Monday, September 15, 2014

Why I Hate Derrick's Big Brother Game, Part Two

Thirty-year-old Central Falls, Rhode Island, police sergeant and former undercover cop Derrick Levasseur is only days away from clinching a $550,000+ payday in Big Brother 16. He is nearly unanimously considered to have played a masterful game full of the kind of lies and manipulations to make former winners including Dan Gheesling and Evel Dick Donato take notice.  He has maneuvered his way through numerous alliances never having his integrity or honesty challenged.  He is the good guy, the husband and father, who loves the game and is playing to better the life of his family.


At least, that's the Derrick he has been in the Big Brother house. That Derrick - a mild mannered Parks and Rec coordinator - does not lie, misrepresent, bear false witness, hedge, slander, malign, break trust, or otherwise play a dirty game.  He is such a nice guy - defending the abused, speaking up for the little guy, so soft spoken and calm.  His only job in the house is to keep the peace, be your friend, and help you win the game. Frankie may be playing for kids in Africa, but Derrick is the real giver. You could not ask for a better partner. 

Just ask the remaining houseguests.  They are all so excited that the alliance they created with Derrick week one is still going strong.  Derrick has Cody Calafiore's back.  They have a final two deal to the end.  He has Frankie Grande's back.  They have a Team America/final two deal.  He has Victoria Rafaeli's back.  They have a final two deal.  Caleb Reyolds and Derrick, they'll be sitting side by side at the end.  Final two! Now, I haven't taken math for some time, but four separate final two deals would appear hard to pull off.  But not for "Dad-bot" - everyone's favorite dad.

Derrick is the perfect person to take to the end.  He hasn't won many challenges, he hasn't made any moves and he's loyal as hell. Just ask him.  He'll tell you what a poor game he's played and how he doesn't stand a chance against you in the final two.  But that's okay with Derrick. He's happy with the $50,000 second place prize money.  That'll put enough food in his daughter's mouth.  What do you mean and the $5,000 that he won in the HOH endurance comp?  Oh that.  Well the other houseguests are so much bigger and stronger and better than him, he'd say, he didn't stand a chance of winning that snowman challenge.  He had no choice but to take the money to put food in his daughter's mouth.  Now, Victoria didn't stand a chance of winning that HOH either, and she could have gone for the money.  But she wouldn't think of depriving Derrick of the prize money so he could put food in his daughter's mouth.  That wouldn't be fair.  I'm sure if she could have, she would have scooped her water into his container to help him win.

No, Derrick has played a flawless game.  He's everywhere orchestrating everything that happens in the house.  Make sure to point out how unpredictable Zach is.  Make sure to keep Cody and Victoria from checking notes.  Make sure Caleb is not alone with Frankie.  Make sure Nicole doesn't talk to anyone.  Isolate Donny, play up Hayden's threat, pull Cody away from Christine.  He is thinking 24/7 of who stands in his way and how to get them out.  It has been amazing to watch. 

So why am I now devoting another post to why Derrick's game makes me want to hurl?  Amid all the accolades and benedictions that will rain down on him after his coronation, there should be a fact checker. Someone (besides this guy's tweets) to point out that this greatest game of all time is actually the dirtiest ever played on Big Brother and to question whether winning as ugly as Derrick is about to is really worth the money.  

Derrick didn't just lie about his alliances and his final 8-7-6-5-4-3-2 deals (aka normal BB lies) he lied to us about his motivations, his strategy, his feelings.  In the Diary Room, with a straight face, he would tell us that he wants to save Donny or he wants to carry out a Team America challenge, when live feeders know both are flat out lies.  Why lie to the viewers, how does that help you win the game?  His lies go beyond the game to lies about his fellow houseguests.  Some of these lies were personal - not game - in nature, some might be considered slanderous outside of a game setting.  He also played with the emotions of some young, vulnerable people who, unlike him, are not trained and skilled in adopting a new identity, lying, infiltrating, and manipulating. He used his expertise in undercover work with surgical precision to break down houseguest after houseguest until they were not just evicted but emotionally eviscerated.  

Case in point: how Derrick helped hurt recent college grad Zach Rance's reputation in the house.  Zach had a very tight alliance with Frankie, one of the few alpha males in the house who posed a serious threat to Derrick's game plan.  A close alliance between two strong and intelligent players - one of whom he was with in Team America - could undermine Derrick's plan.  Zach also was close with houseguests outside of Derrick's main alliance (Donny Thompson, Hayden Voss, and Nicole Franzel) who he viewed as a threat.  He needed Frankie (and the rest of the larger former Bomb Squad now Detanator alliance) to turn on Zach.  Frankie and Zach were in the midst of an epic bro-showmance and could not have been closer.  How could he drive a wedge?

Make up lies about Zach.  When Zach wanted to shake up the game the week Cody was HOH, Derrick decided that Zach's unpredictability was a liability.  He had to undermine him.  So he told Cody - then one of Zach's closest friends in the house - that Zach was the saboteur and that he was getting $50,000 to f*ck with the house. (7/20 11:55)  He said Zach mistreated women in the house, jumping on a lie he heard from former Zach ally Frankie and running with it.  He spread this story around until it became gospel and Zach's "I hate Victoria" became Zach is abusive towards women. He said Zach was the saboteur again after Team America carried out the mission to hide houseguest's personal items.  He preyed on Zach's Liberal heart, telling him that his actions were literally taking food out of Derrick's daughter's mouth (8/10 3:04 am).


