 
Coping with Tension
As tension mounts in the penultimate day of the experiment, how are the housemates dealing with their frayed nerves?
Day Nine saw tension in the House climaxing. But when the stakes are
this high, the way a person deals with such strain says a lot about
who they are and also about their chances of success.
The first sign that anxiety levels were on the up came when the
group were practicing for their Spanish singsong. Tracey and Jade
were bashing away at the keyboard when Paul couldn't take the sound
of it any longer. "That's a bit much, stop it," he snapped.
Highly-strung Jade wasn't in the mood to obey however. "You're
not the leader Paul," she spat back.
"I'm not saying I'm the leader, I just said stop it,"
he retorted.
Under normal circumstances the disagreement would have stopped
here, but this was the penultimate day, things only deteriorated.
"Shut up Paul," shrieked the keyboard player. "Wind
your neck in."
And so it continued…
Throughout this altercation, where Jade and Paul demonstrated that
the best way of dealing with tension is to let the volcano erupt,
the other housemates were responding very differently. In fact,
they didn't respond. Keeping quiet and looking as nervous as a child
seeing its parents argue, Caroline, Tommy and Tracey reacted to
the tension by internalising it.
No surprise then that a couple of hours later when Paul was in
the Diary Room, he told Big Brother, "There seems to be an
atmosphere in there."
But interestingly, the Irishman had clearly gone into denial about
who had provoked it. "You can see people gossiping so I'm trying
to stay on my own today. I'm keeping my head down." As far
as coping strategies go, denial has a limited effect and one that
is usually short lived before the lava finally erupts.
And sure enough, his anger towards Jade, brought on largely by
the anxious wait for the final day, did erupt later in the day.
When Jade told Paul to join in with another rehearsal for their
Spanish pop song, Paul refused, shouting, "We [him and Tommy]
don't need to practice anymore 'cos we're so great."
"Oh sorry, Mr Head over there," came her response.
"Lose your attitude, Jade," Paul shouted.
And just as the tension had reached its summit, Jade admitted to
what was behind it. "You're just really getting to me today.
Normally I find you funny, but today it's really annoying me."
This underlined the fact that surface tension is very often a diversion
from the real cause of it. Rather than dealing with their nerves,
Paul and Jade deflected them upon each other causing a destructive
situation.
They did, however, make it up later in the evening with a hug.
"I'm gonna miss you," offered Jade. And the warring parties
had reached such a level of a peace, as to focus their anxieties
on another member of the group - Tracey, by deciding between them
the Scouser was talking about them with Tommy while looking in through
the window.
Elsewhere though, other housemates were coping a lot better. Tommy
spent much of the day focusing all his attention on the finer details
of making the flier for their performance.
Similarly, Caroline used her excess energy on the process of song
writing. Creative pursuits are known for their tension-relieving
properties, both because of the focused concentration they require
and also for providing a welcome break from the "real world."
But what proved the most effective stress relief for the whole
group came from James. Uncharacteristically, he took on the role
of group jester (picking up the mantle from Paul just for a day).
As the lead singer of their pop group, he jumped around like a hybrid
clown/Mick Jagger, much to the delight of the rest of the house.
Later, he paraded round the House dressed only in a pair of Tracey's
hot pants. And as the psychologist explained, with laughter comes
relaxation, so after their unmissable performance, along with the
sight of the Scot bulging out of some itsy-bitsy shorts, the air
had been cleared.
When it comes to reliving tension, nothing beats a good old giggle
with your mates…
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