Big Brother 5: Holly the Genius?

E! Entertainment recently reported that Jessica Simpson supposedly has an IQ of 160, which, for those who don’t know, is considered genius. While I’m not sure I believe this (that whole “Chicken of the Sea” incident seems to be too incredible to be anything but real), movies are full of examples of smart women playing dumb when it suits them.

At the end of the movie Wild Things, we find out that Neve Campbell’s “girl–from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks” character is actually a genius who perpetrated the whole story that played out in the movie. In the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (one of my favorite movies, by the way), we learn that Glenn Headly’s sweet and innocent character, Janet, whom Michael Caine’s and Steve Martin’s characters are trying to con is actually a con woman herself — one who eventually ends up getting the last laugh. Then there’s also Alison Lohman’s character in the Nicolas Cage movie Matchstick Men. Yes, all these of these examples are from movies, so how about one from TV?

The queen of pseudo-ditziness would probably be Lisa Kudrow, who in real life graduated from Vassar College with a degree in biology, and graduated with honors from an L.A.-based improv theater group. With her roles as ditzy waitress Ursula on the TV sitcom Mad About You and Phoebe Buffay on Friends, Kudrow has got the art of playing a ditz down cold. So what does this have to do with reality TV you may ask? In a word: Holly.

Holly may be the latest example of a smart cookie pretending to be a dumb blonde. Think about it. Before the game started, she introduced herself as “Holly from Hollywood,” said that ditziness would be her strategy, and that she’d probably be called “dumb” a lot. Mission accomplished, Holly.

More recently, she said that if she came into the house with different hair color, things would be different for her. If she’s smart enough to realize that, wouldn’t it stand to reason that she’s smart enough to realize the corollary to that theory as well: If she dyed her hair blonde and acted like an airhead, she’d be perceived as one and treated accordingly?

That would definitely explain a lot. It would explain her annoying helium-esque voice, her need to tell stories similar to the ones others have just finished telling, and some of her more bizarre behavior (like naming and living with a mannequin).

She would also then be smart enough to notice early on in the game that Jase was going to be a major player and decided to immediately ally herself with him to “get in on the ground floor” so to speak.

Everyone else in the house also knows that Jase and Scott are the strongest players, and as such, need to be evicted post-haste, but they realize it’s not going to be that easy. Also, the members of the Underdog Alliance have made no secret about whom they’d nominate if they got the chance.

Holly, on the other hand, decided to take a much more subtle approach, based on the philosophy that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Not only is this a more subtle approach with the same objective, it has the added advantage of making sure that Holly still looks out for Number One, because in the end, she wants to be the one taking home the money.

So she started sowing seeds of doubt and mistrust among the members of the Four Horsemen by telling Jase everything Scott says and telling Scott everything Jase says. She knew that would cause cracks in the alliance. Jase was to too dumb to realize what she’s doing ever so subtly.

Holly, meanwhile, knew that if she could just get one of the Four Horsemen to think she was a bad influence on Jase, she could also use that to divide them. As the most stable one of the four, this task fell to Drew. He knew that none of the other Horsemen were going to do anything about the situation – Jase was too blinded by lust to see that he was harming the Four Horsemen; Scott was too busy thinking he’s the brains of the Alliance; and Michael was too passive to do anything by himself. Thus, as HOH, Drew saw what Holly was doing and wanted it to stop, so he made the gutsy decision of nominating Holly against the wishes of his fellow alliance members.

This was a double-edged sword for Holly because on the one hand she’s now nominated, but on the other, her nomination – and Drew’s “hardcore betrayal” (as Jase put it) – further divided the Four Horsemen.

So if Holly is such a genius why has she been nominated for eviction not once, but twice? And if she really is just playing at being a ditz, why doesn’t she let the viewers in on her little secret during one of her Diary Room excursions?

The answer to the latter question is anyone’s guess. However, the answer to the first question is a lot more simple: Holly’s plan just worked too well. She’s portrayed herself as such an airhead that she’s crossed the line from appearing to be a wallflower (at least in Jase’s eyes) to being an annoyance. Every fake-out has a line of credibility that cannot be crossed if the illusion is to be believed, and Holly made the potentially fatal mistake of crossing that line. When exactly this happened is hard to say, but it’s safe to say she hasn’t exactly been low profile.

Sure, she wanted to drive a wedge between the Horsemen, but she didn’t plan on the guy who thinks she’s a bad influence winning HOH. Although she might have known that was a calculated risk that she might have to take in order to keep up appearances.

And talking about keeping up appearances, of course she would tell Drew, “I’m no mastermind,” because she had a good ruse going and doesn’t want to reveal her hand too early.

Maybe I’m giving Holly way too much credit… then again maybe I’m not. Only time will tell.

Gil Sery is a freelance writer in San Diego, California. Whether you agree or disagree with him, you can email him at movieman26@hotmail.com.

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