S30: Cody & Jessica

[Lamb18]

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 10:49 AM, PreBabylonia said:

I remember from BB that Cody said he didn't have friends or family, which seems odd, given that he also has a sister and I thought his parents were alive. 

I remember that comment - I think he and Jess were in the pantry - but I think it was more he had a trail of relationships he had destroyed, which included his family and the mother of his child. His parents are alive. I got the sense he felt he was a failure at everything.

[Whimsy]

This is not the place to talk politics. I’m now making this thread a place to talk about Cody & Jessica’s time on the Amazing Race ONLY. 

[scrb]

Why are former BB contestants always villains when they come on other show?

[scrb]

5 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I don't see these two as villains.  I actually think Rachel and Brendan came off great on TAR, compared to BB.  Or did you mean this forum has a dislike for BB players?  I think that could be true.  People watch the BB live feeds and see unedited comments and consequently tend to hate people more than the 'regular broadcast' viewers do, I think.  Or perhaps they just hate them by virtue of the sheer hours they've spent with them.  

Maybe it's just a forums thing.  Former BB people just haven't come across sympathetically.

I don't think people would have minded if this team was eliminated in the last leg.

There's some BB people on The Challenge now too.  First time they've had former BB people on that show and they're not audience favorites either, at least going by Previously TV forum posts.

Maybe they come off BB, which I've never watched, and think they should have won or they will do better on these other shows.  So there's a sense of entitlement.

[NutMeg]

On 1/7/2018 at 12:56 PM, green said:

That is only because they can "edit" Cody on TAR unlike the live stream feeds of BB.

Ooooooh, wait until there are life stream feeds of TAR, and all would be evil, someday/night, somewhat. I don't watch Big Brother because it's too much of  time commitment for the viewer, but I'm sure a live stream could find a bad side of everyone. I'm pretty sure there are recorded moments of Mother Teresa behaving like a bully, but she still reached sainthood, and at least deserves to be remembered for the good she did.  

On 1/25/2018 at 4:47 PM, ProfCrash said:

My Mom is a liberal and my Dad very conservative. They have been married for 54 years and the political debates in our house were pretty impressively raucous. Go figure. My Dad also lectured me when I was in my 20's when I recited the more Conservative Catholic Churches line on homosexuality. His statements made me rethink mine and I changed my view point over time.  I grew up understanding that there are many shades of folks, with many different points of views and that folks ideas will change (sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse) so to judge the whole person.

I know plenty of Cody's and they are confusing. They say ignorant, bullshit stuff but they would die to defend the Constitution and the folks that they say stupid ignorant things about. I know how they care for their families and friends. I call them on their BS and debate politics with them. We rarely agree but most of them are far easier to discuss politics with because they are fine with my disagreeing with them. My life would be far to boring if I only cared for people who see the world the way I do. I would have to disown half my family and a fair number of friends. Hell, I would have to disown my 20 year old self.

Cody is ignorant and willfully uneducated in areas. He also is hella supportive of Jessica, who is almost his polar opposite. He has been respectful to the people he has interacted with. He took the time to learn Arabic when was in deployed, most people don't. He is self aware enough to know that not everyone will agree with his beliefs and seems to be ok with the idea that he does not have to make everyone happy. He loves his daughter and did his best to protect her on Big Brother (he went out of his way to not discuss having a child because he did not want to use her as part of the game).

I've had similar experience, both of couples on different ends of the spectrum but also of people spouting ugly racist views while having close friends who were from the ethnicities and/or religions they targeted in their talk, and it took me a while to realize they were just repeating whatever so-called truth they grew up with, even when it didn't match their experience, and without any critical assessment or realising how it could affect these close friends. (These experiences were mostly with people from former Yugoslavia and Israel/Middle East.)  

On 2/9/2018 at 6:32 PM, scrb said:

Why are former BB contestants always villains when they come on other show?

I'm not sure, but then again I don't watch BB. They sure seem competent, based on what I see from this team and Rachel/Brendan(?),which is not terribly surprising, if I think about it: being locked for months with random people must take a tremendous amount of effort to stay pleasant to the end, or to be unpleasant in a way that gives you the win. So, from me, mad respect - even if I'm still not about to watch to show, because it requires a time commitment I only give if I want to binge watch something.

