Gary Busey is 70 years old, seemingly hard of hearing and suffered brain damage in the 80s.
READ: WHY IS BULLYING SOMEONE FOR BEING BEAUTIFUL SEEN AS ACCEPTABLE?
Yet, last night, viewers watched as he was targeted by his fellow housemates, following an uncomfortable encounter with James Jordan.
The pair had got into a heated argument, with James accusing Gary of homophobia, but they had put their differences aside and apologised later that same evening.
Which made it even more shocking that, as the pensioner was sleeping in his bed, Ricci Guarnaccio suddenly decided to make him the subject of a cruel dare.
READ: DOES MORE NEED TO BE DONE ABOUT CYBERBULLYING?
Gathering Lauren Goodger, James Jordan, David McIntosh, White Dee and the others around him, he insisted that whoever lost a game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors!' would have to go and climb into Gary's bed.
Ricci proved to be the loser of his own dare and, followed by the giggling housemates, rushed to complete it.
Which meant that a bewildered Gary, who had been sleeping with an eye mask on, awoke to find a strange man in his bed and his housemates cackling at him, all as they flicked the bedroom lights on and off again.
Nobody explained the joke to Gary, rushing out of the room and leaving him, staring red-eyed into the room, alone and confused.
One Twitter user summed up the uncomfortable moment perfectly, writing: "If you're playing a joke on someone who doesn't find it funny and you're all cackling at him like bellends, you're awful."
Loose Women's Denise Welch also insisted that the behaviour of the housemates was cruel, writing: "He's clearly poorly. He shouldn't be made a laughing stock."
But it is behaviour like this which goes hand-in-hand with reality shows; the whole concept of is based on encouraging aggression, confrontation and bullying.
We throw people, from different backgrounds and of clashing personalities, into a house. We plant cameras everywhere to watch their every move. We cheer and jeer them, depending on our mood - and we, essentially, encourage them to fight. To bully. To create drama.
And it almost always reveals an ugly side to people desperate to come out on top; to survive the vote - or just survive - they need to be memorable. They need to be the Alpha Male / Alpha Female.
In short, they need to distance themselves from the outsiders - and, in doing so, become The Bully.
Yes, Gary Busey's behaviour has been a little erratic. Yes, he was accused of homophobia after joking with Strictly star James Jordan. Yes, his fellow housemates are supposedly 'scared' of him. But does that make it right for everyone in the house to treat him like this?
Absolutely not.
I can’t bring myself to advocate bullying a bully. Stand up for yourself? Yes. Speak up? Definitely. But don’t sink to bullying — it’s a poison that makes no distinctions.