Jordan Interview in the "Star Tribune".
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Jordan Interview in the "Star Tribune".
Ledarney | Wednesday, August 16, 2000 - 10:52 am  Published Wednesday, August 16, 2000 TV/Neal Justin: Jordan bares all about ''Big Brother'' experience When Jean Jordan entered the ''Big Brother'' house in July, she thought she was about to teach the country a few things about feminism, racism and double standards in society. Instead, it was the Minneapolis resident who learned a lesson: Television rarely creates soapbox orators. It makes soap-opera stars. Jordan was evicted last week from "Big Brother," the CBS prime-time program that puts 10 strangers together in a house and documents their every conversation, meal and bathroom break. Every two weeks, viewers vote to boot one contestant, with the final housemate to receive $500,000. Jordan lasted only a month, but not before coming across as a manipulative, sex-crazed stripper, the most talked about TV vixen since Heather Locklear ruled the "Melrose Place" roost. For a woman who joined the program, in large part, to prove that not all exotic dancers are vacuous sexpots, the impression she made was a personal disappointment. "I was so naive when I went into it," said Jordan, sitting on the grass in a park near her apartment last week, dressed in a simple white shirt, blue jeans and no signs of makeup. Jordan, who turned 27 the day she left the "Big Brother" house, doesn't deny flirting with housemates, talking about her attraction to women and moaning about her libido. But friends say they feel it was a disservice to both her and the show that producers focused almost solely on her sex-related escapades during the 4½ prime-time hours a week (the show usually is aired every night but Sunday). "She has more than one side to her, but she came across as such a one-dimensional character," said former college roommate Anne Peterson. "America was seeing her as this sexpot, everyone's stereotype of an exotic dancer, and that's not reality TV." Something funny happened on the way to the forumAnyone who has watched "Big Brother" knows that the program often identifies housemates with quick labels -- "Cassandra the diplomat" or "Josh the heartbreaker." Jordan knew she had been picked because of her colorful past. In addition to stripping at Schiek's Palace Royale for the past two years, she has backpacked in South America and participated in an Iron Man triathlon. But after spending hours reading message boards about her on the Internet and watching several episodes on videotape, she feels she was selected only to create sexual tension. She first heard about the show while watching "Oprah," and said she was drawn to the idea of a social experiment in which people could debate issues and share thoughts in front of millions of viewers. "I really didn't care about the prize. I wanted the voice," she said. "I wanted to be talking about, say, diseases, and I wanted people at home to say, 'That's interesting. Let's talk about that.' I wanted to instigate conversation." Ben Drira, her boyfriend, tried talking her out of it. "I knew this was going to happen. We had lots of arguments before she went in," he said. "The producers have to get the ratings up and you have to have a scenario from the beginning." Jordan believes that producers viewed her as the likeliest candidate to sleep around. When she later informed them that she had acquired a boyfriend, they were clearly disappointed, she said. Before the show began, each participant was interviewed for the cameras at their homes. Jordan was juiced by the visit, because the three-hour interview included questions about her religious faith and life goals. "I thought, 'This is going to be great. This is going to be a revolutionary program. They're going to get to the meat.' But when I saw the first show, out of all those three hours, they only picked out me saying: 'Yeah, I think Ben's kind of worried about me hooking up with someone." In the final week, she told Brittany Petros, another Minneapolis participant, that she'd be happy to give her a lap dance sometime. Soon after, producers beckoned Jordan to the "Red Room," in which housemates can talk directly with the crew, and informed her they'd be willing to send in a stage and props for the event. She refused. Poke at the Eye After leaving the house, she did a whirlwind series of interviews in New York, frequently criticizing the way she had been portrayed. That triggered an angry one-hour phone conversation with executive producer Paul Romer, which was the last time Jordan talked with him. In an interview earlier this week, Romer said he was disappointed that Jordan has criticized the show, but said that based on the program's history in Europe, where it's a major hit, it isn't unusual for those who come across negatively to complain about being edited unfairly. Romer said the show doesn't pretend to accurately portray Jordan in her real life, but only presents how she acted within the confines of the "Big Brother" house. "I can imagine that Jordan came across as an exotic dancer, but she is an exotic dancer," he said. "Every conversation she had was about her dealing with being an exotic dancer." He added that those who provoke conflict get the most airtime, but that producers don't emphasize the dark side of the participants simply to get good ratings. Jordan said she doesn't necessarily blame the producers for focusing so much on her and her more controversial actions. "I was so irate at the producers for reducing me to this sexually aggressive vixen, but after I watched the show a couple times, I understood. Nobody on the show, except Will and I, was giving them good material." William Collins, also known as Will Mega, was the first one ousted, primarily for stirring up racially charged conversations. CBS tried to arrange a videotaped lunch in New York last week between the two outcasts, but Jordan declined. Jordan said she believes that the rest of the participants are interested only