Big Brother 4, August 6: Campaigning, Rationalizing, and Other Hypocrisies

It’s 9/8 Central time on Wednesday and my day to recap Big Brother 4. Luckily, since the show recaps back to the stone age (and then Ook invented fire…), I know I have a good 10-15 minutes before I have to actually sit down and start watching. Recap. Recap. Hey, did you know that Robert winning the Veto was a “stunning victory”? That’s what the announcer says. Not sure what was so stunning about it compared to anybody else. In fact, given the nature of the game, it was pretty much a good bet that somebody like Robert or Jee would win because they were almost the other two that nobody else was going after.

Anyway, their recap is finally over and mine is just beginning. There’s Julie Chen. It’s Day 33, she says, and revenge is the word on many HouseGuests’ minds. As she discusses each one, she mentions their jobs and hometowns as if this is somehow important. I don’t know about anybody else, but when I look at Robert, I think, “That’s Robert,” not, “That’s a restaurant manager.” Maybe it helps Julie keep track of who’s who (although later we will see that she still blows it at times).

Julie introduces the next segment, talking about Alison and Dana, two intense rivals, and a friendship caught in the middle. Huh? They were never friends. Oh, as the piece starts, it turns out the friendship in question is Dana and Jun. Um, a little clarity, please, Julie?

Dana tells Jun that Dana is too honest to be there, she can’t lie. Jun is quiet in response. Why is it that so many HouseGuests from these shows say stuff like that when the facts shown on television contradict them? Anybody remember Krista from BB2? She’d lie and backstab and then claim that she would never lie or backstab – and it continued until she was out in the real world! (Then again, that has a lot to do with why she was inducted into the Reality TV Hall of Shame a while back.) Anyway, back to Dana, who seems to forget that she lied to the three stooges about voting out Michelle, she lied to her original alliance by making plans and promises with them and then stabbing them in the back, etc. Oh, yes, Dana is just a saint.

She goes on to say that the worst part of being against Jun is that she can’t really campaign against her. Jun says that if Dana is persuasive enough to convert Nate or Erika or Nathan, she’d faint. But Dana thinks she has the three amigos (stooges) in her corner, but unless she gets somebody else, Alison will cast the deciding vote. Justin says Dana will do whatever she needs and say whatever she needs to in order to stick around. Wait. He didn’t just imply that she might lie, did he?! Gasp! So then we see her doing just that – trying to convince people to stick around. Dana says several have said Jun will win because she will skate on through, so maybe Dana has a chance. “Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.” Etc.

From there, the producers try to mislead us and make us doubt the foregone conclusion that Dana is leaving by showing some clips of Erika and Jack talking about a what-if Dana can stick around scenario. Erika says there must be some way to swing a deal out of this. In the Diary Room, she says Dana isn’t after her, so it might be worthwhile to keep her. Erika and Jack know they can’t trust Alison and Nathan.

Then Dana talks to Erika, but of course isn’t campaigning to stick around. Jun sees her come out of a room with Erika and Dana approaches her to talk about things, all the while claiming she hasn’t been campaigning. Jun doesn’t buy it. People in Bangladesh who have never seen the show don’t buy it. The only one buying it is Dana herself, about whom Jun wonders if she hit her head on something. Dana wants to hear Jun say, “Yes, Dana, I know you’re not campaigning against me,” but Jun says she won’t give her that satisfaction. She wants Dana out of her life, one way or the other.

Planning ahead, Alison says she does not plan to stick with just one alliance (apparently, she treats alliances like she treats men). She is going to jump back and forth as the power swings. She cut a deal with the stooges – she didn’t put them up and so they won’t go after her. Nathan says she shouldn’t have done that – he can be packing next week and she’ll still be there. She tells him to trust her. Said the spider to the fly.

Time to check in with the HouseGuests. Julie starts with Erika, saying she seems to be the big sister of the house – is that the case? Definitely. What’s it like to be the oldest of the women? Erika says she enjoys it and loves hanging out with the girls, who make her feel young again.

Moving to Alison, Julie comments that she likes her dress. Alison notes that it’s Erika’s. Heh. Julie says Alison has done quite a bit of flirting (the guys in the house hoot and applaud). Alison responds with a sarcastic, “Thanks, Julie.” Julie goes off-script for a minute and says she’s just telling her what we all see. Heh again. So, what does she think Donny thinks of all this? Alison says that hopefully he knows she’s just doing what she needs to in order to stay in the game, and he’s the one she wants to be with when she’s out of the house. Oh please. I’d love for Alison to explain how making out with Dave – who was about to leave the house – helped her strategically. How did flirting with Justin and letting him put candle wax on her breasts help her strategically? I could go on, but it would end up like a trashy romance novel. The point is that Alison must think that Donny is as dumb as most of the people in the house if she expects him to believe that line of BS.