RealityBBQ – Big Brother 11 on CBS and Reality TV News, Rumors, Spoilers

There’s just one week to go before “Big Brother” ends one of its most successful seasons ever– and, not surprisingly, emotions among fans are intense right now.

For many, the dominant feeling is one of disappointment: Only one member of Team Jeff– aka the good guys– remains. Michelle was evicted tonight, leaving Jordan all by herself to carry the banner for the team viewers seemed to love the most.

Meanwhile, one despised player (Natalie) and one annoying player (Kevin) are still in contention for the $500,000, and odds are one of them will win it.

“‘Big Brother’ is like watching a sporting event,” exec producer Allison Grodner told TV MoJoe in our weekly post-eviction chat. “You go all season with your favorite team, and sometimes they make it. And sometimes they don’t. It’s very real.”

The fact that there’s a very real chance many viewers will be bummed by the outcome of the game only serves to highlight just how little “Brother” producers are able to stage manage the game.

“If the game were fixed, it’s very possible America’s favorites might very well be in it,” Grodner laughs.

One thing Grodner won’t comment on: Insider reports that producers have decided to shake up the structure of the final days of the game. Source
(more…)

Has Jessie’s roughhousing with Lydia and Natalie gone too far on Big Brother 11? That’s what some fans think after watching the late-night feeds. Viewers have peppered BB message boards with complaints that Jessie crossed a line during recent wrestling matches with the two young women, especially since a medic was called to check up on the diminutive Natalie. Executive Producer Allison Grodner told EW exclusively that while she takes the safety of the houseguests seriously, Jessie and the women “engage in (the roughhousing) consensually” and any action he made toward the woman “was not intentionally malicious or abusive.”

“We’re monitoring it,” said Grodner. “We’ve talked to Natalie and Lydia and Jessie about it in the diary room. We’re not looking to hide anything. Everyone who needed to be warned has been warned.”

Grodner confirmed that a medic looked at Natalie after Jessie pushed her in the leg.  (more…)

Allison gave a bit more detail about the cliques twist and how that will play out. “This is still, I want to stress, an individual game,” Grodner said. “But what we’ve created is a system is a system in which you want to vie to be in the in-crowd. If your group, if your clique, is in the in-crowd for the week by winning Head of Household… then it ensures your saftey for that week because you cannot nominate a member of your own clique. But ultimately… when you vote, you’re voting as an individual. So if it’s a member of your own clique and you haven’t ‘clicked,’ so to speak, you can still kick them out.”

“Have and Have nots”
“This season we’re going to be revealing to the houseguests, instead of your traditional food competition, we have a ‘Have and Have Not’ competition,” she said. “There will be a group, that if they lose this competition, will be subject to the worse living conditions that we’ve probably had in Big Brother. That will include living in this really sparse, horribly cold, cold room. And having to take cold showers and, of course, subject to that week’s food restriction. This is like living on a block of ice in the middle of a room under bright lights that never turn off.”

The viewers will have some control over the food restriction:
“Starting in the second week… we’re going to put it to the vote, for the viewers to decide what the food restriction is,” she said. “Now the people on food restrictions, basically the ‘have nots,’ will of course be able to have slop and other food condiments that in the house as always. But they will add to that a food restriction that America has chosen. So that will be their main staple. Whether it be sardines, or lollipops, or chocolate, or squid, or whatever it is, we will put it out there for the viewers to suggest and vote.”

To listen to the complete interview go here!

We are talking about this here!

Allison Grodner (Executive Producer) was interviewed this morning on the John Jay & Rich Show and spilled a few interesting tidbits. You can listen to the full interview here.

Here’s a rundown of the more interesting stuff from the interview.

- Allison Grodner says that there were alot of interesting people in the house for media day who work in television, print, internet media, etc. “Some fun people, really interesting.” She says that the footage will be released shortly. This means we should be seeing the new house soon.

