- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio on 11-02-2007
Mike "Boogie" Malin had a wicked good time watching the Boston Red Sox capture the 2007 World Series championship in Denver on Sunday night, but unfortunately he apparently spread the joy of Red Sox Nation to an uninterested local recipient.
The Big Brother 7: All Stars winner was arrested earlier this week for allegedly assaulting a waitress at a Denver sports bar following Game 4 of the 2007 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies, The Smoking Gun reported Thursday.
The 37-year-old co-founder of the Los Angeles-based restaurant group The Dolce Group -- who also appeared as a Big Brother second-season houseguest in 2001 -- was booked into a Denver sheriff's lockup and was released on Tuesday after posting bond, according to The Smoking Gun.
"Malin is working with his legal team to properly handle the misunderstanding and the charges," a publicist for The Dolce Group told the website Eater LA in a Thursday report.
Despite being a fixture on the West Coast in recent years, Malin was raised in Concord, New Hampshire. After graduating from high school, he also attended Bentley College in Waltham, MA.
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio and Steve Rogers on 10-24-2007
This summer, Big Brother 8 houseguest Eric Stein told viewers that he had "some pretty compelling options" available to him when he paved the way for Dick Donato's eventual win by "deciding" not to use the veto ability he won in the show's eighth Power of Veto challenge to allow Jessica Hughbanks, the Stein ally who was serving as the game's Head of Household at the time, to "backdoor" Donato or his daughter Danielle out of the competition.
However a month after Big Brother 8's finale, CBS has now confirmed that Stein, who served as the show's secret "America's Player" twist, didn't really have any options at all.
Instead, although the broadcast's edited footage implied otherwise, Big Brother 8's producers prevented Stein -- who as "America's Player," secretly had his weekly eviction vote and nomination attempt targets determined by home viewer voting -- from using the PoV because there was "no time [for viewers] to vote on whether or not he should use the veto," according to a CBS-released statement.
Stein's pivotal "decision" took place in the days leading up to Big Brother 8's live August 30 broadcast that featured the eviction of Amber Siyavus, whom Hughbanks had nominated for eviction (along with Zach Swerdzewski) during the week's initial nomination ceremony. However once Stein -- her close ally in the competition -- won the PoV, Hughbanks saw it as an opportunity to "backdoor" one of the Donatos.
When Stein "decided" against using the PoV and instead kept Hughbanks' eviction nominations the same, he told Hughbanks it was because he trusted the alliance the pair had recently formed with the Donatos, whom unbeknownst to Stein or Hughbanks, had already begun to plot against them -- but he had another explanation for the show's home viewers.
"America, I know you guys wanted Amber nominated for the second straight week so I did not use the Veto... now you have the choice to send her home if you'd like," Stein told viewers during a Diary Room session broadcast on Big Brother 8's August 28 episode.
Stein's explanation did not address why he didn't use the Veto to remove Swerdzewski from the chopping block.
After Stein's PoV "decision" was revealed to the rest of the remaining houseguests, Hughbanks commented there was "no reason" to evict Siyavus or Swerdzewski and characterized Stein's "decision" to keep the Donatos in the competition as possibly the "biggest mistake" yet in the game. Her fears quickly came to fruition when the Donatos immediately turned on Hughbanks and Stein and then powered past Jameka Cameron and Swerdzewski to finish as the show's winner and runner-up.
However during a recent podcast interview with rffradio.com, Hughbanks said that once Big Brother 8 ended and Stein was allowed to reveal the season's "America's Player" twist to the rest of the houseguests, he told her the real reason why he didn't use the PoV.
"Eric explained he wasn't allowed to use the veto that week. The producers said that America wasn't given enough time to decide who he should use it on if he was going to, so they just flat out told him he is not allowed to use the veto at all -- nominations had to stay the same -- which is why Eric didn't use the veto," said Hughbanks during the interview. "I think that's because [the producers] knew if he used the veto I was going to put up one of the Donatos, Dick or Danielle, and so they just said, 'You know you can't do it.'"
Big Brother's producers confirmed Hughbanks' claim that they didn't allow Stein the option to use the PoV in a CBS statement issued to Reality TV World on Tuesday.
"The rule was that Eric had to make every effort to do what America wanted. [Viewers] asked for someone to be nominated and that person was on the chopping block. Since there was no time to vote on whether or not [Stein] should use the veto, he needed to make sure that the person America wanted gone stayed on the chopping block and then make every effort to make sure that person was evicted. Keeping the nominations the same was the best way to accomplish America's wishes."
Home viewers had instructed Stein to both target and vote to evict Siyavus during the week of his PoV victory, which is exactly what happened. But at the time, Hughbanks said she was unaware what was motivating Stein to keep the Donatos in the game.
"I didn't know it at the time. I said, 'What? What is going through your head? This is the perfect opportunity to get one of the big dogs out of here,' and he wouldn't do it but I went along with him because I had to. He had the power that week. He was my ally," Hughbanks explained during her interview. "He couldn't tell me in the house he wasn't allowed to use it, but afterwards he said, '[The producers] said do not use it, you don't have a choice, you are to keep nominations the same.'"
Hughbanks said she "didn't pressure" Stein to flex his PoV muscles.
"But I talked to him about it," she explained. "I put up [Siyavus and Swerdzewski] that were just kinda like, 'Ehh,' so we have the opportunity to get somebody out that is huge in the game and I wanted to but because he was told that he couldn't he had to keep arguing to me, 'No, no, no. We have the right people up. Trust in the alliance it's all going to be good,' and I had to go along with it because I didn't have a choice."
CBS did not immediately respond to Reality TV World's attempts to get further clarification on the producers' statement, including why Big Brother host Julie Chen never informed viewers of an "America's Player" rule restriction that would have prevented Stein from exercising any PoV's he may have won and why the show's broadcasts were edited to imply Stein was making his own PoV usage decision.
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio on 09-19-2007
Dick "Evel Dick" Donato had a feeling he'd beat his formerly estranged daughter Danielle Donato to win Big Brother's eighth-season crown.
"I think we both kind of expected [I'd win] due to the questions asked by the jury, I think it was kind of a tip off," Dick told Big Brother host Julie Chen during Wednesday morning's broadcast of CBS' The Early Show.
Dick said Danielle took the jury questions "hard" and was "bummed and depressed," but he did his best to assure her that it didn't matter which of them won.
"I told her everybody wants to be where we are. Who cares what they have to say?" recalled Dick to Chen. "It doesn't matter. Who cares who wins? If my daughter wins $500,000... What am I going to cry if my daughter wins $500,000 and I win $50,000?"
Dick, a 44-year-old bar manager from Los Angeles, CA, defeated his 21-year-old daughter Danielle by a 5 to 2 jury vote to win Big Brother 8's $500,000 grand prize. However Dick said he already considered himself a winner before Chen presented him with an oversized check on The Early Show.
"From the first hour walking in and the conversation in the bathroom, that was more contact then I've had with her in two years," Dick explained to Chen. "Everything that I said, that was from the heart. That speech I gave -- 'I've already won' -- I'm leaps and bounds and miles and miles and miles into this relationship with my daughter. It's so important to me."
Instead of the traditional father/daughter relationship, Danielle told Chen it was "more of a friendship." However two-years-ago she said "a lot of issues" arose between them and it was her decision to bring an end to their relationship, adding she largely ignored the text messages and emails he'd send her.
"I am glad because I was at that point... [I was] absolutely numb to it. I didn't grow-up with either of my parents," Danielle explained to Chen during an extended version of the interview available on CBS' website. "I've never had a normal family. And you come to the point where you kind of realize the time I'm going to have a normal family is when I start one of my own. I'm okay with that. After 21 years, that's all you have, and I'm okay with that. But as much as you want to tell yourself you don't need a dad, you don't need a mom, everybody needs a dad and everybody needs a mom. I am glad because this is definitely going to start something new."
Dick agreed, calling their 81 days together in the house a beginning of things to come.
"This is a stepping stone to getting some normalcy in our relationship that I'm really looking forward to fixing," he said. "How has it changed me? Not a whole lot in a lot of ways. But I've earned a lot of respect for Danielle."
Dick and Danielle were part of Big Brother 8's "unfinished business" twist pairings, however he said he kind of knew they'd be together in the house before filming even started.
"We showed up at the audition -- not together but at the same time -- and I had a really good idea that she would be there," Dick explained to Chen. "A matter of fact, when I left the audition I text messaged her and said, 'You better be ready for this thing to play out on national television.'"
(Two years ago when they were still on speaking terms, Dick and Danielle had also applied for Big Brother 6, which featured a "secret partner" twist. Dick had also previously been a finalist for Big Brother 5.)
"I ignored the text," said Danielle.
The first few days in the house were difficult -- especially for Danielle -- however she eventually saw the opportunity their situation presented.
"You kind of had to make a change because you're not going to go in the house and keep fighting and keep fighting," she told Chen. "We had to bring ourselves together and form a group, and by that -- working with somebody -- it does change the relationship. It doesn't change the past, but it does change a lot."
With their personal relationship being patched together and their pockets a little heavier from their Big Brother winnings, Chen asked Danielle about her eighth-season "showmance" with Nick Starcevic, a 25-year-old former professional football player from Kimball, MN.
"They were on the phone all night after the finale," jumped in Dick before his daughter could answer. "He's moving to Orange County... I love Nick. I really do. I think he's a great guy."
The problem is Danielle already had a boyfriend before entering the Big Brother house. While Danielle first told Chen she could "neither confirm nor deny" a relationship with Starcevic, she did elaborate a little.
"To be honest, I just got out of the house so I haven't had time to talk about things with people or finding things out," said Danielle, claiming she has yet to speak with her real-life boyfriend, whom she had lived with.
"Honestly I don't know what's going on with things. Our lease was up any ways... He was moving back in with his parents," she continued. "I didn't expect to meet somebody who I really care about in the house. I went into the house to play the game and not really make friends... It was just a hard situation to be in. I've never been in that kind of situation before... It was just a situation that nobody would be in unless they were in the Big Brother house. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'll just have to wait and see."
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio on 09-19-2007
Dick "Evel Dick" Donato, a 44-year-old bar manager from Los Angeles, CA, was revealed to be Big Brother's eighth-season winner during last night's live finale broadcast of the CBS reality show.
Dick defeated Danielle Donato, his formerly estranged 21-year-old daughter, by a 5 to 2 jury vote to win Big Brother 8's $500,000 grand prize.
