Big Brother 6's Ivette Still in the Game, Despite Herself
by Sarah Warn, August 30, 2005
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 voted).
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.
Several of Ivette's fellow houseguests have negative traits that are similarly annoying, like Howie's relentless sexual commentary, James manipulative behavior, Janelle's racist and homophobic comments, and April's, well, overall personality. But, with the possible exception of April, each of the houseguests have prominent positive traits to offset the negative ones, which earn them at least some respect from other houseguests and viewers.
Howie is frequently entertaining, James continues to win veto competitions, and Janelle is very intelligent, despite her efforts to appear otherwise (she's also wickedly funny, routinely slinging one-liners like "This is like Hell with studio lights," and baiting Beau with the taunt "You date older men!").
Ivette has good qualities, too, like her strong sense of loyalty, her directness, and her honesty, all of which are unfortunately, detriments to winning this game. Ivette's obvious affection for her at-home girlfriend, whom she mentions frequently, is endearing, and she does have occasional flashes of dead-on insight about people and situations.
But except for the last one, none of these traits are very entertaining or strategically advantageous, and they are greatly overshadowed by the emotional outbursts and short-sighted thinking she employs in the house. She's not stupid, and she'd probably make a good friend (provided you aren't Muslim), but she lacks the self-control and self-awareness to succeed in this game.
Interestingly, Ivette's sexual orientation has had little effect on her standing in the house, as no one but Janelle (who is "afraid of lesbians," because they supposedly hit on her a lot) seemed to care when Ivette finally came out to the other contestants a few weeks into the show. The reactions from the other houseguests ranged from idle curiosity to open support, and except for Janelle, even those houseguests who can't stand Ivette have not made the fact that she's a lesbian any kind of issue.
Sexual orientation is clearly the least of Ivette's problems, which, if nothing else, is a refreshing take-away from this season.
As the houseguests are fond of repeating, this game can change on a dime, so Ivette may yet emerge the winner of Big Brother 6. But if she does, it will be despite herself.
Meanwhile, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Maggie, the ER nurse from Las Vegas who is almost the exact opposite of Ivette: level-headed, thoughtful, athletic, calm, outspoken but not obnoxiously so. Oh, and heterosexual. But then, no one's perfect.
http://www.afterellen.com/TV/2005/8/ivette2.html
