The producers of Big Brother really know how to turn up the heat on the contestants and this season is no different. This season is all about temptation and this week's Ring of Replacement on Big Brother 19 is a very enviable reward. This year, contestants get voted into the Den of Temptation each week by viewers and are confronted with an impossible decision. They can take a reward, which varies each week, that will help them strategize later in the season. But if they do take it, they'll have to deal with consequences in the house — they just don't know what they'll be when they make the decision.
Tough call, right? But that's what this game is all about. Last week, Paul took the Pendant of Protection, which means he can't be evicted for the next three evictions which is a very, very good reward. He bought himself a lot of time. The Ring of Replacement is also a sweet deal for having to go into the Den of Temptation. Whoever might get it will have the power to play in a Power of Veto competition. If they're not one of the three players in the competition, they can swap with someone (chosen by a random draw). Not a bad deal if you ask me.
Already BB19 is off to a dramatic start. Not only does the Den of Temptation add a twist, one of the cast members also voluntarily left the house in the first week. Megan Lowder said that the fighting in the house triggered her PTSD. She explained that she was sexually assaulted when she was in the Navy and that the men yelling at her and attacking her was literally making her ill. Lowder explained:
I had a lot of guys yelling at me and attacking me and it started really affecting me and making my anxiety severe and I was starting to get physically ill. I was throwing up, I had diarrhea, I was nauseous all the time.
After Josh Martinez called her a snake and a bully during the Head of Household competition, Lowder said she went into the diary room and had a panic attack. Producers took her to the emergency room, where she rested for a few days and then went home. "I was expecting to have one of the funnest summers of my life. I did have fun. I had a great time until all that just got the best of me," Lowder said.
Speaking out about her sexual assault, PTSD, and knowing that she had to remove herself from the situation is admirable. Hopefully it will be a reminder to the other contestants that no matter what happens in the Den of Temptation, it's important to keep things into perspective.