"I'm taking a trip man!" exclaimed Dick when Big Brother host Julie Chen revealed the jury's vote. "I'm getting the hell out of here away from some of these people. I'm going to relax, I'm doing an around-the-world thing... for sure."
Big Brother 8's finale broadcast began with footage of Zach Swerdzewski entering the jury house following his live eviction during last Thursday's broadcast that featured Dick being crowned the season's final Head of Household. Zach joined fellow evicted houseguests Jameka Cameron, Eric Stein, Jessica Hughbanks, Amber Siyavus, Jen Johnson, and Dustin Erikstrup as the last member of the seven-person jury who would decide which Final 2 houseguest would be voted the season's winner.
Dustin said he would "absolutely love" to see Dick or Danielle enter the jury house instead of Zach, and Eric assured him that they were all "pulling" for Zach to win. However Zach showed up and Eric informed him "it would have been a 6 to 1 vote" and Zach would have won Big Brother 8 had it instead been a Donato who was the seventh member of the jury.
Eric then learned that he home viewers had given him one final "America's Player" task to fulfill: campaigning and voting for Dick to win. Eric commented America had "chosen wisely" and immediately got to work, reminding the other jury members they were voting for the "lesser of two evils."
Zach said he didn't think Dick should be rewarded for his rude behavior throughout the season and Dustin agreed. Eric reminded them the behavior was just Dick's strategy and referred to Danielle as a "brat who rode her father's coattails." Jen was less rational, voicing support for Danielle because Dick's an "asshole."
Zach also pointed out Danielle was an "amazing competitor," and once again Dustin agreed with him. However Eric countered with the fact that Dick was no slouch either, winning three HoH competitions and a Power of Veto.
Amber was impressed with the way Dick fought for both he and Danielle. Zach compared Dick to a "guard dog" and said Danielle was holding the leash, while Jameka likened it more to Danielle being a "pimp" and Dick serving as her "ho."
After their discussion, the still-sequestered jurors questioned Dick and Danielle via satellite. Dick took Dustin's question as a chance to reiterate how he though he and Danielle were "the best team that's ever played the game."
Amber -- the same person who previously admitted that she twice used false claims that she was pregnant to keep her own boyfriend from leaving her and also voiced controversial anti-Semetic remarks during her Big Brother stay -- called Danielle a "pathetic person" for "cheating" on her boyfriend with former houseguest Nick Starcevic. Danielle replied by telling Amber to stay out of her personal life.
Jessica asked Dick who he would have chosen to be in the Final 2 other than Danielle.
"I never envisioned anything but Danielle," said Dick.
Because he felt Dick "personally slandered" every member of the jury, Eric asked him to say something nice about each of them. Zach wondered what Dick and Danielle both learned from their time in the Big Brother 8 house and Jameka asked Danielle what she credited for making it so far in the competition.
However it was Jen's question -- of all people -- that may have shown Dick in the best light when she asked if the show helped build his relationship with Danielle.
"Wow. That's a very odd question coming from you. I'm almost blindsided," said a befuddled Dick. "This has been an absolutely amazing experience to share with someone that is so dear to me... That I love so much. Having this as a beginning to building some type of normalcy in our father/daughter relationship I appreciate even more than being here in the Final 2. I think I've showed that in this game. If you don't already know that you're an idiot."
Dick may have then secured Jessica's jury vote by adding he felt the "worst about" turning on the Final 4 alliance she and Eric had made with Dick and his daughter.
Danielle, however, wasn't a big fan of her dad's speech. Once the jury interview session ended, she stormed out of the Big Brother house's living room and accused him of being "kind of crappy" and violating their agreement to not campaign for the jury's votes.
Big Brother 8 host Julie Chen interviews Dick and Danielle Donato after revealing Dick's victory (Photo credit Cliff Lipson/CBS)
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Once the live portion of last night's Big Brother 8 finale broadcast began, Julie introduced the jury members and asked Dick and Danielle -- who were still in the house -- about their last few days. The seven-person jury then cast their votes for who they wanted to win. Prior to the results being revealed, Julie also introduced Nick; Carol Journey; Joe Barber; Mike Dutz; and Kail Harbick -- the first five houseguests to be evicted from Big Brother 8.
Big Brother 8's season-long second twist was then revealed to the jury members and Final 2, as a video clip explained Eric's role as "America's Player." In the clip, Eric revealed how it was America who instructed him to vote to evict Dustin instead of Dick on Day 48, a task that altered the game's entire strategy and made Dick's victory possible.
"Dick, you owe America a big fat thank you," said Eric.
After the clip had finished, Julie noticed Eric had whispered something to Jessica and asked her what he said as well as what she was thinking.
"I'm thinking oh my God..." answered Jessica. "He just said that we can talk later... Wow! Someone that I live with for that long and I didn't know that. I'm sure he wasn't allowed to tell me, but I'm just in shock. I can't believe it."
Julie then asked Jessica if she was mad.
"No," she replied. "All season I have not been able to be mad at Eric, and I'm not."
Julie also asked Dick how he felt about learning of how home viewers helped him.
"I'm really surprised," he said. "At the time though I was seriously ready to go. I thought I was going and I was [on the chopping block] to push Danielle forward. I thought I made a great power play in the game. It turns out it was everybody watching that kept me in the house."
Dustin wasn't surprised Eric was still able to make it so far despite acting on America's behalf. "Eric can sell anything," commented Dustin.
"Dustin, Amber... I would have never done it," said Eric, explaining how he would have kept them instead of the Donatos if the show's home viewers hadn't been the ones in control of his eviction votes. "You have to take it up with 10 million fans, not me. I wanted you guys to be there and I'm sorry and you'll see it when you watch the show."
"Jess," he continued, "everything that we shared was true and genuine. Trust me. Anyone will attest to the fact that I have been dying to tell you this for a long time. It's been killing me. Just know that everything that we shared was real."
Julie then revealed the results of the vote. Jameka and Jen voted for Danielle, while Eric, Dustin, Zach, Amber and Jessica voted for Dick, awarding him the title of Big Brother 8 champ. Dick and Danielle then exited the house, and she received a hug from Nick while he got a hug from his son Vincent.
"I'm ecstatic... I'm absolutely ecstatic," said Danielle. "We won. It doesn't matter... It doesn't matter and I'm absolutely ecstatic."
(Photo credit Cliff Lipson/CBS)
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio on 09-14-2007
Zach Swerdzewski, a 30-year-old graphic designer from Burbank, CA, became the twelfth houseguest evicted from Big Brother's eighth season during last night's live broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show.
Zach was evicted on Day 76 by Dick "Evil Dick" Donato, Big Brother 8's final Head of Household. Zack's eviction means that Dick, a 44-year-old bar manager from Los Angeles, CA and Danielle Donato, his formerly estranged 21-year-old daughter, are Big Brother 8's Final 2 houseguests.
The first part of the three-part final HoH competition that determined Big Brother 8's final HoH began during Tuesday night's live Big Brother 8 broadcast that featured Jameka Cameron's eviction. Dubbed "The Bunny Hop," each of the Final 3 houseguests had to stand on a platform and jump over a rotating beam when it swung in their direction, while at the same time never letting go of a key hanging above their head.
Danielle said during last night's broadcast that prior to "The Bunny Hop's" start, she told Dick that she would be "absolutely doomed" if the challenge involved cold water. Unfortunately for her it did, and not only was it cold water, but according to Danielle it was "the coldest water I've ever felt in my life."
"It felt like melted snow falling on me," she commented.
As she shivered on her platform, Danielle implored her father to "distract" Zach with the hopes that it would break his concentration. Dick happily obliged and launched into a lengthy verbal-abuse rant against Zack, however he was obviously also not enjoying the endurance challenge and his disruptive banter was less than what his supporters have come to expect from "Evil Dick." Approximately three hours into the challenge, Danielle fell off her platform, immediately wrapped herself in a few towels, and went inside the house moaning and crying.
After being only one of several houseguests to take verbal abuse from Dick over the course of 74 days, Zach decided to get some payback and began to mock Dick. Danielle eventually reemerged from inside the house to cheer on her dad, and reminded him that her brother -- his son -- would be watching at home.
"I'm sure he's extremely proud of you," encouraged Danielle.
Five hours eventually became seven hours, and while both Zach and Dick looked to be fading fast, it was Dick who seemed to be hurting the most for a warm towel, a place to rest his legs, and of course, a cigarette.
"I don't want to quit," he told Danielle through a series of shivers. She tried to assure her dad that Zach was in just as much pain as her father, only without the support of a family member being present. With Dick wavering seven hours and 32 minutes into the challenge, Danielle abstained him from feeling bad about stepping down.
"If you can't do it, it's okay," she told Dick, at which point he stepped down, handing Zach a victory in the first part of the final HoH challenge.
"He stood up there for eight hours, this 44-year-old fart is what I call him," said Danielle through tears when it was over. "Of course it would have been nice just to squeeze Zach out of the competition, but I'm still extremely proud of [Dick] and what he did. It's okay."
"I don't know if I would have gone on as long as I did if it wasn't for Danielle," said an emotional Dick. "I didn't just let myself down, I let my daughter down too."
Despite being in the dumps, Dick and Danielle still discussed strategy for the second part of the final HoH competition, which Zach wouldn't compete in. Dick knew the third part of the challenge would be a quiz on the former houseguests -- telling Danielle, "Round 3 is all the s**t I know" -- meaning he felt confident in wanting to win the second part of the challenge.
Dick and Danielle apparently eventually decided that neither would have that big of an advantage over the other in the final round of the competition, so they both gave the second part their all. The second round of the final HoH challenge saw Dick and Danielle having to retrieve puzzle pieces on the bottom of one water tank, carry them to another water tank, and then put the puzzle together while underwater.
The one who completed it the fastest would face-off in the third round against Zach to determine who would be the final Big Brother 8 HoH -- guaranteeing them a spot in the Final 2 and also giving them the opportunity to decide who will join them there. Danielle went first and completed the challenge in 24 minutes and nine seconds while Dick did it in almost half the time -- 12 minutes and 48 seconds.
"For me it doesn't really matter who I go against as long as I win," said Zach. "I've already taken him down once in the physical, it would be amazing if I could take him down in the mental."
Danielle doubted her father's ability to beat Zach in the final round of the competition, called it "embarrassing" that she lost to her dad and added, "I'm ready to get out of here."
"I can do this," Dick reassured Danielle. "Let me do this for you. We're going to have the fairy tail ending, I'm telling you."
