When will the irritations set in?

IF the 12 Big Brother housemates have already become more familiar to you than members of your own family, chances are there are other things that you're not doing. Like reading or cooking or going to work.

That's your business, but what is everybody's business is who dares to go bare in the shower, who is good at charades and when will those fags finally run out?

Admittedly the housemates are getting on exceptionally well at the time of writing and decisions are being made very democratically.

For now.

Surely one of the first bones of contention will be the huge amount of smoking that gets done inside the house. That and Leigh's ever-present stetson. It's sure to irritate someone soon.

If you've forbidden your children to switch to DStv's channel 37, you're no doubt doing the right thing.

On Monday, in the middle of an innocent game of charades, there was a lightning quick crossover to a full frontal view of Bradford showering.

While this may not be offensive to many, it shows how everyday activities potentially could, without warning, switch to a couple having sex or behaving inappropriately for young viewers' eyes.

Children are usually safely at school when the housemates take nudie showers, but even the so-called family time highlights (daily at 19h00) are saucy.

Monday's showed the men putting condoms on their heads and Ferdinand provocatively soaping Margaret's body in the shower.

Big Brother is watching, but should children be?

Barbara Hollands