By evicting Dee, Drew has guaranteed himself a spot in the final two. No matter what happens with the final HOH, he’ll be sitting in those final two chairs. If he wins the final HOH, he’s cutting Devens for real this time and taking Taylor to the end to beat her. If Taylor wins, she’s forced to cut Devens and take Drew to the end with her. If Devens wins, then he’ll for sure take Drew to the end as well! They are father-son, after all. The only question left this season is who will sit in the end next to Drew?
A Last Minute Flip
Drew and Devens want to make it to the end together. For that to happen, ideally, one of them would need to win part 1 of the final HOH and the other part 2, locking Taylor out of the final part. That plan is thrown for a loop when Drew flops in part 1 and Taylor is able to outlast Devens, securing herself a spot in part 3. In part 2, Devens is able to beat Drew, locking him out of the final HOH competition. Critically, it also takes away his opportunity to cut Devens at the end. However, it’s not the end of the world for him, as he’s still guaranteed that final two spot, right?
For most of the week, it does look like Drew is still going to the end no matter what. Then, on the penultimate night of the entire season, Taylor makes one final pitch to Devens. She warns him that if he takes Drew to the end, he might not win. She would tell Lala to vote for Drew and then, Barrett and Melody could also vote for him due to their F.A.P. connection. If he takes her to the end, though, he’ll have a way better chance at winning. It is mostly a bluff, but Devens buys into it, really worried about the jury votes at this point. The two promise to each other that they will take the other to the end, although Taylor is lying. Once, Devens crushes part 3 of the final HOH, he follows through on the promise, cutting Drew at the end for one final betrayal and reaching a show’s finale for the first time ever.
Drew Campbell: Icon Pet or Self-Interested Snake?
Drew, maybe the most polarizing Big Brother player since Nicole Franzel. Lots of people hate him for his crucial role in helping the icons dominate the game, while others love him for his relationship with Melody and possibly funny personality. That’s without even touching the microaggressions of it all. To be fair to Drew, though, let’s see how much of an icon pet he actually was.
Drew stays loyal to the Crossovers for the entire first half of the game. It’s often frustrating because he was being openly targeted by all of the icons at many points in the prejury. His undying loyalty is what puts him in a must win blockbuster situation during week 7. After winning that blockbuster, he cannot even be bothered to give his supposed ally, Mallory, a sympathy vote. Not a great start. During his HOH week, he fails to evict Yash and ends up almost evicting an icon (Devens) instead. It was not intentional at all though, so no credit there. He is not on board with Barrett’s flip during his HOH week and is left out of the Angela eviction. Then, he is Yash’s target during his second HOH reign. It’s looking pretty bad so far. But this is where he goes on an upward trajectory. He rebuilds his relationship with Yash during the not pressure cooker and wins the veto to save himself. Then, during the double eviction, he makes the controversial move to evict Yash. I think it is undoubtedly the right move, as Yash was his biggest competition threat and we see him win a lot more often after Yash’s exit. After that, back to mediocrity, as he must win the veto in order to stay, with Dee, who he’s protected up until now, desperately wanting him gone. However, he survives that with a strengthened Crossover side.
The final four is where he arguably makes his game-losing move though. He evicts Dee and keeps Devens, under the guise that he would be guaranteed final two. Obviously, we know that doesn’t happen. If he had kept Dee, he had a very viable winning path. Dee wins part 1 due to her endurance strength, and Drew is probably able to beat Taylor in part 2 given her poor performance in part 3. In the hypothetical Dee vs Drew showdown, I fail to see Dee being able to beat Drew, meaning he would win final HOH and could cut Dee. He would then crush Taylor in the final two and win the grand prize. All in all, I don’t think it is fair to call Drew a complete icon pet, as he did plan on cutting them. His timing for that plan is the big issue, though. He let them get too far, gain too much power. Worst of all, he almost never pushed back, the most damning example being the Mallory eviction. I’m not the biggest Drew fan and seeing him cut was my favorite part of the finale, but may not be that bad of a player. Also, that Wonka Netflix show did him dirty.
