A Survivor legend is a main focal point of Big Brother 25, but her personality seemingly can’t flourish in the way it has in the past. And as illuminated by a Reddit post on r/BigBrother, it has something to do with her Diary Room sessions.
Cirie Fields joined the cast as the 17th houseguest on premiere night earlier this month, and she’s playing the game alongside her son, Jared Fields. Although Cirie’s never claimed the $1 million grand prize, she’s viewed as a Survivor icon because of her social and strategic prowess.
Cirie isn’t the kind of player that’ll wrack up immunity or Power of Veto wins, but if not checked, she’s a contestant who can forge her way deep into a reality competition show — Cirie made it into the top 6 of three of four Survivor seasons.
And her abilities were highlighted earlier this year when she won the first season of The Traitors, a series requiring contestants to weaponize deceit and cunningness to win $250,000.
Cirie is a force in Big Brother 25 as she currently boasts connections with both sides of the divided household. But, her Diary Room sessions have come off manufactured.
Besides her knack for competing on television, Cirie has always been championed as the everyday mother who leaped to chase her dreams. But, because of the scripted-like flow of Diary Room sessions on Big Brother, it’s been hard to connect with Cirie if someone is only watching the episodes and not the 24-hour live feeds.
“The DRs in this last episode was the worst it’s ever been,” a user wrote in the Subreddit on Monday, a day after Sunday’s Head of House and Nominations episode. “Just let these people talk naturally. You really think Cirie needs to read off a teleprompter?”
For those who don’t know, the Diary Room is where contestants speak about their game and the house’s happenings in private. They’re unavailable to watch through live feeds, and only a portion of players’ words are shared throughout the season.
Big Brother’s Diary Room initiates far less genuine narrations than other reality competition staples
There’s already a common misconception among the uninitiated that reality competition shows are scripted and/or pre-determined.
Shows like Survivor have taken that heat for years. And sure, production does play a part in shaping outcomes to a degree, but it’s also clear that the show’s core is unscripted. We see players’ actual emotions and decision-making play out on screen, which has led to amazing television moments, like when Johnny Fairplay lied about his grandma’s death during Pearl Islands or Sue Hawk’s speech about the “Rat and the Snake” in Borneo.
Of course, Big Brother’s also produced several iconic moments that the players created — not production — like Dan Gheesling’s “Funeral” in Big Brother 14 or Rachel Reilly’s “Floaters, you better grab a life vest” line in Big Brother 12.
But well-versed reality competition watchers will likely have noticed Big Brother’s tendency to make contestants sound and feel less genuine during their Diary Room sessions. For example, if they can have a houseguest fill a role (like Red Utley being this season’s southern hillbilly), they’ll seemingly go over the top by gearing every Diary Room featuring that player to act as a caricature of themselves.
Or, it’ll sound like the contestant is reading off lines to help shape a storyline Big Brother is trying to deliver. Cirie’s (like her other houseguests) delivery in the Diary Room doesn’t sound natural at points. Another Redditor pointed out a line Cirie delivered during Sunday’s episode after Jared was sent to the Nether Region and appeared on the Memory Wall.
“Phew, I know he’s safe,” Cirie said. “But at the same time, it’s like, what does this mean? Is he returning, is he lost forever in the Nether Region? Like, I really don’t know, and it bothers me.”
“What really solidified it as scripted for me was on Sunday… Like OBVIOUSLY he’s not stuck there forever,” they wrote.
Well, I also feel pretty confident that Cirie doesn’t actually think her son is destined to float alone in the abyss.
Here’s another comment encapsulating some of the community members’ feelings about Cirie’s time narrating her gameplay. The Redditor aims at the nature of Diary Room sessions and how it’s “ruining the game’s beauty.”
If you are a big fan, you probably watch feeds. Watching the HGs interact on the feeds tells you maybe 75% of the story, but what we really want is that other 25%, the inner dialogue talked aloud in the DR. What were the HGs true motive for siding a certain way or saying something in particular. What are they actually thinking, what is their true strategy. I don’t want to know what the producers think they should think.
Instead of getting 100% of the social experiment, we are getting 50%. Producers think cheese and camp is more fun. Yet, I’m betting potential Survivor fans that tuned in for Cirie won’t be sticking around.
Some of the best content was old school BB DRs, where the HGs can finally let loose and say exactly what’s on their minds. I’m sure we missed out on a lot of gold, due to edits; but at least we got some nuggets back then.
Man, I would LOVE to have a deeper understanding of how Cirie’s mind really works and what makes her such a legend. But, yea… sure… let her read some script you geniuses came up with.
The way lines are delivered in the Diary Room has been this way for years. And honestly, it’ll probably stay like this moving forward. Another of our writers covered Sunday’s episode more extensively and zeroed in on the cringy acting that took place during the Head of Household comp — something else that takes away from the “reality” part of the show. Check that out by tapping here!
Although her Diary Room sessions are less than ideal, Cirie has done a good job in Big Brother 25 thus far. She’s protected by several houseguests and heading the “Bye Bye B*tches” alliance. And with Jared watching her back as well, it doesn’t seem like the Survivor legend is going anywhere anytime soon.
On Thursday, a third contestant is set to leave the house. Kirsten Elwin was the first person evicted from the house. But a day before the vote, Luke Valentine was expelled from the game for dropping a racial slur.
Published: Aug 15, 2023 11:00 pm