A few days ago I saw something on Twitter that I thought was interesting. Andy from BB15 had a thread talking about how BB production favors white, heterosexual couples when it comes to bringing people back into the game. He has been upset about his reputation not being respected due to his sexuality, but that is for another blog...
After seeing this, I wanted to do my own research and see how true this was:
Here are all the players who have been brought back for a 2nd season in Big Brother. (This does NOT include players who have returned to the game in the same season, only those who were brought back for a completely different season):
In the past 21 season + BBOTT & CBBUS, there have been 31 Returning Players (29 unique, with Boogie & Janelle returning 2 times)
Season 7: All Stars
Alison Irwin
Nakomis Dedmon
Jase Wirey
Diane Henry
Kaysar Ridha
Marcellas Reynolds
Howie Gordon
James Rhine
Danielle Reyes
Chicken George
Will Kirby
Janelle Pierzina
Erika Landin
Mike Boogie
Season 11
Jessie Godderz
Season 13
Dick Donato
Daniele Donato
Jeff Schroeder
Jordan Lloyd
Brendon Villegas
Rachel Reilly
Season 14
Janelle Pierzina (again)
Mike Boogie (again)
Britney Haynes
Dan Gheesling
Season 18
Frank Eudy (for some reason I don’t remember him coming back)
Da’Vonne Rogers
James Huling
Nicole Franzel
Season 19
Paul Abrahamian
BBOTT
Jason Roy
NOW, TIME FOR SOME SIMPLE ANALYSIS
🔸Ethnicity:
Of these contestants, 24/29, 82.76%, were white. If you count Jani & Boogie twice, it is 26/31 (83.87%).
The 5 nonwhite returners being Kaysar (BB7), Marcellas (BB7), Danielle (BB7), Da’Vonne (BB18) and James (BB18)
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🔹Sexuality:
Out of all the returning contestants, 27/29 (93.10%, or (93.55% with Boogie & Jani x2) have been straight.
The only 2 openly LGBTQ+ returners were Marcellas (BB7) and Jason Roy (BBOTT). For those who don’t count BBOTT as a part of mainstream BB, not having a gay returner back in 14 seasons is questionable…
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🔺Showmances:
Out of the 27 straight returners, 9 (33.33%) of them were in a showmance in their first season. (or 9/29 of all returners is 31.03%):
Diane (with Drew)
James (with Sarah)
Dani D (With Nick (but now with Dom)
Jeff (with Jordan)
Jordan (with Jeff)
Brendon (with Rachel)
Rachel (with Brendon)
Mike Boogie (with Krista)
Nicole Franzel (with Hayden)
Not to mention those who would get in a showmance in their second season:
Will (Janelle)
Janelle (Will)
Erika (Boogie)
James (Natalie)
Boogie (AGAIN)
Nicole (AGAIN with another white boy of the month)
With around 1/3 of all returners being in a showmance, it could be argued that if you want to return, try to get in a showmance! If that fails, just hope you're a white straight person.....
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OVERALL COMPARISON
Now I wanted to look a bit more into it and see how these returning percentages compare against the entire pool of BB Contestants. Thankfully, there was this really cool website that did that work for me: https://vincedixonportfolio.com/app/big-brother-diversity/
IN COMPARISON TO ALL BB CONTESTANTS;
Total BB Contestants: 307
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🔸Race Comparison
Black Contestants: 12% of all contestants
Latin/Hispanic Contestants:7%
Asian Contestants: 4%
All Time vs Returners:
Total Non-White Contestants: 23%
Total Non-White Returners: 16.12%
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🔹Sexuality
Total LGBTQ+ Contestants: 12%
Total LGBTQ+ Returners: 6.45%
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It can be argued that "not all minority players have played well enough/are liked enough to return. However, I would argue that Brenchelle & Jeff & Jordan didn't return due to their overall gameplay but because they were two white showmances that fit a certain mold.
In MY opinion, I would say that minorities have been misrepresented when it comes to returning players. The real test will be when it comes to BB All Stars 2, especially when it comes to LGBTQ+ returners. Will they bring back actual good players like Kaycee, Vanessa, Christie, Tommy, Frankie?
Or will they continue to push showmances like Tyler and Angela or the same faces that production worships like Derrick and Paul.
I think that it's because there's a larger pool for "generic" (non-minority) to be cast into more strategic roles. For example, how many black women were cast with the intention of them being threats? Maybe just Danielle Reyes honestly. Monica Bailey as well.
The article is right about the tokenism with gay men, but they also incorrectly labeled Annie as bisexual when she's actually a lesbian (she later came out as lesbian on Twitter, stating that she temporarily used bisexuality as a "stepping stone" towards coming out).
Loopspeare I see what u mean, but not all returners are brought back with the purpose of being a threat. Britney Haynes for example was brought back due to her popularity.
Plus it’s not like the contestants are fictional characters, they can change their game play and strategies
For all-stars, they were definitely all intended to be threats, SmoothStalker12. I'd also like to think that the coaches were intended to be good players too. Britney did play well in my opinion. Other returning seasons though? It's a mix of both.
I personally see little issue with there being fewer returns in particular demographics than others because these players simply aren't as deserving to return.
Lets take BB14 for example, coaches. The returning players were legends of the game. I wouldn't want them to cast Kevin, Ragan or Lawon just because they're gay. Similarly, BB18 required big fan favorites. I wouldn't want CBS to deliberately cast Andy or Frankie just because of their sexuality because they were not loved by the fans.
The problem clearly stems from the initial casts. I do agree that BB needs to stop casting 'the gay guy', 'the black woman', 'the old man', etc. It's been done to death and it's really quite insulting to be honest. Then, if they perhaps cast three two-straight people, or three African-American individuals, or four 40+ houseguests, then that would likely result in an increased amount of memorable/popular/gamers in which would justify a return.
Regarding showmances, I just think that is something that is exciting that makes some houseguests memorable. For example, Bayleigh & Swaggy C. They're popular largely because of their showmance. That is what would help them be recast.
Luckily, in recent years I do believe we have seen slight improvement in the show's diversity. I think this shows with the selection of names suggested for the upcoming season, too. Kaycee, Vanessa, Frankie, Tommy, Da'Vonne, David, Josh, James, Donny, Cliff, etc. Hopefully if it is a returnee season we get to see a lot of these people!
Survivor all the way. And let’s no act like they aren’t problematic in ways too. Anyone remember Vanuatu? I’d sure have loved to see my love represented but it was “too risky”
I’ll also add the blatant torching of Missy and Elizabeth while Tommy (their winner) was clearly supporting him all season long. But we didn’t see any confessionals of that did we?
And before I take heat for defending Missy. Watch the season again. Dan was shown touching her. Whether she felt comfortable or not is besides the point. She never should have had to make that decision. The behaviour should have been stopped on spot from Dan.
