Swandives

It’s Friday night (thank goodness), which normally means I’d be parked in front of the TV watching Big Brother. But there’s no more Big Brother. And it’s a week or so until Idol begins. I’m looking forward to Dicko being back on board as I really rate him.

Anyway, as I predicted Aleisha won Big Brother, over Zach, the flamboyant gay boy. Yes, I can pick ‘em. I think Zach’s a legend and I’d have loved to see him win, but I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t. Australia loves the ordinary. But the most interesting thing about Big Brother this year was that, amid the vote counting fiasco, a bit of magic occurred: we actually got to see some reality tele.

You see, the votes were apparently so close that it took almost an hour extra to count them all, forcing the poor crew to pad it out in the meantime. I’ve heard a lot of criticism about that but all I can say is: to the knockers - you try doing it. It’s bloody hard, and I think Gretel and Mikey et al did a fantastic job. But that’s by the by. The real gold happened when, needing to get through the show and still count the votes, the decision was made to let the parents of the finalists into the house.

What followed was the most wonderful 8 minutes of reality television you could imagine. There was the emotional reunion, which was expected. But then everybody sat down and actually ‘talked’. Not like people on tele. Like they were a family, with all the baggage that families have, catching up with each other. The audience didn’t know who they were talking about and it didn’t matter - just watching the interaction was enough. It was sweet, with a depth and a pathos that you just can’t contrive. It rose above the pre-planned, scripted psyco-rubbish that is Big Brother’s bread and butter, and it went somewhere wonderful. And it happened because of something unplanned.

All those who bag the show or bag the host or both miss the point entirely. They’re so busy getting their knickers in a knot about a rubber chicken throw that they fail to see the nuggets of gold that sometimes appear in the Big Brother vein.