The Housemates have now been in possession of their fish for about a week, and things have taken a turn for the weird. Perhaps we shouldn’t judge them too harshly – 51 days in the House would take its toll on anyone. Maybe the Housemates are just glad that there is something in the House that doesn’t talk back.
We first noticed this behaviour with Queen, who started talking to her fish soon after her Nomination last week, telling it that her “mommy is strong” and that she’ll be fine, no matter what happens. And then the first said, “yes, Mommy – you are strong, and you will do amazing things!”
No, we’re kidding. The fish didn’t say anything, at all, because it’s a fish. Fish have a lot going for them, but they’re not known for being excellent conversationalists. They’re mainly known for being excellent with batter and some chips. During her digital round up of the week in the Big Brother House, Toke Makwina suggested that perhaps Queen was talking to the fish as a way of talking to the audience without attracting Biggie’s wrath. Which could be true, but that’s a lot of credit to give someone who – you know – talks to a fish.
On the subject of fish and talking, Cross has actually told Big Brother that he’s trying to understand his fish’s language… As already noted, fish don’t talk, so we can only assume Cross is interpreting the fish’s movements as some form of interpretive dance. Which might actually be pretty accurate, come to think of it. If bees can do it, why not goldfish?
On the subject of talking to fish, Angel has definitely been the most notable – she spent a good few minutes singing to them this morning. We just hope her fish – which she has named, “Cranky” – likes the tunes she chose. If we had to guess, we’d think a goldfish would prefer smooth jazz, but we don’t want to stereotype.
Angel could later be spotted telling her fish that she was off to bed, but would pray first, because prayer makes her “feel comfortable, knowing that someone is listening.” There are plenty of people in the world who would agree with that statement, but the nuance of religious instruction might be lost on a creature entirely dependent on food being thrown into a bowl by some benevolent stranger… wait – maybe they’d understand it better than we realise.
Yousef has also spoken to his fish. Look, Yousef is an obviously-kind person who cares about people around him, but let’s just state the obvious: he talks slowly. We can’t be positive, but we’re pretty sure we saw that goldfish doze off, for a minute. It’s probably just irritated that Yousef named it, “Nemo”. You know that fish tend to gather in schools, and the bullying about that is going to be intense.
But we shouldn’t pick on just these Housemates. We’re sure that almost all the Housemates have had a word or two with their new pets, and it’s reassuring that something that simple can still give them so much joy. It’s just that it’s given us so much weird.
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