The Final Countdown

Thirteen weeks down, thirteen hours left.

Sixteen housemates gone, five housemates left. I think we can safely assume that Darnell is a dead man walking, and will be the first to be ejected at about twenty past eight.

But the surviving four are still all in with a shout. I think that's how it should be, too. I wouldn't mind any of them winning, really, but Darnell deserves it least because he wants it too much.

I wonder if he'll get booed. I wonder if he'll still be wearing his eye patch.

It'll be a shame, and he won't expect it, but given the boos that assailed Mo and Kat I don't see why he should escape.

I don't suppose he'll give too much of a brilliant interview, either, it'll probably be quite rambling and self-critical, as he usually is. Davina will hardly get a word in.

But as to the final four, well I'm not going to start going over all that again. I've written enough about them, and it's probably too late to change your mind, or mine. There are a couple of points I would like to make though.

There have been two points that get made regularly, and I want to challenge them both.

One, that Rex doesn't care about others. I just don't agree at all. He's argumentative, kind of bullying, and hates to be in the wrong, but I still think he cares. I think he is a very good-hearted chap who believes in pushing people. He's like a football manager who shouts and raves at half-time.

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If Rex didn't care, he wouldn't have badgered them so much. He'd have just sat there quietly in the corner, watching everybody else doing the arguing. Does anyone really think he doesn't care about Darnell, that he didn't care about Kat? Of course he did. But he never forgot that this is a gameshow. The money doesn't mean that much to him. That's why he could afford to be so confrontational. But that doesn't mean he doesn't care.

The second goes for Rachel, and the myth that she is a fence-sitter who doesn't have opinions. This is rubbish - much of it made, admittedly, by Rex.

She may be way to jolly and touchy-feely and some of the Mikey Wikey Disney stuff makes me cringe. Like that diary room thing yesterday when she said she'd miss the spiders and the cutlery.

But that's just one side of Rachel. The other side is full of opinions. She's got them all right, she just doesn't have the same ones Rex has. She confronted Alex over chipgate. She confronted Bex and Jen over... everything.

She nominated Rex right in front of him, knowing it would annoy her best friend Kat as well. She argues her corner, and has often been there while the others have.... been sitting in the corner, letting others do the arguing.

So she's an actress. Well, would an actress do all the grape-loving girliness? A clever actress certainly wouldn't. It puts off more people than it charms.

Anyway, here's Rachel taking on the Whisper Club.

That clip didn't even make the highlights.

I'm looking forward to tonight, whoever wins. As Craig back in BB1 used to say with irritating repetitiveness, they're all winners.

When I think back to last year's final with Jonty, Carole, Ziggy, Samanda, Liam, Brian. I wanted Ziggy to win, and that was only because he'd suffered. The others, one way or another, had basically enjoyed it too much. I didn't feel I knew them at all.

This lot, they've all suffered, and they've all revealed lots of different aspects to their characters, good and bad. As Rex said, in the final clip on last night's highlights, this year it hasn't been about being the good guy. It's about being real.

So tonight! Will Alex and Dennis be there? Probably not. Will Maysoon? Probably yes. Will Kat come on to boos, carrying that wretched cookie jar? Wouldn't surprise me. Will Nicole storm the barricades and grab the recently-evicted Rex, smack his face and tell him to stick all his money where the sun doesn't shine? Definitely not. How will they show Mikey's best bits? Will Rex be stunned when Rachel actually beats him? Or will he grin from ear to ear?

I bet you can hardly wait to find out.

I'll be writing two posts. One, just after nine, with reaction to the first two eviction interviews and the news of who came third, and a second after eleven, when we finally find out who's won.

I'll also be back tomorrow and Sunday, and even into next week.

The show may be almost over, but the blog goes on. Enjoy!