Hello, there. My affection for Nerf Herder suggests that I consider "ironic" songs about Donkey Kong lunchboxes much funnier than they actually are.

Reality fan! Pre-like!

He seems like the least tool-ish of the tools.

So far, I like him.

Frankly, I'd hate to be America's player. If I was insane enough to try out for the show, and actually made it, I'd want the chance to play it my way.

Eric reminds me of Randall from Clerks. The voice, the attitude, and kind of the look.

“It’s unusual to have people spying on you!” God, really. I know I would never expect to have people watching me when going on a reality television show where there are hundreds of cameras hidden in the walls.

And he's America's Player. It's a shame, because I like him better than some of the others, and I had already planned on voting to make America's Player do dumb, disastrous things. And I certainly don't plan on going back on that.

I love it that he's America's player. He seems like one of the only one's with the brains to come up with excuses for the things he's going to have to do. And you KNOW we're going to have him make out with a dude. And since we're making his moves, if he wins will we get a cut of the money? Some banana bread perhaps?

I think the producers had no other choice BUT to make Eric "America's Player". He's the only one who can pull it off.

But oh, how much fun would we have torturing him?

Are the tasks optional? Julie said he gets $10,000 for every five tasks completed, so is he able to pick which ones he wants to do?

If not, this could be fun. But only if Big Brother allows it. I could easily see America making him hook up with Joe, or shave his head, or walk around naked all day long. (Too bad we can't make Daniele streak the house!)

Unfortunately, I could foresee Big Brother only allowing stupid things like "drink milk straight from the carton", "steal the pillows" or "fart in the hot tub". BORRRRING.

First thoughts: Eric looks like a knockoff Jason Biggs.

I'm new to this show, but I'm thinking being controlloed by America is not exactly the best thing ever.

I'm on the fence about this twist. On one hand, he could pull it off without a hitch. On the other hand, someone could figure out he's up to something. And looking at this peanut gallery, that'll be no small feat.

I cannot stand him. He's really obnoxious from his time on the show and his preshow interviews. Please do not represent me, Eric.

Seriously... he needs to become better at throwing comps, though. His strategy DOES seem to be the "try to throw all comps unless I'm on the chopping block" strategy, which'll make for a great AP. That way, he can avoid putting people up and vetoing other nominations. If it's not his strategy, we need to MAKE it his strategy. It's really the best strategy there is - since, unless you're HoH doing a tiebreak, none of the other HGs know who you voted for.

This should be interesting. The one person who didn't want to be HoH is America's Player.

Diddlee-- THANK YOU!!!!!! I drove the Mr. crazy trying to recall who America's Hamster reminded me of! (And, WEHT Jason Biggs?)

Eric -- only certain men can do nipple rings. Your howdy doody ass is not one of them. Still, I promise I won't make you make out with Joe. Dustin, maybe, but not Joe.

Can my instructions to him be: "take a flying leap?"

Can we instruct him to remove the nipple rings?

When I first saw him, I thought he was the love child of Jason Biggs and Survivor's Rob C.

So far, I'm okay with him. He did make me chuckle a few times, and he's probably one of the few people there, who can pull this "America's Player" thing off, without automatically getting caught. I'm curious to see where this will go.

Straight into the gutter if we play our cards right.

Does anyone know how/when Eric was picked for AP? I'm wondering if he was aware that he was going to be AP from the get-go, or if it's something they only told him once he was into the house.

I actually didn't notice the nipple rings while I was watching, but the thought of them on him are now skeeving me out a bit. I agree though that he's pretty much the perfect choice for AP because he seems like one of the most average, person-you'd-know-in-real-life players I can remember being on this show.

I dig the awkward, everyman, trying just a little too hard vibe, which is odd because it usually rubs me the wrong way. I was excited to see that he was America's Player because he amuses.

He shows that this whole thing is a little uncomfortable, which-- Thank God. People who are comfortable doing things like this are either fame-whores or pathological. Or maybe just a little too laid-back.

Things I am really looking forward to telling Eric to do as "America's Player":

1) Boot that DISGUSTING big-nippled Joe. Horrible, awful, screechy ugly person.
2) Make out with with Dustin. They would make a cute couple.
3) Make out with Nick.
4) Make out with Nick & Dustin at the same time.

That's all.

I did like Eric for calling his housemates on their over-the-top oohing and ahhing over "I'm a gofer in a marketing company" or whatever it was he said. I know those introductions must be awkward and stupid for everyone, but still, rein it in, folks. "I make photocopies and answer the phone in an office." "Ooh!" "Wow!" "EEEE!"

I agree with the trying too hard comment. I watched the Big Brother After Dark and he just doesn't shut up. He talked and talked. Especially disliked his talk about types of liquids coming out of girl's nipples. That reeked of a guy trying to act cool. He is a geek who looks like Jerry Lewis, and he is acting all sexually accomplished. He looks like he would be lucky to get a date. I don't like people who try too hard and try to act cool when they can't be cool.

You read my mind, blackwing. I don't really understand how this will work either. It seems likes TPTB decide what they will allow us to vote for. When Julie talked about text messaging, I thought anybody could just send any message that they wanted to Eric. But it sounds like you use text messaging to vote for the given choices.

I would love to see Eric make Daniele streak! I think I'd even like to see a "See Daniele naked" instruction and we would see Eric trying to peek over the shower door. I think a "Kiss Joe" or "Kiss Dustin" thing would totally be ok - if he didn't want to do it he doesn't have to.

How many options will he get? Is it only going to be one America's instruction per week? I would assume so, since they would have to pose the options, wait for America to vote, etc. If so, the 5 tasks for $10000 doesn't seem like a whole lot.

