Big Brother: The Contestants

Big Brother: The Contestants

Big Brother is back and it looks like casting did an exceptional job.

It’s here. The day has come. Let us all rejoice, for today we no longer have to suffer through the blatantly-ripped-off feeling of The Glass House if we want our strangers-stuck-in-a-house-with-no-TV-and-no-phones-so-lets-scream-at-eachother-over-meaningless-and-trivial-BS fix. The fourteenth season of Big Brother starts tonight with a whole box of new twists and the promises of boasting the largest cast in the shows history. I spent a couple hours on BigBrotherNetwork.com watching the interviews they did with the cast before the CBS cameras started rolling.

Here’s a look at the cast and some predictions on how I think they will do.

Shane

Age: 26

Occupation: Beer and Wine salesman/ Personal Trainer/ Real Estate Entrepreneur

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: Jessie from BB10 without the muscles.

Shane wears a lot of hats, not only is he a salesman, a trainer and an entrepreneur, he was also named Mr. Vermont 2010 for Cosmopolitan magazine. He looks like a “bro” from any college movie made in the 20^th century, with his puka shell necklace and his Abercrombie and Fitch collared shirt. In his interview he said that he wants women to want to be with him and he wants men to want to be him. Do people really still say that? He was impressed (or at least seemed impressed) with every question the interviewer asked him, and that leads me to wonder if this small town boy’s confidence it is all a cover and really he’s a little out of his comfort zone in the reality scene.

Predictions: On more than one occasion Shane will say he is going to make a big move or try to make a big move and it will fail miserably. Another house guest will use him as a scapegoat after making a move that turns the house against him/her (it will probably be a her).

Jenn

Age: 37

Occupation: Musician

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: A female and lesbian version of Adam Poch from BB13

Jenn hadn’t seen an episode of Big Brother before she was invited to be on this season of the show. She doesn’t know the game all too well and that could be a huge disadvantage when so many of her competitors are big fans of the show. She told BigBrotherNetwork.com that she was going to try and twist people’s perception of her in order to take advantage of them. Which when added with her hair makes me more than a little weirded out. But By far my favorite line in her interview was when she said she was going to be “America’s new favorite rock n roll lesbian.” Hopefully that’s enough to get her passed the first couple of weeks.

Prediction: She will have a problem with the “pretty” people in the house and before she leaves she will let someone know how she feels in a loud and aggressive manner (possibly of the in your face variety). She will also be used as a “pawn” and then sent home.

Jodi

Age: 42

Occupation: Restaurant Server

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: Kathy Hillis from BB12

Jodi’s plan is to align herself with someone that no one would expect and ride that alliance out to the end. That plan wouldn’t bother me if this was Big Brother 2. We’ve seen on separate occasions that the only way you will win in an alliance of two is if you have a partner willing to sacrifice for you to win like Dr. Will, Jeff, or Memphis. When your whole game plan relies on you meeting and aligning with someone who is a great player within the first week or two you might be in for a tough ride.

Prediction:  Jodi will be one of the first two people nominated.

Wil 

Age: 25

Occupation: Marketing consultant

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: Joe Barber BB8

Wil is a former recording artist, which doesn’t surprise me since he looks like a Hanson brother (mmmbop). He told BigBrotherNetwork.com that his worst fear in the house would be if Julie Chen announced that “You’re all gay!” then he went on to explain that that would be “too many queens in one place.”

Prediction: If his little voices (in 2 interviews he used a combined 5 different voices) don’t annoy people into wanting him out of the house after the first few weeks I would be surprised. He could possibly make it to the jury if he finds a good alliance and rides some coattails.

Joe

Age: 41

Occupation: Professional Chef

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison:  An older Brendan from BB11

Joe hosts an online cooking show called Mad Love Cooking. The show is filled with him almost-yelling his little mantra’s to the camera. “Love and Life, two words we hold in tandem. Drawn together by passion, a passion for creating moments and memories, memories we draw on in times of joy and peace and times of struggle.” His game plan is to cook for the house guests in order to get on everyone’s good side. In his words “I’m gonna sauté my way to the top.”

Prediction: If he keeps to himself and cooks for everyone then there is a good possibility he can make it to one of the weeks where the table gets smaller. Joe needs to stay under the radar and cook bacon. Everyone loves bacon.

Ashley

Age: 26

Occupation: Mobile Spray Tanner

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison:  Jessica Hughbanks BB8

She told BigBrotherNetwork.com that she is a spray tan technician, I don’t know what that is but I think she should probably get a raise for giving herself that title. When all you do is spray people’s naked body down with an orange liquid that makes you glow can you really call yourself a technician? She calls her strategy the “Snow White Game”. Is she going to have 7 little people follow her around in dwarf costumes? Is she going to have birds and mice dress her every morning?

