Big Brother 11: The Gay Connection
It only took a day (maybe even a few hours) but several reality TV blogs and websites have already heard rumors and uncovered some interesting bits of information and about this upcoming season beyond what CBS revealed at its website and on The Early Show. We've already learned what this year's "theme " is, that the house wil be "green" and that one of the houseguests is gay, but we've also found out that another has a gay connection too.
First, the theme and the rumors. This year Big Brother has cast its players according to high school clique stereotypes---the good-looking popular types, the brains, the athletes, and the offbeat types. There were rumors that the groups would be divided into "tribes" like Survivor and there would be two houses but both of these seem unlikely. However, these 12 WILL be divided into groups (not necessarily according to "clique" type) and competing for luxurity AND "Head of Household" as groups. Apparently a group that wins "Head of Household" cannot nominate for eviction anyone from that group---which IS like Survivor. However, contestants still vote on an individual basis and can evict a member of their own "tribe" if nominated--again as in Survivor.
This season of Big Brother also "borrows" from the Dutch version of the show with a "have & have not" competition which replaces the regular food competitions. Apparently there will be two groups competing although it's unknown whether they'll be picked at random or grouped by "clique". The losing group will have to endure what the show calls "the worst living conditions that we’ve probably had in Big Brother". This means the group will have to live in a cold, harsh room (a steel bed?), get no hot water, and be on food restrictions (apparently according to what the viewers decide). Sounds a little sadistic. We hope that these people aren't driven to lunacy.
There's also the matter of the 13th unrevealed houseguest. Many sites have speculated that a former contestant will be returning to compete and that this may be Sheila from the BB winter edition. Online sleuths have discovered her posts saying she'll be "away" for three months and her "MySpace" page has stopped being updated. That said, it's hard to figure out what her role would be here. Would she be a member of any of the cliques? A spy? We'll all find out next week.
As to the gay connection, Big Brother has almost always cast at least one contestant who was openly gay. In past seasons the gay contestant has never won although lesbian Ivette was in the final two in season 6. That said, often the producers have cast the openly gay male characters according to a bit of a stereotype--a little bitchy, sometimes flamboyant, dramatic, emotional---you get the picture. Kind of a dated way of thinking, eh? We guess that the producers don't want any gays that don't fit the preconceived ideas. Take this year's token gay. He's Kevin, the graphic designer who grew up as a closeted Jehovah's Witness and describes himself as a "blackanese" (African-American and Japanese) and as "ghetto, fabulous and inappropriate..." and that "although he doesn't have a temper, he can get bitchy".
There IS another gay connection here in this season of Big Brother and it involves a member of the "popular" clique, Braden. He's a Southerm Califirnia native, surfer, poet, model and actor who refers to himself as a "fashion icon" who designs his own jewelry. There's more in his official bio that may seem off-putting but we'll find out for ourselves when the show debuts. Here's where the blogs did their work well. His full name is Braden Bacha and he has a somewhat intriguing resume. In his early modeling days he's appeared at Bikini.com, a website featured girls & guys (including one of our faves Rusty Joiner) and is still featured on the site (as seen in the video below). He's also appeared in the gay-themed erotic horror flick The Brotherhood 2: Young Warlocks and in the here! series Dante's Cove. Of course, appearing in gay-themed films and series doesn't necessarily pinpoint his sexuality but his scenes in Dante's Cove did include full frontal nudity. There's no reason to expect Braden to bring this up or "come out" during this season although it would be an interesting development. If you recall, Crazy James from that winter season of Big Brother turned out to have a past as a bisexual performer on a gay website but it never came up on TV during the show's run. We'll just have to watch and see what happens.
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