Celebrity Big Brother 2012: The Danica Thrall Debacle: Rant Part Deux with an uncharacteristically serious note
Earlier today, I wrote an unusally serious – I’m normally all about the fun side of telly – article defending Celebrity Big Brother housemate Danica Thrall against what I consider to be the extremely harsh reaction towards her both in the house, and outside of it.
However, judging from some of the comments we received here at Unreality about it – many of which were simply too vile to publish – and from messages I’ve received on Twitter, one thing has become very clear…
And that is that some people are holding Danica responsible for how other people – notably, men – treat her and react to her.
Among the comments on that article – that we were able to publish – one reader remarked that she felt that Danica should, “cover up a bit more and stop trying to be so sexy when they [Lorenzo and Mike The Sitch] are around.”
Now, frankly, this horrified me, especially as the remark came from a lady. For me, this is akin to the school of thought of people who – secretly or openly – blame the victims of rape for the attacks upon them if, for instance, they were wearing a short skirt and a low cut top when the attack happened…
This Morning viewers may recall that Eamonn Holmes told a rape victim who’d bravely told her story on the show, “I hope you get taxis now…”
His comment caused outrage, and rightly so. The subtext being words to the effect of, ‘Well if you hadn’t been walking home after a night out, this wouldn’t have happened to you, so it’s in part your fault.’
Now I don’t actually believe Eamonn thought through his comment, and I genuinely think it was made from the place of a concerned parent, but nonetheless, that is what he was in effect saying.
If any woman, old, young, thin, fat, ugly, beautiful or any of the above wanted to walk stark bo**ock naked down the high street at 3am, nobody has the right to assume she’s ‘asking for’ a sexual assault, and nobody has the right to commit one against her.
No woman is, or should be, responsible for how her appearance affects someone else. As another of our readers said of the Danica-Lorenzo-Mike issue, “If these boys don’t know flirting from a come on that is their problem.”
And she’s so right, it IS their problem; not Danica’s.
To hark back to our other lady reader, in addition to the comment about covering up, she added, “Check her twitter @DanicaOfficial she has a wishlist!!!!!!! And look at the cost of the things on there, I’m sorry but she is asking for these gifts not being given them out of surprise!!!!!!!”
And here is what I replied…
But the clue is in the word ‘Wish’. It’s a Wishlist, not an I’ll Send Someone Round To Kill You If You Don’t Buy This For Me list!
If some sad sack is stupid enough to spend his money in this manner, why the hell shouldn’t she accept it?
If I thought for a minute somebody might buy me things I’d like for not really any good reason at all, I too would set up a Wishlist!
Again, she’s not making these men spend their money. It’s their choice!
And why should she cover up a bit more? I imagine she works hard to keep her body in shape, so why should be expected to ‘hide’ herself under baggy clothes just in case some bloke wants her and can’t have her?!
Apropos of this ‘leading’ men on accusation that’s been leveled at Danica, fans of Big Brother will surely recall that in BB9, Craig Coates had a massive crush on Anthony Hutton. Craig was often in tears over it, and never more so than when Anthony snogged Makosi in the pool.
But during that series, did anyone, anywhere, suggest that Anthony was ‘leading’ Craig on and therefore wielding his sexual attractiveness as a weapon when he walked around without a top on? Should Anthony have worn baggy jumpers so he didn’t encourage Craig’s amorous feelings for him?
I certainly don’t recall it if they did, so why is it so wrong that Danica – who has NEVER been topless in the house – wears figure hugging lycra?
Likewise, when people have said that Danica has too much physical contact with the boys in the house, did anybody ever suggest that Anthony shouldn’t hug Craig because he knew he ‘liked’ him? Or that he shouldn’t sit talking to Craig, or he shouldn’t sit on Craig’s bed?
No, they did not.
So yet again, what exactly has Danica done that’s so terrible in that house?
I’ll tell you what she’s done – nothing. She is being held responsible for how other people perceive her, and it’s not just unfair, it’s wrong, morally reprehensible and dangerous.
