the real Shilpa

[craigiep]

Why can't everyone see Shilpa Shetty for what she really is - vain, conceited, manipulating, scheming, self-pitying, divisive and exceptionally irritating? She has never been anything else in the CBB house. My views have nothing to do with her race and everything to do with her personality, and I want her evicted NOW!

[kags]

I think she might well be a little irritating to live with, but then aren't we all? I really can't see why she is evoking such strong reactions in people - yes she probably is a bit vain, all celebrities are, and especially those who have achieved such huge sucess as she has. I am not sure who you think she is manipulating, and as for self-pitying, I think she has done remarkably well at remaining dignified in the face of the treatment she has received. Her presence HAS been divisive, but this is because some of the other housemates have chosen it to be so.

[poppyflower]

personally i cant stand her, and all this racist malarky is BS, its just an excuse to draw attention to bb! its ridiculous and shilpa needs to get a grip ! and stop crying for gods sake, sorry had to let that out

[FoxLee]

I think one has to bear in mind all the time that Big Brother decides what we see, they have control over how things are presented and can influence our views. Even in the supposedly live show, they can blank out the screen when they want. Yesterday I watched a bit of the live show - it was 6.l5 p.m. and Jade was asking the time ' is it 5.30, no it's quarter to six' - so why was it half an hour behind 'real' time? I guess it gives plenty of time to edit what we see.

[katangel26]

The reason why they do the live shows half an hour behind is so they can edit out the comments made by the housemates about other people outside of the house, things that they could get sued for saying, not anything to do with them being able to edit what we see in that way.

I can't stand shilpa, comments have been made by her and jermaine that are actually racist yet no-one says anything about them!

[tubeway]

I agree - Shipla and Jermaine have made racist comments and nobody bats and eyelid.
BB say they will not condone bullying - but what about the bullying that Grace gave out last year - or the way Jodie Marsh was bullied on last years CBB - what Shipla has received is no worse.
I attracts viewers and creates publicity - so of course it will be allowed to go on.

[Supernick]

I do find Shilpa very annoying, and I can't put my finger on it. However, it's easy to see that she's an intelligent, kind woman, who's managed to maintain a dignity when others around her are clearly tossing theirs away. I'd rather hang around with someone who annoyed me occasionally than the catty, bullying mob that has emerged in the BB house. What has Shilpa actually done?
There's chickengate, where she accidentally undercooked the chicken. Big Deal. Jade says she thinks that she isn't genuine. So based on her speculation, (with nothing to back that up) it's fine for her and other housmates to gang up on her?
The racism charge is actually quite serious. I really think that we're talking more about staggering ignorance in most cases, although saying things like "That's why Indians are all so thin. They're being sick all the time" is pretty indefensible.

On a wider note (I'm really not making a chauvenistic point, and I'm tiptoeing around), why is it that on the whole, men seem to get on when thrown into a reality TV environment, but the women get really catty? It doesn't happen all the time, but enough to make it apparent.

[galltin]

You're obviously forgetting last year's spats between George Galloway , Pete Burns and Michael Barrymore.

[andy-hughes]

Supernick -

One of the interesting aspects of BB is the way in which the genders cope with isolation and confinement. It is the nature of women to discuss their feelings in depth, and at length, and to bond or reject with those to whom they relate.

Men tend to keep their feelings hidden, and relate to each other on a more superficial level, hence their ability to simply co-exist for the duration of the time they spend together.

I stress that these are generalisations, but the actions of most Housemates do bear out these concepts.

[FoxLee]

katangel - I know they have a delay, or cut the sound, when people talk about brand products or there's possible defamation but they also show what they want to show. Are we really to believe that Jack never says a word - the first time I heard him was in the singing task. I also remember when Mike Read was in the jungle - you wouldn't have known he was there, they never showed him doing anything. I think he was one of the first voted out and yet afterwards fellow contestants said how entertaining he was. I repeat, we get to see what the producers want us to.

[Supernick]

Andy-Hughes: Those were pretty much my feelings about it. I'm no sociologist at all, but was wondering if there is also a sense that men seem to lapse much quicker into the Alpha and Beta male roles. Perhaps it's easier to fall into these as stereotypically, male dominance is based on physical stature and age which is easily seen, and quickly orders people. It's not the same for female roles, so perhaps there is more of a scrap for the top, so to speak. I'm quite happy to be totally wrong!

[katangel26]

FoxLee yes we do get to see what the producers want us to, on the evening shows. The live streaming is what happens, no-one can ever watch it 24/7 anyway!

[alijangra]

Yes the live streaming is shown, but unless everyone is in the same place with the same camera on them then the producers DO decide what we see. At any one time there may be three different conversations going on in three different parts of the house. They decide which one to show.