MAFSUK 11 Keep calm and have a pie. Or twenty. Will you still prioritise Georges if yer da disinherits ye? There lies conniption territory.

[SheldonesqueTheBstard]

The one where your creepy bastard mannequin is not only more animated but is wearing something that is arguably more demure than your puritan stuff. And has more to say if you pull a string. Maybe “Graft and make it raiiiiiiiiiin”.

Classy? Yer bollocks yer are.

They are in Dartford which is the arsehole of Kent

Arthur is funny and seemed to decide to use humour to cause the drama that the producers obviously want. They were all pretending at the dinner party. Matt has spent the last two days telling everyone about the kids/no kids dilemma but has nothing he'd change about Adrienne. 🙄

Erica knows Jordan obsesses so throws in a 'yeah I thought about writing leave'.

JJ seemed genuine but only because he is genuinely trying to work out how to escape Ella. It's lucky he used his initials - he can switch to full words, ditch the jumpers for a suit, swap the lego hair for a buzzcut and he might just be able to flee with his new identity.

I can tell Laura how she has changed - at the start she seemed fun, fiesty and independent. Now she's miserable, complains all the time - and cares too much about what other people think. But none of that is Arthur's fault. Maybe she only just found out that Arthur has nowhere to live and is worried about him being a cocklodger but we'll never find out because they haven't shown any grown-up discussions about money or budgets.

On the plus side I now know you can buy nosecco at the co-op. Thanks @SheldonesqueTheBstard Someone recommended the Aldi/Lidl one to me but we don't have one near us. We do have a selection of Co-ops.

A NZ version, oh heaven help me but I'm in.
I'll even watch the next UK one, just to see if it's any better. 😂

Don’t get why the group turned on Arthur? They were playing childish games and then Arthur made some jokes.
The whole group acted awkwardly.

And it was Tash who said let’s play Never , Have I Ever, which is a silly drinking game.

Yet when Arthur made a comment she went all guns blazing

But Tash, you wanted to play a childish drinking game!

Im amazes the experts haven’t called out Tashs explosive personality. I think she has real issues .

Does Tash’s issues stem from previous toxic relationships or her upbringing? Or both.
I think she was brought up quite rough personally.

She looks like she’s always ready to fight at any time. I wonder what job she does or how she handles criticism from the management?

I’m actually a bit scared of Tasha. 😱 If you look at her the “wrong” way she’ll come for you, like she did with Erica.

She’s chock full of pent up anger, which seeps out very easily. Although she has a pretty face, there’s real ugliness just below the surface.

Paul is a lovely man, I’m worried for him.

Ridiculous ending of double standards there. Laura has ‘lost herself’, while Georges has ‘matured’. I recognise Laura a lot more than I recognise Georges right now!

@Paul2023 yej doesnt it feel like the mentors are a bit tougher on guys to get their shit together - the girls seem to get away with a bit more. Ie Ella drinking, Tasha rage, Roz kids comment and Laura’s belittling of Arthur. I have sensitive guys tend to get walked all over o this show.

Yes the experts should investigate why Tash gets so upset and angry.

They should also investigate why Peg acts like a parent obsessed little girl who obsesses on the small stuff.

Why Ella desperately needs physical intimacy to feel human and is a nasty drunk.

Why Laura has withered into a shell of herself thanks to the behaviour of her partner.

Why JJ has allowed this situation to develop when he looks deeply uncomfortable.

Why he has been told to validate someone who also has issues with a drink in but we don’t get to see that.

Why Georges has to fawn over a person continually nagging/negging him for nothing.

Why Roz was ok to sleep with Thomas just to see if she would feel anything regardless of his feelings.

I personally think they’ve exploited vulnerable people who need to be sat in front of real experts instead of some media savvy sound bite bleaters.

And as a few posters have said, it has been edited within an inch of its life to create a dramatic narrative. I’ve heard a lot of the cast have been on social media to complain that they’ve been portrayed badly.

I’m told Paul said that the whole story wasn’t told why the situation blew up between Tash and Erica - which I thought - and said - at the time.

I think the producers went hell for leather to stir shite between the pair of them.

Same for Jordan and Luke. A situation which could easily have been prevented.

I’m not excusing anyones awful behaviour. They absolutely should not have reacted in the way they did. But it won’t have been helped by being poked and manipulated. At all.

Maybe I can see this for what it is.

I’m talking as if it is real.

Most of it is not really real I’d wager.

But it is absolutely bloody terrible for the experts to gloss over everything that is so wrong relationship wise and pretend it is normal. Even if it is all manufactured.

I hope they all get good after show care. I suspect they will not.

I’m probably not explaining myself properly. Probably because I was brought up rough.

Crap, sorry! I thought anyone who was watching BB would have known by then 😪

I agree with you @SheldonesqueTheBstard, the ‘experts’ (or in fact anyone claiming to give relationship advice on a tv show, and the producers) have a responsibility. Not just to the people sitting in front of them, but to the viewers, to call out unhealthy and toxic behaviours. If they don’t they’re effectively normalising them and it makes it really hard for everyone else to be able to identify what’s right and wrong, both in a partner’s actions and in their own. They obviously shut down the big obvious stuff, but they keep letting the insidious bits slide, or even endorse them! There needs to be more accountability for actions, but also more understanding of responsibility for reactions.

I will probably still join the start of the next series to see if it’s any better, but the threads are honestly the best part of the programme and the producers could learn a lot here!

Well said Sheldon Hit the nail on the head

So Blue light therapy comes on right after oh my goodness - hooked !

Tasha has got serious anger issues and I think she is the one who is the most messed up

she could prob punch or hit someone she’s the type of girl who was a bully in school

aggressive hostile and calling Erica a tramp then the way she repeated it with such confidence ..

her silly “Hi sexxxxxxxxy “and walking in like she’s the dogs bollocks Erks me the most

Pauls friend was right - run

Just because someone is gobby doesn’t necessarily mean someone is violent or a bully.

Is she gobby? Most certainly.

Is she as gobby as they’ve portrayed her to be? I suspect not.

The producers have a lot to answer for I think.

It's ok daps I am always running late on BB Disappointed in the voting public

I think the producers didn't let some people in on the joke and they're struggling now, JJ, Jordan, Laura and Thomas.

I don't believe any of the Georges/Peggy claptrap - you can tell from their eyes it's a load of nonsense and they're having a whale of a time.

Mama Pie is a terrible actress. Still she'll be able to buy some new Laura Ashley curtains for the mock Tudor mansion so it's all good. Grafters that family.

@Sunbird24

Thank you for saying what I wanted to say so eloquently.

Will I watch again? Most likely. In hope that they go back to how it should be - the same as most of us.

I confess Jane that I struggle to see anything emotive show on Peg! I still live in hope that Georges legs it from the second vow ceremony but the crying thing threw me!

I think you are right in that only some of the cast have been let in on the joke. I don’t like seeing people being broken - even if some are just pretending. It isn’t entertaining. I think some are struggling - if not with how events have transpired - with how they’ve been asked to behave/react and to how they feel they are being portrayed.

I’m not that sure why drama doofdoofs are the way to go.

People don’t tend to be utterly boring. Watching people genuinely interact is fascinating - more so when some haven’t known the feel of a silver spoon or when folk have only known gold ones. When folk who thrive are mixed with those who have only managed to survive.

If couples were properly matched - not just lucky bag cod psychology flimflammery - then I do think it would be a good watch.

This, sadly, isn’t.

A great concept ruined. So many lonely people would probably love a chance to love and be loved.

But they probably won’t get the chance because they aren’t chock full of fillers, aren’t pouting on Insta, don’t show acres of flesh or are too old and not considered beautiful enough. That is a shame.

And to go all out for someone’s journey in the name of self congratulatory be kind-ness back slapping box ticking is downright irresponsible to all involved.

Not a spoiler but I saw Jordan's post on Instagram which had Luke wearing one of those old school mops on his head and pretending to be Jordan. It was quite entertaining but presumably Jordan was in on the joke? Which makes you think just how much of the drama is staged.

As Sheldon says, it would have been far more interesting to have it as a genuine experiment.

Agree, agree and agree, Sheldon. I have enjoyed the nonsense because it's a while since I've watched nonsense but I genuinely enjoy genuine people getting a chance. First Dates was like that. I've not watched for a while so I hope it still is. Like I said up thread when the show first started the concept intrigued me and as a big old single I wondered if I would be convinced that it might be a good idea. . Not now.

I agree. People love to people watch.

Take Google box for example. How does watching a programme about people watching programs work! It just does.

Nobody wants to watch drama all the time.

So true

Yes re gogglebox! The Malones are my favourite although there isn’t one family I dislike. They all bring something to the table.

You have only also got to look at the success of the genius (in my opinion) that is the Royle Family.

A family sat on a sofa. Discussing the day. Yes we had the wedding, the birth and Nana dying but it wasn’t about the drama even then but the people and how they accepted life happening. Just getting on with it. And beautifully observed to boot.

There is more to learn about real life in those episodes than you could glean from MAFS.

Everything is like that now. The soaps are all constant ridiculous drama at the expense of the day to day interactions that made them great to watch.

I haven’t watched soaps regularly since I was posted overseas and you had to rely on videos for catch ups!

I have seen that they seem to be full of death, tragedy and bad doings though. A shame because I remember the tales of Ena, Minnie and Martha. And Albert. And the very lovely Hilda who no doubt would have been diagnosed by some here as suffering some kind of illness, proclaimed an interfering auld cow and was no doubt bad using Stan with the ducks on the muriel every night. And then hid the instruments of torture in plain sight…

Emmerdale when it wor a farm. Amos, Seth, Annie. Lovely stuff.

Yes you got death and tragedy but not every week. It seemed proportional. And dare I say real. The tragedies that happen in soaps are real (or based on reality) but it is uncommon if not impossible for all those things to happen to one square or street.

The enjoyment of olden day soaps was the people. Not the events.

I’m old enough to remember the redoubtable women who took up residence in the corner of the British Legion, passing comment and judgement.

Those were the days.

I’d pay good money to hear them discuss MAFS.

Forgot Jack and Vera.

As I leave you there, my little swanduck.

As I leave you there 😢