Once the live portion of last night's Big Brother 8 broadcast began, host Julie Chen chatted up the Final 3 and also showed viewers footage of Jameka arriving at the jury house and -- along with fellow evicted houseguests Eric Stein, Jessica Hughbanks, Amber Siyavus, Jen Johnson and Dustin Erikstrup -- watching clips from Tuesday night's broadcast.
Julie then told Dick and Zach it was time for the third round of the final HoH competition, which would be a quiz of how well they got to know their former housemates over the course of the summer. Six questions would be asked, and who ever answered the most correctly would be crowned HoH. Dick answered the first question correctly -- the only time he and Zach differed on an answer -- and Dick won the competition by a 3-2 margin.
"Yes! We did it!" yelled Dick as he jumped up and down and celebrated with Danielle. "We did it baby! Nobody could do it, we did it! We won!"
While everyone knew Dick would be taking Danielle to the Final 2, Julie reminded them they "still had to go through the formal steps," and Zach and Danielle both had a chance to defend themselves.
"Dick I don't expect you to use this [on me]," started Zach. "I played against the best of the best, I lost against the best of the best. Hopefully when you guys are winning all that crazy cash in the long run, you'll think about my inventions. Good job."
"What a summer," said Danielle. "Night and day... who would have thought [Dick and I] would have worked so well together. I know I wouldn't have. I honestly don't believe I would be here without you, I honestly don't know if you believe you'd be here without me. But an amazing team and I would be absolutely honored to be sitting next to you in the Final 2."
"There is no decision, Zach you're out!" said an ecstatic Dick. "Me and you Danielle, we won this whole thing! It's done!"
Once he was outside the Big Brother 8 house, Julie asked Zach about his "big game moves."
"When the ["Mrs. Robinson Alliance"] fell apart after Week 2, I knew I had to lay low," said Zach, referring to the pact he had with Kail Harbick, Mike Dutz and Nick Starcevic.
"When Nick left the house, I knew that Danielle and I could get closer and in doing that I could ride on Dick and Danielle's coattails -- so to speak -- and lay low. After laying low for a period of time, I knew I could get back in the game. That's when I started to make moves and interact socially with more people. In doing so, I thought I could establish better relations with other players in the house. At the time, it didn't happen. That's when I knew I had to rely on myself and started winning."
Zach also refuted the claim that he ever had an "official" alliance with Dick and Danielle, but still acknowledged how well they played the game.
"I went up against the best players in the game," said Zach, referring to the Donatos. "Danielle won seven things [5 Power of Veto and 2 HoH], I won three [2 HoH, 1 PoV]. Dick's tactics were horrible, awful, [he] totally humiliated many players in this game... [but they] worked against Amber, Eric, Jameka."
On Sunday, September 16 at 8PM ET/PT, CBS will air a special Best of Big Brother 8, which includes clips and highlights from throughout the season as well as Dick and Danielle's thoughts on being in the Final 2 together.
Big Brother 8's finale will then air live on Tuesday, September 18 at 9PM ET on CBS, with Zach, Jameka, Eric, Jessica, Amber, Jen and Dustin casting their votes for either Dick or Danielle to take home the $500,000 prize. In addition, Big Brother 8's houseguests will learn about Eric's role as America's Player.
Regardless of which Donato wins, Dick apparently feels like he's already been victorious.
"We did it. The best teams to have ever played this game," said Dick to Danielle at the conclusion of last night's episode. "[Former Big Brother 6 and All-Stars houseguest Janelle Pierzina] couldn't even do it with her secret partner [Ashlea Evans]. [Big Brother 2 and All-Stars houseguest Will Kirby] couldn't do it with [fellow second-season and All-Stars houseguest and Mike "Boogie" Malin]. We did something no one can do. [Big Brother 3 and All-Stars houseguest Danielle Reyes] and [fellow third-season houseguest Jason Guy] couldn't do this. Nobody has done this... [We're] the best team to have ever played this game."
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio on 09-12-2007
Jameka Cameron, a 28-year-old school counselor from Waldorf, MD, became the eleventh houseguest evicted from Big Brother's eighth season during last night's live broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show.
Jameka was evicted by Dick "Evil Dick" Donato on Day 74, and as a result, the 44-year-old bar manager from Los Angeles, CA; his daughter Danielle Donato, a 21-year-old waitress from Huntington Beach, CA; and Zach Swerdzewski, a 30-year-old graphic designer from Burbank, CA, all became members of Big Brother 8's Final 3.
Following last Thursday night's live double eviction of Jessica Hughbanks and America's Player Eric Stein, Zach won Head of Household for the second time, assuring himself a spot in the Final 3. While Zach had a deal in place with Danielle and Dick that they would take him to the Final 3, it was obviously no longer necessary due to his position as HoH, and he began to question if either member of the formerly estranged father/daughter team would really ever consider taking him to the Final 2.
So instead of nominating Jameka for eviction for the third week in a row, Zach decided to put Dick and Danielle on the chopping block.
"This is the final nomination ceremony. I hate having to be in this position," said Zach during the eviction nomination ceremony, which aired during Sunday night's broadcast. "To really pick two of the closest friends that I have in this house (Dick and Danielle) as well as someone (Jameka) who has restored my faith with God, which is huge to me."
"I nominated you Dick and you Danielle for evicition. Dick, your tactics are awful; I don't like them... But they work, and they were incredible. Danielle, you have won six things in this competition (2 HoH, 4 PoV). It's impossible to win against you. I would rather at least give [Jameka] a fighting chance in this game and level the playing field because you two dominated this game. And that is so unfair. Nobody had the stones to truly try to muscle you out... Well I'm the muscle, and I'm going to try and muscle you out."
Zach's nominations of the Donatos made the following day's PoV competition all the more important, with Jameka describing it as "crucial." If Jameka or Zach were to win, the nominations would stay the same and Jameka would cast the only vote to evict, with Zach "guaranteeing" Danielle would get the boot. However if Dick or Danielle won the PoV, they would have the opportunity to replace one of Zach's nominations with Jameka and thus oust her from the house.
Prior to the PoV competition, Zach and Jameka prayed with one another in the HoH room while Dick reminded Danielle she had previously won four PoV competitions, encouraging her to do it again. The PoV competition was called "Big Brother Decoder," a puzzle game that included questions about the former Big Brother 8 houseguests. Jameka and Danielle focused on accuracy instead of quickness, while Dick tried to solve the puzzle as quickly as possible. Zach was totally confused at the beginning until he eventually figured out the trick.
However Danielle's strategy was apparently the correct course of action, as she won her fifth PoV competition of Big Brother 8 -- tying the record held by former Big Brother 6 and All-Stars houseguest Janelle Pierzina. Danielle screamed at the top of her lungs and leapt into her father's arms after the victory.
"Well, well, well... This is amazing. Number five," said Danielle. "I'm so excited. Not only was this the last Veto competition, it was the most important Veto competition. I'm so happy... it's absolutely amazing."
Dick didn't waste any time in throwing Danielle's victory in Zach's face, verbally assaulting and taunting him.
"Too f**king bad man... Too f**king bad!," shouted Dick at Zach. "You turn on us... You lost this game bitch. It ain't even over and you lost! It doesn't matter if you're in the Final 2, one of us won this game. You are out!" In the Diary Room, Dick reiterated his thoughts on who was winning Big Brother 8.
"The game is over. We've won the game... [Zach] has no chance in hell, none!," he said. "This is the season of the Donatos..."
Once the live portion of last night's Big Brother 8 broadcast began, Danielle decided to repay her father and use the PoV to take him off the chopping block.
"Me and my dad discussed this," began Danielle. "We have been up here numerous times, he did [use the PoV] on me. I have about three times as much as he does to pack, and we didn't want to pack together... You know consistency, every time we've been on the block he's stayed on and I've come off. Honestly, this week it doesn't matter who comes off and who stays on. We have the opposite vote... As much as it's not worth much for face value, I can't just sit here and not return the favor. I thought about it a lot... I do decide to use the Veto, and I want to replace the favor, and I'm taking my dad off the block."
"Ah, very surprised," said Dick.
Jameka then replaced Dick on the chopping block and both she and Danielle were given the chance to defend themselves, however Jameka was resigned to the fact she'd be leaving.
"I have been here for 74 days and I have enjoyed my experience with all of you all," she said. "I understand that everybody has played this game on their own agenda, so that should not stop tonight. [Dick], you do whatever you need to do and I'm sure that's not going to be a hard decision. But nonetheless, I thank you all for this opportunity and experience."
Dick was the only houseguest voting, and said it "wasn't a hard decision" in voting to evict Jameka.
Once she was outside the Big Brother 8 house, host Julie Chen asked Jameka if she recognized Dick's numerous attacks on her faith as a strategy or took them personally.
"I do accept that in terms of how he played this game. That's not surprising. It's not shocking. It's to be expected," she answered. "It did cut really down into my soul and the core of my heart, but you know, it's his strategy. He has to do what he has to do to advance himself in the game."
Before sending Jameka to the jury house to join Eric, Jessica, Amber Siyavus, Jen Johnson and Dustin Erikstrup, Julie told Jameka that her sister did give birth to her second child five weeks ago. In addition, CBS broadcast footage of the five previously evicted houseguests arriving at the Big Brother 8 jury house as well as watching highlights from last Thursday night's live double eviction broadcast.
Once Jameka's exit interview was over, Danielle, Dick and Zach began the first challenge in the three-part final HoH competition that will occur over the course of the next couple of days. The winner of the first round automatically advances to the third round, leaving the remaining two houseguests to compete against each other in the second round.
The winners of the first two rounds will then face-off in the third round to determine who will be the final Big Brother 8 HoH -- guaranteeing them a spot in the Final 2 and also giving them the opportunity to decide who will join them there.
The first round of the three part challenge began at the conclusion of last night's live broadcast. Dubbed "The Bunny Hop," each of the Final 3 houseguests had to stand on a platform and jump over a moving beam as it swung in their direction, while at the same time never letting go of a key hanging above their head.
While the results of the challenge are already known to the show's 24/7 live Internet feed viewers, CBS will reveal the winner of the first round during Thursday night's live Big Brother 8 broadcast. (If you don't want to wait until then to find out what happened, highlight the area below.)
Zach won the challenge and automatically advances to the third round.
