Since the start of the 16th season of CBS’s Big Brother, viewers were promised a twisted summer and so far the reality competition show has delivered on its promise.
Last season was home to controversy after some house guests made remarks that were racist, misogynistic, and one comment that was pedophiliac. This season, however, featured the brother of the up-and-coming pop star Ariana Grande, an obsessive one-sided love story, and plenty of alliances with ridiculous names.
In order to honor its promise of a big twists, the new season of the show had an improved format that would have two Head of Households, who both would nominate two house guests each, then a Battle of the Block competition that would take one of the pairs of nominees of the block and would de-throne the HOH who had nominated them, followed by a Power of Veto competition that could potentially allow one of the nominees to take themselves off the block and the remaining HOH to nominate a replacement nominee.
Another twist was the inclusion of a secret ‘’Team America’’ that was chosen by the viewers to do tasks also chosen by the viewers for the chance to win $5,000. The teams first member was Joey Van Pelt, who was eliminated after trying to form an all girls alliance behind the guys backs and was taken off the team without any missions completed and no money in her pocket. After her departure, Team America was revealed to be Groundskeeper Donny Thompson, who was eliminated on day 70, along with the smartest player on the show and Police Sergeant Derrick Levasseur, and Ariana Grande’s self-important ‘‘multi media mogul’’ brother, Frankie Grande. The trio successfully completed three out of the seven missions they were given, giving each a cool $15,000.
The treatment of the female house guests was the only negative aspect of this season, with the male house guests picking off each girl one by one, expecting them to accept their advances, and then there was a stalking situation. At the start of the season, six of the male house guests formed an all guy alliance and then hypocritically evicted a female house guest, Joey Van Camp, for trying to form an all girl alliance. Then other female house guests Paola, Brittany, and Amber were evicted. Amber was evicted mainly because she wouldn’t return the affections of self proclaimed ‘‘Beast Mode Cowboy’’ Caleb, who would follow her around the house and guilted her into going on a date with him after he ate his least favorite food- a pickle. The male house guests of the house decided that instead of their stalker pal the problem was actually Amber because she was a huge ‘‘distraction.’’ When the plan to eliminate his beloved stalkee got to Caleb, he agreed it was a good idea to ‘‘give her a scare and get her back in line.’’
Now to the ridiculously named alliances. There was the ‘’Bomb Squad’’ that included six guys and two guys but blew up and become the ‘’Detonators,’’ with five guys and one girl, then the secret final two alliance called the ‘‘Hitmen,’’ and the ill-fated ‘‘The Rationale’’ which ended after the dramatic first double-eviction episode.
This season comes to a close on September 24th and the house guests remaining prior to the second double-eviction were Derrick Levasseur, who’s the smartest player on this season and could possibly win; Caleb Reynolds the aforementioned stalker; Cody Calafiore, who has a final two alliance with Derrick; Victoria Rafaeli, who’s basically the weakest player on the show and has stayed so far because of it; Christine Brecht, who’s the sole female member of the all male alliance; Frankie Grande, the brother of Ariana Grande and a Youtube personality; and lastly, Nicole Franziel, who was evicted on day 56 but returned on day 63.
Thursday nights episode was the seasons second live double-eviction and saw Nicole Franziel going home for the second time and warning the house guests to ”stop playing big baby and start playing big brother.” The house guests must have not taken her words lightly because after the HOH competition- that was won by Derrick Levasseur- Victoria was nominated again but Christine Brecht, who has been in an alliance with the guys since the beginning, was evicted from the house.
With only 20 days left until the finale and six remaining house guests, the next weeks of Big Brother will include plenty of back stabbing, lying, and evictions until one winner takes home the $500,000 check.