And what has she done outside of the house that’s so terrible?
She’s set up a website and a Wishlist on Amazon. Men who visit her website can, if they want to, buy her things that are on her list. What she does in exchange I can’t remark upon because I simply don’t know. But the fact remains, nobody forces these men to do a damn thing.
The fact is, I’d never even heard of Danica before she went into the house, but let me reiterate, whatever she does, nobody – and especially not Danica – is forcing the men who visit her site to buy her anything.
She isn’t “robbing old men” as one social networking site user put it. Those men, young or old are voluntarily buying her things.
Does that make her a bad person for accepting them? No, I don’t believe it does. It makes them d***heads, who are doubtless motivated by the head that doesn’t sit on top of their necks, but Danica isn’t making them to do anything.
Now, I must apologise for the length of this piece but it truly shocks me that in this day and age, there are still people around who blame a woman for being beautiful; who blame her for being attractive to men and who blame her for how those men respond to her.
And outside of a culture or religion which dictates that women should not be seen, and hence must cover themselves almost entirely, nobody has any right to attach any responsibility on any woman for how other people react to her because she’s pretty.
It’s frankly sickening, because as often happens with Big Brother, the microcosm world of the house often reflects the greater world view outside, and evidently, we as a society – or rather, some of us – continue to hold a woman responsible for how a man acts towards her.
Maybe she just needs a backhander and to get back in the kitchen ‘til she’s required in the bedroom.
Thank you if you’ve made it this far, and I would very much like to hear your thoughts on the subject.
Subscribe by RSS
THANK YOU FOR A FANTASTICALY WRITTEN PIECE…I WHOLE HEARTEDLY AGREE AND HAVE BEEN TRYING TO EXPLAIN THIS MYSELF. I FEEL SO SORRY FOR HER AND HOW THAT NASTY VINDICTIVE JES GOT AWAY WITH CALLING HER A PROSTITUTE AND A WHORE DISGUSTS ME. WHO ARE ANY OF US TO BE GIVEN THE RIGHT TO BE JUDGE AND JURY ANYWAY.
Thank you so much Debbie. I’m so glad there are likeminded people out there! Makes me despair just a bit less for society at large.
You end your rant with “I would very much like to hear your thoughts on the subject”, which I highly doubt. I think you only want to hear from people who agree with you. I think she’s vile and she is spoiling the show for me with her constant flirting and P*ick teasing of the men. I’d like to see what the other housemates are doing and saying for a change. Everything is about her all the time and she’s not even a celebrity, she’s just a girl that sells her T&A. If you want to know what Danica does for a living, just have a look at her videos – Yuk!
You’re quite wrong Cheryl – as we live in a democracy, I’m always happy to hear the opinions of others, but I don’t have to agree with them. Nor do you – welcome to a liberated world where we all have freedom of choice.
And until Danica, or anyone else for that matter, hurts another person or negatively impacts the world in general, as far as I’m concerned, they’re as entitled as I am, or you are, to choose what they do for a living. And it’s not my place to judge them for it.
I assume therefore that someone died and elected you the keeper of the world’s morality?
And Cheryl – just in case you think your follow up comment is being censored deliberately; it isn’t. It won’t pass moderation as it contains an external link. But thank you for visiting and for taking part in this debate.
I’m loving the Danica saga in Big Brother, the two men – Prince and the situation, are coming across as complete morons; for further evidence see names of said boys. Danica is capitalising on the many sad males that make up the population. Good for her!
Nicky, couldn’t agree more
I was absolutely gob smacked that they Big Brother let that vicious little trollop Jasmine back in with her mother, knowing full well how she had already called Danica a prostitute to let her then go back in and call her a whore and slander her some more, why the hell wasn’t she issued a warning in the first place for calling her a prostitute its slander, vicious and bullying yet nothing was said to her about it at all. If that was anyone else they would have been issued a warning and evicted if it carried on, but nothing happened to Jasmine at all, poor Danica is being victimised and nothing is said.
