July 10, 2003
 By Kim Clayton-Millar
Gaetano may have set himself up as the superstar of the house, but his fanbase within it is getting smaller as his ego gets bigger. Even his lover Abby has had her say about the man - and the couple appear not to have had sex since their wild weekend a while back.
This shift in attention is against the backdrop of Big Brother getting tough with the remaining 10 housemates, and his stinker of a task poses a taunt to them: which one
will survive? It comprises a series of difficult-to-fairly-easy mini-tasks within the main one.
The challenge - which began on Tuesday, once the housemates had wagered 100% of their budget for next week on it - requires players to make themselves available at any point during the day or night, until the task ends tonight
Even lover Abby has had her say about her man |
. The tasks range from small-scale, lateral thinking problem-solving exercises to large-scale, physically demanding tasks.
Big Brother is clearly playing a game by including incentives like a Leadership Award and a Teamwork Award, as well as a Personal Excellence Award. This has, as expected, caused not only tension, the level of which has already been escalating in the house, but some heavy verbal spats between various housemates.
But it seemed BB was over-zealous in his application of the rules, giving the housemates only 10% after they had honestly put their hearts into building their human pyramid.
This was a potentially perilous event, but task producer Eugene Cronje assures us "anything housemates do in the house can be seen as dangerous - working in the kitchen with a knife can be dangerous".
The testosterone-filled alpha males like Stefan and Alex, who have been ridiculing and challenging Gaetano at every turn - in a series of "attacks", such as hauling him out of the shower stark naked - are not letting up
. During the current task, this pair has continued to have a "dip" at the increasingly arrogant, annoying and bossy Ugandan, who, it can clearly be seen, is irritating other housemates - including Sammi B, with whom Gae had an out-and-out slanging match during the task.
Not wanting to jeopardise the overall task, the Party Boys have been going at Gae in a slightly more underhand fashion, mouthing off insults under their breath about the way he is always whining and nit-picking about other housemates' efforts in the task.
Meanwhile, those on the periphery, like Mwisho, Warona and Tapuwa, are now almost openly mocking the housemates who consider themselves to be the main men: Gaetano, Stefan and Alex.
It's not just the male housemates who are starting to feel threatened by other players, either. Tapuwa, who is now famed for her scathing verbal spats with egotistical Alex, was targeted for verbal abuse by Cherise during one of the more difficult physical tasks yesterday.
The pair have never really got on and Cherise lost her cool over a small mix-up and lashed out at Tapuwa. Even Gaetano commented on the fight in his diary session, telling BB that Cherise had taken the squabble a little too far by making bitchy comments about the Zimbabwean's lack of abilities.
It's easy to see that this latest task is causing mega conflict and rivalry, but it's also fascinating to watch these passionate interactions and the emotional crumblings. Just imagine the grudge nominations this week. I say: Good! Bring it on, BB!
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