Body language expert looks at CBB’s Louis V Fern

Louis Walsh vs Fern Britton: The Battle Of The Two Professional Maskers…

Body language expert Judi James, speaking exclusively with Paddy Power Games, notes, “Louis tells us that Fern has ‘Been in the business for 100 years’ and clearly has a game plan. Fern calls Louis out as the ‘biggest snake in the House’. Unlike the younger housemates, Fern and Louis are veteran body language maskers but both celebs are like paint-strippers when it comes to spotting fake behaviours in others and calling them out.” 

Louis’s Pre-Dump Behaviours  

“Playing a role in Big Brother can be stressful as it’s a 24/7 performance. Louis has two techniques that will be keeping his stress levels low though: Firstly, he is verbally open about his feelings, allowing him to avoid bottling them up, but then he is skilled at the body language art of the ‘pre-dump’. When someone says or does something he really doesn’t like, he will mask by widening his eyes, throw out his arms and pretend not to care. But first he will often let rip with a more honest response. 

“When he found out Fern had put the snake on his bed, his reaction of anger and rejection was instant and explosive: ‘you (bleep) cow’ but having dumped his anger and resentment he was able to flip to ‘laid-back Louis’, applying his ‘innocent’ face and walking towards Fern repeating ‘I don’t care, I don’t care…’. 

“Louis spent years performing appropriate reaction expression as a judge on The X Factor and this also means he will often get camera time when any announcement is made. Louis can do jaw-dropped shock expressions better than anyone in there and the way he admitted to Sharon that he was over-reacting for show makes him one of the most honest celebrity housemates in the history of CBB.” 

Fern’s Weaponised Smile  

“Fern spent many years on one of the most saccharin shows on TV. As a result, she has one of the sweetest, kindest smiles in the business. Her eyes crinkle, her cheeks rise and go round and her lips pucker with a dipping of the middle of the upper lip signalling nurturing, empathy and caring. It’s also a congruent facial expression. All the muscles and lines are involved in creating it readily and easily. Often we can spot the applied mask because it takes so much effort but there’s zero effort in Fern’s case. 

“Which is why her calling out of Nikita over ‘stripey top-gate’ was such a powerful moment and not just because the spat involved two House ‘good-guys’. Fern did it with her ‘kindly’ smile in place. Fern knew Nikita had been nominating her on speed-dial. She also got ‘snubbed’ when she sat to talk it out with him (potato-gate). Unlike Louis with his pre-dumps, Fern had been bottling her emotions, meaning she shocked and confused the House with this smiling take-down.  

“Fern’s body language threw up conflicting extremes. Her pose and her pointing index finger mimed an attack. Her ‘We get on alright when we’re playing games’ came with her sweet smile and this wrong-footed Nikita, who smiled back.  

“Fern’s kindly smile versus her incongruent rituals forced him to ask: ‘Are we having a beef?’. The combination of Fern’s sweet smile suggesting kindness while her accelerated blink rate and her raised brows and staccato finger movements registered annoyance and authority made any response from Nikita difficult. Her shrug implied it was no problem and Nikita’s gesture of rubbing the back of his head forming a pit-bare ritual suggested both confusion and a desire to stand his ground. 

“Fern also used command techniques with Nikita. Her ‘Carry on’ at the end of this confrontation matched with her style of speech when she offered to make up with him later: ‘Come and talk to me’ and ‘Come and be here if you wish’ made him have to walk over to her.  

“When he tried to form an apology, she used a volley of ‘No no no, yes yes yes’ to talk over him in an ongoing interruption. Her kindly smile remained in place until Nikita had gone and then we got a large sigh for the cameras, suggesting Fern might believe she was taking the audience with her as she called people out. But has she made a big mistake in assuming this?” 

Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight at 9 pm on ITV1, STV, STV Player and ITVX