It's happened every summer for the past 18 years. It takes over the CBS station 3 nights a week for 3 whole months. A little over a dozen strangers are forced to live in a house for the entire summer and battle it out in both mental and physical challenges until there is only one houseguest left. It's a pathetic reality show that honestly has no point to it - and yet it captivates the attention of millions of Americans every summer.
I'm talking about Big Brother.
Every year Big Brother fans across the country go through a cycle of falling in and out of "show-addiction." Here are the 12 stages of a summer Big Brother addiction as told by a self-proclaimed Big Brother addict:
1. June rolls around and get excited as you see the first commercial on television.
2. You realize how stupid the show really is and make the decision not to watch this summer.
3. You decide to watch the first episode anyway - just to see the season's new cast.
4. Like chips, you can't stop at just one. Soon you're five episodes deep and you have to keep watching at this point.
5. You try your best to find other people who are just as obsessed as you are so that you can talk game and make predictions.
6. Tears may ensue if your favorite houseguest loses the weekly Head of Household, Power of Veto, or - the absolute worst - gets evicted from the house.
7. The point comes along when you have missed so many episodes that you are forced to spend an entire day watching them on demand.
8. The house dwindles to just a handful of houseguests and each episode just gets more and more stressful.
9. You patiently await the arrival of Zingbot and walk around your house yelling "ZINGGG" for the next week or so.
10. You may make actual bets with your friends concerning which houseguest will walk away with $500,000.
11. The finale finally arrives and you reminisce on all the crazy stuff that went down during the season.
12. You realize that you have to wait an entire year for the show to return and you vow that you won't become addicted again (but, let's face it, you probably will).
Big Brother is one insane show that literally takes over my summer. It's filled with twists and turns that leave you yearning for the next episode. After all, the show's motto is "Expect the unexpected." If you're a Big Brother fan like me, you'll totally relate to these 12 steps of addiction. And don't be ashamed - because everyone needs their guilty pleasure television show.
