Big Brother: Mikey, wake up, you're being patronised
For those of you not in the know, there is a blind housemate in this year's Big Brother reality show on Channel 4. It's awesome. No, really and truly it's utterly unmissable stuff if you haven't yet caught up with it. Hats off to Channel 4 and as they used to say on Tiswas, "This is what they want".
But many are now commenting on how 33 year old Ayrshire lad Michael 'Mikey' Hughes is being smothered by one housemate in particular: Mario, who has taken it upon himself to help Mikey as much as possible, keeps mentioning that he is disabled and is really quite patronising.
It's rubbing some people up the wrong way and many feel bad for our blind scot. Lets have a look at the last few days:
Tuesday
10:00pm (Ch4) Big Brother -- We see housemate Luke in the diary room talking about Mario and how patronising he is towards Mikey.
Wednesday
7:30pm (E4) Big Brother's Little Brother - The sister show to BB. We see 'it girl' Tara Palmer-Tomkinson loosing off at Mario for smothering and patronising Mikey. She also suggests it'd be good to be in a relationship with a blind man because he wouldn't be able to see what she looks like first thing in the morning.
11:05pm (E4) Big Brother's Big Mouth -- The late night studio chat show about the big big reality show. Guest hosts 'Queens of Noise' remark on how patronising Mario is to Mikey.
So, readers of this blog, the only person who appears not to complain about being patronised is ... Mikey himself! What's going on???
It's fascinating to watch but Mikey, stand up for yourself! You're a bright fella, you absolutely shine in the Diary Room but when you get out into the wider house you just let Mario sit on you! Come on man, when are you going to say something?
I beg you as a fellow blind person. On the other hand, it's beautiful to watch it happen from afar, rather than just have it happen to me as per ordinary everyday life. Maybe I don't want it to stop at all. It's art! Pure art.
Comment number 1.
At 24th Jun 2008, maniak_59 wrote:1) I notice people's first comments on meeting him were not "Hi" but "Aaaah!"
2) I don't think he wanted to play the triangle in the music task but they gave it to him "because it was easy".
3)However, as time goes on the other housemates are talking to him more like a person, if not like an equal. I think it is good that he is on Big Brother at all, because otherwise people might not encounter blind people ever.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 7th Jul 2008, glammyleg wrote:How does a wheelchair user get up or down those Big Brother Steps?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)