Big Brother‘s 25th season is shaping up to be the most memorable in recent years — for less-than-ideal reasons. The anniversary season has delivered some blindsides and a showmance or two, as well as an elaborate multiverse conceit that will have viewers feeling like it’s 2021 all over again. The season also has a problem with contestants speaking… uh, out of turn, to put it lightly. Such is life when your every move is being broadcast live to the world.
The latest incident involves contestant Jared Fields, the current Head of Household and a major player in many storylines due to his showmance with Blue Kim and his being the son of four-time Survivor alum and Traitors winner Cirie Fields. After winning the most recent Head of Household competition, Jared apparently called fellow player America Lopez the R-word while discussing strategy going into the next Power of Veto competition.
While footage of the initial exchange has yet to surface, Jared’s apology for using the slur — delivered to America’s showmance partner Cory Wurtenberger — has popped up on social media. This happened on Saturday morning (Pacific time) following the incident, which is alleged to have occurred on Friday night.
As for the incident in question, while footage of Jared using the R-word hasn’t popped up, Twitter — er, X — responses indicate that it occurred a day earlier, around noon Pacific time on Friday, September 1. Interestingly, the original tweet alleged that another player, Cameron Hardin, actually said the R-word. Whether or not that is true, if the X’er misheard a conversation between Cameron and Jared, remains a mystery until the footage is found. What we do know is that there is footage of Jared apologizing for using the word, which is itself a confession.
Another twist in the story: earlier footage from Friday morning shows Jared and Blue discussing the way Jared speaks to other people in the house. It starts with Jared saying that he “s—-ed” on someone, which is itself considered a slur in the same vein as the R-word. Footage ahead, and trigger warning for offensive language.
Now the question is, if all of this occurred on Friday and Saturday, why was it not included in Sunday night’s episode? When former housemate Luke Valentine was caught using the N-word on camera (to Jared, incidentally), a following episode on CBS included the footage and explained that Luke had been evicted for breaking the show’s code of conduct. In this case, Sunday night’s (September 3rd) episode of Big Brother covered Days 30 and 31 in the house. Sunday’s episode concluded with Jared nominating Red Utley and Cameron for eviction, which would have taken place before Jared started to plan for the Power of Veto competition, which is when the slur was alleged to have been used by Jared (or Cameron, or both, or someone mishearing Jared as Cameron). If the timeline as pieced together via Twitter is correct, then the incident occurred on Day 31 and the apology happened on Day 32. If the producers are going to take action and evict Jared, it will likely be part of Wednesday night’s Big Brother episode.
It would also help if the show clarified who said what and when, as well as — considering the above conversation between Jared and Blue — which offensive words are considered offensive enough to warrant eviction. Did Cameron also use the R-word, or did Twitter — ugh, X — mishear? And does using a word with the same origins and connotations as the R-word carry the same weight as using the R-word? There’s a lot that Big Brother — and its players — have to answer for this week.
Big Brother returns to CBS on Wednesday, September 6 at 8 p.m. ET.