On Thursday, September 13 at 8PM ET, Big Brother 8's final HoH will be crowned during the live broadcast and he or she will also single-handedly evict one of the Final 3, determining who they want to sit next to in the Final 2. On Sunday, September 16 at 8PM ET/PT, CBS will air a special Best of Big Brother 8, which includes clips and highlights from throughout the season.
Big Brother 8's finale will then air live on Tuesday, September 18 at 9PM ET on CBS.
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio and Steve Rogers on 09-07-2007
Never trust the Donatos. Jessica Hughbanks and Eric Stein learned that lesson firsthand, as they became the ninth and tenth houseguests evicted from Big Brother's eighth season during last night's live broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show.
Hughbanks, a 21-year-old college student from Haysville, KS, and Stein, a 27-year-old talent management assistant from New York, NY, were both sent packing on Day 69 during Big Brother 8's live double eviction broadcast.
Jessica had served her second stint as Big Brother 8's Head of Household last week, and thought it might be the "biggest mistake" of the game when she didn't use it as an opportunity to oust either Dick "Evil Dick" Donato or his daughter Danielle Donato. Eric -- had been serving as Big Brother 8's America's Player and developed a romantic relationship with Jessica -- instead convinced her to stick with his plan and evict Amber Siyavus, which they did.
However, just as Jessica predicted, the move came back to bite her and Eric as Zach Swerdzewski, a 30-year-old graphic designer from Burbank, CA, became the next HoH and quickly aligned himself with Dick and Danielle, who Eric and Jessica also believed they had a pact with. After reaching his deal with the Donatos, Zach nominated Jessica and Jameka Cameron for eviction.
Jameka said she was "good friends" with Jessica and declined to do any campaigning to stay in the house. Jessica also trusted Eric's instinct that Dick and Danielle would stay true to their alliance and instead vote out Jameka.
However that wasn't the case, as Dick told his daughter that Jessica "has to go" and even concocted a plan that had him telling Jameka she was going home before he would swoop in just prior to last night's live eviction and make a deal with her to stay. Jameka cried in the Diary Room when Dick told her she was going to be evicted.
Jessica was surprised when Jameka told her what Dick had said, abut added she's "not going to believe it until it happens." However Eric said he was "confident" Jameka would be evicted instead of Jessica.
"Dick and Danielle are going to come through with their word," said Eric to Jessica, who added her Big Brother boyfriend's "reassurance" made her feel better.
Eric saw it as a "big relief" that viewers instructed him as America's Player to vote to evict Jameka. He then decided to confront Danielle -- who had won Power of Veto but decided against using it -- about her and Dick's voting plans for the upcoming eviction.
"Is [Jessica] going to stay, or is she going to go?" Eric asked Danielle. "If she is leaving, just please tell me..." Danielle answered, "No, you're good." Eric said he would "understand" if Jessica was evicted, he just wanted to know. "No worries..." replied Danielle.
At the beginning of last night's live double eviction broadcast, Big Brother host Julie Chen finally informed the houseguests of the twist that viewers had already been told about last week -- that the houseguests would be competing in a "Big Brother fast forward" which would have them participating in a week's worth of events over the course of the hour. However before that could start, Eric, Dick and Danielle had to cast their eviction votes for either Jessica or Jameka.
Eric voted for Jameka, however both Dick and Danielle decided they couldn't strategically pass up the chance to boot Jessica, and she became the ninth houseguest evicted from Big Brother 8. Before leaving, she gave Eric a kiss and a hug.
"I'm not surprised... I understand," Eric told the Donatos once Jessica had left. "The only thing is, Danielle when I asked, you should have just told me. There was nothing we could have done to change it." Dick assured Eric he and Danielle's decision was "last minute."
"Honestly," continued Eric, "that's the only complaint I have. I just asked for two days with her if I knew she was going to go... There was nothing we could have done to campaign or change the votes anyway -- the votes were there either way -- I would have liked to have had the time and known."
Once outside the house, Julie asked Jessica why she decided against campaigning while on the chopping block.
"Campaigning wouldn't do anything. I know I can't trust the Donatos... I thought I could," answered Jessica. "Maybe it was last second when they realized it was going to be a double eviction that they decided to get me out because I am such a strong competitor."
Despite being fed what ended up being false security by Eric, Jessica also revealed she apparently harbors no hard feelings.
"I love Eric," she told Julie. "He has been so good to me in the house, and maybe something outside the house, who knows? My feelings for him were real. We strategically were close and that grew into personally close."
"I don't think you know how much I need you here and how much I want you here," said an emotional Eric in his goodbye message to Jessica. "I am going to be a maniac for as long as I stay, fighting for your honor. Jessica I love you."
"Jessica thank you," said Julie. "You are off to the jury house."
With Jessica's eviction in the books, it was time for Dick, Danielle, Eric, Jameka and Zach to quickly low through the "fast forward' events that would lead to the hour's second elimination -- a HoH competition, eviction nomination ceremony, PoV competition, PoV ceremony, and another live eviction vote.
The houseguests -- excluding Zach, who as the outgoing HoH was ineligible, and Jameka, who as part of Week 5's PoV competition, had agreed to be ineligible for Big Brother 8's next five HoH competitions -- competed in the tenth HoH competition, "Before or After." Dick won the competition and became the HoH, receiving a big hug from his daughter afterwards.
Eric also received a secret message from Julie that viewers were still voting for who he should target for eviction nomination as America's Player, with viewers instructing him to lobby Dick to nominate his daughter. Eric made a weak attempt realizing there was no chance Dick would ever nominate Danielle. Instead, Dick nominated Jameka and Eric.
"Sorry, it's all game," explained Dick.
The five remaining houseguests then competed in "Niagara Balls," a PoV competition that saw them sorting through thousands of rubber balls that fell from above. Zach used his brut strength to box-out the other houseguests and collect the correctly colored balls, capturing the PoV. At the PoV ceremony, Zach decided to keep Dick's nominations the same before revealing he was in-fact aligned with the Donatos.
"I made an oath to my group..." he said.
Prior to the second eviction ceremony of the night, Eric took one last shot at trying to stay in the game.
"Obviously I'm disappointed and surprised to be in this position right now," said Eric. "All I can say to [Zach, Danielle and Dick] is the power is in your hands. If you actually run through your collective minds right now, you will see that I've been good to the three of you in this game. Any word I've given you, I have stuck to. I had the opportunity to eliminate all three of you in this game and I chose not to because I did believe in what you were saying to me. Obviously to some degree that trust was breached earlier this evening, but I've been good to you, be good to me."
Eric didn't stand a chance, as both Zach and Danielle voted to evict Eric.
"Honestly good luck to all of you, I'm not leaving with sour grapes," said Eric as he exited.
"Send Jen our regards," said Danielle, referring to the seventh evicted houseguest, Jen Johnson. "Will do," replied Eric. "Hopefully she's dead by shark attack."
"I'm really at peace with it Julie," said Eric when Big Brother's host asked how he felt once outside the house. "I feel like I played the best game I could possibly play under the circumstances. I had obstacles that nobody else had to deal with in this house. I'm not surprised at what happened, and the people who did it to me would have been long gone if the decisions were in my hand."
Eric told Julie it was "very difficult" to balance his "personal goals" in the game with "America's goals."
"I embraced what America was doing. It was a great honor to be selected as America's Player," said Eric. "At the same time, things would have unfolded very differently in this house if I had my complete say in the matter... Dustin [Erikstrup] and Amber would still be here, Dick and Danielle and Zach would be long gone. It's the way it is. It was my job to honor America's wishes. Unfortunately for myself, I did a great job in doing it, and [viewers] were pulling for the people that sent me out of this house."
Eric also corrected Julie for calling his relationship with Jessica a "showmance."
"It wasn't a showmance at all Julie," he said. "It was genuine, honest feelings. It was in no way part of my game whatsoever. It was a greatly pleasant surprise and something wonderful that I found in this house that I never expected... She was a perfect partner... I'm just sad that my role as America's Player may have compromised her position in this house."
As America's Player, Eric received $10,000 for every task he successfully completed. He left the Big Brother house with $40,000.
"For now, you are off to the jury house," Julie told Eric. "And Jessica's there..."
After last night's live broadcast ended, Danielle, Jameka and Zach -- as outgoing HoH, Dick was ineligible to participate -- competed in Big Brother 8's eleventh Head of Household competition.
While the results of the challenge are already known to the show's 24/7 live Internet feed viewers, CBS will reveal the winner of the HoH challenge during Sunday night's Big Brother 8 broadcast. (If you don't want to wait until then to find out what happened, highlight the area below.)
Zach won the challenge and began his second stint as Big Brother 8's HoH.
On Tuesday, CBS will air a special live Big Brother 8 episode featuring a PoV competition and eviction ceremony, revealing the final three houseguests. Another live episode will air next Thursday, with the final HoH being crowned and single-handedly evicting someone, choosing who will sit next to him or her in the final two.
Big Brother 8's finale is scheduled to air Tuesday, September 18.
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio on 08-31-2007
Amber Siyavus, a 27-year-old cocktail waitress from Las Vegas, NV, became the eighth houseguest evicted from Big Brother's eighth season during last night's live broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show.
Amber was evicted by a 3 to 1 vote on Day 62, and her ousting meant Zach Swerdzewski, a 30-year-old graphic designer from Burbank, CA, would get to stay in the Big Brother 8 house for at least another week. While four of the last five houseguests evicted prior to Amber's eviction had been "backdoored," that wasn't the case this week as she and Zach were the original eviction nominees nominated by Big Brother 8's Head of Household Jessica Hughbanks, a 21-year-old college student from Haysville, KS.
Jessica is aligned with America's Player Eric Stein as well as Dick "Evil Dick" Donato and his daughter Danielle Donato -- and also considers houseguest Jameka Cameron one of her close friends, which led to her nominations of Zach and Amber. In addition, Jessica and Eric also sealed their romantic relationship in the Big Brother house when they (finally) kissed in a moment broadcast on Tuesday night's broadcast.
"It's about time," Jessica told Eric as they canoodled in the HoH room.
However when Eric won this week's Power of Veto competition (which also aired during Tuesday night's broadcast) Jessica had wanted her Big Brother 8 boyfriend to use it on Amber so she could backdoor Danielle or Dick, both of whom she considers strong players and wants out of the game. But Eric decided not to use the PoV, leaving Zach and Amber on the chopping block.
Amber thought Eric's decision was "not fair" and commented he "doesn't care about anyone else in this game" except himself. After Eric revealed that Jessica's nominations would remain the same, he found her crying in the HoH room, as she realized there was "no reason" to evict Amber or Zach. Jessica characterized the decision to keep Dick and Danielle as possibly the "biggest mistake" yet in the game.
