Big Brother co-executive producer Jerry D’Alessandro responded to my story about the leak of the diary room audio, insisting that it was the result of “human error” and not manipulation of the game by producers.
D’Alessandro has worked on Big Brother since its fifth season and has been a co-executive producer since last season. In addition to the comment he left on reality blurred last night, he has recently been responding on Twitter to viewers about the incident and other things. That a producer is responding publicly shows that he takes seriously the accusation, leveled by viewers, that the leak was intentional.
It’s worth noting first that Janelle was evicted last night, so clearly the leak had no impact on her game, which is what my headline suggested it might. As some have pointed out, it may have a greater impact on Dan’s game. In any case, D’Alessandro insists that “nothing damning was heard,” or else there would have been “pandemonium.” (The feeds were cut when certain houseguests talked to Dan about what they heard so feed watchers only captured brief reactions.)
Here’s D’Alessandro’s full response:
“Listen Andy, you should get your facts straight before writing something down and stating it as fact. This was nothing more that human error by a producer that was at the end of a 19 hour shift. Nothing damning was heard inside the house at all.
As one of the show’s Co-EP’s, I take offense to this entirely. I personally brought Joe and Dan into diary at separate times to find out exactly what they THINK they heard during the leak AND watched the footage back with the entire executive staff. Do you really think that if something significant was heard inside the house that the house guests would all be so peaceful all day long? There would be pandemonium inside the house.
We all work EXTREMELY LONG HARD HOURS to produce a fair and entertaining show every season and I’m fine with nasty comments here and there, because everyone is entitled to their opinion…however, this is a blatant attack on my character and that I will not quietly let fly. I’m a lot of things, but a liar and cheater, I am not. I’ve been doing this a long time and have an excellent reputation in this industry, so you can rest assure that you are WRONG and should be ashamed of yourself.”