Being for me the most likeable person in the Big Brother 2 household and that Dean O'Loughlin was the most "safe" in the head person proving you don't have to be an extravert to get on with other people while inside that infamous compound in Bow, East London was for me the most impressive performance of anyone to come out of that place with any dignity.
So I was generally in fear that this eight-track half-hour performance would simply have to be as fellow housemate Paul Clarke would put it "cool, wicked" or else in the immortal words of Mr O'Loughlin himself would put it "wafer thin".
The truth however was of course somewhere between the two. For when Phony came on at 9:30pm to start their half hour set, Dean came on with the rest of his four piece entourage which make up Phony, to a now sparse Lomax ,but thankfully many more people than one man and his small yappy dog if the footage from the acoustic tent at V2001 in Chelmsford was anything to go by as seen on the Channel 4 TV programme "This Weeks Headline's" showed back in August 2001.
None the less wearing a black Benny hat from the old Crossroads TV series and a veryfetching Kylie T Shirt which was a far cry from his memorably laughable Classy Cuts hairdressers’ uniform he once wore in Big Brother 2, Dean announced in his self depreciating Birmingham style "Hello everyone my name's Craig David".
From which the first number of Phony's performance started with the track "Terribly" which was a well written but pedestrian affair dealing with that four letter word love and Pro's and Con's of relationships. This similarity
Set the tone for most of Phony’s set, which also included the track "Deluxe" that was played just before the eviction process began in the Big Brother household.
However, just when I thought I was watching Hootie and the Blowfish mark two, it wasn't until their sixth number "Sacrifice" did Phony start showing some promise by delivering a strong powerful track that would have stood out further had some voval harmonies been used to beef it up.
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That said this was their best effort by far and this vein of form continued with their seventh number "Alpha Male".
Their last track "Long Haul" was apparently according to Dean about an alien marooned on Earth which also was a strong well executed track to finish on. Though by this time Dean had tired of his Benny hat by taking it off announcing sardonically "it's me!" and Phony's bass player finally realised that mask wearing should be left to the like's of Slipnot by eventually removing it from his face.
At the end of Phony's performance though Dean was greeted with hearty applause and quite a few jovial heckles from the Lomax crowd chanting "Did yer shag Brian!" from which Dean replied "I'll tell you all at the bar" and true to his word he did just that and a more charming and affable man you could not wish to meet, signing autographs and having photo's galore taken of him with anyone.
Never the less, whether this lasts next year or even next month will all still depend more than ever on the public vote, only this time though CD sales and not a telephone poll.
At least for tonight Dean could just about get away with talking in his sleep and claim that he wants to be famous like he did the one time in the Big Brother 2 household with his head held high.
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