Hot on the heels of Sam Thompson's unfortunate interview for Dune 2, which prompted a discourse about the pursuit of virality over quality content, ITV's Celebrity Big Brother reboot landed on our screens.
Confused by the connection there? Well something isn't quite landing with the new series of CBB, and we'd argue that it's because the much-loved format seems to be chasing headlines and social-media snippets over creating a genuinely engaging television show.
Celebrity Big Brother has always been a slightly different beast to its civilian counterpart, but the 'social experiment' element – bringing together a bunch of people from different walks of life to live together under one roof – was always its backbone.
The current Celebrity Big Brother line-up has some genuinely interesting personalities. David Potts, with or without his trousers, seems like someone we'd want a night out with, Heartstopper star Bradley Riches has been sharing how his autism has informed his experience in the house, when given the space by Marisha Wallace, and Strictly's Nikita Kuzmin has been expressing himself beautifully through fashion.
The trouble is, we've not been given enough of that, because the cameras and the edit have been fixated on Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh.
While a peek behind the curtain of one of the Noughties' biggest Saturday-night shows is certainly interesting, the catty scenes of the former X Factor judges dishing the dirt have been taking over social feeds and dominating the narrative of the series so far. They represent a much more brutal, dare we say bitchy, time for reality television, and one that jars against what traditional BB audiences have tended to tune in for.
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While Sharon's rumoured £100k-a-day fee has been debunked, the CBB producers do seem to have bent over backwards to accommodate her, completely re-jigging the format to get her through the door. A special "lodger" title, which gives her a Get Out of Jail Free card? Done. Her own luxury bedroom? Of course. The freedom to sleep in, past Big Brother's famous alarm clock? You got it.
Then there was Gary Goldsmith. With the 2024 series' most controversial signing, ITV appeared to put the chance of getting in on the "Where is Kate Middleton?" trend above everything and he was never challenged on his past behaviour in any sort of direct way.
Mind you, while we have serious issues with some of the names that ITV has chosen to platform this time around, throwing divisive players into the house is not necessarily a departure for the show in itself.
But the key is not to present issues unchallenged and to be sure to get the balance right. Both Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother must make room for differing opinions, and for experiences to feed insightful – even educational – discussion.
Ann Widdecombe, a former Tory MP whose political CV is highly problematic for the LGBTQ+ community (and others, for that matter), was a former guest in the famous house when it resided on Channel 5.
But Courtney Act (drag queen and total icon), along with some of the other housemates, were on hand to challenge her views and, by extension, may have also changed minds and worldviews of those tuning in at home.
While we certainly aren't saying that marginalised people should be forced to live with those who perpetuate ideas that are harmful to them, Courtney's time in the house saw her opening up about how to tuck and brought about a genuinely beautiful discussion about the spectrum of gender identity. Given the current cultural climate, it's amazing to think of the platform this had at the time – and that Courtney went on to win the show.
What's more, her friendships with a group of cis straight men – most notably with Andrew Brady – were an important on-screen example of platonic friendship. In one touching moment, Love Island's Jonny Mitchell – who was once famously confused about feminism – told Courtney how much he appreciated what he had learned from her.
That is the essence of Big Brother, and the current celebrity version just isn't giving.
Celebrity Big Brother airs on ITV and ITVX.
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TV Editor, Digital Spy Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. Previously at LOOK and now heading up the TV desk at the UK's biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world's oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).
