The Big Brother house has seen yet another argument patiently shut down by Zelah Glasson, with fans branding him a "king" for standing up to George Gilbert.
It's been an eventful few days in the UK's most watched house. The news of George's axe over his "unacceptable language and behaviour" came after Caroline misgendered Zelah and made an offensive 'joke' about Nancy's pansexuality.
While Nancy and Caroline cleared the air right away, Zelah admitted he'd been hurt but assured Caroline they'd talk it out.
Already shaken by Caroline's comments, Zelah found himself in another problematic conversation when he, George, Cameron and Jenny discussed queer representation in films.
The group was talking about Toy Story spinoff Lightyear, with Jenny pointing out that the film includes several queer couples as a "nice" element in a children's movie.
Meanwhile, George complained about queer representation being "rammed down the throat," prompting Zelah to intervene.
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"I think people who think [queer representation]'s ramming down their throat are people who see it as an interference. They're people who see it as something that's in your face," Zelah said.
"It's trying to encourage a certain political ideology," George continued.
Zelah then asked George if he'd be okay with seeing a straight mum and dad couple in a Pixar movie and how that would be different from seeing a queer couple.
George then resorted to a sadly common argument when he equated queer people kissing to "pornography".
"That's very, very soft, but that's pornography, in a way," he said, immediately getting a reaction from Zelah.
Zelah asked Jenny what the Lightyear scene entailed and if it felt pornographic.
"It was Buzz Lightyear!" Jenny said. "Maybe [it was] a kiss on the cheek when they were leaving or something."
"Is that pornographic?" Zelah asked George without missing a beat. "I think that's you or people with your views hyper-sexualising gay relationships."
Cameron diplomatically shut the argument down by saying they shouldn't discuss a movie they haven't seen, while Zelah and Jenny agreed that representation in media is necessary.
On social media, Big Brother viewers have sided with Zelah, praising his patience in educating some of his housemates about queer and trans issues, even if he shouldn't be made feel like he has to.
"zelah has such infinite patience hes like mother teresa really," one fan noted on Twitter/X, while another wrote: "zelah has endless patience, I don't know how he does it, what a king".
"zelah will always be there to clock george and im so here for it," a third person commented.
Someone else pointed out that George's last scene in the Big Brother house would be him "getting schooled" by Zelah — what a way to go.
Big Brother airs on ITV2 and ITVX from Sundays through Fridays, followed each night by Big Brother: Late & Live.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
