CBB - who won & who lost

It was only three weeks.  Definite plus for me as I do get fed up with them living their pampered lifestyles.

Denise
I can't say that I was or am a big Denise fan but I don't vote so really its not up to me who wins.  I had seen her before but I was not really aware of what she does or her past history until she went into the house.  She took a real risk and for her it seems to have paid off in the short term at least because she won.  Of course her pact with the devil has raised her current indiscretion to front page news in the Red Tops.  If she had not gone into CBB I doubt whether her new toy boy would have had his cover blown so soon. But if you want to live on the front pages and bring in the benefits of Zeleb status you have to do a bit more than live a blameless life.  She claims (apparently) that she was going to give her husband the boot before Christmas so that she could spend more time with her new man. Denise doing what she does best

I do feel sorry for birthday boy Tim Healy although he has always struck me as a bit of a dick.  He did not deserve to get this news from the Star not long after offering to defend her (honour?) against Michael Madsen.
The writing was on the wall though.  He brought her a silver plated pen for Christmas.  It was engraved apparently but it looks like he was not prepared to spend more than $23 on Ebay to tell her how little he cared.  If he had any sense he would not care a jot anyway.  He is well rid of her, if only she stays away for good this time.
She spent her time in the house acting drunk and hungover in equal measures - which was not surprising giving the quantities of free booze that BB handed over.  Their plan worked. She was awful and tacky.  Only now do we hear the story of why Michael took against her so noticeably. He says that she repeatedly asked him for sex.  That seems about right.  She is certainly going through a mid-life crisis and lived out part of that on CBB.  Regardless of who she invites to have sex with her, how much booze she drinks or how many drugs she takes she will not recapture her youth but it may take some time before she is clear headed enough to realise this.
She won in part because people felt she was treated poorly and felt sympathy for her.  It looks now that the voting public were misled.  Sad to say that she won the show but has devalued herself in the process, and may well have lost her value in the years ahead.

Frankie 
I think I saw him once on X-Factor. My overwhelming impressions were that:

• he had more hair than he needed, and 
• fewer trouser belts than would be regarded as decent, but primarily
• he could not sing 

Shortly after I saw him he was gone in a blaze of publicity about his admitted drug taking partying lifestyle.  Its one thing to do it but another to brag about it and fail to show contrition.  Denise said she did it and was sorry about it so she is OK. Frankie said he loved it and was kicked off X-Factor and straight into CBB.  I thought at first that he was not a celebrity based upon any definition I could think of.  But I was wrong of course.  He is NEW Celebrity.  He lives the dream on behalf of the many millions like him who have no perceptible gifts or developed talents.  He could sing a bit, but not consistently in key.  He plays no musical instruments and cannot write a single song.  He achieved nothing at school and spends his time drinking & drug taking, having inconsequential sex and dreaming about fame and loads of money.  That is his claim to fame, he does what they would like to do.
It looked for a while as if his offensive way with ladies, generally foul behaviour and unpleasant mannerisms would endear him to the voting public as the winner and it almost did.  He got 2nd place for being himself most of the time.  Well done Frankie.
A wiser person than you would recall the words of wisdom about dissolute lifestyles passed your way by Michael.  But of course you are NEW Celebrity  Frankie does it for his fans and I am sure Michael's words are but a fading dream now.  Sadly also true celebrity status will elude Frankie and after his moment in the sun he too will lose.  He is far too hedonistic to listen to sensible advice about moderation. He has no long term value.

Gareth
He was the long time favourite to win the show.  He looked fit, an ideal ladies man, except he wasn't any more.  He was a friend to all.  He played the game.  The girls liked him, the blokes liked him (Michael even said he would prefer sex with Gareth to sex with Denise).  He never put a foot wrong.  Well, he could have taken sides in the cat fight but who can blame him.  The girls were intent on playing to their own audiences outside the house and if he had provided another target for their grand-standing behaviour he would probably have had the skin flayed off his back by the combined house harpies.  For him to come third to Denise and Frankie is real injustice, but justice has never been a key factor of the Big Brother industry. He apparently found out that it was a game show after leaving the house; perhaps he is too naive?
Did Gareth do himself any harm or good by going into the BB House?
His profile is high already: He became the first man to win 100 caps for Wales, but retired from professonal rugby in October 2011.
He supports Childline, won Stonewall’s Hero of the Year award and was voted top of the Pink List 2010 of the 101 most influential gay people in the UK.
He is a businessman.  Gareth bought the Turbo Drinks company along with London business partner Sean Smith in a deal reported to be worth £7m. He intends relocating from Cumbria to Bridgend and hopes to employ 150 people.
It seems unlikely that he did it for money. It seems more likely he did it for himself and raising his profile in the non-rugby world.  He came across as a genuinely nice bloke who now appeals to a far wider audience.  I would not be surprised to see him on TV sports shows a lot in future.  He is probably the real winner.

Michael 
Michael reminds me of a story I wrote about a British man who inadvertently finds himself in Chilean mine that has collapsed and trapped the occupants. A miners tale.  He seemed bewildered to be there, had no real idea what he was there for and genuinely looked likely to leave early - probably to find and slice the ear off his agent.  But he stayed and it was a far better show for his presence.  Why was he there? He alluded to it being a money thing.  He said that he spent a lot but he still lives in the best places.  It would have been good if he won but it will have cost him nothing to lose.  He left with his head held high.  He was Coolness Personified and it was a pleasure to have him on the show.  And even more of a pleasure for us to have his in-depth analysis of Denise on Live Nominations.

The Shannon Twins
They came, they played the game brilliantly and they left.  They showed nothing and said what they wanted.  They plotted and they delivered.  They are truly self made women.  They are strong and self assured.  They came on the show to stick the money in the bank and stick it on their CVs.  They sell what they have and what they can do.  I enjoyed their strategy.  I even enjoyed the way they did nothing domestic till about the last day, then they did cleaning, then they spoke about it in their final plea.  "We should stay because we do cleaning".  Brilliant.  It was exactly the way they work on US BB.  None of this mealy mouthed British idea where HMs are not allowed to talk about nominations or plot.  Its 'in your face'.  Well done girls, I am sure you will do well and make a lot of money.

The two American acts made it for me.  It would have been a dreary show without them.