CBS took one on the chin Thursday night as they had to watch their brand new Big Brother 12 marketing ploy explode in their face when the members of the house voted off their precious “saboteur” Annie Whittington in the first elimination of the season! This was the first time the saboteur element was being used on the show and CBS promoted it heavily prior to the premiere on July 8.
Here’s the basic concept from the official CBS press release:
The producers of BIG BROTHER are implementing a major twist for this season’s batch of Houseguests that will top all past seasons. One Houseguest, known as the Big Brother Saboteur, will enter the house to play their own game, unbeknownst to their fellow competitors. The Saboteur’s mission will be to carry out viewer suggestions on how best to disrupt the lives of fellow players.
There was to be an interactive element to the saboteur’s activities as viewers would be allowed to vote on suggestions for how he/or she should try to disrupt the household. More from the press release:
Fans will Provide Unprecedented Influence over the Game as the “Saboteur” Receives Their Suggested Tasks Directly from the Audience.
So much for that! The funniest part is that Annie wasn’t really voted off because the house guests thought she was the saboteur, although Ragan did suggest as much in his goodbye video to Annie. Annie was just a victim of a game well played by Head of Household Hayden and Power of Veto holder Brendon. In the end, Annie was voted out of the house unanimously because she hadn’t really made any close friends and because she was up against Rachel Reilly, who didn’t seem to be a tough competitor and therefore not a big threat to the other contestants. Well Horribly played, saboteur!
Annie couldn’t keep her secret saboteur identity or her panties hidden.
The epic FAIL was highlighted by an excruciatingly awkward exit interview with Annie conducted by Big Brother 12 hostess Julie Chen in which the two ladies try to remain optimistic and cheerful about Annie’s diabolical havoc wreaking, which essentially amounted to locking the pantry and placing a bunch of beeping things around the house.
Annie’s chalks up her early dismissal to playing the game too hard, or as she put it, “I tried to play twice the game in half the time,” in reference to the fact that she only had to make it through half the season to take home a $50,000 prize.
Here’s the interview:
My favorite part, aside from the brief saboteur panty flash at the 3:04 mark, was Annie revealing that Brendon had flirted with her first but she turned him down and that Rachel was merely getting “sloppy seconds.” Julie Chen’s face puckers up as if to whistle and her hand does an “oh no she di-unt” shake. That was pretty much the greatest moment in the history of the Big Brother saboteur.
Thankfully us Big Brother fans can put that whole silly mess behind us and concentrate on “The Game” we have all come to know and love!
UPDATE: Big Brother Network is reporting that Annie has been sequestered by CBS. Apparently this isn’t rare, as contestants are often sequestered after their evictions, but it does leave the door open for Annie’s return to the house. CBS has announced it plans on revealing to the household that Annie was the saboteur on Sunday, so if she does return it may be as a regular contestant. The site rationalizes that since one of the original 14 contestants dropped out just prior to the start of the show that the network may be trying to come up with a way to get the show back on its usual schedule by bringing one contestant back at some point.
Meh. Let it go, CBS! If you get booted you get booted – you’re once again screwing with the simplicity of the show that we all love! I’m just glad CBS wasn’t in charge of Thunderdome! “One man enter, one man leave, one man come back maybe, maybe he leave again.”
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