So, we have a new series of Big Brother starting on Channel 5 here in the UK, and as a warm up, we are seeing the celebrity version begin. The cast list for this drama is, some might say, the usual mix of lower grade celebrities desperate for some extra limelight, so we see the ubiquitous serial advertisers and X factor joke votes Jedward, alongside the wife of the House of Commons speaker Sally Berkow and the ex-wife of David Hasselhoff, Pamela Bach. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as there is a suggestion that some of these people may be somewhat media hungry and willing to play up for the cameras.
I wonder how much good this sort of thing does for our society. How much the drive for fame, and the assumption that it will bring fortune and by extension happiness is a positive thing? I suspect that it really isn’t such a positive thing at all, and it will be interesting to see how perhaps the archetypal example of the damaging effects of fame and fortune, Kerry Katona, gets on, for yes, it is true, she is in there as well. What might be interesting would be if she chooses to use this platform to discuss seriously here rise and fall, and perhaps to give some insight into the dangers of the path that she took.
Of all of the celebrities that have been selected I am most interested to see how Jedward get on, not from any sense of cynical amusement, or even shadenfreude but simply because I genuinely believe that of all of the recent manufactured celebrities, they actually understand what they are. They make no real pretence of considering themselves talented, they don’t seem to have bought in to the cult of celebrity in terms of inflation of ego, but what they have done very successfully is to commercialise themselves and make a lot of money whilst they can. Consequently I would rate them as the most successful of all of the reality celebrities, and wish them the best of luck….
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