Big Brother 9: Sheila or Ryan?

I've got to hand it to the person who first thought up the concept of reality TV. Take a group of people, put them into a ridiculous situation, pit them against one another in competition, make the stakes really high, and see what happens. Voila! You have quality entertainment for the American public.

And so we watch as the social experiment unfolds. We see a group of people, usually young and reasonably good-looking, go at each other and embarrass themselves on national television in the hopes of winning some prize. And we laugh (myself included). Maybe it is because we think we are better than those people we are watching. Maybe it is because we know that we are actually just like them, but can more effectively keep our secret selves, well, secret. Maybe it is because the situation itself is so bizarre.

It was with all of these feelings that I watched Big Brother 9 on March 16, and I was not disappointed. In the previous episode, James had been voted out of the house, and within fifteen minutes, was voted back in. Then, all members of the house engaged in competition to determine who would be "head of house" and would choose two people to be nominated to leave the house. All members of the house stood on chains with disco balls in a room where champagne bubbles were floating from the ceiling. The goal: be the last person to remain standing. Four and a half hours later, James emerged as the winner, with Natalie coming in a close second, in order to make sure that Matt would not be evicted.

Sound strange?

In the end, after much discussion of and suspicion surrounding who voted for James to come back and who didn't, lots of reflections from house members ranging from funny to catty to panicky, and Matt giving Natalie a topless massage, comparing her to Jesus for staying on the disco ball so long, James nominated Sheila and Ryan. His reason for nominating Sheila: she had given him her word she would not vote him off, and she did. And Ryan? He had an instrumental role in voting James off.

And so the saga will continue on Tuesday. Until then, we are waiting in suspense: will it be Sheila or Ryan who is kicked out of the house next?