I Think CBS Staged George's Supposed "Walk-Out"

The ClubHouse: Big Brother 2000: General - Archives: CBS Talk: I Think CBS Staged George's Supposed "Walk-Out"

Eaglemagic

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 07:18 am Click here to edit this post

I am a little "out of the loop" since I don't have computer access as much as a lot of you, however, I really believe that when George went into the RR Saturday a.m. BB coerced George into pretending to lead a group walk out. I am not sure what the reasoning behind it was - I am just thinking it out right now. Has this already come up in the discussions? What do you all think? I am still in the process of catching up on the live feed archives, etc. Haven't read Sunday or Monday or today yet.

Stark

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 07:31 am Click here to edit this post

Of course CBS staged it, everyone knows that.

CBS also killed JFK, faked the "moon landing" (haha! the moon is way too far away for people to land on), and I hear they send subliminal messages in their tv programs which make people sterile.

Basically, when in doubt, it's best to blame everything around one on a secret conspiracy.

Eaglemagic

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 07:34 am Click here to edit this post

Leave it to you Stark to be so sour.

Stark

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 07:46 am Click here to edit this post

I am constantly surprised and troubled by the number of conspiracy theories that I read regarding this show.

I hadn't realized that this level of paranoia was so common among the american public. I can only assume that many people, lacking a real understanding of how the world around them works, but realizing that something must be causing things to happen, tend to attribute this cause to powerful groups which are secretly pulling the strings.

Perhaps paranoia is an understandable consequence of ignorance. If you don't know why things happen, then maybe it's easy to assume that it's because someone doesn't >want< you to know.

Petunia

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 07:50 am Click here to edit this post

See "Last Clip on TV Show Proves This Was Done By CBS" in this week's archives.

http://www.bomis.com/bigbrother/discus/messages/65/3475.html?968657318

Creamynougat

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 08:19 am Click here to edit this post

I happen to agree with you, Stark. In today's age of Science and Secularism, people are not as ready to accept the magical, supernatural explanations of the past. Conspiracy theories, however, seem to satisfy the need of some to find answers outside the ordinary and mundane and still keep within scientific possibility and therefore avoid the appearance of complete crackpotism. Unfortunately, most conspiracy theories require great leaps of inductive logic and a rejection of both common sense and intellectual parsimony.

"Intellectual parimony." Gawd, I love using big words. LOL.

Creamynougat

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 08:28 am Click here to edit this post

Even better without the typos.

Heh.

Shayrainb

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 08:50 am Click here to edit this post

well,Geo was playing some kind of game.You could tell he was being phony,acting,whether b/c of cbs or his own little scheme,he was playing!

Ryn

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 09:01 am Click here to edit this post

If you go by the TV show last night you might think he was up to something.

If you were watching the live feeds you would get a different feeling I think.

George did not stage this - he was pretty clueless and we all watched (and posted here) speculating what was going ot happen at 10am. As we suspected george had some wild idea that if they all walked they would all win (initially he said he was going to walk by himself - a point notably MISSING from the tv show).

The other HG's eventually said, "george - we won't win any money if we all walk." But they seemed to all have a feeling of "we are sick of them pittng us against each other" and their mis-guided thoughts that they will all be in the money with appearances and such when they get out made the money seem less important. George was the spark, but the other HGs were dry kindling looking for an excuse.

It was a "we are gonna turn the tables on THEM" sort of atmosphere. They were all caught up in the moment and as the day wore on we watched them start slowly (gee thanks jamie) to doubt themselves. Then Sunday morning it all fell apart <sigh>.

Anyways - no way was it staged. As a matter of fact, watching BB pull jamie into the RR Saturday night when they were getting ready to go in and announce their intentions formally was the giveaway that they (CBS or BB) was in a panic.

Eaglemagic

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 09:15 am Click here to edit this post

BB didn't pull Jamie into the RR Saturday night. She jumped up from the group and said she wanted to go talk to BB. I still say that BB asked George to make up the whole thing. I stand by that - for the moment anyway (LOL).

Creamynougat

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 09:22 am Click here to edit this post

>...watching BB pull jamie into the RR Saturday night when they were getting ready to go in and announce their intentions formally was the giveaway that they (CBS or BB) was in a panic.

That is my take on it, too. Perhaps CBS/BB could have capitalized on the walkout but they did not have much time for planning and promotion -- plus it would be taking a big risk. Not to mention that CBS/BB didn't have any assurance that the HGs wouldn't change their minds between Saturday and Wednesday afternoon.

