Ruining Big Brother 18 – July 2nd

There are two different experiences, both called “Big Brother”.

One is the television show Big Brother, as the CBS producers present it to broadcast tv audiences, three times per week. But the other is what is actually going on in the Big Brother house; the experience of the house guests, unfiltered — or at least less filtered — by television editors.

Fetchland presents Ruining Big Brother. It’s less “spoiling” Big Brother and more pulling back the curtain, to ruin our collective illusions about reality television. Enjoy! Or better yet, recoil in horror…

Daily BB House Stats:
HOH – Paulie
HOH Nominated – Paul, Bronte
Roadkill Comp Winner – Victor
RK Nominated – Tiffany
Veto Winner – Paulie
Evicted – #1 Jozea
Battle Back challenge – Glenn vs. Jozea

July 22nd will be a special Battle Back episode of Big Brother

Have-Nots – Team Big Sister: Da’vonne, Paul, Zakiyah

Team Big Sister: Da’vonne, Paul, Zakiyah
Team Category 4: Frank, Michelle, Paulie, Bridgette
Team Freakazoids: Nicole, Corey, Tiffany
Team Unicorn: James, Natalie, Victor, Bronte

As July 2nd starts we find out right away that Paulie, Bronte, Paul, Tiffany plus Da’Vonne, Zakiyah are playing in the Veto competition. It turns out to be a team challenge involving spelling. The biggest word wins and apparently players got blasted with water while spelling. After the challenge ends it’s revealed through cage-matcher convos that even though Paulie ended up winning Veto, really Frank didn’t want to take heat for using the Veto and basically gave it to Paulie. He’s already takin heat as HOH anyway, right? Now that HOH has the Veto power, his wish to backdoor nominate Victor is totes in the works. Paulie plans to take Paul off the block and put up Vic in his place. Although it’s unclear what Paulie will say exactly, one valid point he could make in the Veto ceremony is that Paul remained kind to Paulie when he was on the block whereas Victor and Bronte were pretty darn nasty. This type of “reasoning” is classic Big Brother and would count as a valid strategic decision in their world.

Even though it was kinda busy with the POV competition on July 2nd, the cage match wasn’t really ON tonight and thus the cage-matchers stayed pretty chill. Bridgette continued to run the kitchen as Bridgette’s Bakery whipping up treats for everyone on a constant cycle of yum. Once stuffed with tasty goodness, the houseguests sat around telling stories and playing riddle games. First Tiff started a game where people had to guess what she was thinking and then after about twenty minutes of questions, Tiff finally just flat-out told them what she was thinking. It was words that have more than one meaning. Scintillating stuff. After Tiffany’s “game” Paul proposed his own version of a riddle which was later mocked and derided at length in his absence, although we at Fetchland happily admit we kinda enjoyed it. Paul presented a mysterious scenario and then the others could ask him yes or no questions to figure out the story behind the scenario. Although it was a fun challenge in many ways, the cage-matchers found it frustrating rather than funtacular.

But we at Fetchland are starting to grow fond of Paul in general. He’s playing the game without rockin it hardcore and balls out, like Frank. Playing this way can have advantages, especially for a character like Frank who jokes and mocks and says-it-to-your-face but it’s not for everyone and, seemingly, not Paul’s way. He’s more subtle and friendly even if he doesn’t appear that way. Looks can be deceiving, after all. Another thing we like about Paul is that he’s teaching many of the houseguests chess one-at-a-time with buttloads of patience and solid advice. We love that! Paul’s a gamer and gets away with revealing that he’s a strategic thinker but still makes social connections and keeps people close while competing with them in a strategy game. It’s not as easy as Paul’s making it look.

The Big Sister team were the sad and sorry unfortunates this week, getting Have-Not status because of their last place “berry position” in the HOH berry-themed competition. Thus, the “special extra” for the Have-Nots this week is berries. Right on theme as always, baby. This is a tastytacular one compared to many of the “specials” in the past including pickles, liver, and sardines. Who doesn’t love berries? And they can have as many as they want! Hooray! Zakiyah, the queen of practical facts, points out that blueberries are a “feel good fruit” because they actually release positive rain chemicals for you when you eat them. She also thoroughly cleans the kitchen and looks like a supermodel the whole time. Later on in the HOH room Frank made a joke about Zak’s “big ass hands” as large as Frank’s, saying, “That’s the next twist, Zakiyah used to be a man!” and Zak stayed her cool and unimpressed self. She may not SEEM like she’s playing the Big Brother game but cleaning, staying positive, and not-reacting are all crucial ways of playing the game of Big Brother… and nobody looks better doing it.

Check out our up-to-the-millisecond tweets @RuiningBB18.

– Katherine Recap