Andy DehnartChima’s tame exit on Tuesday’s Big Brother 11 was nothing–nothing!–compared to Lydia’s epic meltdown and delusion version of reality, so it’s fantastic that Chima left but Lydia is still in the house, at least where our entertainment is concerned. I’m worried about her mental health, though, because something’s just not right. While The Friendship flipped out in an entertaining way, starting with their alliance’s stupid name, they weren’t anywhere near as ridiculous as Natalie and Lydia, who essentially deny reality.
First, though, Chima was basically escorted from the Big Brother house after destroying her mic and refusing to follow rules. Although Chima says she quit, when Chima finally walked into the Diary Room after refusing to go, someone immediately told her, “Alright, no need to sit down. You’re gonna go out this way.” That certainly didn’t seem like she quit.
Earlier, Chima started by reacting calmly to her nomination, telling her friends, “I know you guys don’t want me to, but I’m going to go home. … I’m not giving them the satisfaction of voting me out of this house.” When the practice putting green for the POV competition was placed in the back yard, Chima went outside to practice, and the pre-recorded producer voice told her, “Chima, please put on your microphone.” Chima said, “I don’t give a shit,” and she flicked off the cameras as the request was repeated. Even her friends were encouraging her to stop acting like an ass, but that didn’t help.
Jordan introduced a little package of clips by saying Chima “acts like the rules don’t apply to her,” and we saw Chima refusing to go to the Diary Room on days six and 10, threatening the producers on Day 35 (“you’re going to have the FCC on your ass real quick and that’s a threat”), and obstructing cameras with blankets on day 40, although with her friends’ help.
In the backyard, Kevin fetched and gave the wireless mic to Chima, who hurled it into the jacuzzi. The producer’s voice said, “Chima, please exchange your microphone for one in the storage room,” but Chima said, “I’m not going anywhere.” When she finally put on the mic that someone got for her, she spoke into it, “you guys can suck a dick.”
Inside, she told Lydia, Natalie, and Kevin, “I’m just defeated. I don’t give a fuck anymore,” and when Lydia reminded her about leaving, Chima said, “There is an exit, isn’t there?” She was asked to go to the Diary Room again, and Chima said, “Fuck off. … I’m going to cause all kinds of havoc this week. I’m not coming to the Diary Room. … How about you guys come out here–let’s see some faces.”
Executive producer Allison Grodner then came over the PA–I can’t remember that ever happening in any other season, and let’s not forget someone once held a knife to a person’s throat and asked her if she’d mind being killed–and said, “Chima, it’s Allison. I hear what you’re saying. I need you to come to the Diary Room now.” And then she left.
Natalie, realizing that Chima was in trouble for destroying her mic, said, “It fell out of her hand,” repeating an earlier assertion. Kevin, thankfully, said, “They’re not fucking stupid. They have 10,000 video cameras.”
That’s what I don’t get: It’s not just lying in the game, it’s that Natalie and Lydia became convinced of an alternate version of reality that they participated in and witnessed, and knew was being witnessed by those 10,000 cameras. Lydia and Natalie must literally be going insane in the house, because there’s no rational explanation for their completely bizarre response to Chima’s actions. After Chima hurled her mic halfway across the backyard using an underhand throw, Natalie and Lydia fished it out of the jacuzzi, and Natalie said, “It fell out of her hand.” Lydia said, “yeah, fell.” They weren’t laughing or joking when they said it, either, and while they were perhaps just trying to protect their friend, who did they think they were fooling?
Their version of what happened with the mic pack was their most bizarre denial of reality, but it was just the start, and they really flipped out once they learned Chima had been expelled.
Allison Grodner said, “Can you please come in the living room, everyone?” and then told the cast, “I have an announcement to make. It was very clear Chima did not want to follow the rules of the game. Tonight she made the decision to willfully destroy her mic, one of the pieces of production equipment that you all are very much aware is a big violation. For this reason, and because of multiple rule violations, she needed to be expelled. We’ll make an announcement tomorrow about how it’ll affect nominations. Thanks, guys.”
Michele ended up making that announcement, reading off a laminated piece of paper that said, “since one of my nominees has been evicted from the Big Brother game for rule violations, my duties as head of household are now considered over.” Michele seemed dejected as she read, but in the Diary Room, said, “I had a good HOH week–or two days of being HOH,” citing Chima’s exit.
Kevin said, “it would be unfair for her to nominate a third person,” but I’m still not buying this as anything but bullshit. Immediately, it occurred to me that this made-up rule will make it possible for a future nominee to use this to their advantage, sort of: Someone who’s convinced they’re going home could become a martyr and walk out in order to give their alliance another chance at HOH while ensuring the HOH who nominated them cannot play.
Anyway, after the new HOH game, Jordan won, with a last-minute assist by Jeff, who threw the final round in order to give her the win. Russell said that is “something that a real man does,” although I’m not clear on what Jeff’s penis and testicles have to do with giving up HOH.
Lydia then began her real meltdown, calling Jordan a “ho puppet,” which may be something like a “prostitution who-a.” Like Chima, Lydia is pissed about the way the game is gone, citing the “coup de crap power that America handed you.”
Granted, Big Brother‘s game is more arbitrary and its producers meddle more than any other prime-time competition; at least Survivor‘s strategy-impacting twists tend to apply to groups, not individuals, and even when they don’t, are relatively consistent (tribe switches, immunity, exile). But whatever: That’s what Big Brother is, and to become a whiny baby because you got played is stupid. Be upset, but then figure out a way to save yourself. That’s what Kevin appears to be doing on the live feeds, working the other alliance to get them to turn on each other.
At least Lydia wised up at one point when delusional Natalie–who also insisted at one point, “I have been running this house”–started flipping out about how the producers “took [Chima’s] HOH power away.” Lydia said, “that’s part of this game,” and Natalie cried, “Lydia, to take your HOH power away?” (The irony was that the ultimate effect of Chima’s exit was to take Michele’s HOH power away.) Natalie also blamed Michele for causing Chima to be expelled: “Michele did this. …Did she not lead her to this point? … Michele made [sic] her to this breaking point.”
But Lydia kept the freak-out going, dumping Michele’s beer and throwing away her food, and demanding the others send her home. When Jeff said she was staying, Lydia said, “You keep me here, I’ll go after you.” In the most amusing moment of their subsequent fight, Lydia said, “I’m not surring my words,” attempting to say “slurring.”
“What’s wrong with you? Seriously,” Jeff said at one point, pointing out that it was just a game. “You guys made it difficult on us,” Lydia said. And there it was among all the delusion about accidentally dropping the mic pack and the unfairness of the game: Lydia acknowledged what really happened, at least for a moment.