Big Brother has pulled off a master-stroke by only putting girls in at the start of this year’s series.

Those of you who watched the show last year will remember how the show was dogged by housemates quitting, mental illness and serious allegations of racism and shoddy treatment. Not to mention the fact that Pete Bennett was the clear winner from the start.

We’ve put together a list of reasons why starting with an all-girl household was a stroke of genius for Big Brother:

1. Housemates Will Be Off-Guard – You could see the confusion last night when the housemates realised there weren’t any men in the group (although I did wonder about Tracey for a minute). So, rather than withholding their suitcases or setting up ‘spies’, the housemates are spinning all sorts of conspiracies about men living in an adjacent house.
2. No ‘Instant Couples’ – Bet you didn’t think about this one! Last year, housemates had cottoned on to Big Brother romance being a big seller outside the house. So they instantly – and conveniently – formed three couples within a matter of days. It was ridiculous and we all saw through it. With it being girls-only, there’s no chance of that happening. And by dropping in only one male on Friday, they’re ensuring plenty of competition for his attention. We just hope he’s ugly!
3. Girls Get Time To Bond – Did you notice how much random chatter there was last night? With the house being all-girls, the group dynamic is totally different, and the girls are bonding in an interesting way.We haven’t seen this before on Big Brother, so it’ll be interesting to see how the girls react to new housemates over time.
4. Return Of The Social Experiment – We remember when Big Brother was billed as a great social experiment into how people interact when held in close quarters for a long time. Will this cause a girls versus boys mentality in the group? How will the girls interact on their own over the next few days? There seems to be a bit of a split already between ‘The Dollies’ and the older housemates (who haven’t got a nickname yet).

Of all the reasons, making sure the insta-couple situation didn’t happen again is our favourite. After the phoney love-ins of last year, we’re glad they did something to shake things up!