Been a while since I have posted a blog, but the most recent episode of Big Brother got me thinking that we need “video replay” when it comes to competition reality shows like Survivor or Big Brother. No, not for the viewers at home, but instead, it would be great if the players could defend themselves against false accusation by having their fellow players see what really happened.
The first week of this season’s Big Brother is a perfect example of why this would be a valuable tool for those in the game. If you aren’t a Big Brother fan, let me quickly explain the scenario. One of the players (Angela) immediately started suggesting another player (Matt) was going to find himself in a showmance, and was likely to be a house favorite because he was good looking. When they were talking one on one, Matt expressed his dislike for how Angela was portraying him, and said if they don’t get along he might go after her. In response, Angela told everyone that Matt had “aggressively threatened her” and basically made it seem like she feared for her life.
Obviously there is no place for threatening behavior anywhere…..however for those of us watching from home, I’m not sure that’s how we would describe the conversation. Instead, it appeared that it was a light hearted conversation with Matt trying to connect with Head of Household.
Here is the issue, in a scenario where someone is accused of “bullying” or basically being a monster to fellow players, it’s tough for someone to overcome that portrayal without any evidence. So here is my idea, let any player “go to the videotape” once during their season. They can “throw a flag” on the play and show everyone exactly what happened. This prevents anyone from truly lying and creating such outrageous accusations that could eliminate another from the show. Having it occur once per player prevents it form being overused, and just like in sports, people will have to make sure it’s going to view them in a positive light when they do it call for it.
This new rule will prevent false accusations from impacting the game and thus keeping he integrity of the show in play. Nobody wants to be eliminated, especially over some bullshit.
