LAST WEEK: New girl Mercedies (Benze) entered the club and immediately took to joining the girls in their growing dislike of former friend Shanae, whom they feel is a Debbie Downer.
So this season's been exceedingly dull so far, especially after fan favorite Sarah left the house. Many fans (myself included) have been complaining increasingly about the producer-instigated fights, the excessive drama that just feels so contrived and the onslaught of "replacement" girls.
In the past, BGC cast members like Nikki (season 10) and Julie (season 9) have called out the producers for kicking people out arbitrarily, meaning that that decide who leaves at any given time, and the rules of fighting are not set in stone. If one storyline gets boring or the same fights (all edited now with those agonizing jump-cuts and spastic flashing candy colors) keep happening, a new girl will often be brought in to re-stir the drama and change up the pace.
According to the promos, this season is leading up to one big fight between a number of girls. I predict more jumping and group-think, popular themes this season.
And as the girls don't have much time left in the house as of episode 12, it's hard to say how long the new target Shanae will remain, especially since she's been missing her friends and family back home.
This episode begins in the morning over a conversation between Tiana and Jaz over GiGi's willingness to fight Shanae and the general house consensus over her.
In the make-up room, Andrea and Benze discuss boys and decide to hit up South Beach to find some. Meanwhile, Shanae calls her friend and laments getting ganged-up on the night before as the girls accused her of being a follower. Shanae feels hurt that Tiana, who she thought was her friend, seemed to turn on her at the drop of a hat.
When Benze and Andrea arrive at the beach, they immediately get hit on, and soon enough they start throwing a football around with some muscled guys, footage which the producers edit into some jazzy jump-cut music video. It's thrilling stuff, guys.
Back at the house, the girls discuss vaginas, and someone asks Andrea if hers is "fat." Later in the confessional, she laments that she can't have a normal conversation in this house.
That night the girls head out in the limo to their nightclub destination of choice, and it's the usual strobe lights and grinding and drinking in VIP. Shanae's keeping her attitude on a good level despite her distrust of the girls.
And then, look who it is! Rapper Pleasure P comes out to invite the girls to be in his new music video, and oh Oxygen, be more transparent. The girls are excited, however, except GiGi, who insists in her talking-head that she better get paid for it. OK then.
The next day the girls get a call from Pleasure P's casting director who invites them to come to try out for the video.
As always, the kitchen is a disgusting mess, which bothers Shanae. She sits down in front of the computer and Benze asks her to air her problems, which she does.
Shanae reveals that out of nowhere, as she feels, everyone suddenly feels some type of way about her. Benze advises her not to isolate herself, while Shanae argues that no matter what she does, everyone will dislike her. She says she thinks they're looking for something to be mad at.
Benze, meanwhile, is jealous that she had all of that time in the house (and on TV, I guess) and is still complaining, and talking-heads that she's ungrateful.
Outside on the patio, Benze, Steph and GiGi discuss Shanae, and Benze recalls to them what she's been saying about wanting to go home. Steph goes into the confessional to inform us that "something is going to happen," and alright, because this has been boring so far.
My thing is, I don't need tons of contrived fights to make the show entertaining. The best moments come from hilarious, true-to-life (or as true as you can get in this environment) interactions between the girls, something that Season 6 did particularly well and just didn't seem to happen this year.
Anyway, Shanae calls her friend, and the editors track her "mood meter" with a helpful visual during the conversation. She starts off super excited since her friend is Miami, but things go way downhill when her friend says it may take a little longer to get there.
Shanae is going stir-crazy and just needs to get away from the house.
Upstairs, Andrea freaks Benze out for a minute when she says she had sex babysitting...until she clarifies it was the parent, not the kid. Phew. Benze gives her props for that and soon enough they're in the confessional flirting and talking about threesomes.
Out at dinner, Shanae gets hug-attacked by her friends Allie and Raven, who shower her with love and kisses, a calm within the storm of the BGC. She tells them how everyone in the house brags about how "real" they are, which they do, and how everyone switched up on her and accused her of not being herself.
As she tells her friends what a chill person she is, those sneaky producers insert some casting tape footage and clips of her yelling and screaming mixed in with clips of her pouting and crying. OK producers, we get it.
Most of all, Shanae misses dancing, which she's made a career out of. She decides not to change who she is just because the other girls don't like it.
Back at the house, the girls discuss that Shanae isn't going out with them. What did you guys expect? They don't seem to care though and head out to have fun at the club, as they do twice a week.
Shanae brings Allie and Raven home to the empty house and show her the photos and the girls take to judging everyone's, of course. They head upstairs into the room she shares with Tiana and Jaz and tells them about the "debacle" that took place the night before.
