http://www.fancast.com/blogs/tv-news/big-brother-11-pie-in-the-face-stolen-booze-and-bondage-wear-at-bb-11-media-day/The Twist
The ‘Big Brother’ house is now green! Complete with compost bins, numerous recycling cans, bike-powered light bulbs, bamboo eating utensils, and a whole room decorated in old glass bottles, aluminum cans and bubble wrap. The walls of the back yard are wallpapered with images of wind-powered turbines (perhaps the show is offsetting its carbon footprint by investing in one of these?) The walls in one of the bedrooms - the red room - seem to be made up of some type of recycled material, while the walls of the bathroom are made out of giant industrial storage bins. (For an extensive run-down of the house interior, please scroll to the bottom of this post.)
The Roomies
Our group was like a subsection of the cliques you had in high school. We all seemed to fit into neat little categories - the princesses, the jocks, the geeks, the populars, the sexpots, the crunchy vegetarians, the mysterious bad boys, and the straight arrows. But did we all live up to our labels by the end of the day?
in the bunch: Rosanna Tavarez, lovable on-air personality from TV Guide Channel, ‘Big Brother 8′ star Jen Johnson (there for MSN.com), reality star in his own right, Dennis Luciani (’Average Joe’) representing National Lampoon, Katie Neal for WeLoveBigBrother.com, Melissa for CBS LA, Stella for CBS.com, spunky Carrie Moten from the Johnjay and Rich radio show in Tucson, knowledgeable Ben Mandelker from BSideblog, scheming (in a good way!) publicist Jay Schwartz, Reagan Alexander from People magazine (whose bad boy reputation from last year’s BB Media Day preceded him), and myself, Ann Murray from Fancast.com.
Oh yeah, and there was the one house mate who said his name was Gunther and quickly changed into leather shorts, a leather biker cap, and suspenders (sans shirt). He SAID he was on the ‘Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.’ But can you really trust a man in leather trousers and black socks?
The Experience
Most of the grueling 13 hours were spent twiddling our thumbs, cooking/eating and peddling on indoor bicycles inside the spa room while clapping with feigned glee when the attached light bulb lit up. We also succumbed to alliances, battled paranoia, got shushed (and sauced), and told complete strangers all about ourselves for no particular reason.
My defining moment? Getting caught stealing alcohol from the proverbial parent’s liquor cabinet. My partner in booze-related crime, Ben Mandelker, and I circled the liquor corner like a couple of hungry hyenas, discussing the merits of opening the sake and getting sauced. But we didn’t want to get busted (because big brother is watching!), so we eventually left the wacky sauce alone. Luckily, a thirsty Reagan later found the bottles and fearlessly poured us all a good shot.
And we enjoyed several good shots - until a booming, audibly annoyed voice coming from the speakers asked, “Guys…are you drinking the sake? Those are supposed to be set props.”
So, like Hansel and Gretel, we had succumbed to eating the house props.
Gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘chewing the scenery,’ doesn’t it?
Being the household vegetarian also took on a life of its own. I found myself talking soyrizos and preaching about the carbon footprint to my eleven roomies. The quizzical looks I got when the convo turned to quinoa was priceless, and a disgusted Reagan turned up his nose. Truth be told, having a veg in this new season would go great with their new “green” house. Because quinoa is a heck of a lot better than slop - a brown, slimy concoction oozing out of a pot, left in the kitchen for us.
Speaking of slop, four unlucky guests were forced by Head of Household, Reagan, to eat the stuff all day. Dennis, the HOH explained, was “slopped” only because he was such a big BB fan (maybe THE biggest BB fan) and needed to get “the full BB experience.” Right.
There weren’t any major alliances to begin with. Jay, intent on not getting evicted, asked each of us to vote for him in secret, and I agreed - because what good is Big Brother without an alliance? I caught a few shady ladies planning their own alliances, but none were really carried out - or needed. The HOH knew who he was going to pick for eviction from the very beginning. Jay and Reagan never really got along to begin with - and their Nixonian paranoias about each other were quickly getting the best of them. Heck, had we been in combat, they would have done each other in by the fourth hour.
Dennis was the perfect culprit because he was a huge BB fan and probably would have enjoyed the experience. Gunther (aka “Chris”) seemed another likely candidate - his leather get-up made him a giant walking target for eviction. But all the guys were sweet, so it likely made it a tough choice for the HOH.
It turned out to be a choice between Gunther and Jay, and poor Gunther was turned away, head down in defeat. Our very own Rosanna sang him a farewell song as he quickly left the room, being true to an earlier bet she had made.
The Games
We were involved in two fierce competitions. In the first, where the winner would get HOH, we were asked to step into backyard booths and answer questions according to how we felt our house mates would respond. One of the honest-to-goodness questions was “Who would rather be in the middle of a Jonas Brothers sandwich. Ann or Stella?” To my relief, everyone answered “Stella.”
Even Stella herself.
The second game consisted of us grouping into pairs (”with someone you trust,” bid the booming voice coming from the walls) while the backyard was transformed into a sky, complete with clouds made out of cotton and plastic birds. The challenge was this: We both - in pairs - transported two sets of creamy, goopy pies from one cloud to the other - while walking on buckets. Someone in the winning team would then be forced to pie themselves in the face. Reagan and Jen won the trophy, with Jen’s gigantic leap to the finish line being the defining moment in the game. This allowed her to obtain the power of veto, but only after taking a pie in the face.
And that pie? That stuff doesn’t come off easy, no matter how much you clean off.
Kind of like the memories of my time at the ‘Big Brother 11′ house.
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Subject: BB11 Media Day News 
Sun Jun 28, 2009 10:41 pm
