If you watched Sunday night’s episode of Big Brother 23, then you will remember the scene where Tiffany and Derek F finally decided to talk out the issues they have with each other.
What you might not have realized was that there was an outcry from fans calling this edit very misleading. Many fans claimed that it made Tiffany look like the villain in the situation, when Derek F was as responsible, if not more responsible, for the friction between the two. First of all, Derek F waited two weeks to even talk to Tiffany about their disagreement, and only did so when he was on the block. What they didn’t show were the things he said behind Tiffany’s back. If you don’t remember what started all of this, it was back when Christian was on the block, and Tiffany was working to flip the vote. She sent Christian to go get Britini to talk to, and Derek F and Azah flipped out and joined Britini in the HOH room to talk to Tiffany like they were her bodyguards. Tiffany was not happy with this, especially considering she is an a really solid alliance with Derek F and Azah. So since then, Tiffany and Azah have cleared the air, but Derek F didn’t think it was necessary until he was on the block last week.
We are not here to say that it’s one person’s fault over the other, but since the show producers decide to show only one side, we reached out to some Big Brother superfans on Twitter who see everything play out on the Live Feeds, so when they see an edit skewing the story a certain way, they take notice.
@BBteamNorth of Julie Girl, a Big Brother Podcast (@JulieGirlPod), was not thrilled with the way that scene was edited into the show, and how Tiffany has been portrayed at other times this season.
“I was really uncomfortable with the way the Tiffany and Derek F conversation was portrayed without context,” @BBteamNorth said. “That confrontation happened while DF was still on the block and was campaigning for Tiffany’s vote. While I do think Tiffany should have approached it differently, she was still upset about the situation and was valid to feel how she was feeling. I think it’s very irresponsible to paint her as irrational and show Derek F being very kind in response. He was editing himself because he was on the block and the moment he left the conversation, called Tiffany out of her name as he’s done many times before. The edit has not shown many of his misogynistic or unsavory moments but the majority of the women’s have made it to air.
“Tiffany is playing one of the strongest games in the house and to see her edit be tampered with in such a way does a disservice to the viewership’s view on these players.”
@kallenoh, who has followed the season and Live Feeds very closely, had similar thoughts.
“Truthfully, I just find it absurd they are trying to paint Tiffany as someone who’s vindictive, conniving and rude, and they paint Derek F as someone who’s getting bashed on … when in reality, on the feeds we’ve seen him mention not only Tiffany, but other women in the house calling them ‘bitches’ in a negative way and somehow that doesn’t make the episode” @kallenoh said. “I just feel like they are giving Tiffany an unfair edit and trying to show her as this evil person, and when we know watching the live feeds she’s not like that. I just wish they would be more honest in the edit because it feels very much one sided in Derek’s favor.”
@manndaraee, one of the hosts of the Girls Alliance Podcast (@girlsalliance_ ), laid out the whole situation for us.
“From the start Tiffany was definitely trying to flip the votes obviously and knew that Britini was the easy sway since she knew she had a crush on him,” she said. “I think the mistake that Tiffany made was sending Christian to go get Britini to talk to her. She should have went and got her herself, because this then triggered in Azah and DF’s mind that Tiffany was trying to use Britini to flip her vote (which she was already on the fence about). I understand that Azah and Derek are protective of Britini but Britini is her own person. Britini in my opinion was Azah and Derek F’s blind spot.
“I think Tiffany’s argument that she wouldn’t do that to him if he wanted to talk to DX or Claire. But DF then went on a rampage of saying nasty things about Tiffany to other people and consistently calling her a bitch in a derogatory way and not in a friendly way how he tried to defend himself. I think Tiffany was caught off guard when Derek F and Azah rolled up into the room. The fact that over a week later and they were still having beef over that is kind of annoying because I feel like DF doesn’t let things go.”
So it looks like all three fans agree that neither party handled the situation perfectly, but the edit did not do a good job showing us everything. This is by no means some huge scandal, but we for casual watchers to get the full story, especially when the edits can effect things like rewards voted on by America. Everyone deserves a fair shot to be accurately portrayed. At the end of the day, Big Brother is still a television show, and an editor’s job is to piece together an episode to make it as entertaining as possible to viewers. But sadly, when you only have an hour to fit in several day’s worth of events and conversations, sacrifices are made, and those are often detrimental to some houseguest’s portrayals.
What do you think of the Tiffany and Derek F situation?
