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Thursday, July 10, 2003

By Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

"Big Brother 4" doubled its Western Pennsylvania contingent this week when Justin Giovinco, the 22-year-old former boyfriend of contestant Alison Irwin, moved into the house on the CBS reality show.

Players had been told to "expect the unexpected" -- but they didn't seem prepared to watch five of their ex-boyfriends and girlfriends join the fray. Meadville's Irwin, tearful over this new turn, said, "I didn't want to live with him before and I don't want to live with him now."

CBS characterized the couple's relationship this way: Giovinco, now a headhunter, and Irwin dated for seven months in college "before an unclear but seemingly unpleasant series of events broke them up." Irwin attended the University of Pittsburgh, recently left a job in retail management and has a boyfriend. She and the other original houseguests have pledged to boot the former flames.

On "Big Brother," 13 people share a home constructed on a studio lot in Los Angeles for up to three months. They have no contact with the outside world, but 42 cameras and 56 microphones record everything they do, with players being evicted during each Wednesday's 9 p.m. live show. The show also will air at 8 p.m. Fridays.

Giovinco, for his part, says he lives by the motto of "Work hard, play hard" and considers himself athletic, down to earth and disorganized. The Pittsburgher claims, "Women always seem to get me in trouble" and hopes to win by "being sincere and as honest as possible and always keeping focused on my goal."