Why Do Some ‘Big Brother’ Fans Take Reality So Seriously?

I am an avid Big Brother fan from way back to season 1. My love of this show started as soon as I saw the announcement following Survivor. I logged onto my computer and was on the live feeds 24/7. That was a long hot summer with no sleep. To say I was hooked would be an understatement.

During the time when you could fly banners, I was a member of The Banner Bunch. It was so much fun messing with the houseguests. That was truly interactive television. What a thrill to see a banner you had written be read and dissected by the players.

Each year I have my favorites and for some reason they are seldom the ones that most watchers choose. In season 1, most houseguests were irritating but amusing. I liked Nicole in season 2, Amy in season 3, Alison in season 4, no one from season 5, and James from season 6.

On the flip side there were houseguests who were like fingernails on a blackboard to me. I will let that be my little secret, as we all know these people have family.

One thing I have noticed with each passing year is that some Big Brother fans seem to become more rabid. Season 6 was the pinnacle for me, which led directly into this season.

The love and undying loyalty to Kaysar Ridha was baffling to me. He was evicted thrice and never even made it to sequester. He set a record that will never be broken. That makes him the highest rated player in both his seasons? I simply don't get it.

I don't judge the players by their looks or their lack of lying. Integrity has no place as a standard in this game. Big Brother is a game of lies by its very nature. Anyone who insists their favorite can only be the one that never lies is lulling him/herself into some kind of fantasy.

What prompted me into writing this article is the downright rudeness of some fans this year – in particular, some fans of Janelle Pierzina! This group seems to be a cult of some sort and I haven't been offered the kool-aid.

Note that I’m not talking about all Janelle fans – like anything else, there are fans and there are fanatics; we’ve seen that in other shows as well (like American Idol 2, as one good example). But the Janelle fanatics have gone over the top.

There is a chat website I have always enjoyed, but at times it can be quite contentious if you don't agree with the masses. The Janelle cult can't or won't allow you to dissect the game in any real way either on the message boards or in chat without repercussions. If you dared to say James Rhine was playing a great game, it would degenerate into flaming of James and sometimes Sarah – and of course yourself.

Janelle played a great game this year. I just couldn't get on board. There were so many of my favorites this year in the house who I looked forward to seeing play the game. Big Brother, in their great wisdom, put in four players from season 6. This did two things. First, it forced James to play with this doomed group again and made them a target. You might have thought it gave them an advantage, but as you have seen, it didn't – it simply made for a boring game the first few weeks.

I wish the Big Brother producers had allowed only one America's Choice from each season and then picked a producer's choice from each season. That would have been fair to all the players and we would have had a game!

But back to the fanatics. Get a grip, people. This is not reality. It is called a reality show, but now that Janelle has been evicted, you will hopefully go back to your lives with no harm done except many sleepless nights. If she had won the game, she would not have been passing out dollar bills to any of you. From my standpoint, James played an excellent game even with the handicap of three people fighting against him at every turn. He was evicted and I was sad for a few minutes. That was that.

So when I can't love Janelle, don't hate me – just understand it is a game. A game that seems to be getting nastier and nastier each year, both in the house and outside. I would really like to see strategy rewarded rather than personalities. Is that such a pipe dream?

Well, back to reality.

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