Rome and Lyric’s Big Announcement
No one tuned into the finale to find out who won Big Brother. Everyone was tuned in to see what big announcement Rome and Lyric were gonna make. It was hyped up for days by Julie Chen herself and millions patiently waited to see what they had in store. Once we finally reach their announcement, Rome tells us that not only are they still happily together, but they might, just might, move in together soon. It was such a groundbreaking announcement, millions collectively cried and clapped for them!
In all seriousness though, it was funny to see how much they hyped this up and how underwhelming the announcement was in contrast. Clearly, they just wanted to give the only real showmance this season some kind of screen time. Wish both of them all the best though <3.
The Jury Votes
Devens vs Taylor. Who will win Big Brother? Devens has had a huge target on his back the entire season, but has been able to make it all the way to the end through clutch comp wins and a little weasel named Drew Campbell. Taylor has been nominated six times across the season and has played a mostly quiet game. However, her great move of convincing Devens to take her to the end could gain her some favor with the jury.
It should be noted that Devens had Dee as his biggest advocate in jury, a great advocate to have, as she fights like hell for her closest allies. Taylor, on the other hand, had Lala, who, as iconic as she is, does not have much influence in the game or jury. Even Yash wasn’t a particularly big advocate for Taylor, wanting to be as unbiased as possible. During the jury questioning, Devens does a great job at answering his questions, specifically in defending the fact that the icons had some advantages. He explains that while that might be true, both he and Dee made the most of their advantages and got maximum value out of them. Taylor, unfortunately, does not do a great job. Her biggest blunder is claiming the Lyric and Melody evictions as big moves she made. That blunder gets a pretty big reaction from both Angela and Melody. She doesn’t talk about her decision in saving Dee or her flipping Devens against Drew at the last minute. Both of those moves could have given her a bit more of a chance.
In his final speech, Devens does a great job at explaining why he should win. He tells the jury that he got the biggest targets: Rome, Kamu, Melody(?), getting a bunch of blood on his hands. Despite that, he was the last person to be nominated this season. He compliments Barrett, Melody, and Yash, telling them that they were all big gameplayers who nominated icons the first chance they got, and that is why they should reward another big gameplayer, himself, by giving him their vote. Taylor’s speech, although not horrible, is mostly unremarkable. By the end, it becomes clear that Devens is going to win. He gets everyone except Lala’s vote, winning in a 6-1 vote. He also wins America’s Favorite Houseguest, meaning he has made more money than anyone in BB history, earing $810,000 in total.
Taylor Brown: Pod Master
Taylor played a very respectable runner-up game. She has nothing to be ashamed about and should feel very proud of herself. She is a very worthy addition to the Big Brother runner-ups. It was a very rocky road in rooting for her that had a lot of ups and downs. I’m glad that I did though, as she did give me a lot of hope after Dee’s eviction. Unfortunately, I don’t think she had a viable winning path, even if she cut Devens, but she tried and that’s arguably what matters most. She faced a lot of adversity this season and took it all in stride.
Rick Devens: A Cheap Adam Sandler
I am genuinely so happy for Devens. After losing Fire Making in Edge of Extinction when the win was in his grasp, and being put in a hopeless situation on 50, it is so healing to see him win Big Brother. I thought I had seen the last of him for a while after the finale of Survivor 50, but then I had the pleasure of watching him on Big Brother this summer. He gave us the crazy nomination ceremony during week 2 and obviously the Kamu boot, saving the season from a Kamu-Yash steamroll. He definitely earned his victory, no doubt about it.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t say his winning game is the greatest. There were so many rounds where he was screwed without a competition win. The Lala boot, the Angela boot, the Yash boot, and the final HOH were the most glaring examples of him needing a competition win to survive. The one week where he genuinely did great work to save himself was the final four round, but that’s about all I can say. However, being clutch in the face of danger is a key part of the Devens strategy, so I guess it could only be expected. It is a well deserved victory and a very wholesome one at that.
Conclusion
What a polarizing season of Big Brother, now all wrapped up. I do not want to get into my personal thoughts on the season, as I need to save those for the season review. However, it was a fun ride and I loved writing all of these recaps weekly!
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