Back to this team, they are efficient, work well together, complement each other well and compliment each other often enough, don't bicker, so yeah, I'd say if they hadn't come from Big Brother they'd be really liked. Then again, if they hadn't come from BB, they may never have been cast, and I think there is the cusp of the problem the viewers are having with this team and other BB alumni before. And indeed, the incestuous casting is iffy when there are so many other candidates. But really, the casting is not the fault of the team you don't like because it's been cast again (and, sometimes, and again, and again, and again...). If you need to blame someone, it's TBTB at CBS, not the team which can fall anywhere between a paw and a machiavellian participant.   

[ProfCrash]

On ‎2‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 12:32 PM, scrb said:

Why are former BB contestants always villains when they come on other show?

I suspect that there are a few things at play.

1) Some folks just don't like cross overs between reality shows and are pre-disposed to not like anyone who cross overs.

2) Big Brother is quite possibly the most transparent reality show out there. The live feeds are discussed, any thing were someone says something crappy is put on YouTube or ends up on TMZ, and so it is easier to dislike the candidates from Big Brother. In all fairness, the folks on Big Brother know that they are being watched 24/7 and anything that they say and do can, and will, end up on the internet. It will follow them around. A fair number of the contestants say and do shitty things and develop a anti-fan base. That is going to follow them to other shows. The contestants are responsible for their comments and actions but I suspect that most of us have said and done some shitty things in our lives that would outrage a lot of folks if it was aired on TV. I am not dismissing the crappy comments but I do look for a trend in behavior and words before condemning someone.

3) Big Brother players spend a lot of time back stabbing people and playing really stupid competitions. They quickly learn that they have to deal with whatever stupidity Production throws at them and be willing to undermine other players. This leads to game play on other shows that is a bit more willingly brutal then teams that have not been through the reality show ringer.

4) House politics and the length of the show seems to negatively impact how the Big Brother players treat each other. They end up justifying some awful comments and treatments because of some slight (He ate my cereal, she drank my coke, they hid item X) and that seems to ok the players to complete ignore or dump on the player targeted for eviction. Big Brother is brutal. Every season it is brutal. I never make it past the first few weeks because every season the contestants, even the ones who seem like good people, turn into assholes. There is something about the competition and insanely close conditions that lead to awful behavior. Their rep can carry over to another show (See Brandon and Rachel) or how they end up treating each other contestants because the expect the other contestants to treat them like crap.

Big Brother is unique in how it is shot and how the players interact. Production does little to nothing to stop bullying, harassment, stalking, racist behavior and the like. The contestants are not punished in the house for bad behavior. For the worst of the worst, their behavior escalates (Paul, Aryn, Gina Marie) and there is a price to pay when they leave the house but in time that will pass. I suspect it leaves players who move to other shows on guard and quick to assume the worst about the other contestants based on their past experience.

Jessica and Cody had very little time to recover from Big Brother. They left an environment with a bunch folks who were harassing them, bullying them, and attacking them 24/7 and went straight on to another show. I can see why Jess and Cody are responding the way they are. It doesn't make it right, there was no reason to be that upset with Evan for not helping Jess on a task, but when your past experience is an entire group of people attacking you 24/7 it is easy to guess that there was a flashback to an uglier place. (shrugs)

That said, I really don't see Jessica and Cody as villains this season. Jess and Brittney don't like each other, mainly  because of game play. Jessica over reacted to Evan's "No" but for the most part Jessica and Cody seem to be getting along fine with the others and doing just fine. I don't see them behaving all that awfully.

Hell, I would argue that there are not any villains this season. We have one person who grates because she talks a lot about getting engaged after 9 years. I suspect a fair amount of that is prompted in interviews. We have another person who people think is over bearing and from a really good school. We have a third person who is playing a bit sneaky but not really undermining other teams. Seriously, in any other season these three folks would be mildly annoying and we would be raging about the awful behavior of person X.

[amazingracefan]

Good post ProfCrash I agree with plenty there.

I also think the edit could play on the whole reputation of Big Brother too.  Rivalry is a part of the race and it's inevitable that any BB team will be made part of that.

