There has been a lot of speculation over the newest twist in the Big Brother plan, namely the re-intorduction of old housemates back into the secret house.

Many of you have been looking for information on why Dawn, George, Shahbaz, Bonnie and Sezer have not been invited back. Here’s what we know so far.

Endemol have stated that Dawn Blake, George Askew and Shahbaz Chauhdary will not be invited to return to Big Brother as they chose to walk out of the house, and were not evicted. To be honest I think that Big Brother producers are fully aware of the intense debate raging about Shahbaz’s mental health problems, and Dawns unfair treatment and are looking for excuses to exclude these two ex-housemates.

Sezer Yurtseven and Bonnie Holt have supposedly not been invited back due to legal reasons. The legal issues are rumoured ro relate to Sezers recent arrest on rape charges, and the fact that Bonnie is currently on police bail for not paying for pizzas which she ordered from a local pizza company.

Again this reeks of hypocrisy on Endemols part as they were fully aware of the charges faced by Bonnie before she even entered the Big Brother house. I suppose they don’t want to be seen to treat Bonnie or Sezer differently. But I hardly think that a prank call warrants the same punishment as an alleged rape.

I personally would have liked to see both Bonnie and George re-entering the house. I don’t feel that we got to know them at all during their time in Big Brother, and believe that they might have actually made halfway sensible housemates. Ah well, there’s always next year!

Irish comic and chat show host Graham Norton has waded in on this year’s Big Brother, berating producers for allowing unstable contestants like Shahbaz to enter the house.

Surprisingly, he’s also taken a wallop at housemate Richard Newman for being an “evil bully” toward Shahbaz. Norton thinks that it should have been obvious to the housemates that Shahbaz had mental problems.

But isn’t that the problem with Big Brother? The contestants are expected to be a strange mix, and someone with a serious problem might not be picked up, because it is assumed that they’ll be eccentrics – harmless oddballs. Isn’t that how most people felt about Shahbaz until he started talking about “coming here to die” and killing himself on screen?

The interesting thing about Graham Norton’s statement is that he’s come off the fence – normally Graham would make caustic comments about the housemates, but I don’t think he’s ever openly criticized the show’s producers before.

In light of the growing backlash against Big Brother and the endless series of mental health professionals clamouring for airtime over this, I think Graham’s is the most sensible commentary I heard so far.

Via The Copydesk, The Guardian’s commentary on Big Brother 2006 is utterly scathing and a total riot!

Alright, it’s a couple of days out of date (Shahbaz was still in the house at the time), but there’s some excellent coverage. On the subject of Shahbaz:

Shahbaz spent his first few days in the hellhouse bouncing round the linoleum shrieking, blubbing, squealing and bear-hugging anyone within grasping distance. That was disturbing enough. But when, for some mad reason, this failed to win anyone over, he really went into meltdown – deliberately provoking arguments then playing the victim

And do I detect a less-than-lukewarm review of wide-boy Sezer?

a pint-sized, pixel-eyed, monotone, priapic, hair-gelled rodent, so in love with himself he probably masturbates to videos of himself masturbating

You could just see it, couldn’t you?

The others don’t escape lightly either. Lea is a planet-boobed sometime pornstar, Lisa is described as Lucy Liu channelling the spirit of Bez and the evil Nikki as a spoiled chimpette who throws tantrums like Geoff Capes throws fenceposts. Love it!

Like the rest of the planet, Pete Bennett is the favourite to win this year, by virtue of the fact that he’s actually a genuinely nice person.

Today former Big Brother contestant Shahbaz Chauhdary has spilled the beans to the worlds media about what caused his spectacular breakdown in the Big Brother house.

The self proclaimed “Paki-poof” claimed that his breakdown had been caused by “demons of his past” rearing their ugly heads whilst he was cooped up in the house.

But he added that the other housemates had portrayed him as the “wicked witch” and said fellow homosexual contestant Richard wanted to be “the only gay in the Big Brother village”.

In his first interview since leaving the house last night, Shahbaz told Dermot O’Leary on Big Brother’s Little Brother: “I quit while I was ahead Dermot, I had no choice.

