Originally Posted by Enthusiastic Contrafibularities:
They also need to psychologically screen people much more carefully before letting them enter the house (I believe on another thread Eugene suggested they don't - I'm sure you will elaborate/correct me if you read this Eugene).
I believe you're referring to comments I made at the start of the series regarding Nikki (BB7) and Faye (BB12).
Basically, there have been suggestions for some time that the HM screening on BB isn't as strong as it could be, I remember a lot of stories around the time of BB7: for example, prior to the series start, C4 vetoed a couple of potential HMs who had criminal records (one for violence). Endemol leaked info on this to the press to try and create a "meddling" scandal and get the decision overturned, but thankfully C4 stood firm.
As for during BB7: Some of you may recall that over the years I've written a lot about how Dawn got stitched-up by BB. Dawn had previously worked with people with mental health issues, and she was shocked on entering the house because she felt that a lot of the HMs should never have been selected: Shahbaz, Lea, Nikki and even to some extent Pete. Partly because of this, Dawn embarked on a running battle in the DR which led to BB looking for any excuse to kick her out. However she was later proven to be at least partly right when Nikki admitted in her book that she'd lied her way through the psych tests to get on the show.
After BB12, the issue of aftercare also came up. Aaron got a lot of publicity (and criticism) for claiming that 4 HMs that year attempted suicide afterwards, however what wasn't so well publicised was that Faye backed him up. Both of them talked about this on Couch Potato, and this led to a discussion about how some of these HMs got on the show in the first place. Faye expounded on her theory that BB no longer really uses the psych tests to weed out unsuitable HMs: instead they use them to identify the HMs' weaknesses so they know "what buttons to press" during the show...