Big Brother and the Negativity it Can Create: A Rant

Everyone talks about how Big Brother has gotten progressively worse over the years with this season probably being the show’s lowest point. I have always thought bringing an evicted houseguest back is never a good idea nor is pairing anyone up to play the game in teams – whether they knew each other prior to coming into the house or not. The whole point of the show is (was, anyway) to have strangers from all walks of life play a game as individuals while also participating in a social experiment. Over the years, CBS has turned the focus away from the experiment and the individual players and turned the spotlight towards the gameplay and the negativity it can bring – when forced.

I cannot help but think back to Big Brother 6. Not only did we have the “Summer of Secrets” with each houseguest having a secret partner (how long did that “secret” last?), we had the newly remodeled house which changed the way the game was played drastically. Now, the houseguests had plenty of space away from each other to openly talk about the game, but more importantly, each other. This season also brought us the “Nerd Herd” and drew a distinct line in the sand between the participants and the alliances they formed early on. The vile, personal, non-gameplay related comments said about each other grew to a fever pitch during Season 6. Prior to Season 6, the game had to be played much differently. In secret. Dr. Will, Danielle and Jason, Jun and Allison… Remember?

Are they casting different people now? Perhaps. It seems more and more cast members have been “discovered” rather than just the regular Joe or Jane sending in a video and an application. Casting scouts found Russel in a bar this year for example. Or maybe we just didn’t know about early seasons’ cast discoveries because they were not talked about as much. Who knows? Fans have been crying foul for CBS casting people who have never seen the show before, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing after all. If a fan who loves the show is applying and has seen the strategies of the previously mentioned Dr. Will and Danielle, would that make them play the game differently? They certainly wouldn’t try to mimic their actions. Or at least I would hope not. I think what makes this confusing is that they now mix fans who have applied over and over with people who have never seen the show before and had no intention of applying. That’s not to say they weren’t already “models” or “actors” or have not applied to other reality shows to try and obtain that elusive fifteen. This is just another aspect of how the game has changed over the years.

This brings me to Big Brother’s fans and especially the Internet fan base. I have always thought it was the show that was the problem. Indeed it is partly to blame, but it is also my opinion that along with Big Brother 6, not only did the show change, I have come to realize this is when the fans also changed. It seems to me during the good old days of Big Brother, the fans would kick back on their respective forums and chat rooms and wax philosophically about the houseguests and their gameplay. We cheered on good strategic moves no matter who the houseguest. We applauded lying and scheming. We yearned for it. With Big Brother 6, once the houseguests split and it was Nerd Herd versus the ever-so-mighty Janelle, Kaysar, Howie et al, that was it. Lines were drawn. When Ivette said something horrible about one of the “good guys,” fans went nuts! We couldn’t wait for Janelle to win HOH. When she did, the Internet was atomic!

What I did not realize at the time was that Janelle and Howie (and company) were saying some pretty mean things as well. Remember Howie’s rant on April? Wow. Extremely mean, yet we applauded him and could not wait for the next blow up. Last night on the live show Casey said horrible things about Jessie and it was perceived by some as a victory.

What I’m getting at here, albeit winded, is that the fans can be just as hypocritical as the houseguests. We tend to pick a favorite or two right from the get go and latch on. The mob mentality kicks in on Internet chat rooms and forums. If something is said behind their backs, that makes the other team “evil” and we give them horrible nicknames and trash talk them until the cows come home. If our player or team says something mean about the others, we scream, holler and applaud. What looks like a poor sport or whiney speech on a live show (Chima) can look like the ultimate victory (Casey, Chelsia). This is thoroughly frustrating for fans of the folks receiving the brunt of the mob’s rage. They are not able to post anything in support of them without the Internet groupies jumping all over the poor people like flies

I’ll preface this by saying I am not a Ronnie fan and I do think he played the game way too hard and way too fast, but what atrocious and appalling things has he done really? Is it because he is a “dork” in your eyes? Is it because he lied and deceived? Isn’t that what this game entails? Would it be possible to win without lying at all? Or maybe it’s because he lied to the wrong “side” and is aligned with Jessie? That’s fine, but does he deserve the hate the Internet is spewing at him?

Jessie can be an ultimate douche sometimes, but he is playing the game well, no? Maybe calling him a “douche” was an awfully hypocritical thing to say, but I feel that yes, I can call Jessie a douche because I have spoke with him personally and he doesn’t really count since he’s been on the show before and shouldn’t be there now. See paragraph 1.

All I am saying is please take a deep breath, step back and enjoy the gameplay. It’s OK to have a favorite or two, for sure! Enjoy! Have fun! If someone’s opinion differs from yours, that’s fine. Take what they say and at least try to understand maybe why they like that houseguest or alliance. Or maybe they are just rooting for a scenario that would cause unrest in the house to break the monotony, not necessarily a cast member. Just be sure when you are bad mouthing a HG (or another fan) and rooting for another, don’t be blind to what your favorites are doing within the game also. It may just be the exact same things for which you hate someone else.

Click here to comment, discuss, bash, flame, etc. :D

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