The Student Library Advisory Committee (SLAC) hosted a “Big Brother” themed event to highlight Mudd Library and bring positivity to the student body on the weekend of April 17. Participants spent the night at the library, competing for a $500 prize. The event was recorded in the library and will be available for students to watch shortly in the form of episodes. The event is modeled after the reality show “Big Brother,” a social reality game where contestants compete in challenges and form alliances with each other. On the show, players stay in a house with no access to the outside world, and are one by one voted out by the remaining members.
Gideon Ames ’27, the winner of the game, said his main strategy was to be friendly and make alliances.
“My strategy going into the game was to be friends with everyone and get into as many alliances as possible on day one,” Ames said. “I also wanted to maintain my threat level and not be super vocal at the start. I was doing a lot of the voting out behind the scenes, which helped me maintain my alliances. On day two, I focused a lot on winning challenges and getting big threats out to build my resume in the game.”
SLAC leader Barron Linnekens ’26 said his goal was to create a memorable experience for the student body.
“My inspiration behind this event was obviously the CBS show, but what made me want to bring it to the school is that I thought it would be fun,” Linnekens said. “My goal in any event I plan is to give people an experience that they will remember and take them out of reality. Last year, I turned the library into a giant escape room and this year I wanted to one-up that.”
Upper School Librarian Kacie Cox said the event featured prizes and punishments.
“One of the rewards we had was that you got to sleep in what we called the head of household room,” Cox said. “It was one of the group study rooms, we decked out in like a giant super nice air mattress and bedding and you got twinkly lights and a couch. One of the punishments was that somebody had to sleep in a box on the floor.”
Ames said he decided to become a part of the event because he really enjoys reality shows.
“I decided to participate because I have been a huge fan of ‘Survivor’ my whole life, which is a very similar game to ‘Big Brother,’” Ames said. “It’s my dream to go on ‘Survivor’ and this was the closest thing to it.”
Linnekens said the event was initially going to be livestreamed, but there were some production issues that came up on the way.
“There were a couple of challenges, but the major one was the livestream,” Linnekens said. “We were told that we weren’t able to do that about 30 minutes before we started, which was a surprise. All the players were cooperative and the chaperones were super helpful. My dad also came and he really understood what I needed to make events like this work. I believe that there were very few challenges because of the amount of time that I put into making it work perfectly.”
Cox said she hopes that the event helps create a more entertaining atmosphere for students on campus.
“For all of us, school is so serious sometimes, but we have a duty as adults in the community to remind you guys that you are just kids,” Cox said. “You’re supposed to have fun and enjoy school, and I’m trying to bring that mindset to campus. Also, the school has so many resources, so why not use them for something fun?”