As Amber pled her case to Jessica and Eric about wanting to stay, Jessica expressed her desire to Eric to keep Amber over Zach. However home viewers had instructed Eric as America's Player to fight for Amber's nomination and eventual eviction.
"I've had enough of her crying and weak game play," said Eric.
Zach also lobbied Dick to help keep him around, which Dick said he would do as long as he didn't learn Zach was playing both sides. Meanwhile Jameka and Amber tried to question Eric's honesty with Jessica, telling her that he doesn't want to win HoH because he's scared of producers hanging up pictures of his girlfriend back home (Eric has frequently denied he's still with his former on-again-off-again girlfriend).
"I really think Eric is playing this game through you," Amber told Jessica. "This is part of Eric's game."
With only four houseguests -- Eric, Jameka, Danielle and Dick -- voting to evict this week, Amber realized every vote counted and lobbied Danielle for her support. She swore on her daughter's life to Danielle -- for the second time in as many weeks -- to show how much she had her back. Eric then questioned Jessica about what she, Jameka and Amber had been discussing, and while Jessica was able to play coy briefly, Eric eventually got the truth out of her. He once again assured Jessica he doesn't have a girlfriend before bashing Amber's trustworthiness as a former drug user.
"She's going to go home," promised a pouting Eric.
Dick, Eric and Jessica then conferred and learned Zach was indeed playing both sides. Zach had promised Dick that if he was the next HoH, he was going to nominate Jessica and Jameka in an attempt to backdoor Eric. Meanwhile, he had previously told Eric he wanted to try and get Danielle and Dick out of the game.
Prior to the houseguests casting their eviction votes live, Amber did what viewers came to expect from her. She cried.
"I'm going to try not to cry," said Amber through tears. "I just want to tell you guys when I got picked to be a houseguest and come into this house, I had no idea it was going to be as hard as it is. I also didn't know I was going to build such unique, rare relationships with each and everyone of you guys. I would love to stay here, but if it's in God's plans for me to go, then I go today. I just want you to know I hold nothing against you guys."
After her speech, Big Brother viewers discovered that despite her earlier claims that God had told her he planned to have her be in the season's Final 2, he'd apparently had a change of heart and decided he'd rather see Amber evicted. Jameka honored her friendship with Amber and voted to evict Zach, however Eric, Danielle and Dick all voted for Amber, leading to her ousting from the house and onto Big Brother 8's jury, where she'll join Dustin Erikstrup and Jen Johnson.
According to Big Brother host Julie Chen, 78% of the America's Player votes cast by home viewers were for Amber's eviction.
Once outside the Big Brother 8 house, Julie asked Amber why she thought she was evicted.
"I think I was evicted because honestly nobody wants to be sitting next to me in the final two. I have really good relationships with everyone," she told Julie. "I think they were nervous that had I stayed, the numbers would have stayed on me and Jameka's side and Jessica. They just felt me as a threat. I understand it's a game. It sucks but it is what it is."
Julie then asked Amber who she blamed most for her eviction.
"Eric... Honestly, I think Eric had a lot to do with it," said Amber, unaware that viewers also played a role in her getting the boot. "He's been playing both sides, acting like he's with Dick and Danielle and then acting like he's with Jessica, me and Jameka. He did what he had to do, and it was in everyone's best interest."
After listening to the goodbye messages the remaining houseguests had pre-recorded for her, Julie ushered Amber off to the jury house. "Amber thank you... you're off to the jury house, but we'll see you back here on the 18th when you help determine who wins Big Brother," said Julie.
However, although Amber is now off to the show's sequester location, Big Brother viewers shouldn't expect to see much footage of her new jury house adventures. Unlike previous Big Brother seasons, CBS doesn't plans to broadcast regular weekly footage of each evicted houseguest's jury house arrival.
"[The producers only] anticipate [broadcasting] one jury house package before the end of the season," a CBS spokesperson told Reality TV World on Friday.
Once Amber's exit interview was over, the rest of the houseguests -- excluding Jessica, who as the outgoing HoH was ineligible, and Jameka, who as part of Week 5's PoV competition, had agreed to be ineligible for Big Brother 8's next five HoH competitions -- competed in the ninth HoH competition.
Dubbed "The Tea Party," the challenge was an endurance competition that required each of the houseguests trying to fill a 55-gallon bowl using only three-ounce tea cups. In addition, the houseguests had to traverse over a slippery surface consisting of baby and corn oil. Julie also told viewers it would take 683 trips -- or seven miles worth of walking -- to fill the bowl using the small cups.
While the results of the challenge are already known to the show's 24/7 live Internet feed viewers, CBS will reveal the winner of the HoH challenge during Sunday night's Big Brother 8 broadcast. (If you don't want to wait until then to find out what happened, highlight the area below.)
Zach won the challenge and began his first stint as Big Brother 8's HoH.
During next Tuesday night's Big Brother broadcast at 9PM ET/PT, former Big Brother 6 and All-Stars houseguest Janelle Pierzina will host the PoV competition. Then on the live Thursday night broadcast beginning at 8PM ET, Big Brother 8 will broadcast the long-running CBS reality show's second-ever live double eviction -- an event that, unbeknownst to the houseguests, will result in two of the six remaining houseguests leaving the house within a single hour.
Big Brother 8's finale is scheduled to air Tuesday, September 18.
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio and Steve Rogers on 08-31-2007
Citing a concern that reporters' questions might "influence" the votes of the evicted houseguests that will be part of the jury that will determine Big Brother 8's $500,000 grand-prize winner, CBS has announced that it has canceled all post-eviction media interviews with the show's remaining houseguests effective immediately.
The first houseguest effected by the network's decision was Amber Siyavus, the 27-year-old Las Vegas cocktail waitress who became the eighth houseguest evicted during last night's live Big Brother 8 broadcast.
Media outlets that were scheduled to interview Siyavus on Friday received a statement late Thursday informing them of the network's lock-down decision.
"We have made jury members of Big Brother available to the press the past two seasons, always with the proviso that their questions not inform the ejected houseguest of influences outside his or her personal experience in the house," CBS said in the statement.
"This season, several cast members have made either offensive statements or exhibited controversial behavior. We respect journalists' interest and right to pose questions about these matters, but at the same time believe doing so could provide information that influences the final vote and potential outcome of the 12-week competition. For that reason, the remaining jurors will not be made available to the media for the duration of the program."
Prior to the late Thursday announcement of the new all-encompassing gag order, CBS had already previously informed reporters that it planned to restrict them from asking about many several media outlets considered to be a non-gameplay subject matter, according to The Associated Press.
Reporters were already confined to asking the sequestered evictees about events that they were personally "physically present for in the house." However, The AP reported that once Siyavus and fellow houseguest Jameka Cameron were nominated for eviction last week (Siyavus was later removed from the eviction block and neither was evicted that week), CBS had informed reporters that should either one be evicted, anyone interviewing Siyavus or Cameron would have to agree not to ask questions about controversial anti-Semetic remarks Siyavus had made to Cameron during their Big Brother 8 stay.
After CBS announced its intention to make asking either woman about Siyavus' comments off limits to reporters, The AP published an August 29 report in which it publicly announced that it would decline to interview either one of them.
Although none of the comments were ever broadcast on Big Brother 8's thrice-weekly CBS broadcasts, Siyavus' comments had been broadcast on the show's live 24/7 Internet feeds.
"The majority of people I know from New York and Jewish... so many are greedy and so selfish," Siyavus told Cameron in an August 6 live feed conversation that eventual became much more widely viewed via YouTube.
"The one girl we used to work with -- she's from New York -- and she's a good person... She is," continued Siyavus. "She's from New York and she's Jewish but she's a good person and she means well. She's just been f**ked over so many times she's bitter. She's really like money-hungry and my mom's like, 'She's Jewish.' Every time my mom points that out... Every time I make a comment about somebody being selfish or greedy... like every single time."
"You just got to be careful how that's coming across because you don't want to be labeled as... you know what I mean?" Cameron said to Siyavus during their conversation, obviously aware that her housemate was making anti-Semetic remarks. "Don't just make a blank statement like that because it's bad... It's not good."
"Oh yeah," answered Siyavus. "People that I know who are Jewish -- that I've met -- very few aren't f**ked up..."
Two days after the August 6 broadcast of Siyavus' comments, CBS issued their own statement on the matter.
"Big Brother is a reality show about watching a group of people who have no privacy 24/7 - and seeing every moment of their lives," said CBS in the statement, according to TMZ.com. "At times, the houseguests reveal prejudices and other beliefs that we do not condone. We certainly find the statements made by Amber Siyavus on the live Internet feed to be offensive and they will not be part of any future broadcast on the CBS Television Network."
While Siyavus' derogatory comments have received the most media attention, she's not the only still-competing Big Brother 8 houseguest that has caught flack about what they've said or done on the live Internet feeds.
Dick "Evil Dick" Donato has taken heat due to his poor treatment of several of the house's other houseguests -- particularly Jen Johnson, who was evicted during last week's Big Brother 8 eviction (Johnson was nominated for eviction after Siyavus was removed from the chopping block). Donato's interaction with Johnson included several vulgarity-laced tirades, dumping a glass of iced tea on her head, blowing cigarette smoke in her face, and inadvertently grazing the palm of her hand with a lit cigarette he was smoking when she tried to knock it away from him on the eve of her eviction.
"I definitely think [Donato] should've been kicked out, but obviously he was definitely entertainment for the show, so that's why he wasn't," Johnson told The AP during her post-eviction interview.
In addition, Eric Stein, a 27-year-old New York talent management assistant who is secretly serving as Big Brother 8's "America's Player" twist, has also repeatedly been observed using vulgar terms to describe Johnson and some of the house's other women.
CBS' new interview blackout policy applies to all media outlets, including its own.
"Amber thank you... you're off to the jury house but we'll see you back here on [September] 18th when you help determine who wins Big Brother," host Julie Chen said to Siyavus during last night's live Big Brother 8 broadcast, failing to tease The Early Show interviews she normally conducts with newly-evicted houseguests on Friday mornings.
Future Big Brother 8 evictees will also no longer be interviewed on House Calls, CBS.com's live daily Big Brother talk show.
"The decision has been made to truly, truly sequester each jury member to protect the integrity of the game," said House Calls host Gretchen Massey after reading CBS' statement during Friday's broadcast, which was supposed to feature an interview with Siyavus.
