BBC1 Sunday Morning Live

22 August 2010

Presenter Susanna Reid first introduced studio guests Liz Hunt from the Daily Telegraph, the broadcaster and Anglican General Synod member Christina Reese, and musician Hugh Cornwell of "The Stranglers". She then raised the first issue, namely "Is Celebrity Culture damaging Britain?".

The guests expressed the usual concerns about "celebrity culture", the influence on young people of WAGs, gossip magazines and so on. Hugh Cornwell made a distinction between 'talent' shows and shows like Big Brother

At this point, Susanna brought in Aisleyne via a weblink. Ash was at a multiple disadvantage, being both outnumbered and also being stuck with the task of trying to "defend the indefensible". And to compound the challenge, while the other guests were in the comfort of the BBC studio, with only the debate to think about, she was also having to run her own "home studio", using a mobile phone and doing battle with an unreliable webcam connection to her laptop!

Despite all these difficulties, Aisleyne came across well, just as we have come to expect of her. She said that while a lot of housemates in later years had just gone into Big Brother for fame without talent or effort, she herself had worked hard to be a success since her time in the House and she stressed the importance of giving something back as well as taking. She mentioned her work for Brain Tumour UK and No Smoking Day. She likened people's enjoyment of reality shows to watching soap operas like Eastenders.

Hugh Cornwell later wondered how Ash had been selected for Big Brother, as she had done well while others had struggled. Whatever people may have thought of the pros and cons of "celebrity culture", they would have had to concede that Aisleyne was evidently much more than a "WAG" a "wannabe" or a "bimbo".

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