trainwrecky

I gave up on pre-season stuff a few years ago because my first impressions turned out to be wrong more often than not, and I've come to realize that the first show is really just an extension of the pre-season. BB doesn't really start for me until the livefeeds kick in. But I still like the first show as a chance to learn their names and figure out what role BB is going to try to stick them into, whether they end up going there or not.

And this year it was also all about the Twists. We have Audrey, the first transgender HG. It isn't technically a twist, but it was meant to get everyone talking. I'm just glad they got it all disclosed right at the beginning, and I'm kind of hoping it doesn't become any more of a thing than any other fact about a HG. Next up in the twist line-up was the return of "fan favorite" Battle of the Block. I know of no actual fans who like the BOB, and it seems "favorite" is just a term BB uses for "something we've done before." Then there is the BB Takeover with a new twist every week (aka, no matter what flops we can throw in something else). The first "takeover" was to send in Jeff and Jackie from the last season of Amazing Race. Being only a casual TAR viewer, and having not seen their season at all, they're just regular HGs to me.

The final twist is another re-run/fan favorite (though this one I actually like the first time around): the Twin Twist. Though it hasn't been officially revealed, we've all figured out Liz is swapping out with twin Julia. It's a fun feeder game for now, trying to guess which one is in the house, and having the JuLizia entity come across as a little bit of a ditz for seeming to occasionally have some odd form of selective amnesia. There's also potential for a weird showmance-à-trois where one of the trois doesn't realize the others are deux.

Oh, and James and Jason won the two HOH spots.

The feeds start up and we first get some staged nonsense with shoutouts and skits and everyone in one room. But that breaks up after a while and they start to settle into normal hamster mode. There's too many alliances, both real and fake, to count or keep track of, so I won't even bother for now. There have already been a number of tiffs and a few early targets have emerged.

We eventually learn that James nom'ed Steve/Jackie; Jason, Becky/John. John and Becky won the BOB, so Jason was dethroned. In addition to J&B, Austin and Liz are both safe due to a perk that Da'Vonne and Vanessa got for being the ones to sit out the first HOH. Seems James has had an eye on backdooring Jace all along, and POV draw (Becky/John/Jason--oddly the dethroned HOH and BOB'ed noms) locks it in. Steve ends up winning the POV, and as of now James is still 100% on b-d'ing Jace.

But the highlight of the opening of the feeds comes when some of the HGs are discussing having never broken a bone and Becky comes out with "I used to be able to say that, and then I was hit by a train."

We livefeeders collectively spit out our beverages on our keyboards and asked "WTF?" Turns out it was more of a trolley/streetcar than a train. She had stuck her head out to check traffic before crossing the street, and, well, there was traffic. The story takes on a rather surreal tone as she talks about all the horrific injuries she had to her face, but didn't need any plastic surgery. She also mentions how there was some debate about having brain surgery. One doctor thought it was necessary, another didn't;Becky and her family ended up opting for no. One of the other HGs adds "well, sure, because they would have had to like shave your head." Like your hair is your biggest concern when you need brain surgery.

Also Vanessa had a full-on meltdown, crying for hours about missing her girlfriend, etc. and going on about how none of this was worth it, people were mean, she couldn't take the isolation and maybe she just go home. It was hard to gauge if this was all for real or not, or maybe somewhat real, just played up for sympathy.

All in all it was a great, and content packed, first 24 hours of the feeds.

On a MyBBPOV "production note"....for my own personal sanity and safety, I'm going to have to scale back a little bit this year. I'll still be around all season, watching and tweeting, screencapping and blogging, but not quite as much as in past years. I haven't been able to keep up with a daily blog for the last few seasons, and this year I'm not even going to try. I'm aiming for 2-3 times a week, but we'll see how it goes.