Big Brother on Overdrive

Do you ever wonder how much of reality tv is actually real? Well, if you watched last night’s episode of BB7, you probably have a better idea.

Last night’s show (which, thank you channel 9 in DC, I had to watch this morning because I love sleeping more than watching Big Brother at 2:37 am) was billed as “Big Brother in overdrive” – a week’s worth of show in one live hour. Why did they do this? Well, the producers have decided to end the show earlier than planned. So they need to eliminate more than one houseguest per week to get them to the finale in less than 2 weeks. Of course, it doesn’t appear that they’ve actually told the houseguests this (which is why they told Neil Patrick Harris that they had more days left than they actually do, and why they were so confused after the second eviction). Because the show was live, the “coaching” that usually happens on the show was absent, and it was clear where it happens.

First, we had the first eviction of the night. Not a shocker that Danielle was voted out. She’s a much tougher competitor than George, and she would have been impossible to beat in the final two. She took it way better than I expected, and left in a way that would make her kids proud. I guess that her outburst on the last show was really fueled by the crappy wine they are always drinking.

Next we had another freakin’ trivia competition for HoH. And it was the same sort of trivia competition we’ve had all summer…low-tech, 50-50 questions. It’s such a disappointment, considering the caliber of challenges on Survivor. There has also been talk this season that the producers are giving Janelle an unfair advantage. For example, during the PoV competition this week, when each houseguest was sequestered in a room, Janelle was in the room with the memory wall. Having that time to study the wall is why she won PoV. And the HoH competition was strange too – Julie never said how many questions there were. So really, they could have ended it at any time (like when the person they wanted to win was ahead). Anyways, Janelle won HoH, and had four minutes to decide who to nominate. (this was strange too, since when George had to do a live nomination, he didn’t have any time to think it over)

After a quick talk with Will, we came back from commercials for Janelle to nominate Erika & Chicken George. And this is the point where you could start to tell that one of the things the producers do is talk over the “script” with the houseguests before each ceremony (you’ll notice that they are always alone before the ceremonies…). No time to do this, and there were long awkward pauses, and the houseguests clearly did not know what they were supposed to do next. This was also the point in the show where you could tell that Julie was starting to get annoyed with everyone.

Anyways, it was a good choice to nominate George & Erika. Even if Erika won PoV, George can go home. The only other choice, I think, would be for the girls to have teamed up to get rid of Chilltown. But since they both think they are part of Chilltown (and how funny was the whole ninja thing at the beginning of the show?), I guess they won’t be doing that any time soon. And, not a shocker, Erika won PoV. It was actually a good challenge – it was nice to have something other than trivia.

After another commercial break, we had another awkward live tv moment. Julie asked Erika a ridiculous question, she didn’t know what to say, and finally just said hi to her mom. She also hadn’t been coached to say “this veto meeting is adjourned”, and for whatever reason, Julie couldn’t move on until that was said. (and you think I’m OCD?...) So Janelle nominated Boogie, who looked sick to his stomach.

After yet another commercial break, Julie asked each nominee for a statement. Julie was clearly reading off the script, and George couldn’t believe she asked him for a statement 30 minutes after the last one. Mike got some free advertising (ha!), then promptly got the votes to stay. And, as promised, the producers had fried chicken waiting for George, along with a bad Col. Sanders imitation.

So the final four is Erika, Janelle, Boogie, & Dr. Will. (another live show glitch – somehow Erika’s picture on the memory wall was replaced with a black & white pic of Jase) I don’t see how someone from Chilltown won’t win the game. Both girls believe they are members of Chilltown, and they each have a showmance in full-swing. Every way I figure it, one of the girls will be going home next, regardless of who wins HoH/PoV this week. There are only three more episodes left (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Tuesday…no episode on 9/10, season finale on 9/12), and then I think we’ll see a second Big Brother crown for Dr. Will.