Big Brother All-Stars (2020)/The Amazing Race

[Timewalker]

I wasn't expecting any Big Brother this year, but it started last week (I wouldn't have known if a friend on another forum hadn't mentioned it). It's an "all-star" season of past winners, almost-winners, and other former players who the producers felt deserved another chance. Everyone was quarantined for 14 days prior to entering the BB house and they're not going anywhere after. There is no studio audience this time.

Anyway, the house is... colorful, there's a couple of new twists (of course), and I don't remember half the people participating (either I never saw their seasons or I found them that boring that I've forgotten them). But there are some I wouldn't mind if they won, so it's something new to watch this summer other than the steady diet of Star Trek and BBC Earth documentaries I've been on for the past 2-3 months.

There's already controversy, in that the first Head of House competition was biased in favor of the male contestants. I've just watched that episode online, and yeah, it was definitely harder for the women than for the men.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Apparently it’s 3 episodes in and an all star season. I had no idea. Might as well start a thread cause board tradition.

Nothing to say now cause just five minutes ago learned it exists.

Edit: They did a great job casting this year. 14/16 people I remember, nobody I dislike. A few of my favorites. Ian, Kaysar, Janelle, Memphis, Cody.

 

[Timewalker]

Apparently it’s 3 episodes in and an all star season. I had no idea. Might as well start a thread cause board tradition.

Nothing to say now cause just five minutes ago learned it exists.

Edit: They did a great job casting this year. 14/16 people I remember, nobody I dislike. A few of my favorites. Ian, Kaysar, Janelle, Memphis, Cody.

I already started a thread, thankyouverymuch.



Could a moderator please merge this into the thread I started (since mine was earlier)? Thanks.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

To be fair, it's hard to design a physical contest that isn't biased for men, especially when half the men look like they go to the gym for two hours a day.

 

[Timewalker]

To be fair, it's hard to design a physical contest that isn't biased for men, especially when half the men look like they go to the gym for two hours a day.

The controversy was that it was an "answer the question and find the right room in a maze" puzzle where you had to maneuver a ball through a maze in 4 minutes, and the maze was in the shape of a house. It was one of those tip-and-tilt kinds of apparatuses and the bias is because the questions for the men and women weren't the same. They had to maneuver the balls into the correct room of the house, and the women had to maneuver it farther than the men. Therefore, their challenge was objectively more difficult. Social media lit up almost immediately, calling the show out for bias.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Oh, yeah, I did notice it was harder for some than others. I thought you meant the stepping across thing.

It is dicey, but the odds of that happening by random chance are also not that small.

I'm glad Keesha left instead of Kevin. Kevin was the only player his season who wasn't an asshole.

 

[Timewalker]

Considering the athleticism of some of the women, stepping on the round things isn't what bothered people. Some of the women did fairly well on that, just not fast enough.

In the earlier round they should have all had the same question. The women had to maneuver the ball right down to the bottom of the house, while the men didn't. That's not a fair competition.

I don't actually remember either Keesha or Kevin. They made that much of an impression on me in their seasons that I wondered "who are they and why are they here".

I wish Paul had come back. Yes, he was robbed. He should have won his last season.

Seeing Danielle... wow. She seems to have matured somewhat over the years from her first appearance. All that wailing and whining of "It's not FAAAIIIIIRRRRR!" and that POS father of hers, Evil Dick (that was one wacky season, with him literally getting away with assaulting another house guest).

 

[Danny99]

While I have been told I should be happy there was a season at all, I am stuck on calling some of these people All-Stars. Calling it "Second Chances" or something similar would have been more appropriate. You can't bring back people who never made it or barely made it to jury and call them All-Stars, Kaysar included (especially after twenty-one seasons).

One person I am surprised about is Day. I don't know if her edit is better this time around or not, but is coming off as someone who actually is playing a decent game, instead of being obnoxious and running her mouth as loud as she could.

 

[Timewalker]

While I have been told I should be happy there was a season at all, I am stuck on calling some of these people All-Stars. Calling it "Second Chances" or something similar would have been more appropriate. You can't bring back people who never made it or barely made it to jury and call them All-Stars, Kaysar included (especially after twenty-one seasons).

One person I am surprised about is Day. I don't know if her edit is better this time around or not, but is coming off as someone who actually is playing a decent game, instead of being obnoxious and running her mouth as loud as she could.

I'm expecting her obnoxiousness to pop out any time. All she needs to do is start babbling about how Jesus wants her to win, and that'll do it. I don't remember if she was one of the houseguests who was "speaking in tongues" but whoever it was, was extremely annoying.

This season seems full of generic people. Few of them have standout personalities, and once again it's a situation where I'm not even going to bother learning the names of the ones I'm not familiar with, for at least a month.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think the casting is very strong this season. They avoided anyone I hate but included lots of people good at the game.

Memphis’ gambit was interesting. Caused 7 people to waste their safety pass but may have made enemies in the process.

I like the Memphis/Cody alliance. Two strong players who played patsy to all time greats.

 

[Danny99]

I'm expecting her obnoxiousness to pop out any time. All she needs to do is start babbling about how Jesus wants her to win, and that'll do it. I don't remember if she was one of the houseguests who was "speaking in tongues" but whoever it was, was extremely annoying.

This season seems full of generic people. Few of them have standout personalities, and once again it's a situation where I'm not even going to bother learning the names of the ones I'm not familiar with, for at least a month.

She thought she was this power player when she barely made it to jury in her second go-around. She was one of the poster children of "playing too hard too fast."

