Dingo's Hamster Watch - Big Brother 5

"Position the habitat of your hamster somewhere light and airy,
away from drafts, heaters, direct sunlight and other pets.
Never put it on or near a television, radio or hi-fi or a fridge."

This site isn't about who should win, who will win, who I'd be friends with, or who is cute. It's about watching hamsters: which ones are doing what and why. Which are fun and which are dull. If they aren't entertaining, get rid of 'em! More to come, bookmark & come back! .. that dingo

Linkage

Daily feed recaps & opinion ratings navigation tool for this often-biased site
HamsterWatch Big Brother 8 here we go again
HamsterWatch Big Brother 7 Hamster all-stars in the house
HamsterWatch Big Brother 6 time to do it all over again
CBS Big Brother 5 the official site
Housecalls live web show with Marcellas, also archived shows
TV Updates feed updates, screencaps, and fun boards - easy to use and functional!
bb5fan's 30 second refresh screencaps if you don't have feeds (great at work!)
Hollyisms and Cowboyisms and Lisa-isms from me, that dingo person
Sir LinksALot Big Brother 5 all the links
Reality TV Links emphasis on individual hamsters' sites
Aldav has all of the edgier stuff & the best mini-recaps in town (alternate url)
Today's must-click special: Grin's BB5 Park: Day 51 with Special Guest Appearance Jokers
Bonus must-click special: What they bought at Amazon.com - from Aldav

8/21/04 - Day 51 >> to the future >> dwell in the past >> latest

If they only knew

Most of the hamsters admit to having seen the show. I don't know if any of them have ever seen the internet feeds or have any idea how pervasive they are, let alone what a heavy hand the editors use to come up with what's shown on tv.

They are aware of the shower and toilet cams - although we're denied those feeds unless a toothbrush or chicken incident takes place in them (no such luck yet this year) - and all take precautions to prevent being nekkid in the open. Even the 3 Nekkid Horsemen only streaked the occasional rowdy evening. A couple have let slip that Diary Room has told them they have "internet fans" but it's clear they're not told about their legions of internet non-fans.. Nor do they seem aware of the many boards and chatrooms that consistently chip away at their looks, actions, and characters to the point of hate-speech.. or that sites like this and Aldav exist for the sheer delight of having fun at their expense. I would feel bad about what I'm doing here at HamsterWatch if it weren't for the fact that they volunteered for the job.. it isn't my fault they didn't listen to producer cautions or read the fine print before signing their contracts to stardom.

On to the day - it was a strange one..

Another competition, another excuse to primp according to one's fashion alliance..

..another pricey apparatus, another dutiful reading of the rules, another win

(sorry about pic quality - these are quick snaps between fishies)

Their reward is being let loose on the internet - but alas, without a keyboard
They go spree shopping at Amazon.com (you can too!)

Diane roots around for something.. Nik wants the Bowflex that's for the abs

Slumming in the clouds while they pull the access plug in her HOH room, Nik poses
and plays with her navel ring while Karen remains perceptive and photogenic

Nik: So what was the deal with them trying to wake us up every 10 minutes this morning?
Karen: Cuz it's Saturday and the internet fans want to see us walking around

Diane takes Q-tip & makeup in hand to give Marvin another new look
(currying favor with the producers and guaranteeing themselves some tv time)
She does an impressive job of it and receives kudos from all

Diane: I got a little artism in my heritage

Most of them cocoon the long afternoon away.. Diane & Drew are exhausted
(with good reason) .. even in sleep she elbows herself in front of him
Ad/Nat take advantage of the opportunity to plot, as always..
but first, a brief Cowboyism interlude!

about Nat's shirt <koff>: That's a nice kitty.. I see that and I just want to pet it

Finally alone, the Fitness Twins conspire and uhh.. stuff

They wait for the veto competition in "us" and "them" formation
The twins trash-talk and rally in typical fashion: "Are you ready?" "I was born ready"
.. until even they've had enough

They return around midnight (maybe sooner - feeds were broken for awhile)
and find the new hamsters from the comp have moved in..
They also find food! Everyone's happy.. except.. uh-oh

The night drags on with drama, drama, drama.. same stuff - different day
(I kinda like how Adria peeks during her sympathy hugs though)

Diane makes her nightly rounds, "confiding" and sucking up to anyone with
influence - even Marv (look away, Drew) - while the twins cry themselves to sleep
..prolly fueling more than a few fantasies, even if their own is ruined

This is just messed up

Back where we started this day: we have yet to view the shower from inside the stall.. the feed switchers seem to be giving the hamsters that much privacy at least, and showering hamsters often hold conversations with bathroom loiterers..

