Delusions of Grandeur.
Most people in the world care about what others think about them. Only a few lucky souls could give a crap what anyone thinks about them. For the most part the people an average person encounters in their lives do not openly insult or put down that person.
Celebrities on the other hand have to deal with daily attacks on them and their families. Their lives are plastered all over TV shows such as Entertainment Tonight, magazines such as People or worse tabloids.
No I am not asking you to pity the rich celebrity who was exposed for having plastic surgery or cheating on their spouse. Luckily for them celebrities have enough money to protect themselves from dirty press attacks via lawyers and media representatives. There will also be other members of the press jumping up to allow the celebrities to tell “their side of the story.”
Thanks to Mark Burnett and the success of Survivor a new type of celebrity was created: Reality TV Celebrity. Admittedly a large chunk of the people who have signed up for reality shows have benefited financially and career wise.
Reality TV celebrities have to depend on editors to show “who they are” and hopefully give an accurate description of their time in the game. Some have felt they were not given a fair shake.
Many stars have made good careers out of their new celebrity. Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View appeared on Survivor: Outback before becoming famous. Boston Rob and Amber are perhaps the most famous Reality TV celebrities with each appearing on The Amazing Race two seasons of Survivor along with getting CBS to pay for and air their wedding.
Reality TV has infested our televisions enough that anyone signing up to be on a reality show should know what they are getting into. Heck there are WAY too many people signing up these days in hopes of hitting the jackpot once the show is over via acting careers.
There are however some souls that were either naïve, stupid or misinformed about the possible dangers of allowing television cameras to follow your every move. The little devil on my shoulder says too bad for them. In many ways I, and I think all of the viewing public, are sick of people complaining about “editing” and how the producers made them look bad. If they didn’t have the thick skin to deal with people making fun of them they shouldn’t have signed up.
Well this brings me to what I really want to get into. This season of Big Brother has been quite an interesting one for many reasons. Early on there was a divide among the houseguests with two major camps, the Sovereign 6 and the Friendship Alliance.
The Friendship Alliance, led original by Eric (Cappy), and later by Maggie (although she denies being a leader), have since the start claimed to be the “good guys.” America though has disagreed with this assessment, to the bafflement of those in the Friendship.
Our world has grown accustomed to having two sides, a good and bad, to every conflict. In the Cold War days it was easy to tell who was good and bad. We (Democracy and Capitalism) were good and They (Soviet Communism) were bad. In Post-9/11 America the divide is even more clear with the motto “If you aren’t with us, you are against us” the best way to sum things up.
Any person of intellect knows that things are not so black and white, but rather shades of grey.
This brings me to another old adage, “History is written by the winners.”
If only this were true for the Friendship Alliance. With only four (and soon to be three) houseguests left it seems clear that unless Janelle can pull of a miracle one of the FA will claim victory in Big Brother 6.
In the new Reality TV world it is the audience who decides who is “good” and “evil”. In all my years watching reality shows I have never seen a group of people be so hated by the public. Normally one or two “evil” people show up on any given reality program. In the end those “evil” people are normally the most interesting and even if hated by the majority of America develop a strong cult following who respect their “evilness.” (Think Johnny Fairplay)
Since Big Brother is filmed lived (though only small segment are actually aired live) it allows the producers to involve America. The “America’s Choice” gave audience a chance three chances to vote on different types of rewards. All of the votes went to members of the Sovereign 6. If you look at the voting polls on CBS’s website the picture become clear.
Kaysar, Janelle and Howie, all members of the Sovereign 6, have been the most popular houseguests since week four. As it currently stands the “approval” ratings for Kaysar sits at 92%, 89% for Janelle and 85% for Howie. The only houseguest with over 50% were all part of the Sovereign 6 and Michael (evicted before the S6 was formed).
Since week 4 none of the members of FA have been over 50%. Currently Maggie at 36% is the highest vote getter of anyone on the “good” team.
Normally on a Reality show you don’t know how the audience reacted to you until way after the show has completed. America’s Choice though has allowed the houseguests to get a glimpse into what viewers are thinking. After last week’s vote where Janelle won, once again, the FA continued to question America.
Their bitterness and anger towards viewers who choose to support Janelle and Kaysar over them is both amusing and sad. It has also caused one member of the FA to question her role in the game. (I am writing this before viewing Tuesday’s episode but I have been reading recap and transcripts of the live feeds)
April, who previously along with her alliance, claimed to be “good” and never say a mean word against anything work up and saw the light. While Janelle and Maggie are crying and spewing venom April had a revelation.
Maybe the viewers are right. (sorry to disappoint people but the viewers are ALWAYS right)
So instead of waiting till some reunion show where she has had time to look over things from a different perspective April has realized the errors of her way. It perhaps has come too late for viewers to forgive her but at least maybe she can forgive herself.
Has April actually been “evil?” No she has just been playing the game but her and the other members of the alliance hypocritical attitude have been what put them in the viewers bad books. America can forgive people for being bad/evil on reality shows (Boston Rob) as long as they are honest about it.
I congratulate April for her ability to look inside herself. Sadly Maggie and Ivette continue to be ignorant of how their actions are being interpreted by the viewers. The funniest moment of this season was when Ivette said that anyone who likes Janelle must be a (obscenity), with a quick cut to Ivette’s girlfriend admitting she likes Janelle.
One of Maggie and Ivette will likely be consoled with the fact they won nice chunk of money. Hopefully both of them can eventually look back and laugh at their time on Big Brother and heal any wounds they suffered.
Lastly…GO JANELLE! Win it for Kaysar, Howie and Michael!
