Reality TV Thoughts

Thank you to Morty’s TV for the Live Feed Archives that made this retrospective possible!

The season antagonist, Frank, has been defeated! After a weeks-long struggle to take him down, the remaining houseguests are fragmented. Three separate showmances threaten to dominate the game, Bridgette is now a free agent, Da’Vonne is the next house target, Paulie becomes the new season antagonist and Paul and Victor become challenge powerhouses. While all of this happens, a little snake slowly takes control the game…

Week 6: A Reluctant Backdoor

Paul wins his first HOH of the season. By all accounts, it is a successful HOH reign, with his alliance’s plan to backdoor Da’Vonne working out perfectly. Despite that, Paul’s fatal flaw in the game of Big Brother is exposed here. Along with that, Paulie’s ugly side comes out this week while Victor starts making a name for himself… for the wrong reasons.

Paul initially wants to target Bridgette both due to his personal dislike of her and her physical strength. However, Paulie pushes him to target Da’vonne instead, which he eventually agrees to. At this point in the season, their relationship is at the strongest, having the PP alliance (great name), and pretty much having all of the power in the game. They spend a lot of the week planning for the future and thinking they already have this whole game in the bag, setting them up for a downfall down the road…

Before the nominations, we learn who won America’s first Care Package. It turns out to be Natalie, who wins the Never-Not Pass. Everyone else are being Bitter Betties about this, with Paulie, Paul, and Victor agreeing that Natalie doesn’t deserve it and that she’s just a “floater” (coaster). Victor in particular really hates Natalie, pissed at her goodbye message to him in week 2, where she told him to respect women more. He clearly didn’t learn anything from that, though, as he told Corey that he had a wet dream about Nicole (really uncomfortable instance of foreshadowing), something Corey was mad about for the rest of the week, and told Michelle that it was her choice to gain weight after a bad breakup. Thankfully, he does become more likable in future weeks, but his second week back in the house is rough. Even Paul and Paulie had talked about backdooring him at one point. He only gets saved by winning HOH and then Paulie self-imploding.

Don’t even get me started on Paulie though, because the way he treats Zakiyah this week is absolutely disgusting. He spends all week complaining about Zakiyah to anyone who will listen. He tells Nicole and Corey that she’s “drama central.” He creates a plan with Paul and Victor to nominate Zakiyah with Michelle if one of them win HOH. He tells Paul that he is done with Zakiyah and that she treats him like a lost puppy dog. All the while, he continues cuddling with her and leading her on throughout the week. One day, Zakiyah breaks down to Nicole about feeling stupid because Paulie always has indirect conversations with her despite her being so loyal. Nicole brings this to Paulie’s attention, and he responds by telling her that Zakiyah is playing everyone and throws her under the bus to Nicole. He keeps going on and on about how he caught her in two lies, which are never really properly explained. One is seemingly that she told him she was in a room with only Michelle, but James was also in there napping. It doesn’t even make sense to be mad about that, though, because she very well could have just left him out because he was asleep. At worst, it was just miscommunication. He confronts her about these two ‘lies,’ but she’s just confused at what he’s even talking about. The conversation ends with him leaving her crying alone while he tells everyone else about his point of view. An uncomfortable situation, especially since the two are back to cuddling together just a day later. Despite calling almost every woman in the house emotional and mean, Paulie is the true gaslighter and bully.

Paul nominates Bridgette and Paulie for eviction, with Paulie as the pawn to prevent Bridgette from winning the veto. Paulie wins the veto, setting the stage for a Da’Vonne backdoor. Before the veto meeting, Paul tries convincing Da’Vonne to volunteer herself as a pawn. She gets upset, as she feels that Natalie or Nicole, who volunteered earlier in the week, would be much better pawns. She doesn’t have much of a choice, though, and Paul successfully backdoors her.

Da’Vonne’s campaigning does not go anywhere, unfortunately. The only two people in her corner are Zakiyah and Michelle, who both see Bridgette as the much bigger threat. Although Michelle is still targeting Bridgette, I do want to commend her for admitting she was jealous of Bridgette in a conversation with Da’Vonne. It takes a lot of strength and maturity to admit that. Also, one of the most underrated and funny moments of the season happens this week, when Michelle throws an apple at Paul and then cries thinking she hurt his kidney immediately after. Back to Da’Vonne, the two other vets have abandoned her, and she knows it. James does not give her his word that he will keep her while Nicole had already fully gone against Da’Vonne weeks ago. The two do have a conversation near the end of the week where they seemingly hash things out, though. This conversation left the two with a mutual understanding of where their relationship went wrong and may have helped Nicole earn Da’Vonne’s crucial jury vote. As for Paul, he continually lies to Da’Vonne that she’s just a pawn and he still wants Bridgette gone. Even when she’s already out the door, he still won’t admit it for her. This is a reoccuring problem for Paul that has contributed to his two narrow jury losses. Da’Vonne is evicted in a 6-2 vote, becoming the first member of the jury.

Da’Vonne Rogers: Queen of Confessionals

Da’Vonne was a polarizing personality on BB18. Her treatment of both Tiffany and Bridgette was disappointing to see and I would understand if people don’t like her because of that. But she will always be one of my favorite houseguests and I am so grateful we’ve gotten to see her compete three times. This second appearance provided us with plenty of entertaining moments from her. Her getting her comeuppance on Frank was satisfying and her hilarious confessionals were always a joy to watch. Her relationship with Zakiyah was really heartwarming as well, a shame it went so poorly in the jury house. Speaking of the jury house, the best is yet to come from Da’Vonne, as she both continues to be hilarious and serves justice to Paulie in the jury house.

Week 7: How To Squander a Guaranteed Victory

Paulie had everything he could possibly want in the Big Brother house. Everyone in the house trusted him, he was at the core of the Executives, he had a showmance partner who was extremely loyal to him, and everyone who had targeted him was evicted. Beyond that, he had been given tips by his brother Cody and BB16 winner Derrick Levasseur on how to dominate the game. He had the help and allies necessary to cruise his way to the end. And he ruined it all by simply being a jerk.

Week 7 is such a fascinating week to watch unfold from the endurance comp to start out the week to the close 3-2 vote to send Zakiyah out. Yet, it’s also frustrating to watch Paulie’s behavior continue to get worse throughout the week Let’s start from the beginning, as the final 10 must stand on swinging discs for as long as possible to become the next HOH. After a grueling hour, the last four remaining are Natalie, Paulie, Victor, and Zakiyah. Once Zakiyah falls, Paulie follows almost immediately after. He reveals in the DR that he threw the challenge, as he felt that he would be safe under either a Natalie or Victor HOH. In doing this, he does not consider the feelings of his supposed showmance Zakiyah, who starts crying behind the competition set while Paulie lies emotionless. The perfect showmance. From here, it will only become better.

The showdown between Victor and Natalie is intense. Both of them want to win so badly. Natalie begs and pleads with Victor to strike some kind of deal, but he tells her that she has to earn it. Eventually, once she realizes she’s about to fall, Natalie asks Victor if he’ll nominate her, and he responds “absolutely not.” Once Natalie falls, instead of immediately celebrating his win, Victor consoles Natalie and protects her from the trolls hitting her with foam clubs. Despite the two’s complicated history, in this moment, Victor displays kindness. Paulie could have learned something from him, as he couldn’t even display kindness to his own SHOWMANCE.

