Alum from CBS' Big Brother gives advice for open casting call in Tampa Saturday

He knows that, to many, it sounds like the eighth circle of hell.

But Sarasota High alum "Crazy James" Zinkand found heaven competing in the ninth installment of CBS' unscripted "reality TV" competition Big Brother.

Asked to provide advice for those who may go to the show's Tampa auditions Saturday, Zinkand emailed a paragraph's worth of observations:

"They totally need stories. That is what you do mainly in the house, is tell your past and what you want to do in your future. Listen, if your (sic) unemployed and do nothing to change it and complain to the casting directors in your audition your (sic) screwed. Grow balls be you and be proud of who you are. Wether (sic) it be the whitest redneck to grace this earth or the most flamboyant Drag Queen, tell them your issues and your struggles but tell them how you can overcome them all. You must survive for three months in the house, show them you can survive a few questions."

If you can do all that under 24-hour observation in a makeshift house on a studio lot with a handful of other attention-seeking nobodies, head to the Beef O'Brady's at 10029 W. Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa at noon Saturday.

There, casting agents from Big Brother will spend six hours videotaping aspiring competitors for the show. The local stop falls midway through a 25-city casting tour, ranging from New York City to Flowood, Miss. (I don't know where it is, either).

Bring a valid ID - the show requires proof you are age 21 or older and a U.S. citizen. There's also other eligibility requirements; 40 finalists will eventually be flown to Los Angeles for a week of auditions, perhaps to prove they can spend 100 days in the Big Brother house talking to the show's animatronic host, Early Show newsactress Julie Chen.

The winner gets $500,000, but they also have to admit they sat in a house on national TV for three months, so maybe it's a wash. (Two runners-up also get cash, too, and everybody else gets a stipend that Entertainment Weekly recently pegged at $750 a week. Which doesn't sound like a bad salary for lounging around in a prefab home, and starting fights with some of the biggest narcissists on the planet.)

Zinkand's previous claim to fame was being among the knuckleheads who were jumping off the roof of a local resort into its pool when one of them missed the landing and was caught on tape. Oh, and he may also have had a career in gay porn.

Can't wait to see who they pull from the local talent pool this year.

*

If you care, here's the audition details:

SATURDAY, APRIL 11:  12:00 – 6:00 PM ET

Beef 'O' Brady's

10029 W. Hillsborough Avenue

Tampa, Fla. 33615

Comments

[Mike]

It totally makes sense that James would mix up "your" and "you're." He never really seemed like a "brain trust" kind of guy from what I saw of him.

[Useless Forum]

I like it.

[Robert]

FYI: Flowood is located near Jackson. I don't guess they're expecting too many people to show up there...

[Troy]

It could be so much better if it was on an adult channel, and cast people worth looking at.

[Lin Young]

I didn't know Big Brother was still on TV. But I do know where Flowood, Mississippi is, I've been there, along with every other backwater, podunk town in Mississippi and 7 other Southern states. If I remember that town right (from the very brief time I was there), they should find some real characters for the show.

Getting cast members from towns all over America must be how Big Brother is staying on TV. Probably every person in the towns where the contestants come from watches the show, along with all the rejected contestants, and that audience keeps the show going in the ratings. I can't figure out what else would account for that show still being on the air. Although I'm no expert, since I only watched it briefly years ago.

[RagsTTiger]

Without a doubt, Big Brother is among the worst "reality" shows ever produced for TV. From concept to fruition a joke on the viewers. Further, Julie Chen is such a phony. It's no industry secret that she keeps her job because she is married to the boss, not because of her quality work on either the news or entertainment side of the industry.