This post was written by guest blogger and reality TV showbiz observer Daniel Cohen. Catch up with him on Twitter here!

The one person that has kept the tension in the Celebrity Big Brother house from exploding this week has been Julian Clary.

Last night saw him defusing an explosive situation again when housemates were upset by Julie for not sharing her lighter.

While looking hurt that Julie snubbed him too, Julian never let on and calmed down the other housemates.

It is now obvious that Julian is very much aware of her evil ways, but doesn’t want to betray her as they have been friends from the start. What would happen to her if Julian left her side?

Whatever you think of her, you must remember that she is old, disabled and sometimes even confused (asking where some of the housemates were gone after they were evicted only a few hours before for example).

She is also used to being adored and looked up to. If Julian had left her to fend for herself, things could have gone very bad.

Julian has become the peacemaker, the caretaker and social worker. Yesterday he also became the cleaner, collecting all the rubbish everyone had left laying in the house. It must be extraordinarily hard work for a person who finds it difficult to socialise and gets panic attacks when having to deal with too many people at once.

It is great that he does it, but what is it doing to him? It is sad to see the flamboyant comedian looking more grey and tired with each day.

Lately he also barely gets any sleep, as Julie keeps him awake each night, talking and barking (yes) in her sleep. As a result, he can barely keep his eyes open during the day, which obviously affects his performance on the show. Yesterday he had to be woken up several times during the day, the weirdest one for him must have probably been “wake up Julian, the party is starting”.

It is interesting to see that despite everything, Julian has never become angry at anyone. Last night too he continued to be nothing but pleasant, entertaining the housemates with anecdotes, a riddle game and making tea. He also admitted to Coleen and Lorenzo how exhausted he was, no surprise there.

Poor Julian is expected to plunge into rehearsals for his tour the moment Big Brother finishes. Maybe he should have a holiday first?