Anyways, Victor is the new Head of Household! With Michelle and Zakiyah as the only two not in on the Da’vonne eviction, they are the next two targets. In his HOH room, Victor hypes up his nomination speech to Paul and Paulie and claims it will go down as one of the best ever. As for the two targets, Big Meech is bawling her eyes out and knows that she is the next target. This is also the point where Michelle loses her trust in Nicole, since she was left out of the vote by her supposed ally Meanwhile, Zakiyah has already been pulled back in by Paulie.

Before the nomination ceremony, America’s second care package falls into the backyard. This time, it is addressed to James. His care package ends up becoming the most important care package of the season, as it is an advantage to cancel two people’s votes at the next eviction. It seems like a fairly tame advantage that fell into the hands of James, a boring houseguest in terms of strategy. By the end, though, this advantage leads to one of the most interesting and satisfying moves of the season. For now, though, it’s time for the nomination ceremony! As expected, Michelle and Zakiyah are nominated for eviction. As for Victor’s “all-time” nomination speech though… It is rather bizarre. He starts off by rehashing his 9-1 eviction in week 2, as if everyone else wasn’t also involved in that plan. He tells a crying Michelle that it was the wrong day to piss people off and tells Zakiyah that she never gives him much attention and Paulie is the only person that gets her affection (weird?). To end off this “all-time” nomination speech, he passes both of them some random bead necklaces. This is definitely Victor’s best week so far, but this speech is, in my opinion, kind of odd; especially the comment about Zakiyah.

Michelle seems resigned to the fact that she’s going home, while Paulie is pretending to Zakiyah that he had no idea she would be nominated (he was the main one pushing for Zakiyah to be nominated). The executives are split on who to actually vote out though. Paulie now wants Michelle to go home, as does Corey, while Paul and Victor want Zakiyah out. For now, this is just a small disagreement between the Executives, but soon enough, the rest of the house will join in and topple Paulie’s power structure.

Paulie wins Hide and Go Veto. He tells his allies that he’s not going to use the veto, as expected. He jokes around about Zakiyah being pissed that he’s not going to use the veto on her and flip flops thoughout the day on who he wants to be evicted. At first, he wants Zakiyah out, then, he wants Michelle out, and finally, he claims that he actually doesn’t care at all. The night before the veto meeting, Natalie starts piecing together that Paulie is running the house and is the leader of an all-guys alliance, which she explains to James. He agrees and tells her that he wants to keep Michelle. After the veto ceremony, in which Paulie expectedly didn’t use the veto, Paulie is now trying to convince Paul that they should keep Zakiyah because she’ll just do whatever he says, despite throwing the HOH competition immediately after she fell because he didn’t trust her! Both Nicole and Corey also want Michelle out by this point, much to the dismay of Paul and Victor. Corey has also been doing work with Bridgette, making sure she’s on his side. He’s mainly using Bridgette and Michelle’s previous rivalry to convince her. To make things worse, it seems as though Michelle has given up. It now seems very likely that Michelle is headed out the door.

Bridgette isn’t going to be at the mercy of another player anymore though. She did that last week because she was defenseless on the block and had to trust what people told her. But she’s here to play her own game. In a conversation with her fellow spy girl, Natalie, Bridgette agrees with Natalie that Michelle should stay and that Paulie is running the house. Michelle also has her head back in the game, telling Victor all of the reasons why he shouldn’t trust Paulie, to which he responds that she’ll have to convince other people since he can’t vote. She does exactly that, strategizing with Bridgette, her ex- mortal enemy. The two talk about Nicole being a snake, Paulie running the house, and James playing all sides. Bridgette tells Michelle about a rumor that she’ll target James, which she vehemently denies. Michelle then goes up to James and Natalie and repeats that Paulie is playing like Derrick. She also tells them about the stories Paulie is telling about Natalie’s personal life and her exes. Natalie becomes upset at how personal Paulie is making things and vents to James. After Michelle leaves, Bridgette comes in and the three of them strategize on how to evict Zakiyah without pissing off or alerting Paulie, Nicole, and Corey. The key is James’ advantage, as with it, Michelle would only need three votes to stay. Unfortunately, the one thing that might stop the move from happening is James himself. James is someone who wants to play it safe at every opportunity, which does not bode well for a coup like the one Bridgette and Natalie are planning. So much hinges on the most risk-adverse player in the house…

During a PP meeting, Paulie does not budge on keeping Zakiyah and tells Paul that Victor needs to go soon, which he disagrees with. Paul feels disregarded by his own final two partner! He’s done being pushed around by his supposed #1 ally, so in a meeting with Bridgette, Natalie, and Michelle, he compares notes and realizes Paulie has played him. Everyone in that room had received a different version of an endgame from Paulie. During the meeting, the four of them agree to act as if everything is still the same. But the coup is now in full motion.

Here is where things get ugly. Paulie has been constantly hitting on Natalie, even as he is in a showmance with Zakiyah and she is in an almost-showmance with James. It is something Natalie is uncomfortable with and that Paul and Victor have noticed as well. Natalie has decided that Zakiyah doesn’t deserve to be played like this, so she exposes Paulie to Zakiyah about everything that he has said and then. Zakiyah does not know how to take this; as it is obviously a lot for anyone to take in. James tells Zakiyah after her conversation with Natalie that Paulie will just try to blame everything on Natalie, a prediction he nailed. After Zakiyah explains everything to Nicole, she just questions how honest Natalie is being and spends a lot of the conversation defending Paulie. It is one of the more icky moments from her this season, so focused on defending someone like Paulie instead of consoling a supposed friend. Just like James said, once Zakiyah confronts Paulie, he just denies, denies, denies. He blames everything on Natalie and spends half of the conversation rambling about how much he hates Jersey girls. He does everything except console Zakiyah as she continues crying. Paulie tries explaining to Victor that Natalie is a liar, but it falls on deaf ears by this point. To make things worse for himself, he tells Natalie that she’ll be out the door after her friend Michelle and makes the infamous gross comment about her breasts. He continues accusing her and saying she doesn’t actually care about James, definitely projection on his part. In the diary room, Paul questions Paulie’s character and loyalty after his major blow up. Before the eviction, James ruins the blindside by telling Paulie that he’s going to evict Zakiyah, a disappointing but expected move by him. Paulie repeats how Natalie doesn’t actually care about him in response. Once again, projection on his part. At the eviction, James cancels Corey and Paul’s votes, all part of the plan. Bridgette, James, and Natalie all vote to evict Zakiyah, sending her out in a 3-2 vote.

