#BB15 NYC Launch Party

Last year, I put out an innocent call via Reality Nation (RIP?) for fellow fans to gather for the launch of Big Brother 14. It evolved into a huge production with input from Big Brother alums, and was repeated this year through the stewardship of BB14's Adam Poch at Murray Bar 34 in midtown.  This year, relieved of hosting duties (relieved being the operative word), I hit the party as a spectator with my good Big Brother buddy ST in tow.

The night was interesting, to say the least - it was a hot and humid night in NY, and if you can't tell from the party pictures, the place was about 95 degrees and even more humid inside. That didn't stop fans and houseguests alike from mobbing the place for hours, squeezing through and stepping on each other's toes for photo ops and strategic debates.

A few highlights:

-The bar was 21 and up, and a group of young kids were unable to get into the bar. When we arrived, a considerable number of houseguests were kindly posing for pictures outside with the forlorn kids, including Porsche, Enzo, Ian, Adam Poch, Monica, and JennCity.

-Porsche was considerably taller than I expected, especially in her six-inch heels. She was pleased to hear that I was rooting for her at the end of BB13, then whispered: "Even against Rachel?" Yes, I said, even against Rachel. She seemed satisfied with that.

-I was squeezing through some close quarters and ended up standing in front of BB2's Monica for a few moments. I felt compelled to share with her, truthfully, that I've been re-watching Big Brother 2 on my iPhone at the gym lately, and I hope she wins this time.

-Somehow ST and I ended up chatting with Chef Joe Arvin of BB14 for awhile. We struck up a conversation as the show was airing, and ended up getting into a detailed consideration of whether Elissa should come clean about her family relations. Joe, who famously got Russell Hantz's brother Willie booted, was of the opinion that everyone would know immediately about Elissa's family connections. His prediction proved to be right.

-Joe also informed us that on BB14, while he wasn't familiar enough with Survivor to make the connection, he found out very quickly about Willie's family ties from his fellow housemates.

-Chef Joe Arvin is possibly the loudest human being I have ever met in my life.

-One more great Chef Joe moment: While discussing his season, Joe noted to us that, while his game may have been lacking, he at least knew what was going on in the house the majority of the time. The fan standing beside us piped up: "When the lights were on, anyway." Ouch. I took the opportunity to ask Joe how that conversation would have gone if Dan hadn't outed himself. He said he was planning to tell "Shane" that Dan was still with Danielle, and not to believe any of it.

-We also had a chat with BB14's JoJo, who was very into the premiere episode. She wasn't a Big Brother fan before going on the show, but like most former houseguests, she now claims to be obsessed, to the point that she even watched Big Brother Canada online. JoJo was a fan of The Sheyld and Talla, which makes sense, since Talla was basically the Canadian JoJo.

-Michelle Maradie was in attendance ("Who?" First boot on BB4, look it up!), which made us note her more-than-passing resemblance to BB15 houseguest Aaryn.

-Eric Stein remains one of my favorite Big Brother houseguests of all time. He did not seem pleased about his recent loss in Risk, which he was quick to point out was just a silly board game. Duly noted, Eric.

-Michelle Costa was audibly shocked when McCrae won the first HOH.

-ST wanted a picture with Ian, who was looking quite adorable as he got a little more drunk and sweaty. Not that I'm planning to rob the cradle or anything. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't consider it. We asked Ian how Jun's matchmaking service is working out for him. (ST is Jun's honorary sister.) Ian admitted that it wasn't. Hopefully ST can use her honorary family connections to make that happen for Ian.

-On a similar note, ST and I both noted Elissa's misspelling of Jun's name on her dreamboard and immediately docked her points for that.

-All in all, it was a great party, and shoutout to our new bar buddies, Karen and Jeffery, as well as all of the houseguests who put up with the heat, humidity, and harassment of fans to enjoy the premiere with all of us.

The BB NYC party is becoming a fun tradition, and I'm already looking forward to next season. Thanks for keeping it alive, Adam!

Around the Web: #BBCan Fallout Matchmaker Edition

Now that the Big Brother Canada houseguests have returned to the outside world, most of them are on Twitter, with the notable exceptions of Topaz, Emmett, and Jillian.

OTP

As I had hoped, The Shield The Sheyld have been particularly responsive so far, with both fans and with haters, though Peter seems more comfortable on Twitter than Alec.

Vs.

