TV

Celebrity Big Brother: The Final Countdown

Hosts Emma Willis and Rylan Clark
Written by Holly Wade

As the final week approached, there was a disappointing downturn in Celebrity Big Brother drama. Or, perhaps, the arguing and debating had just become so repetitive and dull, even with a ‘letters from home’ task kicking up a storm.

TV presenter Nadia Sawalha was the most recent evictee, and without her constantly at his side, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was struggling with the other housemates. His continual jibes and taunting were a sad attempt to get attention from the others.

The weekend’s task was interesting – entitled the Freak Show – with American reality show judge Michelle Visage acting as a mystic, 90’s pop star Kavana a ventriloquist dummy, and TV personality Keith Chegwin hosting proceedings.

The discussions were much the same – the insults were old and repetitive. When Kavana’s turn came to take to the stage, he was made to read out tweets about himself through song. The poor guy looked crestfallen, reading one tweet about how he lacked anything when sober and ‘#twat’. Kavana was visibly upset, believing himself to be a likeable guy, if a little boring.

First eviction of the week

By Monday, the housemates had placed their nominations for the final time. Eternally nominated Perez faced the public vote, along with Keith, Katie Price and tattoo model Cami-Li.

There was no real shock at Cami being evicted. Host Emma Willis entered the house through a secret door to announce the result and remove the 29-year-old discreetly. This surprised the housemates, who then began to speculate about whether another eviction would take place. Chegwin was the most vocal about Cami’s eviction, exploding about the house being ‘selfish.’ Cami, who was unable to leave to the usual crowds of viewers, missed out on her thirty seconds of eviction fame.

In the following days, everything seemed a little more settled, until Perez kicked off again, this time facing the wrath of reformed playboy Calum Best. Best has shown himself to be something of a gentleman, dodging his playboy lifestyle and coming across as very laid-back. But Calum revealed that he had tried to befriend Perez too many times, and now wanted nothing further to do with him. Arguments erupted.

The second eviction of the week

Wednesday saw all of the housemates facing eviction. On the outside, the public were voting for a winner, with the two housemates with the least votes destined to leave that evening. Kavana became the next evictee, accused on the outside of being boring, and for siding against national treasure, Chegwin.

And then, with a final crazy flourish and halting all rumours about an alleged clause in his contract, Perez Hilton left the house, without any goodbyes to his fellow housemates. Throughout his interview, he claimed that the show had been traumatic, and had reduced him to relying on pills to get him to sleep each night.

The final task in the house came in the form of a debate between the housemates and TV presenter Eamonn Holmes, who entered the house just to host. The discussions he raised did a fantastic job of riling the housemates, but with only a couple of days left, the remaining celebs seemed determined to keep things calm until the final.

After 31 long and dramatic days, the final arrived, with the five remaining celebs battling it out for the win. The bookies favourite remained as the controversial Katie Hopkins who, despite her reputation, seems to have shown the British public a softer side. Talk on social media favoured Calum or Michelle as the winner, shocking many when the latter was announced in fifth place. Michelle had been the most genuine in the house, and her interview proved that she was just as nice as the series has painted her to be. Keith finished fourth, bursting into tears at the sight of his wife, who he had often spoken of in the house. Calum was third, and seemed humbled to have made it that far.

The final battle resulted between the two Katie’s, with many suggesting that Price should not be allowed to win, after entering the house ten days later. Price already has a strong fan base, unlike Hopkins, but the ‘most-hated woman in Britain’ was still a popular choice to win. Social media had a minor metldown when Katie Price was crowned the winner, but with a strong support base, there was little real surprise at the reality star’s victory.

After four weeks of time invested in watching the show, many were disappointed to see Price named the winner, particularly as she did nothing worth praising while in the house. Price had been ill following surgery, so was on antibiotics during her stay, but viewers were still disappointed not to see the feisty personality they were expecting.

Either way, it’s all over and people can finally get back to more important things in their lives. Until the summer edition, that is.