from Somalia and transsexual.
The volatile combination of different personalities and dirty tricks proved explosive and security guards were sent into the house early Thursday morning for the first time in the history of the show to break up the fighting.
Channel 4, which broadcasts the show, cut the live TV feed but several horrified viewers saw enough to contact police. OFCOM, the government's media watchdog, is also investigating after receiving complaints from viewers.
Behavior experts said the brawling was an inevitable — and possibly planned — result of a fake eviction last week.
The contestants left in the house believed that legal administrator Emma Greenwood, 20, and aspiring model Michelle Bass, 23, had been thrown out after a public vote.
They were in fact placed in a studio apartment on the same site and allowed to observe the others for a week, hearing several negative comments about themselves.
The pair were also encouraged to play tricks on the other contestants. They took revenge on their greatest critics by giving one a series of cold showers, placing eggs in the bed of another and cooking a chili chocolate cake for a third.
They were returned to the house late Wednesday evening, triggering a confrontation.
Greenwood hurled insults at student Victor Ebuwa, 23, whom she had seen accusing her of being stupid, boring and racist. She launched a serving tray at him and he retaliated by pouring a glass of wine over her and shouting threats.
Bodybuilder Jason Cowen, 30, screamed at 21-year-old student Marco Sabba who had instigated a food fight with Greenwood: "I'll knock you out! I'll take your head off, end of story."
Greenwood was isolated on the set in solitary confinement on Friday.
"Putting a group of strangers together in a tiny house is bad enough," said Professor Cary Cooper, professor of psychology at Lancaster University. "Take some of them into isolation and show them what people say about them when they're not there, and things are likely to explode."
But it paid off in ratings. Seven million viewers tuned in to watch the fracas on a highlights show Thursday evening, representing a huge surge in ratings after a big drop-off following similar figures for the launch show on May 28. The show's Web site slowed to a crawl Friday as it tried to cope with thousands of hits.
The incident prompted Professor David Wilson, a criminologist at the University of Central England in Birmingham who was a consultant with the show, to quit. Wilson said it was now "inappropriate" for him to be associated the program.
Cooper warned that the producers were playing a dangerous game.
"They have to be quite careful because someone could get hurt," he said.
http://entertainment.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=161705