Zakiyah Everette: Victim Blamed

Zakiyah’s BB18 game is such a difficult one to assess because of how much it revolves around Paulie. She was the recipient of a lot of his toxic behaviors on the season. It was very uncomfortable to watch how he treated her in the house, and their showmance is definitely one of the most toxic that Big Brother has ever had. The worst part is that we aren’t even done with it after Zakiyah’s eviction. Zakiyah deserved better. She deserved to not have to be dragged down by a man as hot-and-cold as Paulie. During BB18, a lot of the viewers victim-blamed Zakiyah for sticking by Paulie in both the BB house and the jury house, which was not fair to her. Being in the BB house is a very difficult experience that only those who have played can understand. For months, he was one of the few people she could actually talk to, so it’s understandable why she fell back into a showmance with him. There’s an amazing essay posted on Medium that came out during the season about this that dives into it way deeper than I’m able to: https://medium.com/@mo_zpp/the-curious-criticism-of-big-brothers-zakiyah-everette-f035d4cefd5d

Double Eviction: Salvaging The Executives

Zakiyah’s eviction is not the end of the night. It is time for BB18’s only Double Eviction! With Paulie, Nicole, and Corey left out of the Zakiyah vote, one of them will need to win the HOH competition in order for them to all survive the night. Bridgette, Michelle, and Natalie are firmly on the other side of the house and looking to finish the job on Paulie. Then, James, Paul, and Victor are in the middle, all leaning toward the women’s side but willing and ready to switch back if power lands in the wrong hands. When watching the season, I already roughly knew how the season went. So I knew that the side I was rooting for (Bridgette, Michelle, Natalie), would lose the double eviction fight for power. Double evictions are vicious in that way. They always leave me on the edge of my seat and either immensely satisfied by the end or absolutely devastated and jaded for the rest of the season. There is almost never an in-between. If I had watched this season in real time, I would have been jaded for the rest of the season because of this double eviction. Luckily, watching this season years after it aired, I knew that Paulie would get his comeuppance, just not during the double eviction. It left me excited for what would come after this mostly disappointing double eviction.

Corey wins the double eviction HOH after everyone else answers the second question of the booth comp incorrectly. His first HOH win and it couldn’t have come at a worse time, halting the momentum of the flip against Paulie. Corey is desperate to have the Executives stick together so, even with his initial plan thrown off, he decides to target Bridgette, as was originally planned. James, Paul, and Victor all just go along with Corey, wanting to stay where the power is. With that, Bridgette and Michelle are nominated for eviction. Then, Corey wins his third competition of the summer and his second POV competition. He obviously decides not to use the veto, tragically leaving Bridgette and Michelle up for eviction. Come time for eviction speeches, Michelle gives an all-time eviction speech. She tells everyone she thought she would be going home instead of Zakiyah and now, still thinks she’s going home. She tells everyone she’s proud to have blown up Paulie’s game. She also tells everyone that Nicole is a snake and that Jozea was right. She tells them that she is the fourth person to say this; after Tiffany, Frank, and Da’vonne. Michelle is promptly blindsided when she stays and Bridgette is evicted in a 5-1 vote. A sad end to a great week.

Bridgette Dunning: The Feminist

It is so tragic the Bridgette got evicted the week it finally felt like she was coming into her own in the game and stirring stuff up. She was so integral to the flip against Paulie and was an even stronger defender of Natalie against Paulie than James. Even though Michelle had wronged her so much in the past, she still worked with her because that was best for her game. She was braver than all of the men in the house in the way she stood up against Paulie for Natalie. She also just had such a rough go during the pre-jury. She was constantly picked on by the other women and only had Frank as an ally. Despite all that, if she had gotten almost any other HOH outcome, she could have become a serious power player and even won.

Week 8: The Worst Week of Paulie’s Life

In the aftermath of the double eviction, Paulie, Nicole, and Corey are all reeling from the flip at the final 10. However, Corey was able to evict Bridgette, one of the main architects behind the flip during the double eviction. With the pendulum swinging back in his direction, Paulie’s ego is once again at a high. Still feeling confident in the Executives, he throws the HOH competition, allowing Victor to have a second week in power. Before Victor even gets his HOH room, Paulie is spewing all of his nonsense to him, how Natalie is just using James but James was somehow also the mastermind behind the flip. Victor placates Paulie, telling him he’ll nominate two women and backdoor James. All the while, Paul is telling Victor that they need to target Paulie and Corey this week. The two of them also assure James, Michelle, and Natalie that they are going to take the shot at Paulie. It is looking like Paulie is in for a rough ride.

Who gets America’s care package this week? Well, it apparently would’ve been Bridgette since it seems Reddit set up a whole campaign to give her the care package when she was still in the house. Unfortunately though, Bridgette’s gone, so the person with the second most votes, Nicole, wins the Safety Suit instead! She is safe for the week but must wear the Super Safety Suit all week as well! Ultimately, even though Nicole’s closest allies are both targeted this week, it seems like Victor wouldn’t have targeted her even without the suit. He told her a day before the eviction that she was never going to be nominated because there were bigger targets that her. People rag on Nicole for never truly working with the women but it works out perfectly this season. The game was flipped against her yet she wasn’t seen as a target, at least for the next couple weeks, because her allies were these strong men. It gives her enough time to recover from the bottom and eventually win the whole game.

Paulie and Corey are nominated for eviction in a complete blindside to both of them and Nicole. After the nomination ceremony, Paulie unravels. He interrogates Victor to the point Victor asks to be left alone. He then tells Michelle about the all guys alliance and how if the other guys had just told him they wanted Zakiyah out he would have listened. To put the cherry on top, he tells Corey that if he wins the veto, he’ll use it on him instead of himself. The most absurd claim of all is when he says that James’ betrayal hurt him because he was the most loyal to him. This is all before the veto competition, by the way.

The new house majority wants to prevent Paulie from winning the veto at all costs. Paul tells James, Michelle, and Natalie about his plan to rattle Paulie before the veto competition by staging a fight. Earlier in the week, Paulie had questioned Paul’s loyalty. The reality is that Paul was actually loyal to Paulie until he found out about Paulie’s lies. At the kitchen table, Paul tells Paulie that he had his back the whole time but he never trusted him back. Michelle then joins in to tell Paulie he has no one to blame but himself. Paulie calls her a liar and manipulator and tells Paul he thought that this was going to be like the detonators with Cody and Derrick. Michelle puts the cherry on top by telling him that he’s never going to be Cody or Derrick. In that moment, Paulie’s heart shatters into a million pieces.

Also, Zingbot makes his yearly appearance! As usual, most of his Zings were boring, predictable, or weird. Two stick out though. First, Zingbot calls Paulie an inferior version of Cody. Paulie wanted to attach Tiffany to Vanessa, now it’s his turn. Zingbot’s Zing to Nicole, on the other hand, is memorable because of how wrong it is. Zingbot basically tells Nicole that she threw her game away for a showmance twice and has no chance to win. Zingbot is also running for president, given it is 2016. That is the Veto competition. It’s the classic Yankee Swap, in which each houseguest must sling a beanbag onto a map of the United States of Zing. Each state has a different number of electoral votes. Whoever lands on the lowest amount of electoral votes each round is eliminated, until only one person remains. The eliminated player of each round must grab a prize, one of which is the power of veto. After someone is eliminated, they can swap their prize with another houseguest, and the last one standing can choose from any of the prizes. Corey is eliminated third, directly followed by Paulie. Once Paulie is eliminated, he steals the veto from Corey even though he claimed he wanted Corey to be saved. It doesn’t matter, though, as Victor gets 1st and steals the veto from Paulie, sealing his fate. To make matters worse, Paulie is stuck with a punishment. For the rest of the summer, he must back an apple pie every time he hears the National Anthem. This is a punishment that he will take in good spirits…

After the veto competition, Paulie tries to convince Victor to use the veto on Corey and put up one of Michelle or Natalie because he can’t campaign against his best friend Corey. It falls on deaf ears, though. When he’s not having pointless campaign sessions or baking pies, he’s having pity parties with Nicole and Corey. He complains to them about all of the horrible things people will tell him in his goodbye messages, how Michelle weaseled her way into the majority, and how he is absolutely dreading to go to the jury house. He even tells them if he goes there, he’ll just forfeit the stipend money and go back to New Jersey. It gets to the point that Nicole and Corey agree that they need to distance themselves from him for the sake off their games.

