This is the first year in the history of Big Brother that I’m not feeling withdrawal after the series ended. I wasn’t as attached to the housemates as I have been in previous years. I wasn’t as attached to the entire programme. I’m not really sure why.

Sorry I haven’t been quite as prolific as I could have been on the topic of BB. I did continue to watch faithfully though and now that it’s finished, I thought I would share my final thoughts.

For me, Big Brother 8 was the most manufactured, self-aware series so far. The format has been around too long for it to be any other way. We all know what to expect, from the viewers to the contestants, which means the program makers have to work that much harder to confound our collective expectations.

This year, there were a lot of confounded expectations.

“Fake Week” was a prime example of this as the producers twisted everything up into all sorts of pointless frivolity.

Except it wasn’t pointless, was it? It amused us. Ok, it amused me.

A lot this year amused me, it seems like the theme of “fun” really did weave itself through the series. Some of the fun was cruel and if I was on the receiving end of the cruelty, I would have a different view of it.

Showing the Halfway-Housemates the entirety of nominations was a masterstroke of nastiness. Revealing nominations in general inside the house is cruel, but there was a level of evil in this particular move that surprised even me.

The quiz in the final week was also quite mean, as BB showed each housemate something both embarrassing and private as part of the task.

All of this self-referential stuff is sending everyone a message: Nothing is off limits, inside the house. Anything you say or do could potentially be used to upset your standing in the house. In future, contestants might be more careful and guarded about what the say in their private chats or even the diary room!

As much as I don’t want to admit it, Charley was the star of the show this year and it was less entertaining after her departure. Or rather, there was far less conflict in the house which I equate with entertainment. Charley’s problem will be converting this into some sort of media career. Good luck to her, but I think she’s a bit of one-trick-pony and they will struggle to find suitable vehicles for her.

Chanelle’s departure also left a gap in my viewing. Aside from being nice to look at, her tantrums were pure comedy gold. They say she’s made £750,000 already, which is astounding. Now that Ziggy’s out too, I expect they will both clean up even more. I sure hope they got a lot of money for their rather embarrassing photo-shoot in the Star on Monday. If you didn’t see it, they were both posing together, in their undies, in a hotel bed. Cringe!

Poor Ziggy. I liked him. He isn’t a bad guy; he’s just very neurotic. He genuinely fancied Chanelle, it wasn’t just for the cameras. He easily had the roughest ride of anyone in the house this year and doesn’t deserve our scorn. We should all chip in a fiver each, so we can pay for his long-term Jungian analysis, which after a couple of decades might get to the root of his neurosis. Until then, he’ll just have to make do with shagging Chanelle and making money off their celeb-value.

I was glad to see Brian Belo win. He’s the Essex version of Forrest Gump and people always go for the thick-o. Except I don’t think Brian is that thick, he’s just not educated well. He’s your typical English lad and probably the world’s biggest BB fan! I think its great that a proper fan won the show, instead of someone who claimed not to really watch it much. Well done, Brian.

I was actually expecting a twinny-win, as Sam and Amanda are just so likeable. They didn’t put a foot wrong in the house which explains why they didn’t have a single nomination throughout the series.

I was glad to see Tracey go a week before the final and I’m even happier I’ll never have to hear her inane catchphrases ever again. She was like a character from a bad novel written about reality tv; a poorly sketched caricature consisting of one shallow dimension. Yawn.

As for the rest, well they’re all pretty inconsequential really. The one I liked the most that I thought should have had more time in the house is Amy. Aside from being a tasty bit of eye candy, Amy seemed bright and genuine. She should never have become such a figure of hate within the house and if she had better taste in men and ignored Liam, she might have gone further.

The one thing I noticed this year was the number of people who I’ve spoken with who have taken great pride in proclaiming that they haven’t watched BB this year and that BB was a failing, dying format. It was as if people decided they were too good for it this year. How wrong they are!

BB continues to be annual event television, filling Channel 4’s coffers with loads of dosh. The ratings were down this year, but the programme continues to deliver the right demographic that advertisers love and in the younger age groups, interest remains very high. Maybe I just only talk to aging media-types. I need to get some cooler, younger new friends!

And if there were any doubts over the future of the next series of BB, Davina promptly put them to rest last Friday night, when she opened the audition call for BB9. If you want to spend next Summer inside the BB house, be ready to dazzle the BB producers, starting in November. Good Luck!

I do want to thank all 23 housemates who spent time in the house this year. One way or another, each of you entertained me in your own special ways and for this I am grateful. And thank you to my hippyfans, who have put up with my sporadic output and stuck with me for my thoughts on BB.

This will be my last formal BB column, I’m not going to do it again next year. I won’t say I’m never going to comment on BB again, but I won’t be doing it in such an organised way. I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading it all as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.

But fear not, this hippy still has plenty of other interesting things to bring you, so don’t be a stranger, OK?