Post by doncey on Nov 7, 2014 13:49:48 GMT -8
The crushed fans of the BB11’s Jessie eviction
I want to start by explaining that as crushed as I am, there are 80-100 other fans just as crushed. Being a big brother fan, it’s hard to explain the excitement of thinking you’re going to be included in a live show as many don’t have the ablility to do so. Some go through huge lengths to make it to such a show, such as flying across the country, putting their jobs at jeopardy, or even financial hardship. To non fans, of course this sounds crazy. “Your problem to love something so silly to take such risks, your nuts!” But I don’t think I need to explain this any further to true fans.
At the beginning of this season, my one and only goal (besides just enjoying the season) was to make it to a show. I soon found out (through my favorite hang out, thebigbrotherklub.) that there was new site to request tickets from this year. The process was actually pretty simple. Register for the waiting list, wait for an e-mail announcing the release of tickets, and then signing up for them. The trick is noticing this e-mail before the dates (in which they send out 4 at a time) are full. The first set I was (with my luck) day late, a dollar short. No biggy, my fault. Since then I’ve made it a point to make sure I checked my e-mail on a regular basis. So last Thursday, (the Ronnie evection) as the show started, it hit me, “check your mail!” BAM! There it was, the golden ticket for the 13th, and un full! Upon printing this ticket, I danced, screamed, called my friends, and posted all over the klub. (while the current showing was paused of course) cloud nine! Ronnie gone, Jeff got the power! And I was going to the show the very next week to watch it all unfold. The next week included tires on my car, a major tune up, re arranging my days off, setting up a baby sitter for the kids, and buying a new attire to wear. (again, Im sure some went through much more, this is just my experience)
D-day -1. The night before the live show. With Jeff’s power, speculation on Chima’s reaction, and who knows what else, an e-mail arrived with the announcement of the “live show” being moved up 4 hours. Ok, we goto my mothers house, (she’s watching the kids evection day) spend the night, get up at 5, get all prettied up, and traffic promoting, we make it on time. A hard change, yes.. but after the preparation, we weren’t about to give up, plan B now in effect.
D-day… The nightmare begins. Air mattress, baby that wakes up any time we move and the excitement allowed about 3 hours of sleep. After a 5am wake up call, a few red bulls, and a bit of kicking each other in the butt a couple of times, (me and the wife) we hit the road. 15 to the 210, to the 164, to the 19, 45, 101, hell I dunno….. We arrive in studio city. With the use of the car pool lane, good music, and the excitement of getting there, we make it at 9:45 am, tickets say no later then 11:30. Awesome right, we’re good to go eh?
Streets are dead, we’re dead wired (on red bull) and our nerves have us in a cluster fuck. We follow the directions to a tee and drive right to the studio. Upon pulling into the first parking garage, we’re told where we need to be is one block down but the gates don’t open tell 10:30. Ok, that’s cool. We then spend the next 30 minutes in a McDonald’s parking lot passing a bit of time. Here is where our first mistake lies, should have stood outside no matter the parking. After being told where to go, (at 10:30) we drove down the street to scope things out, we see the parking garage, cruz down the street a bit and even see the outside of the studio before turning around, We saw 4 people standing on the sidewalk outside of the parking structure. Eh, yeah, prolly here for BB but who knows, we’ve plenty of time right. We try to enter the garage at 10:15 and were told not to return to the garage until 10:30 sharp! This we can do, we go 1 block back up the street, park next to a metered parking space and wait out the last few minutes. During the next few minutes, we notice the area where the “few” people were standing turn into a few more, but Walla! They open the garage. We’re the 5th car in line, we’re good to go! So we thought. Upon reaching the 4th level, which was the first we were permitted to park in, we quickly find a spot which we had to squeeze into; I mean we almost had to crawl out the window to get from the car. But again the excitement had us wanting to get downstairs and in the studio before most, I would had parked ON another car had I been in a 4×4. Elevator? Hell no! We’ll run down the stairs, which did indeed get us there before the others that had parked on the same level. SWEET, here we are production crew, complete with head sets, clip boards, and maybe 20-30 people already in line. Then we hear a voice “excuse me sir, the end of the line is down the stairs and to the left” hmmmm.. No biggy, the end of the line is only down two short flights of stairs, short meaning like ten stairs each. Ok, we’re still early; I know for a FACT they can at least fit 100 fans in the studio.