Brenda, I’m astounded too to be honest. So much is made of the dreaded ‘bullying’ but nobody’s stood up for Danica. It’s so wrong. Thanks for your comment.
Completely agree Sarah Lynn, Debbie, Nicky and Brenda! But its no surprise that Jasmine is such a vile bully just take a look at her mother! Shame on BB for allowing it. I feel very sorry for Danica.
Me too Bonita and thank you so much for your comment.
I do think she behaves in the wrong way for somebody in a relationship personally.
Even so does she really deserve a horrific backlash, definitely not! Is she a horrible
Person, has she committed a horrendous crime… No she has entered a TV SHOW and being accepted on. If guilty of anything I’d say she was an attention seeker but is that ever going to justify pure hatred of some1, the boos and abuse she’s going to endure when leaving that house.
If men are stupid enough to buy a girl they Dnt no a gift for a picture a sexy video or watever more fool them! Who’s to say what’s moral and justified in this world???
Shes a good looking girl who like millions more use that to her ability, also for gods sake big brother is a game show. She maybe playing a game, that’s what the idea of a game show is!!!
She seems a sweet girl shes young and like us all doing her best to make a living.
For those who hate and detest her I think you should ask yourself why, and I’m 100% sure they’ll be a little case of the green eyed monster in you all.
Live and let live! Lol.
Totally agree Michaela, Thanks for visiting and for your comments
Well said Sarah the girl has done nothing wrong but flirt with everyone in that house male or female. Yes she has been more full on with the boys but they’re no innocents either. Comments about what she’s wearing are ridiculous. What about the guys walking round half naked showing off their pecks? How cruel of them for leading on two young girls in such an obvious and sexual manner. Yes that was nonsense but no more so than the severe and dangerous over reaction to some natural flirting. She has made it clear that she has a BF outside the house yet we hear the situation offer to take her out & The Prince tell her he’d have picked her on his bachelor show as she’s marriage material. How dreadful of them both for making a play for an attached girl. Where is the uproar towards either of the lads? As for BB fueling the already growing hatred/jealousy by asking if what she does is immoral and along with putting Jasmine back in to stick the knife in again. This from a national broadcaster is in my view “Imoral” and a disgrace. C5 seem to have an MO to select a HM from each series and vilify them. Perhaps tis is for rating or to motivate the public to pick up the phone to save the scorned HM? I dont know but their stance/actions towards Dainca is a step too far. So much so C5 in my eyes are now the biggest bullies in the shows long history.
Thank you EG and thanks for commenting!
i cant blieve u have only showed one comment against danica the rest for her ,im sure there r some ,why didnt u show more against ? lily
Lol because there has only been one Lily! Unless you count yours; then it’s two.
This is a wonderful piece!
Do people seriously expect her to change the way she dresses so the boys don’t find her attractive any more? I’m confused, I thought women were allowed to dress how they wanted these days? Do people want her to stop wearing make up as well? Maybe she should gain a bit of weight, then Lorenzo and The Sitch would REALLY feel better! And she will have lost all say over how she looks, but at least the MEN will feel better. Great.
Lol Daisy how right you are! Maybe we should supply her with a bell to ring as she chants ‘unclean’ and a hair shirt to make her suffer a bit more
Thanks for visiting and your comment, and with that, I’m orf to bed and will eagerly await what arrives in my inbox overnight
There is s saying “Whatever I wear and wherever I go yes means yes and no means no”. I agree with this saying and I’d like to say hey yeah if a woman wants to walk down the street nude at 2am she should be able to. But the reality is we don’t live in a world where this would be safe. And you can’t just walk around saying ” hey I want to do what I want to and screw everyone else” But back to the Danica thing. She can dress how she likes and take gifts from people if he likes. But she should still take other peoples feelings into account and we are still responsible for or own actions. Taking things from people just because they ( men) are suckers and think you’re pretty doesn’t make it right.
