From the CBS Big Brother 14 cast photo & bio of houseguest Ian Terry, one might suspect he’s a bit of a nerd… okay a LOT of a nerd. Well, they would probably be right. Ian Terry, originally from Pittsburgh, is a student at Tulane University in New Orleans studying chemical engineering, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Ian Terry lists his hobbies as “sleeping, bicycling, and television” and served as a Resident Advisor at Sharp Hall dorm at Tulane. If you are unfamiliar with the job of an RA, it means you are the person everyone bitches to when the toilets overflow and you’re responsible for dragging the drunk people out of the hallway and into their rooms. Well, maybe that was just what the RAs at my college did…
In addition to his Resident Advisor gig and periodic work for the Science and Engineering Department at Tulane, Ian Terry has also worked as a “Special Agent” for kgb’s 542542 text answering service. The job consists of answering random questions texted to the kgb service. In a press release for kgb, Ian Terry is quoted as saying: “I like the flexibility of the hours, as well as the fact that I learn interesting trivia while on the job.”
Interestingly enough, however, Ian Terry may not be your stereotypical totally non-athletic geek type, despite his surface appearance. While we can’t be 100% certain it is him, there is a listing for an Ian Terry of the same age from Pittsburg, PA at Athlinks.com — a website for runners and other physical fitness types — although no races are shown for him. In his Google+ profile, Ian Terry also lists “fitness” and “max muscle” among his interests, and he says he likes a “grueling bike ride” in his CBS profile. Plus, if the photo on his Google+ profile really is him, then Ian Terry could be hiding a decent bod under those huge glasses and bad haircut. Although it doesn’t really look like it from his preseason videos…
I suspect, BTW, that the ‘terrified and uncomfortable’ portrayel Ian gives in the majority of his preseason interviews may be a bit more ‘acting’ than his actual personality. Despite being a brainy type, this guy does appear to have a thriving social life, be involved in a lot of social events, likes watching himself on camera, and seems to enjoy partying it up. Also, he’s a huge Big Brother superfan (as we’ll get to in a moment) so he may just be hamming up the ‘awkward nerd’ thing a bit just for the fun of it.
Despite the hints that Ian Terry might be more athletic and less bookish than he looks, it is obvious that he does fall in the ‘brainy’ category of Big Brother houseguests. On his Facebook page, Ian happily posts quotes from John Steinbeck, Oscar Wilde, E.E. Cummings, and Feodor Dotoevski. He also appears to be quite engaged in campus politics, according to the events he’s participated in on Facebook. Interestingly, we note that Ian includes his father and his brother as “family” on his Facebook page, but no mom. Sad story in there somewhere? Or is his mom just not a Facebook person?
Ian Terry may also be a medical marijuana fan. We can’t confirm it is definately him, but there is an Ian Terry listed as one of the student directors of the Tulane chapter of NORML, which is an organization dedicated to working to reform marijuana laws. I tried to confirm this by calling and sending an e-mail to the contact information provided, but received no response.
Perhaps he had been smoking when he made this video of himself reading erotic novels and kicking himself in the face? (His roommate at least certainly looked like he was on something…) Interestingly, it also proves that he can apparently either read without glasses, or he’s fine wearing contacts. Which begs the question, is he really milking the “nerd” persona with those horrible glasses in his CBS profile to appear less threatening to the other houseguests? Or is CBS pushing the “nerd” look on him?
Ian also apparently also enjoys prank calling C-Span. Now THAT is nerdy.
According to Ian, he is an expert on strategy from both Big Brother and Survivor, of which he is a huge fan. That makes me wonder if Ian might peg Willie Hantz as Russell Hantz‘s brother pretty quickly and try to use that knowledge to his advantage somehow. The truth is, he’s really quite the Big Brother and Survivor superfan and has allegedly spent a huge amount of time on Big Brother forums for both the US and UK shows doing live feed recaps, racking up posts on big fan sites like Digital Spy (this is suspected to be his user account there) and Suvivor Sucks. He even reportedly tried to see if there was some way he could get on Big Brother UK at one point, according to BigBrotherGossip.com. Ian says he doesn’t plan to lie about his age or occupation, but he doesn’t want the other houseguests to know how much he’s watched the show previously.
Ian, like Frank Eudy, is totally up for a showmance, but he insists he’s actually looking for a real hookup and ‘geniune’ romance, not just another way to gain allies in the house. He also wants to get in on a strong alliance right from the start, where he hopes to find a place in the middle as player who is considered not too strong and not too weak.
Our Prediction: Ian really does have the brains and that could work to his advantage. Unfortunately, however, the smartest people in the house rarely seem to get to the final three. Brains sometimes backfire when a houseguests overthinks his strategy or is unwilling to be flexible beyond the mapped out plans he has made going in. Ian could make it very far indeed if he does manage to get in that strong alliance he wants and he’ll probably be good at mental challenges. If the other players are wise, they will probably want him in their alliance as he could prove loyal and helpful, but likely isn’t winner material. However, if Ian can’t get that early, strong alliance in, and he isn’t athletic enough to hold out in the physical challenges, he could be an early out.
Ian Terry CBS Big Brother Profile
Name: Ian Terry
Age: 21
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pa. (living in New Orleans, La.)
Occupation: Engineering Student at Tulane University
Three adjectives that describe you: Intelligent, eccentric and analytical.
Favorite Activities: I really enjoy biking whenever I get the chance. A grueling bike ride is excellent.
Most difficult part about living inside the Big Brother house: Being disconnected from sports, family, friends, internet and TV.
Strategy for winning “Big Brother:” I want to make an alliance with about six people and I’d like to be seen as maybe the fourth strongest in the group, that way it wouldn’t be me going up if the other side gained the power.
Which past Big Brother cast member did you like most or least: My all-time favorite has to be Dr. Will from BB2/BB7. He played the game with absolute finesse both times, and as a 10 year old watching BB2, I definitely would say I idolized him back then.
What are you afraid of: I’m definitely afraid of venomous snakes and any large, deadly animals, simply because they’re extremely dangerous. I also have a real fear of vomiting because it’s really painful and a fear of drowning since I feel like it’d be one of the worst ways to die.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of: My proudest accomplishment so far in life is going to Tulane, far away from my family and old friends, studying the hardest major I could possibly take, and surviving it for three years.
Finish this sentence: My life’s motto is… I came here to kick butt and chew bubblegum, but I’m all out of bubblegum.
What would you take into the house and why:
