Big Brother 2, Episode 14: Too Much Smoke, Not Enough Surprise
by Susan Schechter
-- 07/10/2002
Hardy has to decide who to boot (hint: it's not a surprise). Kent has to make it without his cigarettes. And all of the houseguests have to down their favorite meals -- in a less than favorable circumstance.
Episode 14 starts off with day 33. Mike “Boogie” has just been evicted probably about half hour before the video for this show picks up. Krista is trying to get over his eviction; it’s still a raw wound, and she really misses her “Booger.” (Oh, “Boogie,” sorry. Booger was in Revenge of the Nerds). Bunky has Krista’s number, when he tells her “you are falling in love with him, girl!” Later Krista tells Will, whose shirt looks like something left over from the set of Saturday Night Fever, that Boogie gave her “butterflies.” Uh, oh. I can tell you, when this happens, girlfriend, you really have fallen hard for him. Or as the wise poets Lennon and Mccartney wrote, “When you sigh, my insides just fly, butterflies…. It’s only love and that is all.” Yikes! Krista really does have a consistently poor taste in men. Did she have butterflies for Justin “The Knife,” too? Of course, sweet William, ever the egoist, has to bring the conversation back to him, and asks, “How do you think I feel? He was my best friend.” His best friend? He doesn’t have any friends outside the house? Um, actually, never mind. This is Will we’re talking about, so I guess that shouldn’t come as any surprise.
Indeed Boogie’s presence looms large in the first part of the show. Before he left, he had made a boy band video of the Big Brother band, “Too Hype” (or is it “2Hype”? or maybe “WhoCares?”). All fans of N’Sync the Backstreet Boys and Westlife have nothing to worry about. I guarantee you the genius of Louis Walsh will not be recruiting our folks in the BB house. The boys were in the front, and the girls were in the back like fly girls. Yes, they had some good moves, and it was a cute video. CBS did a good editing job, and providing titles and graphics and it made the BB guests laugh, which to them was wonderful. Even Nicole observed in the diary room that “ We were on the floor, it was so funny. If anything good comes out of this experience here, it has to be the video.”
Now comes the part that pulls on your heartstrings. Mike Boogie had a message for Krista. It was not in rap, which made it really sad and romantic (whereas his raps are just plain sad). It has to be the most romantic thing that has been shown yet in the house, and actually made me LIKE Mike for a bit. Just a bit, though. Krista, of course, cries. In fact, everyone cries except Kent. Even Hardy wipes a few tears from his eyes. Will, again being an egoist, pulls the conversation back to HIM, by saying “Shannon didn’t do that for me.” I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again: Will, please get over yourself.
Hardy is shown again winning the Head of Household (HoH) competition, in case the viewing audience forgot that from Thursday. Oh yes! It’s Saturday night, so tonight we learn who Hardy has nominated for this coming Thursday’s eviction! He says he has lost respect for some houseguests in the past week, and gained respect for others. (I believe he was skirting around Kent and Will.) Hardy also says he will nominate people who he feels no longer belong in the house. Sounds ominous, and familiar from when he was HoH last only a couple weeks ago.
Hardy and Nicole talk about Bunky in the HoH room. Out of all the people in the show, Bunky is one receiving less air time, but his character has never been compromised. Bunky is Bunky, a very likeable person. Bunky is the type of person I would want for a friend and be proud to know. Hardy feels Bunky is a weak person and refers to him as “Wallpaper.” Hardy then tells Nicole he has “some surprises up his sleeve that will drop America’s Jaw.” Nah, the only thing that Hardy could have done to make us drop our jaws would have been to put Will up against Krista, and there is no way you would be nominating Krista at this point. The viewers have already assumed one nominee will be Kent, and the other one will either be Will or Bunky. No surprise here.
Bunky is worried that he will be nominated. He goes into the HoH room to talk to Hardy and tells Hardy he has always been a team player. It’s like talking to the hand, Hardy knows who he will nominate, and he leaves Bunky hanging. Hardy says the nominations will be true to himself. He mentions he has an allegiance to Nicole and Krista, but not to Monica, and that Kent’s actions in the house are unacceptable.
It really looks like Kent might be on borrowed time here.
And like Shannon before him, right before his nominations, Hardy has an epiphany. Hardy realizes that in order to win the show, he has to make all the other players lose. Wow, what a concept.
Now comes the food challenge. For all those faint of stomach, please scroll down and do not read the next two paragraphs. Or better yet, go get Maalox, Alka Seltzer, or Pepto Bismol.
The houseguests are asked to write down their favorite dinner meal. Hardy’s was turkey with all the trimmings. Kent’s was prime rib with horseradish, baked potato, sour cream, cream corn. Monica and Krista wanted fast food. Will wanted sushi. Bunky wanted a chicken burrito.
All the foods they picked are then put in to a blender and each houseguest has to eat the meal they picked, blended. It has to stay down. If they cannot eat their meal, its PB&J that day for everyone. Bunky goes first, and succeeds! In fact, all the houseguests do it, despite gagging and coughing, except Krista. She tries to eat a burger and a fish sandwich and cannot do it. She takes one sip, gags and says she can’t and won’t. Hardy and Will rule with this competition and their ability to down the repulsive drink in under 15 seconds or so. As a result of this week’s food competition, and Krista’s failure, the guests get six days of food and one day of peanut butter and jelly.
Next, Kent is profiled. A die-hard smoker, he says he has been smoking an average of two packs daily for the last 30 years. Wow. His teeth are soo white! The viewer sees poor Kent struggling to get cigarettes, and we learn his nickname in the house is “Daddy.” Big Brother will not give Kent any more cigarettes when he finishes his, but will treat him to a patch and other non-smoking aids. Kent puts on a patch, and I wish him well; quitting smoking is going to be the hardest thing he’s ever done – even more than just being in this house. I hope he succeeds.
From Kent we move to his bosom buddy, Bunky, who feels his friendship with Kent is going to cause him to be nominated. Kent is miserable, between not smoking and many in the house not talking to him, he’s in for a hellacious week. Kent tells Bunky he had a dream before he went into the house, that he would be left in the house with no alliances. Kent, when I was in my freshman English class, we called that “foreshadowing.” Bunky also tells the camera he will win BB2. Yes, I hope for your sake, Bunky, it’s true, but right now the odds are not in your favor.
There are two items of interest left in the episode. One is an interview with our boy Will and his Willisms, and the other is the nominations. We get Will first. He is convinced that Nicole is in love with him. Nicole tries to call his bluff by saying she will take a shower with Will. No, she takes her pants and shoes off, but is still almost fully dressed when she goes in. Good for you, Nicole! She is embarrassed because she thought Will would cry uncle before she did, but he didn’t and she must have gone to the Diary Room instead.
Finally, the nominations. Continuing in the no-big-surprise vein of nominations and evictions, we have Will and Kent. Frankly, the more interesting question remains the America’s Choice question of whether the houseguests should get a pot-bellied pig, hamster, or a goldfish.
Susan Schechter works for a multinational Financial Markets/News company as a Research Analyst/Biographer covering the UK, Australia and other Commonwealth countries.
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