“Expect the unexpected.”
“Big Brother” fans have heard the CBS reality TV show’s host, Julie Chen Moonves, echo these words for the past 25 years. With the franchise having wrapped up season 27 on Sunday, Sept. 28, fans understand this sentiment now more than ever.
CBS’s “Big Brother” is a social strategy game in which houseguests compete weekly for the title of Head of Household (HOH), who then nominates fellow houseguests for eviction. Following nominations, six houseguests compete for the Power of Veto for the chance to remove one of the nominees. At the end of the
week, the final nominees face an eviction vote by their peers.
This season was one of big personalities, subpar gameplay and nearly game-breaking twists.
Season 27 began on Thursday, July 10, with 16 new houseguests prepared to compete for the $750k grand prize — or so fans thought.
The production team at “Big Brother” has become known for implementing twists to keep houseguests and fans on the edge of their seats, and one of this season’s biggest curveballs happened on night one: the introduction of “Big Brother” legend and season 13 winner Rachel Reilly — a player I grew up watching and adoring.
Jaws dropped, including mine, and houseguests were left speechless when Reilly made her grand entrance down the main staircase, all but changing the entire trajectory of the game.
With the introduction of Reilly, the official 17-houseguest cast was locked, and the summer-long power struggle was underway.
Reilly joined fellow houseguests Amy Bingham, Zach Cornell, Lauren Domingue, Isaiah “Zae” Frederich, Jimmy Heagerty, Ashley Hollis, Rylie Jeffries, Kelley Jorgensen, Mickey Lee, Vince Panaro, Ava Pearl, Morgan Pope, Adrian Rocha, Keanu Soto, Katherine Woodman and Cliffton “Will” Williams.
The theme of this season was “Hotel Mystère,” a theme riddled with classic murder mystery undertones. To go along with the theme, CBS and “Big Brother” introduced “The Mastermind,” who periodically — and seemingly without any thought or foresight — would make an appearance to “shake up” the game.
Candidly, the whole mastermind shtick is one of the worst attempts made by “Big Brother” at trying to keep a season interesting. This is true for various reasons, but perhaps the mastermind’s greatest crime against humanity was when he introduced the “White Locust” elimination challenge, after which we lost fan-favorite Reilly — my all-time favorite player.
I know it might seem like I hate this twist because it took away the player I was rooting for — and you would be partially correct. However, I take greater issue with the fact that this sort of twist circumvents the entire structure of the game of “Big Brother.”
Put simply, it is incredibly rare, and for that matter unprecedented, for a houseguest to leave the game of “Big Brother” having not faced an eviction vote; Reilly left the BB house after failing to complete a challenge.
For 25 years, “Big Brother” has been a social strategy game where houseguests compete for the power of HOH to make nominations for eviction. A battle for the chance to change the nominations then ensues. All of this is supposed to — keyword, supposed to — culminate in a vote to evict.
For some reason, unbeknownst to me, the “Big Brother” production team decided to completely disregard years, nay decades, of criterion.
Oftentimes, “Big Brother” seasons end, and the narrative becomes “How this person lost the season.” Many fans were quick to assign this narrative to third-place finisher Pope, who many thought deserved to walk out of the house triumphant.
To those who backed Pope, I see you. She was, after all, my preseason winner pick. Pope strategically sliced her way through this season, manipulated when she had to and manufactured a multi-faceted game that I can concede, on almost any other season, should have been rewarded with a win.
I liken her gameplay to Vanessa Rousso’s from “Big Brother 17″, who was similarly sniped out of the game in third place.
But I see Pope’s all-time great game, and I raise you an even better representative of “Big Brother 27″: Ashley Hollis, the eventual winner.
I refuse to fall into the pack of fans who want this to be the story of how Pope lost season 27; rather, I wholeheartedly believe that this season’s story is perfectly encapsulated by the under-the-radar, unsuspecting gameplay that Hollis so masterfully curated.
Hollis went from being nominated in Week 1 by Panaro to bringing him to the final two just to beat him in a 6-1 jury vote. I mean, how much more storybook can that be?
The attorney from Chicago balanced lowering her threat level with planting seeds of strategic brilliance. The only times she was in danger of leaving, she was able to win the veto, use her social game to sway minds and — most importantly — win the Final 3 Head of Household to secure her seat on finale night.
Now, you may be wondering why I only gave details about four houseguests. That is because this season’s cast is, frankly, forgettable.
Heagerty and Lee provided at least some entertainment, but both of their games were cut short prior to the jury phase. Simply put, a year from now, I might not even remember half of these people.
This season will surely not be remembered for its prestige when compared to the rest of the franchise’s repertoire. In fact, I would place “Big Brother 27″ somewhere in the middle if I were to do a series ranking.
Regardless, no matter how hard the mastermind tried to ruin this season, I can confidently say two things: I enjoyed seeing Reilly on my screen one more time, and Hollis is one of my favorite winners to date.
