Teen Times - Two views on 'Big Brother'

Maria Fallon:

It comes in for a heap of criticism, but this year's Big Brother is a welcome relief for all those non-sporting television fans out there who haven't succumbed to football fever. Most people who watch BB are too embarrassed to admit they're watching it. So, for Irish Times readers who are too busy or too high-minded (or both) to watch Big Brother, here's a brief synopsis of what you missed and are missing.

After two weeks or so of the series, one of the housemates, George, a toffee-nosed English public school boy, decided to leave the show because he remembered: "Oh wait a minute, I don't actually want to be famous."

Duh! Then why did he choose to go on it in the first place, that's what I want to know.

Perhaps he didn't realise there were cameras everywhere in the house and that he was being watched 24/7 by millions of viewers worldwide. The reason people go on BB is to become famous because they are not happy with their own lives and want a change.

Take Nikki. No, please take her. She is a 24-year-old promotions girl from north London and she is pure comedy, an Oscar-winning actress in the making. Not a day goes by that she's not throwing hissy fits and pulling faces about the conditions enforced in the house. I mean, no bottled water? A girl needs her Evian!

She is a huge character in the house and is very entertaining to watch, but I'm sure you wouldn't have the same opinion if you were living with her. Nikki has also proved to be incredibly moody and has some of the housemates driven mad, but the public loves her and she keeps escaping eviction.

This year's housemates are different to those of other years. Pete is a handsome, fun-loving guy who suffers from Tourette's syndrome, which means that often he shouts out expletives or twitches involuntarily. There has been huge controversy over his participation in the programme, with some believing it's pure exploitation by Channel Four. I myself don't have a problem with his condition being on display and I think it has raised awareness of Tourette's. To be quite honest, Pete seems the most "normal" person in the house and is, deservedly, already the bookies' favourite.

That, for me, is the real beauty of Big Brother. Go on, have a look. You know you want to.

Maria Fallon (16) is a student at The King's Hospital School, Dublin

Danielle Doherty:

Viewers have no clue who these people are, yet already they are a vital part of their world. Reality television is about as real as Never Never Land. There is nothing real about viewing someone else's life or someone else's experience.

The Big Brother cameras follow contestants about and give us an insight into who and what they are. These contestants have signed up in the pursuit of money and instant fame. For them, it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to escape their own reality. These are people who would laugh if you suggested they engage in charity work, but when the prospect of money and self-glorification comes into the frame, just watch them go.

Their motives are obvious. Instant fame is the carrot that lures people into the reality-television world. Reality television takes ordinary people and sets them up in extraordinary situations on a big stage. For up to 13 weeks in the Big Brother house, they are the focus of enormous attention.

Although audiences are dwindling this year, millions are becoming hooked as we are slowly but surely transformed into a reality-television world. We seem transfixed by the idea that instant fame can be miraculously bestowed on someone from a normal background with zero talent. The contestants who win these shows do enjoy fame, but it is usually short-lived, vanishing by the time the next series comes around.

The popularity of shows such as Big Brother makes me wonder whether anyone, any more, is really real. Surely what we ourselves are doing in this moment is the only real reality. But we started to forget about this the moment television set us a new standard of "reality", the kind that's about as real as the tooth fairy - but not as sweet.

Danielle Doherty (16) is a student at Moville Community College, Co Donegal

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