Needless to say, the pair aren't getting a uniformly cheery reaction on Twitter, but they're able to find the positive:

In other news, the Alec/Topaz "thing" continues its weirdness, unabated:

Ohhhh, she probably did. 

In other Big Brother news, there's a new development in the Big Brother US winner's circle, with BB4 winner Jun Song starting a dating service focused exclusively on finding love for BB14 winner Ian Terry after a particularly self-deprecating tweet from the founder of the Quack Pack.

Wonder if she'd expand the circle outside of Big Brother winners to include Big Brother losers? Since it sounds like Alec might be back to the drawing board in that department.

And speaking of Big Brother winners and love, someone in the UK has had a little time on their hands:

Indeed.

I wonder if Jay and Louise's rumored breakup had anything to do with Aaron's Big Brother marathon - I can't shake the feeling that he and Faye are privately giddy about outlasting JayLou to be the longest-lasting showmance of BBUK Season 12. I imagine their reaction looking something like this:

Maybe Jay can get a leg up now from JunMatches.com too, if she expands the circle to include Big Brother losers. (Warning: link is to Jay's very unflattering leg tattoo of Louise, don't click while eating.)

I guess all that's left to say on that can be summed up by the Bit on the Side caption team:

10 Things We're Not Talking About Re: The #BBCAN Finale

And one we maybe are.

1. The Side Show art for Part Two of the HOH competition:

She's Alive!

Long live that bottom caption.

Kind of amazing, no? There was also some weirdness with the shower curtain art on Part One, but it made no sense, so I won't bother capping it.

2. Gary's face on winning Part Two:

Hallelujah

I can hear the bells.

3. How in the final HOH round, Emmett kept waiting for Gary to answer before locking in his. Until it came down to the final question, I was ready to call shenanigans.

Hmmm

Not sure why Emmett waited so long on every round if he wasn't cheating. Maybe he was cheating, but then honestly thought he would beat Gary on that last question.

(Emmett, cheat? Never.)

4. Gary evicted Emmett.

You guys, Gary fucking evicted Emmett!

"Watch oot for the gay guy"

I can still hear the bells.

5. Alec and Gary both tearing up at Gary's answer to Alec's question:

Alec should have brought his sleep mask to the finale

6. Peter not having it with Jillian's answer to his question:

Watch check

Jillian? All he wanted was for you to own your game. Fail.

7. The final death throes of The Sheyld (sic):

1 of 2

2 of 2

Can't help it, those two guys still crack me up, even for all their failures. I'll stay a fan. Peter's got a different Twitter now than the one we all expected, by the way. Seems pretty verified, he was tweeting about being in the party van right before other official accounts started talking about the van. Then again, I already got taken in by a fake Gary account today when his mother retweeted it. So, take it all with a grain of salt for now.

8. Topaz's hilarious hissy fit over the vote reveal:

Someone call the ophthalmologist!

Also, did anyone notice who was onscreen half the time during that sequence?

Check the lower left corner - hi, Dan!

9. The internet's meltdown upon the vote reveal:

Jokerized

 10. But of course, what we're all talking about today, and will be for years, is:

Topaz'd

 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, in a nutshell, as tragic as it is, I think it's hilarious. Did Gary deserve to win? Absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, yes. Many have said that it "wasn't fair" for Gary to return at the Final Five, but Big Brother returns players all the time, and they almost always bounce out within a week or two, as soon as they can. The fact that Gary didn't is a huge testament to his game - making the right alliances, winning the final competitions, gaining the right trust and backstabbing just when he needed to.

And that's ignoring the fact that, as Alec has pointed out multiple times, Big Brother Canada has had a Big Brother UK influence from the start. Being a big character and beloved by the audience was going to be a part of the game, and all players should have understood that from the Suzette Power Shift onward. That was a part of the game Gary played brilliantly.

That said, is it the end of the world that Gary lost? Of course not. He'll do fine with the $20K he won, it gives him a sympathetic story to propel his public career, and really puts his "the money doesn't matter" talking point to the test.

I'm sure there was a moment inside where he wanted to do this:

But he didn't, at least not on camera. Instead, we got Beauty Pageant Runner-Up Face:

Mature, gamer Gary is taking the reigns, and immature, selfish Gary is going to have to take a backseat. Totally for the best, and now he's a shoo-in for Big Brother Canada All-Stars in a few years.