After Victor keeps nominations the same, Paulie becomes desperate. He grovels to everyone, telling them how he just wants one more week and he’ll go after Victor for them. He whines about not wanting to be in jury with Da’vonne and Zakiyah and that he’s claustrophobic. He looks absolutely miserable whenever he has to bake an apple pie and even refuses to bake them at one point. Late in the week, he tells everyone about his “perfect girl.” It is a very specific description of all of these absurd, at points, contradictory needs (“a good girl who dresses bad”) that the others laugh about. He mends fences with Natalie and Michelle while continuing to talk about them behind their back. It is a pathetic end to his game after he was controlling everything for weeks.

Everyone else starts preparing for life in the Big Brother house after Paulie. Paulie tells Nicole and Corey to target Victor if they win HOH and work with the other showmance, James and Natalie. The two agree in private that they need to target Paul and Victor. Nicole and James talk about the showmance alliance, but it is not solidified yet. Paul and Victor also want to form an alliance with Jatalie, but it is unclear how real this alliance would be. In fact, they talk about targeting Jatalie at multiple points. As for Jatalie themselves, Natalie wants to target Corey next while James is more conflicted, but still not really speaking up about anything. Michelle is trying to attach herself to Paul and Victor because they’ll be shields for her. After Paulie’s 5-0 eviction, the game is still wide open, even if Nicole and Corey seem dead to rights.

Paulie Calafiore: Cody’s Brother

Obviously, BB18 happened ten years ago. Everyone has moved on from this season and are mostly acquaintances nowadays. Paulie himself has gone on to become a Challenge staple and create his own, brand new rivalries on that show. However, that certainly doesn’t change any of the things Paulie did on BB18 or excuse them. Before I continue, I want to give him grace in that he talked on feeds about breaking off an engagement shortly before the season. That is a rough situation for anyone and may help explain, but not excuse, his behavior across BB18. One frustrating thing I’ve noticed about him though is that he always hides behind the game as an excuse for his actions. In the jury house, he tells the other jurors that he wants to put the game behind him and everything is forgiven. He also does this for The Challenge, saying he doesn’t want to take anything that happened on the show into the real world. It seems like a reasonable mindset, but then you realize that it’s really convenient for him specifically to say that. He can excuse anything he did as being due to the game and never take any accountability due to that mindset. He’s also not one to shy away from calling out other reality TV alumni online, which just seems hypocritical. He’s a great fit for The Challenge, though, where people can get away with almost anything, so he’s found his home. Get that bag!

Week 9: A Post-Paulie House

After all of the talk from Paulie about how horrible Natalie is in competitions, it’s ironic that immediately after he leaves, Natalie wins her first competition of the summer. That’s right, Natalie is the new HOH and has full control over the week. It came at a great time too, since things were looking dire for Natalie with her and James being looked at as big targets. Will she actually play this HOH correctly though?

Natalie is ready to make a big move. She is now on board with James’ showmance alliance with Nicorey and is ready to take a shot at Paul. This is because of a conversation Paulie had with Nicole and Paul before he left where he told them to target Victor and James. Paul did not push back on that idea, so Nicole smartly tells Jatalie that Paul was on board with Paulie’s plan. In the day before the nomination ceremony, Michelle reassures Victor that Natalie won’t nominate him and she’ll stick to targeting Nicorey. She’s wrong, but it may not matter, as a wrench is thrown into Natalie’s plans…

Michelle wins the care package for the week, and it’s the most powerful yet. Michelle will become the Co-HOH, meaning she will be able to make one nomination for the week and potentially save Paul and Victor. That does not happen though. James and Natalie inform Michelle of the plan and she goes along with it because she does not want to intrude on Natalie’s HOH, even though she really likes Victor. With that, Natalie nominates Victor for eviction while Michelle nominates Paul.

After the nomination ceremony, Paul is #pissed, particularly at Michelle due to something not shown in the episodes. During her nomination speech, Michelle named Paul being an atheist as one of her reasons for nominating him. His anger builds up until right before the live eviction. He also confronts Jatalie, claiming to have never lied to them about anything and that he would have been loyal. He tells them to not trust Nicorey and that they still have a chance to backdoor Corey and make it right. Natalie feels bad afterward and considers backdooring Corey.

Michelle is not the only person who Paul is #pissed at. He also thinks that Nicole told Jatalie lies about him to turn them against him. The result: he blows up on a completely unsuspecting Nicole in the middle of the night. He interrogates Nicole about why she called him a liar and manipulator, which she never said. Nicole denies, denies, denies during the entire confrontation. In a moment of perfect timing, Corey exits the DR in the middle of their argument and strips off his Patriotard punishment, initially unaware of the confrontation but then trying to deescalate the situation. Even after confronting Nicole, Paul continues antagonizing her as she’s trying to talk to Michelle and Natalie. In that conversation, Nicole was telling Natalie and Michelle how she may have gotten Paul nominated, but that he was attacking her character and it really hurt her. Before the veto competition even happens, Paul has made himself the house pariah.

Luckily for Paul, he wins the power of veto. Unluckily, this basically ends his best friend Victor’s chance at surviving this week. With Paul still in the game, the two showmances solidify their alliance, with everyone except Natalie feeling good about each other. Natalie tells James that he needs to win the next HOH, but he tells her that Nicorey needs it more. He goes back and forth on if he actually wants to win the next HOH, so guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Although Michelle strongly considers nominating Nicole for personal reasons, she nominates Corey once the time comes. Despite James pretending to be open to evicting Corey whenever Natalie or Michelle mention it, it becomes clear he never actually planned on doing that. Paul has caught on to Jatalie’s game by this point, correctly guessing they made a deal with Nicorey. He bashes them a ton for this, even though, to be fair, he himself was planning on targeting Jatalie if he win the HOH competition. Nevertheless, Paul tries his best to save Victor, creating a plan for the two of them to hang out with both “sides” of the house. Paul will hang out with Nicorey, making sure that Jatalie see every time he does this. Victor will pretend to be hurt that Paul is not hanging out with him in what could be his last week in the game. The plan almost works, as Jatalie believe Victor’s acting and Natalie even tells Michelle on Eviction Eve that she’s going to tell James to keep Victor. However, James shuts the plan down, as he has become loyal to Nicorey by this point and correctly assumes Victor would work with Paul no matter what. It’s a weird situation though, as the Co-HOH power is what actually stops Victor from staying. As the Co-HOH, Michelle could not vote, making James the deciding vote. If she could vote, she would have evicted Corey and Natalie would cast the tie-breaking vote to send Corey home.

Paul has one final blowup right before the eviction, claiming to Jatalie and Michelle that they disrespected them and were upset when they won the veto. It doesn’t change anything, as Victor is still evicted in a 2-1 vote. Fortunately, with another Battle Back kicking off alongside the classic Wall Comp, Victor’s game is far from over.

Week 10: “Nicole’s a Snake”

On Big Brother 16, Nicole gained popularity for being a scrappy underdog in a season dominated by strong men. Due to her underdog position, she never had much agency on BB16 and was never truly able to play the game. By the end, she was evicted in 7th as the most competent non-Detonator. Despite her underwhelming gameplay, Jozea was for some reason convinced Nicole was this conniving snake. He spent a large portion of his only week in the house trying to put this snake label on her, despite there being no basis for it…

Now, Jozea’s claims have become a self-fulfilling prophecy, Nicole makes it to the final 7 once again. This time, she’s in a much better position. She has her showmance alliance and Corey as her shield. She also built a relationship with Paul over the past week, channeling his anger toward Jatalie and Michelle. She wants this win more than anything, so she’ll do whatever it takes to get there.

The Wall Comp is underway. Alongside the remaining houseguests, the first five jurors will also be hanging onto the wall for a chance to get back into the game. Da’vonne, Zakiyah, Corey, and Bridgette all suffer early falls. It’s down to Paulie and Victor to get back into the game and James, Nicole, and Paul to win HOH. Paulie is the next to fall, meaning Victor is back in the game for the second time! With Victor’s return, Natalie’s HOH was largely a waste and she is in a worse position because of it. Victor falls shortly after confirming his return, followed by Paul. James and Nicole are the final two, both desperate for the HOH win. Both try convincing the other to throw the competition, seeing as they are supposed to be working together. At the end, James throws the competition to Nicole. meaning she has won her second HOH competition of the season!

By throwing the HOH to Nicole, James has effectively given Nicole the keys to the game. They have an alliance, but Nicole has no obligation to stay loyal to it. Especially not after what she heard from Corey. James, in his quest to become the Blindside Ruiner, admitted to Paul AND Corey that he was on the fence about who to evict between Corey and Victor. He also stupidly said that Natalie wanted Corey out. When Corey obviously reports this back to Nicole, she loses a lot of trust in Jatalie She doesn’t need Jatalie to know that though.

Paul and Victor completely hitch their wagons to Nicorey at this point. After all, the other three did conspire against them last week. Paul and Victor spend the night after the Wall Comp in Nicole’s HOH room throwing Jatalie under the bus and promising to be loyal to Nicorey. Nicole is now part of a 2nd final four alliance. There’s only one person she’s not aligned with…. Michelle.

Nicole plays her HOH reign flawlessly. She has a clear target in Michelle, who has been publicly against her for the past few weeks. As for the pawn, she has Paul and Victor desperate to do anything to prove their loyalty to Nicorey. After initially considering nominating James alongside Michelle, Nicole asks Paul to be a pawn against Michelle. Paul happily accepts. He is the perfect pawn choice. By nominating Paul, Nicole is able to hide the fact that Michelle is her actual target from Jatalie. The two of them will naturally think that Paul is the target, because, why would you get rid of Michelle? Getting rid of Michelle is something that only benefits Nicole’s game. She will still have both of her alliances intact for the next week and her arch rival evicted. And even if Natalie wins the HOH next week, she would be much more inclined to target Paul and Victor than Nicole. She is completely covered after this week and sets the path for her victory.

Corey wins the final care package: the BB Bribe! Give $5,000 to any person of your choosing in exchange for a game related favor. The advantage causes a surprising amount of turmoil despite it not amounting to much by the end.

To put the cherry on top of an amazing week for Nicole, she wins the Power of Veto. She has all of the power this week, meaning she can ensure that her target is evicted and she is sitting pretty next week. Despite Corey’s odd and consistent hatred for Natalie throughout the week and concerns about Paul and Victor comping out, Nicole does not budge on targeting Michelle.

There’s trouble in paradise, as Corey is a bit of a playboy. He does not commit to a closed relationship with Nicole after the show and talks about hitting on other girls, really upsetting her. They also disagree about how Corey should use his bribe. Both of them are really concerned that the bribe could end up blowing up in their faces. Nicole eventually suggests using it to ensure Victor votes to evict Michelle, something he was already going to do. Using the bribe for this would make Victor even more loyal to Nicorey than he already is. After a lot of convincing, Corey agrees to use it to secure Victor’s loyalty. Interestingly, on the episode, the bribe reason is that Nicorey were worried that Victor was strategizing with Michelle. Victor is immensely thankful when he receives the bribe from Corey and happily accepts it. It is safe to say that Victor finally feels like he has found his people… Sweet summer child.

What are Jatalie and Michelle doing this week? Nothing much. Michelle spends most of the week either moping or complaining about how Nicole is playing an “emotional” game. Meanwhile, Natalie does not trust Nicole at all and continues telling James to check in with her on who the target actually is. He tells her that he’ll talk to her, but never actually does. Even though the three of them are well aware that Paul and Victor are spending a lot of time with Nicorey, they never suspect that they’re working together. Well, Michelle does, correctly guessing that they have a final four deal and predicts that Nicole will get to the final two.

On eviction night, the votes are tied. Nicole breaks the tie to send Michelle home, her plan executed to perfection. On her way out, Michelle drags Nicole one final time, telling everyone that Nicole is floating her way to the final two.

Michelle Meyer: Big Meech

Michelle is my personal favorite houseguest this season. She is one of the few actual fans of the show on this season and made a big impression. She was known for her emotional outbursts, but was also not afraid to call people out and get into fights. Every time she faced eviction, she put on a show and called who she perceived to be the biggest threats out. Even despite her large abrasive personality, Michelle showed a lot of maturity through her relationship with Bridgette. While at first she hated and was jealous of Bridgette’s relationship with Frank, she was able to recognize her jealousy. She apologized to Bridgette for her behavior and admitted her jealousy, even working with Bridgette during her final week. Everything about her run on BB18 suggests she is immature. But she shows more maturity than almost everyone by admitting her faults to Bridgette and apologizing.

Week 11: The Fall of Jatalie

Of the big three showmances this season, Jatalie was by far the fan favorite. This was despite their showmance being the most difficult to read, a kind of “will they, won’t they” situation. Their moments together are sweet and clearly won the hearts of the audience, seeing as they were both in the top 3 for AFP. With their backs against the wall in week 11 though, Jatalie turns sour.

On paper, this endgame configuration should be interesting. There are three clear duos, two hate each other’s guts and the other is in the middle. Despite a supposedly interesting configuration, week 11 turns out to be the worst and most frustrating week of the season.