Derrick claimed Zach was so abusive toward Victoria that if he said the same things outside of the house he would have knocked his f*cking teeth out.  What had Zach said? That she was demanding and yelling at people to do things for her, that he didn't think Victoria really ran her own photography company and that she wasn't smart.  For the record, Derrick was the first to say that Victoria was not intelligent and he and Frankie both agreed she was demanding (8/5 4:06am).

The entire conversation about Victoria is on Camera 3 from 4:01 - 4:21 am on 8/5 and if you watch it, you'll see how Zach actually knew more about Victoria, had talked to her and paid attention to her life story, compared with her "friend" Derrick.  You'll see that his issue with her was finding her dependent and privileged.  But Derrick managed later to twist this conversation into proof that Zach was a bad guy who he would have to beat up outside the house for what he said.  As soon as Zach left, Derrick told Cody that if Victoria was his daughter, he'd "break his f*cking jaw."  Yet, after Cody said to Derrick that Victoria she wasn't that dumb, DERRICK argued with Cody saying, "she's not that bright."  So, it was okay for Derrick to call her "not that bright" and to say that he only has to put up with her for a few more weeks, but not for Zach to.  How will Victoria feel when she hears that her biggest friend, closest ally said that? 

Derrick also told Nicole that Zach treats women horribly and has disrespected her.  What had Zach done?  Teased her about being a have not, being a jerk about being able to eat regular food when she couldn't.  Juvenile, immature, but disrespectful??  Derrick was the one behind the plan to isolate Nicole after her closest ally Hayden was eliminated from the game and make sure she never spent time alone with anyone with whom she might ally.  After Nicole came back into the game, only to again find herself on the block, she was finally figuring out the truth about Derrick and his alliance with Cody and his alliance with Victoria, among other things.  On the block, on slop, in tears, Derrick came over and spoke with the vulnerable Nicolle.  He told her she was wrong to question him and would realize how wrong she was after she saw the show and would owe him an apology.  (9/3 10:43)
Nicole:  I trusted you.  I feel like everything I tell you definitely gets back to Cody ... that is why I was upset yesterday and just slept.
Derrick :  Look at me real quick.. I’m going to tell you straight up and I haven't said this all season if that is what you feel you are going to look really dumb on camera.. look at me real quick.. you are going to look really dumb on camera if you that.  If you think 90% of what you just said is true..... I expect a text message apology
Derrick told Victoria that he was disappointed in her for not coming to him after she heard from Zach about the Bomb Squad alliance (that Derrick had kept from her).  By the end of their talk, Victoria was apologizing to him for not trusting him (even though he was lying) and taking the word of "the biggest liar in the house" (Zach, who was telling the truth about the alliance). Victoria was crying and Derrick acted hurt and betrayed, breaking her down even more. (8/9 4-5pm) 

Again, I get that lying is part of Big Brother, a big part.  But there is something more insidious about a 30-year-old father, talking to a 22-year-old girl, telling her that everything she's put together based on the facts in front of her is not true, that thinking it's true makes her look dumb, and she's going to owe him an apology.  There is something worse about him telling another 22-year-old girl that she hurt his feelings and betrayed him by questioning his veracity, when he has been lying to her from day one.  If you don't see a subtle difference between clever gamesmanship and abusive, gaslighting-style manipulation, then maybe you love Derrick's game.  I don't. 

Derrick's "anything goes" attitude makes sense for him at work where the greater good is preventing a crime, catching a perpetrator, or saving his own life.  But that type of morally-bankrupt, unethical, win-at-all-costs approach has no place on what is in the end just a silly game show. Derrick is not owed the prize money and in a civilized society, even one that gets enjoyment from reality TV shows designed to show people at their most deceitful, we should at least question whether there are or should be any limits to how far someone will lower themselves just for a big payday.

15 comments:

  1. Just another Zach minion.

    Derrick said Zach was the saboteur to hide the fact that he, Frankie, and Donny hid the items.

    Derrick said those things about Zach right after Zach got done bashing Victoria for the 10,000th time (behind her back, as always) for about two hours. And Derrick was right to say it because Zach was verbally abuse to Victoria.
    -He said he was gonna punch her in the face.
    -He said he wanted to ruin her life and would stop at nothing to destroy her (happened week 2 in the beehive when he talked to the camera).
    -He bashed Victoria's photography business and said it wasn't a legitimate job (and this is coming from a waiter).
    -He constantly bashed her for looking in the mirror a lot. (Who cares if she looks in the mirror?)
    He basically said she was a pretentious spoiled brat who had everything handed to her and was mooching off her parents, which is exactly who HE is. He projected onto her because he's jealous of her.

