Big Brother

Big Brother is one of those shows you don't really appreciate until it's back on the air.  There are a lot of Big Brother haters out there, though I'd wager most of these people have never seen a second of the show.  People seem to have an issue with the mere idea of Big Brother. I can understand this – the show is sleazy and invasive.  But, if you want guilty, unfiltered fun, Big Brother is the show for you.  This season, on Big Brother 9, the producers have already begun putting the screws to these house guests.  Tonight's premiere made it clear that we should be in for a fun season.

The Rules:

Big Brother 9 is being subtitled “Til Death Do You Part.”  This is because the house guests are playing in teams this year.  With interviews and personality tests, CBS has paired each contestant with their perfect love match.  They share beds, share HoH, and teams will be evicted at the same time.  Quite a big change for the Big Brother franchise. 


The Twists:

After all of the house guests entered the house, Julie Chen let us in on two big twists.  First, two of the house guests (Ryan and Jen) are currently dating outside of the house.  However, they intend on keeping it a secret while inside the house.  To complicate matters, they have not been paired up together.  The other twist is that Sharon and Jacob, who dated for 12 years and recently broke up after Jacob cheated on her, arrived inside the house and were surprised to find the other there.  They hadn't spoken in a long time and were, of course, paired with each other.


The Teams:

Alex and Amanda: Perhaps the best looking couple, both are young and seem to get along early on.  Amanda has the same vibe as Jessica last season – ditzy on the outside, but smarter than she looks and talks.  I assume this because she works as a paralegal.  Alex owns a DJ company, but didn't want anyone to know he had money, so he just said he works as a DJ.

James and Chelsia: James is insane, is homeless and is currently biking around the world.  Chelsia is a wild and crazy college student.  Seems like a good pair.

Natalie and Matt: Matt is an incredibly arrogant Bostonian, who will be a Diary Room gold mine this season.  He had inappropriate things to say about every woman in the house and can't stop talking about how awesome he is.  Natalie is a bikini barista who loves God, and I frankly don't know what to think of her.  I was expecting to dislike her, but I enjoyed what she brought to the table in the premiere.

Jen and Parker : Again, was expecting to hate Parker because he works for TMZ, but he seems self-deprecating enough to like.  Jen is in an awkward situation because she is dating Ryan.  She and Parker got along in the premiere – I wonder how she'll play it going forward.

Joshuah and Neil: The two gay men seemed to hit it off pretty well.

Jacob and Sharon: Jacob wants to make amends but, at least in the first episode, Sharon was having none of it.  She was angry and distraught at the situation.  I'm guessing they make up at some point soon.

Ryan and Allison: Ryan is dating Jen and Allison is a former gambling addict.  That's all I got.

Sheila and Adam: Probably the biggest drama of the night came from Sheila who, it turns out, is a total bitch.  She's 45-years-old, a former Penthouse model and the second she was paired up with Adam, she flipped out.  Adam is 29, a little beefy, does charity work and looks to be an all-around really good dude.  Sheila, however, is the shallowest person alive.  She starts chopping Adam down right away, complains to the other house guests, and makes an ass out of herself. 


Power Couple Competition: “Falling For You”

The Power Couple is a new concoction from Big Brother.  The winning couple gets the power to immediately evict one couple from the house.  This competition in the backyard was set up with eight beds strewn across the lawn.  One team member had to hang from a suspended cord, the other had to lay on the bed.  The comp started when the person on the bed grabbed hold of the suspended person and they pulled about 8 feet into the air.  The last team still suspended without falling are the Power Couple. 

Parker and Jen ended up winning, but only after they made a deal to keep the second place team of Matt and Natalie safe.  In addition, Parker and Jen were the only team to win a bonus $10,000 for being able to grab a pillow from the bed without falling. 

On tomorrow night's episode, we'll see who Parker and Jen chose for eviction. 


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of CBS)