Arisa Cox is back once again as our intrepid hostess and I’m almost happy to see her. She’s actually kinda grown on me over the years and she’s far less grating than her first season. I’m sure she’d say the same thing about me.
The new Big Brother Canada house, the BBCan Grand, looks pretty cool though, I’ll give them that. They’ve styled the entire house on a Vegas casino theme (which has nothing to do with Canada) and are intent on following that theme throughout the challenges from the looks of things. I’m okay with that. I mean, production needs to do something to keep people interested and if they’re not going to do it with a better selection of people then they may as well do it with the decor.
Time to introduce the first five houseguests: Dallas Cormier, 24, from Saint John is a Journeyman Welder and a serious Momma’s boy but aside from that he seems like a pretty nice guy; Cassandra Shahinfar, 22, from Winnipeg works in a car dealership and says she studied at a university for her criminology major/psychology minor but personally all I’m seeing is a pampered princess; Maddy Pavel, 21, from Vancouver is a self-obsessed gym rat and server who, what a surprise, is interested in hooking up; Philippe Paquette, 21, from Ottawa is a criminology student with a passion for DJ’ing; and Sharry Ash, 30, from Toronto is a customer service supervisor with a serious athletic side.
We get a little bit of their home life as we watch them pack their bags and head out before Arisa invites them on stage and then sends them into the house. The first five houseguests enter in silence but it’s short lived as they take a quick tour of the house and Dallas welcomes them to his casa. Nobody seems to be in any hurry to check out the bedrooms or lay claim to their area but maybe that’s just the way it’s been edited because that’s usually the first place houseguests go to stake their claim.
The next five houseguests are: Raul Manrique, 21, from Calgary is a gay fashion stylist with a lot of energy; Loveita Adams, 25, from Fort McMurray used to work in the oil industry and used to do gymnastics (so what does she do now?); Joel Lefevre, 33, from Edmonton is a musical theatre actor who has never had a girlfriend (maybe there’s a reason for that); Jared Kesler, 24, from Winnipeg is a pipeline worker and a cowboy at heart; and Kelsey Faith, 25, from Calgary is a flight attendant and a part-time bartender . . . who also seems to be looking to hook up. Sigh.
We watch them pack and give a little bit of banter before we cut to Arisa welcoming them to the stage and sending them in after warning them that they may think they know Big Brother Canada but they don’t. As they wander down the stairs, Dallas welcomes them in with a drink and everyone gets to mingle for a bit. That’s ten and before we meet the rest of the houseguests we get the usual Brick ad, which is only fair since they supply the furnishings for the BBCan Grand.
Time for the final four guests: Paige Distranski, 19, from Thunder Bay is a Veterinarian Tech Assistant who traps, hunts, snowmobiles and looks good doing it but she’s lousy at math; Mitch Moffit, 27, from Guelph is a YouTube Star and co-creator of the YouTube channel ASAP Science with his partner (I think Wayne and I should talk to him about becoming YouTube stars); Ramsey Aburaneh, 26, from Toronto is a Digital Marketer and a proud Muslim; and Christine Kelsey, 47, from Vancouver is a Housekeeper and self-confessed cougar, these boys won’t know what hit ‘em.
We get some more packing and such before Arisa welcomes them on stage and sends them in. Paige looks like a deer in the headlights but it doesn’t stop her from entering the house and being welcomed by everyone else. There’s more mingling and getting to know each other. Philippe looks pretty stand-offish for a university student as the rest of the house cajoles Joel into opening another bottle of champagne. As everyone sits down and starts introducing themselves you start to see everyone making their own judgements based purely on looks, and age when Christine tells everyone how old she is. What can I say, it’s a pretty cast but where’s the twist?
Oh, here it is . . . Phil’s brother Nick Paquette, 20, from Ottawa is a huge grease monkey and university student and he has no idea that Philippe is already inside the house. Arisa welcomes him on stage, has a quick chat and sends him in. When he comes wandering down the stairs his brother is amazed to see him but says nothing about the relationship and as Nick goes through the meet and greet Phil joins in like there’s nothing going on. It’s not gonna last because Arisa intends to out the brothers before they can play the houseguests.
After revealing their relationship to the other houseguests Arisa tells the others how the brothers are going to play the game . . . they’ll be playing as one houseguest. If they get evicted, they get evicted together, . . . if they go all the way, they’ll split the $100,000 grand prize together, and each week they’ll only have one vote. They also need to figure out who is competing in the first HoH competition and from there on out they’ll rotate who competes. With that, it’s time to get ready for the first Head of Household Competition for Season 4. As they head up to get ready the brothers confess that neither one knew their brother was going to be in the house.
We now head into the backyard for One Night Stand, where each houseguest needs to stand on a narrowing slanted ramp while holding onto a rope over a shallow pool. The last remaining houseguest will be crowned the first HoH. Everyone grabs their rope and steps on to the their platform and there’s an added incentive . . . everyone bet on Joel to be the first one out but if Joel isn’t he’ll be safe all week, . . . the one they bet on to win was the brothers, which means Nick, who has to win or be locked in isolation for the night. That’s not a good place for the first night so the pressure is on for Nick to win.
As the competition begins so does the ice cold rain from the center fountain. As the houseguests move down the plank the ramp is getting wetter and then the water increases and they’re all complaining about the cold. Well, everyone but Dallas. Princess Cassandra is the first one to step down and save her mascara, so Joel is safe for the week and he steps down as well. There goes Dallas, then Arisa asks them to all move down again and there goes Christine, then Paige, then Maddy.
The rope starts to pull the houseguests closer to the edge and Phil hollers some direction to Nick, but when he tries to follow them he goes over, nudging Sharry over with him. Phil is crushed but I’m sure he’ll survive. Everyone else jumps down and it’s just Loretta and Jared left in the rain. Jared asks if Loveita will keep him safe and she agrees so he jumps in. Congratulations to Loretta, the first HoH of Season 4.
That pretty much wraps up the episode with the exception of the introduction of four International Big Brother houseguests who want to crash our pad. It’s a first in Big Brother history, allowing another country into your home, but it’s not really a surprise. The surprise is who the heck these crazy people are. Nikki from the UK is a hot mess who thinks she’s a legend; Jase from the US is a little more stable but not much; Veronica from Italy is a playboy model and bunny who all the boys like (what a surprise); and Tim from Australia is Australia’s biggest reality star, according to him. Apparently one guy and one girl will be voted in for the next episode, or maybe the one after that.
Before she wraps up Arisa teases the houseguests inside that there’s a few twists coming and that the first Wild Card is already underway. We don’t see the isolation room or anything else, just the shocked look on the houseguest’s faces and that’s it. So far, it’s not as bad as I had feared so I’ll probably keep watching for awhile and I may continue to blog about, especially if I’m getting any feedback from our readers that they want me to keep going. It’s up to you, and I’ll see you all real soon.