Here’s How Rumours Get Started
I got an e-mail from a fellow reality-obsessed friend this afternoon, in which she made fun of me for missing some “major Big Brother news.” This news? Is that Rob Mariano will be a part of the BB8 cast.
Holy heck. Well, if this is true, how did I miss it indeed? I searched Google news and hit up my favourite BB hot spots online, but came up with nothing. Then I found it - there’s a post at Survivor Sucks pointing to Rob’s Wikipedia page. Near the bottom, I found this little nugget:
Rob Mariano will be playing the Big Brother game in CBS upcoming Big Brother 8 (US) reality show starting July 5th. Its still not known what role Rob will play but many people expect him to play the villain. It is still unknown if his wife, Amber, will be playing the game, but many believe that her recent book ventures have brought an end to her reality show adventures.
And yes, there’s a source site listed, and I have no idea how credible this information is. But let’s put it this way. If Rob Mariano is a contestant on Big Brother 8, I will print this post and eat the paper it’s printed on.
Update: The Wikipedia entry has been changed (big surprise there) and now reads:
Rob Mariano is rumored to be involved with Big Brother 8.
As Heather correctly says in the comments here, Wikipedia is updated via user entries. Which is precisely why it isn’t always a reliable source of information.
big brother 8, rob mariano, big brother rumors, big brother gossip, big brother 8 cast, boston rob
June 15th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Uhh…first of all, Carrie. There is no paper here and eating an entire computer screen will really mess up your colon.
Secondly, NOOOOOOOOOO!!! Stay OFF my TV screen, Romber.
Thirdly, this is EXACTLY why I don’t allow my students to use Wikipedia as a source on research papers. User entered information is not always trustworthy (at least I hope that’s what’s happening here…no more Romber!)
June 15th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Gag me now. No more Romber!
Chippewa
June 15th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Gag me now. No more Romber!
June 15th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Heather, that’s why I said I would print it out and eat the paper it’s printed on. I love my monitor too much to try and eat it. Hee.
I agree with you both too, btw.
June 15th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Ok, I am an avid Romber supporter but I’m not sure I like this either. I would love it if he’d make a guest appearance though.
Oh, and I would like video of the paper eating if it should ever happen. lol
June 15th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
The mere thought of this being true just drives me nuts! We’ve already seen Romber way too many times as it is so we most definitely don’t need to see either of them again!
June 16th, 2007 at 9:38 am
You got it Jen - if Mariano shows up as a contestant on the show, I will absolutely post a video of the post-eating. *lol*
Carlo - I think we’ll definitely see them again, just not on Big Brother. There’s no way that they’re done with their reality career, and Rob’s said that he’s planning to host the new series they’re creating.
June 16th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Still has me really shaky. Nowadays, anyone can make up something like that, put it on a website, and it looks credible.
June 16th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
You’re absolutely right Zach, and that does happen. What I think happened in this case though was that someone heard a rumour that had originated elsewhere, and posted it as a probability instead of waiting to see if they could confirm it.
The same thing is happening with the ‘Janelle and Will are coming back as Den Mother and Den Father’ rumour. It was posted as an April Fool’s joke on a message board somewhere, but a few people took it as gospel.