Reality TV comes to the Games in curling
THE tension was thick. The mood was glacial. And the siblings were sparring.
“Hey, Becca. Come here,” American curler Matt Hamilton said to his frustrated sister, whose stone had just glided past its intended target.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me.” That eye roll turned into crossed arms, which turned into Wisconsin’s beloved brother-sister curling duo standing far apart on the Olympic ice, leaning on their respective brooms and diligently avoiding eye contact.
Had it happened in just about any other sport, this fleeting spat during yesterday’s Olympic mixed doubles match against Finland would have gone unnoticed by the public.
But in curling, every player wears a microphone.
And what fans get is a uniquely intimate view of the athletes as all their banter, bickering and baffling strategy-talk is carried across the airwaves to viewers worldwide.
In some ways, curling is the closest the Olympics comes to reality TV – which may help explain some of its cult allure to people watching at home.
“I feel like I’m best friends with @MattJamilton and @heccabamilton because I’ve spent so much time with them the last couple of days. Watching curling has become my life!!” one of the Hamiltons’ fans wrote on Twitter as yesterday’s game rolled on.
Even when no one is fighting, half the fun of listening to curlers is trying to decipher what they’re talking about.
And with four games played simultaneously during yesterday’s mixed doubles round robin, that can be hard.
But what mattered was the result: Finland scored a first round robin win prompting a handshake from the Hamiltons.