Big Brother Canada - season 1

I make it a personal policy to not blog about TV, but I just had to write this one.

I recently watched the finale of season one of "Big Brother Canada." The show is a little less trashy than its American counterpart, but it's essentially the same show. The one thing that I disliked about the Canadian version is that the producers interfered too much with people exiting the house. Specifically:

1. In week 3, Suzette was nominated against AJ. However, viewers were allowed to vote to veto one of the nominations. Suzette, who was the presumptive choice to go home, was saved. Aneal was nominated in her place and was evicted.
2. In week 9, Gary returned to the house after having spent three "weeks" in the Jury House. As a result, he became part of the final five and made it to the final two. (The American version of "Big Brother" has done this in the past, but normally in the first few weeks of competition when there are more people in the house.)

In the finale, Topaz accidentally voted for Jillian to win, instead of her BFF Gary. Topaz pleaded to have the opportunity to re-vote, but her vote was counted as final. Jillian won 4-3 over Gary. Had Topaz voted as she intended to, Gary would have won.

I'm glad that Jillian won. Not because she was a strong player or particularly likeable, but because Gary did not deserve to be in the final two. He had been duly evicted from the house weeks earlier and was only returned to the house because of interference from the producers.

Jillian may not have been the most deserving player to win the game, but she was the only one in the final two who earned her way there.

Missed the train

Today, I took the VIA train back home after a weekend away visiting some family and friends. It felt good to get away for 3 days and have a change of venue.

All of the seats in our the train car are full, with one exception. Right on schedule, the train departs at 40 minutes past the hour. However, one woman in our car runs down the aisle, yelling at the attendant:

"My daughter! We can't leave without my daughter!"

Once the woman finds the attendant, she explains that her daughter has gone outside for a quick smoke, and that they can't leave without her. The attendant radios to stop the train. A few people are racing outside on the platform for about 2 minutes, looking for any sign of this elusive daughter.

At 44 minutes past the hour, the attendant informs the mother that we cannot wait any longer and that the train must depart. The mother reluctantly informs her husband and son, and they take all their luggage to the platform. The three of them head upstairs to (a) find the missing member of their party, and (b) exchange their tickets for a later trip. Depending on the class of ticket, they may either have to pay a change fee (a few dollars), or buy new tickets outright.

A few minutes later, the guy in front of me commented, "That was probably the most expensive smoke of her life."