Celebrity Big Brother

'Celebrity Big Brother'
24.3.07
The Blue Ball, Wentworth Club, Surrey

On January 16th Celebrity Big Brother hit the news—all because of the bullying antics of three contestants led by Jade Goody. As you may know Jade’s reputation stemmed from an earlier Big Brother show. Since then she’d been elevated to the 25th most influential person on the planet. What you probably don’t know is—eighteen months previously—the true basis of her fame had been set by attending an Act Against Bullying function.

Google had linked this fact and our site to Jade sufficiently for a group of internet bloggers and Celebrity Big Brother fans to see the story potential. They instantly promoted her from attendee to spokesperson, then ambassador, then full patron. From an average of 100 visits daily our traffic increased to over 5000. That’s when the emails started. With the computer at risk of burnout from hate mail and the phone line jammed with complaints we thought it was possibly time to set the record straight. We put out a statement. I accept this was not very clear—maybe a little too subtle—because it was duly interpreted as defending Jade’s behaviour. So rather than quell them, the emails now quadrupled.

But I knew I was really in trouble with the Mirror called. The statement—which by this time I’d completely rewritten—was going public—no matter how hard I tried to stop it. By the following morning AAB was being mentioned in every tabloid and broadsheet across the country. Because of the behaviour of Jade, Jo and Danielle, riots erupted in India and Rio, effigies were burnt and a pile of horse manure set alight in Paris. Anonymous letters began arriving at AAB headquarters and our double glazing was looking vulnerable. Over the course of the next forty eight hours— in an effort to clear up this mess—I did 26 separate radio phone-ins, appeared live on international news for Sky, BBC, Channel Four and ITV2, and even appeared in a guest spot on CBBC Junior Newsround. By statement number three—by this time we were becoming quite accomplished at issuing statements—the tide turned dramatically. We won back many of our supporters thankfully and—when they realised the work we were doing—in fact gained many more new ones.

So this year we’ve become better known for perhaps all the wrong reasons, but I have to say it wasn’t all that bad. Ironically The Big Brother reaction from the public was exactly what AAB has been trying to achieve. We’ve been raising awareness of the unsavoury side of tribal groupings, the ganging up against individuals, aggression out of control—to the point of violence—that collective cowardice—what some children—not being televised— suffer anonymously on a daily basis .The good news about Big Brother—they picked the wrong girl—in this case Shilpa Shetty—who, by the way, sends best wishes for this evening but is Mombai tonight—Shilpa, outnumbered though she was, stood up to them—outmanoeuvred them tactically—outclassed them in style, in intelligence. On that show Shilpa Shetty personified the undeserving victim. And the good thing was millions of people watched what was happening, cheered her on, and—quite rightly—were outraged by the bullying behaviour they saw each evening.

For those of you tonight who don’t know Act Against Bullying at all, we provide practical advice and campaign on behalf of children who are bullied at school. We rely absolutely on the aid you have shown us tonight by attending the Blue Ball and for that I thank you very much indeed. Anti-bullying support is all about loyalty and help. And on that note I would like to mention a few people here tonight....'