Dingo's Hamster Watch - Big Brother 5

"Position the habitat of your hamster somewhere light and airy,
away from drafts, heaters, direct sunlight and other pets.
Never put it on or near a television, radio or hi-fi or a fridge."

This site isn't about who should win, who will win, who I'd be friends with, or who is cute. It's about watching hamsters: which ones are doing what and why. Which are fun and which are dull. If they aren't entertaining, get rid of 'em! More to come, bookmark & come back! .. that dingo

Linkage

Daily feed recaps & opinion ratings navigation tool for this often-biased site
HamsterWatch Big Brother 8 here we go again
HamsterWatch Big Brother 7 Hamster all-stars in the house
HamsterWatch Big Brother 6 time to do it all over again
CBS Big Brother 5 the official site
Housecalls live web show with Marcellas, also archived shows
TV Updates feed updates, screencaps, and fun boards - easy to use and functional!
bb5fan's 30 second refresh screencaps if you don't have feeds (great at work!)
Hollyisms and Cowboyisms and Lisa-isms from me, that dingo person
Sir LinksALot Big Brother 5 all the links
Reality TV Links emphasis on individual hamsters' sites
Aldav has all of the edgier stuff & the best mini-recaps in town (alternate url)

9/4/04 - Day 65 >> to the future >> dwell in the past >> latest

Same stuff, different day

Diane: I'm so glad Marvin's gone

Diane: So if I pull this off and win the veto, are we gonna go back to normal?
Drew: So how many times did you guys kiss?
Diane: Uhh.. I think he kissed me twice.. once in the very beginning, and once that other time
Drew: What about Scott.. was there tongue?
Diane: I don't know, I don't remember! I think so, but it was just one of those 'hey kiss me!' things, so I did

Diane: I don't know about Marvin getting his own tv show.. some people work years for that.. they didn't just see Oprah on the street one day and say 'hey want a tv show?'
Cowboy: Actually they did

Days are pretty much the same as always, even with only five in there

Drew: I didn't sleep very good without you (yes he did)
Diane: I slept great!
....
Diane: Eeewww!! How long has this fish been in there??!!
Cowboy: Yanno, if they have internet feed, they can see who's missing
Nik: At least I'm not drinking before noon - it's almost 1

Nik & Karen get philosophical and say they've played an honorable game.. Nik uses a softball analogy.. visitors to the bathroom find a surprising sight

Diane lays out her plan to Drew & Cowboy, who are thrilled - even knowing they're both about to be nominated

Drew: Dude, we're going to make it to final four! Final three!
Diane: But you'll have to let me get the veto

Everyone's all smiles after the nomination ceremony.. they decide to play euchre, but it's lockdown again and they've left the cards outside

Cowboy: I've never eaten turkey ground beef before
Diane: I'm only going to eat meals anymore, nothing in between

Drew studies his photo, and prays aloud (something I haven't seen before - hi Mom!)
Cowboy joins him.. they hint about Diary coaching.. Diane passes through quickly..

Drew: Give me the strength to make it through..
(he finishes silently, then belches)
Drew (to Cowboy): Well, unless they want some drama..
Diane (passing through): I need to win the veto.. I NEED to!

Cowboy confronts Diane in HOH, and she firms up the plan

Cowboy: When Drew put you up, you said you wanted him out
Diane: I just said that so the girls wouldn't think I would turn against them
Cowboy: So you're honestly saying if you win the veto you'll take me or Drew off the block?
Diane: Yes.. probably Drew, cuz if I took you off they'd know something's up
Diane: If they win it, and it's me and Drew on the block, one of us is going home - probably him
Diane: If you and Drew are doing well (in the veto comp) you gotta throw it to me, it's the only way we'll all stay in the game
Cowboy: What about your alliance?
Diane: This thing (holds up her pinky) I only did with Nakomis..
Diane: If you can, throw it to me - if not, do your best, and one of you is going home

Cowboy heads back to the wood room, and Drew.. Diane isn't far behind

Drew: Dude, we made it far.. we've been together since day one.. she just helped us out here a LOT
Cowboy: Do you think she might be doing it just for herself?
Drew: Whatever, it's still good for us
(they talk about an old sitcom, and how hot the chick in it was.. Diane joins them)
Diane: It's ok for them to be conspiring all day but not us??
Drew: They're sleeping together! Of course they're conspiring
....
Diane: If it's endurance, I'll win it for sure
Cowboy: I guarantee you, if it's between me and them for endurance, I'll win
Diane: Then I'll kick both your asses

Outside Karen's talking to Nik about self-esteem and co-dependency issues she had in the past, how she worked on them.. the camera zooms in to show the logo on Nik's shirt.. later Karen blows a kiss to the camera, and shows her chips

Karen: See my healthy nutritional dinner? (reads label) It's got corn.. corn's a vegetable

(Albert Fish, from Court TV's Crime Library : 'This gentle-looking grandfather cleverly lured children to their death, then devised recipes to eat them. This cannibal model for Hannibal Lector is a study in criminal psychology')

Cowboy & Karen discover the back door of the pantry/conference center is open.. Cowboy checks in with Diane while she does her laundry.. (it's probably coincidental
she holds up a bra just then)

Karen: It's another part of the house! I don't want to go in there!