Victor wins HOH, narrowly beating out Natalie to get another week in power. Victor has now won 3 of the last 4 HOH competitions he’s competed in. He is unstoppable! Unfortunately, this is the worst of his three HOH reigns. With Victor as HOH, Nicorey pledge their loyalty to Paul and Victor, for this week at least… Paul and Victor completely buy their act, not suspecting anything at all. That means James and Natalie are the two nominees by default. Victor is itching to target James, seeking revenge for James’ vote that evicted him. That’s not in the best interest of Nicorey though. Nicole already has a pregame friendship with James, meanwhile she knows Natalie doesn’t trust her and is pissed that she sent home her friend Michelle. As for Corey, he just has a hate boner for Natalie. For now, though, they’ll play along with Victor’s plan.

James and Natalie know they are in trouble. James tries exposing the final four deal he had with Nicorey, but Paul and Victor do not care at all and Nicole just denies it when confronted. Natalie tells Paul and Victor that she’s sorry for backstabbing them and that she trusted the wrong people. Paul and Victor completely misconstrue this as her throwing James under the bus, which they use against her later. After nominations, James and Natalie are both very sweet toward each other. They tell each other that they’ll fall on the sword for the other. Everything changes after the veto competition though, which Corey wins and Natalie heartbreakingly gets second in for the second time in the week. Since Nicorey has the veto in their hands, they decide it is now the time to convince Paul and Victor to switch the target to Natalie. Paul and Victor agree to evict Natalie with little pressure. It’s not like either of them particularly like her, especially Paul, who is still pissed about her HOH reign.

With the fate of Jatalie decided, isolation kicks in. James and Natalie spend most of their time together, while the other four mostly hang out with each other, only making small talk with Jatalie. Anger takes over Natalie. She is mad at Nicorey for completely backstabbing her and James. By extension, she is also mad at James for making her work with them. She also knows that despite James being Victor’s target, there is no way Nicorey, who control the votes, will actually evict him over her. She knows her fate is sealed and there is nothing she can do. She spends the week complaining about how everyone has talked trash about her and how much she hates the other four houseguests, which understandably takes a toll on James.

With Natalie as the new target, Paul and Victor get to work on getting James on their side. They tell James about Natalie’s earlier campaign to them, claiming that she threw him under the bus. James gets really upset at this and ends up blowing up on Natalie. He tells her about how she threw him under the bus and how he was her third choice for a showmance after Victor and Paulie. Natalie denies doing any of this and is sad that he thinks she’s using him. The rest of the house takes James’ side, with Paul and Corey especially crapping on Natalie’s character. They’re really kicking someone while they’re down. It’s ugly to watch and leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Nevertheless, James and Natalie seemingly make up by eviction night, on which Natalie is sent home in a 3-0 vote.

Natalie Negrotti: The Flirt

Natalie, the last surviving member of the Spy Girls and one of the more polarizing houseguests of the season. I personally liked her throughout the season and she became one of my favorite houseguests by the end. I found her to be a surprisingly great player, given she was a recruit with little knowledge about the show. She had a set strategy coming in to play up her flirtatiousness and downplay her intelligence and it almost got her the win. Of course, it did also land her in hot water, but she was able to overcome it. Her getting the upper hand over Paulie was by far the most satisfying moment of the season. Her reads were also great, as she knew trusting Nicorey wasn’t a good idea and suspected that she was going home in her final week. I also do think she got unlucky that Michelle was the Co-HOH and that there was a second Battle Back, as those made her HOH reign backfire way more than it should have. It’s nevertheless an amazing run for a recruit! It is funny to see her tell James he was the only person in the final six she still wanted to be friends with, only to now absolutely hate his guts and surprisingly be great friends with Paul. I love that friendship though.

Week 12: Natalie was Right?!

Corey wins the Slip n’ Slide comp to become the new HOH. Thanks to the two battle-backs, week 12 will be a shortened week, while the final four round will only last two days. With his HOH power, Corey agrees with Nicole that they need to take a shot at Victor. To make sure this move won’t backfire, they pull in James, who reassures them that he would never use the veto on Paul or Victor. With James on his side, Corey nominates Paul and Victor for eviction, blindsiding them one final time.

Paul and Victor are not at all pleased with being backstabbed yet again, but they decide to act sad instead of angry this week. The two of them claim that they would not have done the same thing that Nicorey did, which is debatable. The two of them talked about targeting Jatalie if Paul won the first final 7 HOH comp only to be bitter when Natalie took a shot at them. During week 11, the two of them also talked about needing to blindside Corey if Paul won HOH. They had talked about backstabbing both duos but now are mad that they were blindsided instead. I understand being upset to be nominated again, but it is kind of hypocritical

Nicole wins BB Comics to seal one of Paul or Victor’s fates. They know that one of them is going home no matter what, so they focus on making sure the one that survives is in a good spot. They bond with James through a nice Natalie bashing section and he agrees to work with whoever survives to get revenge on Nicorey. Nicole doesn’t use the veto and then Nicorey agree Victor is a bigger jury threat than Paul, so he is sent home in a 2-0 vote during a surprise eviction night.

Victor Arroyo: Battle Back Champ

Everyone loves a good underdog, and for BB18, Victor filled that role perfectly. His great story this season of being the only houseguest in history to come back into the house twice is undeniable. He was so close to the end and would have had an easy winning story. Unfortunately for him, he made the same mistake everyone else in the final 7 made: trusting Nicorey. It all worked out for him though, given he won AFP and is now happily married to the season’s winner, Nicole. It is fun to watch and read about their interactions during this season and search for clues or foreshadowing for their relationship.

As for what I think of Victor himself, he is one of my favorite houseguests this season and his week 8 HOH reign is hands down the best week of the season. I am glad he got the chance to win two battle backs and go from slightly unlikable week 2 boot to extremely likable fifth placer.

The Final Four: It’s Time for Revenge

Paul and James both lost their closest allies thanks to Nicorey. With the end in sight, they want to not only avenge their fallen lovers, but also take out the clear biggest threats and only remaining duo. Paul won the live HOH competition after Victor’s eviction, so now all that they need to execute the plan is to win the final power of veto.

Paul nominates Nicorey for eviction, this being the first time all season that Nicole is on the block. Going into the final veto competition, everyone knows that winning this veto is key to getting them into the final two seats. It comes down to Corey and Paul, but Paul ultimately bests him in an ironically baseball themed competition. With the veto out of their hands, Nicorey know that it’s one of them going home. They talk to James about who to evict, but he tells them it’s all up to Paul since he kept him safe. Paul pretends to James that they are now close allies, but secretly, he thinks James doesn’t deserve to win even the $50K prize. He knows that the correct move is to evict Corey, so that’s what he tells James to do. But then, Paul has a meeting with Nicole where she tells him it would be stupid to not take her to the final two because everyone in the jury hates her. They agree that they can both beat James in a final 2 but that they would much rather sit next to each other because they were both “in the woods” this season. Nicole feels bad that Corey is going home, but he reassures her that he’s okay with it and that she needs to win the whole game. At the live eviction, Paul doesn’t use the veto and James evicts Corey in 4th place.

