| Elite Fan
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 41,770
| I was bored..this is the result.:
Josh posted about the fianle
Quote:
SenorX's report for Day One (finale night):
Wow do I feel out of it - I thought sleeping most of the flight home + 9 hours would do the trick - instead i now feel like I'm drunk and underwater - I guess that's what happens when a 31 year old chooses to sleep between 2 and 4 hours for 4 straight days. This may take a while to recover from. Between sleep deprivation and the amount of alcohol I consumed let's see what i can remember. (BTW, poppacollar will take care of posting the pix - I've seen them and they're fun.)
Okay, slydog and I arrived in LA Tuesday morning, met up with Poppacollar - dropped off a bag of extra clothes and mr. wrinkles for eric at the front desk - and then just hung around the city until we could check into the hotel. (We had to wait for the HGs to leave). When we eventually got to the room we found woobie, mr. wrinkles, and Eric's POV-winning rat greeting us on the couch. It was at that moment that I immediately realized how cool I was going to find this entire experience.
Slydog and I eventually made our way down to the lobby to take the shuttle over to the finale (sadly, we couldn't get JP a ticket). There we met (and sorry if i botch names/spelling here) Carol's mom, Zach's parents, Kail's husband and children, Amber's sister (who apologized to us, we told her we appreciated it, it was all good, and not to let it ruin her weekend), Dean and Tucker, Jameka's best friend Keisha, Jen's best friend Cara , Joe's best friend Moey, Nick's sister Kayleen, Dustin's brother Darrick, and the person we assume won Mike's auction. Across the board the friends and families were amazing. Before getting on the van we talked to Carol's mom the most (ironic given later events) and she was just wonderful. On the van we talked with Moey and Kayleen and Zach's parents (to whom I expressed how impressed I was with their son's end game and my regrets that E/Z couldn't have gotten on the same page down the stretch).
Once we arrived on the lot we were sent to the green room to relax before the show. There we met Dani's best friend Lindsay who is also a sweetheart (and has the cutest little boy). Next, I caught up with James Meehan, the produce who first came to NYC to "kidnap" Eric, and then spoke with a bunch of other behind the camera folks who all knew me from my tapes and wanted to express their love of eric and appreciation for our cooperation over the season. Let me say - and this goes for people from every level of the show from camera people to grodner and was evident in every exchange we had over the trip - the BB behind the camera folks are great - they love what they do, they loved eric, and they were great to us. I eventually met back up with Slydog and the other HG friends/family of our age and we drank. It was then that Vince found us and we finally met, laughing about our shared experience at sucks and having the first of many greatly enjoyable conversations. Just a super nice guy. Down in the green room at that point I noticed, Erika, CG, Howie, Marvin, and Adam from Survivor.
Then it was finally time to head to the set. When we got on the line I also saw Janelle, Marcellus, and Kennedy. I also finally got to meet my producer contact from the entire season - Cynthia - and we gave eachother big hugs - she rocks. Initially we were seated in the front row of the bleachers furthest from where the HGs would be w/ Darrick, Moey, and Kayleen. We were having a great time laughing and joking around with some of the fans behind us, when a producer came to me and Slydog and told us we had to move - they had special seats for us. So we got up (and then i also saw sarah and beau) and waited for our new seats -- they pointed them out and Slydog and I shook our heads in bemusement - right in front of janelle - AWKWARD!!!
I just read someone's recap of Janelle's account of what came next, "Janelle had good seats. They sat Eric's brothers right in front of her. She said one of them was aggressive and said "I think we should call a truce." Janelle was a little taken aback they thought she would cause trouble at the finale."
Here's my take and it's not all that different - rather than have lots of whispering and strangeness - being the shameless guy i am, I turned right around and after introducing myself, in a friendly but direct manner I said something like, "can we call a truce? i know you don't like eric and that's totally cool b/c he said some crappy stuff about you, but i was always a big fan, and i'd just like to think that you two can just allow eachother to have a good time with no one starting any drama - it's the finale let's just let everyone have fun - that cool?" As Janelle noted in her own chat she was taken aback by my bluntness and - with more people watching that i had intended (the perils of such talks after a few beers - i never realized anyone else was listening) - she said of course and it's all good. (Sadly, Eric and I both later heard stories from several other HGs and family that she did indeed trash Eric and possibly me the next night - but then also laughed and admitted that 5 months from now they'd probably all be friends (which i could believe b/c she's super close w/ beau now, which i'd never have guessed at the S6 finale).) Did I need to do say anything? No. Slydog wouldn't have. Neither would have Eric (indeed, he had no idea that i did it, and almost certainly would have told me not to do it). But i am who i am, and if i have something to say i say it to your face b/c i prefer openness to behind the back stuff - so i got it off my chest and was pleased to be able to do so. I meant it only in the nicest of ways - looking out for my bro and just making sure everyone had a good time. (Eric jokingly blew kisses to her when he made his way to his seat.)