So there wasn't anything particularly unusual about Cowboy talking to a twin from the shower.. except for how suddenly the feed switched to him from the middle of something else going on somewhere else..

The camera operator running round a corner and then rushing to focus a close-up on Cowboy's face tipped me off that something "unusual" was definitely going on in there..

We arrived just in time to see Cowboy's tell-tale expression, and hear him telling Ad/Nat what a nice evening it had been.. how pretty she'd looked tonight at the competition..
how tired he was..

It was better this way - nobody wants to see Cowboy doing that - but it was good of the feedmasters to let us know it was going on, and just when it was ending too - any more would have been just icky. Thanks guys for thinking of us :)

this is the kind of thing feeders hope will happen.. but then it's just disturbing when they do

Won the veto - big deal, one of them's leaving regardless. Claimed on the show that she's "also picked up Cowboy" in her alliance - yet the others' attitudes make her sick? Last week it was all good when it was her doing, but now she can't stop crying. Enough!

Between pet-the-kitty comments and special showers, this guy is the one they really don't want in there.. Most of them agree, but I don't think they're really aware of the magnitude of his creepiness potential.. all the more reason he should stay.

On the Day After, she says she & Drew "can't really do much but kiss and hold hands cuz of the infrared lights and cameras.. and the little nieces watching at home.." Ohhh??? Now claims to be finished cuddling with him til they're out of there.. yea right. Has so many "#1 targets on her hit list" now it's mind-boggling.

Barely survived fingerpainting his brains out last night. Confessed to Adria during a haircut that he'd had a Cabbage Patch doll ("but a boy one") Apparently he was feeling frisky afterward too: "Wow, I got chills.. yanno how that is Marvin? When a girl cuts your hair?" If Diane hears about that I hope he remembers to duck.

Playing an amazing game: she irritates everyone but they all indulge her, and they're still afraid to nominate her for fear of a meltdown. Well done!

Continues to get better daily, even with the transparent efforts made on the show to discredit him in our eyes.. stinkfoot for the Marv highlight segment? Overlook his Y&R campaigning, hot honey dancing, and ongoing hysterical one-liners for stinkfoot?? Puh-leez! This guy should have a whole Tuesday show dedicated just to him! and a slew of DVD extras.

Miss I'm-So-Weird-And-Freaky keeps dutifully leading comps all a-perk, like any run of the mill goody two-shoes would. She says she's tired of all the drama, yet she's just a little too excited about being HOH again.. plus she keeps threatening pinky-ectomies and throwing all that 'hot oil on her bonfire.' She finally had a convo with Drew (after how many weeks?) but Marvin's still on lay-away. (One-day upgrade pass has expired.)

The producers put all their faith into the big DNA (DoNotAssume) Twist this year, and it prolly sounded good at the time. Once the brother-sister act flopped, they put all their chips on Natalie's debut - and it sounded good at the time too. Til we heard them together. Now they're being pushed down our throats in a last-ditch effort to get some return on the DNA investment: half the time (literally) there are two twins on two feeds, and the other two feeds are fishies. Enough!

Manufactured melodrama made a return Saturday, complete with action-hero music and use of the word "livid." Kissing Lessons was cute (a full week late!) but didn't hint at what followed.. And stinkfoot?! Are they even watching Marvin?? Well maybe the "black David Copperfield doing it with smoke and mirrors" has tricked them too. Nice to see CBS also picked up on Karma Electra though - I was starting to think I'd imagined it. Hey! Maybe I tipped them off and they ran back to check the tapes? (we could at least talk about hiring me yanno.. I won't hold you to any commitments) (that goes for anyone with a killer job available who likes what they see here)