Also although BB is on the same network it is like a rival show at the same time, it annoys me that it took over the earlier spot from TAR, so that's probably the same for others.  TAR is a more unique show format but it feels like it's treated less well than BB or similar shows.  Switching the schedule around is one example and also never having a reunion show.

[PreBabylonia]

Just looking at Cody and Jessica from watching TAR and ignoring what I saw on BB, I still think Jessica is a Mean Girl. Fairly attractive and reasonably intelligent, but she also seems to enjoy getting her digs in when they aren't preoccupied with running the race. I thought she seemed to really enjoy Uturning the Stringers, and tried to rationalize it as good gameplay. It might have been, but anyone else might have come across as regretful given how popular that team was with the other competitors. Cody doesn't come across as intentionally trying to hurt anyone else, but he also comes across as not caring about anyone else other than Jessica (and his daughter). I don't mind that they are still in the race, but I hope they don't win. Otherwise I can see them continuing to show up on every reality show imaginable. Twice is enough, in my opinion.

[Special K]

They seem pretty generic to me, sort of reality-tv bots.  Like they were cooked up in a lab somewhere for BB or Survivor.  I prefer the more quirky types.

[chaifan]

Re: BB players cast as "villains":  Just my opinion, but I tend to see people who go on reality shows like BB to fall into the "fame whore" (wish there was a better term for that, but that's pretty much what it is) category.  They are there to get famous, or infamous, and they are there for the cameras.  Exposure is their primary goal, the game is secondary.  Where, with the exception of some of the model/actor teams, most contestants on TAR are there for the game itself - to race around the world.  The cameras are what they have to put up with for the experience, but the race is primary.  Even a lot of the non-reality show celebrities who have appeared on TAR have been TAR fans, and have seemed to me to be there primarily for the race, not the exposure.

As a long time TAR fan, I prefer racers who are there for the love of the game.  So teams who have applied and independently sought out TAR will always score more points with me than production picked teams. 

[lexington11]

On 2/9/2018 at 12:32 PM, scrb said:

Why are former BB contestants always villains when they come on other show?

Not all are villains...Jeff & Jordan appeared to be well liked by the other teams during their brief time on TAR16, and Hayden/Caleb were some of the most likable ones on their Survivor crossovers.

[scrb]

Jessica said Henry is whipped and made a crude whipping sound.

It may or may not be true but she seems to be going with the stereotype of the Asian male being more passive or less apt to be alpha male types.

She really thinks she's coming across well on the show?  Probably thinks if she wins the million, she can say fuck you to all the critics she must have on social media.

[Lady Calypso]

So, it looks like Team Ocean RescueSpray aren't the only ones planning for a wedding. Cody/Jess are engaged.

[spanana]

On 2/14/2018 at 8:38 AM, ProfCrash said:

Jessica and Cody had very little time to recover from Big Brother. They left an environment with a bunch folks who were harassing them, bullying them, and attacking them 24/7 and went straight on to another show. I can see why Jess and Cody are responding the way they are. It doesn't make it right, there was no reason to be that upset with Evan for not helping Jess on a task, but when your past experience is an entire group of people attacking you 24/7 it is easy to guess that there was a flashback to an uglier place. (shrugs)

 

Spare me the Cody and Jessica as poor bullied victims routine. They were just as nasty as the rest of the Big Brother cast last season and they should own their own behavior.  How these two have the fanbase they have is so beyond me.  Everyone else on their season was gross but that doesn't make these two any better.

Also maybe it will get me banned, and if so that is fine, but if reality show contestants say/do disgusting things that take a political bent, I think that should be fair fodder to discuss when they continually appear on television.  I refuse to allow Cody to be made into some sort of good guy hero.

Edited February 16, 2018 by spanana

[ProfCrash]

And I don’t see the point in getting worked up about a couple of people who are appearing on a show for a few months and then going to fade away into obscurity. I don’t agree with Cody politically. I think he has outdated beliefs and needs to go out and experience more of the world. But I don’t think he is evil or that he is a bad person. Ignorant and biased, hell yeah. I find Jessica more offensive. She is catty and mean. She is someone who holds a grudge and will throw down n a cat fight in a heartbeat. They both could stand to grow up and be more tolerant. 