Corey Brooks: The Weirdest Normal Guy You Could Meet

On paper, Corey is as interesting as white bread. He’s your average straight white guy. He even gets into a showmance almost right away! But then, you slowly learn things about him as the season progresses. And you start to question a lot of things, like, is he even straight? He apparently asked Jozea about being gay and then continually repeated that he wasn’t gay before the feeds came on. Then you learn that he rides hard for Taylor Swift (real). He’s so boring in conversations most of the time, but then, there’s little glimpses of whimsy like him repeating “Harry Potter” in his sleep. He seems to take his showmance with Nicole way less seriously than she does, talking about how he’s going to mingle with other women immediately after the show. How real was Nicorey? He expectedly gets in a showmance and aligns with the men of the house, he’s almost like a stereotype. But the more you learn about his ‘stereotypical’ actions, you learn that he’s slightly more interesting than white bread.

The Craziest Jury House Ever

Big Brother 18 easily has the craziest jury house in Big Brother history. When they showed jury house footage during the final 4 eviction episode, it was way more interesting than anything else in the episode. What makes the BB18 Jury House so great? It’s that everyone in the jury house really, really hates each other.

Da’Vonne is the first to arrive at the jury house, respecting the move to get her out. She’s just vibing in the jury house until Zakiyah arrives with a new hatred for Paulie. Although Zakiyah never got her chance to shine in the BB house, in the jury house, she becomes a main character. She is pissed that Paulie didn’t use the veto on her and when Da’Vonne finds out about this, she is super confused. This is where her iconic “wait a damn minute” line comes from. Then, because of the double eviction, Bridgette arrives right after Zakiyah. She is bummed to be out, but happy that she was at least able to blow up Paulie’s game before she left. Thee three women are vibing despite Da’Vonne and Zakiyah hating Bridgette (and vice versa) in the house. They all hope Paulie is the next juror, which does happen. They are ecstatic to see him out of the game and Zakiyah even says she wants to give him a piece of her mind. The women joke about him being out of the game while he repeatedly says that he holds no anamosity toward anyone. As Paulie misunderstands what a feminist is, calls Da’Vonne classless, and tells Zakiyah that she always plays the victim, he tells the women that they are actually the bitter ones for refusing to vote for him to win. However, after the Battle-back competition, Paulie and Zakiyah are back on good terms. According to Da’Vonne, the two act as if her and Bridgette don’t even exist anymore. Michelle and Natalie are the next to arrive to the jury house, only stoking the flames for what’s to come.

The only times Paulie and Zakiyah interact with the other jurors are seemingly when they need to watch a recap of the previous week. When Natalie is explaining how she would have used the veto on James, Michelle makes a comment about Paulie not using the veto on Zakiyah, which causes him to blow up and talk about how he’s had Zakiyah’s back in the jury house while two “passive agressive girls” try to make her feel a certain way. He feels that Da’Vonne and Bridgette have shunned Zakiyah, When Da’Vonne bites back, he calls her classless again and then she responds that Paulie has only ever talked down to women, never a man, at which point they get in each others faces and Paulie makes a comment about her daughter. Da’Vonne yells at him even more and they have to be separated by the production crew. As Da’Vonne is being pulled away by the crew, she and Zakiyah start yelling at each other as well. Their friendship is over.

Something I always enjoyed about the Jury House blow up was Bridgette clapping and encouraging Da’vonne during the fight. She seemed so happy up until it got serious. The jury house is relatively tame after the blow up, with all of them coming together to praise Victor and tell him he would have won the game. Calm after the storm.

The Final Week: A Loud Mouth, a Coaster, and a Snake

It’s the final three of Big Brother. At least two of the remaining houseguests have played their heart out to get to this point. Unfortunately, only one person can win. Will it be Paul, whose been loud and abrasive the entire season, both pissing off and endearing people toward him at the same time? Nicole, the veteran who managed to betray every person in the final 7 and has been called a snake since week 1? Or James, the other veteran who spent most of his time pranking people and ruining blindsides? If you’re reading this extensive retrospective, you probably already know the answer.

Paul wins part 1 of the final HOH competition, a weird cat-style play on the typical endurance competitions we see for part 1. James lost on his home turf, the type of competition he’s supposed to thrive in. Now he needs to win a mental comp just to have a chance at becoming the final HOH. We know he does not fare too well in those… Despite this, James thinks he is in a perfect position. He made a pact with Paul to evict Corey and Nicole during Victor’s final eviction week and has a pregame connection with Nicole. They should both take him to the final 2 no matter what. With some reassurances from Paul that their pact is still in tact, James relaxes in the final week and spends most of it sleeping or pranking. Meanwhile, Paul and Nicole have intensive conversations about their games.

As established earlier, Paul and Nicole agree that they could easily beat James if they took him to the final two. But they don’t want to do that because they don’t think he deserves even second place. Paul even says at multiple points that he would rather lose to Nicole than win against James. As long as he brings something home for his family, that’s all that matters. They agree to make James feel he is in the middle of the two of them to make him feel safe. Ironically, during one of his conversations with Nicole, he says he doesn’t care about the jury votes because it’s out of his control. Then, Nicole wins part 2 of the final HOH competition, demolishing James for a spot in part 3.

Despite being closer to each other than to James, what would Nicole and Paul actually do if they became the final HOH? Well, Nicole said in the DR that her head tells her to pick James but her heart tells her to pick Paul. Based off of Nicole wanting to take Cody to the final 2 of BB22, I’m inclined to think she would have picked Paul. We will never know though, since Paul won Part 3 of the final HOH comp and became the final HOH. Who would Paul choose though? Well, he claimed to be playing both sides, just telling James and Nicole what they wanted to hear. One key distinction between the two helped him make his decision. Nicole had been telling Paul in the final week about everything James was telling her, including being open to backstabbing Paul. James never relayed any information from Nicole back to Paul though. James went behind his back but Nicole didn’t. Add in the fact that James cast a vote to evict Paul while Nicole cast the tie-breaking vote to save him and Paul comes to a conclusion. On finale night, Paul stands in front of the two of them and casts his vote to evict James.

James Huling: The Blindside Ruiner

James, America’s Favorite Player on BB17, an impressive feat considering how likable that cast was as a whole. On BB18, it felt like he spent more time trying to win AFP for the second year in a row than actually playing the game. Let’s take a look at what James was doing when he wasn’t pulling off pranks.

James spent a lot of the season chasing after Natalie, which had ramifications on his game and decision-making. It was a relationship that helped both him and Natalie be fan favorites on this season. It is hard to look at James’ game without acknowledging Jatalie. But let’s try

The problem with James is that he plays everything way too safe and passively. You can see this in the fact that his HOH reign was just him doing what the house wanted, something he repeats in the DR throughout week 5. Where it is most evident and annoying, though, is in his tendency to ruin blindsides. He tells everyone that Bronte is going home hours before the live show, meaning viewers don’t even get to see the houseguests’ reaction in real time. Then, he tells Paulie that he is evicting Zakiyah right before the live show. It’s so annoying because those were two electric last-minute vote flips that we don’t get to see a blindside reaction of during the live eviction. They’re rare enough as it is but James just has to spoil the two that we get. Also, his choice to give the HOH to Nicole at the second final 7 round is what leads to her winning the game and his closest allies, Michelle and Natalie, going home. He is just such a frustrating player to watch.

Paul vs Nicole: Was it Really a Bitter Jury?

As we all know, Paul lost in a narrow 5-4 vote against Nicole in one of the more controversial jury votes of the modern era. A lot of people blame a bitter jury for Paul’s loss, but, when taking a deeper look at it, was it that bitter?

