Salem, Oregon local and Big Brother houseguest
Natalie

But the show that is on now is none of that. This season is horrible. The gimmick of "soul mate" partners has failed miserably. It's quite easy to tell that these contestants were picked out of the "Maybe" pile for the summer season. The normal summer show, incidentally, is still on. Hopefully it will not be not hastily put together because of the writer's strike like this one appears to have been. That's the fan in me hoping that the fake, half- concocted show that is airing under the Big Brother banner was actually half-concocted. If not, then my favorite reality show has jumped the shark.

Let's just ignore the stupid gimmick of putting a bunch of single individuals into a house with their psychologically profiled "soul mates." The contestants are the bane of the show right now. Contestants have always been bad, but at least knew that about themselves. Last season, Evel Dick "almost" attacking Jen with a lit cigarette was grounds for his expulsion from the house as far as I'm concerned. That was a display that made me cringe, but I kept watching hoping that Big Brother, or at least the houseguests would get rid of him. That didn't happen. He ended up winning the season, but he only won because he outmaneuvered people. Unfortunately, I can't see that happening this season.

You may recall the outrage by multiple organizations for Adam Jasinski calling autistic kids "retards." His partner verbally slapped him for being a complete idiot, and the rest of house was basically outraged by the whole situation. Ironically the guy worked for the United Autism Foundation and should understand more than the rest of these ignorant people.

CBS has lost some sponsors over this particular incident and a call to boycott remains from the Family Network on Disabilities. I would like to point out one thing, as the clip shows Adam was made to look like an insensitive jerk on national TV. And they gave, appropriately, more airtime to the more intelligent retort from his partner Sheila. CBS and the Big Brother producers have a rule against racism and violence. Either will end up with the houseguest getting kicked out of the house. I'm not sure what would happen if Big Brother controlled more of what can be said in the house as these groups would like them to do. It would sort of defeat the purpose of the show in general. Could they have edited the show to not include the word? Sure. They could've even bleeped it out, but the audience would've been left wondering what the word was, since bleeps are saved for 'bad words.' It seems like the editors wanted to show the controversy and then show that no one but Adam thought it was okay to say. Without nixing the content altogether, I think they did the best they could. The argument is obviously whether they should've
aired that piece or not.

CBS and Big Brother are solely responsible for their rules. And they do seem to twist and bend them as much as they can to milk out the ratings and controversy. Sooner or later, the audience will decide whether their interpretation of "racism" and "violence" are anywhere near that of the producers. For me, last season stepped across the line of violence and Jenn was well within her rights to feel physically intimidated. But despite Dick winning last season, I gave it another go. It seems like they have multiple Dicks in this cast and because of that Big Brother has lost me this season.

I think CBS should apologize, not for airing this incident, but for casting such ignorant people in the first place. There have been multiple things said that is probably starting a fury in the offices of G.L.A.D (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) every day. Not to mention countless Christian organizations everywhere, considering an abnormal amount of people in the house consider themselves religious this time around. But the repercussions are where they should be. CBS has lost money for making a call on editing and Adam has been fired from his job. He doesn't know it yet, because he's sequestered from the outside world until the show is over. Kudos to his former employers for standing up for the people they represent. But can I recommend some sensitivity training for the rest of your employees?

Houseguest Natalie (pictured above) is a Salem local. She works at Bikini Coffee Company off of Mission Street as a "bikini coffee barista." Her new claim to fame is engaging in oral sex with a housemate, possibly on national TV, but definitely on the feeds in the house broadcasting over the Internet. But at least it was her soul mate partner, way to go Big Brother producers -- a love connection. Natalie has a take, related to the autism incident. She thinks maybe if more people were "retarded" everyone would be happier. Don't take my word for it, check out below.

Way to represent Salem, Natalie. I look forward from buying a mocha from you when you return.

Just, uh, wash your hands first.