I think that Cody has more room for personal growth and that he could very well grow from meeting some of Jessica’s friends. I am not sure what it takes for a mean girl to stop being a mean girl but whatever it is, I want for it to happen to Jessica.

They are not my favorite people but they entertain me. And I will remember them as clearly as I remember most of the other people I have watched on the Amazing Race over the past bunch of years, which is to say not very much. I would rather Yale wins then Cody and Jess but that is me. 

[ProfCrash]

14 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

Their fan base might be strictly non-BB-feed watchers for all I know, but I think that's a huge majority of BB watchers.  And based on the broadcast show, they were likable.  Hence Cody winning America's favorite

In all fairness, Cody winning America's Favorite was a fuck Paul thing and had more to do with Jessica's social media skills and out reach then anything Cody did on the show. I think the Cowboy might have won it if he hadn't made his own crappy comments. The boards here were mostly supportive of Cody winning because they wanted to see Paul's face crash although there was a decent number of people who found Cody's comments on the feeds vile enough that they would not vote for Cody even though they disliked Paul more.

Cody isn't a saint or a hero or an evil person. He is flawed and ignorant in some important areas. But he entertains me on the Amazing Race. I like how supportive he is of Jessica. He has had some great comments and humorous faces. He seems to be able to relax with most of the other teams and chill out. He has been able to joke around and smile a bit. He is great at the comps, which is not a surprise. If he had not been on Big Brother I think that he would have been seen as a good competitor and fun to watch. Probably a little bland but I don't think his actions on the show would have engendered much negative out cry. Since most of the people here have not seen BB or the feeds, I think that is what people are mostly fine with Cody.

[amazingracefan]

I don't really care if someone is picked out by the producers from another show as long as they contribute (and it automatically adds drama as people on the race have reactions to it).  It's certainly better than people just picked for their looks, I think that's been one of the problems as the show has gone on, or people just for a particular backstory to be trotted out (like having had cancer).

Cody was unpopular in the house because he went after returnee Paul, at the same time that gained him some popularity outside the house.  In both seasons he was in Paul didn't make the top 3 in the public favourite vote at the end.

[gibasi]

from the episode thread:

Quote

Cody has a recurring role on Days of of Lives so it sounds like he may have been bit by the acting bug.  

I would guess it is one of those appearances that CBS does with their reality show people.  I have not seen any kind of acting ability from Cody.  He is wooden in front of a camera and did not like performing the song before an audience.  And yuck if it is a recurring role.

[SomeTameGazelle]

27 minutes ago, gibasi said:

from the episode thread:

Quote

Cody has a recurring role on Days of of Lives so it sounds like he may have been bit by the acting bug.  

I would guess it is one of those appearances that CBS does with their reality show people.  I have not seen any kind of acting ability from Cody.  He is wooden in front of a camera and did not like performing the song before an audience.  And yuck if it is a recurring role.

Days of Our Lives is an NBC soap and I haven't found anything online suggesting that Cody has any kind of role on it. I did find references to Cody and Jessica appearing on the CBS soap The Bold & the Beautiful. It doesn't sound like much acting is involved.

[gibasi]

2 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Days of Our Lives is an NBC soap and I haven't found anything online suggesting that Cody has any kind of role on it. I did find references to Cody and Jessica appearing on the CBS soap The Bold & the Beautiful. It doesn't sound like much acting is involved.

You are right!  I think the poster I was quoting probably meant The Bold and the Beautiful.  I used to watch the soaps a lot back in the day and always hated the stunt casting like this.  It was always awkward.

[Halting Hex]

A "recurring" role for soaps means appearing in more than one episode, but not part of the regular cast.  Your average three-lines-on-Friday, four-lines-on-Monday glorified walk-on qualifies as such.

Very happy with both My Girl <----- Jessica's performance and the sweetheart edit #Jody has been getting.  I would say this portends good things for the finale, but then last season I was certain that the giant dump the editors were taking all over Brooke (seriously, a four-year-old could have made a more sympathetic edit for her) meant that she and Scott were doomed and production wanted us to be relieved at their near-miss.  So, clearly, I don't know what's going on, at all.

