When the 14 houseguests for Big Brother 8 were first revealed, some fans thought someone was missing: Samantha.  Who is she?  Well, the TV Guide Channel ran a video preview of the new season, complete with images and interviews of 15 different people.  When only 14 were officially revealed, suspicions loomed that the phantom Samantha would be a secret twist, or possibly even the mysterious America's Player.

It was nothing so sinister, it just turns out Samantha was an alternate.  Big Brother executive producer Allison Grodner said that they always have alternates "So it's something where there's always an extra person and since we don't know till just before the move in to the Big Brother house exactly if the alternate will make it in or not, sometimes they put the alternate out there and release the alternate to the press."

What is different, however, is that there will be a 15th houseguest, in a way: the viewer.

CBS revealed the details of this latest and most interactive of twists.  One player will be preselected as America's Player.  Each week, viewers will be given three questions about what that person should do in the house, and that person is then required to do it.  Not only does the audience get to become voyeurs, they get to play God.

Some of the questions will be strategic, as in deciding what other houseguests they should nominate or try to evict.  If viewers are evil enough (and they likely will be), this could cause all sorts of problems.  Grodner also told reporters that some questions would have nothing to do with game play.  America could possibly choose who someone might have a "showmance" with, or other personal things.

The kicker is that, if America's Player makes it into the jury, then the viewers will actually get to cast a vote for who will win the grand prize.  Of course, America could make it very difficult to get that far, if the viewers keep voting for difficult and strange tasks, as they invariably will.

It's just another small step in turning Big Brother into our very own version of The Sims.  We get to spy on their mundane, every minute, and now we get to control them.  Coming next season: brain implants so that people with satellite radio can subscribe to a 24-hour feed of a player's every thought.


Sources: CBS and WeLoveBigBrother.com
(Image courtesy of HamsterWatch)
Watch Big Brother All Stars on SuperPass
del.icio.us | Digg This | John Kubicek July 4, 2007 | Big_Brother_8 | Comments (0)

Big Brother 8 Secrets: Dick’s a Dad, Girls May Go Wild
Big Brother 8: Meet the Houseguests
Big Brother: Testing the voyeuristic desires of America
CBS announces big changes for Big Brother 8; to air nightly uncensored show