Part Two of The Crucifixion Of Terrence will be uploaded, later today (see below for Part One), before we take a look at the brief return of everyone's favourite "little person", Rima. Til such a time, I've managed to get some of the material of the past few weeks (though this is missing an episode or two of anti-Terrence material). So, let's have a peek at some of the journey of Terrence on that one-way road to Rebecca Wilson...

"Can I just say that I disliked you, from the very beginning..."

Rebecca Wilson

A few weeks ago, much fuss was made when Nobbi and his gang of crows happily set young Travis up in the spa. What the Kombi King did in this scenario was to basically set up face-to-face friction between two people, in order to satisfy a sadistic agenda. Many different people called it many different things, but "bullying" seemed to be the general conclusion, and, try as it might, the show could not keep their marketable male clown. Nobbi was evicted. The next night, many fans were somewhat amazed to see him being treated like a superstar on Mondays' Big Mouth. All panelists agreed that regardless of a couple of naughty moments - like, say, deliberately sexually unnerving a 50 year old woman, or bullying a defenseless, innocent young man - Nobbi was just an all-round great guy and, as Jackie O had already declared him on the eviction stage, a "fantastic housemate". And that was Nobbi - we thought the question of bullying might begin to fade from the proceedings. We were wrong. Every year, there is a dinkum die crucifixion, a fully fledged flogging, that the show creates a deliberate spectacle out of and, for the most part, is almost entirely responsible for. We got 2008's, last night. And, when all is said and done, they sacrificed the wrong guy: flamboyant bogan-with-a-pop-spiritual-twist, Terrence. For all that may have been... well... unbecoming about Terrence (for the most part, aspects that paled in comparison to some of the vile creatures he shared the house with), he really didn't deserve it.

Jackie: "I know!"

Picture this. It's long, long ago (go back as far as you need to, but make sure it's the last century), and there you are: younger - perhaps a little fresher - and utterly naive as to what the millennium will bring. Cars that fly in the sky, perhaps, or robots that bring you the morning paper. The future will be a wonderful place, surely - how positively... modern it will be, to live in the opening credits of Beyond 2000. Imagine what the future will bring?

You can remember this person, but you can no longer "be" him or her, because you are no longer living in the past, where today is both a presumption and a fantasy, but in 2008. It's Monday morning, and, last night, you watched your favourite (or not) TV show, and here you are - online - reading some guy who sends little musings about this TV show, through the wire, to your house, every day. Like a robot with the morning paper, I come to you, at your own choosing. We talk about the world we live in - a world that younger version of yourself knows nothing of - and today, your trusted (or not) cyber friend - a man you've never met - asks you to remember yourself, many years ago.

"I feel a little bit like Gretel is coming back."

Gretel Killeen

Poor little Big Brother celebrities. There they were, yesterday - the businesses they work for having a mutually beneficial arrangement – and poor little Kyle, and sweet, dear little Jackie, and, yes, the much maligned Gretel Killeen, “connected” (for lack of a better word) in their trials and tribulations. For they – only they – know what it is truly like to be the host of the beast that is Big Brother. In typical fashion, most of the 2DayFM radio interview was about themelves, and how difficult what they do is, and how much unfair criticism they receive, and how much Big Brother affects them and consumes them. Of course, there’s many who would suggest these people ultimately consume themselves. Or, perhaps, they are consumed by the Machine™ they bend over for. Imagine it: you long to transcend your ordinariness – your humanity – and become a product; then, next thing you know, you’re begging your public to remember that you are just an ordinary human. Oh, the irony. But, you know, welcome to the wonderful world of pop culture. Don’t let the door hit you, on your way out.

"I thought I couldn't survive without Eric, and now I've realised that I can."

Brigette

A few weeks ao, we saw a moment where the show, rather blatantly – rather desperately – grabbed at it’s seemingly last chance to inject sex and romance into the mix, with the arrival of Cherry and Rhianna, 2008’s “hot” intruders. She was a needy young mother, and he was a player who lived for the ego kick of sexually conquering women – even to the point of keeping a personal record book of his prowess. Rhianna set her sights on Ben, but was soon white washed by Rory, only to be quickly evicted (with a little help from Cherry). As for our blonde predator, he quickly lucked out with his attempts to seduce Brigette and, as blonde predators tend to do, reconstructed the scenario and tried to have us believe that he was no longer even trying. It looked like sexual and romantic interplay was officially dead for the 2008 season – to the dismay of quite a few fans. 

"That's not nice..."

Terri

Well, that was Nobbi. By tonight, you can be pretty sure that whatever had been said, in regards to the show actually wanting him to remain, that was pretty much out the window, after last night. That boy couldn't have walked out that door quick enough for them, considering he was now potentially sitting on a sexual harassment scandal. I staggered in, at 2 in the morning, to find my email going a little crazier than it would usually, in the early hours of Sunday morning. By today, I'd secured some of the footage in question, and the show had begun deleting any mention of the incident on forum boards. Now, everyone.... just.... forgeeeeeeet..... you are getting sleeeeepy.... oh, fuck it, you're on Eye On Big Brother. I've no intention of letting anyone forget. So, what happened that had so many feathers ruffled by the light of a weekend moon?