She has a good figure, oversized lips, mean eyes and a personality of a knat. She is emotionally scarred by her mothers death and is on a mission to hurt. Even she is ashamed of her lack of morals. Too sad; nothing good will come of this witch hunt, she will burn herself into oblivion.
PS I had a friend who did a similar gig… She’s now been married 4 times, shunned by her family and on anti depressants when she hit 40 and the presents dried up.
as a mere man can i wholeheartedly agree with you, the men in the house are pathetic, situation/ashley cant stand rejection and believe they re iresistable to women,martin is too smarmy and julian could bore for britain danica and rhian are very entertaining and deserve their places in the house
Hi JJ thanks so much for your comment; it’s good to hear from a man’s perspective
No no no !!! Rhian has ball sized boobs, the face of a rat and a miserable personality; I can see why she got Vernon Kay into bother. She’s painfully boring and justs constructs different page 3 poses. Danica is a sad faced, long legged, emotional wreck from druggie Derby. She has nothing to say, can’t move her head, and is so self absorbed its scary! The men she rinses must pay her off to get rid of zzzzzzzz tedious ass.
Julie is entertaining, as was Cheryl, but as they’re lacking in ball boobs the men of Britain aren’t interested. Says a lot about the male species and why women are turning gay.
You raise kind of a good point. What if they were both a 32b?
Doesnt matter if they were 32B or 52D the point is they’re hard faced girls who’s motives are not good. The fact remains that men are weak when face with an inflated ball breast even though their brain is screaming its a fake!
The whole debacle proves how superior women are and that mens brains are attached to their pants.
I know I commented about this somewhere, I’m hoping it wasn’t deleted, as I think I was respectful in my opinion. I don’t think Danica should have to apologize for flirting, and I definitely don’t think she should ever have to apologize for being sexy, and it’s ridiculous to think she should have to be sorry that she doesn’t fancy someone.. (and come on, especially an complete numpty like the Sitch). I do, think, though, that there are times when her flirting goes a little beyond the pale. The instance I mentioned before (and really, this may be the only one I can cite, but I do think it’s valid) is when she was having a cuddle with the sitch from behind, and tweaking his nipples affectionately. I have to say ..there is no way in HELL, I would do that and consider it innocent flirting. Can you imagine if he’d done that to her? He would be kicked out of the house. So at least in that case, innocent flirting could have been misconstrued as something else. That said, I say give the girls a break, 99% of what I’ve seen from them is harmless … and no woman should feel that being sexy or fancied entitles a man to treat them poorly.
Im glad they’re playing the men?little boys we think. There are far too many men in this world who are dull in bed, dull in personality and dullards in the real world, that they try and suppress women with vitality. All women of all ages are sexy.
that cannot be said of all men.
As the lady above writes so eloquently about ball sized boobs; all men love them, takes them back to being breastfed.
You go girls; you may not be the sharpest tools in the box but carry on rinsing those suckers!
Yeah. The boob obsession is bizarre. But you could say the male boob obsession has hurt womankind because I think boob jobs are on the rise and most woman who get them are trying to fit into the look that men are obsessed with. It goes both ways. I’m not going to get into it here on this forum but the world has a long way to go as far as the way women are treated.
p.s. And why doesn’t The Sun have a page three guy for us to look at?
Real confident women don’t want boob jobs, insecure women who have dieted all their lives have them; they’ve shrunk through years of binging.
We all know a woman who has gone to her doctor and claimed to be bullied to get the job on the NHS. Also 2 work colleagues have had theres removed because they’ve leaked and are back to the thin, insecure girl at school.
Men don’t know these things but they scream when a boob leaks, funny that!!!
Wait?! The NHS does boob jobs if you’re bullied about the size of your boobs? I am shocked. I live in the US and I’m all for government health care ( our medical bills are over the top here, want nationalized health care), but boob jobs through the NHS is really pushing it if you ask me.
