OK OK so I confess, after holding out I finally watched a bit of Big Brother this week...

We seem to have the usual lot of pre-celebs yes, those people of zero repute or fame who nevertheless command acres of newsprint by virtue of the fact that they are about to appear on a reality show and will therefore become fodder for red-top newspapers and Heat magazine for a few months before being spewed back into the oblivion where they belong.

Having watched the horrific episode which was at its essence somewhat like Lord of the Flies when the housemates ganged up on an already fragile extremely camp asian housemate I can't see how the show is termed a 'sociological experiment' - it is an experiment that no university ethics committee would countenance -a twisted case of social darwinism meets a popularity contest ....Would I be wrong it commenting on the dehumanising effects of the house?

That Big Brother has continually found an audience is a wonder to me. Then again we live in a generally conformist climate, which routinely chloroforms people with the minutiae of celebrities' lives. Does the success of this sort of rubbish point point to the emptiness that lies at the heart of the success of the plethora of reality shows — the voyeuristic fascination with the antics of a bunch of wannabe celebrities resulting from people trying to escape their own largely unfulfilling lives.

More than this, though, is the increasing debasement and exhaustion of this genre. Think back to 2000, when Big Brother picked relatively straightforward contestants and the show seemed fresh and compelling and like most I did watch and enjoy the show. Some of the later BBs caught the imagination through genuinely appealing characters such as Helen, Jade and Nadia who all shared with us their endearing naivete and won the hearts of the nation.

Having watched it this week, it seems to be an increasingly dispiriting exercise whose only point seemed to be incubating the non-careers of a bunch of mainly idiotic, self-obsessed and incredibly unattractive (personality and physically!) desperados who all want to cop off with each other on national television in the hope it will lead to party invites, porn careers or wonder of wonders, a celebridee column in one of the various magazines, who make their money out of stories like " Jade puts out the rubbish in piank sweats"...

I do wonder how much longer the BB format will last... for me... its going to be a long summer...

Cxx