    And the way Zach talked to and treated all the women in the house was wrong. Look up the definition of a misogynist and you'll find Zach. Every woman in the house was "the worst" in his opinion. He never said a bad word about any of the men. Look at how he treated Nicole after the double eviction. And of course, the only person in the alliance who wasn't doing anything in his opinion was Christine- the sole girl in the alliance.

    It's a game, and Derrick is playing to win and you're just butt hurt that he got out your favorites fair and square.

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    1. You're wrong. I watched the feeds and reported the conversations accurately. And my butt is just fine, thank you.

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    2. I watched the feeds and everything I wrote is actually accurate and not biased and opinionated like your stupid post was.

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    3. Anonymous 1 , I love Zach biut his game was flawed! He should have expected this type of thing and kept his guard up! Created relationships with people that would confide in him, not be afraid to tell him anything! Everything written here is how you play BB! It's no pansy game where upstanding citizens go to show how wonderful they are in real life! It's a game of manipulation for half a million dollars! Hate Derrick for whatever.... Being boring, perhaps! But why in the heck would you hate him for doing exactly what he signed up for? Crazy!

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    4. AGREE 110%...I am a live feeder and I saw the EXACT same things as you've reported and I've been watching #BB since Season 1...GREAT JOB!!!

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  2. This is how you play BB! Wth?

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  3. Your blatant hatred of Derrick and obvious bias against him is getting out of control. There is a reason literally, 99% of the past house guests, including Evel Dick, have sung his praises. Have you ever wondered why you seem to be lone detractor? Because you are biased. The silly game show you are talking about is just that a silly games how. It's not even a game show. Big Brother is not allowed to call it that, because it is run by a production company. They are a scripted entertainment show. If this show is so "silly", then anything should go. Derrick shouldn't be penalized for playing a very similar game to Dan in Season 13. Where is the hatred for him? Did you forget that Frankie was the one who actually made up the saboteur line about Zach? Because it was 100% Frankie. Derrick jumped on board after Frankie made it up. So that point is immediately invalidated for being false.
    Secondly, earlier in the season Cody and Caleb went to Derrick and Frankie and told them they didn't like how Zach talked to Victoria and Brittany. The week Brittany was on the block he was terrible to her. Like legitimately mean. He also tried to actually injure Victoria in the Greek hoh comp by throwing frisbees at her head, he admitted in the DR and on the feeds. Cody and Caleb didn't like it and they all talked to Zach about it and to knock it off. Derrick did not make that up out of nowhere, it had already been established by Christine, Nicole, and Victoria that they thought Zach was mean to the girls in the house. He also said some really mean things about Paola and Joey before they left as well. Zach brought that on himself by actually being mean to the girls early in the season. Derrick just used it to his advantage. Not dirty considering Zach opened himself up to it.

    The conversations with Nicole and Victoria are the really only times where he outright lied and manipulated to get both girls on his side. I still don't think that is terrible considering Dan did the literal exact same thing to Frank and Jenn City the week he got them to remove him and backdoor Britney Haynes. Dan also gaslighted Danielle in his season, so I'd like to know where you hatred of him is. Regardless, Derrick has not played a dirty game and he is not evil like you claim he is.

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    1. Exactly. Zach laughed in Brittany's face every time she missed a goal. And he was legitimately trying to injure Victoria by throwing frisbees very hard straight at her head.

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    2. I feel about Derrick exactly as I felt about Dan when he caused Britney to have her breakdown in BB14. It was way beyond good gameplay and went into hurting people just because you can.

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    3. The three female houseguests who claim Zach was so awful to women just happen to be the three that were under the control of the "hitmen" and listen to Derrick's (and his miniion Cody) lies. Teasing women is not what Derrick was claimined Zach did and not why Derrick claimed he deserved to have his teeth knocked out. He claimed Zach was disrespectful. Saying someone is spoiled and not smart enough to run her own business is not disrespectful. Frankie saying Victoria should be double teamed by the guys...now that's disrespectful.

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    4. Gwen, I went back to the live feed flashback and watched the tape from when Brittany started her punishment, the week she was on the block. He was joking with her about laughing at her if she mised, she joked about laughing at him if he was sent home, it was just mutual joking. In fact, Derrick, Frankie and Victoria were the ones who told him to come up and tease her, that she can take it. Cody, not Brittany, said he thought it was hurting her feelings and was a dick move, so Zach said he'd stop.

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  4. This blog makes me want to hurl, and could be seen as just as "slanderous" as you claim Derrick's comments are. He's playing for $500,000, what's your excuse?

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  5. So you're mad at Derrick for playing the game of Big Brother? I don't agree with him lying to America. But this isn't some kids game show like Double Dare where the contestants just want to have fun, and don't care about the prizes. They want to win the money. If you should be mad at anyone, it's Grodner for putting Derrick on.

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  6. You are playing up the age difference between the contestants to make it sound like what Derrick is doing is comparable to statutory rape. I'm not sure Derrick's age makes him obliged to always be truthful to those adults younger than him, or Victoria's age makes all other contestants obliged to treat her as a child. Donny, the oldest of the group, was the most frank and honest -- it did not serve him well in this contest. A 30 year old interacting in a less than honest manner with a 22 year old does not really rise on the scale of some moral horror, as you depict.

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