Recently in Big Brother Category

In less than two weeks, the tenth season of Big Brother will premiere on CBS, and I can't tell you how excited I am. Sure, we just finished season nine a scant eight weeks ago, but Big Brother is a drug like none other, and I don't care if I have to wait two months or two minutes for a new season. I want it NOW.

Of course, there were a lot of people who didn't love last season (unlike the vast majority, I enjoyed Til Death Do You Part quite a bit), but hopefully, plenty of viewers will return this summer and keep this most beloved of guilty pleasures alive and well. If you don't watch Big Brother, it's never too late to start. Why not give it a try this summer? As I like to say, it's not just a show. It's an experience. But be warned: without fail, the first three episodes are always exceedingly bland and boring to newbies. However, after three episodes, Big Brother will most certainly sink its claws into you and never let you go. That's a good thing.

So here's the good news. While the July 12th 13th premiere date is still a few days off, CBS will be revealing the new cast this Wednesday (according to Jokers Updates, which may or may not be wrong). I'll be sure to have a complete analysis right here at bsideblog.com, and of course, there will be photocaps of every show throughout the season. Tell all your friends!

Who wants to start their week off with some light insensitivity? You do? GREAT! Let's take a look at this blog entry from Amy Crews, formerly of Big Brother 3. Now, I've always liked Amy, but this story of hers is just ridiculous. It sort of plunges into awfulness so aggressively that it comes full circle and becomes oddly hilarious (in an awful sort of way). Read for yourself:

(If you don't know who she is, just imagine a Southern Belle yapping this paragraph)

I am having Jose Beltran Gomez-Aguilar deported. I feel VERY patriotic about this - like I am a real American (said like George Bush “rill Mercan”). It is the first time I have had someone deported, and I must admit, living in such a small town, I have been somewhat leery of eating at the Pepper’s Mexican Restaurant since the incident. Jose broke into my house, which is about the only crime that has taken place on this side of the tracks in Port St. Joe in years. He broke into my house after the Taste of the Coast event while Sugar Plum and I were sitting in the living room with all of the lights on, television blaring and dogs barking. He broke into my house not once, but 3 times that evening. Don and I are weapons people, so after we heard him in the kitchen the first time, and after we realized that is was not Little Henry the ghost, we quickly armed ourselves. Since there is no crime in Port St. Joe, the police were here in literally less than a minute. They found Jose with no shoes on out in our dog pin. He had gotten himself in there, and couldn’t figure out how to get out. I went to his first court date, and found out that he can’t speaka da English. His translator entered a plea of “not guilty” which pissed me off royally. Brian from the State’s Attorney’s office called me the next week and told me that he is illegal. Imagine that. So after he serves his 6 months for breaking in my house, he will promptly be deported back to the Mexico where he belongs. I feel good about that. In other news, I had the BEST birthday I have ever had in my life last week...

And with that, the blog entry then goes on about her birthday for another 300 words or so. If that doesn't qualify as an amazing/terrible tonal shift, I don't know what does.

• All They Will Call Him is "Deportee" [MySpace via Jokers Updates]

Video of the year?

When I was away in Europe, Big Brother wrapped up its season, and I just couldn't let it go to the grave without one last photocap. I know a lot of people really detested this latest go-around, but I loved it. And for the first time in four seasons, I actually was happy with the winner. Here's to three months well spent. Can't wait for July...

It'll be a while before CBS posts screen caps from last night's excellent Big Brother episode; so in the meantime, enjoy this hilariously ridiculous eviction — complete with sobs, dramatic statements, technical gaffes, and, of course, Chenbot sympathy. Bonus points for the surprise appearance of Sheila's catch phrase: "Adam didn't really owe me anything...." If Sheila had added "But he kind of does," I would have died. Died inside. DIED!!!

How delighted was I to find Julie Chen greeting us at the beginning of last night's Big Brother? The last thing I expected was to see her smiling face, but there she was. I should have realized that there'd be an eviction, what with the number of remaining guests left in the house. There was no way to maintain a normal schedule by Sunday's finale. Well, this accelerated schedule added an extra whiff of excitement to the show, and my only regret was that we didn't get more jury house action. I'm hoping that tonight's live show gives us a full update (not to mention some background on Sheila's home life. We haven't seen anything about that).

