Big Brother eviction a lesson in slow-motion humiliation
Have a heart Big Brother. The new-look eviction is as harsh as they come.
- Published by David Knox
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If it was designed to bring out conflict, the 2014-style of Big Brother evictions is just about as cruel as they come.
Gemma and Jake were both up for eviction but this year Big Brother made them both face off against their fellow housemates.
One by one contestants had to stand behind the housemate they wanted to save, verbalising their choices. It was humiliating stuff as 8 of Gemma’s housemates lined up, schoolyard-pick style, behind Jake. Only one, Priya, stood up for the towering redhead.
No question it takes a strong character to be able to face such rebuttal on national television, only to be paraded on stage just moments later. Kudos to her for enduring it with such dignity.
As an apparent world-first, to require housemates to deliver face to face evictions, it’s a strategy that offers great potential for conflict: tears, abuse, dressing-downs, payback -it’s all there for the making. But it could also be excruciating if it backfires.
Producers need to remember there is enough drama in the elimination and the farewell alone. It’s not necessary to put somebody through such slow-motion humiliation, just because you can. And aside from that, our host no longer gets to utter the famous “It’s time to go…” catchphrase. Boo.
Yes it’s Reality TV. But in an era when we don’t condone bullying, Reality TV should be able to have a heart.
Wow that is the cruelest way to be evicted, ouch. Good on priya for having a heart #bbau
— Ratachulie (@MissLange) September 23, 2014
This eviction is probably the worst ego wrenching moment in history #bbau #brutal — emma arbon (@emmaarbon) September 23, 2014
#bbau I never really liked her – but I’m now rooting for Priya to win after she did that for Gemma. Shows true character.
— Gidgit VonLaRue (@GidgitVonLaRue) September 23, 2014
Well Priya is the only housemate with a soul in there. The rest can feast on each other’s remaining scraps of self esteem. #bbau — Behind Big Brother (@behindbb) September 23, 2014
No one deserves to be in position like that wish they made the votes anonymous. #bbau
— Thomas (@DarkHorse_TM) September 23, 2014
Well that was one of the cruelest evictions I’ve seen. Good on Priya though! Nobody deserves to stand alone. #bbau — Ashley (@bashishot) September 23, 2014
Where does one go to complain about what just happened on @BBAU9 @Channel9 ? #bbau That was not acceptable.
— K D (@Mr_Fanta_Pants) September 23, 2014
This is disgusting outright bullying BB #bbau — Sigourney McDonald (@sigourney_hm) September 23, 2014
Really @BBAU9? This is almost bullying #bbau
— K D (@Mr_Fanta_Pants) September 23, 2014
@BBAU9 Disgraceful production. Are you going to fund Gemma counselling servicing after this? Ridiculing the poor girl #bbau — Ashley Leahy (@AshleyLeahy) September 23, 2014
this is unnecessarily cruel i dont care how much u dislike someone no one should have to go thru this humiliation #bbau
— CrystalMethylMerman™ (@itslola2u) September 23, 2014
Do not agree with the humiliating way Gemma was evicted tonight. That poor girl and awful for the housemates. #BBAU — Michelle Trevenar (@ct_mh) September 23, 2014
@RealityCheckAus would love to see you cover the first #BBAU eviction which was done face to face – how is that not bullying?
