Donovan Wilson – Reporter
Many college students consume a good amount of reality television but one group of students on campus have taken that love from watching to competing.
Big Brother is a US reality show that has run for a whopping 20 years and will enter it’s 23rd season this year. The show consists of a house full of competitors who are shut off from their usual world and entered into a house with only each other where they must team up or work alone to win competitions and ultimately become the last person not voted out of the house. In the end, the people who have been voted out comprise a jury that determines who ends up becoming the ultimate winner of that specific season.
“It’s just something me and Jacob love and we wanted to be able to bring it to southern and inform people that reality TV can be lots of fun and it’s not just gossip” said Sebastian Cordero, the southern student that leads and hosts the Southern Big Brother games.
A thing that has become popular in recent years both online and in person is what’s referred to as a reality show mini. A reality show mini is essentially a very small version of a full season of a reality show, usually run within one day or night. For instance, the Big Brother minis on campus run by Cordero only last between four and five hours.
Due to the time constraints had with the Southern minis, there ends up being a lot of differences from the real, full game such as having only about five to 10 minutes to discuss who to vote off rather than the usual 3 days that the contestants receive. Another major difference is that all competing is done over discord rather than in person as it is obviously done on TV. While this version of the reality show does run competitions that involve puzzles and memory just like the actual show, they do not include the events that involve endurance because they can not be run online.
“These games allow people to explore a diabolical devious side of themselves that they can’t otherwise express in real life such as being tactical” said Jacob Adorno, co-host and frequent stand in competitor at the Big Brother minis.
The competitions run in this version of the game are much different than the usual, as these are held entirely on Discord. Some of these games are done through the chat feature such as reverse emojis where the host of that competition sends a series of emojis into the chat and the first person to send them back in reverse order 4 times willow in that competition. The other majority of the games are done through the video feature such as scavenger hunt where the first person to return to the camera with the item requested wins.
There’s a tight knit group of people who usually play the game but it is always open to any and all students who want to take part. It is hard for them to reach out to students right now during COVID-19 so it is much easier for you to reach out to Cordero or Adorno if you are a student and interested in taking part in these minis. The games are open up to anybody and everybody so feel free to spread the word to your friends, significant others, etc.
“It’s a very welcoming and inviting community full of people who are passionate and care about the game,” said psychology major Keegan Smith, a junior who frequently competes in the Big Brother minis.
There’s no need to even be a preexisting fan of Big Brother, Smith wasn’t and now is a huge fan of the minis and loves competing in them.