Fun times as always. Here are the pics...

I nearly fainted when I saw that Big Brother had been preempted in New York for forty uninterrupted minutes of the Pope getting on an airplane, but luckily, CBS.com proved to be my friend again. I watched the episode online, and voila, here's the photocap!

It may have been several day ago, but Wednesday's installment of Big Brother was great. We had fights in the house, squirming on the live show, drama on the jury, a tie in the voting, and an HOH competition fraught with conspiracy theories and intrigue (and a tie breaker). I loved every ounce of it. Well, almost every ounce of it. I was truly sad to see Natalie go. I really liked her, even though she did spout off about Jesus every two seconds. She looked absolutely devastated to be going home, and I don't think I've ever felt so bad for an evictee before. I mean, two quote her, she looked D-U-N DUN. It really was one of those soul-crushing moments. When she stood there by the door one last time and had this hopeless, sobbing look on her face, I just felt terrible. Call me a softy (or call me crazy), but that's the way I felt. So sue me!

Then there was that HOH competition. Now, I'm not necessarily a Sharon fan, but when it looked like she might be winning the competition, I got kind of excited. A victory by her would turn everything upside down. Plus, it would be cosmic justice for getting rid of Natalie. However, as we all know, she did not win because on the deciding question, Julie asked if there were still any pre-exististing relationships in the house, and Sharon essentially said no. There was a huge pause, and then Julie said that Ryan was right (as he had said yes -- or "fact"). The pre-existing relationship? The guinea pigs. This was a such a cheap, trick question, and it immediately reeked of producer shenanigans -- almost as if they wanted Ryan to win (or at least push it to a tie-breaker, which is what ultimately happened). Honestly, when you've trapped these people in a house for two months and they've come this far, it's an enormously dick move to have their quest for half a million dollars hinge on such a stupid question. Nevertheless, the resultant tie-breaker led to a Ryan HOH win, which I'm fine with, but it's just not as interesting as if Sharon had won. Oh well.

Here's the photocap...

"Friends forever, right Big Sheila?"

It'll be a while before CBS posts their pics from last night's Big Brother, but in the meantime, here are some photos the house guests took earlier this week. Enjoy...

Big Brother was one hell of a doozy tonight. The drama was pretty much as good as it can ever get. I don't anticipate that CBS will have the screen shots up before Sunday; so it might be a while before there's a photocap. In the meantime, for fans of the show, this clip is a MUST. For over five seasons, we've waited and waited and waited for something truly exciting to happen at the sequester house, and at long last, we finally had fireworks.

As you'll see in the video above, Crazy James once again proves that he's totally incapable of not blaming others for his own mess. He immediately holds Chelsia responsible for his ouster, saying that her parting comments in the house are what did him in. That's right, it wasn't his mopey attitude or angry self-pity or sanctimonious hypocrisy or vulgar tirades or the fact that he went back on his word in a major way to the point where no one could truly ever trust him. No, it was Chelsia's snippy/hilarious/cringe-worthy rant that turned all these people against poor James.

Now I'm no Chelsia fan — despite her VERY modern haircut — but even I felt bad for her as she sat there and listened to the one guy she cared for rail on her for being his downfall. Way to be a gentleman, James. Good to see you're still championing the return of niceness to this world.

Oh, but it gets worse. After making Chelsia feel so shitty that she stomps out of the room in tears, James has the temerity to wander into her room with a big smile and ask "What's wrong?" To paraphrase Sheila, are you frickin kidding me??? You just made the girl who supported you through thick and thin feel like the lowest scum of the Earth, and now you want to play all naive about why she's sad? Awful. But again, IT GETS WORSE.

James then reassures Chelsia that "I was a homeless kid that walked into Big Brother with no money. I'm okay with leaving with no money, but knowing that I fell for a girl." Well, obviously he wasn't okay with leaving with no money; otherwise he wouldn't have bitterly cut down the girl he allegedly cares for. Aren't "nice" people supposed to let bygones be bygones? And furthermore, enough with this homeless junk. Anyone who willingly lives on the streets, especially while maintaining a corporate sponsor (ie. American Apparel), does not deserve to play the homeless card.

