Big Brother 11: A Closer Look at Russell and Ronnie

Ah, finally ... I'm down to the last two hamsters! You can find all of my "closer look" posts as well as a cast cheat sheet by clicking on the "BB11 cast" tag on the bottom of the post.

Well, Russell ... what can I say? His last name is kind of fun. According to his CBS bio, his friends call him "Russell the love muscle." Um, I'm already getting the idea that Russell and I don't run in the same social circles. Oh, how I'd love to see him fall flat and be the first one out of the house after I read this on the bio -- "Loud and brash, Russell holds nothing back and is always ready for a fight. In fact, his brash personality is probably his biggest asset outside the house, where he is a mixed martial arts fighter. He claims nothing scares him and that includes the game of BIG BROTHER."

On second thought, he might be interesting to watch. Let me amend my previous thoughts. I'd like to see Natalie (the girl martial arts champ) whip his butt while Michele (the neuroscientist) humiliates his probably weak "brain muscle."

Diane Henry's non-embeddable video interview with Russell is at this link. The Reality Wanted interview is below. He apparently does have a strategy. I don't care. His neck is as big as some folks' waists. He scares me. Plus he's wearing a Dustin-esque v-neck.





It's onto Ronnie ... kind of a polar opposite of Russell. I think my biases are showing as I look at this cast. I'm definitely gravitating more towards the non-physical bunch although I think Natalie is going to be a strong contender in the game. But I LIKE the non-physical bunch better. I think Ronnie might have a strong game going.

According to his CBS bio, Ronnie is a gamer, debate champion, and a huge BB fan. All in all, the bio doesn't give us a ton of information about him. Diane Henry's interview tells us more.

Big Brother 11: A Closer Look at Natalie and Michele

BULLETIN: According to various sources, the HG entered the house last night and had their first HOH comp. The mystery hamster is supposed to be a male from Season 10 who will create drama in the house. Most of the guesses are Brian. I personally (with no insider information) fear it might be Jesse. He was the drama that season!

Continuing on with my slightly more in-depth looks at the new hamsters --

She's tiny; she's feisty. Not only is she a martial arts champion, according to her CBS bio, she's a poker player. Let's see ... tough, strategic game ... she better not be a Wahmber!

Diane Henry (season um ... five? - Drew's buddy) now covers reality television for the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles and interviewed Natalie. It's not embeddable or you know I'd embed it. I'm an embedder. It's better than being an enabler, right?

Poking about the web, we have a similar case to Jeff Schroeder Hamster isn't Jeff Schroeder Smashing Pumpkin. Natalie is NOT the actress who comes up immediately upon Googling her name.




Onto Michele! I know I have someone else in the blog pool, but I'm going to be cheering the local gal on. No, I don't live in CA and haven't since I was six years old. She's born and raised in Iselin (NJ), about a town and a half away from me. Okay, maybe six miles. And she's a neuroscientist. I so want her to do well.

According to her CBS bio, she's one of the three married hamsters. Casey and Ronnie are the other two. Her strategy is to be a bit under the radar, but consistent with winning comps without dominating them. Her interview with Diane Henry is interesting -- she answered a Craiglist ad looking for people with interesting jobs to audition for a reality show. She's a fan of the show. Alas, she thinks she's like a female Eric (BB9) and says she's doofy like him.

Big Brother 11: A Closer Look at Lydia, Laura, and Kevin

Continuing on with my slightly more in-depth pre-season takes on the Big Brother 11 hamsters, I give you Lydia, Laura, and Kevin. You can find all of my cast related posts by using the BB11cast tag at the bottom of this post. By the way ... have you noticed that CBS has dropped the season number from the website and show references? They're listing it as plain old Big Brother. What's up with that?