While Shanae claims "it's nothing," you know it's really bothering her. In the limo on the way home, the girls drunkenly complain about Shanae some more and Benze jumps in with plenty of anti-Shanae commentary.
Benze is rude to her friends when she comes in, and GiGi gets an attitude, as usual. Andrea drunkenly agrees that they need to go and are being disrespectful for being on the bed.
The next morning, Shanae calls her mother and says she gets crucified when she has her sad moments, while the other girls don't get flack for it. Jaz overhears her calling the girls fake, and naturally , goes upstairs to tell Tiana.
Everyone except Tiana heads to the music video audition, and in one of the cars, Jaz tells Steph and GiGi how annoyed she is with Shanae, while Steph says she has a "funny feeling" she's going to end up fighting her.
At the casting, Shanae decides to opt out, and the girls call her out on it, especially GiGi, who is annoyed that she came to support them or something.
The audition involves tons of ass-shaking, twerking and not much else, and at the end of it, one of the directors insists that she looks good and should audition. Shanae's sick of overhearing her roommates talking s**t, so she decides to show them up and actually dance.
As it turns out, she's pretty good, though the other girls look pissed. The guys tell her she has to be in the video, and Jaz calls her an attention w****, when really she's just being jealous and petty, to be honest.
GiGi, Steph and Shanae make the video, but of course Steph is moaning in her talking-head about how Shanae got the part and it should have been one of her friends instead.
In the car ride on the way home, GiGi and Steph tell Jaz she should have gotten the part instead, and plan on ganging up on Shanae that night. God they're obnoxious.
In the confessional, Benze and Tiana continue complaining about the video shoot about how the directors had to "pull teeth" with the directors. Jaz approaches Shanae in the closet and accuses her of moping in the video shoot and always being sad. Shanae defends herself, when really she'd be wise to just ignore them at this point, just as Janelle did.
As my eyes roll to the back of my head, Tiana mocks her dancing downstairs, and Benze keeps complaining about the audition.
Look, I know these girls are already petty and don't have much to do, but come on. This is getting so old.
Steph approaches Shanae as she's napping and Shanae is immediately, "What now? What is it now?" Steph tells her she feels like she's being fake and not the same person she was when she came in and her sadness annoys and drains her.
Andrea notes that these girls keep picking on Shanae and will help her out if these girls try to jump. Kudos for Andrea.
Steph tells Shanae she doesn't think she's cut out for BGC (who made her the producer?) and needs to go home.
I know I complain about it every week, but this "Survivor" s**t really needs to stop. I'm praying that the rumors of season 12 being more like the early seasons are true in terms of formatting and less fighting, because nothing is more annoying than watching girls tell each other they "need to go home."
That night, even though she doesn't want to go, Shanae decides to go to a club with the girls and have fun with her friends who are in town. And of course, the girls are whining about it and plan to keep them out of "their" VIP section.
Shanae's friend Allie shows up and immediately it's nasty looks from the other girls. Shanae admits to Allie that a part of her wants to leave the house, while GiGi and Steph bond over their excitement over getting in a new fight.
In the limo, the drunk girls are all ganging up on Shanae and accusing her of not partying with them. They're just toying with her, of course, because they don't want her to party with them. When Shanae defends herself, Steph starts antagonizing her, telling her that nobody cares and her friends are irrelevant. Man these girls are nasty.
Steph starts yelling in Shanae's face, tells he she doesn't like her, and GiGi joins in the yelling, giggling with glee because bullying is her favorite activity, especially when it involves multiple girls! Jaz talking-heads that if Shanae so even breathes on Steph wrong, she'll hurt her.
Steph gets in Shanae's face and GiGi talking-heads that she doesn't care who fights Shanae, she'll be happy as long as she goes home.
Andrea is worried there will be a fight tonight she she's been the girls jump Janelle.
Back at the house, Steph decides to "test" Shanae's badness by antagonizing her even further. As Shanae sits on the bed and talks her socks off, Steph starts going off on her, telling her she wants to fight while Tiana and GiGi enjoy the show. They've been given explicit instructions not to get involved.
Steph notes that Shanae's taking her socks off, which probably means she wants to fight. Heh. Steph won't stop until she gets what she wants, of course, and finally gives in and shoves Shanae, who springs from the bed and pushes her back.
all gifs courtesy of Bad Girls Club Official Tumblr
Steph throws the first punch, and soon enough GiGi is jumping in, of course, and the producers are pulling them apart as we cut to the preview for next week.
NEXT WEEK: The girls have a pool party, the girls gang up on Andrea, their new target, and it looks like Shanae goes home. Well, what else are they going to do with no one else to pick on? I'll be watching so you don't have to, and as usual, I'll tell you all about it!
Click here to watch the full episode, along with all of the ones you may have missed on BGC!