Nik agrees to let Karen put makeup on her.. and joins the mirror crowd to check it out

Karen: Really? You're gonna let me have my way with you?
Nik: Sure
Karen: I'm not gonna put foundation and crap on you though - you have such good skin you don't need it
Cowboy: I can do it

They discover a bottle of wine from last night still in the freezer.. Nik puts in under hot water for a minute, then chips away at it with an icepick.. Steaks are ready to go on the grill.. Drew tries on hats and mugs for the mirror.. and then..

Nik & Diane try to figure out how to light the grill
(this is what Drew later badgered Diane about: "What were you talking about??")

Nik (at dinner): If you kill a cow, and you cut its ass off, you can eat that ass as soon as you cut it off.. there's no bacteria in it

Surprise late booze delivery! They divvy up the goods, then play Ways We Could Make Fun of Each Other.. Nik does well at this game and makes several direct hits - but it's all in fun, of course..

Diane does a Girls Gone Wild style flash to show her tank top's built-in bra (remember she said she'd done a "show" for GGW with a friend once).. then Nik gives her a spank with Drew's help, kinda.. and she shows and pats her ice cream buddha-belly

Here we go again

Cowboy asks Drew from the shower if he should really go along with this plan.. can he trust Diane?

A little later she assures him that he can - with a patented Diane-Pinky-Swear® - adding "but you gotta let me win the veto"

Diane said before yesterday's HOH competition (and I think she believes) that if Karen won she couldn't put Diane up for nomination because of their early pinky swear - but she made it clear that she'd have put up both Karen and Nakomis.. today the promise with Karen ceased to exist at all.

Cowboy had a 'Kilroy was here' moment when talking to Drew this evening, and Drew's line to him about how to proceed was classic: 'You and I have a better chance of making it to the end if we're both here.'

But the bedfight that followed all this confirms that it's getting harder to find the fun with this group.. as per the rant below.

Refresh your browser on return visits -
often more stuff is added after an episode is posted as I get caught up
Thanks for visiting :)

Loose ends

I need to comment on a couple of things that may or may not be important, and I don't think I mentioned them here before.

One is the postscript that Drew gave Diane after he ambushed her about the supposed joke he was parannoying about, made her cry, and then nominated her. Later he told her it had all been a surprise in order to get her "natural reactions".. and hinted or said that he hadn't meant it, that he did have feelings for her. It was a quick cut on the feeds at the time, and I did not understand it at all after the brutal way he went about the sneak-attack and then nominated her anyway. It happened late after a busy night, it was hard to keep up with, so I think I let it pass in hopes it'd come up again if it had indeed happened like I thought. Which it now has: it aired on the show. Also aired was another Drew attack on Diane, this time about the infamous Marvin-kissing incident. That one I did address at the time, although I'd heard about it from various BB5 sites and didn't see Drew asking Diane about it that first time til it aired.

I was a little appalled by discovering there'd been not one, but two incidents of Drew confronting Diane with such hostility over things he'd been stewing on for days (while letting her do him each night.) And both events were largely unfounded. Drew's paranoia - likely combined with Diary Room prompting and the others dropping little hand grenades here & there - could naturally make him wonder.. but it was the intensity of his questioning, and the meanness in it, that disturb me. Along with the fact that she's right back there with him each time.

A third incident happened tonight, when he questioned her repeatedly about something he thought was going on between Diane & Nik at the barbecue grill. This one I did see - they were merely trying to figure out how to light it (since they didn't have the helping hand from Cowboy that Drew had when he learned how to barbecue.) Drew badgered and hammered Diane over (nothing), certain that it was something, and again with the same level of hostility. I'm not saying she's a helpless victim - on the contrary, she defends then spins and goes on the offense like a pit bull! She may be a headcase and a half, and would likely drive any guy nuts, but it's still fucked up. The thing is, she's been like that all along - but he was the "nice guy".. until recently. Drew's being a bully, plain & simple, and since we've already seen him succumb to bullying, it's all the more disturbing now that he's the big man of the house.

The other weird thing happened last night with Karen & Nik in the HOH room. I was on quad listening somewhere else, and figured they weren't doing anything unusual (talk talk talk).. but I found out that Karen had shown Nik some physical secret of hers, something she sounds ashamed of? Afraid of being found out? Something having to do with eating disorders at a young age and not developing properly as a result. Shrug.. I dunno, but everything's a potential factor in something. Just passing it along.