[Artsda]

On 2/15/2018 at 6:19 PM, Lady Calypso said:

So, it looks like Team Ocean RescueSpray aren't the only ones planning for a wedding. Cody/Jess are engaged.

Aww congrats to them.

[scrb]

Has to be one of the most despicable teams to lose.

Soon as they reach San Francisco, Cody's all "foreign travel isn't for me."  But apparently reality TV is.  Bet if they got offered Survivor, they'd go to some remote island.

I think the plane puzzle was pure luck.  All 3 of them checked at least a half dozen times so they were guessing.  The mean girl guessed right before the others.

[amazingracefan]

7 hours ago, scrb said:

Soon as they reach San Francisco, Cody's all "foreign travel isn't for me."

I don't think that's being despicable, he's just more comfortable keeping where he's used to, and after the war zones he's been in that's probably not surprising.

[scrb]

He also said things like "it's not America" or "this place doesn't have the Bill of Rights" and the latter was in Europe I believe.

Combined with reports of his bigotry, this sounds like part of the same thing.

[ProfCrash]

14 minutes ago, scrb said:

He also said things like "it's not America" or "this place doesn't have the Bill of Rights" and the latter was in Europe I believe.

Combined with reports of his bigotry, this sounds like part of the same thing.

Yes, in France. He expressed a preference for living in the US because of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. So, he likes the US system of government and was not wowed by international travel.

[scrb]

What's dumb is that the Founders drew inspiration for the Constitution and Declaration of Independence from European thinkers, including French ones.

So all the ideals enshrined in those documents came from thinkers in countries which have established traditions of democracy.

Hell you learn this stuff in high school, so he can't exactly claim ignorance.

[Lady Calypso]

Here's an interview post-finale from the two, talking about the final leg, some unseen footage from the race, and the whole animosity with Team Yale.

I do have to roll my eyes at the reasoning for hating Team Yale. It basically boils down to "Evan didn't want to work with other teams!" which....duh, it's a race? Also, Cody assumes that Henry cheated off of Jessica in the final task as the reason for him getting it right after her. Which Henry, in another interview, disputes and explains that he was Racer Blind to the task so he didn't see her plane answers. 

Cody/Jess also talk about using the money to buy a house and to set aside money for Cody's daughter and Jess/Cody's future children.

[biakbiak]

3 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Also, Cody assumes that Henry cheated off of Jessica in the final task as the reason for him getting it right after her. Which Henry, in another interview, disputes and explains that he was Racer Blind to the task so he didn't see her plane answers. 

Also, based on the show he had it before her, just didnt get it checked. 

[HawaiiTVGuy]

17 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Here's an interview post-finale from the two, talking about the final leg, some unseen footage from the race, and the whole animosity with Team Yale.

I do have to roll my eyes at the reasoning for hating Team Yale. It basically boils down to "Evan didn't want to work with other teams!" which....duh, it's a race? Also, Cody assumes that Henry cheated off of Jessica in the final task as the reason for him getting it right after her. Which Henry, in another interview, disputes and explains that he was Racer Blind to the task so he didn't see her plane answers. 

Cody/Jess also talk about using the money to buy a house and to set aside money for Cody's daughter and Jess/Cody's future children.

Hmm...needing to attempt to belittle someone else to make yourself look better...sounds unfortunately very familiar.  This is the type of attitude that made me dislike them during the race.  And the U-Turn aspect?  Team Yale didn't give two fucks about it after it was done (except for the mat prompting by Phil) while Team BB kept on harping on it and had to bring up the "karma" BS about Team Ocean Spray.  Of course completely ignoring the fact they U-turned someone earlier in the race.  

[chaifan]

18 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

 Also, Cody assumes that Henry cheated off of Jessica in the final task as the reason for him getting it right after her.

I thought it was weird that the assembly stations were so close, but then I assumed that each plane had different stickers/placements, so you wouldn't be able to copy.  An interview with Jen & Kristi (or maybe Jen's blog?) said that it took Jen another hour after the others finished for her to complete her plane.  Since Jen couldn't just look at Jess & Henry's planes to finish hers, that means the stickers were different.  So I think Cody is just plain wrong (pun intended) and again looking for weird ways to bash Team Yale.

