'Big Brother 7: All Stars' - Live Feeds Brief - Overnight Into Monday 9/11

Not a heck of a lot went on last night in the Big Brother house.

Here's the skinny:

• Mike and Erika both napped a bit, not together.
• They got a Scrabble game from Big Brother.
• Mike Boogie made tuna melts and then they played Scrabble. Woohoo.
• Erika is bored. So are we, so are we.
• Erika cried and said something about telling the Diary Room she was suicidal - she really wants out of the house.
• BB gave them a movie to watch set up in the HOH room, so all went to flame/clouds as the feeds were blocked.

'Survivor 13: Cook Islands' - A Look at the Tribes - Part 4

Ah, the last of the four tribes which will hopefully be mixed within a few weeks of the show. While it's good to have a more diverse cast (at last) on the show, I'd rather see folks from varying walks of life work together rather than segregated groups. We'll see what happens soon!

My previous posts in this series are:
Looking at the Tribes: Part One - Looking at the Tribes: Part Two - Looking at the Tribes: Part Three. Each entry explores a tribe within the show with the first part being a bit of an introduction to the season.

This is the last tribe I have to cover (no particular order went into how I listed the tribes - I hit a graphic I made stored away and it was the luck of the draw).

I now present the Hispanic-American (Latino-American would work, too) Tribe:


Ozzy Osbourne, he's certainly not! Ozzy was born in Mexico and has lived in both Central America and seven different U.S. states. He's currently a waiter and previously was a restaurant manager. Balance sports seem to be his thing - surfing, sailboarding, skateboarding, wakeboarding, gymnastics and motorcycle riding. He also has several skills which may come in handy on Survivor - spearfishing, diving to thirty feet, ability to hold his breath underwater for three minutes, camping and outdoors skills. Dang, he looks like a kid, but I think he's going to be very strong in physical challenges. He's single, lives in CA but owns land in Panama, and lives with his German Shepard mix, Buddha... who's also his surfing partner.

Oh, I think I have Ozzy fever!

Cristina is actually a Californian from California! That's unusual! She was born and raised in Santa Monica and grew up in a family of police officers. Her father was shot and killed in an unsolved murder when she was only 12. By the age of 14, she was already making strides to become a police officer herself. She's a police officer in her own city and has done police work for 14 years. She has also done some police-related consultant work for television and received a makeover on Red Carpet Confidential (E!). Cristina was shot in the line of duty on July 4, 2000 and suffered what was likely to be career-ending damage to her left arm. Through dedication and perserverance, she built the arm back and beat all odds.

No mention of a family for Cristina, although the CBS site has a really extensive bio on her. Another strong woman. Castaway men beware.


JP, eh? I always wonder about those "initials" people. Or not. Another native Californian. I was beginning to think all Californians came from New York while writing up the other tribes. JP was born in Santa Monica and grew up in Marina del Rey. He's a professional volleyball player and went to California State University (Lon Beach) on a full volleyball scholarship. He's coached Junior Olympic teams and is the co-director of the all-girl Mizuno Long Beach Volleyball Club. I'd say he's a volleyball buff, but is he a sole Survivor?

He could be... he's an avid swimmer and outrigger canoer (canoeist?), loves hiking and running. He occasionally models. He's seen some rough times - his mother passed away when he was 9 and his father recently passed. Both died of cancer and he's involved with cancer-related charities. He lives with his dog Frankie, a Jack Russell Terrier. Move over Ozzy... JP fever may take over!

Cecilia is a Californian from Peru. Well, at least that's different from all the New York Californians. She moved to CA at 15 and learned English at 16. She's a smart one - she secured scholarships at all colleges to which she applied. She chose the University of California, Davis, for her bachelors. She's working as a technology risk consultant, and previously worked as a management consultant. She enjoys photography and says her heroes are her parents who gave up a comfortable life in Peru to make a better life for their children.

I'm not seeing much at all in her CBS bio involving any kind of sports or athletic endeavors on her part.

Hmmm... she seems very smart, but will she have the grit and determination? I don't know.

Oh! A New Yorker residing in New York! Wonders shall never cease. Billy was born in New York, moved to Miami when he was seven, then packed up to move back to NY at the age of 22. He studied karate, judo and wrestling when he was young, but then turned his interest to music. He's currently a heavy metal band guitarist and songwriter (Forsakken), but at one time in 1997, he won a silver medal for amateur wrestling.

From the bio, he seems to be single. I'm not sure how wrestling and judo will translate to Survivor challenges. I want to like Billy. He looks like he might be interesting to watch. But I bet Vegas isn't betting on him for the big win.

'Big Brother 7: All Stars' - Live Feeds Update - Sunday 9/10

Too much time on their hands. What to do? What to do? Well, sleep and brag about what great game players you are! Naturally!

