Fuddlemiff
Is this real life?
So we got there at about 6ish and the line was HUGE. The people at the front had apparently been waiting since around midday, but we still waited till about 7:45 before we were finally allowed in. Security was really tight, all the guys were patted down by a hoard of burly Phil Mitchell lookalikes, while the girls had their bags trampled on and sniffed by dogs.
Cookie love, almost in the house now..
Then approximately half the people in the cue were told there was no more room and they had to go home. It turns out that they give away twice as many tickets as health and safety allows in, so they can always be sure it'll be packed and won't have an embarrassingly low turnout.
When we got in, we wound through the labyrinthine collection of studios and tv equipment (cranes, generators, etc), eventually passing the BB house's garden.
The garden on the right
We could hear the fake crowd noise being piped into the house, alongside the much more subdued real crowd, who were mostly shouting chavvy catchphrases such as "can I piss in your lucozade bottle?" and "how much would you kiss and tell with Luke for?". Rounding a corner, we arrived at the big stage area that you see on TV, surrounded on one side by the gigantic grey house and on the others by... nothing. I was shocked at how small it was. I know how things on TV look smaller in real life, but the side you never see on camera looks like the embankment of a train track. Just a grassy knoll with the BBLB soundstage a way back and to the left.
OOH!
BUH?
So moving on swiftly, there's an annoying guy who tries to get everyone excited, which is pretty pointless since everyone's already at fever pitch. A while into things, he calls Davina on and there begins the sycophancy. Literally every time she says something, no matter how inane (Chester's learning to swim! SQUEAL!!), the guy says she's "simply amazing", along with a variety of other stock phrases.
It's me! GENIUS! (try crossing your eyes on that one..)
Then they do tests for the trailers, Davina gets us to shout "HELL YEAH!" on cue, which works fine, until they film it live and nobody can hear what she's saying. When the show starts, everybody goes nuts, especially when she calls out the numbers. The people in front of me were Mo haters, so I gave them a run for their money when the "get Becs out" chants started.
After the second or third ad break, that all got a bit tiring and people just settled down to watch the highlights and that final segment (which Davina had squealed about already) with Becs and Luke. It was really interesting watching BB in such a huge crowd. Darnell got a lot of boos when he had a go at Mo, but there didn't seem to be any clear favourites. None of the housemates got cheers, it was mostly boos. The only major cheer was when Bec's name was called out. I realised then that we'd been standing in front of the families. Bec's family were crying, Mo's were jumping around, not sure which ones were Darnell's.
"Like, get off my dick, dude!"
The interesting bit came during the half hour break. I hoped they'd put the Kevin Bishop show up on the tv, but instead it turned out that that's when they film the eviction. Something about giving them time to mic up the contestant. So it was around 10:15 when she got evicted, everyone went completely nuts and then it all ended very abruptly as Rebecca was carted off to the studio. Because there aren't any shots of the audience after this point, most people go home. I saw a bit of the interview, but only while I waited to leave.
The slimming effects of motion blur...
Cool experience over all, interesting insight into how it all works, but I wouldn't go again unless it was the final. There's way too much standing around waiting and all the good places to stand are taken by early birds, the press or special guests.
Cookie love, almost in the house now..
Then approximately half the people in the cue were told there was no more room and they had to go home. It turns out that they give away twice as many tickets as health and safety allows in, so they can always be sure it'll be packed and won't have an embarrassingly low turnout.
When we got in, we wound through the labyrinthine collection of studios and tv equipment (cranes, generators, etc), eventually passing the BB house's garden.
The garden on the right
We could hear the fake crowd noise being piped into the house, alongside the much more subdued real crowd, who were mostly shouting chavvy catchphrases such as "can I piss in your lucozade bottle?" and "how much would you kiss and tell with Luke for?". Rounding a corner, we arrived at the big stage area that you see on TV, surrounded on one side by the gigantic grey house and on the others by... nothing. I was shocked at how small it was. I know how things on TV look smaller in real life, but the side you never see on camera looks like the embankment of a train track. Just a grassy knoll with the BBLB soundstage a way back and to the left.
OOH!
BUH?
So moving on swiftly, there's an annoying guy who tries to get everyone excited, which is pretty pointless since everyone's already at fever pitch. A while into things, he calls Davina on and there begins the sycophancy. Literally every time she says something, no matter how inane (Chester's learning to swim! SQUEAL!!), the guy says she's "simply amazing", along with a variety of other stock phrases.
It's me! GENIUS! (try crossing your eyes on that one..)
Then they do tests for the trailers, Davina gets us to shout "HELL YEAH!" on cue, which works fine, until they film it live and nobody can hear what she's saying. When the show starts, everybody goes nuts, especially when she calls out the numbers. The people in front of me were Mo haters, so I gave them a run for their money when the "get Becs out" chants started.
After the second or third ad break, that all got a bit tiring and people just settled down to watch the highlights and that final segment (which Davina had squealed about already) with Becs and Luke. It was really interesting watching BB in such a huge crowd. Darnell got a lot of boos when he had a go at Mo, but there didn't seem to be any clear favourites. None of the housemates got cheers, it was mostly boos. The only major cheer was when Bec's name was called out. I realised then that we'd been standing in front of the families. Bec's family were crying, Mo's were jumping around, not sure which ones were Darnell's.
"Like, get off my dick, dude!"
The interesting bit came during the half hour break. I hoped they'd put the Kevin Bishop show up on the tv, but instead it turned out that that's when they film the eviction. Something about giving them time to mic up the contestant. So it was around 10:15 when she got evicted, everyone went completely nuts and then it all ended very abruptly as Rebecca was carted off to the studio. Because there aren't any shots of the audience after this point, most people go home. I saw a bit of the interview, but only while I waited to leave.
The slimming effects of motion blur...
Cool experience over all, interesting insight into how it all works, but I wouldn't go again unless it was the final. There's way too much standing around waiting and all the good places to stand are taken by early birds, the press or special guests.
