Amber Siyavus the eighth houseguest evicted from 'Big Brother 8'

Amber Siyavus, a 27-year-old cocktail waitress from Las Vegas, NV, became the eighth houseguest evicted from Big Brother's eighth season during last night's live broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show.


Amber was evicted by a 3 to 1 vote on Day 62, and her ousting meant Zach Swerdzewski, a 30-year-old graphic designer from Burbank, CA, would get to stay in the Big Brother 8 house for at least another week.  While four of the last five houseguests evicted prior to Amber's eviction had been "backdoored," that wasn't the case this week as she and Zach were the original eviction nominees nominated by Big Brother 8's Head of Household Jessica Hughbanks, a 21-year-old college student from Haysville, KS. 

Jessica is aligned with America's Player Eric Stein as well as Dick "Evil Dick" Donato and his daughter Danielle Donato -- and also considers houseguest Jameka Cameron one of her close friends, which led to her nominations of Zach and Amber.  In addition, Jessica and Eric also sealed their romantic relationship in the Big Brother house when they (finally) kissed in a moment broadcast on Tuesday night's broadcast.

"It's about time," Jessica told Eric as they canoodled in the HoH room.

However when Eric won this week's Power of Veto competition (which also aired during Tuesday night's broadcast) Jessica had wanted her Big Brother 8 boyfriend to use it on Amber so she could backdoor Danielle or Dick, both of whom she considers strong players and wants out of the game.  But Eric decided not to use the PoV, leaving Zach and Amber on the chopping block.


Amber thought Eric's decision was "not fair" and commented he "doesn't care about anyone else in this game" except himself.  After Eric revealed that Jessica's nominations would remain the same, he found her crying in the HoH room, as she realized there was "no reason" to evict Amber or Zach.  Jessica characterized the decision to keep Dick and Danielle as possibly the "biggest mistake" yet in the game.

As Amber pled her case to Jessica and Eric about wanting to stay, Jessica expressed her desire to Eric to keep Amber over Zach.  However home viewers had instructed Eric as America's Player to fight for Amber's nomination and eventual eviction.

"I've had enough of her crying and weak game play," said Eric.

Zach also lobbied Dick to help keep him around, which Dick said he would do as long as he didn't learn Zach was playing both sides.  Meanwhile Jameka and Amber tried to question Eric's honesty with Jessica, telling her that he doesn't want to win HoH because he's scared of producers hanging up pictures of his girlfriend back home (Eric has frequently denied he's still with his former on-again-off-again girlfriend).

"I really think Eric is playing this game through you," Amber told Jessica.  "This is part of Eric's game."


With only four houseguests -- Eric, Jameka, Danielle and Dick -- voting to evict this week, Amber realized every vote counted and lobbied Danielle for her support.  She swore on her daughter's life to Danielle -- for the second time in as many weeks -- to show how much she had her back.  Eric then questioned Jessica about what she, Jameka and Amber had been discussing, and while Jessica was able to play coy briefly, Eric eventually got the truth out of her.  He once again assured Jessica he doesn't have a girlfriend before bashing Amber's trustworthiness as a former drug user.

"She's going to go home," promised a pouting Eric.

Dick, Eric and Jessica then conferred and learned Zach was indeed playing both sides.  Zach had promised Dick that if he was the next HoH, he was going to nominate Jessica and Jameka in an attempt to backdoor Eric.  Meanwhile, he had previously told Eric he wanted to try and get Danielle and Dick out of the game.

Prior to the houseguests casting their eviction votes live, Amber did what viewers came to expect from her.  She cried.

"I'm going to try not to cry," said Amber through tears.  "I just want to tell you guys when I got picked to be a houseguest and come into this house, I had no idea it was going to be as hard as it is.  I also didn't know I was going to build such unique, rare relationships with each and everyone of you guys.  I would love to stay here, but if it's in God's plans for me to go, then I go today.  I just want you to know I hold nothing against you guys."


After her speech, Big Brother viewers discovered that despite her earlier claims that God had told her he planned to have her be in the season's Final 2, he'd apparently had a change of heart and decided he'd rather see Amber evicted.  Jameka honored her friendship with Amber and voted to evict Zach, however Eric, Danielle and Dick all voted for Amber, leading to her ousting from the house and onto Big Brother 8's jury, where she'll join Dustin Erikstrup and Jen Johnson. 

According to Big Brother host Julie Chen, 78% of the America's Player votes cast by home viewers were for Amber's eviction.

Once outside the Big Brother 8 house, Julie asked Amber why she thought she was evicted.

"I think I was evicted because honestly nobody wants to be sitting next to me in the final two.  I have really good relationships with everyone," she told Julie.  "I think they were nervous that had I stayed, the numbers would have stayed on me and Jameka's side and Jessica.  They just felt me as a threat.  I understand it's a game.  It sucks but it is what it is."

Julie then asked Amber who she blamed most for her eviction.


"Eric... Honestly, I think Eric had a lot to do with it," said Amber, unaware that viewers also played a role in her getting the boot.   "He's been playing both sides, acting like he's with Dick and Danielle and then acting like he's with Jessica, me and Jameka.  He did what he had to do, and it was in everyone's best interest."

After listening to the goodbye messages the remaining houseguests had pre-recorded for her, Julie ushered Amber off to the jury house.  "Amber thank you... you're off to the jury house, but we'll see you back here on the 18th when you help determine who wins Big Brother," said Julie.

However, although Amber is now off to the show's sequester location, Big Brother viewers shouldn't expect to see much footage of her new jury house adventures.  Unlike previous Big Brother seasons, CBS doesn't plans to broadcast regular weekly footage of each evicted houseguest's jury house arrival. 

"[The producers only] anticipate [broadcasting] one jury house package before the end of the season," a CBS spokesperson told Reality TV World on Friday.

Once Amber's exit interview was over, the rest of the houseguests -- excluding Jessica, who as the outgoing HoH was ineligible, and Jameka, who as part of Week 5's PoV competition, had agreed to be ineligible for Big Brother 8's next five HoH competitions -- competed in the ninth HoH competition. 

Dubbed "The Tea Party," the challenge was an endurance competition that required each of the houseguests trying to fill a 55-gallon bowl using only three-ounce tea cups.  In addition, the houseguests had to traverse over a slippery surface consisting of baby and corn oil.  Julie also told viewers it would take 683 trips -- or seven miles worth of walking -- to fill the bowl using the small cups. 


While the results of the challenge are already known to the show's 24/7 live Internet feed viewers, CBS will reveal the winner of the HoH challenge during Sunday night's Big Brother 8 broadcast. (If you don't want to wait until then to find out what happened, highlight the area below.)

Zach won the challenge and began his first stint as Big Brother 8's HoH.

During next Tuesday night's Big Brother broadcast at 9PM ET/PT, former Big Brother 6 and All-Stars houseguest Janelle Pierzina will host the PoV competition.  Then on the live Thursday night broadcast beginning at 8PM ET, Big Brother 8 will broadcast the long-running CBS reality show's second-ever live double eviction -- an event that, unbeknownst to the houseguests, will result in two of the six remaining houseguests leaving the house within a single hour. 

Big Brother 8's finale is scheduled to air Tuesday, September 18.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio