Big lover strikes in Big Brother house

After seven weeks it’s finally happened – romance is beginning to blossom in the Big Brother house.

Yoga-loving blonde Nush Nowak and marketing co-ordinator Scott Turner enjoyed a snog during an alcohol-fuelled party on Wednesday night, and admitted they fancied each other.

And now, after a long heart-to-heart, Scott has told housemates he would like to see her again when they leave the house.

If the amorous pair do indeed decide to carry on their embryonic relationship outside the confines of the Big Brother house, it seems the omens are good for their future together.

In past series Tom and Claire, Helen and Paul, and Lee and Sophie have met on the show, and all three couples are still together today.

So what is this magic that Big Brother seems to work between its contestants? Is there a secret to the way they all seem to get together and then manage to stay coupled?

Dr Dorothy Rowe, author of relationship bible Friends And Enemies, is not at all surprised that so many contestants end up pairing off.

“All the people who get chosen for Big Brother are right in the middle of the age group where people tend to be looking to find a longer-term partner.”

Dr Rowe also points out that the intense nature of their stay in the house is likely to help them forge a strong bond.

“You rarely spend that much time alone with people in everyday life. So they have a great chance to get to know each other really well.

“And they are also under stress, which is a real linking factor for all of us.

“You can have a group of friends, and just mix socially to enjoy yourselves but when one member suffers a disaster that’s when they quickly find who their real friends are.

“It’s always sadness and tragedy that makes the strongest bonds.”

Relationship counselling psychologist Dr Valerie Lamont agrees, and adds that because there are fewer distractions in the house the conversation could be less shallow than in normal life.

“The time spent together might be less chat and more cutting to the chase, so you could get to know each other pretty well.”

She also says people are usually less inhibited and keener to form close relationships when they are removed from the usual constraints.

“In this kind of situation, there’s a feeling of being outside the norm, and then there’s a lack of security.

“People will be more open, less inhibited, and they will also be trying to find some kind of security, in the form of new friends.

“That would predispose people to form relationships that they might not under normal circumstances.”

The danger, according to Dr Lamont, is that when they finally leave the house things may not stay the same.

“They will encounter the sort of problems that probably most of us have experienced when we’ve come back from holiday and thought you had so much in common with a person, and then you realise that the bond was created by the situation.

“You realise there are far fewer areas of commonality and far more areas where you differ.

“Initially the bond can be very strong indeed, but what’s less sure is that it is going to last. If it dies out over time there needs to be more. You need to share deeper world views and interests.

“You may get on wonderfully at the time, but you’ve got to ask, ‘Do we approach life in the same way? Are our outlooks alike?”’

Even if the contestants feel they have got to know each other very well, the highly-charged atmosphere of life on the gameshow might skew their judgements.

“In an intense situation like the Big Brother house you might not get a sense of what is there between people,” says Dr Rowe. “With some people, once the show is over it could leave them with nothing. But for other lucky ones because you’ve got something in common and know each other well, it’s natural to carry on.

“In that case, there’s no reason why they can’t build a good partnership.”

Big Brother may give contestants a kickstart in the romantic stakes, but in the longer term there is a great deal more that is needed to create a proper, healthy relationship.

Dr Lamont stresses that the buzz people normally get in the early days of a relationship may be magnified by the situation in the house, but it still won’t last forever.

“The key is always going to be whether they can carry on when the excitement has stopped,” says Dr Lamont.

“They’ve got to work on what they have already, and get to know each other in a ‘real’ environment over time,” adds Dr Rowe.

“What makes relationships is when you’ve been through so much together and the other person knows you better than anyone else.”

Let’s hope Nush and Scott have got the staying power for the job.