I have a confession to make: I have an addiction. It’s debilitating. It affects my relationships. It consumes my every thought. I always need more of it, and when it do get it, it’s just not enough. I can’t talk about it to anyone because no one understands. No, my addiction is not to a drug, sex or even rock and roll, but to a TV show. This addiction is not the same as how you’re currently #obsessssssed with “Girls” (it’s so good though, right?), but in the way that when I’m not watching it, it’s the only thing I think about. The show I am talking about is “Big Brother.”
Yes, Big Brother. That stupid show you see commercials for during reruns of “How I Met Your Mother” over the summer. I am so addicted that I found a way to watch “Big Brother Canada” online, which premiered earlier in March, because I could not wait until June for season 16 to premiere.
“Big Brother” and its Canadian, well, “brother” follow the same format each week, so let me outline it for you. Roughly 14 strangers enter a house. Each week, through various elaborate competitions, one Houseguest is crowned Head of Household (HoH) and has to nominate two Houseguests for eviction. Someone can then win the Power of Veto (PoV) and then choose to take someone off the block and have the HoH nominate someone in their place. Then, at the live eviction ceremony, the Houseguests vote anonymously for whom to evict. The cycle then continues until only two Houseguests remain, and the evicted Houseguests return to vote for the winner of half a million dollars.
Via: aceshowbiz.com
All of these rules and procedures may sound boring and repetitive, but it’s the basis for the greatest sociological experiment of all time. Alliances and showmances take center stage. It’s all politics, but contained in the microcosm that is the “Big Brother” house. From day one, everyone in the house lies and conspires to make it to the very end and win the grand prize.
While the concept of the show in itself is extremely compelling, the fact that it happens in real-time is what fosters the addiction. There are no casual “Big Brother” fans, only devotees like myself (We are a very small community.) The show is on three times a week and online you can watch live feeds of the house 24 hours a day, or on “Big Brother After Dark,” which is a show that broadcasts the live cameras in the house. There are also freaks (I consider them heroes) who do nothing all day but watch the live feeds and tweet about what’s happening in the house. So while you’re avoiding flyers to the face in Turlington, you can get updates on the exact happenings in the house at that very moment. It’s thrilling.
Via: someecards.com
The immersive aspect of Big Brother is what makes it so addicting. After weeks of watching these people on TV three times each week, following their actions on Twitter and occasionally checking out the live feeds, you start to feel like you know them and become personally vested in their success or demise in the game. You spend a lot of time thinking about how your favorite could survive the week or of a long-term strategy to win the entire show.
You reach a point where you can’t stand to not think about what’s happening in the house, ad when you miss an episode when it airs live, you feel completely out of the loop (especially after a live eviction show). During the summer, I will not leave the house until after an episode has aired, leave the family dinner table early because the show is about to start and, when the show spills into the fall semester, plan my academic and social lives around the “Big Brother” schedule. And now I have to watch “Big Brother Canada” as I’m trying to get ready for finals.
Watching “Big Brother” quickly transforms from entertainment to responsibility. Watch at your own risk.
Featured image courtesy of: eFabula
