Big Brother 4 Update: Brandon To Be Replaced With Fifth Ex

by Brian James -- 07/08/2003
The speculation is over: former Big Brother 4 contestant Brandon Showalter (right) will be replaced with another HouseGuest’s ex, bringing the total number of exes on the show to five. How will this affect the show?

In my previous article on the apparent preshow axing of Big Brother 4 contestant Brandon Showalter, I wondered what this meant for the show: would Brandon be replaced, or would the show continue onward with one less contestant? That part of the story, at least, has been resolved, as CBS issued the following press release today:

"The producers of BIG BROTHER 4 have made a casting change to the previously announced group of HouseGuests, increasing the "X Factor" from four couples to five couples. Brandon Showalter has been replaced with a fifth ex who will be revealed along with the remaining four HouseGuests in the premiere episode on Tuesday, July 8 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network."
This would seem to indicate that CBS had everyone’s exes on tap and simply chose an alternate from the pool. It would also seem to indicate that Brandon was not one of the HouseGuests originally slated to have an ex join them on the show, as they only had to make one replacement, not two.

While this confirms that Brandon has been released from the show, there is still no complete official explanation as to why. A spokesperson for the show indicated that there were concerns about how Brandon would handle being held in seclusion for three months and confirmed that he tried to contact somebody (my previous article indicated that the “somebody” in question was his girlfriend). This may mean they figured he couldn’t last even the first few days without outside contact, so they figured three months would be quite a stretch.

What does this mean for the show? Well, now there are only three HouseGuests left who won’t have someone from their past sprung on them. Since this group is now in the minority, will they be in danger as the house splits into Former Couples vs. Singles? Will each of the three simply attach themselves to a former couple? Or will this wind up having no bearing whatsoever on alliance forming? The HouseGuests themselves probably don’t even know that much yet! All we can do is watch the show and see how it all plays out.

Brian James is an actor/writer/singer in New York City and the Assistant Editor of RealityNewsOnline. An avid reality show, Passions, early Ryan’s Hope, retro music, and Internet discussion board junkie, he can be found holding up "Will Snark For Food" signs in subway stations as he continues to search for that elusive "day job." Brian would like to stress that his writings are based solely on what he sees in each episode of each show, and realizes that there may sometimes be more to the story and that people may behave quite differently under normal circumstances. Comments and cybertomatoes accepted at BrianJamesRNO@earthlink.net.

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