Still, once James was able to make Chelsia cry, he seemed to be at peace with the whole situation. But I think it will be a long time before he ever takes any responsibility for his actions. I can't even imagine the sanctimonious questions he'll be asking come jury time. Only ten days away...

The nonstop parade of Sheila-isms continued on last night's Big Brother as the reigning cougar of the house plotted the ouster of Natalie. It's sort of sad watching this once proud alliance cannibalize itself, but it was the inevitable post-James outcome. Either way, the two guys are sitting pretty. All three girls seem determined to go with them to the final three. Strategy-wise, it makes sense for Sheila to target Natalie because she does seem to be an endurance queen, but still, whenever two people are jockeying for a third spot in an alliance, the smartest thing they can do is join forces and turn the tables (Janelle and Erika against Chill Town, anyone?). That probably won't happen though.

Also, all this drama over Natalie is sort of redundant. Sheila's ultimately afraid that Natalie's gonna target her next week (something that's not entirely out of the question), and while no one likes to feel like a target, the truth is that no matter who wins HOH, Sheila will still have to lay it all out for POV. She'll need it to either take herself off the block or keep herself from the block. No matter what, if she loses, she's going up. (Although, technically, I guess if she's not nominated and the HOH wins the veto, there are better odds that she'll stay off the block despite losing). Point is that the girls are putting too much weight into the nomination process. Now, if Natalie were to cast the deciding vote between Sheila and one of the guys, well, then yeah, there might be some problems there...

But until then, the photocap!

If there was ever an episode of Big Brother for Sheila fans, Sunday night's was it. There was so much "SheBot" going on that my TV nearly exploded. It was one glorious moment after another, and oddly enough, some of it was actually quite heartwarming. To be honest, I thought some of the fun of the show might have left when James walked his villainous self out the door, but I'm happy to report that the show is still just as entertaining as ever. Poor Natalie, who I've liked for the past several weeks, is now getting the full antagonist treatment, which is not totally unmerited. She started playing both sides of the house too early and too unscrupulously. Oh well. I don't hate her though.

But enough game talk. Onto the photocap...

As is always the case with the Big Brother live eviction episodes, CBS didn't post the screen caps until Sunday evening, which meant I didn't get around to doing the photocap until today. Complicating matters was that my Sunday afternoon wound up a bit more booze-fueled than usual. Needless to say, if I had tried to cobble this together last night, the captions may have been mildly nonsensical.

So here's the latest photocap. I'm now gonna finish last night's episode. The newest recap will be up later this afternoon. Thanks for your patience!

With the Big Brother season entering its final stretch, I decided to check in with former winner and current Dr. 90210 star Dr. Will Kirby to find out what's been going on in his world. Brief interview after the jump.

Here's the news for those of you who haven't been keeping up with their Big Brother gossip. Nick and Jen from Big Brother 8 have been dating for a little while now. Don't know how it happened, and I don't know why it happened, but I'm sort of glad it DID happen. After all, now Jen's supposedly self-involved theories from her season about Nick liking her and Daniele being jealous might actually be true, which means the Donatos were wrong all along. Heh.

Anyway, I guess Jen stayed in Vanna White's good graces (she was her nanny, in case you forgot) because Jen and Nick popped up in the audience for Wheel of Fortune last night. This is literally a three second clip, but hey, it's infinitely more interesting than anything CBS has aired about "Evel" Dick.

Last night's episode of Big Brother was great for one and only one reason: we got to see Sheila bark, "Yew know wut, Adam? Thank yew, THANK YEW!!" And yes, that was a quote verbatim. I probably watched that line over about three times in a row. As for the rest of the show, well, that was all pretty damn good too.

Photos after the jump...

Adam, Adam, Adam. What were you THINKING? Why is it always at this crucial stage of the game when someone does something absolutely idiotic and totally jeopardizes everything? Hurricane Howie season 6, anybody? Chicken George season 7, anybody? America voting Dustin off season 8, anybody? UGH.

