"Big Brother 8": Home Of The Brave
The "Big Brother 8" house is abuzz now that the houseguests have learned that among their fellow contestants are people they hoped never to see again. Will the fur fly? Will fences be mended? Will intensely personal details be aired in public? Stay tuned!
In the second twist, viewers will have an important role in "BB8": they'll be voting online to manipulate the actions of Eric, one of the houseguests. Will "BB8" fans be cruel or kind to the poor houseguest under their control?
And what's up with the newly-remodeled house? Producer Allison Grodner gave Julie Chen a tour of the topsy-turvy, whimsically-themed living space that will leave some houseguests feeling, literally, like they're on top of the world while others will be cut down to size, for real.
The 14 new houseguests are from all over the country, from all walks of life. There are young execs on the rise, a cocktail waitress, a school counselor, a student, a shoe salesman, a nanny — even a former pro football player. Oh, and they all think they have a winning strategy that will put them in the final two. You can meet them here and here.
Bookmark this page and check back every Friday to see Julie's Early Show interviews with the evicted houseguests, plus some Internet extras you won't find anywhere else!
WEEK ONE RECAP: It wasn't pretty when Dustin realized his ex, Joe, was in the house. Daniele was in tears when she saw that her estranged father, "Evil" Dick, was along for the ride. And Carol and Jessica share some unhappy history — though their conflict, over $5, started when they were in junior high.
Will any of these three pairs be able to resolve their simmering anger? Will they eventually work together or will they plot to have each other evicted? Will their misery affect the whole group?
The only houseguest who was truly happy was Eric. That's because he's going to be playing as "America's Houseguest." He'll be following instructions voted on by "Big Brother" viewers, and for every five tasks he is able to complete in the house, he will win $10,000. His first assignment is to tell someone about a tragedy in his life; America has voted on which person he'll tell.
Kail, the first HOH, picked Amber and Carol as the first nominees for eviction; she based this on the fact that they were the first two contestants eliminated from the HOH competition. Everyone thought this was reasonable except, not surprisingly, Amber and Carol. Incidentally, Kale was one of the first out of the box in creating a secret alliance. She coerced Mike, Nick and Zach to join her.
There was a food competition that involved scraping faux "butter" off the bodies of houseguests into a vat of faux popcorn and Amber's long, curly hair was her team's secret weapon. Her group will have food this week, while the losers will subsist on the "BB" Slop diet (the same "diet" that helped Chicken George lose so much weight last season). Even Jameka, who loves oatmeal, found the Slop unpalatable. Question: What exactly is in the slop? And are the houseguests able to doctor it up with condiments?
And, finally, in a "BB" first, a contestant had a complete and total meltdown over ... a publicity photo. For real. The other houseguests thought that Jen was kidding when she loudly protested that her photo had "bad lighting" that gave her "bags" under her eyes; she then burst into tears and covered the offending photo with a pot holder. We know this wasn't a joke because she also wept in the diary room. Jen has just gone down in "BB" history as the Most. Shallow. Houseguest. Ever. And that was before we all saw her "Jen-ius" and "Jen-sa Member" T-shirts.
There was little or no catfighting between Carol and Amber as they jockeyed for position. Daniele won the first Power of Veto competition, but declined to help either woman. Though Carol did ask other houseguests for help, including Zach and Mike, she seemed fairly stoic. In all of her diary room appearances, Amber looked like she just had a good cry.
America voted and asked Eric to evict Carol.
In the end, the vote was 10-1 to evict Carol, with the sole vote for Amber coming from Jen, who further cemented her position as the House outcast — the one person who annoys everyone else. Which is why it's sort of delicious that she won the HOH competition.
Carol had plenty of insights on her supposed feud with Jessica, and much more, when she spoke to Julie Chen exclusively for the Early Show website. Watch her comments here.