Entertainmentwise Chats To Big Brother's 'Bit On The Side' Jamie East

Jamie East has been at the frontline of this year’s Celebrity Big Brother and has witnessed all the tears, tantrums and arguments that have kept us glued to our TV screens. Entertainmentwise managed to grab a quick chat with Jamie to get the inside scoop on everything, from supercool Michael Madsen entering to the house, to Denise’s fight with Karissa, and how Frankie has actually pulled a blinder this series!

Q. There’s a lot of different characters in the Celebrity Big Brother house, who is your favourite and why?
A. My favourite housemate this year has got to be…oh my goodness (laughs) if Denise and Michael could have a child, that child would be my favourite housemate.

Q. I don’t think Denise and Michael should be allowed to have a child…
A. Imagine that child! Denise and Michael are my favourite people in the house. Denise is just really good entertainment value in the house and Michael has just been a really good sport. When I found out he was going in this year, I thought he is never ever going to last longer than a day. I thought he would say “what the f*** is this?!” and then walk out. But he went in the house and he’s played along and got involved. He’s had arguments, he’s been laughing, he’s been crying and he’s just been like a normal housemate, which I think coming from someone as supercool as Madsen is really good.

Q. What did you think about the big fight between Karissa and Denise?
A. I thought it was awesome! For the viewers, for everyone working on the show, it was just a really good, exciting time. After a lot of nice behaviour and friendliness and all the rest of it, they finally cleared the air, got stuck into each other a bit and gave everyone something they could really get their teeth into.

Q. Do you think Karissa overreacted?
A. I think there is an element of her being an American, that’s how Americans overreact – they want to speak to their agent and sue the world. I think she was quite cunning in her behaviour, I don’t think she was actually that concerned with women’s rights, I think she was more concerned with getting more money for her inevitable Nuts or Zoo deal when they get out. I think that they [the twins] realized that they’d gone too far…well obviously they did because everyone is kind of friends again now. I think they [the twins] showed their true colours, both of them.

Q. What about Frankie getting told off for speaking up in defence of Denise?
A. Yeah, he played a blinder! He came from out of nowhere – being the one that everyone despised, the one that everyone was laughing about, and who everyone thought didn’t deserve to be there, to all of a sudden after 10 minutes becoming the hot favourite! Everyone adored him for what he did! He stuck up for Denise and told Nicola a few home truths. There are a lot of older, wiser, more mature people in that house that should have done the same.

Q. Do you think Frankie has changed people’s attitudes towards him?
A. Everyone knew him for what he had done on the X Factor, including being booted off, the tattoos on his a*se and the photos after of him falling out of clubs and a different woman every night. But you know that’s just what 18 year old boys are like. Give an 18-year-old lad a load of cash from a Marks and Spencers advert, put him on the biggest show in the country, then put him on the front page of The Sun for getting kicked out – if that was me then I would go crazy. In the CBB house he is getting the chance to just be himself for a bit. You know he’s a bit daft and he says stupid things without thinking, but you know, he wouldn’t be the first 18-year-old to do that.

Q. What do you think about Denise’s antics in the house? Reports have suggested that family and friends are concerned about the star…
A. I think everyone knows someone a bit like Denise, and whether or not she has any problems, I think that she is old enough and wise enough, and she’s been around in the industry and on telly long enough to know exactly what she is doing. She enjoys a bit of a bevy and a bit of a party, but you know, that’s how people used to party up north. That’s how some people behave. It’s just the majority of the time they don’t do it on telly. What Denise did [to Karissa] was in her mind harmless. Then again if someone doesn’t want someone to do that, to touch them, regardless of what they do for a living, they have a right to make a fuss about it.

Q. You grilled the housemates before they went into the Celebrity Big Brother house. Who gave the weirdest interview?
A. The twins – they didn’t know why they were there, they didn’t know who I was, weren’t interested and they didn’t care very much about being involved in Big Brother. The interview was really awkward and quite stilted and we just didn’t get on whatsoever.

