Big Brother 6: A Sane Look at the Eric/Michael/Kaysar/Ivette Insanity

There have obviously been a lot of differing opinions on the whole Michael/Eric fight (not to mention the associated Ivette/Kaysar fight). Never one to avoid a tangled situation, I wanted to share my own.

To me, this whole situation boils down to a few basic facts:

• Michael is an idiot.
• Ivette is a bitch.
• Kaysar is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
• Eric is too eager to take on the “Dad” role and is also an emotional guy.

Everything that happened stemmed from these basic facts. Let’s look at a few things that led up to this situation.

First of all, it was obvious that Janelle was targeted from early in the game, in part because of her association (and secret partnership) with Ashlea. Smart players would have distanced themselves from Janelle. Instead, Michael became closer to her. Part of the cause for this was likely that Janelle seemed to be the only one willing to let Michael get all touchy-feely with her. April is married, Sarah is secretly (or not so secretly) dating James, Ivette is a lesbian, and the others just didn’t want his paws (or lips) on them.

And that’s where the problems really began – in the way Michael has behaved towards the women. Talk about Michael being a bit creepy has gone on for a while now, this is nothing new. But it seems that no matter what is said to him, he is bound and determined to do whatever the hell he pleases. Maybe he thinks it’s harmless flirtation. Maybe he thinks it’s cute. Maybe he just doesn’t understand that different people have different boundaries. But whatever the cause, Michael has definitely made some people in the house feel uncomfortable.

Did Eric do the right thing by talking to Michael about it and telling him to stop? I think he believed he was doing the right thing. Eric has quickly moved into the “house dad” role, which most people seem to accept and even enjoy. However, not everybody is thrilled to have Dad looking over their shoulder and telling them what to do – even more so when he’s not really your dad!

Eric seems to be to be a bit too earnest, too goody-goody. This is ironic considering that he charged at Michael during the fight, but it seems like many of his actions point in that general direction: the group meeting after the gross food competition, advising Michael on what he needs to not do with the women, etc.

Michael, on the other hand, seems completely unable to perceive the way he acts through the eyes of others. Everything revolves around him in his world. So when Eric told him about how his behavior was causing some of the women to feel uncomfortable, Michael immediately focused on himself. Obviously, this was all part of a plot against Michael! Otherwise, why didn’t the women tell him themselves? Well, some did. As one example, we previously saw April getting so disgusted with him that she had to leave the area when he was trying to kiss her stomach in the backyard. In fact, until Saturday’s episode aired, we at RealityNewsOnline were actually getting e-mail complaints from people watching the live feeds because they felt the show was not showing just how bad Michael was. Now that has aired, but in Michael’s mind it apparently never happened.

Let me address the idea that this is all some big conspiracy and Eric is trying to get Michael out of the house. First, what Michael doesn’t know is that the plan from the very beginning was to get Michael out! Eric didn’t have to do a danged thing, and Michael would have been going. But as the week progressed, Michael has been getting worse. If this was all a big anti-Michael conspiracy, Eric would have had no reason to tell Michael that his behavior was making people uncomfortable. Indeed, it would have been better for Eric to let Michael continue behaving that way! However, Michael is unaware of part of this information and unwilling to sit down and rationally analyze the rest. He is caught up in himself.

Rather than try to calm things down, Michael decided to stir them up – much to secret partner Kaysar’s chagrin. For example, he went into the kitchen and just started to stare at Eric. What was that all about? He went out of his way to call Eric names (like “midget”) in front of other people – how mature. He started talking loudly so other people could hear him about the stories that have supposedly be circulating. In short, he was priming the pump, he was goading Eric. I don’t know if he was hoping Eric would go after him and thus earn himself a one-way ticket out of the house – eliminating Michael’s perceived worst enemy (I say “perceived” because, in truth, Michael is his own worst enemy), but I have no other good explanation for his behavior, besides that he’s just an ass.

Michael even acted childish with his own allies and supposed friends. When Kaysar tried to tell him, probably for the hundredth or so time, that he was behaving in an immature way that would only serve to make sure he was headed out the door, Michael blew it off. Frankly, he was acting like my young son when being chastised for something – he nodded his head, gave a “whatever” type of answer, said he wouldn’t do it again, and basically ignored the whole thing. My son gets punished when he behaves like that – maybe Michael did need a father figure there to send him to his room!