Homophobic Big Brother contestant evicted to boos and soaring ratings
A contestant on Big Brother US who made racist and homophobic slurs on live television was evicted on Thursday, and was met with boos when she denied any knowledge of making the comments.
The eviction of Aaryn Gries reportedly drew a massive spike in viewing figures, as 8.36 million viewers tuned in to see the contestant answer for the comments.
Julie Chen, the show’s host, questioned Gries on her remarks, which she denied having any memory of making. She later attributed them to her Texas upbringing.
Talking about one housemate Andy’s nominations, Gries had said: “No one’s going to vote for whoever that queer puts up”.
Several housemates made offensive comments, which were picked up on the live feed by media outlets, however until several days later, none of them were aired on the edited version of the show.
The segment focussed on Gries, who was also dropped by her modelling agency after she referred to a gay housemate as “queer”, and said to an Asian-American housemate to “shut up and go and make some rice”.
A Change.org petition has also been started calling for the eviction of Gries, which was signed by over 13,000 people at time of publication.
Having been evicted from the main house, Gries is now part of the “jury house”, and will help determine the winner.
