We’re all used to live Big Brothers popping up in the schedules by now, and Channel 4 managed to sneak one in on Wednesday night (possibly as a way of getting us all to watch Ugly Betty, who knows? Good episode though…). In the past live episodes have presented us with everything from new housemates to shock revelations broadcast live on large plasma screens in the house (the sort that lead to tears and recriminations once the credits have rolled) but this time around it was nothing nearly so complicated. No, this time around the housemates had to take part in what can only be described as live ‘speed nominating’ – delivering their nominations in 90 seconds flat complete with reasons – and as an extra twist the clock kept ticking, so by the time housemates actually got to the diary room they would already be several seconds down. Nail-biting teleision? Er, no not really.

For all our thoughts on Big Brother, go here.

In fact as live Big Brothers go this seemed to be a bit of a pointless exercise. For one thing the housemates appeared to know it was happening which meant they had plenty of time to gather their thoughts (surely it would have been more fun if it had been a bit more unexpected); for another it just wasn’t terribly exciting, just came over as little more than the housemates delivering their nominations in a hurry. It was mildly engaging for about two rounds worth and it was quite amusing seeing certain peope trying to beat the clock but after that was, if we’re being honest, a bit of a snoozefest.

In the past unscheduled live Big Brothers have produced drama and excitement; this on the other hand seemed to have been done just for the sake of it. Methinks this series needs a twist quite soon if it’s not to slide into irreversible mediocrity. There are some great characters in there so why not try and use them a bit more?

As it is, serial nominee Halfwit is once again up for eviction (what is this man doing to annoy his fellow housemates on such a regular basis?) along with non-eating Russian kook Angel. Chances are the latter will be shown the door since I really don’t think Halfwit is going anywhere any time soon – but what a pity to lose one of the biggest oddballs of the series at such an early stage. At this rate we’re going to be left with a house full of pretty but somewhat vapid people before we know it. Again.