Friday, 7th January 2005
After 3 weeks, and endless hours of rehearsals, the first ever Big Brother pantomime ended on Wednesday, with a live performance on E4.
I went down to Bristol to be in the panto audience, and I attended the aftershow party, so thought I'd share a few snippets of gossip.
To confirm, the pantomime was live, with no delay at all. Obviously, the scene where Jade's orange space hopper turns into a car was physically impossible, and so those couple of minutes were pre-recorded. The continuity looked pretty good though!
I have been exchanging emails with Lisa from Big Brother 4 for a while now, and so we met up after the pantomime had finished, and had a chat, as the rest of the audience left. Family, friends and VIPs were then invited to have a couple of drinks with the crew at the theatre.
Gos and Jon Tickle from BB4 were also there, and my friends and I had a chat with both of them over a drink. Gos is a very friendly and chatty chap, and because of this, I'll just quickly mention that his site:
http://www.chefgos.com is due to relaunch on the 27th of January!
I spoke to Jon about this website, and he said that he "didn't do that one" (shame on you Jon), but that "Ray and Cameron do... Cameron spends most of his life on there, doesn't he?!"
We had our drinks in the adjacent set to the theatre, which is the set they use for the TV show "Fool around with my girlfriend". It was an insight into what being in the Big Brother house must be like, as the room was full of cameras, and mirrors. Jon, Gos and Lisa commented on how the shower room was especially similar to the Big Brother house, and that "brought back some memories".
Shortly after, the panto cast had finished packing their belongings. They were all introduced to each others families, and caught up with their own family members. Mel and Alex were probably the first to leave, with Anouska shortly afterwards.
A production crew member than announced that the aftershow party would be starting shortly (we thought this was the aftershow party!), and that if we made our way out of the studios, there were cars coming to take us to the venue, which was a posh club in central Bristol.
So we all left the studio, and waited with the cast and their families for the cars. One funny moment occured when Spencer told one of his mates that Victor's friends wanted a word with him about something he had said earlier. The look on his face was priceless!
None of Marco's friends or family had been able to make the panto, so we got chatting to him. Myself and my friend Anna had spoken to him online, so he seemed quite excited when he found out who we were! (We've since received a message from Marco saying it was lovely to meet us - right back at ya Marco!)
Whilst waiting for a car, Marco asked if there was anyone else we would like to meet. Victor was nearby, so he said he'd introduce us to the "lovely" Victor. Marco said "Victor - these are my friends!" and Victor shook each of our hands, asked our names, and gave us a kiss, before asking if we were having a good night. Victor asked if we were going to the aftershow party, and if he needed to sort out a car for us. Whilst I'm still not a fan of Victor, I've met him twice now, and he's been completely different to the Victor I disliked so much in Big Brother. I would even go as far as desrcibing him as rather charming!
Anyway, Marco's car arrived, and he told us to jump in with him. We spent the next 20 minutes chatting to Marco as we were driven to the club in Bristol. Marco filled us in on the fight that had taken place at the lodge the day before the pantomime. It had gone on for 6 solid hours, and security were on standby throughout. Kitten had called Jade a "f***ing c***", who then retaliated. Mel joined in as well, branding Jade a "f***ing pig!". Spencer then had a huge go at Marco, before the whole cast got involved!
They had been rehearsing for the pantomime until 5am that morning, and they managed to pull it together just in time for the live performance. Despite this, even after the panto finished, there was a lot of "You missed out that line", and "You were supposed to do that when I did that" going on. Honestly....
At the moment, Marco is currently up to his eyeballs in university work. He's got numerous essays to write in the next few weeks, and is looking forward to finishing his degree. According to Marco, Stuart is essentially back at university as well. Because he missed his second year exams due to having to go into the BB house, Stuart has forfeited some of the marks for his degree, and the highest he can therefore acheive now is a 2:2. He is currently revising for resits later this month.
Anyway, we arranged with the driver that she would drop us off at the hotel when the party finished, before Marco was driven home to London.
Upon arrival at the club, we were directed down some stairs to the room that Endemol had hired out for the party. As we were amongst the last to arrive, the club was packed, and they said that they were unable to let anyone else in. I asked Marco if he thought it was time to use the line "Do you not know who I am?!" He laughed, and said "Definitely not!"
Jade and 2 of her friends were standing behind us at this point, and she shouted down to us "What's 'appenin' please?!" I explained the situation to her, and she walked up to the door, said "Hello!" to the doorman, and was told "2 seconds", and had the door shut in her face! We braced ourselves for a Jade diva-strop, but she turned round, laughed, and said "Well what do I say to that then?!"
They eventually relented, and let the lot of us into the club, which was indeed packed. Would have helped if Endemol had hired a slightly bigger room! In there, we took advantage of the free drinks, and enjoyed the company of the housemates and their friends and family. (Big hello to Lisa's friend Jason if you are reading!)
Tim, Spencer and Victor seem to have forged an unlikely friendship, and they were seen chatting for most of the night, drinking JD and cokes! Jade is very chatty, bubbly, and (unsurprisingly!!) popular amongst her friends.
We left the club around 1am, with Jade and her friends. (Incidentally, just before Jade left, the father of her two children, Jeff Brazier walked in. They didn't speak.) Jade said goodbye, and gave me a kiss on the cheek before hopping into her car and driving home.
Marco had decided to go onto another club with some of the crew members, and said we were most welcome to go along if we wanted to. We were pretty knackered by this time now, so decided to head back to our hotel. We said goodbye to Marco and thanked him for being such a sweetie, before we were driven back to our hotel by Marco's driver.
Thanks to all concerned for a great night!
Nicki
