When
the contestants chosen to remain sequestered in a house
together for 12 weeks on the sixth season of the CBS reality
series Big Brother
were unveiled in early July, America was introduced to 25-year-old
Ivette Corredero, the first out lesbian houseguest ever to compete
on the series. A houseguest has been eliminated each week since
then, and the last person left in the house on September 21
will win a large cash prize.
Now
more than halfway through the game, Ivette has managed to avoid
elimination, but in the process, become one of the least popular
contestants on the show--on-screen and off. In polls across
the Internet asking which housemate is the most annoying, Ivette
has been the clear winner for weeks (although fellow houseguest
April is not far behind).
Even
in polls on AfterEllen.com, the number of voters saying they
dislike or outright hate her is 70%, with only 15% holding a
positive opinion of her. And despite the fact that Ivette is
one of only 7 remaining houseguests, only around 8% of voters
think she's likely to win ("the only way she could win
is if the rest of the houseguests die," commented one voter).
This
is in spite of the fact that Ivette's less-than-desirable behavior
has only been shown in very limited fashion on the CBS broadcasts,
with the worst of it seen only on the 24-hour live feeds, which
has a much smaller audience.
Ivette
has asserted all along that that she plays with her
heart, and unfortunately for her, she's right. Her emotions
drive almost all of her decisions, and she wears them on her
sleeve. Loudly. She got off on the wrong foot with viewers and
other houseguests almost immediately by repeatedly voicing ill-informed
opinions on a variety of subjects, most notably Muslim houseguest
Kaysar, whom she called a "fake Muslim" and compared
to Osama Bin Laden (she eventually toned done the anti-Muslim
rhetoric, reportedly at the request of the producers).
A
few weeks into the game, the house split into two alliances,
and Ivette developed an inexplicable devotion to one of her
fellow alliance members, Eric (whom she calls "Cappy"),
that quickly became tiresome. If she wasn't gay, you'd have
thought she had a crush on him, so out of proportion was her
attachment to him given the limited amount of time they'd known
each other (even Eric's official partner in the game wondered
aloud at one point whether she'd have to push Ivette out of
the way to give Eric a hug).
After
Eric was eliminated, Ivette attached herself to James, the only
person both alliances distrusted, and proceeded to defend him
when everyone else wanted to vote him out. She has even started
to alienate her own official partner in the game, Beau, by spending
so much time with James--who is almost certain to be eliminated
this week.
To
say Ivette is not exactly a strategic player is like saying
Janelle is not exactly a feminist.
In
an interview taped prior to entering the house, Ivette
declared she wanted to go on the show to offer "a different
perspective of what gay women look like."
So
what do lesbians look like, based on Ivette's example? Uninformed,
highly opinionated, borderline racist, overly emotional, frequently
hypocritical, self-absorbed women who talk a lot without thinking.
Which in the end, doesn't really mean much, because, aside from
the racist part, that description applies to almost all
reality show contestants, to one degree or another--especially
on shows populated by 20- and 30-something men and women living
in close quarters for weeks at a time.
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