I'm a Celebrity...

[Yak]

Anyone interested in an I'm a Celebrity thread? I know it's an acquired taste but if enough of us are interested it might be fun

[GloomyGraham]

I have watched a few UK 'Im a Celeb' series but this year I thought 'I haven't heard of any of them' (apart from Farage).

Even on our Aussie version I think of half of them 'who the hell is he/she'?

But I have just watched the first few episodes and found some of it quite interesting.

Though that 26yo 'social media person; having a fit when the 51yo French guy said 'I'm old enough to be your father' and she's like 'never talk to me again.'

Ummmm what? His comment was about mathematics. Not any kind of personal insult. Weird. Totally weird.

[Bertie]

I've never really been one for any of the Saturday night entertainment shows or Reality TV shows. For some reason, despite the cruelty to Animals in this one, I'm A Celebrity was one of the very few I found myself watching some of each year.

However I haven't even bothered with that in recent years and I haven't seen any of this series so far, either.

As regards what the French guy said to the younger woman - yeah, from what I've seen reported, it does seem like an overreaction. Which wouldn't be a surprise given that it's a young social media influencer, so very aware of the kind of behaviour / accusations / targets that may get her air time, talked about, and sympathy and support from the desired sections.

Although context is important (something that's often ignored these days!) - and that works both ways, of course. So while what he said reads perfectly valid, I guess how he said it, or if they'd had words before, then it could be taken as a dig or condescension. But, as I said, I haven't seen any of it so don't know the context beyond what I've seen reported.

[Stephen]

One of my school friends actually competed in this a few years ago, but even then I had no interest in it! It kind of sounds like a fun one-off experiment to see how people react in these situations, but year after year?

Yet it seems the public love it!

[Boatbuilder]

I'd rather watch paint dry.

[Yak]

Yes the 'dad' thing was very strange - I had never heard of either of them before but I honestly can't see that he was being deliberately offensive and he did apologise sincerely.

On another note, enough of Farage's bum already!

[Barnard]

I don’t watch any of these ‘celebrity’ orientated programmes and have therefore never seen ‘I’m a celebrity’.

[Boodi 2]

I agree with John (Boatbuilder) and like Barnard I avoid such programmes.

[Yak]

Reality stuff is generally not my thing either but there's something about this that I like

[GloomyGraham]

Even though I don't have a clue about most of the contestants, I've quite enjoyed the episodes to date in this series.

Some of the contestants seem really nice. But - as in real life - some would quickly drive me up the wall if I had to camp with them for a while.

[Yak]

That boxer guy - who I'd never heard of - is annoying me a bit... seems bad tempered and full of himself. I like Fred though (who I'd also never heard of )

[GloomyGraham]

Nella I still find annoying, though she's not as bad as before.

One of the guys I find the most likeable - Sam - is so much of an Energizer Bunny - that I think he'd do my head in most days. I'd need lots of solo trips to the creek to get away from him for a while.

[GloomyGraham]

Really annoyed with Nella and now hoping she gets voted off asap.

3 guys voted for her and made her camp leader.

In assigning chores, none of her decisions are for the good of the camp. Instead she takes revenge on many of the guys and rewards the girls.

Not the sign of a good leader at all.

[Barnard]

It’s probably like being voted form captain at school. It’s fun voting for the one least likely to be any good. It happened to me once.

[Bertie]

Really annoyed with Nella and now hoping she gets voted off asap.

3 guys voted for her and made her camp leader.

In assigning chores, none of her decisions are for the good of the camp. Instead she takes revenge on many of the guys and rewards the girls.

Not the sign of a good leader at all.

Not in the least bit surprised to hear that to be honest.
I see / hear that similar kind of thing nowadays in pretty much every show I watch at some point - usually accompanied by phrases like 'girl power', 'sisters before misters', 'sisterhood', etc.

It's portrayed as a positive bit of fun - a bit of 'mild sexism' but, like with 'positive' discrimination, perfectly fine as it's aimed at the right target. But I think the frequency and deeper feeling behind it really isn't 'a bit of fun' - it (and often there's much more than just one example) seems more to reflect an increasingly divisive 'us v them' attitude that I don't think is healthy in the long run. The aim should be stopping sexism / discrimination in all forms, not just swapping it and saying 'it's our turn now'.