Ah, tattooed gal Lydia. In the initial Early Show cast introduction, she's the one who touted her bisexuality. She's attractive, but sports more tattoos than a Hell's Angel member. Looking at her CBS bio, she seems to be a rather excitable girl -- one who will definitely speak her mind. She appears to be a contrast of contradictions -- daughter of a cop, close to family, yet "eccentric" and heavily tattooed. I think she'll probably be interesting to watch. I hope she doesn't have obscene or offensive tattoos like James in season nine. We'd have to see a heck of a lot of Band-Aids.

Insider.com has taken over some of the dearth with the loss of Housecalls. He strays way off topic of the show and I find him annoying, but Ross Mathews has this interview with the women of the BB11 house online --



Diane Henry has a non-embeddable video interview with Lydia online. Now, there's a good video! I actually like Lydia ... I think. Hmmm ... she cries about spiders. I guess she shouldn't go into the backyard at night, eh?

Laura is a bikini model. I'm seriously going to have to overcome my bias against folks who are bikini models. After all, it could just be jealousy, right? They can't all be shallow obnoxious folks, can they? According to Reality Wanted, she's a huge fan of the show with her favorite season being BB8 and her favorite players being Evel Dick and Daniele (although she would have offed 'em early had she been on the show).

According to her bio on the CBS website, she's going to "live in her bikini." Oh joy. Just what I wanted to watch 24 hours a day -- a flashing tramp stamp. Sure, the guys will like it, but ...! I just don't share her values, I guess. Bikinis and suntans aren't my way of life. But she just might have some gameplay.


Then there's Kevin, the out gay guy representative of the season. In his CBS bio,"He describes himself as ghetto, fabulous and inappropriate, and warns his fellow Houseguests that, although he doesn't have a temper, he can get bitchy. He knows how to find the slightest flaw in a person and magnify it for all to see." In other interviews, he says he doesn't want to implode like many of the past gay men in the house.

He's estranged from his family and I just keep getting the drama queen vibe from him. I hope I'm wrong. He does know the show. Does he have a chance?

Big Brother 11: A Closer Look at Jordan, Jeff, and Chima

Continuing my slightly in-depth pre-season scuttlebutt on the Big Brother 11 houseguests ...

Hmm ... Jordan Lloyd, according to her CBS website bio, is a naive small town kind of gal. Although pretty, she says she won't be having sex in the house because her "grandpa will be watching." It's too bad a few others didn't realize that in the past. Nothing says "easy" more than being a showmance gone wild on live feed cameras.

I'm not finding much on Jordan. She's young, lives at home, and is a waitress. In the non-embeddable CBS video of the hamsters, she's the one who tells us she got her boobs done three weeks ago. Um. Perhaps she plans to use them as flotation devices in the hot tub. I don't think her grandpa needed to know about the boob job, do you?



Like Jordan, Jeff is kind of a mystery hamster -- there's not all that much about him on the Internet. When I searched for his name, most of the results pointed out a Smashing Pumpkins band member with the same name. Unless he's really cleverly disguised, that ain't him.

In his CBS bio, he sounds like a decent and normal kind of guy. I'm not sure how well that will all work out for him in the house or for entertainment value on the live feeds. He might end up being a bit boring. Why would a possibly normal person want to go on the show? Now, that's the real mystery!

I found an interview with him online --




Then there's Chima. She's probably the best-known hamster in the house. She's a journalist for Hollyscoop.com, does various BET red carpet events, and more.



How is she going to do in the house? Maybe since she's into hip-hop, she could get together with DJ Mingle Mixx and start some new house traditions.

Big Brother 11 - A Closer Look at Casey and Braden

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The Big Brother 11 Cast Cheat Sheet

I'll be taking a closer look at the hamsters in posts down the line. However, I edited these images with their names, current location (well, real current location is either sequester or in the house!), ages, and occupations. I figure I can look back at this entry in the beginning when I can't keep track who is who. Or, is that who is whom? Only three are married -- Ronnie, Michele, and Casey.

Big Brother 11 Cast on The Early Show Video

I'll be posting more later, but here's the video of the cast reveal on today's The Early Show --