BB8: 8 RANDOM THOUGHTS

1. It's the most back-to-basics Big Brother since series 4*. There isn't a foreign transexual, sari-wearing gay man or a bottle-shagging slag in sight! Instead, they're the kind of annoying people you'd find (or maybe know) in real life. How refreshing!

2. The all-girls thing has worked brilliantly! They're a watchable mix of the brash (Charley, Shabnam), the quiet (Lesley, Emily, Carole), the bonkers (Tracey, Sam/Amanda) and the semi-normal (Chanelle, Nicky, Laura).

3. Why do we call BB housemates "characters", anyway? You rarely heard the term "people". Maybe it's because calling them "characters" denies their ability to send us mad, because it implies they're not real?

4. Is it me, or is the injection of testosterone (a.k.a, ex-boybander Ziggy) so charming, understanding and normal he's bound to win? He has those ladis wrapped around his little finger already! Maybe once more blokes turn up, he'll be knocked off his Alpha Male perch and his shiny veneer will start to crack?

5. Are the twins fizzling out already? Their synchronized singing, giggling and diary room chats were just the kind of oddball craziness BB excels at. But there hasn't been so much of that recently. Have the producers decidedto edit their focus on newboy Ziggy, or are the twins relaxing their "act" a bit now?

6. Lesley, Lesley, Lesley. Please explain to me what a 60-year-old member of the Women's Institute is doing in there! I just can't fathom why she's in the house, particularly as she admits she's hardly even seen Big Brother. Is she mad?

7. I detested Tracey when she entered the house, but she's chilled a bit and seems fairly normal behind her pink hair, Jon Pertwee face-pulling and spasmic shouts of "Aveit!"

8. Funniest moment so far: Lesley collapsing under her duvet in tears, after a chat in the diary room, only to claim she's just "sniffing my mattress" to a worried Emily. The Worst. Excuse. EVER.


* Of course, series 4's semi-normal people made for the worst series ever! Boring Scotsman Cameron Stout won, remember? So maybe back-to-basics isn't the best way for series 8 to go!