Big Brother 3: The Two Marcellases

On the latest episode of Big Brother, I think the entire watching universe did a collective "D'oh!" when Marcellas didn't use that Golden Veto.

It's already been discussed as one of the stupidest things that has ever been done on TV. I would say it is in the top five. I once saw an interview with either CNN or MSNBC where they were doing a remote hook up with Ray Charles, and the host asked, "Can you see me?"

But that gaffe did not cost someone half a million dollars.

I am sure Marcellas is going over in his mind why he did what he did, and is kicking himself up and down, left and right. So I won't bash him. I will just try to understand him.

When I arrived at work on Friday, a friend of mine who does not get the live feeds wanted to know why Marcellas thought it was a slam dunk, that he would not be evicted by Jason. Well, she doesn't get the live feeds. I do. And I can reply in all honesty, there are two Marcellases. I don't mean he has a split personality, or anything - though his mental stability has been questioned. I mean that on the TV show you saw only glimpses of another Marcellas. But on the live feeds, you saw Marcellas, warts and all. And this Marcellas of the live feeds was 180 degrees opposite of what you saw on TV. This isn't CBS's fault, they have hours upon hours of actual tape for every hour they show. They pick and choose what they want to show. A lot of the live feeds gets edited out on TV. It is like that on any reality TV Show - the editors and writers have an idea how someone should look and behave, and they cast people in these molds. I wrote an earlier piece for RealityNewsOnline about the 16 Survivor types Mark Burnett was looking for in his series. The producers of Big Brother obviously had a plan for Marcellas. He was the token gay man in the house. But he was so different than Bunky from the second house, and he who wants to stay in the closet and shall remain there from the first house.

At first, Marcellas was an enigma. The first night there, he went to bed early, causing Josh and others to think he was setting himself apart. In fact the entire first week he seemed guarded, not sure what to make of his surroundings or the cast of characters . He was in short, a fish out of water. Then he was nominated and got a wake up call - he'd better start interacting with these people! So he did. To my delight, as well as the girls', he went into a beautiful story about a woman he fell in love with and how it ended poorly. He started being nice, he came out of his shell. And once Gerry took the bathrobed one off the chopping block, Marcellas really came into his own.

He was a nice person, and I enjoyed watching him.

True, he could be catty. The television showed catty comments he made about Lori's pink romper and overalls. He also made comments about Tonya that were catty. But people living in a house with no contact, these kind of catty comments get made all the time and I dismissed them. At first I thought it was just cabin fever.

What the viewing audience did not see is the whole extent of Marcellas' cattiness. He trashed everyone in the house. It wasn't cute like his Mr. Blackwell comments in the above paragraph or like the few instances CBS showed on the air. Some of the things Marcellas said about the other guests were down right mean and caustic. Of course, these were his opinions, and he is entitled to them. The others wouldn't know what he really thought of them until he was evicted.

Or did the other houseguests know, really know what Marcellas thought about them? And could they separate good natured Mr. Blackwell-esque comments about their appearance or did they draw the line and Marcellas unwittingly crossed it.

Or was Marcellas evicted, as Jason said, because he was a strong player?