Q. What about the best?
A. The most surprising interview was Natalie. I had preconceived ideas about what it was going to be like, having spent years writing about her, reading about her and watching her grow up in the public eye and all the trials she has been through and stuff. But I just met a really down to earth, really really funny woman who was just able to take the p*** out of herself. The interview we did could have gone on for hours. She was the funniest interview I’ve ever done in my life.

Q. We interviewed Andrew Stone after he came out of the house and he told us that he thought Natalie had a game plan. Do you think any of the housemates do have a game plan?
A. If any of them say that they do not have a game plan is just a load of cr*p. Whether you think of it as a game plan or not, if you go in the house and think, ‘All I’m going to do is be friendly to everyone.’ Then you’ve got a game plan and you’re doing that because you want to better your chances of winning. I think the twins have definitely got a game plan, in terms of what it means for their career after they leave Big Brother. I don’t think Natalie had a game plan to be honest, she was just grateful to be there and really happy to be back in the public eye. I think she was just enjoying the experience. Andrew is a fine one to talk!

Q. What do you think of Big Brother’s tasks so far? I felt so bad for Gareth after the ‘Big In Japan’ challenge…
A. I know it was a proper cringy moment! But when I interviewed him before he went in, he would really get into things, he goes along with it, and doesn’t really question things. I just thought, ‘Oh man he’s just really gone for it!’ He’s just so brilliant and fair play to him for doing it, because a lot of celebrities wouldn’t have given it as much gusto as he did. That was one of the most fantastic tasks Big Brother has done.

Q. What do you think about Romeo in the house?
A. We’re all trying to work out what he gets up to in the house - we’re thinking he must sleep in the camera rooms or something because you just never see him. He came into the show really really really late. He didn’t have any kind of prep to get himself mentally geared up for it or have any kind of plan. He only had time to get his haircut, he didn’t even have time to buy news clothes - he was just straight in at the last minute. I think he is naturally quite quiet and quite calm, and it doesn’t make for an interesting house if everyone is shouting and bawling for the cameras the whole time. Big Brother needs to have people that do sit back. And where the big arguments have been, Romeo is there as a calming influence to talk to. His voice and demeanor are calming, and there have been lots of times in the garden where Romeo has been the shoulder to cry on. So you need those housemates in there, for a bit of lightness. You can’t have 15 Hollywood A-Listers, all slightly deranged enter the house.

Q. Romeo hasn’t bonded so well with the other lads Frankie and Kirk. Why do you think this is?
A. Frankie and Kirk just kind of hit it off because they are from the same neck of the woods, they’re of a similar age. I’m sure Romeo was a bit more of a lad when he was their age. I mean he’s no spring chicken – he just looks good, the b******.

Q. What housemates do you think should have stayed in the house?
A. I was really sad to see Andrew go. It was a travesty for the programme that he got booted off first. The stuff that was coming out of his mouth was just brilliant, so I was really gutted that he left. He was really good telly to watch. Natasha and Georgia were just filler; they were there to be booted off. I was sad to see Natalie go. I don’t think Kirk had a great time in the house.

Q. Have you interviewed anyone for ‘Bit on the Side’ and its gone wrong?
A. The thing about ‘Bit on the Side’ is, even if it goes bad, we class it as good because it just makes really funny TV. It takes a hell of a lot for us to think something had actually gone wrong. ‘Bit on the Side’ is the kind of show where anything goes. There haven’t been any really bad interviews. I think if anything it’s where people have come on expecting to have a serious debate, and there’s me and Emma and Alice just chasing each other around the studio. But it’s a great show, so whether people get it and come and get stuck in, or even if they don’t, it still makes good TV.

Q. What’s been the highlight for you this series?
A. Denise getting her t**s out. That really set the ball rolling for what’s gone on to be a really amazing series.

Q. Lastly, who do you think will win?
A. I wanted Gareth to win, but I now think that Frankie will win.

Catch the Celebrity Big Brother Live Final on Friday 27th January at 9.00pm on Channel 5. Big Brother’s Bit on the Side is on weeknights on Channel 5.

Here are the best bits from Week 2 in the CBB House: