‘Big Brother’: beware the back door By Lisa Caputo
2012-08-10
Why are producers twisting the ‘BB’ truth?
Television, at its very core, is a medium for storytelling. Whether scripted or reality programming, it is always supposed to be about the story and the characters. Reality television has long come under fire for being fixed, though the much more accurate term would be controlled. The networks control what the viewers see from the multitude of hours that are recorded, they control how the participants/characters are portrayed, and they even sometimes control the game itself by changing rules, adding twists and coaching participants to act or react a certain way.
At the end of the day, though, as long as the viewers are aware that even reality television is controlled in this way and the end result is an interesting story being told, it is certainly acceptable. Even still, there are lines that should never be crossed and on Thursday’s live eviction episode of Big Brother, a show that has repeatedly come under fire for controlling the game and the story a tad too much, CBS jumped clear over that line and into a whole other field of deception.
Footage was shown of Danielle being her supposedly sweet southern self in the Diary Room, saying that she was telling Janelle she was safe to make her feel better, yet where was the footage of her vindictively enjoying taking Janelle down in the worst way that the live feeders watched earlier this week?
Tape was shown of Danielle having a private talk with Janelle after the Veto meeting and her recounting that story to Dan, yet where was the footage of the pathological liar falsely telling nearly every other houseguest that Janelle threatened her in order to make Jedi Janie look even worse in their eyes and seal her eviction?
Britney was broadcast crying in the Diary Room and later in the HOH room, feeling terrible for lying to Janelle, yet where was the recording of her laughing about blindsiding the blonde powerhouse and how hilarious it will be when she is evicted?
Janelle was shown doing her part to fight for her chance to stay in the house, campaigning for votes to every houseguest she could, yet nothing was shown of each and every one of them lying to her face that they would keep her safe and then running off to share their joy of how much pain it will cause her to find out they were lying to her?
Even on Wednesday’s POV episode, Boogie was made to look like a changed guy, someone who was just working hard to save his wing man by making an honest and loyal alliance with those who threatened to evict Frank, yet there was nary a clip of him joking with Frank that he would immediately turn on Dan and Britney with the first chance that he could find?
In the end, the Silent Six got their wish — however ill-planned — and Janelle was sent packing prematurely by everyone aside from Joe, completing what was, by far, the most brutal and vindictive backdoor move in the history of Big Brother.
If this season has not had enough drama, backstabbing, lies and broken promises yet, it seems the opportunity is here for another big week, with Frank winning the HOH competition, thus giving him and Boogie the perfect chance to make good on their threat to hunt down Dan and Britney after convincing them to do their dirty work for them and evict Janelle from the house.
Although I am certainly no fan of either Boogie or Frank, and although I cheered out loud with the studio audience when Janelle responded to Boogie’s goodbye message to her with a hilarious, “He’s such a loser… What a d-bag”, I was secretly hoping that either Boogie or Frank would win the HOH competition and prove to Dan and Britney that they made the biggest mistake of the game by evicting one of their actual allies to trust one of the most known backstabbers in the history of Big Brother.
The Sovereign Six made a monumental mistake by turning on James in Season 6, thus handing the entire game to two completely undeserving members of the dreaded Friendship Alliance. Jeff trusted his former enemies, Kevin and Natalie, believing their lies and backdooring his ally Russell, only to find himself being stabbed in the back and evicted by the same two people the following week in Season 11. Now we may very well be able to add Dan and Britney to this list of the greatest idiocy in the history of Big Brother if their fate is sealed by Frank and Boogie after taking out one of the few houseguests who would have been loyal to them until the end.
Expect the unexpected indeed. That is, of course, if the producers allow it.