Last week, it was announced that Big Brother had distributed activity trackers to this season's houseguests. I, as a consumer, love my own Fitbit activity tracker. I like to track my activity living in a city where I walk everywhere. And when I plan to lay in bed all day, I take my tracker off so I don’t have to be reminded that I am a sloth. But as a viewer of Big Brother, I find it odd that they have given these activity trackers to the houseguests for multiple reasons, though one in particular stands out.
First, let’s all admit that living in the Big Brother house is by no means as physical as say, Survivor. The houseguests have pretty luxurious accommodations, food (assuming they aren’t on slop), and a workout area to get in activity if they so wish. I wouldn’t think the activity trackers were so invasive if they were given to the houseguests for their own personal use, and not publicized for all of America to see.
Let’s say you were a houseguest and really wanted to work on your fitness while in the Big Brother house — hey, we can’t all be underwear model Cody coming in — it’s totally fine for the houseguests to see how many steps they’ve taken during the day. I’m not sure how they can see anything beyond their basic progress, however, since usually those devices are hooked up to a phone or laptop for more detailed analysis, two things the houseguests are ridden of before entering the house.
But not only is America allowed to see how active or “lazy” the houseguests have been each day, but we are allowed to see how much weight they’ve lost (or gained) upon their eviction. Big Brother is not a game for weight loss, nor should it ever be about weight loss. Apparently, Paola, who was evicted last week, lost six pounds in her two weeks in the Big Brother house. I feel weird knowing that!
Julie Chen announced that the activity trackers would eventually have a large role in the Big Brother game. Red. Flag. Why does the activity of each houseguest play any part in their game, a game that is primarily social, with physical competitions playing a smaller part? And why do we need to know the weight of each houseguest? This isn’t Biggest Loser, their weight is none of our business.
Maybe there will be a prize at the end of the season for the most active houseguest, although because some of them will be out of the house sooner than others, that seems hard to judge. Let's hope that Big Brother producers don’t try to turn this game into something it isn’t and use the trackers as punishments for the “lazier” houseguests. It's bad enough that they've publicized their move-in and move-out weights for all of America to see.
Images: Lisette M. Azar/CBS; I Thrive In Chaos/Tumblr