You think we can vote for Eric to leave the house and have Janelle replace him?

Oh, dear God NO! No more Janelle. I would love for Baby Cappy to leave, but no more Janelle....EVER!

I liked him the best of the people we saw (of course, we heard more from him than from most of the others). I don't envy him being America's Player, but it could be an entertaining twist.

I was clicking through the CBS BB8 website (yes, I am a loser) and on America's Player page there's a rules page that specifies:

During each Voting Period viewers of the Big Brother television program will be asked to vote for either a specific housemate, selected action or group of actions for a housemate to undertake.

So I get the impression that it's really just one vote per period but the choices might entail multiple things?

I'm liking Eric too, he seems semi-sane and just eager enough to play along but not enough to look like he takes it too seriously (re: EVERYONE in last season's All-Stars).

He still looks like the love child of S6's James and Eric "McCappy Capperson Short & Stumpy" Cappy.

Ewwwww. But funny!

How does one undertake a specific housemate? Great sentence structure, there, Big Brother producer.

Maybe "undertake" is the euphemism they're using for "doing it"? I hope so.

Can't quite hear that being used:

Mmm, that Mike. I'd sure like to undertake him.

No kidding--it sounds way too close to "undertaker"--and that conjures up some really bad images!

If checking out the CBS page to figure out how the America's player thing works makes you a loser then I need my card, because I did the same thing. I was disappointed to find out it was just the Big Brother way of getting those text message $$s that every show in the world seems to have now.

It has a more active role in the show itself than Last Comic Standing's "text for the punchline!" or the incredibly challenging American Idol trivia (Which Season 2 contestant pictured here was ginormous, black, and the winner? Vote A for Rueben, Vote B for Clay!), but it's still not exactly like he's a live action version of the Subservient Chicken (not that anyone thought it would be that active, of course!).

So it's totally going to be utterly boring things like "Vote to evict Joe" and "Use the Veto on Kail" and "drink milk straight from the carton". I had thought we were actually going to have some fun. This isn't exactly like the puppet master thing they promised us. It's just choosing amongst one of three BB approved actions. What a stupid non-twist twist. But then again, this is BB, where "twist" should be taken out of the vocabulary, since the so-called twists never really amount to anything.

I guess that's how they worked Eric's $10,000 for every five tasks into the budget. What a rip-off.

Did Julie say that you can vote on the CBS website for the "tasks" that Eric has to complete? So does that mean people not from the US can vote too?

I don't have anything against him yet except for his choice of t-shirts. Not a fan of the BustedTees. Heh.

You can vote online (free) or text (pay $.99) - hmmm. Tough choice there. Seriously though, ya'll need to vote for Daniele cause they seem to hate each other. I want to make him EARN his money.

Telling a guy a fake traumatic story isn't going to be too fun. I want to see him try to tell Jameka a fake traumatic story and have her come back with something about her own life and how she's had it worse than Eric's sob story.

Then he'd be better off telling it to Jen. She has her own problems (like a bad picture on the wall).

I voted for him to tell Jessica, simply because I think her vacant stares would be hilarious.
I think having him as America's Player could be interesting, but I'm afraid it will get old quickly. I also think it will possibly shorten his time on the show--if it causes him to seem like he has a dramatic personality, he may be disposed of quickly.

I voted for Eric to bond with Jameka. I figure this gives him a chance to form an alliance with someone, basically. I think they'd be good together and would pull it off if they're lucky enough.

For comedy, the best choice would probably be Dick because you can't bullshit a bullshitter.

For Showtime action, I'd say Nick.

That "America's Player vote" topic is so insipidly stupid. I mean, who really cares if he has to make up a fake story to tell someone? I want to see him get his head shaved. Stupid BB.

I know some of the other guys are very big and very tall, but Eric is seriously short. It was comical watching him line up next to them for the food comp, and it was even funnier how the girl who was talking about the teams said that her team had "all the big guys, and Eric".

Eric's eyebrow-area facial tics are mesmerizing and I can't figure out why.

Anyway, I voted for him to tell Joe. Some loose theory about showing a bad liar how a good BS story is spun.

He's got crazy-intense Charles Manson eyes...and a seriously pointy chin.

Who really gives a flying @#$% who he tells a fake traumatic story to? At this point, does it really matter? I'd like to see America make him expose himself to Danielle. Or to not shower for a week. Or to pee in the slop bucket.

This whole stupid America's Player is yet another dumb idea in a long line of BB dumb ideas.

So far I like Eric- his whole chicken thing won me over.

I think it would have been more interesting regarding tonight's AP thing if we got to pick what traumatic story Eric would have to share.

I had the same thought. Eric doesn't seem attached to anyone right now, and other than Joe, Jameka seems to have no one right now, either. At least they'd be an interesting pair.

Yup, that was my vote. I mean, so early in the game, it's almost random, so I figured that maybe a heartfelt confession of one kind might lead to another, and if things progress to a shared shower, so be it. Even setting aside this absolutely-realistic scenario, Eric's task is sure to be shown as part of the episode, so we might as well get Nick a few minutes of guaranteed airtime.

I voted for Jameka too, just because I wanted to give him something easy to start out with. I figured she would be the most sympathetic, since she was the first to rush to Daniele's aid (although in that case it was a real crisis). And also I agree that it has the added benefit of giving him an alliance possibility.

But after reading some of the other posts I do think it would be interesting to see him telling his sob story to somebody like Jen or Amber who couldn't give a shit about anything he would ever have to say to them unless he's saving their ass from eviction with veto.