And Jillian can take her $100K and her milkman and get off our screens at last. Was she a good player? She was all right. I don't blame Alec and Peter for the "bitter jury" stuff - it seems like their contention, which is worth pointing out, was that Jillian was unnecessarily nasty, making deals she didn't need to make, breaking them when she didn't have to break them, and then refusing to admit what she'd done. If she'd been willing to admit it in the jury questioning, Peter might not have rolled his eyes and checked the time, but he clearly knew she wouldn't.

Jillian is a good player in the Rachel Reilly "Most HOH wins" kind of Big Brother game, but without Emmett, she wouldn't have gotten to the end, and without a disaster of a vote, she wouldn't have won.

Still, she won fair and square a little crooked, it's hard to dispute that.

So congrats, Jillian, for what it's worth. Ultimately, your strategy of sticking with Emmett turned out to be the thing that got you to the end.

I'd say drinks are on you for that first real-world date.

Exeunt

#BBCAN Morning Conspiracy Theory

Who's Number One?

I will have a lot more to say about the astonishing Big Brother Canada finale later, but I did want to highlight this intriguing conspiracy theory making the rounds this morning, posted at Survivor Sucks by mabc:

Been a lurker for a while, first post as I wanted to share some interesting things! As much as I believe this is true... there are conspiracy theories that are intriguing. Here are some things I noticed:

1) Notice how AJ does a face palm sign and says something foreshadowing about someone making a $100,000 mistake. Notice Topaz smiling. THEN he sits in Alec's chair and says something to Topaz and Topaz smacks him (Is the face palm a symbol for a "plan" they concocted?)

2) Alec comes up and also does the face palm sign and says "Darkness" (their plan?)... "I'll absolutely love how you'll win" (more foreshadowing to Jillian winning in this horrible way)

3) Topaz ALSO does the face palm sign! 150% secure x2... dig at Jillian's lies for sure. Is she really dumb enough to make such a mistake? She sure was squinting a lot (poor acting?)

4) Peter doesn't do the face palm (maybe since he's the last and just does his own thing to complete this plan) Now what injustice? 

Possibly the four believe that Jillian deserves to win, but wants to mess up her win. Maybe to them it was not fair that Gary got to go back in the house and not them. Maybe they feel that since production screwed them over with the Topaz twist they want to mess up the show ( also Gary winning is probably what production wanted). Could they have thought about such a scenario and pre-plan this whole thing? 

Wow. Could they? Hmmm. It's wild, but it would explain some of those ironic and weird comments from Alec, AJ, and Topaz, as well as why no one seems that upset about it today.

Big Brother Around the Web: #BBCAN Dance Remix

If you're still lingering around waiting for something to happen before the finale, here's a couple minutes to keep you entertained, courtesy of the Slice.ca editing team:


BBCan Remix by f100003092719386

The #BBCAN Crystal Ball

I conjured up my Ouija board tarot cards magic wand crystal ball tonight, and here's what it had to say about what the next few weeks hold, as the last group of Big Brother Canada contestants are released into the big wide world.

Jury House Stew

AJ: Bearing the curse of the forgotten first jury member, AJ will cultivate a small Twitter following, which will dip when he confuses followers by still referring to himself in the third person, making them think it's a fan account. Joins his friend Murtz for a double interviewing act for awhile, further confusing the issue.

The Emperor of His Own Doom

Alec: His relationship with Topaz will last longer than anyone expects, largely because he's too insecure to end it publicly at first. He will move in with Peter as planned and create that Sheyld Youtube channel I've been rooting for all along, focusing on entertaining and often wildly incorrect Big Brother game analysis. He will also realize, much to his relief, that nobody in the psychology world gives a goddamn whether or not his wiener showed on Canadian cable access (it didn't). 

Topaz Glitter

Topaz: Will stay with Alec a little longer, just to stick it to the haters, because she's stubborn like that. Eventually she'll give up and dump him, within a couple months of watching his Diary Rooms and simultaneously getting bored with him. Will be amazing on Twitter.

Marsha's Favorite

Peter: After a couple of months of moping over Liza, will sleep with her once and then move on to try to date either someone from the Big Brother US crew, or a moose. His depression over missing Dan's visit to the house will be alleviated when Dan has him on a webchat, one of the many podcast appearances Peter will be making in addition to his own Youtube channel.

Add caption

Andrew: Will move in for the kill when Emmett and Jillian break up, but fail and end up dating one of Jillian's sisters instead. Will also spend months, if not years, complaining on Twitter about how the game was stolen from him by Dan Alec Production Emmett Marsha the Moose.