This was not out of character for George. He's prolific with kooky ideas.

BTW - I must say that John did a great job with Jamie. He knew exactly the right buttons to push.

Ryn

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 09:30 am Click here to edit this post

Eagle, i suppose you are right but i saw it as this.... Jamie was scared shitless that they were gonna have to walk (the only reason she agreed before eddie was because she was SURE he was not going to).

This guy "John" was a common name that night as he talked to each house guest and told them they needed to think for themselves, it was a re-occuring theme late into the night.

You are giving george way to much credit to think he could come up with a scheme like this - or I should say follow BB's instructions to get them all to agree to "walk"

Ya know - to imply that BB was getting George to do things would imply that BB is conspiring with one single HG (as when it was implied Britt was a 'plant'). This is a GAME, each of these folks have lawyers and if they feel their client is getting screwed over by BB, I am sure we will hear about lawsuits later.

Webrover9

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 09:35 am Click here to edit this post

It doesn't matter to me whether CBS staged it or George staged it. It did make for some interesting viewing and discussion which is what I'd been waiting for. I have stopped analyzing anyone or their actions and am just watching now strictly for entertainment.

Farkle

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 09:54 am Click here to edit this post

Ryn - I really agree with you about Jamie,my only problem with the whole thing being real on Sat. AM was why they all agreed so Fast with George's wacky theory. I saw it happen live and was really confused, going back and forth(with whether it could possibly be a challange or a joke), one reason was because they cut the feeds. But when I saw the discussion on TV last night and saw the look of horror on Jamie's face when Eddie gave in, I understood. They (or most of them) thought there would be someone to say no and stop the whole thing and no one had the guts and didn't want to go against the group alone. Jamie couldn't wait for an out and John knew just what to feed her, her FANS would be let down and that did it for her. I only wonder, if John is that smart, why isn't this show run better, seems like there much be someone else with power there that gums up the works?! I love this whole thing, but it drives me nuts at times! LOL

Janine

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 05:34 pm Click here to edit this post

As I've said before, I disagree with Ryn. CBS needs the ratings. The NYPost article confirms that CBS was going to get one of the HG's to be a saboteur. George never intended on walking out...he knew that it would not happen. I think that the idea of the point of the show was planted by CBS.

As further proof, check out all of the media coverage that has happened b/c of what happened on Saturday. Today's Tuesday and they are STILL talking about it on the show..the TV show. Also, think about the fact that CBS wanted Brit to tell Josh about George. Think about it... The only way to get Josh to spill the beans was for George to threaten to walk.

My thoughts

Creamynougat

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 05:56 pm Click here to edit this post

>As further proof, check out all of the media coverage that has happened b/c of what happened on Saturday.

George was right insofar as if they had all walked out, it would have played big in the media. Maybe not HUGE, but big enough. The media coverage proves nothing: any event may play in the media for days, but this does not mean that the event was planned.

Janine

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 05:59 pm Click here to edit this post

But Creamy....who put out the press releases??? Articles were written on Saturday!!! Do you really think that many people are watching the live feeds??? Especially on a weekend??

Neslon

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 06:05 pm Click here to edit this post

There's a very good write-up of the rebellion-that-wasn't over at Salon.

Ryn's very right and Janine's wrong (sorry, Janine).

Check out Special Report - A Big Brother Walkout? from last Saturday,
and Special Report - the Revolt Flops from Sunday for excellent summaries of what happened. (Salon's coverage is a hoot, and a good place to catch up if you miss a day or two)

Janine

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 06:10 pm Click here to edit this post

Neslon..I just read those articles. I found nothing there that disproves my theory. In fact...the article points out that they have no idea how George deduced his lil theory. Please point out specific FACTS that would prove my theory wrong.

Ken

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 06:13 pm Click here to edit this post

People who think the walk out idea was so odd it must have been staged aren't thinking it through.

When I saw the walk out discussion on tv on Monday, I thought it was clear the HG's were looking for money. Not from CBS, but from fame in general.

What I saw was them thinking about was that they could all have their basic 15 min. of fame as they left the BB house and 3 of them could have some money OR they could do this huge, noble "walk out" which was never done before. That would probably (from their point of view) give them all 30 - 45 minutes of fame...Hell, years later they be the HG's who walked out instead of trying for the $$$.

