Big Brother walkout flops

NEW YORK (AP) â€” The ``Big Brother'' rebellion went nowhere â€” and neither did the house guests. <br><br>Sticking to the CBS reality series' going-nowhere style, Wednesday's live installment

Thursday, September 14th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” The ``Big Brother'' rebellion went nowhere â€” and neither did the house guests.

Sticking to the CBS reality series' going-nowhere style, Wednesday's live installment saw a routine banishment of another resident â€” this time, Cassandra â€” and little else.

It could have been different.

A dramatic turn of events seemed a possibility last weekend as insurrection simmered. George, the usually jovial roofer, began fanning the discontent within the house, where since early July the sequestered residents have submitted to constant video surveillance.

Captured on the round-the-clock ``Big Brother'' Web site, the six house guests could be seen endlessly debating whether to march out of the house in mutiny during Wednesday's live telecast. That would have emptied the house more than two weeks before the ``Big Brother'' finale, when one surviving house guest is scheduled to collect the grand prize of $500,000.

Exactly what the protest was meant to accomplish was never clear, although it would have thrown a kink into CBS's ability to continue the six-times-a-week series.

CBS promoted Wednesday's show, and the showdown, to pump up interest in the poorly received series.

``The big news of the week is the `Big Brother' rebellion,'' said host Julie Chen at the top of the hour.

But it was a tale full of sound and fury signifying nothing, as viewers learned when Chen cut to George inside the house. She asked if he planned to go ahead with his walkout.

``The Chicken Man's staying,'' said George, referring to himself by his nickname. The other five house guests also clearly meant to stay put.

During an in-studio segment with ``health and relationship specialist'' Dr. Drew Pinsky, Chen asked why the house guests had considered mass revolt.

``It seems strange to those of us who don't have the perspective of confinement,'' Pinsky replied. ``Doesn't it?''

Then Chen announced the results of the phone poll choosing which of three house guests ``marked for banishment'' â€” Eddie, Curtis or Cassandra â€” would be tossed out.

Cassandra, a dignified New Yorker who works as a United Nations communications specialist, was nailed with 46 percent of the vote.

With her gone, Josh and Jamie remained, along with Eddie, Curtis and George, as contenders from the original 10 house guests.

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On the Net:

Official Web site: http://www.cbs.com

Day-by-day summary: http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/bb/index.html