- Julie Chen will be hosting all season, despite her pregnancy. Allison jokes that Chenbot’s baby will be the surprise 14th houseguest. (Interesting that she mentions 14 houseguests since we’ve been told there will only be 12…)

We’re talkin’ about this here: HERE!

Kudos to Kenny!

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“The next installment of the Windows ad campaign, starring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, is scheduled to air tonight during the CBS show “Big Brother” (8 p.m.). This one follows the debut last week, which got mixed reviews — at best — but also lots of attention.”

Click here to read more.

Zap2It

BuddyTV

“We learned this week that Big Brother 10 boasts the oldest cast ever (a 75-year-old great grandpa and a 53-year-old beauty salon owner!). But what is really in store for this crack-brained group of players? Well, for one thing, BB Executive Producer Allison Grodner says the show (still hosted by Julie Chen, pictured) is celebrating the franchise’s 10th anniversary by going old school with the format (translation: no more secret couples).”

Click here to read more.

Transcript of the video: (more…)

“When “Big Brother” returns to CBS this summer for its 10th season, the unscripted series goes back to its classic format: a group of people who do not know each other live together in the house and their every movement is monitored by dozens of cameras and microphones strategically placed to make sure nothing escapes the eyes of the viewers.”

Click here to read more and view video.

Allison Grodner, the Executive Producer of Big Brother spoke with [Welovebigbrother.com] and confirmed information about Big Brother 10.

In this exclusive WeLoveBigBrother.com interview, Allison gives us a preview of the upcoming season’s twists and secrets. Some of the topics we covered are:

-Houseguests coming to town soon
-Houseguests will be going through press interviews soon
-Cleaing crew in the house right now
-“Absolutedly all strangers” with diverse points of view and backgrounds
-All different ages
-Twists and turns down the road
-Live audiences will involve fans more than audiences in Season 1
-13 houseguests with extreme points of view
-House represents the “places and eras” that the cast comes from
-The game starts before the houseguests even go in the house on premier night

Source and a Video

“Big Brother 9 – House Calls – 04.18.08

31:42

Join Bunky and Big Brother Executive Producer Allison Grodner as they take your calls and discuss the latest happenings in the house.”

Click here to watch.

It’s that time of the Big Brother season when the conspiracy theorists come out of the woodwork to blame the Diary Room (i.e. The Producers) for influencing the game. The Diary Room is a place where the players can vent their thoughts and feelings about the other players, their gameplay, and anything else they want to discuss. The producers will ask pointed questions, but it’s not to influence their gameplay, rather it’s to give the player something else to think about. They generally ask the pros and cons of every situation. Who do you trust the most? Will so and so really keep their word? Are you sure you trust your alliance?

When the producers are trying to get a dialogue for the tv show they will ask questions like, “When the HoH came down to a three way tie between Sharon, James, and Adam what were you thinking at that point” and the houseguests will usually answer by repeating the question in their response. “When the HoH came down to a three way tie between Sharon, James and Adam I was thinking OMG James and Sharon might be able to win this.”

Ultimately, decisions made throughout the season are made by the players, not the producers.

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Click Here to sound off your opinion on the DR influencing the game.

Update:  It was brought to my attention that Allison Grodner responded to the DR influencing the game in a EW.com article here is what she had to say:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Fans watching the feeds see the houseguests come out of the Diary Room and start talking about how the producers attempted to sway their vote. Cynical viewers think you are trying to strong-arm the houseguests into doing your bidding. How do you respond to that?
ALLISON GRODNER: [Sighs] We are the only show that is heavily scrutinized because of the live nature of the Internet, which is also what makes the show so terrific. 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. 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.

“In her most candid interview yet, Big Brother executive producer Allison Grodner tells EW.com about the show’s first-ever winter edition (debuting tonight on CBS), whether we’ll ever see the end of those tiresome Q&A competitions, and if it’s high time to change the food penalty (goodbye, slop; hello, Madagascar cockroaches?).”

Click here to read more.