Big Brother Shenanigans: BB14: Reality Interferes with Reality TV

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

BB14: Reality Interferes with Reality TV

Today was my first day back to work, first day meeting my home form (sweet Grade 9s), first day setting up the year and getting out of vacation mode and into high gear mode. Photocopying, printing, planning. meetings. No air conditioning! I walked into school with glossy straight hair and walked out with a fro... I saw a lot of my students from last year who greeted me with enthusiasm, making me so happy to see them again. A lot of people say that teens are problematic, but compared to the crazy adults I have encountered during the BB season, they are a bunch of Einsteins, Gates, Mother Teresas, and Dalai Lamas! Tomorrow I meet my other 3 classes and so it begins! Happy School Year! :)

As far as what's happening in the house, the plan is still to evict Frank and blindside him. Dan is starting to worry that all his lies and F2 agreements will come back to bite him if Frank, Jenn and Shane happen to talk. That's what might happen when a player has too many fingers in too many alliance pies... he or she sometimes gets exploding pie in the face. He seems to be most concerned that Danielle believes he will not stab her in the back. This further confirms to me, that she is the one he is truly allied with, feeling the need to continue his role as her coach and carry it through to the F2 end.

Another thing that keeps coming up is Frank's mention of the DR making him nervous about what might happen on Thursday. He's said a few times and most recently around 12:48 pm PST today that the DR has dropped hints that he might not be as safe as he thinks. DR tampering has been a topic of discussion both in and out of the house. Some former house guests insist that there is none; but it could be that the DR didn't feel motivated to give them a heads up. Frankly (no pun intended) at this point, it won't make a difference. The house guests will vote how they will vote. Putting ideas in Frank's head probably won't change the outcome. It's just one more example of how AGP's tampering is making this game more about production than about the actual players playing the game.

Unfortunately, that's all I got for you today... My brain is melting and I have a lot of things to do before the chat with JoJo tonight! All the details are under the banner :)

Stay tuned! :)

Big Brother Lexicon

There are certain terms that have been used in the course of this show that should be clarified. Here is a list:

Team America: Yet Another tool for production to manipulate the game. Three players will be placed in alliance by "America" and will be given tasks that apparently will change the game. So far, it didn't change Joey's game, first member of Team America slated to be evicted first.

Battle of the Block: The 2 nominees of each of the 2 HoHs will battle each other. The winner duo save themselves and dethrone the HoH who nominated them, throwing them back out of power at risk of being a renom.

AGP: Allison Grodner of Fly on the Wall Productions which is the company that has been hired by CBS to produce the show.

PoV: Power of Veto. This allows the holder to save one of the nominations for eviction. The last PoV of the game is the most powerful, as it determines who will be evicted.

HoH: Head of Household. Along with getting a primo suite, a letter from home, pictures and treats, this person decides who will be nominated and renominated should the veto be used.

Floater: This term is often misused. A "floaters" strategy is legitimate way to get through and win the game. A prime example of this is Jun Song (BB4). This strategy allows the player to switch alliances when necessary, win when necessary, but always work under the wire. It doesn't mean just going with the power in the house (let's call those floppers). It means manipulating the house, ergo having the power. In later years, the term has been misused for players who do not make any moves in the game but work for whoever has the power.

Backdoor: This strategy is used when the true target for eviction is not initially nominated, does not get a chance to play PoV, is subsequently nominated and evicted.

Blindside: When a player is evicted without even suspecting that he/she is the target.

Pawn: This is a person who is nominated but is part of the HoH's alliance and is used as a decoy, to ensure that the other person nominated gets evicted. It has often happened that the pawn has been blindsided.

America's Player: This is a player in the game, chosen by the viewing public, who is told how to act and vote in the house. They do this for a separate monetary reward.

Fast Forward: When there are two evictions in one week. Typically they tape an eviction on Tuesday followed by a quickie HoH. They have nominations later that night, followed by a PoV competition and PoV ceremony the next day. The second eviction and HoH comp for that week happens live on Thursday.

Double Eviction: On the live show on Thursday, there is an eviction (sometimes pre-taped), followed by a quick HoH comp, immediate nominations, a PoV competition, PoV Ceremony, followed by another Eviction, culminating in the second HoH comp which is usually a physical skill or Endurance.