— Beckala (@Beckalaa) September 23, 2014
Feeling very sorry for Gemma! She must have felt terrible during her eviction… #BBAU #GemmaBBAU — Team Skye (@bbau_skye) September 23, 2014
@Eostara @BigBrothersNana @BBAU9 I agree that was hard to watch #poorgemma #bbau
— Tess Matthews (@MatthewsTess) September 23, 2014
Turns out #BBAU is a bully by the way the evicted, they new the way that would end her #GemmaBBAU — larry bird (@larrybi31316649) September 23, 2014
@mikeygold @BBAU9 not a nice way to be evicted. Really felt for Gemma 🙁 #bbau
— Jacqueline (@BundyJacs) September 23, 2014
Full credit to Priya tonight. Whether you agree with how Gemma played the game or not it was getting cruel how she was voted out #BBAU — Em (@egoodsy) September 23, 2014
Geez that was brutal…don’t like it #BBAU
— Thanh Nguyen (@T_Nguyen5) September 23, 2014
Bullying isn’t ok in the playground so why is it ok on national TV?! #BBAU #channel9 @BBAU9 — Jacinta (@jacalina88) September 23, 2014
That would be unbelievably humiliating. I’d hate being put in that position and each everyone choose someone else #BBAU
— Bec (@bec_giddy) September 23, 2014
I don’t like this eviction process seems a bit cruel #BBAU — • Jennifer • (@bemyhoodbby) September 23, 2014
It’ll be interesting to see how Gemma copes with her eviction. Seeing Jake picked school-team style was nearly brutalising her. #BBAU
— The Molklist (@MolksTVTalk) September 23, 2014
Gemma deserved to go, she didn’t deserve to go like that. It’s like picking teams at school – horrible. #BBAU @BBAU9 — callum ☯ (@calpenley) September 23, 2014
Update: Gemma has since told Nine’s Daily Mail site, that while she didn’t feel attacked by Big Brother, she was bullied by her fellow housemates:
“I did feel bullied at times. When you’re in high school you have that schoolyard pick.”
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42 Responses
Yes, cruel, humiliating & uncomfortable to watch however it *was* reality. This show is all about witnessing human behaviour and thats what we did. We saw someone getting judged and publicly humiliated and we didn’t like it – I guess something celebrities face every day.
If the voting was done behind her back would it be any less “bullying”? Would she have felt less bullied when she watched a tape back later? Previous years they showed the nomination reasons and voting percentages on stage. Is this any less humiliating?
At the end of the day we saw the consequences of her *playing* to cause conflict. We saw how some people (Priya) react and we saw how the “cool kids” behaved. A lot of other comments are now supporting Priya because we witnessed her character – which we wouldn’t have seen without this process.
And on another level, perhaps people will be more…
@jimmelb “Everyone needs to remember back to their school days, for generations kids have abused each other for being too fat / too skinny / too tall / too short / red hair etc etc etc, this happened long before reality TV / Facebook etc etc.”
Really? That’s your justification for what happens? By that logic we could say it’s alright for husbands to beat their wives and children. It’s happened for generations! Or for wealthy to keep slaves, I mean it happened for generations. Or for women to be sexually harassed at work. ‘Cause it’s happened for generations.
Just because that’s the way something has been doesn’t make it right.
I’m with @unclepete – how many people who have expressed their disgust with this behaviour will be back watching tonight? And how many more will tune in to see if there’s any fall-out?
People were complaining every day about how dull BB is this year (and then continued to watch anyway). Well, it’s not dull any more!
It’s irrelevant that the housemates signed up for Big Brother – bullying should not be condoned and should never be entertainment. Have we learnt nothing from past tragedies? Alex Mavroidakis should hang his head in shame.
A tweet or a comment on a blog will do little more than allow the tweeter/commenter to feel a little better about themselves. If people really want to effect change, they need to stop watching.
And yet the incident has gained wide coverage. The audience does have power.
Fairly disgusting and not necessary, just all round uncomfortable, the housemates casually “sorry/not sorry” just smacked of bullying in the worst way
Really nasty and uncalled for.
The look of absolute humiliation and and anguish etched on her face, as one by one, the housemates rejected her was uncomfortable to watch.
Even in the US version where the evictions are done by the housemates the remain anonymous, telling the host from the diary room which of the 2 housemates up for eviction (decided by the Head of Household) they wish to evict.
The US version is more like Survivor in that they form a jury to decide the winner, no public voting.
I would prefer that model here but then Nine would lose a valuable revenue stream.
This was cruel & I think they have finally jumped the shark.
Gemma was the instigator of a fair bit of conflict in the house during her time, she purposely caused arguments and made other people’s time in the house uncomfortable only to cry innocent when the others disliked her. Could she really expect anything less? It’s a game and she signed up to be a pawn, end of story.
Aesthetic: Nobody is disputing her as the selected housemate to go. It was the methodology. Reality TV has a duty of care to its audience as well as its participants. When it is a young audience like BB, it needs to be mindful of the messages it is sending out. Not end of story at all.
