Thursday, July 01, 2021

BB23: Meet the Cast - Part 2 of 2

 If you missed the first part of my cast photos/info, you can find it right at this link here. Without further ado, I present the remaining eight hamsters --

Derek Xiao

Say what? Another Derek? Two spelled the same way and not like previous BB winner Derrick? This Derek is 24. His hometown is Baltimore, MD and he's currently living in NYC. He's a start-up founder. Azah in my Part 1 is also from Baltimore, but six years older. Again, like Philadelphia, a big city and they probably do not know each other. He sounds kind of interesting. He started a company that ships meal kits from food influencers, rented and crashed a citi-bike to compete in a triathlon in college, took hip-hop dance lessons and was 1 of 2 Asian kids in his high school graduating class. Sounds all kinds of new wavy, right? 


Hannah Chaddha

Hannah is a very young'un -- nope, no diversity in ages, for sure. She's 21. She's from Chicago, IL and still lives there. She's a graduate student. Oh ... she's a competitive hip-hop dancer! She can give Derek X lessons! She says (without going on and on about it, Britini) that she graduated university at 19. The way that's phrased sounds like not in the US. Her parents are from South Africa and India, so possibly abroad. She can hold her breath for 90 seconds and used to be a personal stylist. It sounds like she might be good at both mental and physical comps.


Kyland Young


Ohh ... one of the older ones. Kyland is 29 but will turn 30 on the 13th. He's an account executive (?) originally from San Bernardino now living in Venice Beach, both CA. He's read all the Twilight books (so impressive), has four sisters, has seen every Best Picture Oscar film for the last 20 years (again, achievement!), sneaks into Comic Con with a fake police badge in costume because it can be done, went to sky-diving school, thinks he's a Jedi (no, he's NOT Howie of BB6!), works for an app company that helps students find finances for their schooling. Well, he might be one of the "older" hamsters but most mature? Probably not!


Sarah Steagall


Sarah is 27, will be 28 on August 9. She's originally from Boiling Springs, SC and currently resides in Ft. Myers, Fl. She's a forensic scientist. Born with a speech impediment, she couldn't communicate clearly until she was seven. Although a chemist, she's a horrible cook and cannot follow a recipe. She has moth/butterfly phobia. She's into cosplay and apparently is very creative with styling, props and sewing. I'm not seeing anything physical listed. She may or may not be good at comps. I hope she realizes that she will need to clean since she can't cook and, if you do nothing around the house, you become very expendable.


Tiffany Mitchell

Here's the "old" hamster! Yes, indeed. She's, get this, 40. She will be 41 on August 5. I hope she packed her Geritol. She's a phlebotomist from Detroit MI and still in Detroit. She loves cats, especially her own two cats. That's really how it should be. She's obsessed with horoscopes, does voice impersonations of friends and family and her favorite color is Tiffany Blue. Hmm. I like blue and I like cats. But none of this gives me any kind of hint how she will do in the house.


Travis Long

Travis is 22, originally from Austin TX now living in Honolulu HA. He's a tech sales consultant (and I bet surfer). He's an author who has published books available on Amazon. I'll have to check him out. He's almost fluent in Spanish due to soccer and growing up in Costa Rica. He says he's started up many businesses since high school and has been sued by "massive titans of industry." Hmm. Sketchy stuff? He's into pranks and spearing fish for dinner multiple times per week. Oh, gee, sounds like quite the free spirit, doesn't he?


Whitney Williams

Whitney is 30, a make-up artist hailing from Portland OR and still residing there. Now, we will be having a blog pool but we need to band together for her success this season. She's a friend of one of our original blog community people! For all I know, she might have even been a regular reader here. If the person who knows her speaks up, fine. Otherwise, we just all root for her! She was named after Whitney Houston, but cannot sing. Her company won a Best in Oregon award only three years after she started it. She can wiggle her nose like a bunny. Now, if she were older she would say like Samantha! She developed her own Tillamook ice cream flavor -- white chocolate raspberry -- and it's available in stores that carry that brand. Remember ... blog wide cheering but you will still be assigned a random hamster if you join the pool.


Xavier Prather

Xavier is 27, an attorney originally from Kalamazoo MI now residing in Milwaukee WI. Oh my gosh. He has ten siblings. His poor parents! He was born with a severe clubfoot and learned to walk in a cast. He did a cross-cultural study in Scotland and England. That sounds great! I think I'm jealous! He does not like coffee. He gives us nothing on physical stuff but in the photo looks very fit. He also must be smart to have made it through law school and pass the bar. Plus he's attractive. He can stay around ... unless he's obnoxious, that is.