Here are today's events and non-events from the Big Brother House of When Bad Houseguests Go Even Worse:

• Erika slept until nearly 2 PM their time, Mike until 2 PM. Keep in mind, that becomes almost early evening in my time zone. Sheesh.
• They really want to get out of the house. Good. I really want them out of there, too.
• It dawned on Erika that Will's question of her regarding nicknames for him was meant to be answered with "Dr. Delicious."
• Erika thinks the jury members are a bunch of hypocrites.
• Mike thinks Janelle and James both hate Erika.
• Mike thinks he'll win either 6-1 or 5-2. [Editor's note: He might be right.]
• They both think they would have been perfect jury members. [Editor's note: Hey, they also think they're perfect game players.]
• Erika thinks the "others" don't qualify as "all stars." [@@]
• Erika gloated about winning over Janelle.
• Mike Boogie and Erika talked about the Legion of Doom. Erika thinks that was the stupidest name ever for an alliance.
• Mike mentioned today that George asked him if he was going to get engaged on the finale again this time. Heh.
• All of the sequestered houseguests are staying in a local hotel which Mike Boogie was stupid enough to mention to the Internet. [@@]
• Erika is fussing that she wants it all over with.
• So do I.

'Survivor 13: Cook Islands' - A Look at the Tribes - Part 3

Yes, the time is almost here! On Thursday, 8 PM ET/PT in most viewing areas, it's the premiere of the new Survivor season. I'm slowly getting to talking about all 20 castaways and, since they decided to break the tribes down by race or ethnicity... or even culture, as some say... it makes it easier for me to split the introductions, as well. Twenty is many too many to introduce in a single blog entry. And, I fear, too many for me to ever remember!

I made some initial series thoughts and introduced the Asian-American tribe members here --> Looking at the Tribes: Part One. Then I introduced the Caucasian-American tribe here --> Looking at the Tribes: Part Two. When I've written the last of the tribes, I'll make sure to link them all together in each entry so the information is easily connected.

In this entry, I'll be exploring the African-American tribe.


Nathan, though listed as from Los Angeles, was born in Staten Island (NYC borough) and attended school in San Diego. Interesting... he started studying violin at the age of 8. He's into hip-hop and aspires to be a professional musician. Currently, he's a shoe salesman with a national retailer as well as working for a NYC-based urban clothing line.

He likes basketball, sushi and Chinese food and resides in Playa del Rey, CA. I can't help but note that this aspiring musician shares a birthday with Mick Jagger. (I only remember because it was my own mother's birthday.) Hmmm... two of the three things he loves are foods. No mention of any sports background, per se.

I hope he's entertaining, but I don't know about his chances as the sole Survivor.

Now, here's a castaway with show-business ties... and even a previous Survivor tie-in! Rebecca has been a professional make-up artist for 15 years and is most recognized for her work on The View. Yep! She's still employed by them and does the make-up for previous Survivor castaway, Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Y'know, reading her bio, she so sounds like someone I'd honestly really like as a person. She collects music and works to rescue stray cats. She enjoys dancing and tennis and loves her family. She's single with two cats, Blinky and Pooky.

What are her chances on the show? I don't know. She sounds like too nice a person to be in what can be a cut-throat environment.

Sekou is yet another Californian born and raised in New York. He's currently a jazz musician and recording artist, but has always been creative. At the age of seven, one of his paintings was displayed at the NY Museum of Art. He also started dancing young and was one of the original breakdancers coming out of the Bronx. He's recorded with and played with too many artists for me to list here, but they run the gamut from Michael Jackson to Paul Anka to Ice Cube and beyond. He has also performed on musical scores for many movies.

While it's obvious that Sekou really thrives with creativity, he's no athletic slouch. He enjoys basketball, raquetball and lifting weights. He has three children, one step-daughter, a fiancee and is a grandfather of two. Whoops... you can change his age to 46. As I post this, his birthday was yesterday.

How will he do? While age sometimes is a detractor, I have to think of folks like Tom Westman. If Sekou is indeed in as good shape as he seems to be, he looks like a very strong competitor.


What? Another Stephannie? Well, this one has Flavor! (I couldn't resist.) We could very well have, albeit with a different spelling, another tough woman Steph on our hands here. She's an Army veteran who served in the Desert Storm. She already has her business degree, but is studying nursing. She likes volleyball, dancing, singing and jogging. She really enjoys gospel music, in particular.

She's married to her high school sweetheart and they have two children and one dog.

I think we have another strong competitor here. A lot will depend on her personality, I'm sure. But I want to see how this Stephannie plays the game, don't you?