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ShaunMcDonald79 September 24, 2014 at 8:32 am –
I love it. If it was a boring run-of-the-mill eviction, people would be complaining about the show not being fresh. These people sign up to have themselves judged, poked and prodded. It’s part of the show! If you don’t like it, there’s always the power button
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That’s a bit harsh. This is less about Gemma and more about what this “scene” represented to kids everywhere. The screen grab captured in this article is a poster for many schoolyard lives past and present. It was made even worse by the sign of unity behind Jake with all housemates literally standing there hand-in-hand.
In fact BB 2014 has an air of schoolyard cruelty this year, which is ironic considering it is now playing in an adult timeslot.
Good on Priya for standing up and adding a bit of humanity to the episode (although I suspect there was a little bit…
Back to normal next week now pairs are finished.
its strange back when I was at school and they did the picks it never seemed to bother people where they were picked. But these days id hate it. how things change.
I don’t watch the show but that seems like a really cruel way to evict someone. Was the original way of evicting someone getting boring or something?
This was awful. I didn’t really like Gemma, but I felt so bad for her. I was so happy when Priya chose her. I was really angry that none of the housemates didn’t pick Gemma too, even if they didn’t like her very much – it was obvious Jake was safe.
Oh please, Gemma was one of the biggest bullies on the show, her self admitted strategy was to rile up the other housemates to get a reaction. Everyone needs to remember back to their school days, for generations kids have abused each other for being too fat / too skinny / too tall / too short / red hair etc etc etc, this happened long before reality TV / Facebook etc etc. If you want to see some real high quality bullying on TV may I recommend Parliament Question Time, watch how the supposed leaders of this country speak to and treat each other.
Reminded me of my school days being picked last for touch footy because I was overweight. It’s cruel and I hope each evictee will have access to counselling fully paid for by production.
That’s horrible. Poor form by the producers, I feel sorry that she had to go through that. No one should have to on TV.
Not sure what to make of Gemma. During the vote she looked devastated then when she’s talking with Sonia she seemed chatty and happy. Hopefully she’s ok.
Note to BB: Please return to regular eviction procedure. That vote off was pointless ( the balls),drawn out and insulting.
I love it. If it was a boring run-of-the-mill eviction, people would be complaining about the show not being fresh. These people sign up to have themselves judged, poked and prodded. It’s part of the show! If you don’t like it, there’s always the power button…
Even though most of the housemates are not nice people, the producers need to hang their heads in shame, they are taking bullying to a new level this year…
Tim was only bought in so he could bully David into shaving off his beard, and as soon as that worked he left….
How nice they must feel to be work place bullys, and other job they would be fired for such deplorable behaviour….
Definitely poor form from BB. It was a foregone conclusion that Gemma was going, so why prolong the agony and force her to withstand such a public display of what they all thought of her? Just cruel.
Personally, she never seemed that bad to me. A little too much in her head, probably needing a filter, but put me in a house with a bunch of ditsy young things and I’d probably act the same way. Her graceful exit only reinforces to me that she was a quality person and someone who would have been really interesting towards the end, when we get to really know the characters.
Not the first face to face eviction even on Aus Big Brother though. We did that when the housemates were forced to pick one intruder to stay and one to go (last year I think? The scruffy one and the sweet gay boy who ended up sacrificing his place?).
I wonder how many of these high and mighty twits will continue to watch the show?
This is exactly the reaction BB was hoping for. Expect more of it.
When will people learn that it isn’t good enough to just whinge about something? If you truly want change then DO something. It is as simple as pressing the Ch+ or Ch- on your remote in this case.
Even looking at that screencap is painful.
Poor form Big Brother. Brought back terrible memories of being picked last in school sports activities because I was a weakling but amplified by infinity. Disgraceful actually. Priya’s the only one in there with a heart. May she win for her humanity.
If people do not like this kind of what I would call very poor TV at its worst…….Do not watch it .
If this is what Channel Nine comes up with it is up to us to turn off.
This is the sort of horrible bullying that causes people to self harm….has anyone at BB thought of that possibility? Shameful and I am done watching this year.
Face to face evictions happened in Big Brother UK this year when Pav and Zoe evicted a house mate. Also happened later in the season with Ash and Christopher ‘evicting’ Chris, although that was a fake eviction. Definitely not a world first.