I read on this board what really goes on in the diary room. Houseguests don't talk to a psychologist: they talk to a producer who pressures them to vote a certain way.

When they announced that whoever correctly guessed the time they had been planted which was closest to an hour... I thought the producers would choose the houseguest they wanted to win... not the houseguest who really was planted closest to an hour.

I think it's rigged.

• The standard answer:,Estee, 03:31 AM, 07-30-08
• RE: While watching planted people, I was wondering if producers "chose" the one they wanted to win. ,Snidget, 07:25 AM, 07-30-08
  • RE: While watching planted people, I was wondering if producers "chose" the one they wanted to win. ,observer, 10:21 AM, 07-30-08
    • RE: While watching planted people, I was wondering if producers "chose" the one they wanted to win. ,Snidget, 10:28 AM, 07-30-08
      • RE: While watching planted people, I was wondering if producers "chose" the one they wanted to win. ,observer, 11:52 AM, 07-30-08
        • RE: While watching planted people, I was wondering if producers "chose" the one they wanted to win. ,Snidget, 12:08 PM, 07-30-08

http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/DCForumID9/1149.shtml

I'm not surprised people went over so I don't see this as proof they decided that everyone went over an hour even though they really were only in there 45 minutes.

Some people have a good sense of time passing, but doing it while they are doing their best to mess with you isn't that easy. Without the Chinese Water Torture (or depending on setting, spa treatment) the worms and the compost and all that I think they would be better at guessing.

I know I couldn't guess when an hour happened so I'd be basing my leaving the pot on strategy not on what time I thought passed.

I never thought the diary room was just for psychological counseling. That is where all the confessionals come from and I don't think they just let people on any show just ramble on and just film it. They want information for good story telling so they are bound to ask leading questions of anyone in any confessional on any show.

How effective they are at pressuring people to vote for a specific person when that is not the person that people want to vote for, I don't know. It seems like the manipulation is heavy handed enough that the hamsters are aware that it is going on. Now there could be a bit of Stockholm Syndrome going on where you feel you have to do what they say to get rewards and avoid punishment. That being said the hamsters do seem very aware of which leading questions are manipulation attempts.

I think the producers might have predetermined who they wanted to win this particular competition. So, even if Keesha had the worst estimate of how long she had been planted, they declared her the winner. I don't think the houseguests have a clock or watches. I don't think this competition was on the feeds either, so viewers couldn't check the time for themselves.

I read that houseguests have fallen off of perches in endurance competitions. They get back up, and the part about them falling off is edited out.

I really thought that there was a psychologist available in the diary room to help the houseguests deal with the stress of being on the show.

I had been also been watching another TV show while I was watching Big Brother. I didn't have the energy to think about how the planting could have been rigged, so I stopped switching channels and concentrated on my other TV show.

LAST EDITED ON 07-30-08 AT 10:30 AM (EST)

I think they have psychologists on call, but that the diary room is mostly for confessionals and discussions with producers.

ETA. I assume any footage from a therapy session is stuff they can't air, so I'm guessing anything we see is either from one of the times they are called to the diary room or when they do something funny and want to gloat (like the Will/Boogie sessions).

Therapy is supposed to be confidential, but I wonder if they make an exception for Big Brother... and the producers hear everything.

I always thought houseguests were sent to the diary room if they broke a rule. I didn't know about houseguests being sent to the diary room to get pressured by a producer until I read it on this board. I had always assumed that the producers didn't try to influence the outcome of the show, or any competitions on the show.

LAST EDITED ON 07-30-08 AT 12:10 PM (EST)

On the live feeds you hear them being called to the diary room all the time. Especially the times things have almost escalated to a physical altercation, or any other sort of rules violation is going on (like singing on the live feeds, etc. although some minor things like not having your microphone on they just announce to the whole house...depends on how much of a talking to you need).

See, I'm cynical and I've always assumed that producers have favorites that they want to win.

I don't think things are rigged to the point that they never allow any competition to come to its natural outcome. I do think that on most shows there are ways that the producers can try to influence the outcome so they have what they think is a better story. For vote in shows it can be as simple as who gets the final dance/song/performance. I also believe when they are setting things up they look at the cast and chose certain competitions over others because of who they think will do well.

If anything manipulation on Big Bother has been seen and understood much more than most shows as we have the live feeds and we see a lot of what goes on that doesn't make it to the show. The live feeders always have a very different picture of the hamsters than the people who just watch the shows and the editing is only about manipulating the audience. We know from people on shows that we only see what the producers want us to see they will use sound from one clip over footage from another clip or show things out of order to tell a better story than what was real.

The most important thing on any show is the ratings and what you can charge the advertisers. Whatever they have to do to ensure "good TV" or at least "bad TV that is so bad it is good" they will do.

Of course it goes both ways. The people on shows have all sorts of ways they manipulate the system. Most don't work on Big Bother because of the live feeds, but many people who have been on other shows will flip at the bird over their face when talking about things they don't want broadcast or other curse every other word, etc. Basically make it so you can't blur or edit a piece of film into something you can air.

ETA. Again I think the times they are in the diary room with a therapist we never see that footage. We never see the diary room on the live feeds (well almost never, they've had a few momentary blips on live feeds). If they are just answering questions the producer asks or they go in there just to vent and not be seen by their fellow hamsters that is what makes it to air.