HOLLYWOOD—Things started to progress this week on “Big Brother: All-Stars,” but the problems arose in a major way in the way of micro-aggressions that some of these contestants are in for a rude awakening. BB has always and I mean always had an issue with diversity since the dawn of time. As fans we were lucky if we got one person of color on the show, maybe two, for this latest incarnation of “All-Stars” we have 5 people of color.
A change in the right direction, yes, but there still could have been much more. It stunned me, I mean stunned me when I realized that in 22 seasons ONLY a little over a dozen African-American males has been cast on the series. That is an alarming number to say the least considering 284 people have been placed in that house since the series began in 2000. When it comes to women of color, the numbers are just as bad, and if you consider all individuals of color or minorities as a whole it is quite alarming. We can talk about this for hours and countless columns, but let’s focus on the game, but be aware this plays heavily to the chaos of the week.
With that said, Kaysar lit the house on fire before he was evicted and I loved every moment of it. He gave an eviction speech calling out Cody, Nicole, Dani, Enzo and the house to play the game because it’s quite stale now. Kaysar you were speaking for America, too bad Nicole, Dani and Cody were pressed about the speech and their perception. So we get a knock-out HOH competition where the writing was on the wall for Da’Vonne and Bayleigh, particularly with Cody and Dani singling them out multiple times.
I was literally on the edge of my seat with Da’Vonne being so close to changing the game as we know it, but once again we can’t have nice things in BB, as Christmas, who did nothing yet again, won HOH by default. Great, this woman’s ego is going to explode, and she needs a bit of self-reflection because for some reason she forgets that she was hated for her actions on BB19. Christmas has been talking weeks about targeting Da’Vonne and Bayleigh because they are a pair thanks to Dani and Nicole Franzel. I don’t think I’ve hated two houseguests as much as these two. At least Dani owns her villainy, but it’s very ugly, whereas Nicole just whines to the point of pure annoyance. You’re a grown woman; it’s time to stop acting like a baby all the time.
Photo courtesy of CBS.
Christmas is proving she is a follower, just like she was in BB19. This whole let’s do it for the team is BS, only one person wins in the end, not the entire team. Sunday’s episode was a complete editing mess, nothing and I mean NOTHING was explained in terms of all the blowouts that were discussed on the feeds about Bayleigh being ‘aggressive’ per Dani. Here’s where the issue with race comes to play because Bayleigh was calm and collected when she spoke to Dani. Bayleigh should have NEVER approached Dani about the knowledge she had (it was a bad game move), but there was no aggression at all. If anything, Dani took something put a spin on it to make herself look like the victim. Not a good luck Dani, not at all. It messed with Bayleigh emotionally who confided in Enzo, Tyler and then Day. It was hard to watch people.
We need to completely stop with this when a White woman blows up its ok, but when a Black woman does it she’s aggressive, threatening or scary. It’s BS, its labeling and it’s dangerous and when a player uses that as a game move that really irks my skin (Dani I’m looking at you, and Christmas you too). Plain and simple, Dani was outed for her game and she was scrambling and it was obvious as hell, but how no one saw it amazes me. So Christmas nominates both women because Bayleigh said Day was her untouchable, to which Day questioned and rightfully so. Christmas poured on the waterworks, and I was so over it. Go lock yourself in the HOH room, because you were just talking with Nicole about how someone is going to put a fork in your face or yell at you. Another micro-aggression, and I thought the houseguests had implicit bias training it failed miserably then.
In the midst of such chaos we had the BB Basement competition that awarded 3 new powers to the game. Everyone played at once (a mistake if you ask me), in the dark and you had to find puzzle pieces. The three powers: Disruptor, Blocker and Replay. The winners were Dani, Christmas and David, yes David left me speechless. Replay allows an outgoing HOH to compete again (bore), Blocker allows Christmas to prevent herself or someone else from being a replacement nominee at the veto ceremony. However, the most powerful is David, which allows him to save a nominee or himself during the nomination ceremony. That person is safe for the week and the HOH has to name another person on the spot.
Christmas and Dani shared their powers with others, but David has kept mum and it stunned me, but is so smart. The power lies in NO ONE knowing you have the power, this way no one flushes it from the game. The Power of Veto was played and Christmas won it by default because Nicole F wanted to take the punishment Da’Vonne had and gave her $5k instead. I’m baffled, Nicole is trying to be presented in a positive light people, and it’s that simple. Will it work, I don’t think so. Dani, Nicole, Bay and Day compared notes and saw Tyler as a common denominator, but Bay and Day are being snowed because it was Dani and Nicole as the reason they’re in danger of being evicted.
Xmas had no plan on using the veto, well that was until the chaos that erupted Sunday night. Anyone who has been watching the feeds are well aware that Tyler hasn’t been the same Tyler as BB20. To be honest it feels like he just doesn’t like a lot of the people he is currently working with and it’s taking a toll on his mental health. He wanted to self-evict. Yes, you heard me correctly. He came to Bay and Day and poured out his tears and wanting them to stay in the game for a bigger cause ; it was genuine people and that later turned to an hours long conversation with Christmas where he was explaining his plan to have the veto used for him to be placed on the block and be evicted.
If someone doesn’t want to be in the game, I’m all for it; self-evict, but to ask to be put up to be evicted so it doesn’t impact your stipend annoys me greatly people. Making matters worse after the feeds being down for crucial conversations, Tyler suddenly decides he’s back in game mode, he’s not leaving and Bayleigh and Da’Vonne are under the impression that they’re both about to be safe.
Tyler snowed them and never acknowledged what was about to happen to them at the veto meeting and it was an utter mess. Tyler is going to have to answer for his actions plain and simple when he gets out the house. You don’t say you’re for the cause (which was very indicative of the Black Lives Movement) as a reason to want to leave and then you suddenly stay. It’s not a good look, and I was rooting for Tyler, I can’t say that anymore.
If that was not worse Ian was on the verge of wanting to self-evict after he was exposed, but also suffering from high rates of anxiety so much to the point that he couldn’t even compete in the POV competition where he was chosen. This is NOT the BB All-Stars I expected, I mean BB7 was fun, exciting, full of strategy, gameplay and not focused on personal attacks. So yes, Old School BB is way better than New School BB. I can seriously say it now, I don’t think we will EVER see another “All-Stars” edition of BB again after this fiasco of a season up to this point. Could it change?
Maybe, but if the core alliance steamrolls and the subtle race concerns behind the scenes continue, its proof BB needs to revamp things for its 23rd season if it’s even granted one at this point. I was recently listening to a podcast where I agreed completely with the person, “Is this the end of Big Brother?” It feels like it because the show isn’t that fun to watch, it hasn’t been for some time and its not because my favorites are in jeopardy, but we keep seeing the same issues each season, which raises the question: WHY HAVEN’T THE PRODUCERS MADE AN ATTEMPT TO CHANGE THINGS? The game is broken, they may not want to hear it, but it is, change needs to happen and it needs to happen now.
