Exactly. It's like those casts of The Amazing Race where 60% of the racers are aspiring actors and such. (Internationally, the cast members are sometimes *established* TV personalities, and they even appear in commercials in the show's ad breaks. Big Brother Africa was populated almost exclusively by…

The Australian one is pretty good (as someone pointed out elsewhere on this page), but the non-US versions are by popular vote (the audience decides) rather than in-house voting (the housemates decide). It's more a spectacle than a pure game.

I'm very ambivalent about him. I do buy that it must have been tough for him to be gay in such a monolithic/homogeneously "traditional" culture, but part of me still thinks he's being self-serving with the attention-seeking and the attempt at image rehabilitation. (And I guess the former needn't exclude the latter.)…

The (tribal) Immunity Idol is also much more literal than previous ones, which tend to be arts-and-crafty and "abstract."

(I couldn't help noticing that your last phrase is one that Big Brother often uses, in the non-US versions where he gets to talk.)

I seriously want to kill him whenever he appears onscreen.

LOL!

True.

I sometimes enjoy it, but that format (similar to the UK one) is tedious in that EVERY SEASON contestants feel obligated to go through the same stupid evolution from being naive about the game ("accusing" people of playing the game like it's a bad thing) until, finally, by the end, there are almost alliances ("almost"…

How would Andy have fared against Spencer?

Candice's game

His apology/explanation (for mentioning he would be conflicted about playing against his wife for a tarp, say) struck me as digging him deeper into the hole rather than actually helping. (Why bring further attention to yourself at a point where people are hunting about for the flimsiest of pretexts to vote you out?)…

At one point, someone (I think it was Gervase) reached OVER across the lap of the person next to him to PADDLE ON THE OTHER SIDE of the canoe, rather than, say, paddle on his own side but in the opposite direction.

It's a matter of time before someone quotes "A Streetcar Named Desire"…

Colton touche-d her with his paddle. Touche!

The cut to Gervase made me laugh so, so hard.

In contrast, Redemption Island just waters down the snuffing-out ceremony, with very little plus side save for maybe giving people hope that their favorite might make a comeback.

With (an) Exile Island, we still get the drama/strategy of the team sending someone out to (-) be socially excluded and alone against the elements, but also (+) have a chance to find an Idol. (And then the person tends to get sent over and over, to keep the number of people who could potential have the Idol as…

"Lord of Light, Marie!"

Pinkman almost wildfired Walt's house!