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Big Brother’s old news, right? Its novelty has long worn off, and we’ve better things to do on a Friday night than watch a televised freakshow beg us to run up extortionate phone bills.

But, thanks to one Shabby Katchadourian, Big Brother’s finally worthy of a lesbian/bisexual fanbase, writes Sophie Wilkinson.

It’s been nine years since Big Brother’s launch series, where Anna, a former nun, was one of the last three contestants to leave the house. And, yes, was a lesbian. Since then, viewers have not once been presented with an amiable, entertaining lesbian, but instead two stereotypical forms of female non-heterosexuality.

Some previous female housemates have announced their bisexuality, but this is invariably to satisfy the lusty gaze of their male audience. We can’t blame them; they take these cues from hordes of women in the public eye who use the mention of hypothetical bisexuality as titillation for men’s fantasies. (The most recent culprit being Cameron Diaz, who ‘revealed’ she could be attracted to a woman then quickly countered this by telling Playboy “I always travel for cock”)

The dyke-otomy is complete with the stereotypical lesbian housemate: the unattractive, man-hating, fanny-chasing predatory butch. Or, as Shabby would put it, the “heinous lesbian”.

Of course, it would be ridiculous to suggest that the representation of any particular demographic on the oft controversial show has been proportional, or entirely respectful. But throughout the series, representation of male homosexuality has been abundant and varied. We’ve been treated to a whole spectrum of gays; muscle Marys to effete twinks, crossdressers to men so beautiful that straight women across the nation weep at their heightened unattainability.

Finally, in the representation of lesbians and bi women, Big Brother has lived up to the promises implied by its coverage of gay/bi men. Shabby is a funny, attractive, androgynous lesbian.

A bisexual woman, Corin, is another standout contestant for many viewers and pundits, but as a Jordan lookalike whose depilatory habits include shaving her eyebrows and forehead, she’s a universal hit who doesn’t disrupt heteronormative gender roles in the way Shabby does. Whereas Corin’s always going to be cheered on by the tabloids, Shabby’s doing a great job of winning them over. The odds for her winning are 16-1, an achievement for any female housemate, let alone a lesbian.

It hasn’t always been this way. In the run-up to the first eviction, where Shabby was odds-on favourite to leave, Twitter and fan forums ran amok with her fans. She’s developed a cult following amongst young lesbian, bisexual and even some (previously?) straight girls! All of whom urged people to use tactical phone votes to keep the 24-year-old squatter in the competition.

And that’s where this adulation could turn sour. Big Brother is a competition. It’s a game show which has made Channel 4 look like Channel 5, and left hundreds of brain-curdlingly stupid reality TV shows in its wake. And Shabby is a contestant. She’s got her boob(s) out, had tantrums, acted up and was genuinely irritating enough to be nominated for eviction first time around.

If the cheeky chappy is evicted early on, the true shame won’t be owed to her disappearance, but that her presence is so significant to les/bi women.

The chore of tallying up the proportions of gay and straight women in the public eye for comparative purposes would be too depressing to bear, but I’ll hedge a bet. For every 300 women in the public eye, there is one lesbian or bisexual woman.

The last young, good looking, charming lesbian we’ve seen in our media was Lindsay Lohan. And we all know how that went.

Jane Lynch, Ellen DeGeneres, Cynthia Nixon, Jodie Foster and Rosie O’Donnell all are brilliant role models, but with their age comes the implication of the too frequently believed myth that lesbians are only so because of a general boredom or distaste for men, instead of a natural homosexual inclination.

So we’re clutching to the hopes of a woman in a TV show. This validation is extended by the possibility of a romantic relationship between our favourite trustafarian and fellow housemate Cioahme. Even if the adoration isn’t mutual, when Shabby finally confessed her feelings for the Irish student, the show displayed a story we can all relate to.

It’s not an incredibly positive lesbian storyline but its real, and it’s truly cathartic to see our own fears, excitement and mortification as a result of fancying a straight mate played out on screen. As Shabby herself put it, “Lesbians have feelings, too, y’know. When we fancy another girl it’s exactly the same as a girl fancying a boy, or a boy fancying a girl. We still get hurt.”

In a utopian society, no-one in their right mind would seek validation in celebrities or their wannabes. And Big Brother contestants should not be easily mistaken for role models. But with the lesbian scene focused to main cities, outside of which heteronormativity is the rule, isn’t it nice? Isn’t it lovely that the mainstream media is acknowledging the existence of young, attractive lesbians?

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