No, Talla, We Don't

Talla:  Tries to trademark Do You Love It t-shirts, but sales are poor. Starts her own Youtube channel, but ratings are low. Will live on forever in countless .gifs. 

Zoe's Brother

Gary: Where do we start? Big Brother Canada All-Stars, Big Brother US special visit, featured in the Toronto gay pride parade, starts working up his fabulous drag routine for a national tour. Gary conquers the world.

Look at Jillian... looking

Jillian: After Emmett dumps her shortly after the show, will mope a bit before getting on with her normal life and disappearing. I can't come up with anything more colorful than that. It's Jillian.

Milkman

Emmett: Waits a month or two before dumping Jillian, just long enough to make it look like it was maybe real. Will enjoy his newfound riches back on the dairy farm, ride in the Toronto Gay Pride parade with Gary, and enjoy playing the field in Nova Scotia.

Big Brother Around the Web: Do You Love It edition

From the official BB team, converted by OnlineBigBrother.com, I bring you Tallaisms:

Speaking of things people love, or don't - via the Jury House:

Topaz, girl, I feel your pain. I do. 

Slurpy Derp

Feeds came back to a familiar sight tonight:

Emmett and Jillian making out in the Head of Household room.

Barf

This after a fairly interesting live show. We finally got some jury house footage.

Derp

Alec is apparently still spending his time in jury house spouting out utter nonsense in between getting laid (whoops - well, you go get yours, Topaz, girl.)

With a Y! Spell it with a Y!

And he also had another typical Alec goof moment that positively slayed me: when he spotted someone making the Shield sign in the audience and leapt into the air, giddy, squealing that someone didn't hate him. 

Correct

He also uncharacteristically got something right for a change, correctly identifying Gary as the returnee as soon as Arisa announced the twist.

Interestingly, the vote wasn't all that far off between Alec and Gary, and if Peter hadn't lost momentum towards the end of the voting week, I suspect the results could have been quite different:

Meanwhile, Andrew is currently on the live feed saying exactly what occurred to me a few minutes before: 

This week is shaping up to be a virtual repeat of last week, with Emmett and Jillian in unbreakable power, and Gary substituted for Peter. The open question, and this is what will be interesting to see: Can Gary manage to do what Peter couldn't? It would be amazing if he can pull off the power move Peter dropped, and maneuver Emmett into evicting Jillian against his will.

Gary is a wild card this week, and as he's only briefly been seen on feeds since his return, it's too early to say which direction his game will go. 

What will he bring from the jury house into the game? Does he have any hope of regaining momentum at this point? 

At this point that's going to be about the only thing fresh about this week. 

For Pete's Sake

I missed most of this, but for some reason Big Brother decided to pump some disco music and give Talla pom-poms tonight. There seemed to be a task involved, because I did spot her going into the Diary Room at one point.

Wipeout

It was incredibly annoying, and I barely caught any of it, which I'm not too bent out of shape about.

Shimmy

 I'd like to think that this was Marsha the Moose's last, best effort to try to save her Peter this week. It's Tuesday night nearing bedtime, and the boy has yet to put forth any serious effort to campaign. Best guess is that he thinks he's safe because of his previous deals with Jillian and Emmett, because they are so trustworthy.

Peter.

Yep, the magic moose is about his best option at this point.

Oh dear

Speaking of players with terrible game...

The @BigBrotherCA Twitter took a trip up to the undisclosed jury house location this afternoon. 

Our losers (and one soon-to-be returnee) were found munching on tomato soup and grilled cheese with their handlers.

Gary prepares for his inevitable return to the cameras

Interestingly, Alec and Topaz seemed to be a) the subjects of an on-camera interview, and b) still together. I mean... well, what is there left to say about that? Moving on.

Apparently they don't know yet about the twist that will send one of the four of them back into the game. At this point Gary is the most likely to return, despite my best efforts. I'm not entirely against that, I think it will be hard for him to win the game, but he'll liven up the feeds for at least a few days and maybe bring some jury house gossip with him. (Like, seriously, what the hell, Alec and Topaz?)

Still, it would be nice if Peter showed at least some understanding of the fact that he's currently packing his bags for a trip up to this undisclosed winter location. 

Marsha should really throw her boy a clue.

Psst... Peter... campaign or something!