BB23: Meet the Cast - Part 1 of 2 UPDATED

 Now we can get a bit excited. BB23 cast information and photos were revealed today. It's really coming! Since there are 16 of them, I'm breaking it into two parts and it's still lengthy. You might want to go get a tasty beverage and settle in! Part Two will be up in a few hours.


Alyssa Lopez
  
Alyssa is 24, will be 25 on July 17. She's from and still resides in Sarasota, FL. She's a swimwear designer who has plans to release a swimwear line. She might do well in physical comps -- she did gymnastics for ten years. Her Bachelor's degree is in Broadcast Production and she has her drone aircraft license -- neither of which will probably help her in the hamster house.

Azah Awasum

Azah is from and currently residing in Baltimore, MD. She's 30. She's a Director of Sales Operations, company not mentioned. Her name means "able to make friends." We'll be the judge of that! Oh my -- her grandfather was a polygamist with six wives and 47 children. Yikes! She attended a Messianic Jewish primary school and loved to travel before COVID. Don't think any of that will help her this summer. I do love the old school 'fro!


Brandon "Frenchie" French

Frenchie-Brandon is 34, originally from Camden, TN and currently residing in Clarksville, TN. He's a farmer with a two-time grand national champion bull. He was very athletic at 13, winning a national NFL punt, kick and pass competition. He's prior military. The only thing he's scared of is his rooster! (I understand!) But, what's most interesting in this increased diversity cast -- he's a proud card-carrying member of the NAACP. Hmm. He just might be a contender. It will depend on personality and threat level.


Brent Champagne

Brent is a flight attendant, age 28. He's from and still resides in Cranston, RI. He's a former D1AA Collegiate Athlete although I'm not quite sure what that is. He's also formerly the Yolanda Vega of Rhode Island! Er, sorry, she's the New York one. I mean to say that he formerly was the Live Lottery Television host for Rhode Island. He won his first car, a 2008 Honda Civic in a video making contest. He has his own fishing website. I'm not sure how much any of that will help him win, maybe the athletics.


Britini D'Angelo

Britini, who I rhyme in my head with bikini so I spell it right, is a kindergarten teacher raised in Niagara Falls, NY and still there. She's 24 and apparently very smart. She won both the Niagara Medal (voted on by the members of the senior class as the individual who represents Niagara University the best) and the Senior Medal (Valedictorian – Perfect 4.0 GPA across 2 Degrees) at Niagara University. Oh my, the first to win both in 162 years. She has her Master's and all kinds of certificates, as well as a black belt and she dances and and and ... Dang, I hope she doesn't talk as much as she writes about her accomplishments. She just went on and on about how smart and great she is. Hmm


Christian Birkenberger

Christian is 23 and currently residing in Harwinton, CT. I don't know where he's originally from. Maybe raised by wolves with that hairstyle. He's a general contractor assistant. He can ride a unicycle, his pupils are two different sizes, he likes chicken and waffles, he has had only one girlfriend and he can do multiple flips. I already like him better than I do Britini. 


Christie Valdiserri

Christie is 27, originally from Philadelphia, PA, currently living in North Hollywood, CA. She's a professional dancer. She's been a vegan for 3.5 years and a pescatarian for ten. Instead of bragging that she was graduated from Penn State early she gave a "lol" when mentioning it. Hear that, Britini? When she was 15 she started a dance company called Diva Dance in her parents' basement. She has11 piercings, five done by herself. I think I might like her.

REPLACING CHRISTIE ...

Claire Rehfuss


Claire Rehfuss is 25. an AI (Artificial Intelligence, I assume) Engineer living in NYC but originally hailing from Chagrin Falls, Ohio. We now have our definitely alpha-WOMAN in the house. She's an ubersuperfan with an online presence, her own popular Survivor online game, creates crosswords and might just be the first one to make a women's alliance actually work. She "wants to target the alpha males and team up with her fellow “black widows” to clear a path to finale night." 

In the article I read at the Big Brother Network, she shows extensive BB knowledge even dating as far back as BB2. Why the heck didn't she make first cut? Sheesh! 


