Big Brother Israel – The Women

I confess, I am a reality shows addict – specifically Big Brother and Survivor in their Israeli versions. IsraeliDad is concerned about the effect this has on my brain, but I think he’s just being a cultural snob. I keep telling him these shows have intellectual value, mirroring key sociological (anthropological?) rifts in Israeli society. Just look at last year’s Big Brother’s Cornfeld and Booblil, Ashkenazi vs Mizrahi, conflict that made international headlines.

So now, at the beginning of the new Big Brother season in Israel, I figured this was a good point in time reviewing the participants and trying to get a glimpse into this microcosm of Israeli society, confined into one house and monitored 24/7 by  dozens of cameras and hundreds of thousands of pairs of eyes. Ladies first, I think -

Ma’ayan Hudeda

She’s pregnant, she’s a hair stylist, she’s married and her husband is in the house wither her and she’s even four months pregnant. Forget about it all, the young (22) Mrs. Hudeda is here as this season’s Booblil. She’s a proud Mizrahi, Moroccan no less (that’s as hardcore as it gets, folks). She plays the stereotype to the end, being loud, outspoken, extremely confident, emotional (pregnancy hormones, yeah, sure…) She’s sweet and generous but you really do not want to make her angry.

Futna Jabber

This one seems easy to label, since she’s “the Arab woman”. She is Arab, Muslim and prays to Allah five times a day, wrapped up in traditional clothes. Now that we got the stereotypes out of the way… Futna lives in Tel Aviv, is a wife, mother and co-runs the family restaurant (well hummus stand, I think). She’s fun and funny and so far doesn’t seem to bring any political slants to the show. She seems to be quite popular, or as my Mom says “that Arab woman is wonderful – she’s the only sane person in there”.

Stav Va’akneen

This season seems to have several participants that are here to show “Am Yisrael” that we’re all people behind the labels. Stav is that among the women, I think, being a she used to be a man up until her late teens. Don’t expect a drag show here – on the contrary. Stav just wants to be herself, a regular woman “with a past” that can be accepted and integrated with no tags attached. Doing too good a job at it so far – in other words, a bit boring. So she used to be a man – not such a big deal anymore in Israel.

Ayala Reshef

This pretty Tel Aviv brunette is your all-Israeli girl. She’s 25, single and independent, working as a PR person in Tel Aviv. Military service: check. In the intelligence corps (which does not guarantee intelligence). They say she’s supposed to be “the pretty one” and she certainly has something going already with the one supposed to be the “handsome macho” one – Sa’ar.

Aleen Levy

If I label her as “the solider” some people may get the wrong impression. While she is on leave from her active duties in the IDF, this teenager (19) is “the long-legged blonde”. Israelis smile knowingly when they hear she’s positioned as a Paklashit – short for Pkidat Lishka. That means she is pretty enough, erm, I meant talented enough, to be a secretary in some general’s office. Nicknamed by the jealous Moroccan Ma’ayan Huddeda “bag of milk” and “caspar the ghost” – both in reference to her light skin (askhenazi/mizrahi issues raising their head already).

Sarah Levine

In Israel the term “Polaniya” (Polish woman) comes with a heavy cultural bag. Going back to the 1950′s and-60′s, back when this country was a mix of Jewish immigrants/refugees, the Polish were the ultimate “Ashkenazi”. I won’t try to describe “Polaniya” in two sentences, suffice to say I thought it was now strictly in the realm of jokes. But no, they found a self proclaimed “Polaniya” that really was born  in Poland! At sixty years old, I guess she would be the “Grandma”. To me, she’s proof that 60 is the new 40 – nice cool lady, except when she plays the part and complains about the state of the house.

Gee Shemesh

Weird name, isn’t it? In Hebrew too. Shemesh means sun, but what is Gee? She’s the Georgian princess – extreme self confidence, lots of presence and hints about her mysterious past. With her origins and town (Ramla), there’s a hint of something dark in that mystery. She’s 29 years old, divorced and a single Mom. She doesn’t look very orthodox… but hey, like many girls here who don’t look very orthodox, she skipped her military service claiming she’s too religious for it.

Daleet Leumi

So far, the least interesting woman in the cast. I mean, what can we call her? the redhead? the American? doesn’t begin to compete with what we have in the house, sorry.  So she’s made Aliyah from Miami at the age of 24, has a son and a shop. Unless something very unexpected happens, I don’t see her staying in the house for long.

So, these are the sisters in Big Brother Israel. This post is getting too long and I need to leave here. Since the show has been going on for a week now and the first participant gets voted off today, I hope to be covering the guys real soon.

Tweet This Post