“I never saw my breakdown coming but wasn’t it spectacular everyone? Car crash TV at its finest.”

Of his fellow housemates, he added: “They were all individually wonderful but they didn’t expect me to fall apart the way that I did.”

After watching Nikki freaking out about eye make-up removal and bottled water and Shahbaz’s frequent rants, I’d be inclined to say Big Brother is a bit too indulgent of the housemates!

If I were Big Brother, I’d have the Diary Room rigged with traps and torture devices. What about a trapdoor in the chair that dumps whiners into a crocodile pit? Or a machine gun attached to the camera? How about lethal gas coming out of recessed vents to end the ceaseless complaining?

Actually, I suspect that this year’s Diary Room is also an incinerator. Just a hunch!

That said, some mental health agencies are concerned that the BB crew aren’t doing enough to care for the housemates. The Guardian has a good debate about whether Big Brother/Endemol actually cares about any housemate. One of the commenters sums the Shahbaz situation up pretty well:

Shabaz is clearly a vulnerable individual who is getting more and more deluded with each episode, while the others are using his mental distress and remoteness as a bonding exercise.

His own world of living alone in a Glasgow council flat is at odds with the others’ view of him as a flamboyant and self-centred queen diva. It’s clear he saw the whole BB experience as his salvation. Alienated and evicted, I think he’d be a danger to himself.

Its irresponsible and degrading but agonisingly addictive viewing.

I agree. When the dust settles, ultimately Shahbaz will be remembered as an eccentric who couldn’t hack it in the house, and the madness will be a distant memory.

Rejoice all you Big Brother watchers – Barmy Old Shahbaz has left the Big Brother house.

Yes, you heard right!

After only four days in the Big Brother house, Shahbaz has transformed into a raving lunatic. He’s pissed off virtually every housemate, hidden their food and even threatened to kill himself live on television! Word from the tabloids this morning was that he was officially on suicide watch.

Well, perhaps now he’s gone, the other housemates might get some attention, and does anyone else get the impression he won’t be missed much?

Big Brother housemate, Shahbaz Chauhdary has shocked fellow contestants by revealing his sordid past as a Gay Rent Boy.

Shahbaz boasted that he was once jailed on suspicion of being a prostitute, has been fined £450 after being caught in a gay cruising area and was once paid the princely sum of £10 for sex.

£10 more than he was worth I’d say!

If you missed any of the day two action in the Big Brother 7 house, The Sun has some great minute to minute coverage, including Sezer getting teased over his snog, and everyones reaction to the highly annoying Shahbaz!

Chris Moyles likened Shahbaz to Lorainne Kelly, probably because LK is the Uber Scottish Woman. Me, I see him more as the missing cast member from Balamory, some sort of gay Scottish cartoon character….

It’s a funny situation when someone ranks as more irritating than Pete’s Tourette’s, even living at close quarters!

I’ve just watched the evening’s highlights, and while I think he’s a generally nice guy, he comes across as annoying at best – unhinged at worst. He. Just. Doesn’t. Stop.

He took a serious blasting from the other housemates, and Richard pulled him aside and asked him to ‘tone it down’. Shahbaz – despite being in his late 30’s – reacted like a child and took everything personally. Eventually, Shahbaz decided he was going to leave, only to be told by Big Brother that he couldn’t.

Damn! Although he started off being quite entertaining, could Shahbaz already be outstaying his welcome?

Shahbaz Chauhdary is a 32 year old unemployed glaswegian. He describes himself as “British born, Scottish based, self proclaimed Paki poof.”

His biggest aim is to convince the world that all gay muslims are not terrorists. He also hopes to find and fall in love with his ideal man while in the Big Brother house.

Shahbaz’s favourite hobby is knitting. He currently lives on £75 a week, and says he is intelligent but unemployable.

Shahbaz is an eighties fanatic, and is also trilingual, speaking English, Punjabi and Urdu.

UPDATE!
On Tuesday the 23rd May, Shahbaz became the first person to leave the Big Brother house. Click on the link for all the details!