** results not guaranteed

(CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MP3)

(CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO FEED AND FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE LIVE CHAT)

2011

2010

• RTVZone.com – Hosting a LIVE web show (with fan chat and past “Big Brother” houseguests) every Monday at 6pm CDT!
• Joker’s BlogTalk – Co-hosting a LIVE “Big Brother” call-in every Wednesday at 9PM CDT!
• Big Brother Network – Writing a blog on every Wednesday and Thursday “Big Brother” episode (posted the following day)!

Also, Darren Franich at Entertainment Weekly wrote a very insightful article regarding yours truly that you should all make it a point to check out!

By now, you’ve heard the big twist with the new season of Big Brother: Eight new houseguests will be joined by “some of the most dynamic duos from the show’s history.” Everyone is already talking about their favorite possibilities (Jeff and Jordan, Team Chilltown) and their least favorite (“Evel” Dick and Daniele, the Brendon/Rachel crazy train of love and lies). Over at Big Brother‘s website, you can even vote on some famous duos…although those votes don’t seem to really matter, since CBS has presumably already social-engineered the Big Brother 13 cast to include maximum drama/idiocy. But I’d like to propose my own favorite duo. They’re not in a relationship, and they don’t have an exciting name, but in their own way they were both dynamic competitors. I’m talking about Matt and Ragan from season 12.

Now, a quick recap: Matt and Ragan were the very best of friends. Ragan was the funny, compassionate, proud gay college professor who mostly eschewed gameplay backstabbery — even when he became the Saboteur, most of his chicanery was all in good fun. But Ragan wasn’t some lame nice guy — his shouting match with Rachel is one of the great throwdowns in Big Brother history. Matt was a self-described “maniacal supergenius” utterly incapable of telling the truth about anything. (He infamously claimed his wife had a debilitating disease.) The thing is, Matt actually was a brilliant strategist: At one point, he essentially had two separate alliances, having entangled the whole house in a web of lies. All that, and he was ridiculously good at challenges! True, he was basically a wannabe supervillain, but Matt brought an indelible sparkle to season 12 — the house was noticeably lamer without him around.

True, Matt and Ragan might not be a “duo” in the same sense as past showmances or Team Chilltown. (Ragan certainly didn’t seem happy to learn that everything Matt had ever told him was a lie.) But that’s what would make them such a fun addition to the house. On one hand, they wouldn’t be immediately loyal to each other; on the other hand, they would probably have to pair up at first, if only to give them both more voting power. On their own, they’re both good players in very different ways; if they could put aside their differences, they could be monstrously powerful.

So that’s my vote for a returning Big Brother dynamic duo. Viewers, who would you like to see return to the house of horrors?

(CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MP3 VERSION)

The Hangover 2 is the number 1 movie in the country after making more than 117 million dollars over the Memorial Day weekend. Survivor’s Rob Cesternino is joined by Matt Hoffman from Big Brother 12 to talk about all things Hangover including:

• What are the biggest differences between Hangover 1 and Hangover 2?
• Out of Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper or Ed Helms, which members of the Hangover crew had the best showing in Hangover 2?
• What can be done to improve the Hangover franchise for the Hangover 3?
• What were some of the most implausable moments from the Hangover 2?
• Which is the better movie, Hangover 2 or Bridesmaids?
• What happens when we compare the Wolfpack to the Brigade from Big Brother 12?

It’s a Hangover podcast so good, you wont remember what you were doing before… it’s Rob Has a Podcast.

(CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MP3 VERSION)

CLICK HERE to listen to the entire hour-long broadcast.  And if you want to do some reminiscing, click here to listen to his brief mention on the Howard Stern Wrap-Up Show over the summer after his live eviction antics on Big Brother.

Matt Hoffman is a cagey fellow. He flies below the radar. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to interview him. It’s all been said before and not many words were kind. Why rehash? As I was preparing to leave the Reality Rally Pit Party Saturday night, I took a shot. What I learned was illuminating, to say the least. Here we go….

Matt isn’t one to hold back. He loved the event, but for him it definitely fell into ‘The Amazing Race’ detractor category. Lack of transportation put him off. “It really validated every reason I have for thinking it’s the worst show on television. I loved it, the creative and original part, but I hated it for the same reasons I hate the show…. If you’re a fan of The Amazing Race, you’re wasting your time because all you have to do is wait for the last 15 minutes because every competition is like a challenge and then everyone catches up. So all you really have to do is win the last challenge and then [catch the bus].” Fair assessment, but for the fact at least one transport company bailed at the last minute and it was impossible to replace them. Sometimes crap happens in the real world.

