BBC1 Breakfast Time

10 September 2010

Friday 10th September was the very last day of the 10 years of Big Brother on Channel 4, and that morning BBC1's Breakfast Time included a discussion of this momentous event. One guest was Heat magazine's Lucie Cave and the other was BBC News' favourite housemate - Aisleyne!

Lucie joined presenters Susanna Read (who had recently spoken to Aisleyne on Sunday Morning Live) and Charlie Stayt on the couch, while Aisleyne looked, well, rather Big Brother-ish, on a large wall monitor beamed from the Westminster studio at Millbank. This was a last-minute change enforced by Aisleyne's taxi having been late, and the traffic being bad (Millbank was actually Aisleyne's idea when she realised that Shepherd's Bush wasn't attainable in time). In the event, Big Ben lent her a certain "political" gravitas!

After Lucie had spoken about how she felt it was "the end of an era" Charlie commented that BB had "changed television" and asked Aisleyne how it had changed her life. Aisleyne said that while it had opened doors for her, it had also closed them. She said "It changed me on a personal level. I went on a big journey in the house", and added that it had given her "a more positive and more focussed outlook."

Charlie asked what she meant by "it closed some doors". Aisleyne replied, "For example, I'm acting now, in a film called Anuvahood, but it's 4 years later. If I'd gone for that part just after Big Brother I wouldn't have got it because of the stigma of BB - that people just want instant fame and are not serious about their careers."

Susanna picked up this and asked Lucie about BB as "a showcase for publicity seekers" that "tainted" housemates. Lucie compared the early housemates to the later ones openly talking about magazine deals which ruined the innocence. Aisleyne agreed, saying that too many media savvy people had turned the "social experiment" into a "platform for fame."

As Lucie finished off with a few further comments the programme was brought to a close, but that wasn't the end of Aisleyne's TV day. She had to go immediately to Channel 4 to take part in the recording of Davina's Big Send-off to be shown during that evenings final night programming.

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