Two things. Firstly, those watching live feed witnessed Nobbi and Rory deciding to taunt Terri, as they sat in the spa, by confronting her with their.... what word should I use... dicks. That's what they used, during the moment, so I'll follow suit. In particular, Nobbi stood out from the spa, and performed the "Helicopter" - something Terri then refers to Rory also deliberately doing in front of her, as well. I've known this term by it's much less friendly name of "meatspin", but "helicopter" seemed the choice for BB forum users, so I'll run with that, too.  If you've never heard of either term, I'm sure you can use your imagination and work it out. Here's a hint: helicopters have blades, and they... well.... spin. 

Terri was instantly offended, and made it very clear how distasteful she found the whole thing, while the boys laughed and Nobbi jabbed, "Geez, Terri, don't you like Asian dicks? You're a racist!" An ochre immigrant taunting a racist Hanson supporter, while he sexually harasses her - now, there's something you don't see, every day! That was enough to start the furore on forum boards, as many asked the rather logical question, "Would this be sexual harassment, in any other context?" The answer, of course, is "yes". I'd discussed this behaviour, and the standards of nudity, before. It's one thing to "be" nude - it's "how" you use it, where things differ and lines become crossed. Even at a nudist camp, you're not allowed to use that nudity in a way which is deliberately designed to harass others or make them feel uncomfortable. I'd already noted Rory's behaviour in the showers, as Big Mouth aired his pathetic attempts to assert his dominance through the size of his appendage. 

However, it would seem there's some more material of Rory's shower escapades that we have not seen. Beyond the actual spa incident of last night, the second drama came not from what happened, here, but from a following conversation where Rory reportedly (I haven't seen this part, myself, but it was verified by many forum users, so we're to tentatively presume it happened) confessed that he often waits for Terri to come into the bathroom, while he's showering naked, and masturbates himself, in order to make himself erect and, hence, make Terri feel uncomfortable. I'm not taking anything away from the question of whether Nobbi's act was inappropriate or not, but this was the element that interested me the most. If this boy has been systematically doing this, why don't we know? If such behaviour is going on in the house, aren't we entitled to see it? To, at least, be told of it? These things are pivotal in understanding the developing dynamics between housemates, but we miss them, and all because the show wants to control it's PR, and not lose any of its only hotties to another scandal like the infamous Turkeyslap. 

Now that Nobbi's out, the show will receive a get out of jail card, when it comes to Nobbi's behaviour. But Rory, after all, is still in there, so I'll be very interested to see if this goes anywhere. With Big Brother deleting any mention of it, it would seem that (as always) they'd rather not address it, and are hoping no journalists have stumbled across it. But it certainly still dominates alternative forums, and 24 hours is long enough for someone to catch on, somewhere. Considering how dull this is all looking like becoming, perhaps they'd be happy for the attention, but sexual assault scandals are not something this show needs - particularly when it involves the "cover up" dynamic.

So, before tomorrow's eviction blog where we say our final farewell to the beguilingly awful Nobbi, and... well... never mention him again (drop in tomorrow, if you can), below is some of the footage of last night's moment in question. Again, it's all I've got of it, and I'd dearly love to see more of what happened right before this - it kind of lands right at the moment, when, as always, it would be nice to evaluate the planning of this, and to what extent it was "meditated", at all. The only ther potential discrepancy is in the "Helicopter"; while forum users talked of Nobbi doing this (we don't see him, full frontal, in this clip), I've a suspicion this came, rather, from Rory's admission that he performed the helicopter for Terri, and that perhaps Nobbi was doing something else with his, in the spa. That doesn't make a big difference - whether he was spinning his dick around, or not, isn't terribly consequential - but it's worth noting. Ultimately, we can only imagine what Terri is shown; but, it does involve Nobbi's genitals, that much is made very clear. And, at least, you'll get the context. I also find the converation that follows this, rather interesting. Rory groups everyone into one of three groups: mates who have seen his dick in the locker rooms, women who have seen his dick because they're having sex with him, and everyone else who - as he puts it - "doesn't matter... I don't give a fuck about them." Boys in locker rooms, girls in bedrooms, and... well... nothing else. What substance there is to the simple world of being a Rory! See you, tomorrow. 

"The Moon Monks... looking for new recruits."

Mike Goldman

A lot of the time, what we’re really looking at in Big Brother - through the fishbowl, looking glass, etc – is ritualism. This week, we saw some evidence of intelligence within the Big Brother 2008 team (we’ve seen nothing else to go on, so far), when the show’s design recognised this ritualism by turning it into an almost metaphoric – at very least, dynamically parallel – task. But it’s not a clever statement, or even a joke; it’s just a rather interesting way of forcing what they know is working for them at the moment – the social ritualisation of the Big Brother “society”. The segregation and division of power amongst the group is a natural phenomenon – it’d happen, without any interference from the show’s design, as it already has. But just in case it slows down – because it nearly always does, as the group hierarchy “settles” – out comes the enforcement of group-forming and the declaration of this group through symbolic ritualism. It looks extreme – almost comical – but it’s not designed to provide laughs (though it achieves this purpose, too). It’s designed to keep the friction going, and to thrust Nobbi (in what may be his dying moments) into the spotlight he has basically held for the entire season. We can probably be quite sure that it will achieve both those goals.