#BBCAN3 ep 17 – Marsha, Marsha, Marsha! (A Hat Tip to Production)

bbcan3Two days ago in my Kentucky Fried Veto post I said “I almost feel bad for Production this season. Almost, but not quite, because they haven’t brought back Marsha the Moose and we’re five weeks in!” Well, I take it all back. Because Marsha the Moose has returned! Yay Trevor Boris! And boy did she return in one hell of a fashion. We’ll get to the “news” but first I think it’s time to pump Production’s tires a bit.

For three seasons now I’ve been impressed with the quality of Big Brother Canada. It’s not just that unlike other countries Canadians can watch the live feeds for free, or that the audience is encouraged to vote on things to influence the show. Though they definitely have done a great job with getting the viewer to surpass the title of voyeur and move into a role akin to something a lot more Orwellian.

It’s also the creativity they’re showing in their competitions. It can’t be easy to come up with completely original ideas for games, let alone to do it for a minimum of three competitions per week for ten weeks. In watching the American show it’s become clear that certain stand-bys are used summer after summer just painted with different themes. To it’s detriment, because the houseguests have started to be able to predict which “type” of competition will be next. And because they think they have the schedule down (and often times they do) it factors into their long-term strategy.

But not so with Big Brother Canada. Every time someone gets a strategy in place a TWISTOS TWIST comes along and everything goes out the window. This year we have The Vault where secret missions have been going down. There’s also the old standby mystery envelope in the Diary Room. And for the first two seasons we had Marsha the Moose in a glittery-antler Dali-esque having conversations with people in a hallway (and her evil twin having them by the hot tub). The first 5 weeks have been jam-packed with Instant Evictions, and re-entry competitions so it’s not really a surprise that Marsha has had her head down.

Until tonight. When she was virtually hit by a car. But don’t worry, Marsha lives to see another day.

And how did a moose (head) get hit by a car inside a sound stage? Good question. Because Production is genius. They’ve been tasking the HGs with crazy things to get them to earn alcohol deliveries. (And do something other than break everything and rub up on each other.) Tonight’s was a masterstroke. They erected a giant video screen in the “backyard”, and in front of it was a “car” (two treadmills inside a car body decorated with road lines). The houseguests were told that they had 24 hours to go on a roadtrip that started in Vancouver and ended in Newfoundland. They would work in pairs of their own choosing to “drive” the distance.

I initially expected a little dot to travel along a map of Canada to track the progress. Similar to what you see on the headrest screen when you’re on a flight. But no, they took it way further. It was a full on Trans-Canada Highway simulator. Complete with changing terrain and obstacles. Yes, obstacles. When they hit the rockies it started to snow on them. Not just on the screen, but actually drop from the ceiling on them. At one point they triggered a police car and Officer Kevin gave them a ticket. They got lost and had to ask for directions from Farmer Sarah. They even blew a tire, smoke came billowing out, and then had to camp out by the side of the road until morning. And then they got to Nova Scotia. Land of the moose crossing. And BAM! Marsha was creamed by Willow.

All was forgiven later when Marsha sent her a bottle of champagne to insist that there were no hard feelings.

The same cannot be said for Canada’s reaction to what they saw Willow do on the live feeds immediately after. I’ll let you read the Toronto Star article yourselves but the words “Jews” and “concentration camps” came up.

I’m as shocked as you are.

Less shocking… Sindy With An S was eliminated unanimously this evening. And just when you thought you’d seen the last of her… TWIST! Production gave her a chance to get in one final dig with the next Head of Household competition.

The HGs would be read a question that could be answered from 1 to 100, but Sindy was the one giving the answers. It was their job to figure out what answer Sindy gave. And be careful not to piss her off in the process because if it came down to two people left in the end Sindy would be the one choosing the winner.

OH SHIT.

But wait! There’s more! Next week… TRIPLE EVICTION.

Oh, Production, I love you so. Thanks for keeping things interesting!