Big Brother 10 and the limits of reason

Last week I wrote this:

The biggest users of reason in the house are Bea and Halfwit. The point I would like to make is that reason is the most successful tactic that a Big Brother contestant can use. In the face of everything you go to the reasonable position which thus makes your opponent seem unreasonable, aggressive. The point is that reason should never be equated with honesty. In the same way that in politics reason is used as an ideological prop to capitalism - "You want a revolution? Be reasonable, look at what usually happens in revolutions, they never work. Capitalism may have its problems but it's the best system we have, yes there's inequality, but until you have a reasonable alternative let's just settle for this..." Reason becomes a way for the privileged to keep their position of privilege.
It is "cultural capital," something I remember from my Sociology lessons, the middle-class are better versed in the laws of middle-class culture so that in a society where "we're all middle-class now," they have a distinct advantage over those less well-versed in the unwritten rules. See how Halfwit by persisting in the reasonable position managed to become the favourite to win the show as everyone else turned to slagging him off, making themselves look bad - their anti-Halfwit sentiments became the opposite of reason.
And now Bea joins in the reasonable brigade. Note the way that with Kenny she started off by being sarcastic to him (the comment on his shoes) but as soon as she got the reaction she desired she returned to the position of reason, making Kenny hated.
And the whole thing demonstrates how hard this position is to criticise. Every time I criticise Bea or Halfwit I am berated for my views based on the fact that they are just so damn nice. Well, yes, maybe they are nice, but that niceness should be seen as the ideological construct it so blatantly is, and, in a show famed for disliking game-players, for the game it so obviously becomes in their hands.

So, what happened? From such a position of reason to Bea becoming the bitchiest housemate (though she does have quite a lot of competition), to Halfwit basically going "nanananananana I'm not listening," to Lisa after he'd criticised her?
While at first glance the 2 things might seem opposed, recent events have simply confirmed my central thesis. Which is that reason wasn't so much the "natural" basis of Bea and Halfwit, but a tactic, a heavily ideological tactic at that. And a tactic that it didn't take a whole lot to break down. Of course, along with their recent outbursts there are still moments when they are alone together when they still have their reasonable discussions, even if these are interspersed with moments when Bea uses their moments alone to bitch.
I am tempted to suggest that Halfwit's schoolboy behaviour in his argument with Lisa stems from the comment Bea made to him about no one having told her they'd fancied her since she was 14 - he has reverted to that age on the back of this comment, perhaps some unconscious memory rising to the surface, but that seems too easy. The other theory I like, but again can't agree with is that Noirin leaving has changed the entire house. Noirin as the structuring principle of the house, the centre, around which everyone else revolved, and her leaving has left everyone out of orbit - there is no centre from which they can take their bearings, all previous positions are lost. But that places too much emphasis on Noirin I fear. No, I think the best answer is that we see the limits of reason here. When faced with unreason, reason has nowhere to go but into unreason itself. We need look no further than the continued use of war to bring other countries round to the idea of liberal democracy - when rational argument is ignored there is seemingly no other way. For all of Halfwit's reason when faced with Lisa he has nowhere to turn but to laugh maniacally in her face...
In Bea's case we simply see that where the tactic she employed with Kenny - being off with him and then when he turned on her acting all innocent and hurt - has failed with David, she tried the same thing but it failed this time, ended up making her look bad. Her niceness is now seen for the facade it could only ever have been.
What we can also see is the unshakeable confidence of the middle-class. Halfwit with his, "I am never leaving, people like me, you are leaving Lisa," speech, and Bea with that awful demeanour of, "how could anyone possibly dislike me?" Which really does show the limits of their reason...