Big Brother: Double Elimination

August 9, 2014 11:33 AM - Season 16, Episode 20

Two houseguests are eliminated in this live episode.
posted by cribcage (4 comments total)

I noticed this show had been added to FanFare, but nobody had posted yet. I doubt there's a demand for three threads a week but I figured with 7+ million people watching, there are probably a couple here who might enjoy chatting about it.

I'm a sucker for the production stuff, so my question this season was whether CBS would retain the disclaimer they began airing last season. Obviously they didn't. The houseguests have been rather well behaved in that regard. (Thanks, last season's cast!) They have also proven remarkably savvy about the game itself. They all know what to memorize, for instance, and on this episode no one seemed surprised by the "surprise" double elimination. The producers are having a difficult time stymieing this cast.

I got a kick out of the first Team America member being eliminated before the other two were announced. It reminded me of season 12 where the producers added a much-hyped "saboteur" twist, only to watch the houseguests unwittingly evict the saboteur in the very first week. Mostly I think this is a well-produced show—save for the audio problems on live broadcasts, wtf—but it's interesting to see how much television production (reality and otherwise) is hit or miss. It's like watching a sport.
posted by cribcage at 11:57 AM on August 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

How are spoilers going to work for this show? The live streams really mess with the traditional TV formula. Will we be able to talk about events that have happened on the live streams but have not been broadcast yet, or will we only be able to talk about things that have happened up to and including the live shows, but not subsequent live streamed material?
posted by Small Dollar at 3:19 PM on August 9, 2014

I hadn't thought about that. I'd say the simplest answer is to keep this thread and its kin limited to what's been shown on CBS, and let someone create a separate thread for Big Brother After Dark if people also want to discuss the live streams. I did notice that whoever created this show's category on FanFare linked it to this IMDB, and I see that BBAD has its own.
posted by cribcage at 3:34 PM on August 9, 2014

I bought it. Keep in mind that Caleb only gave his speech after Frankie asked him point-blank whether he was going to throw the competition. And that sure looked to me like a two-person task and I was surprised Frankie even attempted it alone. If it was a stupid game move to bet on him losing to a two-person team, then I have to admit it's a stupid move that I would have made, too. I figured Frankie would shrug and maybe just forfeit, because there was obviously no chance of him working that machine solo.

Looking at the bigger picture I don't see a rigged show. There's too much that goes wrong. Now, the week of season 12 when Rachel and Brendon were nominated together, and the producers took the unusual step of revealing the veto competition hours in advance so the players could practice? That was definitely the producers attempting to rig the show. Rachel was good television and they threw her a lifeline. (It didn't work.) And last season, the producers clearly tried to intervene by prompting Amanda to talk to several houseguests about language and how they would appear on TV. (Again, it didn't work.)

But overall complaints of rigging over the years have been sparse. Compare this to some of what contestants regularly leak about Biggest Loser. If it were occurring, I don't see fifteen seasons of contestants keeping quiet. I can think of lots of people who would have blown the whistle, from sore losers like Justin Sebik or Chima Simone, to last season's Aaryn Gries doing it as a potentially very effective way to restore her reputation.
posted by cribcage at 1:26 PM on August 11, 2014