Paul is the main character of BB18. From day 1 he stood out for his iconic beard and abrasive, loud personality. He found his main guy in Victor straight away but also made a lot of enemies, mainly the vets. He was nominated every single week for the first three weeks. After those first three weeks, he caught a little break and was able to reunite with his bro Victor. Then, he won HOH and found himself in a majority alliance for the first time. He finally felt like he was in a good spot. Then, it comes out that Paulie, his apparent final 2 partner, was scheming behind his back and never planned on going to the end with him. Friendship over. He joined in on the flip to send Zakiyah home and then, his new best friend Victor won HOH for the second time. He convinced Victor to make the biggest move of the season and send Paulie out the door. He thinks he’s in a good spot with Jatalie and Michelle against Nicorey, only to become the main target when Natalie becomes the new HOH. He has to win the veto just to survive, but loses Victor. Luckily, Victor comes back and together, they form a final four with Nicorey. Everything is going well, maybe it’s finally coming together. Then, Corey nominates him and Victor at the final five. Backstabbed yet again. He gets revenge though, comping his way to the end and taking Nicole, a vet, to the end due to their friendship. That is something you could never imagine happens just based off the first week. It is such an up and down underdog story that is fascinating to watch, yet, he falls short from the crown by 1 vote.

Nicole, on the other hand, is much less of a main character. After playing her week 1 HOH decently well, getting out her biggest enemy, she largely lays low. She comes back into the spotlight after Frank reveals to Da’Vonne that she told him that Da’Vonne was after him. She recovers well though. She makes subtle moves, such as helping pin a target on Da’Vonne and pitting Jatalie and Paul and Victor against each other. She wins some competitions, but is nowhere near as big of a beast as Paul. She convinces Paul to take her to the end rather than the much easier opponent in James. It’s a good game, but not anywhere near as out in front as Paul’s. Yet, she squeaks out the victory. Why?

Let us take a look at the jury, specifically Da’Vonne. Although her biggest moment in the jury is her feud with Paulie, she has a side plot. Da’Vonne left the game on bad terms with Nicole. She was a large reason why Da’Vonne’s position fell and was key to her going home. In the jury house, she hopes Nicole would follow her soon after. But Nicole never comes to the jury house. As more and more jurors came in, Da’vonne slowly begins to respect Nicole’s game. Once Michelle comes in, Da’vonne realizes that Nicole is running the house. She realizes that Michelle’s eviction is something that only benefits Nicole’s game, yet she was able to get the other houseguests to do it. The final jury house segment includes her saying that she just knows she’s about to end up giving Nicole the money. A perfect moment of foreshadowing.

At the jury roundtable, Da’Vonne, alongside Bridgette and Natalie, talk about the distinction between Paul the person and Paul the player. Paul may be a great strategic player, but his personality can be off putting and arrogant. He’s said some nasty things about many of the people in the jury house. Why should they give him the money when he didn’t give them respect? This could be taken as bitterness, but then, Da’Vonne props up Nicole’s game. She admits to everyone that she’s been hoping for Nicole’s eviction but it never happened. She tells everyone that Nicole used the men as both her sword and shield. She had a plan, even if it upset the women in the jury. Ironically, the most bitter juror is one of the four that vote for Paul: Michelle. She claims Nicole never made a single move in the house and that evicting her was purely an emotional move. After Corey and Victor explain how the move was strategic, Michelle cries and says to change the subject. It is as hilarious as it is frustrating.

After jury questioning is over on finale night, Paul and Nicole both give killer final pleas. Paul tells the jury he came in as a rookie and that his only real ally throughout the entire game was Victor. He had to win a ton of competitions and make a bunch of big moves to get to this point. Nicole tells everyone that she was put in a life of death situation on the first day with the day 1 eviction. After surviving and winning HOH, she had to deal with people calling her a snake and then had to convince Natalie to turn on Paul and Victor when her back was completely against the wall. She won the competitions she needed and made an alliance with the two strongest guys left to survive and betrayed them once she got the chance. The votes come in. James votes for Paul. Corey votes for Nicole. Victor votes for Paul. Natalie votes for Nicole. Michelle votes for Paul. Paulie votes for Nicole. Bridgette votes for Paul. Zakiyah votes for Nicole. Da’vonne casts the winning vote for Nicole.

Of the jurors, one was bitter toward Nicole. Who was bitter toward Paul though? Not James or Bridgette, both of which would have had reasons to be bitter. They ended up voting for him. You can argue Natalie because of the horrible stuff Paul said about her. But, she was very bitter toward Nicole in her final week too. You could say Paulie had an out of game relationship with Nicole that helped her get his vote. That one is up for debate. But Nicole straight up had a better relationship with Zakiyah that helped her get her vote. And Da’Vonne, who had many reasons to be bitter toward Nicole, ended up being the deciding vote to give her the money. There were people bitter toward both finalists. It is not fair to say Nicole only won because of a bitter jury

Paul Abrahamian: Friendship King

Paul is a one of a kind personality and now, a legend of Big Brother. He is the only two time losing finalist, losing both of those finales controversially. In both, his fatal flaw was his lack of jury management. It becomes much more apparent on his second appearance, but is also prevalent on this season. Despite that, he did excellently for someone who barely even knew of the show beforehand. He was able to recover from a rough start and claw his way into the final two. Much like Natalie, he is one of the more impressive recruits cast on the show. Although I do think people overrate his BB18 game, it is still good for what it is and his competition prowess is a great strength. If he is a good player on BB18 though, he is the puppet master of BB19. That’s a story for next year though.

Nicole Franzel: Underestimated

Nicole is without a doubt the most polarizing houseguest in Big Brother history. For every fan she has, she had a hater. For the longest time, I was a Nicole hater. It wasn’t until Big Brother Reindeer Games that I began reassessing my opinion of her. But even now, I can’t lie and say that I would have rooted for Nicole if I watched this season live. It is part of her strategy to align with the men as swords and shields for her. It’s a good strategy for her, but watching her support the strong men as they take out mainly women is not something I like watching. Also, her tendency to act as the good girl in situations, even those where she is clearly being villainous with her gameplay can get annoying. A lot of people say it, but I’ll repeat it. If she owned her villainous moves and didn’t act sweet and innocent all the time, she would be much more well liked. She’s thriving in life though and this is all in the distant past, so does it really matter anymore? No. She played a good game that got her the win, so who cares if she upset people.

Conclusion

Some Big Brother seasons have a lovable cast, but they lack drama. Others have great strategy, but they lack personality. Others others have tons of drama but no rooting interest. Big Brother 18 on the other hand has a little bit of everything. Electric vote flips and fascinating strategic moves. People to both love and despise. For every ugly moment, there’s satisfying retribution. Compelling stories despite a controversial ending. Every houseguest on this season brings something to the table, which is rare, especially in modern BB. I obviously did not watch BB18 live, so I have no idea how that experience would have affected my enjoyment of the season. It certainly is an up and down season and one of the longer ones, lasting 99 days! What I do know is that 10 years after its release, it holds up and it is about time that fans stop sleeping on this chaotic, dramatic, and iconic season of reality television.