And as far as smaller boobs go, I am average and fine with it. I’m a petite woman, just like my mom and grandmother, and happy with the way I am.
I think often, that as women get a little bit older ( like 30 and up) they start to appreciate there individuality and realize they are perfect as they are in their own way.
Danica is a lot smarter than she looks. She immediately spotted that idiot Jasmine’s mum as a fake “psychic” and rejected the pressure to go outside and get a “reading” knowing full well that Big Brother would make her mention her dead mum. She said “its obvious what is going on”. Smart girl.
Smart? Street wise I think.
You’re just under the spell sucker.
How many other women play you dude?
As I said,ladies carry on rinsing the mugs!
No. I tell it as it is. I think you are jealous. Its not an attractive trait.
Well she’s no Jane Goodall. I mean she’s not someone out trying to help other people or animals or campaigning to make the world a better place. She’s not dumb either. Just kind of normal school smarts. I wouldn’t say street smart.
I don’t think you tell it like it is, you’re a suck up! I’m never jealous of another sexy, beautiful woman. I embrace them. I adore my gorgeous friends. You seem like a woman hater. Trying to pitch women against each other. Maybe you want to be a woman and you’re jealous of us?
Well I hope you adore your friends that you don’t feel are beautiful and sexy and gorgeous. Thats’ kind of what your post sounds like.
Youth and beauty are fleeting and there is more to a woman than her looks.
My thoughts? Key difference between Anthony/Craig situation and Danica: she’s AWARE of her ‘sexual’ power — she uses it to her advantage; to get what she wants.
And that, above anything else, is why I (and I’m sure most) take a severe disliking to the girl.
I’d also like to add: jealousy’s got nothing to do with the situation (pun intended). I appreciate beauty more than most — be that of a man, or woman. There’s no denying how Danica’s outside beauty is almost an objective fact (I would go so far to say that; she is incredible), however, her personality, for me, makes her ugly.
I watched last night to see my favourite new crush Danica only to witness her rowing with Mickey.
Her foghorn northern voice – AAAARGH what a din!!
Her reasoning whilst grabbing her fake boobs and exclaiming: I LOVE MY FAKE BOOBS!!!! What a turn off.
I went right off her.
She’s fake and thick and appears to be rough around the edges. Nice to glance at in a pic but you couldn’t be seen with it in public.
& theres Nothing worse than a rough bird pretending to be classy. She needs to go off into the sunset with fake prince and take all his money .
Me and the girls laughed long and hard at danicas outburst. What a fish wife!!!
Have to agree with the guy above not classy at all sums up all the guys who fancy the fake tits off her, UNCLASSY OIKS!!!
Well there are 2 sides to every story. People may think she is behaving immorally or morally to be honest it doesn’t matter.
You mention worrying trends a few times in your piece, do you not think that someone being classed as a celebrity for asking for gifts in return for showing their “i love my fake b00bs” to men is a much more worrying trend. Remember with celebrity also comes a certain amount of responsibility as a younger generation look to you for inspiration. Well call me old fashioned but i would much rather my kids look up to proper celebrities with a work hard and excel and you will be rewarded attitude like Jessica Ennis rather than here look at my t**ts now buy me a ring.
its not just her flirting (in my opinion its gone way beyond that stage anyway). its her whole attitude to men, women and money.
I know its not just me as since the start of celebrity big brother 2012 (and every other big brother preceded by it) its always the bitchy, flirty i’ll do anything for money women that face the vote from their fellow housemates and then get evicted by the baying public.
and when your daughters in 10 years time come home to say look at my fake boobs maybe now i can get some nice things you will think back at Danica with fond memories
well said.
Sarah Lynn just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you should
I agree with Carl, well said!
I read a piece this weekend about a recent graduation ceremony where most of the girls wore: hair extensions, spider lashes, ball boobs, a make up counter on their lips and gravy mix tan. The writer said they all looked the same; fake barbies.I think it’s a shame that girls have lost their individuality and believe being a sheep is the way to success. Maybe Islam culture has a point about western women dressing sexily purely for a man is wrong. Young women seem to have forgotten to please themselves first and pleasing a man should be way way down their list!
