Big Brother — you’re incorrigible
Exploitational reality TV shows are like snowflakes — they’re all perverse in their own special way.
There’s the Fear Factor variety of exploitation — the “I’ll pay you a modest sum to do something disgusting” kind — where the host is the equivalent of a weaselly redheaded schoolboy who dares the kid most in need of attention to eat bugs. Then there’s the kind of exploitation embodied by The Biggest Loser and Starting Over– where people with huge problems reveal way too much of themselves.
But Big Brother is a special case among the genres. They seemingly cast exclusively from the pool of LA waiter/actor/models, thereby getting a crop of people who are willing to do anything for screen time. As mentioned before, one of their current cast members has a career kissing boys on camera.
Now, one of Big Brothers more sadistic twists has caused two of its cast members to need medical attention. The show often forces half of the cast to eat a diet of “slop” in order to incite conflict and misery. According to Reality Blurred, while one cast member had an allergic reaction to the slop, another had an out and out seizure:
Amanda Hansen passed out and then had a seizure on the live feeds after saying, “I need sugar really bad, and they won’t let me in the DR,” The “DR” is the diary room, where contestants interact with producers, and “they” equals the producers. She then said it was “because I’m hypoglycemic. I need bread or fruit or something. I need sugar really bad, and I went in the DR and told them. … They better give me some. I think I’m going to go again.” In other words, producers apparently refused to help her until after she collapsed and had a seizure, when houseguest Josh pushed the emergency button that the houseguests later said summons police and paramedics.
Of course, in some sort of bizarre commentary on fame and competition, both contestants have returned to the game after getting checked out.
This is kind of perverse, but in retrospect (now that you know everything’s okay) kind of hilarious: the video of the seizure is interrupted by the producers cutting away to Big Brother trivia clips.
Add comment February 25th, 2008