Frankie Grande isn’t just a Big Brother alum; he’s a defender of the franchise, and he won’t sit idly by when an outlet dismisses the CBS reality show as “absurd” and “the most embarrassing show on TV right now.”
On Instagram, Grande hit back after BuzzFeed Canada criticized Big Brother after its Season 28 premiere.
“I’m pretty sure Big Brother has to be the most embarrassing show on TV right now,” BuzzFeed Canada opined in a photo slideshow from Thursday’s season opener.
“Big Brother kicked off it’s [sic] 28th season last night with the most absurd choices, ever,” the outlet added in the Instagram post’s caption. “The most bizarre? Asking Rachel Reilly (a former contestant as early [sic] as last year) to come back and ‘play,’ only for her to be attacked by a velociraptor, and chased up a volcano before falling to her death. There’s camp, and then there’s whatever this is. Why do we still watch this???”
In a comment on the post, Grande wrote, “Shut up. Camp is part of its DNA and charm. No one is forcing you to watch.”
BuzzFeed Canada responded, “@frankiejgrande Trust me, Franklin, I’m a fan!! Been watching since day 1 episode 1. But we’ve gone too far!!”
Some Instagram users sided with Ariana Grande’s brother. “Exactly,” one person wrote in response to his comment.
Another user wrote, “We have a live roasting by a seven-foot-tall robot every year and a big slide competition with a big barnyard animal as the host. This is nothing.”
But other users took BuzzFeed Canada’s side. “It was all so cringe,” one person lamented.
“Every year it gets more embarrassing to admit that I watch this show,” another user wrote.
Reilly, a veteran of Big Brother 12, 13, and 27, showed up as a surprise guest in the Season 28 premiere but was promptly pushed by a velociraptor (puppet) into a (fake) volcano.
“Rachel Reilly, RIP. Only the good die young,” Big Brother host Julie Chen Moonves told Entertainment Weekly. “But then again… knowing Rachel Reilly, she probably has made the lava her minions, faked her own death, had Brendon in the dinosaur suit, and is coming back for revenge on Angela for celebrating her demise. Although one must always expect the unexpected in the BB World, in Rachel Reilly’s world, you should always expect her to somehow get the last laugh!”
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