The stair well was veeeery confined; there is a brick wall that towered over us at least 20 feet. No air, no room to stand, and fans are starting to line up above us from where we JUST came from! We felt like rats in a pit. A production crew member walked down the stairs several times counting those in line commenting on how he was going to have to be the person to piss a lot of people off, all the while cussing under his breath. Idle gossip consumed the nervous fans as a voice finally rang out. “If you are here because you know somebody in production, or if you have a priority ticket, (if you have a priority ticket you’ll know it btw), please come upstairs and you will be placed in a stand by line” stand by meaning your in obviously. Only a few seemed to weed out of the line at this point, the next announcement came as “If you have traveled here and have travel documents, please bring those to the stand by line” ok, understandable… Note: at this point, the line had passed way behind us into the basement level. Id say prolly 60+
Minutes later, (after standing in the hole for close to an hour) the line started to move, 1 step 2 step, 3 step, 10… next flight the same. Within a few moments we’re on the main level and the line again stops. Me, my wife, and about 20 ahead of us and 60+ behind us sit almost expecting the inevitable, wait. This is what upsets me. They KNEW there was no more room and continued to direct the late arrivals towards the end of the line. Ok sure, maybe there were a few more seats, I dunno. But tell the first ten in line to hold up and tell the rest their fucked. But no, they have us stand for another 20 minutes while walking around mumbling under their breaths. With fans bending over with back pain, rocking from side to side with sore feet, I over hear a production crew member on his cell “yeah, there’s prolly 80-100 left” you’ve got to be kidding me, a studio that holds prolly 100 fans, they let us sit and stir this whole time knowing damn well it wasn’t going to happen. It seemed like forever until the announcement was made.. “Due to a large VIP list, being late in the season and all (say what?) We can’t fit anymore fans in. we’re sorry. If you give us your tickets, we will turn them in and you will have to call the number on the second page tomorrow and they’ll see if they can get you in later in the season with “turn away” tickets” whatever those are.
The only the only thing I can figure is that from the sounds of it, the production knew it was going to be a turning point in the show and had their “buddies” admitted before the fans already holding tickets. They did make the effort to place those that traveled from out of state, or those with “priority tickets” but come on! There needs to be a cap on VIP’s that can displace the whole of an audience that should rightfully be seated. If I had shown up close to the dead line, or was close to the end of the line at all, I would graciously accept this and try again another week. But to pass out tickets and turn the majority away when the fans were doing exactly as told. It’s saddening.
I’m not sure If I’ll make another attempt to drive another 3 hours each way even, though it’s something I love so dearly, after this experience. If I do, I’ll make sure to not do as they say, stand my happy ass right in front no matter the time, or no matter how kind the production crew was. (Which they did happen to be very kind, not that it helped) I’m talking “in your face! Tow my car! I don’t care! Let my ass in!” The fans make this show, so show them some respect CBS! We’re not cattle……….
Driving home was the worst, yes there was no traffic to contend with as on the way there, but the lump in my throat from being taken from such a high to heart break was like washing a winning lottery ticket to shreds for a big brother fan. Only a finale ticket could compare to my expectations for this showing. But I know with family members of the HG’s and the “VIP’s” this is impossible. I’m crushed, disappointed….. Words cannot describe.
Doncey
I want to start by explaining that as crushed as I am, there are 80-100 other fans just as crushed. Being a big brother fan, it’s hard to explain the excitement of thinking you’re going to be included in a live show as many don’t have the ablility to do so. Some go through huge lengths to make it to such a show, such as flying across the country, putting their jobs at jeopardy, or even financial hardship. To non fans, of course this sounds crazy. “Your problem to love something so silly to take such risks, your nuts!” But I don’t think I need to explain this any further to true fans.
At the beginning of this season, my one and only goal (besides just enjoying the season) was to make it to a show. I soon found out (through my favorite hang out, thebigbrotherklub.) that there was new site to request tickets from this year. The process was actually pretty simple. Register for the waiting list, wait for an e-mail announcing the release of tickets, and then signing up for them. The trick is noticing this e-mail before the dates (in which they send out 4 at a time) are full. The first set I was (with my luck) day late, a dollar short. No biggy, my fault. Since then I’ve made it a point to make sure I checked my e-mail on a regular basis. So last Thursday, (the Ronnie evection) as the show started, it hit me, “check your mail!” BAM! There it was, the golden ticket for the 13th, and un full! Upon printing this ticket, I danced, screamed, called my friends, and posted all over the klub. (while the current showing was paused of course) cloud nine! Ronnie gone, Jeff got the power! And I was going to the show the very next week to watch it all unfold. The next week included tires on my car, a major tune up, re arranging my days off, setting up a baby sitter for the kids, and buying a new attire to wear. (again, Im sure some went through much more, this is just my experience)
D-day -1. The night before the live show. With Jeff’s power, speculation on Chima’s reaction, and who knows what else, an e-mail arrived with the announcement of the “live show” being moved up 4 hours. Ok, we goto my mothers house, (she’s watching the kids evection day) spend the night, get up at 5, get all prettied up, and traffic promoting, we make it on time. A hard change, yes.. but after the preparation, we weren’t about to give up, plan B now in effect.
D-day… The nightmare begins. Air mattress, baby that wakes up any time we move and the excitement allowed about 3 hours of sleep. After a 5am wake up call, a few red bulls, and a bit of kicking each other in the butt a couple of times, (me and the wife) we hit the road. 15 to the 210, to the 164, to the 19, 45, 101, hell I dunno….. We arrive in studio city. With the use of the car pool lane, good music, and the excitement of getting there, we make it at 9:45 am, tickets say no later then 11:30. Awesome right, we’re good to go eh?
