I’m a big fan of Big Brother. Not only do I watch the show, but I subscribe to the live feeds, follow the #bb13 feeds (old school to #cbsbigbrother), listen to podcasts dedicated to the show, and follow various fan blogs. Needless to say, I’m a tad bit addicted to this summer tv show. Recently, it has come to my attention that a houseguest (contestant) named Shelly made a move to evict Jeff, who happens to be the boyfriend of another popular HG named Jordan causing fans of this couple (JeJo, as called on #bb13) to react rather harshly towards Shelly in their tweets. Some have even went as far to set up a FB page called America hates Shelly or something like that cuz I haven’t gone there cuz that stuff disgusts me. On the show, Shelly is portrayed as a company executive with a family in Louisiana. She’s always saying that she’s on this show for her daughter, Josie, and she wants to set a good example by not lying. Boy, did she ever pick the wrong TV show to try and accomplish that. The only way to win the show is to “manipulate the truth” in order for you to stay in the game and put targets on others to get evicted. And Shelly has been doing that. Well! She earns other people’s trust by playing the mom role of the twenty-something “I wanna be a tv star” other HGs, hides behind the “I won’t lie because I don’t want my daughter to see this” facade, but stabs the other contestants in the back style of gameplay. When she used this method of GAMEPLAY to get Jeff evicted some other viewers went bonkers. Even to the point of threatening to kill and *gulp* even more heinous things to her 8-year-old daughter Josie.
What is it about some people that makes them lose their morals? That line between good and evil had been crossed, yet they don’t see it. And it’s scary.
I was a big wrestling fan when I was a kid. I remember when Rowdy Roddy Piper would do or say something terrible to Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and I would HATE Piper. With a passion! I remember jumping off my bed delivering a vicious defenseless pillow with an imaginary face of Roddy. Boy he made my blood boil! But I digress, because he was playing a role of a heel – a bad guy to get the face over. And nobody played the heel better. But I want to emphasize PLAYED. In the Reality TV realm, Shelly played the heel role – except that this is no longer in front of an audience thus making others perceive her as being this unmoral “evil” person in reality. Because of this “reality” I believe that this is why there is no longer a line of what viewers can cross.
It’d be an interesting experience to explore my love for the social experimental game called Big Brother in a play. I wonder what kind of reversal I can employ – like where reality tv and reality blend and switch sides. Hmmmm…