I can see where you are coming from, but your argument is very one sided and doesn’t address all the issues that need to be reasoned to justify your points, for example, Eamon Holmes on the tv did not in any way justify the lady being raped, he simply said that because there are a lot of dangerous men out there it is safer to get a taxi if you are on your own, the same advice you would give your friend..wearing a full “baggy jumper” ensemble or a catsuit… Also the relevance of this point is somewhat questionable to people disliking Danica.
Secondly, this paragraph is somewhat ironic. “No woman is, or should be, responsible for how her appearance affects someone else. As another of our readers said of the Danica-Lorenzo-Mike issue, “If these boys don’t know flirting from a come on that is their problem.”
- It doesn’t make sense.. Danica is involved somewhat in the sex industry, she is aware of her body and her appearance, and uses the affects to make money.
Clearly she is solely not responsible for how men feel about her, however this article suggests that ” there are still people around who blame a woman for being beautiful; who blame her for being attractive to men and who blame her for how those men respond to her.” This is not the case, I can’t begin to explain why it isn’t because its a stupid thing to write..nobody dislikes Danica because she is physically attractive, and to insinuate that is a primary and even, valid reason is completely ridiculous.
Furthermore, big brother in no way reflects the outside world, it represents a mico-sample of the population, which have CHOSE to go in the house and be speculated for further coverage and publicity. The majority of the public, I bet would not go into that house, therefore their opinions do not reflect the public more than the people next door. People that would watch CBB and believe that it does, are clearly delusional.
I appreciate how you have tied your article together, but using random quotes taken off particular people who have stated dislike Danica to paint an unrealistic picture of the reasons why there are a large volume of people against her, is not the way to go about it.
I could go on and explain whyyy people dislike Danica, but if you want to delude your article with nonsense facts about ex housemates and Eamon Holmes and not address the fact that she’s purely disliked for deliberately messing with peoples emotions then fine, go ahead. But your argument would only stand if she wasn’t aware, as soon as she is and she doesn’t care, that makes her, in the eyes of the opposition, a bitch. Simple.
I personally do not dislike Danica because of her appearance or what she chooses to wear. For many people who watch CBB, I included, I think the problem was that she was overly flirtatious even though she was not just seeing someone, but she is living with them. Even after both Mike and Lorenzo told her that they fancied her, she didn’t behave in the way that two friends would – if anything, she flirted even more and decided to tweak Mike’s nipples and put her head up Lorenzo’s shirt.
I also think that some people think she’s a gold digger – the way she stuck with Mike when he said he could take her to the MTV awards but moved right on to Lorenzo when he told her that if he got married, his wife would be a princess. As Harvey said she’s not a real celebrity because she’s not got any real talent. Too add to that she’s not a good role model for the younger generation. I think Danica and I have completely different attitudes towards men and how they should be treated.
Overall Danica was an interesting housemate and created a lot of entertainment and discussion, but it was time for her to go. People want to see what the other housemates get up to because it got to the point where most of the show was centred on her. Note that I don’t think that Mike and Lorenzo were completely innocent because they could’ve easily avoided her if they felt they were being played or their feelings were being hurt.
About the whole men buying her gifts thing, I know it’s a wishlist and she is not forcing anyone to buy her anything but I feel like accepting the things from these foolish men is wrong no matter how pretty she is. She got £6000 worth of gifts during the time she was in the house- I mean, does this sound right to you? Should someone be getting this amount of money for doing absolutely nothing? I feel like she knows that she’s attractive and uses that to her advantage to get what she wants.
On the other hand, when she was evicted I was glad she admitted that she did not consider people’s feelings as much as she should’ve and that after watching herself she now knows she’s a ‘massive flirt’. I hope in the future she is more aware of how her actions, subconscious or not, affect others.