(Which brings up the question of why did they make Jen finish the plane, let alone take another hour doing so, since the race was over at that point. But that's for another thread.)

Edited February 26, 2018 by chaifan

[green]

11 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

It seems like they might need the three puzzles to be identical, for transparent fairness reasons.  Copying wouldn't really matter because the only time you could copy is when another team had it right, and by then it's too late.  Plus you'd have to really walk around their plane, I think.  You could glance over and see a few things that way but it'd be hard to see what's on the top side of the opposite wing and such.  

Though it makes zero sense why Jen would spend an hour on it after everyone left.

 

There is what?  A 50K difference in prize money between 2nd and 3rd place so yeah copying would matter a lot.  And if all the stickers are on all the parts and all three planes were indeed solvable then that is more than enough transparency.

I'm kind of glad to hear the skier actually finished out the race old school style and didn't quit.

Edited February 27, 2018 by green

[HawaiiTVGuy]

On 2/26/2018 at 9:20 AM, Winston9-DT3 said:

It seems like they might need the three puzzles to be identical, for transparent fairness reasons.  Copying wouldn't really matter because the only time you could copy is when another team had it right, and by then it's too late.  Plus you'd have to really walk around their plane, I think.  You could glance over and see a few things that way but it'd be hard to see what's on the top side of the opposite wing and such.  

Though it makes zero sense why Jen would spend an hour on it after everyone left.  

Ok, looking at the actual wording, I'm going to assume she didn't actually finish the puzzle an hour later, she just figured out the solution in her head (or possibly back at the plane after filming ended).  Though we did see her either solve it or the show faking it on the broadcast, which could've been an hour later.  I'm going to assume she did copy the placement of one of the other planes to get out of there, and 'an hour later' realized it was the backward wing thing that caused her to not solve it earlier?  The whole thing doesn't make much sense.  I assume all the planes had two 'left' wings?  

Her assuming both bad sets of directions they got were from BB fans is kind of weird, too.  I really don't think that's likely.  People give bad directions all the time.  

Don't they always have the final team finish the puzzle?  I don't think I ever saw the crew go to the last team and have them stop...except for maybe once when the other team didn't even get to the last puzzle by the time the first two finished.

[sashayshante]

On 2/23/2018 at 10:25 AM, Winston9-DT3 said:

International travel is tough.  It's not for me, either.  It doesn't make me a bigot or an ugly American.  

I think Cody's supposed 'bigotry' was just this-

http://www.losangelesblade.com/2017/07/06/big-brother-19-contestant-upsets-fans-transphobic-comments/

I tend to agree with him.  Transsexuals probably don't give a shit that he used the word 'tranny' or that he used the word 'psychological' in the same sentence.  He didn't say it's a pathology.  The definition of transsexual includes the word 'psychological'.  It is a psychological phenomenon.  I would get annoyed at having someone cover my mouth for daring to speak in slang that innocuous, too.  Ru Paul uses the word tranny all the time, in humor.  Probably not the best choice of terms for Cody, but hardly evidence of bigotry.  

From the article:
 

Quote

 

“Do you really think I could give a sh*t that like .0000001 percent of the population is fu*k*ng trannies. I don’t give a fu*k. I promise you they’re not expecting me to really fu*king sympathize with their psychological cause,” Nickson says.

Later, Graf reminds Nickson of his earlier comments while surrounded by other houseguests.

“What you said this morning wasn’t that great either,” Graf says.

“What? Tranny? I don’t give a sh*t,” Nickson says as the rest of the houseguests laugh. “Do you really think they’re going to come at a Marine Crops infantryman for fu*king saying the word tranny?”

 

Tranny is a slur, full stop. Rupaul is a transvestite and therefore can use a word like "tranny."  Unless you're a transexual, it's not your place to declare what trans people do or do not find offensive.  Cody is an uneducated and unsophisticated rube who thinks a tour in Afghanistan makes him cultured. The guy is the walking definition of the word bigot. He expresses an intolerance for pretty much everything he doesn't understand or believe.  He was also quoted as saying he didn't think trans people should serve in the military, so, yeah, he's a bigot.