Big Brother Shenanigans: BB16: The hitsay has hit the anfay

Sunday, June 22, 2014

BB16: The hitsay has hit the anfay

The BB16 cast was announced and, already, multiple explosions have filled the BB air. It started on Thursday shortly after the cast announcement, when news of Frankie Grande being Arianna Grande's brother. The outrage spread like wildfire at his unfair advantage of having his and her fan base voting for Team America. It would be a valid point of the voting really counted. Voting results are not transparent really so without that who can prove that production isn't driving that bull cart?

Anyway, that didn't last long. A new controversy replaced it as Caleb Reynolds's tweet from almost a year ago surfaced. He's become the new poster child of social media dumbassery that proves the adage be careful what you put out there because it will bite you in the ass. Coming off the heels of a truly horrific season filled with infuriating racist, homophobic and sexist comments, these statements have, rightfully, rubbed people the wrong way.

But, then again, what can we expect from a butthead recruit who lives in BB and social ignorance?

He's one of many people who need to be dragged into a better state of awareness; but, unconscionable casting and a brazen grab for ratings is at the root of this shit storm. With a cast that is predominantly recruits and with a production team of social media experts, the only conclusion one can arrive at is that this is an intentional casting. In other words, they are fully aware that this is out there and not only did they cast this dude anyway, they didn't tell him to delete these horrendous tweets. Controversy is money in the bank while fandom's blood pressure is on the rise. Cha. Ching. Those who are still shell shocked from last year are screaming foul, while others are protesting he be given a chance. People are at passionate loggerheads over this, but attacking each other is not going to change anything.

This is CBS's decision. Scream at the media beast, but be warned, every tweet, every email, every blog protesting this decision is justifying it in their minds. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Last season proved that. As we seethed in righteous indignation, as we called for the immediate removal of the foul cast that polluted our favourite show, the ratings went up. Most of the offenders went deep in game. One of them won it and the other was a finalist. We never got our comeuppance, except when Aaryn Gries got a new one ripped on every media outlet and by Julie Chen. This while a much worse Amanda Zuckerman was given the hero's edit. Why? What excuse did they give? "It didn't drive the story line."

And there we have it. It's not reality. It's TV.

I mean, they can't even cast people who have the common sense to purge their social media accounts and lock them down before going into sequester. They can't blame those who find it and expose it.

If CBS, Fly on the Wall Production and Kassting wanted to produce pure Big Brother, they would kill recruiting, toss out their casting manifesto of stereotypes and actually put in the work to vet the applicants. They would have a zero policy against bigotry and automatically nominate anyone who utters hate speech on the feeds. But then Cinderella would be gay and Prince Charming would be a man of color.

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.