8. Game Changer Week
Ok so this isn’t as specific or as solid of a choice like housemates or evictions but it is a reason why I love this show. Somewhere around the middle of the season is the game changer, the week that really changes the outcome. It can be early or it can be a bit later. However it is usually something that changes the way the house works and the way people act.
The first ever game change was when Nick was discovered cheating. The rest of the cast seemed to kind of work together in order to get expose him and it became the reason Craig won the show. It wasn’t really the happy go lucky house doing an experiment anymore. It became a soap opera and really changed the way the cast looked at each other. For that brief time it wasn’t “only a game show” it was something serious. I think the affects of this and Nick trying to manipulate the cast kind of set the tone for the rest of the season. They became a lot more wary of people talking in little groups and paranoia was raised. Paranoia even reared its ugly head when Darren’s nominations were accidentally announced over the loudspeaker and continued with the introduction of Claire.
In season three, it was around a similar time, maybe a bit earlier. It was after Spencer got out. He did have a lot off hold in the house and him going changed theh way the cast acted around each other. There was this sort of popular kids group with Kate, Spencer, Johnny, PJ, and Jade and that sort of relaxed once Spencer got out. The divide was already up but that really helped with the breaking down of the group barriers. Alex and Kate seemed to start getting along and new and different people were going. I’m not entirely sure if it was the week after Spencer got out or the week of, I just know somewhere around here everyone relaxed…and drank a ton of alcohol.
In recent seasons it was usually something to the same affect, somebody left and the attitude changed around the house. In the seventh series the show changed quite dramatically in about two weeks. Lea and Nikki, two big characters, were both evicted while four new people (not including Jonathan) joined the house. At one point it even seemed like the originals versus the house next door members. Aisleyne was also a huge mess during this time arguing with Nikki and having a breakdown after the house next door.
In the eighth series I think the show kind of took a turn for the worse after the game changing week. Charley left leaving us with a bunch of new people who were not very fascinating and the likes of Tracey and Liam to entertain us. All of the good people really left, or at least the abrasive people. This same week Chanelle also left the house…and lets be honest no matter how much you like Charley and Chanelle they were the biggest characters up until that point. The twins were big characters but not in the way that the whole show was about them…not only until Chanelle left did anything really happen with Amanda and Brian. Ziggy became extremely useless and none of the others were that inspiring. Though I have a soft spot for this series I’m not afraid to admit that game changer week really dragged this show down, but what a week it was.
In the ninth series the game changing week happened around the time the divide went up. Unlike the third series the two groups that had formed weren’t really broken down. It almost enforced B-Block vs. The Whisper Club. In the third series the sides were pretty much up in the air or random but in this series the Head of House usually got to decide who went where. Darnell picked his friends during the first week to go to the Heaven side and the next week Dale from The Whisper Club picked his friends. So really it was always Stuart, Rebecca, Luke, and Dale vs. Rachel, Darnell, Rex, Mohamed, and Kathreya. This divide of course had been happening for weeks but this really solidified who liked who and brought out people like Rachel. The others mostly weren’t affected (Mikey and Lisa) but it changed the show with the divide once again.
The game changer week usually happens sometime after week four and isn’t aways apparent but usually it is a pretty big shift in the house.