Despite the in-season gag order, CBS plans to make all Big Brother 8 houseguests available to the media following the finale, which is scheduled to air Tuesday, September 18.
- Reported by: Steve Rogers on 08-24-2007
Jen Johnson, a 23-year-old nanny from Beverly Hills, CA, became the seventh houseguest evicted from Big Brother's eighth season during last night's live broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show.
Although only five houseguests voted in this week's eviction, Jen was evicted by an unanimous 6-0 vote that included an extra "penalty vote" that Big Brother's producers assessed after Jen broke the show's rules -- a move that represented the 8-year-old CBS reality show's first-ever "penalty vote." Jen's ousting means that Jameka Cameron, a 28-year-old school counselor from Waldorf, MD that had been on the eviction block with Jen, will get to stay in the Big Brother 8 house for at least another week.
Jen's "penalty vote" was assigned as the result of her actions after 20-year-old Danielle Donato, Big Brother 8's seventh Head of Household, won the week's Power of Veto competition and revealed that she planned to "backdoor" Jen by nominating her as a replacement nominee for Amber Siyavus, a 27-year-old cocktail Las Vegas waitress that Danielle had originally nominated for eviction alongside Jameka.
After being nominated for eviction, Jen destroyed four cartons of cigarettes belonging to Dick "Evil Dick" Donato, Danielle's formerly estranged 44-year-old father, and decided to begin eating regular food and prematurely end the "Big Brother slop"-only food restriction that she had voluntarily agreed to as part of an earlier Power of Veto competition victory that had allowed her to remove herself from Week 5's chopping block. Dick retaliated by hiding all of Jen's clothes in Danielle's vacant HoH room.
(As part of her victory in this week's PoV competition, Danielle also received a "top secret" trip out of the Big Brother house. Amber, the PoV competition's runner-up, also won the right to go on the trip. The pair later learned that their prize would be the opportunity to compete on Power of 10, CBS' new Drew Carey-hosted game show. The pair's Power of 10 episode will air on Tuesday, August 28 at 8PM/PT, immediately before Big Brother 8's 9PM ET/PT broadcast.)
Although it wasn't mentioned in last night's CBS broadcast, Big Brother's producers originally declared that since Jen had already been nominated for eviction this week and the show's never previously publicly-disclosed rules allegedly call for an automatic "penalty nomination" as punishment for breaking the show's rules, Jen -- assuming she had survived this week's nomination, which was already looking extremely unlikely -- would automatically once again be up for eviction again next week.
However the rest of the houseguests (minus Danielle and Amber, who were still off in New York filming their Power of 10 appearance) balked at the producers' decision and claimed that the guarantee that Jen would once again be up for eviction next week might unfairly result in some houseguests that had otherwise planned to vote for Jen's eviction to instead vote for Jameka's eviction.
In response to the houseguests' complaints (which also included a protest of the fact that Jen's slop restriction was the direct result of her Week 5 PoV competition pledge that had resulted in Kail Harbick being nominated and later evicted in Jen's place), the producers conducted a "house meeting" that ended with the decision to assign Jen the alternate "penalty vote" punishment.
After they returned to the Big Brother house, the rest of the houseguests informed Amber and Danielle about what happened while they were gone (a clip of the discussion, which aired via the show's Internet live feeds, is currently available via YouTube).
However, as Big Brother host Julie Chen mentioned in last night's CBS broadcast, the producers didn't allow Amber and Danielle to return the favor -- as part of their trip, the pair were required to not disclose any details of their excursion to the rest of the houseguests. (CBS will show the houseguests' reactions to the belated news of Amber and Danielle's Power of 10 appearance during the Big Brother episode that will air directly after the network's Tuesday night broadcast of the Power of 10 episode the pair appeared on.)
Although Big Brother 8's Thursday night broadcast didn't contain any mention of the producers' original "penalty nomination" punishment or the events that led to the decision to change their original punishment, Big Brother executive producer Allison Grodner addressed the decision to change Jen's punishment during an Entertainment Weekly interview published Thursday.
"We always reserve the right to give penalty nominations when rules are broken that are not safety violations or something so extreme that you should be ejected. But this was unprecedented [someone who was already nominated breaking a rule]," Grodner told EW. "At this point, our feeling is that the offender should be penalized within the week the offense took place. So this is a new way of dealing with rule violations by the nominees themselves."
After Jen's eviction was revealed, the rest of the houseguests -- excluding Danielle, who as the outgoing HoH was ineligible, and Jameka, who as part of the same Week 5 PoV competition that Jen had eventually won, had also agreed to be ineligible for Big Brother 8's next five HoH competitions -- competed in the show's eighth HoH competition.
Dubbed "Tanks For The Memories," the multiple-choice HoH challenge required the houseguests to guess how Big Brother 8's previously eliminated contestants had answered some questions the show's producers had asked them. If they guessed the wrong answer, the houseguests would be dropped into a 350-gallon dunk tanks. The last houseguest left would become the show's new Head of Household.
Jessica Hughbanks, a 21-year-old college student from Haysville, KS, won the competition and joined Danielle as the second Big Brother 8 houseguest to become HoH for a second time.
Jessica's victory marks the fourth consecutive week that either Jessica or Danielle -- who recently formed a four-person alliance that also includes Dick and Eric Stein, a 27-year-old New York talent management assistant that is secretly serving as the season's "America's Player" twist -- have served as the house's Head of Household.
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio on 08-24-2007
Although Big Brother's eighth-season finale is less than a month away, producers for the long-running CBS reality series are unsure when houseguests on the jury will be clued into the fact that Eric Stein is serving as America's Player if he makes it to the final two.
"That would certainly be part of the finale, but I'm not saying when he'll be able to reveal it. That needs to be determined," said Big Brother executive producer Allison Grodner during an Entertainment Weekly interview published Thursday. "He needs to be judged on how he played the game and how he's perceived. So the question is: Should he reveal it before or after? It's my opinion that it should be revealed after in order for him to have a fair shot of winning this game. But that has yet to be determined."
Stein, a 27-year-old New York talent management assistant from New York, is one of seven houseguests remaining in the running for Big Brother 8's $500,000 grand prize. However he also has the added strategical burden of serving as America's Player, a Big Brother 8 twist that has him taking assignment orders from the home viewing audience via text messaging or the Internet, and for each five he successfully completes he receives $10,000.
"He needs to make every effort to complete America's task to get credit for it," Grodner told EW, adding Stein has yet to turn an assignment down. "He basically has a contract with America to be America's Player, which means he will do his absolute best to try to complete a task."
Stein's identity as America's Player has been kept secret from the houseguests still competing as well as those serving on the jury who will decide the winner. While Stein takes directives on who to vote to evict each week, Grodner attempted to dispel rumors started by fans watching the live Internet feeds that Big Brother producers attempt to sway the other houseguests on who to vote for.
She said Big Brother's unique live Internet feeds -- the same aspect that "makes the show so terrific" -- also result in the show being "the only [reality] show that is heavily scrutinized."
"We can't manipulate the houseguests because we know we have the viewers watching us. That's something that we are very much against here," she told EW. "We do ask the houseguests to talk to us in pros and cons so we can understand their line of thinking. It's important for us to do that in order to understand the strategy, which can get so complex. That's what is happening. We are very careful to ask balanced questions. We will ask them to weigh both sides."
One reason strategy is so important has played out during Big Brother 8, as "backdooring" (the targeting of a replacement nominee for eviction) has run rampant, leading to the ousting of Joe Barber, Mike Dutz, Nick Starcevic, Dustin Erikstrup, and Jen Johnson. It also indirectly led to the eviction of Kail Harbick, who was once promised pawn status as a nominee before Johnson won the Power of Veto and Stein was nominated in her place. The houseguests chose to keep Stein and Harbick was booted.
"The unprecedented use of the veto, especially the [subsequent] eviction of the replacement nominee... The amount of arguments and fights in the house on a regular basis. We've had very dramatic turnarounds over the years, but this season we've seen even bigger surprises," Grodner told EW.
Grodner said it is "possible" Big Brother will receive a rule change in the future to discourage backdooring in future installments, similar to what was done prior to Big Brother's seventh installment when the random drawing of ping-pong balls was used to choose players for the PoV competition.
"That encourage people from backdooring. This year, people just seem to be getting lucky in terms of the ping-pong balls!" she told EW. "It's hard to say how much we'll change... We've had more Head of Households change their mind [about who should be on the chopping block] midway through the week than we've ever had before - though I don't think it was always their intent to backdoor somebody."
Needless to say there hasn't been a loss for drama during Big Brother 8, a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed by Grodner. Just last week, producers gave Johnson a "penalty nomination" after what Grodner described as Johnson's "unprecedented" move to ignore her slop restriction that resulted from her Week 5 PoV competition pledge. When Johnson sensed her time in the Big Brother 8 house was short, she feasted on turkey burgers and fruit, a move that didn't sit too well with the other remaining houseguests, who branded her a cheater.
The producers originally declared that since Johnson had already been nominated for eviction last week when she ate non-slop food and the show's rules call for an automatic penalty nomination as punishment for breaking the show's rules, she was to automatically once again be up for eviction this week (if she lasted that long in the house).
However the rest of the houseguests balked at the producers' decision and claimed the guarantee that Johnson would once again be up for eviction next week might unfairly affect their eviction votes, causing Johnson to receive the alternate "penalty vote" punishment that subsequently didn't do anything because she was ousted by a unanimous decision.
"At this point, our feeling is that the offender should be penalized within the week the offense took place," Grodner told EW. "So this is a new way of dealing with rule violations by the nominees themselves."
Big Brother 8's finale is scheduled to air Tuesday, September 18, and Grodner said the possibility Stein could still be there as a houseguest is also surprising.
"What's also incredibly unprecedented about this season is America's Player," she told EW. "The viewers are involved, and he's still in the house."
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio on 08-17-2007
Dustin Erikstrup, a single 22-year-old shoe salesman from Chicago, IL, became the sixth houseguest evicted from Big Brother's eighth season during last night's live broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show.
Dustin was evicted by a 4 to 2 vote on Day 48, and his ousting meant Dick "Evil Dick" Donato, a single 44-year-old bar manager from Los Angeles, CA, would get to stay in the Big Brother 8 house for at least another week.