Rounding out the tribe is Sundra, another Californian born and raised in NYC (Queens, this time). She's an actress currently paying the bills as a cocktail waitress. (Now, this is more of the background we're used to on reality shows!) She likes dancing, traveling, kung fu and capoeira (huh?). She enjoys snuggling with her young son and watching movies. Her sports are running and boxing. She seems to be single, lives with her son and her beta fish, appropriately named Beta.

I don't know.

She's pretty. She's an aspiring actress. Can she be a strong competitor?

Well, she might out-do Nathan, but I think that on her own team, she could be the possibly the weakest candidate for the win. Maybe she'll surprise me... who knows?

'Big Brother 7: All Stars' - Live Feeds Report - Saturday 9/09 Overnight Into Sunday

Suppose they gave a television show finale and no one came?

The Internet sentiment regarding the finale is the lowest, most negative I've seen over the years of the show. Even last year's unpopular final two were more popular than this season's "All Stars."

Here are the events of yesterday and the overnight hours from that Big Brother House of Diasappointment:

• The daytime itself was lacking much noteworthy - they burned a pot of something on the stove, Erika talked to herself how she took out the brains of Chill Town, Mike napped, they smooched a bit.
• Mike said the Diary Room asked him if Will and Kaysar had a deal where Will would be evil and Kaysar good. He said that was crazy.
• There. Now you know the daytime hours happenings. It was the evening that became a bit intriguing.
• We could hear the voices, but the feeds themselves were showing Erika sitting alone at a table. The jury was in the house, or outside the house. They had microphones, anyway.
• Howie aparently had gas, Marcellas claimed he wouldn't miss that at all. George giggled. Danielle said she didn't want to go first.
• Will's voice told everyone to "stress down" and make it look as if they were angry.
• George said something about James' expressions never change.
• Howie wanted to urinate in the bushes, but was told to wait - they'd let them inside soon.
• The feeds were then blocked for more than a few hours as the jury questioned the final two.
• Mike thought they would have a more clear idea about how the jury vote would go after the Q&A period, but he's not sure. He said that one of the "fencesitters" was Janelle and she "went the other way." Erika said she never really thought she "had Janelle." [Editor's note: Hmmm... Janelle will vote for Erika?]
• James asked Erika something along the lines of: "Why should I vote for you if you deplored Alison's hooking up and flirting, yet you did it?"
• They think the vote will come down to Chicken George.
• Mike thinks the jury are all hypocrites. He said Danielle had no right to question him like she did. He lied to everyone but George and Will. He didn't lie to George because he didn't need to. Danielle asked Erika about "ass-kissing" and throwing comps.
• They said the only juror who "went off" was Janelle. Erika thinks she's jealous. Mike said, "Yeah, because she lost two years in a row." They proceeded to trashtalk Janelle and, to me, it sounds like they might be the ones who are jealous.
• Mike said Howie is a shallow person. [Editor's note: Pot. Kettle. Black.]
• Mike thinks that Howie will vote for Erika while Erika is worried that Howie will be influeneced by Janelle. I'm so confused
• They both think the vote will be very close - a 4-3 which could go either way.
• Big Brother gave them wine.
• Erika thinks that Danielle will vote for her.
• They complained more about Janelle being a "crazy _____."
• Mike told Erika that Janelle is jealous because she (Erika) is the "pretty girl" sitting in the final two. [Editor's note: Gag.]
• Mike told Erika that the jury sounded more hostile to her than to him. She said she noticed, but didn't know why - she was always the "nice girl." [Editor's note: Gag.]
• Mike thinks Will is working on the jury, but doesn't know if he'll be able to influence some of the jurors.
• They each took responsibility for Howie's eviction.
• Apparently they could only hear the jury, couldn't see them.
• They talked about the various alliances in the house - LOD, the Perfect Storm, etc.
• Erika told Mike that she knew he threw the face-morph comp when his time came in so high.
• Mike asked Erika if she was lying to Janelle when she told her she'd take her to the final two. She said no - she would have beat her in the vote (she thinks). If she hadn't let go of the key, Erika was going to throw the comp to her.
• Erika is sure that Janelle would have taken her to the final two over Mike.
• Mike thinks that if Janelle were in the final two, Will would vote for her.
• Erika thinks the whole jury is jealous of them and bitter about not being in the final two.
• They trashtalked Janelle once again. Still. Whatever.
• Alone, Mike asked the camera if he should drop Operation Double Date tonight or save it for the time being. The camera didn't answer.
• Erika told Mike she protected him the entire game. [Editor's note: @@ Eyeroll, please!]
• Erika went on again about how she singlehandedly "took out the brain of Chill Town."
• Mike found that insulting, as he should. [Editor's note: Yes, Will was the brain, but to tell Mike that to his face is a bit mean.]
• They got into a snit. Heehee! Slammed doors, grumbling at/about each other.
• They slept apart. Well, Erika mostly was awake.

There you go. There's trouble in paradise and... you reap what you sow.