Big Brother Croatia Update: Brittle Liaisons

Yesterday's TV daily summary of the event in Big Brother House, unlike the previous one, was less drama or more action-oriented. Editors paid much more attention to housemates' attempts to tackle various circus acts than to politics and pre-nomination campaigns. However, the weekly task itself is creating tensions – it is obvious that some housemates can perform worse than others and it is very likely that the task won't be fulfilled. Housemates are aware of that and some already are preparing for the limited budget that awaits them after Friday. Some are blaming other housemates for betting too much of weekly budget on task while others blame them for not speaking their mind when they had the chance. This is, however, opportunity for some politics – Zdravko, for example, used cigarettes as an attempt for reapprochement with Marina and Zdravko and potential creation of new voting bloc on non-smoking basis.

In the meantime, as the show is reaching its final month, Croatian media establishment intensifies publishing of the most interesting information about housemates that has been collected in last couple of months. What was only hinted is now delivered explicitly. Needless to say, that information is either deals with intimate sections of housemates' pre-House life or their most embarrassing moments.

According to the accounts by his friends and former girlfriend Martina Brajković (Martina Brajkovic), Alen Mačinić (Alen Macinic) was a young man accustomed to good life that included frequenting strip bars, casinos and even one exotic massage parlour. At one time he even experimented with having topless dancers in his own bar. Other passion in Alen's life is soccer and that explains why he got arrested for pitch invasion and stealing players' jerseys during one game between Dinamo Zagreb and NK Rijeka. According to the account of his friends, Alen got out of that trouble with the sob story about little sister that remained on stands with rowdiest bunch of NK Rijeka fans.

Media have also discovered the identity of Valentina's mysterious boyfriend. He was revealed to be Ranko Tvrtković (Ranko Tvrtkovic), 36-year old owner of Sarajevo car rental agency. As a man who apparently didn't have much taste for publicity he left his mobile phone in the hands of a trusted "secretary" whose job was to give as little statements as possible. According to "secretary", Tvrtković was very much against Valentina's entry into show. Tvrtković is going to publicly speak about their relationship only after Valentina's departure from House, but "secretary" hints that the relationship is "fragile".

Marina Bajlo and her stormy (non)relationship with Alen have recently rekindled interest into her real-life pre-House relationship. Christmas song as the housemates' weekly task has sparked some memories in Marina and she began talking about her boyfriend, 28-year old aluminium furniture entrepreneur. Marina said that they ended their relationship before the show in order to make her stay easier but she also said that she wasn't sure whether she wanted to get back to him because he was "man worth fighting for".

When approached by media for comment, 28-year old Edi Grubišić (Edi Grubisic) didn't say much except that the relationship was "history". According to Marina's mother Mirjana and sister Paola, the reasons for break-up hadn't got much to do with Big Brother. Grubišić and Marina used to be long time friends before becoming romantically involved last Christmas. This explains why any mention of Christmas made Marina so sentimental. Mirjana Bajlo thinks that the relationship was "too serious" for her daughter.

In the meantime, it is becoming apparent that at least one romantic relationship fell victim to Big Brother. Sanja Kvastek's boyfriend Marko Presečki (Marko Presecki) inexplicably didn't show up on the eviction night. Any subsequent attempt by Sanja's sister Kristina and media to contact him failed. It seems that the negative publicity created by poetry was too much for Presečki. That didn't seem to put Sanja in the bad mood, at least on the first post-House night. According to Sanja, she spent that night with Filip Voloder, ex-housemate with whom she shared one of show's two passionate kisses.

In this situation even the housemates' friends and relatives are becoming celebrities worthy of extra seduction effort. Neno Pavinčić (Neno Pavincic), show's co-host who had put incredible effort to present himself as Croatia's Don Juan, has been seen in "romantic" company Paola Bajlo. When asked about relationship with Pavinčić, Paola declined any comment.