Big Brother 19 — Josh, Mark, and the Hot Sauce

Hi y’all!

In case you didn’t know this, I am one of those people who has watched every episode of Big Brother’s American version since the beginning.  There were some seasons to which I paid more attention, of course.  Unlike a lot of superfans, I can’t remember the name of every single person who was ever in the house.  However, during each summer, I do get very emotionally involved with what’s happening in the house.  I have spent more than a few nights complaining to anyone who will listen about how much I hate production interference or why I think the latest super alliance is going to fall apart.  Pity my poor boyfriend.  He doesn’t even watch Big Brother and he’s still had to spend several nights listening to me explain why Paul’s been given too many advantages.

My point is that I love Big Brother and I love writing about.  That said, occasionally something will happen in the house that — after all of these seasons — will still take me by surprise.  Something will be done or said and I’ll just find myself saying, “Is this what the season’s really going to be like?  Can we just pretend that didn’t happen?”

Of course, the correct answer is always: No.  We can’t pretend that something didn’t happen, regardless of how stupid, immature, or offensive it may have been.

For instance, yesterday, after the veto meeting, Mark and Josh played a game of pool.  They made a bet.  The loser of the game would have to drink a glass of pickle juice with hot sauce mixed in.  This simple game of pool quickly started to turn into some sort of bizarre Big Brother Hunger Game, with Mark and Josh both going overboard with the taunts and the trash talk.  It all came down to one final shot.  Mark claimed that Josh scratched and therefore lost.  Josh demanded another shot and, when Mark refused to give it to him, Josh announced that meant Mark had lost.

Now, I’ve seen stuff like this happen before.  Boys tend to get hyper competitive whenever there’s a pool table around.  They also seem to have a hard time admitting that anyone could possibly be a better pool player.  Whenever I’ve seen guys play pool, there always seems to be claims of cheating or whatever.  Usually, it gets resolved over another game.

However, that’s not how things work in the Big Brother House.  Now, let’s see if I can keep this straight.  Josh went off and got a cup of pickle juice and hot sauce.  He brought it outside to Mark.  Mark asked if Josh really believed that he had won the game.  Josh said that he did win the game.  Mark responded by throwing the contents of the cup in Josh’s face.

Seriously?

Okay, first off — why?  Why would you do something that stupid?  Over a pool game?  Seriously, it’s not like Josh has much power in the house.  It’s not like Josh was going to be able to force Mark to drink what was in the cup.  If Mark was really offended, he could have just targeted Josh next week.  Or he could have been “the bigger man” and just walked away.  Instead, he threw the cup in Josh’s face!

Secondly, hot sauce and pickle juice is not a good combination.  It’s especially not something that someone should get in their eyes.  So, I’m having a hard time seeing how this is not a violation of the Big Brother rules.  Josh responded by throwing a combination of ketchup and ranch dressing at Mark.  The Big Brother voice announced, “Stop that!” as Mark and Josh chased each other around the yard but, otherwise, I don’t think Mark’s been disciplined in any way.

Anyway, this led to an angry Josh launching into one of his monologues.  He sat in the hot tub and announced that he had no respect for Mark.  When Mark attempted to apologize, Josh brushed him off and announced that he knows that Mark and Elena wanted to target Paul and Christmas during the first week.  Josh also used this incident as another excuse to attack Jessica, telling her that he has no problem lying to her because he doesn’t feel any loyalty to her.  Josh basically accused everyone in the house of plotting against everyone else.

All of this somehow led to Dominique and Christmas having an argument, in which both of them accused the other of being dishonest and disloyal.  Now, Christmas is planning on voting out Dominique.  She spent most of yesterday bragging about how she had shut Dominique down.

But the person who may currently be in the most trouble is Josh.  While Mark certainly didn’t make himself look good by throwing that stuff in his Josh’s face (and personally, I think that if the rules were being followed, Mark would have been expelled from the house), Josh proceeded to blow up his entire game.  Instead of just concentrating his anger on Mark, he ended up yelling about how everyone in the house is a liar.  Nobody wants to work with a loose cannon.

And I imagine we’re going to see more blow-ups from Josh in the future because, later that night — after Josh had calmed down — Jessica let him know that some of the women feel that he has been trying to peek on them when they’ve been in the shower.  Josh said he was shocked to hear that.  I can guarantee you that Josh will bring this up the next time he gets mad.

That said, if there is any hope for Josh, it appears to be that Paul is not in any hurry to get rid of him.  Last night, while Jessica was talking to Josh, Paul was talking to Alex and, in his typical Paul way, trying to forge a mini-alliance with her.  Paul said that there was no point to get rid of Josh, that it would be better to keep him around “to do our dirty work for us.”  Paul feels that next week’s nominees should be Jessica and Ramses.  Alex is worried about Kevin, because Kevin voted to evict Ramses.  Paul, of course, never mentioned that he ordered Kevin to vote for Ramses.

Anyway, today has been much calmer in the Big Brother House.  Everyone knows that Dom is leaving so now, it’s just a case of waiting for Thursday.  What they do not know is that there will soon be a battleback and someone will be reentering the house.

We’ll see what happens!

Lisa Marie