Ruining Big Brother 18 – July 26th

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

July 26th brought bad blood to the Big Brother house, mostly seeping from the saucy concoction coming out of Paul’s mouth. He gives Bridgette quite a “talking to” in the backyard hammock at around three in the morning which upsets her and otherwise really has no point. Paulie isn’t currently HOH but he still seems to have HOHitis while Paul apparently acquired a similar illness strain from “cracking the code” and getting into The Secret Room first. He’s relentless in his constant tirades and they’re terminally lacking in substance. From his hour long soliloquy about his beard and tattoos to his brutal beatdown of the already-beaten Bridgette; the guy can’t stop yapping. It was particularly unsettling when Paul said he can’t wait for Frank to go so he can terrorize Bridgette. Yikes. We thought you hated bullies, Paul? What exactly do you think it means to prey on the lone outsider just for kicks?

Not much else happened in the house on July 26th but Paulie did start some pseudo-flip talk just to keep Frank entertained until he leaves on Thursday. Under Paulie’s benevolent tutelage, the houseguests are pretending to consider voting out Bridgette just to cool Frank’s campaigning jets. It’s funny how suddenly trying to stay in the house (the primary goal of Big Brother) is forbidden and nasty just because Frank’s the one doing it. But the game pretty much requires it and not campaigning doesn’t get you far either. Look what it’s doing for Bridgette! She just gets chastised and insulted for NOT campaigning. Still, it’s pretty admirable how upbeat she’s staying.

Frank spends most of his time explaining all of Quentin Tarantino’s movies to the wide-eyed Bridgette; line by line and from beginning to end. Sadly, this isn’t even the least interesting scene on the feeds at any given moment. The houseguests exercise, give each other funky hairstyles, and eat non-stop with occasional bouts of game-talk and ranting against either Bridgette or Frank.

Some interesting talking to the camera comes out of Mama Day’s realization (during the HOH endurance comp) that she can’t trust Nicole. Guess who’s next on the list after Frank and Bridgette now? Yes, sir. She tells us, looking right into the camera in the London room. It’s no surprise, given what Frank told her about Nicole running right to him with the info that Day wants him out. It’s all the evidence Da’vonne needs that Nicole’s presence no longer helps her game. The question is how will Day get Nicole’s jury vote after evicting her? That’s going to be tricky.

Another person who got the diss from Paul on July 26th was the innocent Victor, who’s just been chillin’ and joking around ever since he was the second one to crack The Secret Room code.Victor lets Nicole put him in cute little ponytails with bows and listens to Paul’s advice in the storage room. Basically, Paul tells him to back off, saying it’s because their previous affiliation got them into trouble before. But really, Paul’s just annoyed by Victor now and being petty. He’s too cool for his friends of yore, it seems. Even so, Victor’s managed to wiggle his way into a strong position in the house. Nobody’s targeting him quite yet even though he’s likely to win tons of competitions – they like to call his kind “A Beast” in the Big Brother house. Funny thing is that they’re all too obsessed with Frank and Bridgette to even notice this threat.

In other non-news type news, Natalie and James are still the cutest couple by far in the house. That’s mainly because Natalie stays so bright and bubbly no matter what happens. She takes no part in the negativity to the level that the others do and that’s probably why she can stay so chipper. We could all learn a thing or two from our pretty pink flower of a houseguest. She’s also paying close attention to the dynamics in the BB house and has been the only one we’ve heard call out Paulie a bit on his HOHitis. Natalie has her eyes wide open and she’s keeping herself in a solid position too. We have high hopes for her at this stage of the game. Just make the next HOH competition cheerleading in Spanish and everything will go perfectly fine in Fetchland’s opinion.

– Katherine Recap