Then we had the finale. You've all seen this so no need to get into too much - Slydog and I were of course nervous about the reveal - but we think it went as well as possible. They gave it enough time for people to get a sense of what AP was, and used tasks that really drove home the impact it had on the game. As the segment aired - Eric was instantly whispering with Jess and then Amber and Dustin. I found it interesting that they made no mention of the money - leaving that for Eric to reveal himself in private. (Re that point, I know Eric told Jess, Jameka, Amber, Dustin, Dick, Dani, and Zach. In terms of reactions - I know that Jess jokingly asked for a nice present; Jameka felt it was fair given how it screwed with his game (Amber was in this camp too), and Dustin was playfully annoyed that he had the 4th highest earnings not 3rd - I don't know how D/D/Z reacted, but i think those conversations were much briefer). When Dick turned to us Janelle said hi and after someone made a sports comment he asked about the Jets and I sadly told him the bad news - he groaned. As soon as the show ended Slydog and I fought our way to Eric and gave him a big hug - before we could speak we were interrupted by Grodner who had been very concerned for Eric's state of mind heading into tonight and wanted to make sure he was okay. When they were done we pulled Eric aside and told him in brief about Amber's comments, confirmed with him that Jess was good to him throughout the game, and noted some of his trash-talking had made some waves. Before we could finish the HGs were taken to the BY for interviews and we were sent to the green room.
This next stretch of 90 minutes or so was one of my favorites of the trip. All of the friends/family of our age sat around two tables getting to know eachother and drinking up a storm. Lots of laughter, picture taking, and good-natured teasing. Everyone was able to laugh at their respective HG's quirks/issues and there was a definite strong sense of "if any HGs have issues they're their issues - not ours - we are bonded by having lived the same experience this summer."
Eventually, the HGs made their way downstairs. Over the next hour or so I began to introduce myself to various HGs. When I saw Dustin I told him I had some bad news for him and then told him that he owes eric a "gentlemen's 5K" b/c the average length of an erect male penis is 5.5-6.5 inches, not 4. He looked at me for a second, then his eyes widened, and then he started hysterically laughing saying "i cannot believe you saw that -- you must have watched everything." He also said he felt a little bad for being somewhat cold to Eric in sequester after now knowing that he was forced to evict him and wanted to save dustin. I told him that Eric and Jess fans made a big push to save Dustin but it was one of the two AP tasks we lost on despite a big push - he was appreciative. When we met Jameka she leapt up to hug me and immediately asked about my unborn baby - Jameka is amazing - I love her to death - just so nice and funny and charming. She knows she got a bs edit on the cbs show but i assured her that AD left everyone see the funny/sassy jameka too. When I met Jen she told me that rumor had it she might want to punch my brother - and I admitted that could be the case, but that i had been a big fans and wished she could have been in a F3 alliance with Eric and Jess and she said "me too" - before we could talk more they started airing parts of the finale and Jen stopped dead in her tracks to watch (I don't blame her - they were all fascinated every time any footage aired). I had brief hellos with Kail, Zach, Nick, Mike (who actually remembered me from a brief myspace e-mail exchange we had soon after he was evicted). My first meeting with Jess was cool but super brief b/c her mom called just as we started to talk (but i suspected i'd see her a ton the rest of the weekend so i wasn't worried). Eric, Dick, and Dani were the last three to get downstairs and they were all surrounded by a constant stream of people. When I eventually got to Dick I introduced myself and he gave me a big hug while laughing - Vince came over and we told him that Vince and I had been e-mailing and posting at Sucks throughout the season and he went "a-ha, the sucksters, that's what you meant - cool" - sadly before we could talk more Dick had to be taken away by the producers.
As the green room wound down, we found our way back to Eric and headed to the final shuttle back to the hotel - after talking briefly with erika and adam we boarded. At this point i was hammered. While i think other people were there, the only people I remember on the shuttle are me/Eric/Slydog and Joe and his friend Moey (who is a riot). Joe is great and him and Eric really get along. Joe totally got the AP twist and how hard it made Eric's game (and told us how he voted for the tasks and loved voting to eliminate dustin) - it made me wish eric/joe could have been on the same page b/c they were funny as hell together on the van.
We got back to the hotel and reconnected with JP in our room. For the next 90 minutes the four of us just caught up - talked about the big ticket items we felt he needed to be aware of in his real life, in the BB world, and society at large.
We then made our way to the hotel bar and as we walked into the elevator there was Jess (who had just taken Dean back to her room to pass out) - so we immediately started chatting (she's a sweetheart as well, friendly, bubbly, and adorable). Once at the bar we reconnected with Dustin/Darrick, Jen/Cara, Zach/his parents and SWEETS, Mike, Sarah and her sister (both of whom are gorgeous and incredibly friendly), Kail and her husband, Carol, Howie (another super nice and funny guy - he's howie), and a bunch of people from production. Eventually Vince, Lindsay, and Nick came down to join us (Dick and Dani were told they had to stay upstairs). The rest of the time in the bar is a bit blurry - i know i talked a lot with Vince/Lindsay, remember Eric/Jess trying to talk alone but constantly having people come up to them, meeting SWEETS, and Alex ending up at a table with Jen/Cara, Kail, and Carol (who spent 15 minutes ripping Eric apart to him as he tried to eat a slice of pizza). Sadly, they eventually kicked us all out of the bar to shut it down. Why on earth it shut at 2 am I don't get.
Our crew + Dustin/Derreck + Jess then went to Dustin's room where we kept drinking, showed them some BB stuff online, and just laughed a ton. Finally, at a little after 4 am Dustin decided to go out and meet some production people Eric/Jess went to the lobby to talk about AP, and the rest of us went to bed.
Okay - that's day one - let me post it before I risk losing it.
| __________________ You create your own reality. —Seth Speaks.
Last edited by -Beth- : 09-22-2007 at 10:05 AM.
|
I'm definitely pulling for them
Kristen
