Liar, Liar - But Do They Know It?

When Roddy came out of the Big Brother 3 house, he told hostess Julie Chen that he had not lied - at least not that he had remembered. Well, others saw it differently. While he certainly was no Will Kirby, he did indeed say at least a few things that skirted the truth. But why deny it once he got out? And why go even further by making even more statements that appear to be lies, such as saying in an interview that he had never actually hooked up with Chiara, had just given her one kiss on the cheek, etc. He had similarly strange things to say about other aspects of the house. Why lie?

Well, here at RealityNewsOnline, we strive to bring you the best analysis of all reality TV, and we use all tools at our disposal. Therefore, we stay on the cutting edge of scientific discovery, which is where we found what might be the answer to this question.

Discover magazine had a brief mention in its most recent issue about a study done at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in which psychologists videotaped 121 pairs of unacquainted students. In only 10-minute discussions, they found that 60% had lied at least once - with the average liar telling three whoppers in that short conversation! (The biggest liar managed to get in more 12 of 'em!) Even though most of them had lied, when they were asked before being shown the tapes, most of the students said they had been completely truthful - they did not even remember that they had lied.

Could something similar be at work here? At least in part, I would say "yes."

Danielle was happy to have caught Roddy in a lie when he told her that he had made a deal with Marcellas. But Danielle knew that Roddy had told Jason the only deal he had was with her. Aha! Caught! But was it really a lie? First of all, we don't know the exact timing - maybe Roddy told Jason that before he made his deal with Marcellas. More likely, Roddy didn't even remember saying such a thing to Jason. It's hard to have every word analyzed, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for over two months. Even the most honest person may slip up once in a while.

What about his statements after the game? Well, to begin with, can we really blame the guy for wanting to deny a relationship with Chiara? Certainly, watching everything on TV he had to see that hooking up with her was not the greatest idea he'd ever had. Maybe in his mind, it really wasn't as big a deal as portrayed on the show. Maybe he doesn't realize he's "lying."

Frankly, I think this study has a more wide-ranging impact than just Roddy. How many times have we seen people leave a reality show and say, "Well, at least I was honest," when we know, from watching, that they were not. Certainly, some of them, like Krista from BB2, are inexcusable because of the repetitive lying. But others we may want to look at and consider if they even knew they were lying at the time, or remember lying once it's all over. Something to keep in mind for the future.

Don't worry, though, this won't stop us from pointing out when a reality TV contestant does shade the truth a bit. After all, that's half the fun with many of these shows.

And that's no lie.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline, and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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