In addition, Dustin's eviction marked the third time in four weeks that the houseguest booted from the competition wasn't an original Head of Household nominee. Instead Jessica Hughbanks, a single 21-year-old college student from Haysville, KS and Big Brother 8's sixth HoH, had originally heeded the advice of her "Late Night Crew" alliance and nominated Dick and his daughter Danielle Donato, a single 20-year-old waitress from Huntington Beach, CA, for eviction.
Dick decided to play the role of the martyr and verbally abused the other houseguests -- especially Dustin, Amber Siyavus, Jameka Cameron and America's Player contestant Eric Stein -- hoping they would ultimately choose to evict him instead of his daughter.
The plan became a moot point when Dick narrowly edged Dustin during Big Brother 8's Power of Veto competition, which aired on Tuesday night's broadcast. Dick used the Power of Veto on Danielle, taking her off the block.
"It means probably more than anybody would ever know," Danielle said of her dad's generosity.
Dustin had previously told Jessica he would be pleased to play the role of the pawn and be nominated as Danielle's replacement, confident the "Late Night Crew" would evict Dick. She decided to take him up on his offer.
"There's always a twinge of a risk, but in this situation, I just don't feel it," said Dustin.
"I am thrilled to be up on the block against Dustin," said Dick. "I'm probably going home, but this could be a really, really big coup."
Dick's plan for a coup d'etat began to take shape when Zach Swerdzewski attempted to convince Jessica to keep Dick around and instead boot Dustin. Viewers also instructed Eric as America's Player to lobby Jessica for Dustin's eviction -- and while he was hesitant at first, Eric eventually accepted the task and rallied to see his fellow "Late Night Crew" member be sent packing. Dustin's eviction appeared to be a done deal when Dick approached Eric and asked him and Jessica to form an alliance with Danielle and himself.
"I'm listening to you, and I'm going to take it into consideration," answered Eric, who then immediately informed Jessica they should "get rid" of Dustin. "We have a chance to make a big, big move that would change things a lot," added Eric to Jessica.
Prior to the houseguests' casting their eviction votes live, Dustin seemed oblivious to what was taking place and attempted to use Dick's negativity against him in his plea.
"It's been very fun the past several weeks getting to know every single one of you," said Dustin before the houseguests cast their votes. "I hope that you guys make the decision to make the next six weeks even more fun than the first six weeks."
While Jameka and Amber stayed true to the "Late Night Crew" alliance and voted to evict Dick; Eric, Jessica, Zach and Jen Johnson all voted for Dustin, leading to his ousting.
"Ohh," sighed Dustin after the eviction vote was revealed. "Interesting..."
Once outside the Big Brother 8 house, host Julie Chen asked Dustin how he felt about the vote.
"So stunned..." he answered, adding he was "absolutely" certain his eviction nomination had been as a pawn. "I think that Eric was the sheisty person he was and he was the fourth vote against me. I think that Jameka and Amber kept their word and Zach and Jen did not. So there are the votes... four to two. It is what it is. Everything happens for a reason."
While Dustin took some solace in the fact that he'll be the first member of Big Brother 8's jury -- ultimately having a say in which remaining houseguest claims the $500,000 grand prize -- he still couldn't help but feel betrayed.
"I do regret volunteering myself [for nomination]," he continued. "I guess I put my faith into people and I was wrong... I felt it earlier this afternoon when I was talking to people. There's always that risk. I made a risk, and it was a bad move on my behalf."
After Dustin's elimination was revealed, the rest of the houseguests -- excluding Jessica, who as the outgoing HoH was ineligible, and Jameka, who as part of Week 5's PoV competition, had agreed to be ineligible for Big Brother 8's next five HoH competitions -- competed in the seventh HoH competition "Strange Visitors," which saw them answering true or false questions about a group of costumed visitors that had appeared in the house the previous day.
Danielle won the competition and became the first Big Brother 8 houseguest to become HoH for a second time.
- Reported by: Steve Rogers on 08-10-2007
Kail Harbick, a married 37-year-old business owner from McKenzie Bridge, OR, became the fifth houseguest evicted from Big Brother's eighth season during last night's live broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show.
Kail, who had been nominated for eviction by fifth Head of Household Danielle Donato, a single 20-year-old waitress from Huntington Beach, CA, was evicted via a tight 4-3 vote in which Eric Stein, a single 27-year-old New York City talent management assistant that unbeknownst to the rest of the houseguests, has secretly serving as "America's Player," received three votes.
Danielle had originally nominated Jen Johnson, a single 23-year-old nanny from Beverly Hills, CA, for eviction alongside Kail, however neither woman was Danielle's true eviction target.
Instead, Danielle had been hoping to "backdoor" Eric and nominate him for eviction after convincing the week's subsequent Power of Veto winner (which could have also ended up being her) to use their prize to remove Kail or Jen from the chopping block. Danielle had decided to target Eric after she and Dick "Evil Dick" Donato, her 44-year-old estranged father, had come to blame Eric for last week's eviction of Nick Starcevic, a 25-year-old former professional football player that Danielle, despite having a live-in boyfriend waiting for her back home, had begun developing feelings for.
Although they later came up with additional reasons to target Eric, Danielle and Dick's decision had originally been motivated by Danielle's belief that Eric had been the houseguest that secretly cast a stray Week 3 vote for Kail's eviction (Week 5 had represented Kail's third consecutive eviction nomination) and the move had been part of an elaborate plan aimed at demonstrating Nick was untrustworthy and ensuring his subsequent Week 4 elimination. In actuality, while Eric had indeed been the source of the secret vote, as "America's Player," his vote had been determined by the votes of the show's home viewers, not by his own motivations.
Unfortunately for Danielle and Dick, once they decided to backdoor Eric they immediately shared their plans with Jessica Hughbanks, a 21-year-old college student from Haysville, KS that has emerged as one of Eric's closest house allies. Jessica promptly shared the "backdoor" plan with Eric, giving him plenty of time to notify Jameka Cameron, Dustin Erikstrup and Amber Siyavus -- the other three members of the fairly loose "Late Night Crew" alliance that had previously also included Danielle and Dick -- of Danielle and Dick's plan and get their assurances that even if Danielle did nominate Eric as a replacement nominee, they would not vote for his eviction.
Danielle's plan to nominate Eric as a replacement nominee ended up coming to fruition as the result of Jen's ability to win "The Numbers Don't Lie," the Power of Veto competition that aired as part of Big Brother 8's Tuesday night broadcast. Similar to last year's Big Brother 7: All-Stars Power of Veto competition that resulted in George "Chicken" Boswell shaving his head and agreeing to eat nothing but "Big Brother slop" for the remainder of his stay in the Big Brother house, "The Numbers Don't Lie" was a "how bad do you want it"-style showdown aimed at determining who would sacrifice the most to win the week's veto right.
Although Jen ultimately won the week's veto, she paid a very high price to do so. In addition to agreeing to wear a bunny suit for the next five days (a burden that Kail, Danielle and Zach Swerdzewski, a single 30-year-old graphic designer from Burbank, CA, also ended up bearing), agreeing to dump pails of "funky" cesspool-like liquid on her head every hour for the next 24 hours (a burden that Kail, Danielle and Zach also all agreed to), and agreeing to eat nothing but "slop" for the next 30 days (a restriction Kail also agreed to), Jen also agreed that, should she end up as Big Brother 8's eventual winner, she will only receive half of the show's $500,000 prize.
However while Jen paid a high price for her PoV victory, Jameka and Kail paid an even higher price in terms of future gameplay. As part of their attempts to win the competition, both women agreed to not be eligible for the house's next five HoH competitions (Jameka was trying to prevent Eric's nomination).
After Jen won the Power of Veto competition, Dick publicly confronted Eric with his beliefs that Eric had been the game's true manipulator and (although he technically wasn't the week's HoH) boastfully announced that Eric would be replacing Jen on the chopping block. Danielle and Dick also formed a new alliance with Jen and Kail and tried to turn Jessica, Jameka, Dustin, and Amber against Eric, but despite some momentary wavering by Jessica, the foursome appeared to decide to remain loyal to Eric.
Once Eric was formally nominated for eviction, Dick stepped his anti-Eric campaigning. After remembering that Eric had previously told him that Amber had told Eric some personal information that would "sink her dead" if he disclosed it, Dick used the fact that Eric had told Dick he was saving the information for a moment when Amber began "playing the self-righteous thing" to turn Amber against Eric.
After learning that Eric was planning to use her secret (that she had twice used a false claim that she was pregnant to presumably keep her boyfriend from leaving her) against her, Amber -- citing the fact that she had previously voluntarily "sworn" on her daughter's life that she wouldn't vote for Eric this week as the reason why she couldn't change her own vote -- immediately began attempting to convince Dustin to become the fourth vote that Dick, Jen, and Zack would need to ensure Eric's eviction.
Dustin resisted Amber's suggestions and insisted that it was too soon for their alliance to turn on Eric, however Amber continued talking with Dick and Danielle and later told Dustin that if he wouldn't vote for Eric then she'd just betray her previous promise and vote for him herself. Recognizing that he no longer had any hope of convincing Amber that she was playing right into Dick's hands, Dustin (despite the fact that he apparently had no plans to actually do so) told Amber that he'd vote for Eric and prevent Amber from having to go back on her word.
"I don't like the way Dick plays this game, I want Dick out of this house more than I want Eric out of this house," Dustin told Amber before he agreed to vote for Eric. "All you're doing is listening to them... Amber, you are so a psycho right now... you need to calm down... [and] think with your head in the game."
After getting Dustin's promise that he'd vote for Eric, Amber -- now confident that Eric would be leaving the house shortly -- launched into a loud, emotional rant in which she confronted Eric about his plan to eventually use the "lies that I said to my boyfriend when I was on drugs" against her.
"Are you kidding me, what kind of person are you?" -- a question many Big Brother home viewers would no doubt also like to pose to Amber, who has also been caught making anti-Semitic remarks on the show's live Internet feeds -- shouted at Eric, who sat silently through the previously-recorded tirade that aired during last night's Big Brother broadcast that featured the live voting that resulted in Kail's eviction.
"That's so sick dude, that's twisted.... how dare you, how dare you dude... you're a devil in disguise, that's what you are," Amber continued. "You're so lucky that I swore on my daughter's life because I don't want to give you that vote. You got Nick out of here -- you fucking set him up -- you're a piece of shit and you're fucking going home. I hate you."
However despite Amber's emotional outburst, Dustin, Jessica, and Jameka all stayed true to their plans to evict Kail, leaving Dick, Jen, and Zack one vote short of the 4-3 majority needed to evict Eric.
