Big Brother 19: Season Premiere Blog Party

Okay, hamster watchers! It's HERE -- the two-hour season premiere of Big Brother 19! As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be updating this entry with the major events. Refresh the page to get the latest! Tonight will be sort of a "the best I can" attempt as it takes me a bit to get the names down in the beginning of the season. The real party is in the comments area -- I hope to see you there!

The live feeds won't come on until 1am here on the East Coast after tomorrow's show and I have to get up early for work Friday. I'll try to have something for you, but I don't know what or how much right now! Once the feeds are constantly on, I' plan on posting two live feeds reports daily. That 1am tomorrow is a killer, though!

Here are the blog pool match-ups for easy reference tonight -- 

Alex Ow - jujufruit423, caela, Donna in FL, Nickelpeed
Cameron Heard - Indiana Jane, Jackie, Brian, Marlo L
Christmas Abbott - Willie J, Rich from Buffalo, Glenn, QuixoticElf
Cody Nickson - MikesGirl, Chacha, Donna in NY, Delee
Dominique Cooper - Ed in Ohio, Monty924, Delores in Hollywood (FL)
Elena Davies - Uncartie, Fred aka TwoBlackAces. Sharon N
Jason Dent - Donna in Alabama, Cheryl in NC, jo Chapman
Jessica Graf - zombiehospice, Jean in Tampa Bay, Merilee
Jillian Parker - Sasha, Janice from GA/FL, DFT, jessica UNderwood
Josh Martinez - Petals, Stormy, Kelsey in NY, Dr_Celine
Kevin Schlehuber - elee86, aya, SueGee on the Left Coast
Mark Jansen - Buzzmaam, Judi Sweeney, Cheryl C, Sharon S
Matthew Clines - JonMD1267, T-Town Chick, Sharon C
Megan Lowder -Jenn G, chrob61, Marthalight
Ramses Soto - tbc, Pupis, Babs, Tammy
Raven Walton - Kristen from Ohio, David, Nora

Just a reminder -- please keep the comments PG-rated, please don't attack other commenters, please keep the comments towards things the hamsters can control (not looks and such). Any hate speech will be removed -- we don't need that here!

Hamster watchers ready? 

Julie promises us the most tempting season of Big Brother and lets us know there will be three tempting offers -- 25 grand, fan favorite back in game, one might go home. Oy. I don't want a returning hamster!

Then we're into the key receiving introductions. I will not be posting play by play with that. Christmas starts off.We meet half of them first. Julie hints at temptations. Alex, Mark, Ramses and Elena enter first. Alex is liking it to a Garden of Eden already and thinks Mark is a hottie.

Jason, Dominque, Kevin and Christmas enter next.

Now we're meeting the second half of the hamsters.Matt, Raven, Jillian and Cameron move in next. Finally, Cody ... Jessica, Josh and Megan enter.

Once all gathered, it's introductions and champagne to start things off. Dominique lies and tells them she's a motivational speaker, not an engineer.

The editing is definitely pushing showmance potential stuff. 

Julie tells us that before the night is up, the hamsters will be tempted by money, safety and power ... but each will come with a consequence. 

Julie calls them all to the living room. She tells them of the summer's big twist. Says it's the biggest, wildest, most tempting of the game. It starts right now. She tells them they'll be tempted by money, safety and power. 

First temptation -- 
Head outside. BB's Garden of Temptation. They must each pick a (huge) pod. Who could use 25 grand? First person to push their button when a light in front of them turns green wins. The first twist of the summer will release. It will be anonymous. Kevin did it. The first twist has two consequences, one personal and the other for the entire house. Kevin can't win the first HoH. The second will be revealed in "due time." 

Oh, geez. A former houseguest "fan favorite" will be entering as the 17th houseguest. I DID NOT WANT A RETURNING HAMSTER! 

Lots of speculation over who did it. And, ack, it's Paul from BB18 (as per the rumors). Kevin has no clue who he is. @@

Julie calls them again to the living room. Paul is not moving in simply to play the game -- he's taking the place of one of the hamsters. One will be evicted tonight.

Second temptation -- Safety. If one wants to stay in the game, one must tempt Paul. Paul retrieves a box. Inside are nine friendship bracelets. He is to have one, hand out eight to others. Those eight will be safe. 

They all get a few moments with him. Very odd.

Julie calls them to the living room once again. Paul tells us he wants to keep a mix in the house. Paul saves Kevin first. Then Raven, Dominque, Mark, Jason, Jessica, Ramses and Elena.

Josh thinks by not being selected, Paul likes him. 

The eight without bracelets will go to the backyard to compete for safety. 

The comp is called Tempted by the Fruit. Three will remain on the chopping block at the end of the comp, one will be voted out. They have to stand on a trapeze. If they fall off, they must eat an apple. Four are "good" apples giving safety, four are "poison." The longer they stay on the trapeze, the more clues they get for finding the good apples. 

Jillian(?) falls first, takes an apple from a red snake (more likely to be good). Megan goes out next, picks an apple. Josh jumps and thinks he picked a good apple. He thinks he's smarter than all. Cameron is down, forgets the clues and just goes for an apple. Christmas deliberately goes down, picks an apple.  

Three houseguests left, two apples. Cody, Matt and Alex remain. Matt goes down. Alex is down. Cody wins safety! 

Poison apples: Christmas, Cameron, Jillian 

Julie reveals the final temptation of the night. Power. Will only offer it to the three on the block. They get to choose how they want their fate determined. They can have the house vote or they can fight for safety in an eviction comp. They vote for it.

Jillian -- Vote, doesn't think she can beat Christmas
Cameron -- Compete
Christmas -- Vote (to see where she stands)

Eviction vote wins, 2 to 1. They get some time to campaign for safety.

