Big Brother Finale! The Winner Is....ALEISHA!

Big Brother 07 is over, and with it go our dreams of a victory that would have set the world of BB on it's head. Alas, it wasn't to be. Zach lost by, (apparently), an insane 2% to the popular favourite, Aleisha.

As sad as I am that Zach lost, I'm not as offended as I would have been if he had lost to Billy or Travis. If he had to lose to anyone, I'm glad it was Aleisha, at least it was a win for the chicks.

There is a bit of controversy this morning about the voting system. It took them all a dogs age to work out who the winner actually was and many fans have registered zero confidence in Legion Interactive, the people who collate the votes, as they've stuffed it up in the past and there are a few questions being asked this time around too.
Apparently, some people are claiming their votes to save for Zach, weren't registering, others who were sms'ing, were getting messages from Legion as late as 2am this morning telling them the lines had closed (well d'uh!) and telling them to watch the daily show (which is no more) or go to the official website. It appears there definitely were bugs in the system, but it's all over and a winner was crowned.

Congratulations to Aleisha and her massive fan base that helped her over the line!

Last nights finale show was the WORST one I think I've ever suffered through. With no offence to people who work on the show (one of whom reads this blog and has given me many insider tips that I greatly appreciate and I adore this person dearly) I can't remember ever seeing such a disjointed, shambles of a live production, EVER!

It started off well enough, Zach and Aleisha looked adorable and Gretel was stylish and poised, I loved that the two finalists got to watch the show unfold, I loved the news headlines, I loved the walk down memory lane with all the housemates and I bawled like a blubbering baby when Zach and Aleisha were reunited with their parents.

BUT,

The pantomime?? WTF was THAT about??? I really think they need to scrap the whole HM performance fiasco, seriously, it's just cringeworthy and I was embarrassed for them. There were a few funny parts, granted, but it smacked of a" Westfields center stage, school holidays free show". It was lame!!!
The whole show seemed to be aimed squarely at an 8-14 year old demographic and I can't for the life of me understand why. Surely these are NOT the people who are voting! I know they had to tone it down after last years Turkey Slap drama, but they've gone soooo far the other way the show may as well have been produced by Hillsong for the Christian bible belt!!! What the hell is going on????

The other thing that pissed me, and everyone I was with, off- The time it took to tally the votes. For the sake of fuck! They knew the vote would be close, it's been close for the last two weeks, they knew that these two were extremely popular and by the way the votes had been going all day, you'd think they would have had some contingency plan in place to account for a close vote and needing time to count them.
But no. We had poor Gretel (yeah I said 'poor', it must be very difficult to hold a live programme together when all is falling to pieces around you) trying to "dog paddle" as Travis so eloquently put it, stalling for time and forcing us to listen to yet more gibberish from past HM's and view yet more "packages" of HM footage while we waited for a result.
On the voting itself, I think it's high time Legion made documents available to the public after the count is complete. Something official to prove that it's all above board and legal. It would just help to stop a lot of the questions and speculation if we could have some tangible proof that our votes DO count. As it stands we just have to take their word for it and with so much money involved I think we have a right to know how things work and see some tangible evidence of the result.
The whole shambles made the show seem very hashed together, amateur, and in the end anti-climactic. What should have been a big finish, was somewhat of a disappointment after waiting so long and watching the hosts flounder and struggle to keep it together. I realise shit happens and it was LIVE, and I do think everyone did a good job considering, but Big Brother, you have more money than GOD, surely the fans deserved better than what was dished up last night. It was almost a relief when it all ended.

Some stand out moments for me included, but were not limited to;
* Bodie's comment that he's "been drunk half the time" and Gretel trying to cover it up for all the kiddies, that was GOLD. What a loose cannon that dude is, it would have been good viewing to watch him and Michelle in the house together.
* How awkward was the Sussanah and Daniela interviews when Gretski quizzed them about dumping their boyfriends! hahaha! Trainwreck TV right there.
* Laura's glaring absence after writing herself off totally the day before and ending up in "hospital" after resisting arrest! That girl can not hold her grog. Clearly.
*What was Thomas wearing??? He looked like he borrowed my dad's favourite trousers, and then he tucked his shirt into said ugly trousers? Whaaaaaaat? Billy did the same and he looked like a reject from an old Western movie. The belt buckle was so John Wayne. Ewwww.
*I felt so bad for Zach when the crowd booed people who stated they wanted him to win, and felt sorry for him too to see all the HM support Aleisha had. Granted he was only a lowly intruder but it must have felt a little uncomfortable for him, bearing witness to their sour grapes.
* Wasn't it funny watching Zach and Aleisha show their parents around the house. Did it remind anyone else of open day at school when your parents went to your classroom and you showed them your desk and your art and shit? lolzz.

In summing up, I think the finale was yet more evidence that things desperately need to change next year. From the housemates, to the tasks, to FNL, to the food, to the general way things are done and even the way the house looks. We need something fresh, we need a revamp and we need to have confidence in the show once again.
A good start would be bringing back uncut, and moving the show to a later time slot in general. Seeing only a sanitised version of the HM's doesn't give us the clear picture, and as someone with insider connections was telling me last night, there was a lot of footage that might have changed our minds about some of the hm's. He's also convinced that Aleisha and Billy had some kind of sexual activity in the house as well as claiming that Andrew and Hayley had sex in the rewards room! I'm not saying we need to see that kind of stuff, in fact if it's Haydrew bumping uglies, I'd rather not,but it's another dimension of the HM's that we aren't being party too.

Gretel announced last night that BB will definitely be back next year, so I'm desperately hoping that the show will go back to it's roots and chose the type of HM's that will breathe new life into the concept, after all, at the end of the day no amount of plot twists can make up for dull housemates.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who've read my badly worded gibberish, especially the darling few who took the time to leave me a comment or two. It means a lot to know people appreciate this crap :)

I'd like to thank BBBA for all the scoops and debate. At times it can seem like a negative place but that's because we're mostly hardcore fans who truly, dearly, want to see a quality tv show and to see BB become all it can be. Thanks especially to the fan diary people and to Tim for linking to this blog on the home page, it brought many visitors my way.

Lastly, I want to thank my fabulous "insider". This person really made BB interesting for me and let me in on the ground floor with many scoops that I posted in the forums. Here's proof that he/she does exist- It's their BB invite to the after party and staff party. How cool is THAT! He/she surely has the best job in the world. This person has given me some after party pics that I will post later in the week.

I don't know if I'll put myself through this again next year, but if I do, I hope you all come along for the ride too.

It's been fun!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to turn the lights out as you leave. ;)

Love
Steph
xx