Derek Frazier

Oh, cool. Derek is "Smokin" Joe Frazier's (the boxer) son. He's 29 from Philadelphia and still living there. He's a safety officer. Now, Christie above is also from Philly and only two years younger. Do they know each other? Probably not. Philly is a big city with many schools. Scratch the thought of high school -- he went to a military boarding school. We'll find out. He can fall asleep sitting up or standing. Hey, my cat can do that! He must be quite strong as he goes on about bench presses and such. That isn't always a plus in the comps in BB. He LOOKS like a safety officer, doesn't he?

Part 2 with the remaining hamsters can be found here at this link.


Wednesday, June 30, 2021

BB23: No Cast Information Release Today

 ... now they are saying tomorrow. CBS put up a tweet saying so. 

So it must be true.

Remember last season ...

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

BB23: Some More Information ...

 


Oh, we're getting close now. A week from tomorrow is the live Big Brother 23 season premiere! The cast reveal is set for tomorrow. Yes, of course I will be posting on that! Unfortunately (at least, in my opinion), Allison Grodner is still the executive producer. While CBS is pretty much demanding diversity in the form of around 50% people of color on reality shows, there is nothing said about age diversity -- something this show is woefully lacking. With her at the helm, I expect more hamsters will look great in bikinis than not.

I found an interesting interview with Grodner at this link. Here are some tidbits gleaned from it:
  • The theme for the season is actually BB Beach Club. It's to be set up like a Vegas boutique hotel. Yeah, you know all those beaches in Vegas, right?
  • Apparently gambling of some sort or other will be a thing this season. Hmm. That's not really my favorite thing.
  • No, absolutely none, returning players! She said a few superfans, some fans and some who don't really know the show at all.
  • In the live 90-minute season premiere, the hamsters will be split into teams, vying for team captain AND there will be an HoH comp.
  • The team captains supposedly get a "snapshot" of the hamsters and decide who they want on their team. I'm not sure if they have to split it male/female, but I hope so. We don't need a pure alpha-male team of four!
  • Yes, I said teams. There will be four teams of four (16 hamsters this season). At least that should reduce house votes! Grodner also points out that it will cut down the large alliances ruling the game. True dat.
  • An excerpt from Allison Grodner in the linked article: This season, our theme is full of risk-versus-reward dilemmas. We're dialing up the risk, hoping and anticipating the houseguests are faced with decisions they've never really had to make in the Big Brother house before.  -- Okaaayy ...
  • Julie Chen-Moonves will be making a "double or nothing offer" that cannot be refused (but surely will be by most) at the end of the live episode. I'm thinking it might be a bribe to quit. We don't expect an eviction the first night.
  • Hmm ...

Monday, June 21, 2021

Long Time, No Blog -- BB23 Starts Soon!

 


So ... how have you been?

Before we get really into things BB23 -- I received notification that Feedburner will be eliminating email notifications to anyone subscribed in July. Oh noes! Offhand I don't really know of another service. I will have to research that. What I can suggest is using my social media notifications on either Facebook or Twitter. I always link my posts to those platforms as soon as they're published. Here's the info -- My Twitter and my Facebook Big Brother Page. (Click on the links.) You can always sign up for my personal FB page but I only post show night links there, not the live feeds and other links.

What's the latest news about the show?!?!

Unfortunately, the latest news is that there isn't much news. Hmm ... let's see ...

  • Julie Chen-Moonves will be hosting as she has done every season.
  • No house images have been released yet.
  • CBS has new criteria for diversity on their reality shows. But I bet we still won't see a lot of diversity in ages! (Grr.)
  • According to various sources, the casting has been finished and the new hamsters and alternates have started their pre-season sequesters which include a two-week quarantine due to Covid precautions and a third week of regular sequester. They will once again be tested for Covid prior to entering the house.
  • The season premiere is set for Wednesday, July 7 at 8pm ET/PT and will be 90 minutes.
  • The regular weekly shows are to be an hour and are scheduled for: Sunday, Wednesday, Thursdays all at 8pm ET/PT, followed by Love Island (gag).
  • CBS All Access has changed to Paramount Plus. Same feeds venue, different name.
  • RUMORS: All new cast, theme for the show and the house is BB Rebirth or New Beginnings. No one goes home the first night and an HOH will occur in the premier. These rumors I can't really verify other than they're coming from a fairly often reliable spoilers source.
More news as I get the news ...