Big Brother auditions draw long line of hopefuls
Craig Kosmynka and his best friend bonded over the reality TV show Big Brother.
They loved how the characters manipulated each other and stabbed their competitors in the back to get ahead.
They had dreamt of going on the show together, but Kosmynka’s friend died last year in a construction accident while working on a City of Saskatoon sound wall project.
So when 20-year-old Kosmynka heard Big Brother Canada was coming to Saskatoon to hold auditions, he knew he had to try out.
“I’m here, hopefully, to get on for (my friend) and hopefully he’s going to help me out,” Kosmynka said Saturday morning while lined up outside the Cathedral Social Hall waiting for his turn to impress the judges.
“Him and I really wanted to get on the show together — or at least try to — so here I am now really trying to live out what we wanted to do.”
Kosmynka was one of more than 200 people who lined the sidewalk along Spadina Crescent East in the hopes of being be chosen as one of 16 “house guests” to compete for $100,000 on season six of Big Brother Canada.
In the show, competitors live in a custom-built home under constant surveillance. They are isolated from the outside world, compete in a series of competitions and must choose who among them to evict.
The show is hosting open calls for auditions in several Canadian cities until late October and is inviting people to submit video applications online if they’re unable to make it out to them.
According to the show’s website, casting producers are looking for people with big personalities and strong opinions who are able to fight for what they believe in.
Twenty-two-year-old Brenley Schaan, a self-professed “super fan” of the show, said she fits that description perfectly.
“I like to say that I’m a quadruple threat. I’ve got the social personality behind me, I feel I’m pretty competitive — very competitive. I’m very strategic. I love planning and looking forward and I am, myself, a drama queen,” she said.
Since Big Brother Canada first aired in 2013, there has only been one Saskatchewan contestant: University of Regina student Zach Oleynik who appeared on Season 3 and finished in sixth place.
“There’d better be somebody from Saskatchewan on this season,” said 34-year-old John Zosiak, who drove to Saskatoon from Regina to try out for the show.
“The one season Zach was in was one of the most popular seasons and that’s because you look at Riders fans. If we’re part of it, we’re all kind of part of it, so that’s why I want to see someone else in. Especially me.”