The 14th season of Celebrity Big Brother UK kicked off last night with a fancy introduction show that featured all of the contestants entering the house to a barrage of flashing lights, music, and questions from host Emma Willis. Above, please find Gary Busey’s entrance. It’s bizarre and awkward, and not in a very fun way. He just looks lost and confused, repeatedly asking Willis when she’ll ask him “three questions” even though she just did exactly that, and needing to be led by the hand to leave the stage and enter the house. It’s kind of uncomfortable to watch, as you can see the exact moment when Willis’s facial expression switches from “Haha, you’re so crazy, Gary” to “Uh, something is very wrong.”
For what it’s worth, Willis went on the Celebrity Big Brother companion show Bit on the Side later in the night and attempted to clear things up.
Speaking to presenter Rylan Clark, she began to come to Gary’s defence, saying: “I grew up watching Gary Busey films so obviously I was super super excited…”
At this point the crowd broke into a few giggles, but Emma continued with her speech, adding: “No – I still am super excited. What we have to remember is that he’s 70 and he’s really hard of hearing so things can obviously get a little tricky.
“And then there was the stairs scenario. I thought I was going in as well! But it’s live telly, you’ve got to improvise.”
I dunno, man. The world has gotten a lot of mileage out of Busey being … well, Busey over the years, but it always seemed like he was just barely self-aware enough that we were laughing with him. This clip doesn’t feel like that. It just makes me sad.