Paul can only vote in the event of a tie since he'll be taking the evicted's place.

They're not showing the votes! Wah!

Julie tells them the votes are in. Christmas, 2 votes, safe. 8-3, Cameron is evicted.

There goes my pool boy! He was too cocky, methinks.

By the way, the blog pool people who had Cameron will now have Paul. I can't win for losing, eh? 

Tomorrow night is the first HoH comp, Sunday is the Den of Temptation -- the Pendant of Protection, protects holder through the next three evictions. We get to vote. Of course, there will be a consequence. 

Ah, the guys are the ones who voted to evict the girls. The girls went after Cameron.

Big Brother 19: Blog Pool Match-Ups are IN! And ... Regarding the BB Blogging

The blog pool random match-ups are IN! As per our usual custom, the folks assigned the first hamster out will be re-assigned another one to cheer on! I feel that's only fair because we never get to cheer on that one, right?

Alex Ow - jujufruit423, caela, Donna in FL, Nickelpeed
Cameron Heard - Indiana Jane, Jackie, Brian, Marlo L
Christmas Abbott - Willie J, Rich from Buffalo, Glenn, QuixoticElf
Cody Nickson - MikesGirl, Chacha, Donna in NY, Delee
Dominique Cooper - Ed in Ohio, Monty924, Delores in Hollywood (FL)
Elena Davies - Uncartie, Fred aka TwoBlackAces. Sharon N
Jason Dent - Donna in Alabama, Cheryl in NC, jo Chapman
Jessica Graf - zombiehospice, Jean in Tampa Bay, Merilee
Jillian Parker - Sasha, Janice from GA/FL, DFT, jessica UNderwood
Josh Martinez - Petals, Stormy, Kelsey in NY, Dr_Celine
Kevin Schlehuber - elee86, aya, SueGee on the Left Coast
Mark Jansen - Buzzmaam, Judi Sweeney, Cheryl C, Sharon S
Matthew Clines - JonMD1267, T-Town Chick, Sharon C
Megan Lowder -Jenn G, chrob61, Marthalight
Ramses Soto - tbc, Pupis, Babs, Tammy
Raven Walton - Kristen from Ohio, David, Nora

Remember -- we have a two hour long season premiere tonight starting at 8pm ET! I'll be live-blogging the show and hosting the blog party for the duration. 

Unfortunately (for me), the live feeds won't come on until 1am here on the East Coast and I have to be up early for work in the morning. So, it's likely my first live feeds report in the morning will be slim pickings. But that will all improve as the days go on. I expect to post  live feed reports twice a day (occasionally more, rarely less), live blog all the episodes, hang in with them during endurance comps and hang out with you guys here. I do work a full time real life job, so I do not post 24/7 on every breath these hamsters take. There are other sites out there which do that! If you feel moved to do so, I do accept Paypal donations -- see the sidebar. 

Hamster watchers ready? 

Big Brother 19: Blog Pool OPENS!

Big Brother 19 starts Wednesday night, June 28, at 8pm ET/PT. This year, it's a two-hour premiere! The regular schedule will be Sunday and Wednesday at 8pm, Thursday at 9pm.
 
The time is right to jump into the blog pool!

I want in! What do I do?

If you want in to the blog pool, you need to sign up in the comments of this post and this post only! Please don't try signing up on any other posts -- we might miss your comment.

Is there money involved in this?

Of course not! You needn't pay anything to get into the pool. You don't need to buy a seasonal beach pass or anything! Mind you, you don't win any money either. What you do win is bragging rights until the next season and the smugness that goes with it.

How does it work?

We make random picks betwixt the hamsters and the blog folks. You cheer on that hamster all season until they either win or get evicted along the way.

When is the cut-off for entering?

All pool requests must be in comments to this here post and submitted by MIDNIGHT Tuesday, June 27. Be there or be square. 

REMINDER -- If you post comments anonymously, you MUST come up with some sort of sign-off name!

Are we ready for our summer fun?

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 25, 2017

Good morning! Welcome to my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way.

This photo post is a weekly feature on the blog year 'round, unlike the Big Brother which is just a season. Well, of course, last year BB was two seasons with BBOTT online, but ...! Big Brother 19 makes its season premiere with a two-hour show this coming Wednesday, June 28 at 8pm ET/PT. All of the posts I've made/will make regarding the show can be found on my BB19 blog label. I will be announcing the opening of the blog pool later today. I've been waiting for a response back from the person who usually does it. If she doesn't respond by afternoon, I guess I can come up with the random match-ups myself. 

Not much has been going on here -- more heat, more rain and work, work, work. This coming week, I only work four days (yay!) and then it's onto staycation. I really need it and timed it so it covers the 4th of July holiday week, plus the full first week of the BB19 live feeds to get me into the swing of the new faces and twist of the show.

I really didn't get great photos this past week. A lot of the days, it was either rainy or windy. Oh, well ... onto the photos I took this week -- clicking on an image will open a larger version in a gallery setting.

The Stalker

A male pigeon puffs himself all up and stalks female pigeons at the Plainfield Train Station. Kinda like human behavior ...

Burst of orange!

Day Lilies

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Big Brother 19: Julie Chen House Tour and Season's Theme Twist

This season has plenty of new twist to it. No, nothing that's been done before, no same old/same old. No returning players. No relatives.

It's going to be all about temptation. When I first heard the "Summer of Temptation," theme, I thought they were pushing showmances and cringed. But it's not that at all. 



Viewers will decide each week which hamsters they want to enter the special "Den of Temptation." In the den, the chosen will be tempted with all kinds of stuff which may end up altering the course of the game and/or affecting the rest of the hamsters. The temptations could include money, power and safety in the game. But they need to be wise ... each temptation comes with a consequence. It could come back to bite them in the butt!

Cool. Let's shake it up!