I could easily see them thinking the added fame would probably earn them each at least 1/2 million dollars. I mean, we all know the OJ Simpson lawyers (prosecution and defense) made at least a million dollars each off books about their experience.

So you've got all the HG's doing these dollar/cents comparisons in their head. George kept saying how the money would be there if they left, many times over.

So in the end, the walk out decision was a greed-based decision. The HG's based their decision to walk on the reasoning that the extra fame they got from that unprecedented move would translate to more money than winning BB and they each only had a 1/6 chance of winning BB, so even if they think there is only a 1/5 chance that their walk out would inspire extra fame, it was still the better risk.

Dollars and cents making the world go round as usual.

Creamynougat

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 06:27 pm Click here to edit this post

Thanks, Neslon, you beat me to it. I was going to recommend the salon.com articles, too.

Janine, if you've read the articles, particularly the one from Saturday, the writer is quite explicit and detailed about the events that transpired. Of course they couldn't say how George ultimately deduced his hare-brained theory -- no one but George could explain that and I doubt even George could give logical reasons. It was simply one of George's goofy ideas.

Snogrl

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 06:32 pm Click here to edit this post

If George had this revelation about the true meaning of BB overnight he would not have been able to contain himself. Come on.... "I'll tell you at 10am." Obviously BB told him to have his pow wow at 10am. They can control him like a puppet, even more so than the other HG.

Neslon

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 06:37 pm Click here to edit this post

Janine, I can't point to a single fact that "proves" that CBS didn't whisper something in George's ear in the Red Room (proving a negative is notoriously difficult, eh?). All I can tell you is that I (and lots of others) happened to watch the whole thing unfold, had what you're proposing pop into my head at various points, and then dismissed it based on the hamsters' behavior, the way they were struggling through the whole thing (Ken's take on it seems pretty accurate, too). Watching George was scary, it wasn't quite clear how strong his grip on reality was; he seemed to be losing it completely at various points (I think this came thru on the broadcast tonight, too).

If you watch the live feeds for a while, you get a good feel for how hapless the HGs are, how they really are just a variety of folks plopped together in this surreal situation.

And you also get a feel for how hapless the Big Brother producers are (kind of vilely hapless, a very ugly sort of hapless, but hapless and struggling nonetheless).

The producers lucked into this two-day (three-day??) story-line, and they've edited it in such a way that it really does feel, looking at the two episodes, as though it might have been scripted, but if you watched the feeds, for hours and hours and hours, as some of us are embarrassed to have done this weekend, it was clear that it wasn't. That's what I hoped the Salon summaries would convey.

[my last word on this, I hope :-)]

Janine

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 06:44 pm Click here to edit this post

Neslon..before I started work last Tuesday..i listened to the live feeds continuously do don't tell me that I don't understand. I watched the live feeds on Saturday starting at 11am Eastern time and I'm telling you...there's no way that George figured this out on his own!! No way. Moreover...why the 10am?? I'm telling you..you guys are misunderstanding. The other HG's parts were not scripted. They were being real but George planned this b/c the RR told him about the Rockford vote in some manner or other.

Twiggyish

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 06:46 pm Click here to edit this post

"I hadn't realized that this level of paranoia was so common among the american public"


Stark, I just have one objection to your post, when you say "the American public",are you referring to every person in America who views the show? Isn't that a bit general?
Perhaps, my brain isn't as big as yours for me to "fully" comprehend your post.

Ryn, I agree with you. George isn't capable of conjuring up this scheme.

Dulci

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 06:56 pm Click here to edit this post

I remember a houseguest asking George why 10 am and he said it was for the symbolism of 10 houseguests. Doesn't make sense to me, but that is what I heard...

Dulci

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 07:00 pm Click here to edit this post

No waitaminute, it was after all the HGs had consented to the revolt, Josh asked George if the 10 am was to symbolize 10 houseguests and George said yes.

Creamynougat

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 07:05 pm Click here to edit this post

>...George planned this b/c the RR told him about the Rockford vote in some manner or other.

Now that's entirely possible. The idea was spawned in George's head, though. Not even -- ESPECIALLY not even the BB producers could have been this, um -- for lack of a better word -- "creative."

Janine

Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 07:39 pm Click here to edit this post

Dulci..notice how he didn't say it symbolized that until Josh mentioned it??? Duh....I think George schemed up the theory but that RR prompted him by telling him about Rockford.