Any day chock full of new Cowboyisms is a good day as far as I'm concerned. Everyone's favorite doofus and perennial nominee has managed to resurrect the Four Horsemen alliance again, with the two surviving members.. the only problem is we can't tell which one is the front and which the rear. Cowboy even roped a new Holly-figure/Yoko Ono mascot into the deal this time, and she's a rootin'-tootin' pinky-swearin' one this time. Just a couple of small catches: he forgot how Drew betrayed the 4H that other time or two, and Diane's pinky-swears only count if they're in her favor. (See how that 'new guy' thingy happens when he wears a shirt?)

Late-night covers watchers followed the action like a tennis match tonight: they're sleeping together again! No they aren't. Yes they are! They're kissing again! Now they're fighting again! They're fighting faster! Longer! Harder! But alas, the payoff we've come to expect from Drew & Diane's cloud room bedfights has changed again: in a few short weeks they've reached a level of hostility and defense mechanisms that takes most boozy couples years to achieve. The worse Drew treats her, the more she keeps coming back.. she'll be lucky if she doesn't end up with some guy who'll break her jaw one day, or worse. Ups for good tv (in a sick, uncomfortable kinda way) and also to counter CBS's continual cheap shots at her: with everything going on in there and the wealth of volatile Diane material to choose from, they resort to airing her plucking a wedgie outta her butt? That's just not right.. it's fine for us snotty web types, but they're professionals.

Free pass expired! This guy has succeeded in finally making me truly dislike someone in this cast. He's all swaggery now that the big mean man went away and won't be kicking sand in his face anymore, or making passes at his girl anymore.. but guess what Drew? I finally saw the show, and the kiss that caused all your commotion - and it was the same night a drinky Diane planted one on Marvin in your presence. Let's review, Drew - your girl was always the instigator in these little non-events that threaten you so much, so stop believing her damsel-in-distress stories and open your eyes. Maybe if you'd kiss her once in awhile out of bed, instead of chasing her with bugs or wrestling her to the ground, she might stop trying to get your attention with all the other guys who are showing attention to her. And what's up with not wanting to kiss 'n wank anymore now that you know Mom & Dad are watching? I seriously hope that tonight's bully-the-girl session doesn't make them prouder of their little boy than some clumsy greedy sex. Take your nomination like the man you pretend to be, Drew, and get outta here.

Karen's done about all she can for now, and it's all going to come down to a crucial veto comp. She might be spilling a little too much (troubling) personal info lately: it could work in her favor but it might be a sign that the stress is really getting to her now.. more so than the frequent not-so-serious breakdowns we've seen all along. She mostly took the day off from working today, even though she cooked and cleaned up after the others as usual. It was good to see her glow as the artist in her came out doing Nik's makeover.. that alone was worth an easy ups today.

The (supposed) Smart One let another one fly today that proved once again that she isn't nearly so smart as she thinks - with a softball analogy, of all things. Talking about all the pissy attitudes and whispered plots throughout the game, she said 'Before you make a point (in a ballgame) you don't stop to think aww the other team won't like me if I do that.' True - but a ballgame winner isn't decided based on who likes you more, like this one is.. doh! I guess she's just rationalizing her inevitable upcoming loss by figuring she had the most runs as HOH.. unfortunately that won't buy her art supplies. I won't even go into cow ass dinner convo here. Nik was a good sport in the makeup chair, and she looked like a styling punky diva after (at a somewhat reduced comfort level though.. you gotta wonder why the chick whose tats enter a room before she does is afraid of a little mascara.)

Where to begin? I saw the Thursday and Saturday shows back to back (same way they happened!) and both felt like moving-picture versions of this site.. how can that be? Dozens of cameras and mics, seven people (the two evictions were too recent to count), hundreds of convos that boards all over town are picking apart word by word.. but CBS just happened to air most of the same scenes and dialogue that I've posted here? Again? And not just pivotal game events. Hmm I think at the very least that deserves a job offer of some sort. The huge downer of not giving us Marvin's farewells cancels out the big ups for finally showing some of the Drew & Diane train wreck for what it (almost) really is. Skipping the faux-drama of Drew's nomination angst (the scoffable 'internet treat') as he stared dramatically at the keys and the key box - awaiting stage direction - was a good move cuz we're still laughing from watching it 'live', and while Marvin's pot-shots at Ad/Nat were justified, they made him look petty since CBS never hinted at how bad the toxic twins' marathon venom sessions were. Letting Natalie's comparing Will to Charlie Manson slip through was a nice mini-demo of what they're capable of though (Will?? as Manson??? jeesh!) Finally, is it just me, or did Julie's not-live 'live' Saturday show feel different? Like she was acting differently knowing it wasn't really live? Maybe just subliminal on my part (although being a westie, it's never truly live here) but at one point I was doing something else while she was yapping away, and something about the tone of her voice made me look up at the tv to see what was going on.. it just didn't sound right. All told, a resounding neutral.