I've always liked Janelle, but this is her fourth season. The third for Nicole F, Dani and Day. Did we really need to see them again? Other players like David, Christmas, Bayleigh, Enzo, feel like they couldn't find someone else willing to come on during COVID (although they do like to force Bayleigh and Swaggy down our throats).

I'm still hung up on calling this season All Stars 2 when so many of these players are nowhere deserving of the title. In this COVID landscape, did we really need to call it All Stars to get publicity? Second Chances would have been a more apt title.

 

[Timewalker]

She thought she was this power player when she barely made it to jury in her second go-around. She was one of the poster children of "playing too hard too fast."

I've always liked Janelle, but this is her fourth season. The third for Nicole F, Dani and Day. Did we really need to see them again? Other players like David, Christmas, Bayleigh, Enzo, feel like they couldn't find someone else willing to come on during COVID (although they do like to force Bayleigh and Swaggy down our throats).

I'm still hung up on calling this season All Stars 2 when so many of these players are nowhere deserving of the title. In this COVID landscape, did we really need to call it All Stars to get publicity? Second Chances would have been a more apt title.

I don't disagree with most of what you've said. "Second Chances" is more apt, though the people who have been on the show more than once don't really need yet another chance. I'm not unhappy that Christmas came back, since she didn't get to really show what she was capable of the first time around. This time, if she refrains from having stupid accidents, she should have a better chance.

I don't remember which of the houseguests was booted on the first day, but I don't object to him returning. It was petty of CBS to have that twist in the game, so he has a second chance.

I'd be okay with either of the Nicoles winning. They're reasonably likable and have their share of wins and a social game.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think they brought back David because a lot of people felt there was a racial component to him being selected for that first day competition. They *really* need to stop eliminating people based on first day competitions.

The problem with calling it second chances is that there's two winners.

I agree a few of the casting choices aren't exciting, but also look at the people NOT invited. Jeff and Jordan, Brendan and Rachel, Josh, Paul, or any of the other loudmouth narcissist bullies that make the show unwatchable. Maybe for the first time in history the cast is 100% tolerable.

I would have much rather seen Vanessa come back.

 

[Timewalker]

I think they brought back David because a lot of people felt there was a racial component to him being selected for that first day competition. They *really* need to stop eliminating people based on first day competitions.

The problem with calling it second chances is that there's two winners.

I agree a few of the casting choices aren't exciting, but also look at the people NOT invited. Jeff and Jordan, Brendan and Rachel, Josh, Paul, or any of the other loudmouth narcissist bullies that make the show unwatchable. Maybe for the first time in history the cast is 100% tolerable.

I would have much rather seen Vanessa come back.

I liked Vanessa, in spite of the waterworks and those annoying droopy suspenders.

Paul was obnoxious his first time around. He'd improved his social game the second time, and I really think he should have won. I'd like to see him have another chance at it.

Thank goodness we don't have Josh to put up with.

As an aside, is Amazing Race dead now? I saw Phil Keoghan hosting a different reality show, about people doing tradesmen jobs, and the winner gets $200K.

 

[Danny99]

I guess I'm frustrated because we don't have an idea of who was out there to be chosen from and who had said no. There were such better choices, in my opinion, that could've been brought in. Vanessa is a huge example of this. I didn't particularly like her, but she dominated her season.

Christmas annoys me because she was basically Paul's lapdog her entire season, broken leg or not. She had every opportunity to be a better person and didn't.

David is an incredibly boring player. I can get behind the idea that he was first out last year with racial undertones and I admire his mission to be the first black winner in Big Brother history, but other than that, he's wallpaper.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I looked at Wikipedia because if I miss the live episode I don’t care to catch up.

I’m glad David survived. He made more emotional connections.

On Wikipedia somebody renamed Memphis ‘Toxic masculinity’ and Cody ‘Father kisser’.

We don’t know if David is boring yet. He hasn’t played. But Tyler reaching out to him makes me like him more.

I also like the casting Ian a lot because he’s Aspergers, I have an autistic step niece and he’s representative of people who get left out.

 

[Timewalker]

Memphis is obnoxious.

I'm sorry to see Nicole evicted. I like her.

 

[Danny99]

I looked at Wikipedia because if I miss the live episode I don’t care to catch up.

I’m glad David survived. He made more emotional connections.

On Wikipedia somebody renamed Memphis ‘Toxic masculinity’ and Cody ‘Father kisser’.

We don’t know if David is boring yet. He hasn’t played. But Tyler reaching out to him makes me like him more.

I also like the casting Ian a lot because he’s Aspergers, I have an autistic step niece and he’s representative of people who get left out.

I have Asperger's as well, so I can relate with Ian and understand how difficult a social game can be with it.

Cody and Tyler are going to go toe to toe and eventually one will have to cut the other. We'll see who blinks first.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I hope Janelle is the one to be voted out this week cause Kaysar has never played without Janelle and I think Kaysar has a better shot without Janelle than the other way around.

At this point I think Christmas, Cody and Ian have the best game. Cody is the one in control, Christmas is the one everyone loves, and Ian has the same deal as the first time. He can just be himself and nobody will target him, even as one of the only two winners.

 

[Timewalker]

I hope Janelle is the one to be voted out this week cause Kaysar has never played without Janelle and I think Kaysar has a better shot without Janelle than the other way around.

At this point I think Christmas, Cody and Ian have the best game. Cody is the one in control, Christmas is the one everyone loves, and Ian has the same deal as the first time. He can just be himself and nobody will target him, even as one of the only two winners.

I don't like Janelle. She just seems like a generic vapid person without much personality.

I have nothing against Ian, but there are others I just like better.

The sooner they vote Christmas out, the sooner those annoying jingle bell sounds will stop.