Matt wasn’t complaining about the event, just illustrating how close Reality Rally came to the real deal. In fact, he loved being on board, regardless of the foibles. “I can’t even imagine organizing this whole weekend. This was a f***ing unreal event.’”

As to Big Brother, he’s been a huge fan since the show’s inauguration. He began applying season two, but it took til season 12 to join the ranks. In fact, he was accepted season 11, but the finale conflicted with his wedding day. Done deal, regardless of how his wife Stacy supported the what if. It wasn’t going to happen. “Lightening did strike twice. They called me back. I think they were just annoyed at seeing the same tape of the same guy. Let’s just put him on the show, cause we’re sick of him sending this s*** and we just need it to stop,” he chuckled.

Next season did happen and Matt found himself in the BB house. He also found himself in a pickle of a lying mess. For those who are not familiar, Matt chose to look for the sympathy vote by claiming his wife suffered from melorheostosis, a debilitating bone disease. “My arrogance was my downfall. My strategy if I’d gotten to the final two was the whole lie about my wife. It was to get anyone in the jury house to want to vote for me in the end out of sympathy because they thought they were helping out a good cause.” Had he won, Matt fully intended to give $50k toward a charity that is seeking a cure for the disease.

The strategy may have worked had he made it to the final two, but he was evicted well before that opportunity. According to Matt, the ‘big lie’ created a firestorm on the home front. While he was safely sequestered in the Big Brother house, wife Stacy received disturbing phone calls. The Big Brother bad boy doesn’t regret his ploy in that melorheostosis got a lot of attention. Still, he had to face his wife on finale day. “She comes up and hugs me and goes ‘I love you’ and the first thing I said after three and a half months was ‘I’m sorry’.” Matt admits he’s no saint, but insists he’s not a horrible person either. He had no idea what was going down at home and is angry that one organization called his wife, personally insulting her and insisting she divorce him. The calls upset her in that she was trying to be supportive of her husband during the barrage of bad press. With the attention given to the disease, Matt believes something good came of something bad. Still he regrets what his wife had to endure. According to Matt, the organization got press and awareness, but Stacy took the fall in his absence.

During season 12, Matt got his hands on the “diamond power of veto,” a major coup. This was error number two for the game player. “I didn’t know what the audience knew. My stupid thing was not putting Britney up, not putting Hayden up.” When asked why he didn’t go after any of his brigade buddies, he responded, “Me playing the game and not seeing what you guys are seeing, there was nothing that lead me to believe that I should have put one of them up for elimination.”

With the season over, life is settling down and Matt is back working nine to five in computer programing. “I’m a geek at heart. A nerd with an attitude,” he laughed. He and Stacy are looking forward to expanding their family in the future. He wants boys. The thought of some kid dating his daughter blows his mind. “I get stressed about a daughter I don’t even have!”

The notion an entire city got together to support a local charity sits well with him and next year Matt hopes to convince Stacy to accompany him to Reality Rally, April 13-15, 2012. “This is crazy f’ing awesome.” “To see everyone come together helping out, I think it’s great. This is a personal thing that is close to Gillian’s (Larson) heart and that makes all the difference.”

(CLICK HERE TO LISTEN ONLINE)

(CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MP3 VERSION – 15MB)

(CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE INTERVIEW)

Black Sunday did an awesome job writing and arranging the song.  I did some guitar and vocal work on it, and also along for the ride were Travis Brown (from Chicago’s Split Habit) and Chicago music legend Mike Felumlee (formerly of Alkaline Trio and The Smoking Popes)!

CLICK HERE to listen to it on YouTube, used as a backdrop for a video about the WM3.  If you dig it, click here for a FREE download!

Matt is only on for the last 20 minutes…

(CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MATT’S SEGMENT)

(CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO FULL INTERVIEW)

(CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO MATT’S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH)

My first edition is up right now – CLICK HERE to check it out!

Oh, and did I mention that I’ll be there?!

Finally, what better way to welcome in 2011 than with the first official Gremlin Year In Review!  Check it out, bitches…