in the money or in becoming celebrities. That has kept them from engaging in raw, frank conversations. She said that's one reason she started playing mind games with Josh and Brittany, and set up a fragile love triangle. "I was just bored, bored out of my skull," she said. "We're on TV and people just want to play cards and do chores. They don't want to talk about issues. We're on TV! Millions of people are watching us! Let's talk about something. Let's create some social change. I realized that was futile after about two weeks, so I decide to take a few more risks. I'll just try to push people's buttons and provoke them and maybe that'll get a reaction out of them." That decision helped create the vixen image -- and that may not be all bad. It helped her land a spot on "The Late Show With David Letterman," where she scored big points, except for when she said she didn't like Minneapolis and planned on moving soon. Jordan now says she was playing along with Letterman, who was suggesting that she move in with him, and that she loves it here in the Twin Cities. She recently joined the morning crew at radio's the Point (WXPT, 104.1 FM) for a trial period. And the "Big Brother" experience should help her market the book she's writing about life as an exotic dancer, one she hopes to have out by the end of the year. The experience served as a way to sever herself from stripping, she said, adding that she won't return to Schiek's. She said she'll turn down any offers to pose nude in men's magazines. It also forced her to be honest with her parents, who didn't know about her dancing before she was chosen to be on the program. "I think in the end, the positive will outweigh the negative," she said. |
Pugsrugly | Wednesday, August 16, 2000 - 11:27 am  Thanks Ledarney - very interesting. Only question left unanswered: Did she clean out her locker at the strip club - ha ha |
Jake | Wednesday, August 16, 2000 - 03:44 pm  Thanks Ledarney! Hmmm.. she's been out to the websites.. I wonder if she ever made it to here? And, in spite of seeing that we have watched her .. ahem 24/7... she still insists it was the editing that did her in. Jordan, Jordan, Jordan! Y'know, it was SHE who led every discussion to the sex side. She had an opportunity to talk about other "deep, meaningful" things, but I never saw her initiate anything other than SOMETHING that had to do with sex, OR something that had to do with HER! Too bad. As I've said before, she's her own worst enemy. BTW... I wonder what she's doing on a trial basis? DJing??? |
Ricmunoz | Wednesday, August 16, 2000 - 06:40 pm  Thanks, Ledarney! Very interesting, indeed. Such a poor, clueless child. Her naivete is the most shocking aspect of the whole profile. How could she possibly think--even for a nanosecond--that CBS/Paul Romer would let her talk about heavy social issues? Someone must have put a bug in her ear and convinced her that BB would be the commerical network version of "The MacNeil-Lehrer Hour." At the radio station they are probably making her be the person who answers the phone and says "You're the 9th caller." Seems within her range of capabilities. Poor, poor deranged thing. |
Annwat | Wednesday, August 16, 2000 - 08:49 pm  let's see, she said that one of the things she had looked forward to discussing was diseases? what type? sexually transmitted ones or your run of the mill diseases? if you go to the site where the article is posted, there's a sidebar with a link to an "ask jordan" type of forum. it indicates that she will be online on Aug. 24 to chat. maybe she'll talk about diseases then. |
Chris | Thursday, August 17, 2000 - 11:00 am  Ricmunoz: Actually, someone in the house once mentioned the MacNeil-Lehrer Hour, and Ms. Jordan didn't even know what it was... |
Jake | Thursday, August 17, 2000 - 12:15 pm  It was the MacLaughlin (or is it McLaughlin - I know the group, just not how to spell it! *grin*) group, Chris... and it was Curtis talking to her. |
Ken | Thursday, August 17, 2000 - 01:48 pm  Thanks for posting the interview. I'm sure all of us who followed the shows see what a load of crap a lot of it is. Jordan's friend saying Jordan came across as "one dimensional" and "America was seeing her as this sexpot, everyone's stereotype of an exotic dancer." Hello? Everything I saw showed me totally atypical exotic dancer--not drinking, preaching against the objectification of women in the media, writing a book to "expose" the horrible truth of life as a stripper--I mean, did this friend watch any of the show? I've known and dated a number of strippers and I will say there is a "stereotypical" type of stripper (though no one person ever exactly fits any stereotype). Trust me, Jordan was in no way portrayed as the exhibitionist sex pot. If she had been, maybe she'd still be on the show. If anything, she came off as a somewhat militant feminist who was very anti-stripping. And Hello, Jordan...it wasn't a forum to teach viewers about deep topics (like "disease"--ha-ha). It is a game show. The winner is the person best able to get on his/her housemates good side (avoid nomination) and get on the viewers' good side (avoid banishment). How did she miss this? |
Glass | Friday, August 18, 2000 - 12:17 pm  Jordan was only a "pseudo"(false)intellectual. I about fell off my chair when Curtis was talking about the PBS current affairs panel discussion "McLaughlin Group" and she had never heard of it. Did any of us actually see her (on any of the web feeds) try to start a stimulating, thought-provoking conversation about anything other than herself? I think not! She turned out to be as shallow and self absorbed as she accused the others of being. Now she is "dissing" the show that gave her her big break. I'm just glad that I don't live in Minneapolis and have to listen to her droning voice and irritating laugh over the air waves. By the way, has any explanation been given as to why her own parents did not appear in the studio the night of her release um banishment?? |
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