Big Brother: Over The Top (Where Have You Been All My Life?)

When Big Brother 18 began, there were rumblings of an “online only” Big Brother show. Fans scoffed. The idea was nice, but there was no way that producers would do two shows back-to-back. The only evidence was a “casting call” that was posted on Twitter. It's one shred of credibility was that it had been posted by a former HG.

A month or so later, we learned that yes, an online only Big Brother was coming and it would air shortly after BB18.

BB: Over The Top began a few days ago and has so much potential and has largely been a magnificent entity to experience.

"Over the Top" is a phrase for "information collected and transmitted via the internet." 

The first thing, and perhaps it's most important difference from the television show is the fact that the 'live feeds', as the're called, turned on right when the HG's moved in. (Hello Run on!) Live feeds are available for the television version, but their first night of being on has always been almost a week into the HG's stay. The television premiere has been treated as "live" but never has been.

For the first time, the audience was able to witness the awkward first meeting, the champagne toast and all the initial group conversation unedited. It has been a request of live feeders for years, and it was finally honored. The first week is such a critical moment in time and with all other seasons, the audience has seen it through an editors eye.

On the 2^nd day, the game kicked off with its first HOH, “The Big Brother Bug.” The HG's had been locked outside and now in the living room was blue liquid in a bottle. “Only one can drink.” After they realized someone had to drink it, the deed was done. Shane, the HG who had drank the potion was now infected, and he was given a shirt to wear as well as a necklace. When an alarm would sound at a random time, he would need to pass the bug onto someone else and the cycle would repeat. The HG to be the last uninfected would become HOH. As of this writing, the HOH is still going on.

The shirt and bug necklace, signaling an infected HG.

At first glance, I was annoyed with this competition, but, soon, the HG's began to strategize and I realized, this was the intention of the competition. A long mental game of “Who do we stop having power?”

Before I review the HG's, “OTT” as it's called has a few more differences than the television version: Viewers will vote for the winner, will vote for a third nominee for eviction, will vote a select few for safety and will vote for 'special advantages.' WOWZA. That's a lot of power.

I have great concern that 'America' might try to make a mockery out of the voting system, which is what happened in BB1, when the public voted out all the interesting people first. My hope, is that the audience watching OTT is mainly regular live feeders and use their power for good.

I am not going to 'review' every house guest. Just those that have gotten my attention so far, either in a positive or negative manner. In no particular order:

Whitney:

Before the season begins, we always get a photo, a short bio and a few videos on the HG's. Whitney was the only one that gave me that “feel good”, “root for” feeling. She seems very likable. Normally show secrets are not shown on feeds, but OTT has been very lax at cutting away. On the first night, Whitney was unintentionally spilling all kinds of Production Tea. She knew a few of the HG's names because she saw a name tag and was called the wrong name in an interview, she had to get new clothes and her handler took her to target, (starting 'The Target Trips") and she could barely handle the isolation in the hotel.

The game is just starting, but Whitney has already begun that game talk and was one of the first to mention a certain HG most of them want out. I like her and I can't wait to see how she does.

Monte:

This years eye candy for the ladies (and some men), Monte looked dumb on paper, but, to me, he seems to actually understand that he's on a show and that he needs to make careful decisions to further himself along. I will admit, a lot of the draw of Monte for me is his looks, but on Day 2, he began the whispering with a select few HG's on who he wanted to catch the bug and who he wanted out. Hint: Same HG as Whitney. 

Some may argue he's “playing too hard, too fast”, but I hope he can last a little while.

Kryssie:

At first, I loved her. She's unfiltered, she has wonderful stories, and she doesn't give two fucks what you think of her. Her claim to fame is a viral video from her work as a waitress where you have to insult the customers. She's wild and she powerlifts for fun. She's certinly live feed material, but, Kryssie doesn't think before she speaks sometimes, like when she told the entire house she probably would never had talked to 90% of them or when she told some story about when she shit outside. But, where she loses me is her habit of burping and not saying excuse me. It's just a pet peeve of mine, like when someone sneezes, you always say bless you. When you burp, you say excuse me. And I am not going to listen to her burping all fall. She even said tonight, “People will remember me as the girl who burped.” That's right, and I find it disguising.

Jason:

Jason is a returner to the game. He was voted in by public vote. Jason is quirky and unfiltered. He's a good guy. But, his problem is that he loves to talk about his previous season and tell the newbies (HG's that haven't played before) how to avoid the cameras and how to influence the game. That is not cool and for the majority of the game so far, this is all he's been talking about. He's jokingly being called "The BB Historian" on Twitter.   If Jason continues to give his tips and tricks constantly, I want him to be evicted ASAP, because it changes the game significantly, and not in a good way.

It's only Day 2, there's 9 more HG's, so we'll see how BOTT fairs. It's been an interesting ride so far.