Of course, these are just noms. Nothing is sealed until the veto happens. Actually, it already happened, and I already know the results, but I ain't saying nuthin' until Tuesday night. In the meantime, check out the photocap...

Isn't it great when the pressures of Big Brother cause people to crack? And isn't it even greater when it happens to reality stars you just can't stand?? Oh, what a sublime way to start the week.

CBS dragged its feet on posting the screen shots from Wednesday's eviction show, but at long last, they finally went up, which meant I could do the photocap. I momentarily considered simply skipping the episode and moving onto tonight's drama, but then I realized that I simply could not let Josh's awful exit go uncommented on.

After the jump, the eviction photocap, and while you read that, I'm gonna put together the latest wrap up from Sunday's nomination episode. Enjoy!

Seriously, CBS needs to post its screen caps to Wednesday's Big Brother episode pronto. I know the executives and webmasters have more important things to do like driving around in their B-M-DoubleYews, but the next installment is less than a day away! This could be a disaster!

Yew know wut, CBS? Yew don't owe me a timely resolution on this matter, but ya kinda dew!!!

The latest Big Brother episode was on Wednesday. It's been over two days, and we still don't have official screen caps, which means I can't do a photocap. Don't you understand, CBS? If you don't post the pics, I'm gonna die inside. Die. DIE.

In the meantime, y'all will have to wait a bit. Yew know wut? Yew don't owe me some patience, but ya kinda dew!! Thank yew! THANK YEW!!!

I'm sorry. I can't contain my disgust for James. I know I should be mature and just ignore him, but I simply can't. It's too easy to rant when you have a blog. In this clip, posted today on JokersUpdates, James discusses the origins of his pink mohawk, which comes not from any innate craziness but from the American Apparel marketing department. Apparently the company, which sponsored his bike trip for niceness, suggested that James wear all pink, and never one to turn down free clothes, James went along with it. Nothing wrong with that (unless, of course, you specifically chastise everyone around you for being materialistic... which is what James did).

The good news for James was that his new pink look had an added fringe benefit. To quote him:

"And people always... associate the pink with, like, breast cancer awareness and stuff like that; so they're more willing to give you, like, free shit... I don't say anything. They're like 'You're doing a good thing.' I'm like alright dude, thanks."

Taking advantage of good will and breast cancer sympathy all in the pursuit of free stuff? Not materialistic at all! And so very NICE.

Oh Big Brother. You cruel, cruel mistress. Last night was a classic Big Brother emotional roller coaster. There were highs, there were lows, and there were laughs. Oh so many laughs. Watching Joshuah sob by himself was almost worth the price of admission. Watching Joshuah make Sheilah sob too was even better. However, while there was plenty of wonderful drama and fighting and tears, it simply couldn't mask the profound sense of frustration I felt throughout the episode — an emotion that only grew stronger in me as we approached the one hour mark. This show isn't good for my mental health, people. I'm pulling out my hair, aging five years faster than I should be. And for what? Another awful person to win the whole thing? After last year's Dick Donato fiasco, I don't think I can take another sucky winner, but if this keeps up, that might just be what I'm in for...

And now, photos.

It's Sunday, which means CBS just aired another delightful installment of Big Brother. The nomination episodes are usually the most low key of the week, but that's okay because they give us a chance to enjoy the dumb things our merry captives do to keep themselves busy — you know, like playing hide and seek, stirring up middling whirlpools, staring at photos psychotically. Typical stuff, really.

However, the shortage of activities in the compound doesn't mean there's a dearth of fun pictures from CBS. The latest photocap after the jump...

No one gets in a tizzy more than Big Brother's Sheila, and while some find her histrionics irritating, I think they're hilarious. Here's a brief clip from Wednesday's Big Brother After Dark in which she and Natalie revel in the outcome of that night's HOH contest. It gets funnier the more you watch it.

Thank God we have Sheila this season. Otherwise, I would have died. I would have DIED. DIED!!!

CBS finally put up their screen caps from Wednesday night's episode of Big Brother; so without further ado, here's a look back at the eviction show through the magic of pictures.

BTW, I've decided to start calling these posts "photocaps" because a) I like making new words, and b) it's photos + a recap. Photocap!