WOBURN - Must-see TV in Woburn tonight is the second episode of CBS' "Big Brother."

This is when Tony and Lorraine Valenti of Day Circle will find out if their daughter, Lori, 26, will survive to play another week or be "evicted" from the "Big Brother" house for winning and keeping $10,000 in the season premiere, Tuesday night, which sentenced her and the 12 other house members to a week of peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches instead of gourmet food.

The show airs Tuesday (9 p.m.), Thursday (8 p.m.) and Saturday (9 p.m.), each week with the weekly live eviction coming on the Thursday show.

The 13 contestants are locked in a house with their every move and conversation caught on camera and recorded as they vie for the grand prize of $500,000. Along the way they compete in challenges, romance and bicker with each other, strategize, connive, get surprised and all that goes with a "reality" game show.

This, the fifth edition of "Big Brother" also reportedly has some producers' twists designed to make the players uncomfortable and untrusting, and one that has reviewers cringing as it appears to involve two players who are half-siblings but didn't know it.

The Valentis say they don't know any more than everyone else and have to watch the show to find out what's going on, though one of the producers has called a couple of times to assure them Lori was doing fine.

The producers told them "they are not at liberty to discuss the details," said Lori's father, during a telephone interview Wednesday, "the confidentiality is incredible."

Lori, listed on the show as a yoga instructor from Boston, was actually a yoga and aerobics instructor from Woburn until February when she moved out to California.

Her mother said Lori had been planning to go back to school for either a nursing degree or something in another medical field - she had been accepted at two schools which are holding her admission for a year - but on a lark she went to a modeling event down at Faneuil Hall last summer and armed with only a snapshot she was told she had "the look."

She won a local contest which sent her to Hollywood for a weeklong event, where she was encouraged to take up acting. She was pursued by several agents and decided to give it a try, her father said.

She moved in February and got a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card and has been pretty busy since. Only extra and bit parts so far, but a lot of them and in increasingly visible shows such as "Summerland."

Her agent encouraged her to apply for "Big Brother" and she passed the rigorous interview process. She was told to have her bags packed from June 25 on, "just in case," her parents said. Then about a week and a half ago, show officials came and took her way and wouldn't even let her call her parents.

The first show

On the first show broadcast Tuesday, the contestants were brought into the house and were already set up for tension by the bedrooms having increasing levels of discomfort.

The contestants then had to crawl through a spinning double helix grabbing flying balls with different kinds of food marked on them. They were told they would then be feasting on those items, but there was a twist.

Lori was told to open the ball she had collected marked lobster tails, and inside was they key to $10,000 cash. She had to choose whether to keep the money, but if she did, she and everyone else would have to give up the good food and eat peanut butter and jelly for a week.

The catch was, if she passed on the money, the choice would move on to another player, and so on.

Lori eventually decided to keep the money, much to the chagrin of her housemates - including the person who later became "head of household," who names two candidates for eviction on Thursday's show.

The Valentis said they had a house full of people watching the first show this week and they were all laughing when she got the lobster tail ball because she loves them.

When she had to make the choice the show cut to a commercial break and the Valentis' phone began ringing off the hook with people saying Lori should keep the money

She did eventually decide to keep it, her mom said, because she figured if she didn't, one of the other players would and she would be eating PB&J no matter what.

The funny thing, her mother said, is Lori hates peanut butter and jelly, but $10,000 helps it go down.

A great opportunity

"She came off great, we were very proud of how calm and cool she was," Tony Valenti said.

"We don't know what's going to happen," said her father, but "we know one thing - she won $10,000."

He said even if Lori is the first to be evicted, the show has already been a good opportunity - a chance for people to see Lori's personality as well as her beauty.

Tony Valenti said he had never watched "Big Brother" before this year, but he's a dedicated viewer now. He's even visited the website where there are chatrooms of diehard fans who discuss the show in minute detail, and has signed up for the live video feed from the house.

He noted the show's producers told them a lot of parents have trouble watching the show because there are lots of embarrassing scenes, innuendo, etc., but so far so good.

"Big Brother" is scheduled to run for three months, Tony Valenti said, but it "doesn't necessarily mean she'll be on three months."

"I wouldn't be surprised to see her get voted off because of what happened," he said.

Tony, Lorraine and Lori's brother John are sure to be tuned in tonight when the show airs.