Prediction: She doesn’t seem to be all that smart so if she doesn’t find herself in a strong alliance early she could be one of the first four evicted houseguests and not even get a chance to hang out in the luxurious sequester house the jury members always go to.

JoJo

Age: 26

Occupation: Bartender

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: A Female Enzo BB12

JoJo is from New Jersey so putting her in a house with 11 other strangers for sixty or so days sounds like a pretty good way to get the “Shore” in her to come out. I hope the alcohol cabinet is stocked and ready for her.

Prediction: JoJo is easy money when it comes to odds on which house guest has the first fight. She will probably end up throwing a drink on someone and possibly getting thrown out for kicking the crap out of one of the other ladies.

Kara

Age: 29

Occupation: Model

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: Kristen Bitting BB12

2006 Playboy Playmate of the Year!

Prediction: If she makes it far it will because other people bring her with them. She will not be the leader in an alliance. She may able to be a floater without actually looking like a floater because she garners so much attention because of bikinis.

Danielle

Age: 23

Occupation: Nurse

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: Cassie BB13

Danielle is the youngest female on the show this season. Her youth could be a problem seeing as how she kept saying she wanted to play a clean game but hated catty girls. If one of the other ladies gets in her face it could get ugly quick and we could see her clean game could go out the window pretty fast.

Prediction: Her “clean game” will get her in trouble the moment she is caught in a lie. A lot of “cat fight” potential.

Ian

Age: 21

Occupation: Engineering Student

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: Ronnie BB11

Ian told the interviewer at BigBrotherNetwork.com that he is “Classically trained to make observations and formulate a plan of action based on these observations.” I didn’t know there was training for that. He plans on playing an analytical game that he planned when he first started planning in grade 6.  (Are we finally going to see Big Brother sabermetrics?) He also brought a wide range of colorful glasses into the house so he could have a “thing”. (Do we really need someone to have a gimmick every year?)

Prediction: I see him coming into the house with a notebook full of math equations to try and quantify how good he and his fellow contestants really are at challenges and at social game play. That could give him a serious advantage or it could distract him just long enough to get knocked out of the house.

Willie Hantz

Age: 34

Occupation: Tankerman

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: Russell Kairouz BB11

Willie Hantz is the brother of Russell Hantz and the uncle of Brandon Hantz from Survivor. I think it’s about time we just go ahead and give the Hantz family their own reality TV show where all they do is deceive one and other. (We can call it Liar, Liar, Hantz on Fire. No? Yeah, it’s a work in progress.) His game plan in the house is simple: cause chaos. He wants to be known as the “best mind controlling player” of all time.  With everyone at each other’s throats he hopes he will be able to slide by. When asked if he would play the game with integrity he answered very simply “No integrity.”

Prediction: Willie has a chance to pull off what Dr. Will did in season 2 (and what Willie’s brother tried to do in Survivor). He can tell it like it is, call his shots, and let people know when it’s there time to go. Dr. Will did it so well that no one realized what he had done until the show was over and he had already won. It didn’t work the same way for Russell on Survivor because the other competitors caught on before it was too late (he did make it to the finale one season). If Willie can mix his plan of chaos with a little charm he could go mighty far this summer.

Frank

Age: 28

Occupation: Unemployed

Past Big Brother Contestant Comparison: Hayden BB12

Frank is the son of Professional wrestler Sid Vicious. He has auditioned to be on Big Brother on multiple occasions and is a big fan of the show. When describing his perfect alliance to BigBrotherNetwork.com he used a Dream Team analogy making himself out to be the “Magic Johnson” like point guard. He seems charming and down to earth. His worst Big Brother nightmare would be having someone in the house that new all his embarrassing stories (“Like my Dad.”). Isn’t that cute?

Prediction: The moment I saw Frank I thought he could win this season of Big Brother. He looks athletic and sounds smart, he’s handsome but not in a threatening way. He has the potential to win this whole game if he can play it smart. There are more threatening people in the house this year but he has both the physicality and the personality you need to dominate a reality show like big brother.

This year’s cast gives me the impression that we’re in for a good season. A good percentage of the house guests are fans of the show and have strategies coming into the game that are sound and sometimes even over thought. Although the small group of house guests that have never really followed the show don’t know much about the game, they come in with big personalities ready to stand out. That always makes for some good ol’reality TV.