‘Celebrity Big Brother’ review: Carol McGiffin given warning over n-word; Ron Atkinson in trouble
Before we tuned in to “Celebrity Big Brother” tonight, we did so with a certain air of defiance. Could this season of the British show really be any worse than the one in America? After watching an entire episode of this show, the answer is “maybe.” We’re not as familiar with the British format as we are with the American one, which is probably why so much of the conversation felt to us dry since there was so little strategy conversation during most of it. Instead, we had Courtney Stodden being judged / misjudged, and opinions being handed out about how rich Dustin Diamond really is.
What we find interesting here is the difference in which Channel 5 chose to handle racist language on this show, and how CBS has handled it on their own “Big Brother” in America.
In a conversation on tonight’s broadcast, it was revealed that Carol McGiffin used in the n-word in the context of talking about something that Ron Atkinson (already nominated by the super-cheesy “Cult of Celebrity”) said to end his career. She was quoting him allegedly, but it did not matter: She was taken into the Diary Room, told that her language was unacceptable, and any further use of it could lead to her expulsion from the game.
Meanwhile, U.S. “Big Brother” houseguest GinaMarie Zimmerman has used the n-word twice on this season so far, and there have been no warnings to our knowledge. Plus, one of her two instances came when she was not even quoting anyone, and she has said she would say the word even more were it not for society. We don’t know why the shows are handling it differently, but the UK version has it right.
Photo: Channel 5
disappointed with CBB
August 25, 2013 @ 9:57 am
I actually think Channel 5 are hypocritical – Carol McGiffin used the n word to report what it was Ron had said that caused the end of his career. She was merely reporting the facts. However if we are to agree with Channel 5 and Big Brother and that this word is offensive,even in the context of explaining what someone else has said, to the point it was bleeped out and a subsequent warning was issued, then why did Channel 5 see it fit to let the person issuing the warning to Carol in the diary room say the n word themselves without censoring/bleeping the word out. Double standard I think. Channel 5 and Big Brother used the n word in the exact same context as Carol did, to report what someone said. Yes Carol could have phrased what she said in other ways e.g ‘he made a derogatory racial remark’ etc but let us not lose perspective – the true racial offense is from the comment in the context Ron Atkinson used the word, not Carol McGiffin.
amy
August 24, 2013 @ 11:26 pm
Dustin, are you joking. obviously you aren’t from the UK because Louie Spence is huge. he will win no doubt