Ruining Big Brother 18 – July 25th

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 – James
HOH Nominated – Frank and Bridgette
Veto Winner – Michelle
Evicted – #1 Jozea #2 Victor #3 Bronte #4 Tiffany
Battle Back Winner – Victor
Have-Nots – TBD – none yet

On the morning of July 25th the Veto ceremony commences along with a tense Bridgette and Michelle “confrontation type thing” in the bathroom.  The Veto ceremony happened behind the scenes but must have ruffled some feathers. Although the Bridgette/Michelle talk felt harmless; pretty much just Bridgette’s Disney princess version of putting Michelle “on blast,” it also seems to have an impact on Michelle. She spends the day muttering and wondering to herself while outwardly confronting others about some of the tidbits Bridgette told her in their morning chat. The biggest matter of concern to Michelle was a “reference to her appearance” – another houseguest’s joke told behind Michelle’s back. It turned out to be Paul calling her “Buzz Lightyear” in their contentious early BB days. He quickly admits that, yes, he’d said that about her. Then Paul explains about Mr. Lightyear with a deadpan face saying, “he’s a good lookin’ guy!”

But the real action starts around five in the evening when the houseguests are on indoor lockdown. Info pops onto the living room TV screen. It tells them, “Clues to the secret/Are all around you/You may want to keep it to yourself,” discovered first by James. Unfortunately, he calls out so others come look at the TV before the message gets to the third part about keeping it quiet. Much of the house is napping but the houseguests wake each other up with the social game in mind. After awhile half the houseguests are standing around thinking while Paul and the rest scurry back and forth between clues. Paul announces repeatedly that, he’s almost got it, guys! until eventually his magical mantra works and Paul gets into the secret room.

There was fun-filled tension in the middle of the secret room discovery when Paul was halfway there. He tries to get alone by the booth so he can get inside but can’t shake Frank from his tail feathers. Finally, Paul manages to get inside the booth alone. He dials the secret code he’d figured out from the clues and then a voice comes over the phone. “Congratulations!” it says, loudly enough for others around the booth to hear and then instructs Paul to come back when the coast is clear and he can enter the secret room then. So, after Paul hears this message he tries to keep Frank, and others, away from the phone booth yet again to allow him inside the secret room without detection. But, of course, nobody will let him be alone with the booth at this high-tension stage of the game. Some of them heard that message too, bro! So, eventually Paul grabs a free second and goes for it. Natalie, Corey, Mama Day, and James are all standing right there outside the booth as he’s tunneling into the secret room under a red-light. This climax happens a bit after five thirty PM.

Inside the room is decorated like a Paris picnic. Paul reads a script of explanation aloud that tells him there are twelve envelopes and he needs to choose one. Each envelope contains a ticket, one’s round trip and the rest are one way. Once chosen, each envelope can’t be opened until the houseguest is evicted. Upon eviction Julie will open it live onstage and if they have the the round trip ticket, it grants that houseguest entry back into the house. Each ticket also has an individual number. They can’t be traded or opened. If they open their envelope it’s void and if they tamper with another houseguest’s there may be a penalty.

Paul ponders what to tell the others for a bit in The Secret Room before he re-enters the house. They all congratulate him and Paul talks to them as a group in the living room, giving very little information and not really convincing them that he’s telling the whole story. Many of them speculate aloud that they too can get into The Secret Room to possibly score an envelope they can’t open. That was pretty much all Paul told them about the experience, he now has an envelope he can’t open. If Paul was a Big Brother fan, he certainly would’ve come up with a better “story” than this. Something to squash their hope of entering the room. Something final. Perhaps, “I got a mystery gift to open once I’m out of the house. There’s only one, though. Sorry guys!” and that would have the end of it for many of the less curious houseguests. Of course, Frank would’ve still investigated further as well as Day and James. But Nicole played quite a passive role in this whole enterprise, even with her veteran status.

In fact, she spent the rest of the day fuming that it was Victor who told her the secret code. Corey should’ve told her. What about figuring it out your damn self, Nicole! Geez Louise. Why should anyone else ever have to do your houseguest job for you? The answer is never, girlfriend. Play your own damn game. Speaking of Victor, he’s next to figure out the entry code and get into the room through the tunnel. Once Victor’s in, though, we lose the feeds until after the whole house has been inside The Secret Room and chosen their own ticket. In fact, the feeds came back on at six forty PM to show Michelle, the last houseguest to collect their envelope, reading the instructions and looking like a lost little puppy.

Michelle then holds a cranky ass grudge about being last to experience The Secret Room. She cries inconsolably and claims it’s about the Bridgette confrontation that morning. It seems more like she’s just emotional and doesn’t know why, even saying at several points, “I don’t even know why I’m crying,” but this sin’t even close to being the most clueless or overly emotional reaction to the events of July 25th. No, that award goes to Nicole. As we mentioned earlier, she got upset that Corey wasn’t the one to tell her the secret code. But we didn’t say that she went on and on about it for (literally) hours. That’s the things about a showmance, even if it only reaches flirt and cuddle proportions, because it’s on Big Brother, it’s bound to be a relationship on crack. Once they get out in the real world, a houseguest can get back to their chill, regular self, but while they’re in the house the neuroses is just too powerful. One thing is for certain, Big Brother brings out the crazy in even the coolest people. That’s why it’s so entertaining!

So, although Michelle didn’t use the Veto on the morning of July 25th, it still gave hope to the houseguests for a second chance. Many are nervous that second chance will go to Frank. But you just never know with Big Brother. One thing we learned from Julie Chen that the houseguests don’t seem to know is that, “The Secret Room will only be in play for four weeks,” so they could possibly make decisions based on a power that has already passed its expiration date during their future game play. We’ll keep you posted with the latest here on Fetchland.com as well as via our twitter @Ruining BB18.

– Katherine Recap