Big Brother 7 (U.K.) winner announced

The 13-week long marathon that was the seventh series of the popular reality TV show Big Brother in the U.K. ended last night, with Tourette Syndrome sufferer Pete Bennett ending the show as the last remaining contestant in the house and earning himself £100,000 prize money in the process.

Having re-introduced former evictee Niki back to the BB house last week (and thereby confirming what a sham the whole Big Brother process is), viewers watched as the final six housemates were left to slug it out and then departed the house one at a time on the whim of the public, starting with Liverpudlian Jenny, then Niki, followed by Canadian Richard.

Davina McCall then chopped it down to the last two when Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace was evicted from the house, leaving just Pete and Welsh lad Glyn.

When the announcement finally arrived, Pete jumped around the house throwing pillows into the air, and found it difficult to speak to Davina in the traditional post-celebration interview. Glyn was presented with his exam results and a message from the Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan, who described him as an "inspiration for other young people in Wales".
Personally, I wanted Aisleyne to win -- she was the strongest personality in the house and arrived later than most of the others -- but I would have settled for Glyn. I do have to admit though, Pete is a worthy winner, for more than just his entertaining outbursts of foul language.

Of the numerous variations of big Brother I've watched here in the U.K. over the past seven years, this series was by far the worst, and I had pretty much stopped caring about the goings-on in the house somewhere around the midway point (probably when the World Cup kicked in).

Despite this, I continued to watch as much as my brain and nerves could handle, although I found it excruciating to watch Niki's histrionic tantrums and endure Richard's Jerry Springer-like advice.

In the end, we all know Big Brother is nothing more than a freak show, and the freak usually wins -- in this case, it was a lad with a genuine affliction and a fairly ordinary personality, who somehow managed to keep his cool, maintain his dignity and give a sterling account of himself throughout, despite my very early misgivings about the motives behind his inclusion in the show.

But will I watch Big Brother next year when it returns to Channel Four in the summer of 2007?

Don't be stupid, of course I will.