Nathan was a pork salesman (not a euphemism, he stressed) who proudly announced being a Tory voter and Nigel Farage fan. What’s more, he once worked as a butler for King Charles. He was immediately followed into the house by climate change activist Daze and Lebanese refugee Khaled. Anyone would think producers were stoking conflict.
Sixteen contestants – “even more housemates than your uni halls,” said co-host Will Best, as if this was a good thing – was too many. As they squawked and screeched at one another, it was like being stuck at the world’s most annoying house party. As you’d expect, casting was painstakingly diverse – regionally, racially, politically and sexually, at least. The one area lacking was age, with 12 out of 16 housemates in their 20s and all but one under 38. For a purported “social experiment”, it wasn’t terribly experimental.
We were promised format twists and these kicked in straight away, with the house divided into red and blue halves. “It’s giving me genny lex vibes,” said Odudu, referencing the general election. Cue more despairing of humanity. Proceedings climaxed with the revelation that only the blue half were proper housemates. The rest were sent to “storage” and put up for eviction.