Dick seemed genuinely surprised that his plan didn't work. "Liars," Dick muttered after Big Brother host Julie Chen revealed Kail's elimination.
Dick immediately asked Dustin who he voted for and although he'd actually voted to evict Kail, Dustin insisted he'd voted to evict Eric.
"It wasn't me Dick... I voted Eric out, we had a deal," Dustin told Dick.
"[So it's] the mystery vote again, right," a frustrated Dick shot back.
After Kail's elimination was revealed, the rest of the houseguests -- excluding Danielle, who ineligible as the outgoing HoH, and Jameka, who was ineligible due to her PoV sacrifice -- competed in the sixth HoH competition.
Dubbed "Let's Make A Duel," the competition began with Danielle (the outgoing HoH) getting to decide which two houseguests would face off and attempt to correctly answer which eliminated Big Brother 8 houseguest had made a comment Julie would read aloud. The first houseguest to correctly answer the question would get to remain in the HoH competition and decide which two other remaining competitors would compete in the next face-off. The other face-off participant would be eliminated from the competition and the face-offs would continue until only one houseguest was left.
Unsurprisingly, Julie's well-documented ineptitude appeared to have an impact on the competition's outcome. After eliminating Dustin in the initial face-off pairing that Danielle was allowed to determine, a confident-looking Eric once again buzzed in first during his third-round face-off with Jessica. However Julie called out "Nick" (the question's answer) instead of "Eric" when she attempted to tell Eric to reveal his answer, and although his perplexed facial expressions and shoulder shrugs seemed to indicate that Eric was already aware the answer was Nick and wondering why Julie revealed it before he could, Julie invalidated the question.
"Oh, that was my fault, we'll move on to the next question," Julie commented before she quickly moved on to a new question that instead resulted in Eric's elimination and Jessica's advancement.
In the end, Jessica won the competition's final face-off with Jen -- a move that made her (potentially entirely as the result of the Julie's latest addition to her lengthy list of hosting flubs) Big Brother 8's sixth Head of Household.
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio and Steve Rogers on 08-07-2007
Surprise plot twists are a big part of Big Brother, but producers of the long-running CBS reality series apparently feel they should be the only ones who have a hand in the way the houseguests play the game.
Last Thursday morning, lawyers representing Big Brother's Endemol USA production company sent a cease and desist letter to a pilot they claimed had been hired to fly a banner that would have informed Big Brother 8's houseguests that Eric Stein, a single 27-year-old talent management assistant from New York, NY, is secretly serving as "America's Player", according to TMZ.com, which obtained a copy of the letter Monday evening.
According to the letter Endemol's lawyers sent Blue Yonder Air pilot Jerry Hider, Hider's banner -- which allegedly would have specifically revealed that, as "America's Player," Eric has been basing his weekly eviction votes on the results on home viewer voting -- would have caused "tortuous interference" with Endemol's "business relationships" and caused the company "to suffer immediate and irreparable injury." In addition, although neither CBS or Endemol have any exclusive right to the airspace around the Big Brother house, the letter also that claimed "excessive noise pollution" caused by Hider's plane would "interfere" with Big Brother 8's production as a reason to cease and desist the flyover.
The letter -- which also alleged that Hider had been improperly using the Big Brother name on his company's website and demanded he immediately stop doing so -- gave Hider until 1PM that afternoon to "confirm... in writing" that he would "abort" his "plan of action." If he did not, the law firm planned to begin "seeking immediate injunctive relief."
Hider agreed to Endemol's demands in a letter he emailed the production company's lawyers shortly before the 1PM deadline, however he apparently wasn't happy about doing so.
"If I had a bunch of lawyers, I would fight this, but it's not worth my time," Hider told TMZ.com.
According to Hider, he had no intentions of ruining the game for Stein or anybody else and was just planning to do his job and fly a banner he had been paid to fly. While he wouldn't say who had paid him to do the deed, Hider told TMZ that up until Thursday's cease and desist letter, he had enjoyed a "symbiotic relationship" with CBS and Endemol that included a special segment in 2001 about banner flying over the house (a common occurrence during Big Brother's first few seasons, after which producers began requiring houseguests leave the backyard whenever any banner planes entered the area).
"It's always great to have fans that are this engaged and passionate about Big Brother," said CBS in a statement to TMZ.com. "However, we also need to protect the integrity of the competition, which does not allow any outside influence on the houseguests who are sequestered from the public broadcast and therefore unaware of some of the secret twists in the show."
However although Hider's banner never got into the sky on Thursday, another one apparently did. During Thursday night's fifth Head of Household competition (which, since it was an endurance challenge, ended up airing primarily on Sunday night's Big Brother 8 broadcast), a plane pulling a banner that read, "We (heart) Nick. Eric and Amber are liars! LNC is the Nerd Herd." flew over the house while the houseguests were stuck outdoors competing in the backyard competition.
Despite Eric's best efforts to dismiss the banner, its message has apparently already resonated with a few of the houseguests, who insinuated they may be looking to backdoor Eric during this week's eviction.
- Reported by: Christopher Rocchio on 08-03-2007
Nick Starcevic, a single 25-year-old former professional football player from Kimball, MN, was revealed to be the fourth houseguest evicted from Big Brother's eighth season during last night's live broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show.
Nick was evicted by a 6 to 2 vote on Day 34, and his ousting meant Kail Harbick, a married 37-year-old business owner from McKenzie Bridge, OR, would get to stay in the Big Brother 8 house for at least another week.
As was also the case with Big Brother 8's last two weekly evictions, Nick wasn't originally nominated for eviction by the week's Head of Household. Instead, Dustin Erikstrup, a single 22-year-old shoe salesman from Chicago, IL who was serving as Big Brother 8's fourth HoH, nominated Kail and Jen Johnson, a single 23-year-old nanny from Beverly Hills, CA.
However this week's Power of Veto competition was won by Jameka Cameron, a single 28-year-old school counselor from Waldorf, MD. Jameka thought God wanted her to take Jen off the eviction chopping block because it was Jen who pulled her name to participate in the competition. As a result, Dustin nominated Nick in Jen's place, explaining some houseguests thought Nick had "been playing both sides" since Day 1.
"I am surprised this move was made by Dustin," said Nick at the conclusion of Tuesday night's Big Brother 8 broadcast. "I think I was nominated basically because I'm probably seen as a threat later on in the game, as opposed to Kail, who's pretty fragile right now and close to a nervous breakdown."
Kail said she was "very surprised" Dustin had nominated Nick in Jen's place. Dustin had previously told Kail she was a "pawn" and would not be evicted, however she thought Zach Swerdzewski, a single 30-year-old graphic designer from Burbank, CA, would be nominated in Jen's place if she was taken off the chopping block. Dustin still assured Kail she was just a pawn despite his nomination of Nick instead of Zach.
However Dustin's nomination of Nick caused some major drama in the Big Brother 8 house. Amber Siyavus, a separated 27-year-old cocktail waitress from Las Vegas, NV, sobbed uncontrollably at Nick's nomination despite the fact she was the one who encouraged Dustin to "backdoor Nick." Nick was angry with Dustin for not being "real" to him and letting him know he was being nominated in Jen's place.
Meanwhile Dick "Evil Dick" Donato, a single 44-year-old bar manager from Los Angeles, CA, began a verbal fight with Jen, accusing her of "using" Jameka, purposely "throwing" the PoV competition so Jameka could win, and finished by calling Jen a "scumbag." Dick said Jen knew if Jameka won PoV it would be used on her, placing Jameka in a compromising position. Kail described the fight between Dick and Jen as "the worst yet."
Dick's daughter Danielle Donato, a single 20-year-old waitress from Huntington Beach, CA, also confronted Jen, telling her she was "sick and tired" of the way Jen treats her. When Jen questioned Danielle's values because she's been getting cozy with Nick despite having a boyfriend at home, Dick dumped a glass of ice tea on Jen's head. Then Nick -- who was sporting a new Mohawk similar to that worn by Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver -- yelled at Jen.
Later, Danielle told Nick that the reason everyone had turned against him was because they believed he had cast the second vote (the first being Zach) to evict Kail during last week's vote in which the rest of the houseguests chose to evict Mike Duntz. However nobody knew it was actually Big Brother 8's America's Player Eric Stein, a single 27-year-old talent management assistant from New York, NY, who had voted for Kail because that's what home viewers instructed him to do.
It would be a similar case this week, because despite Eric's own personal dislike for Nick and wanting to see him evicted, America once again instructed Eric to vote to evict Kail. Eric tried hard to rally the troops to join him, however he came-up well short, as he and Zach were the only two who voted to evict Kail and Nick was sent packing.
Prior to the houseguests' casting their eviction votes live, Nick seemed to anticipate his ousting and took the time to talk to Danielle.
"People come in her with a certain game plan... things they want to do," said Nick to Danielle in-front of the other houseguests. "When I met you I got sidetracked. You're very beautiful, smart... I've become very smitten with you. I'd call you the bees knees. I just want to thank you for the time I've had in this house. It's been enjoyable, for the most part because of myself and Danielle, the memories that we've shared. It will be hard walking away from the Big Brother house, but the hardest thing will probably be walking away from you."
Following his eviction, Nick said goodbye to the houseguests before he and Danielle shared an embrace and a kiss. Outside the house, Nick told Big Brother host Julie Chen it was Danielle's decision on whether or not the two would attempt to continue a romantic relationship in the real world. Julie then played a video message for Nick in which Eric revealed he was the one who had been voting for Kail.
"That's nifty," said Nick after he learned of Big Brother 8's America's Player twist. "It's all in the context of the game. Expect the unexpected. That's pretty tricky."
Nick then received a video message from Danielle.
"I came into this house to play a game, and I didn't think that I would have such a strong friendship with you," she said. "I think you mean a lot more to me than you actually realize... I'm really, really sorry that you didn't make it farther."
After Nick's elimination was revealed, the rest of the houseguests -- excluding Dustin, who as the outgoing HoH was ineligible -- competed in the fifth HoH competition "Time's Up," which saw them hanging onto oversized swinging clock pendulums in a test of endurance. While the results of the challenge are already known to the show's 24/7 live Internet feed viewers, CBS will reveal the winner of the HoH challenge during Sunday night's Big Brother 8 broadcast. (If you don't want to wait until then to find out what happened, highlight the area below.)
Danielle won the challenge and became Big Brother 8's fifth HoH.