Big Brother - a Summer Addiction

One of the things I love about Big Brother is that it is on three times a week - Thursday, Sunday, and Wednesday nights (unless it is changing this season). Each night there is new stuff happening and a rundown of what happened in the house during the previous days.

The format in the beginning was a little bit different but they have settled into some predictable formats. In the first show of the week, Thurdsay, house guests vote on the nominations from the previous Sunday and evict one member of the household. Then, house guest participate in some kind of challenge to find out who the Head of Household will be. The Head of Household gets more priviledges than other house guests like a private room, private bathroom, and will not have to eat slop. They are also the ones responsible for nominating two house guests for eviction.

In the second episode of the week you get to see what has been happening in the house. This is often where the most drama shows up because people are trying to convince the Head of Household not to nominate them or to nominate someone else. There’s a lot of strategy talk. At the end of the show, nominations are revealed.

In the last episode of the week there is a Power of Veto competition. The winner of this competition can “veto” one of the nominations for eviction. It is actually the most powerful place to be, in my opinion, because how the winner uses or does not use this power can truly change the course of the game. At the end of this episode, the Power of Veto meeting is held and the winner of the competition will announce their decision. If they do choose to use the Power of Veto, the Head of Household must immediately nominate someone else to take that person’s place.

There are a lot of terms in Big Brother that you need to know to understand what is going on. When I first started watching it (I missed the first few seasons) I had to ask my husband a lot of questions!  If you’re reading about Big Brother on blogs or other sites there are abbreviations that will be helpful to know as well.

Here are some of the terms you should know:

• Head of Household (HOH) - the person who wins the Head of Household competition; they have the power to make the nominations for evictions for the week. They also get their own private room, goodies from home, letters from home, a private bathroom, and will not have to go on slop. They get an automatic entry into the Power of Veto competition, too. If the Power of Veto is used they get to nominate another person for eviction. In the eviction vote, if there is a tie, they get the tie breaking vote.
• Power of Veto (POV) - the Power of Veto is one of the most powerful things to have in the household. The person who wins POV gets to make the decision to either leave both nominations for eviction up OR to take one of the nominations off. This is huge because it can potentially change the direction of the game. It can also affect strategy and make people reconsider their alliances. There is a Power of Veto competition with only 6 players. The two nominations and the HOH automatically get to play. Each of them draw names from a bag to decide who else will play. If they select “house guest’s choice” they can pick anyone they want to play in the competition with them.
• Coup d’Etat/Wizard Power - this is the other power that can change the game significantly. It has only been used a few times in all of the seasons but it holds a lot of power. The person who wins the Coup d’Etat (usually in a luxury competition of some sort) has two weeks to use it. It gives them the ability to take the two nominations down and put up their own two nominations. The people who have the POV and HOH cannot be nominated and they can’t vote. The person with the Coup d’Etat cannot vote in the eviction ceremony either.
• Pandora’s Box - this is a fairly recent twist in the game. It can be good or it can be bad, depending on what position you are in. At some point in the game (usually in the last half), the HOH finds a hidden door in their HOH room and a note that allows them to make a choice to open Pandora’s Box or not to. Once they decide to open the door, the decision can’t be reversed. If the HOH gets something good from Pandora’s Box the rest of the household generally gets something bad. If the HOH gets something bad, the rest of the household gets something good.
• Backdoor - this is used as a verb, not a noun. The concept goes like this. The HOH decided who they want out but in order to increase their chances of getting that person out they nominate someone that they know will really fight to get the POV and will have the strength and the ability to do so. They also try to ensure that as many people on their alliance as possible are in the POV competition. They might even nominate two people from their alliance to increase those chances. Then, if all goes according to plan, either HOH or one of the nominations or someone else from their alliance wins POV and takes down one of the nominations. The person who is removed is replaced by the person that the HOH REALLY wants out of the house. This can be a good strategy if timed right but there have been times when people tried to backdoor someone and their plan back fires on them. If the person that they are trying to backdoor is an especially swift talker and can really  mess with people’s heads, they might be able to strategize their way out of being evicted.

If you've ever thought about being on Big Brother and are thinking about going to an audition, you need to read How to Get on Reality TV: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide. 

I've read this book myself and I can tell you that Dan Gheesling really knows what he's talking about - after all, he is the winner of Big Brother 10!  He walks you through all the steps and gives some great advice.  He didn't get on Big Brother the first time he tried you know and he learned a few things along the way.

CLICK HERE to get this book now!

Oh, I do love the villains. They make the show so interesting!  There is bad and then there is really bad!

1. Evel Dick- Seasons 8 and 13: There should be no need to ask why he gets the #1 spot if you’ve seen Evel Dick in action. He was mean and manipulative to those he didn’t like. Highlights from Season 8 included pouring iced tea over Jen’s head and performing “pots and pans” for the other house guests to wake them up (I did this to my daughter once to get  her out of bed and it sure worked!). He came back in Season 13 but had to leave almost immediately for personal reasons.
2. Dr. Will- Seasons 2 and 7: Dr. Will made it very apparent that he didn’t like anyone and didn’t care if he stayed or went home. He was rude and mean at times but you couldn’t help laugh at his nonchalant attitude that ultimately won the game for him.
3. Russell Kairouz- Season 11: Russell gets on this list for being a big verbal bully. He verbally abused other house guests to the point of making them cry and had a way with words that cut like a knife.
4. Joe Barber- Season 8: Joe is a villain for telling all the house guests that fellow house guest and ex-lover Dustin gave him gonorrhea.
5. Mike “Boogie” Malin- Seasons 2 and 7: Mike is the kind of showmances. He used a girl in both seasons that he was in to get to the top and completely manipulated them.
6. Shannon Dragoo- Season 2: Shannon is a former calendar girl and seemed sweet at first but when she scrubbed the toilet bowl with Hardy’s toothbrush and had no intention of telling him you had to know she was bad!
7. Chima Simone- Season 11 - Chima gets this award for being the biggest drama queen and throwing the biggest hissy fit about not getting her way on the show. She threw her microphone in the pool and got kicked off the show.
8. Ronnie Talbot- Season 11: Ronnie wasn’t really bad but he took playing both sides to a whole new level and I think that puts him on the list.
9. Rachel Reilly- Seasons 12 and 13: Being a huge drama queen and a prime time b*&*h gets her on this list. I actually like Rachel in a way but there’s not a doubt that she has her share of haters!
10. Justin Sebik- Season 2: Justin took verbally bullying to a whole new level. He threatened to actually bring physical harm to house guests and that got him kicked out of the Big Brother house.

Picture source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dick_Donato_1.jpg

Whether you loved them or hated them, these couples gave life to the term “showmance”.

1. Jeff and Jordan - Seasons 11 and 13
2. Rachel and Brendan - Season 12 and 13
3. Mike “Boogie” and Erika - Season 7
4. Mike “Bookie” and Krista - Season 2
5. Natalie and Matt - Season 9
6. Ollie and April - Season 10
7. Danielle and Nick - Season 8
8. James and Chelsea - Season 9
9. Jessica and Eric - Season 8
10. Lisa and Eric - Season 3

And a special award: Best Threesome award goes to Natalie, Jessie, and Lydia!  Those girls were always fighting for his attention and (even though I didn’t like Jessie) he played them perfectly to get further in the game.

Picture source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33oGTIxkdDw&feature=fvst

• Jen Arryo - 37, from Brooklyn, NY
• Joe Arvin - 41, from Shereville, ID
• Frank Eudy - 28, from Naples, FL
• Jodi Rollins - 42, from Calipatiria, CL
• Willie Hantz - 34, from Dayton, TX (yes, this is Russel Hantz from Survivor's brother!)
• Wil Heuser - 24, from Louisville, KY
• Ashley Iocco - 26, from West Hollywood, CL
• Shane Meany - 26, from Bennington, VT
• Kara Monaco - 29, from Los Angeles, CL
• Danielle Murphee - 23, from Tuscaloosa, AL
• JoJo Spatafora - 26, from Staten Island, NY
• Ian Terry - 21, from New Orleans, LA

This year Big Brother is throwing a new twist in the game so that they can bring back some vets without everyone getting pissed off.  They've brought back vets in the past but there has been a lot of noise from fans who don't think that it is fair to have vets playing with newbies.  This year the vets are not playing with the newbies - they are playing their own game for $100,000.

The vets are back as coaches.  4 vets have their own team (which they selected on the first episode) and if their team members all get voted off they go home.  The vet with the winning team member wins $100,000.

At least this is what they have told us so far.  There is some speculation that at some point in the game Big Brother will turn the tables, as they have been known to do, and put the vets back in the game to compete for the big prize at the end.  

The vets and their team members are:

• Mike "Boogie": team members - Ian, Frank, and Jenn
• Jenelle: team members - Wil, Ashley, and Joe
• Brittany: Willie, Shane, and JoJo
• Dan: Jodi, Kara, and Danielle

As is expected, you should always expect the unexpected on Big Brother and this year is no different.

Besides the fact that 4 vets have been brought back as coaches, the first episode revealed that one house guest would be sent home that very night!  That was a shock to the new contestants.  What was even more shocking was that the coaches would have to choose who was going home if their team lost the competition!

The competition that determined which team coach would have to send someone home proved to be easy for the guys but harder for the girls.  The theme was a slumber party and each contestant had to jump across three beds to a pile of teddy bears, grab one and then bring it back.  The task would be complete when one more person went across the beds to push the button at the end.  Sounds easy enough, right?

Not so much.  

The first bed was jiggling back and forth.  The middle bed spun in a circle.  The last bed was a ramp that bounced up and down.  That's where the girls struggled.  The guys were able to jump on that last bed and grab the end and propel themselves forward.  The girls had a hard time getting the ramp to move down towards the teddy bears and ended up falling off a lot.  

Dan's team, with three girls, struggled the most and ended up coming in last.  As a result, Dan had to send home one of his girls.  He chose Jodi in the end (I'm not sure why) and she was evicted in the first episode.

Currently, Willie is the HOH.  He's made his nominations and power of veto has been played but I'm not telling - you'll have to watch the next episode tonight!