Devil in the Details

These days Feral Tribune and I are on different sides in increasing number of issues. However, on one thing we agreed, at least partially. Few weeks ago I wrote that Zdravko Lamot is among the big losers of Big Brother Croatia. In today's issue, Feral Tribune had decided an article to the biggest losers of 2004. Zdravko Lamot is put there together with the likes of Severina Vučković (Severina Vuckovic), Miomir Žužul (Miomir Zuzul), Sisak Iron Works labour force and alcoholic drivers of Croatia.

However, in describing Lamot's plight, Feral Tribune again showed disregard for tiny details, so characteristic of the mainstream media coverage of Croatia's most popular reality show. Lamot's picture is accompanied by text which claims that he spent "100 days in the House only to leave without a single penny". And this simply isn't true. Each of Big Brother contestants received at least 1000 HRK for each week spent in House.

Another tiny detail, revealed few days ago, should have convinced many that Big Brother Croatia was more show and less reality. The grand finale ended with Saša Tkalčevič (Sasa Tkalcevic) receiving his grand 1 million HRK prize in the briefcase. However, Tkalčević couldn't use a penny out of that briefcase. Kristijan Gržetić (Kristijan Grzetic), RTL Televizija spokesman, informs us that the grand prize was transferred to his account on January 5^th, "according to contract".