Streets are dead, we’re dead wired (on red bull) and our nerves have us in a cluster fuck. We follow the directions to a tee and drive right to the studio. Upon pulling into the first parking garage, we’re told where we need to be is one block down but the gates don’t open tell 10:30. Ok, that’s cool. We then spend the next 30 minutes in a McDonald’s parking lot passing a bit of time. Here is where our first mistake lies, should have stood outside no matter the parking. After being told where to go, (at 10:30) we drove down the street to scope things out, we see the parking garage, cruz down the street a bit and even see the outside of the studio before turning around, We saw 4 people standing on the sidewalk outside of the parking structure. Eh, yeah, prolly here for BB but who knows, we’ve plenty of time right. We try to enter the garage at 10:15 and were told not to return to the garage until 10:30 sharp! This we can do, we go 1 block back up the street, park next to a metered parking space and wait out the last few minutes. During the next few minutes, we notice the area where the “few” people were standing turn into a few more, but Walla! They open the garage. We’re the 5th car in line, we’re good to go! So we thought. Upon reaching the 4th level, which was the first we were permitted to park in, we quickly find a spot which we had to squeeze into; I mean we almost had to crawl out the window to get from the car. But again the excitement had us wanting to get downstairs and in the studio before most, I would had parked ON another car had I been in a 4×4. Elevator? Hell no! We’ll run down the stairs, which did indeed get us there before the others that had parked on the same level. SWEET, here we are production crew, complete with head sets, clip boards, and maybe 20-30 people already in line. Then we hear a voice “excuse me sir, the end of the line is down the stairs and to the left” hmmmm.. No biggy, the end of the line is only down two short flights of stairs, short meaning like ten stairs each. Ok, we’re still early; I know for a FACT they can at least fit 100 fans in the studio.
The stair well was veeeery confined; there is a brick wall that towered over us at least 20 feet. No air, no room to stand, and fans are starting to line up above us from where we JUST came from! We felt like rats in a pit. A production crew member walked down the stairs several times counting those in line commenting on how he was going to have to be the person to piss a lot of people off, all the while cussing under his breath. Idle gossip consumed the nervous fans as a voice finally rang out. “If you are here because you know somebody in production, or if you have a priority ticket, (if you have a priority ticket you’ll know it btw), please come upstairs and you will be placed in a stand by line” stand by meaning your in obviously. Only a few seemed to weed out of the line at this point, the next announcement came as “If you have traveled here and have travel documents, please bring those to the stand by line” ok, understandable… Note: at this point, the line had passed way behind us into the basement level. Id say prolly 60+
Minutes later, (after standing in the hole for close to an hour) the line started to move, 1 step 2 step, 3 step, 10… next flight the same. Within a few moments we’re on the main level and the line again stops. Me, my wife, and about 20 ahead of us and 60+ behind us sit almost expecting the inevitable, wait. This is what upsets me. They KNEW there was no more room and continued to direct the late arrivals towards the end of the line. Ok sure, maybe there were a few more seats, I dunno. But tell the first ten in line to hold up and tell the rest their fucked. But no, they have us stand for another 20 minutes while walking around mumbling under their breaths. With fans bending over with back pain, rocking from side to side with sore feet, I over hear a production crew member on his cell “yeah, there’s prolly 80-100 left” you’ve got to be kidding me, a studio that holds prolly 100 fans, they let us sit and stir this whole time knowing damn well it wasn’t going to happen. It seemed like forever until the announcement was made.. “Due to a large VIP list, being late in the season and all (say what?) We can’t fit anymore fans in. we’re sorry. If you give us your tickets, we will turn them in and you will have to call the number on the second page tomorrow and they’ll see if they can get you in later in the season with “turn away” tickets” whatever those are.
The only the only thing I can figure is that from the sounds of it, the production knew it was going to be a turning point in the show and had their “buddies” admitted before the fans already holding tickets. They did make the effort to place those that traveled from out of state, or those with “priority tickets” but come on! There needs to be a cap on VIP’s that can displace the whole of an audience that should rightfully be seated. If I had shown up close to the dead line, or was close to the end of the line at all, I would graciously accept this and try again another week. But to pass out tickets and turn the majority away when the fans were doing exactly as told. It’s saddening.
I’m not sure If I’ll make another attempt to drive another 3 hours each way even, though it’s something I love so dearly, after this experience. If I do, I’ll make sure to not do as they say, stand my happy ass right in front no matter the time, or no matter how kind the production crew was. (Which they did happen to be very kind, not that it helped) I’m talking “in your face! Tow my car! I don’t care! Let my ass in!” The fans make this show, so show them some respect CBS! We’re not cattle……….
Driving home was the worst, yes there was no traffic to contend with as on the way there, but the lump in my throat from being taken from such a high to heart break was like washing a winning lottery ticket to shreds for a big brother fan. Only a finale ticket could compare to my expectations for this showing. But I know with family members of the HG’s and the “VIP’s” this is impossible. I’m crushed, disappointed….. Words cannot describe.
Doncey