By Ashley Lodato
What with all the recent accusations of wire-tapping, and then Congress killing Internet privacy protections, the concept of “Big Brother” has been floating around with renewed relevance (even resulting in a 10,000 percent increase in sales of George Orwell’s “1984”). But another kind of Big Brother has made at least one Methow Valley native quite happy lately: the Big Brother reality TV franchise.
(An interlude to explain what the Big Brother franchise is if, like me, you have never heard of it before. It’s an international reality TV series that sequesters a group of housemates in a single residence and records nearly their every move and utterance. Participants are voted, one-by-one, out of the house by the watching audience until only one contestant remains. That contestant wins the series and a substantial cash prize.)
Liberty Bell graduate Alyson Eckmann recently walked away as the winner of Spain’s version of Big Brother, called “Gran Hermano VIP5,” which featured 15 celebrities with different degrees of fame locked up together for 96 days. Alyson is known throughout Spain as a TV presenter and occasional actress, with appearances on shows such as “Hable con Ellas,” “La que se Avencina,” and “Non Stop People.”
Most rooms of the house were equipped with cameras and microphones, broadcasting the conversations and activities of the housemates on Spanish TV. “Every week [in the house]” was a challenge,” says Alyson’s mother, Annie. The contestants had to sing and learn dance routines, complete American boot camp workouts, and scale walls with climbing holds to recite Shakespeare to Juliet on a balcony.
The funniest challenge, says Annie, was the baby test. Alyson had to strap on a pregnancy belt for a few days, then have the baby (yes, there was a mock delivery in a hospital) and take care of it. “It reminded me of the program that Liberty Bell offered in junior high,” says Annie. “They sent home electronic babies that cried and recorded if they were being taken care of or not.” The “babies” used on “Gran Hermano VIP5,” says Annie, “looked very realistic.”
Throughout the course of the three months, 14 contestants were “evicted” by public vote until only Alyson remained, making her the recipient of not only increased fame throughout Spain and skyrocketing social media statistics, but also a big suitcase full of Euros.
Annie, along with Alyson’s father, Peter, flew to Spain for the final two of episodes of the show, surprising Alyson on TV when she became a semi-finalist and then witnessing her success in the Grand Finale, which is when the public vote revealed Alyson to be the series winner.
After this widespread national coverage, Annie says she herself began to be recognized as Alyson’s mom on the streets, with women of all ages approaching her and expressing their support for Alyson. “She was raw, funny and unfiltered,” says Annie, “She could laugh at herself.”
Articles written about Alyson in Spain talk about her as an example of Spain’s cultural transition and the need to move forward. One notes that “Alyson Eckmann is the metaphor of Spain. A Spain crazy, dizzy, loaded with errors.” It continues, “Spain is Alyson, a country that is a very big picture that you cannot help but love and wish the best of luck.”
