PTSD in BB8

Ahhh, the guilty pleasures of summer...hot dogs, too much sun, and Big Brother. Big Brother? Yes, that tacky reality show on CBS television three nights a week. Doesn't sound like something that would fit with a blog on victimology. Until Evil Dick.

This is the eighth season of Big Brother. Here's the basic premise: A bunch of strangers are holed up in a house that is completely wired for video and sound. The show lasts approximately 100 days and each week someone is eliminated, with the final player winning the grand prize of $500,000. Of course, the applicants are chosen with drama in mind. The Christian vs the gays, one black woman who has had very little contact with white people until now, and naturally, a bevy of hot toddies with killer bods who will be tempted to cheat on their beloved at-home partners.

Panic crossed the faces of most of the housemates as, a couple of hours into the show, hostess Julie Chen informed the downstairs guests that there were three voyeuristic interlopers hidden upstairs. Those three, it turned out, were arch enemies of three of the unsuspecting guests below, and they had been watching their every move via the sophisticated camera system. Danielle, a 20 year old waitress from CA, was soon horrified to find that one of the hidden three, who would be joining the guests for the duration of the show, was her estranged father Dick. Not normally given to histrionics, she retreated to a relatively private spot and sobbed as she realized that not only was she stuck in a house for the next three months with the father who she had chosen to not speak with for over two years, but that all of America would be watching.

Evil Dick's subtle aggression techniques became most obvious when he relentlessly pursued Danielle to discuss their relationship, despite her repeated requests that he let it go until after the show finished airing. He finally got to her on her bed, located in the corner of a room where she would have had to push him out of the way to escape. In a confrontation that would make a great instructional video on body language, the very petite Danielle leaned back against her headboard during the discussion, while Dick, much larger, leaned in toward her. Crying and exhausted, she told him several times that she "did not want to do this" on national television. He wore her down with prolonged pleading and begging, until she finally agreed with him just to make him stop. It was like watching a brainwashing in progress, and his non-violent assault was every bit as powerful as a physical one would have been.

Danielle's father isn't called Evil Dick (a name he came into the house with) for nothing. He's loud, foul mouthed, opinionated, and confrontive. Most players keep their hand to themselves, but ED lays all of his cards out on the table and makes sure everyone sees them. When displeased with housemates, he seeks them out for a good loud verbal lashing. Even the strongest personalities break when confronted by Dick. Their voices shake and their bodies visibly tremble. The more he gets to them, the better he likes it. Ironically, these are no doubt the behaviors that caused Danielle to eject him from her life in the first place.

In his defense, Evil Dick appears to genuinely love his daughter, and I think he would relinquish his position and allow her to win if they were the final two housemates. Underneath the extreme tattoos, piercings and continual flatulence is an attractive, charismatic man. But his neediness for Danielle and demand for control will probably be his downfall. America and previous housemates choose the final winner, and despite his underlying likeability they are not going to let him win.

Meanwhile, how long is BB going to allow ED to verbally and emotionally batter his housemates? The subtleties of bullying and intimidation make them easy to overlook as causes of trauma, but they are every bit as harmful and devastating as any physical assault.

Would you like to apply for Big Brother? Go ahead. Just be aware that you might be spending some of that prize money on debriefing or PTSD recovery therapy.