I've been going back and watching old Big Brother seasons for the first time as spoiler free as I can

Going into this season the spoilers that I had were that >!Jun Song!< won the season and that >!her and Alison were a duo despite not liking each other!<

The other seasons that I've seen are: BB2-3, BB14, CBB3, BB24-26, RG1

I also read along with Jokers Live Feed Updates and Recaps from when they originally aired so I could get a sense of the live feeds.

I also watch up until the first eviction then pick a 6-person draft for myself

Winner: Jun

Finalists: Alison & David

Players: Justin, Michelle, and Robert

The X Factor Twist

I absolutely loved this twist. I thought it was so fascinating to throw these people in with their exes, although I thought it was a bit weird that not all the cast had an ex brought in. Nathan, Jack, and Dana got off a little bit easy. I also wish we could've gotten at least one queer couple of exes.

Scott's Expulsion

I'm really happy that I read the live feeds for this one, because while the show mostly accurately portrayed his downward spiral and his reasons for getting kicked out, they left off a couple things. They really only showed one big group discussion about his behaviour, but there were several instances where big groups in the house talked to him about it. For editing reasons, it makes sense.

However, the biggest thing that they left out is the REASON he was spiraling out. What made it to the edit was that he was having a hard time in the house having his ex there. They then cut out the part where he explains that he has HPV and that he has not had sex since he and Amanda broke up because nobody will get with him. He explains this to multiple people individually and in groups. He makes it VERY clear that his main problem goes back to him having HPV.

Sexism, Racism, and Homophobia in 2003

Dear god these people. Robert in particular just HATED women. It didn't always make it into the episodes, but almost every single day he would sit out with David and some of the other guys and just bash the women. Just constantly. The casual slurs dropped by the whole cast as well. Calling things gay. Constantly speculating that Nathan could be gay but also that that would be disgusting.

And the live feed recappers would be like,"We hate Robert and we will exclusively refer to him as Ratbert. It's disgusting how much he hates women. Also, we're going to go all in on calling Dana a man-troll." They would occasionally call out some of the bigotry shown by the housemates. However, I did notice that they would censor cursewords like fuck and shit, but not slurs. One livefeeder quoted Jun apparently saying the N-word with a hard R, but did not censor it despite censoring the word "ass" in the same sentence.

The Top 3

I unfortunately have had each of these early seasons spoiled for me. BB2 and this season I knew the winner before watching. BB3 I had the winner spoiled for me about halfway through watching the season by somebody who didn't seem to understand what counts as a spoiler. Knowing the winner tends to get me less invested in their journey. I also had seen some stuff about how "Jun and Alison teamed up despite not liking each other", so I figured she would make it to the end as well.

Robert - I could not stand him from the moment he walked in the house. He came off as a sleazeball in the first episode and the live feeds did not help. But what was frustrating was that it seemed like the women in the house didn't like him, but he never seemed to come up as a target. I drafted him mostly cause I could be happy if he went far cause I drafted him, and be happy if he went home cause I hated him

Alison - I actually found Alison a pretty compelling character this season. Her relationship with Justin was interesting. They definitely had some animosity, but they could also talk game when they needed to. She really had her head in the game the whole time. Her relationship with Nathan was interesting as well. It was really interesting seeing her control him and then turn on him. It was also interesting seeing that she had a boyfriend at home. She was constantly worried about how he'd feel about her and Nathan, but then once Nathan was eliminated she went back to referring to him as her boyfriend and didn't seem as worried about them breaking up. Also from some of the comments she made it seemed like her boyfriend was somewhat abusive towards her.

Jun - Pretty early on it seemed like Jun was cooking her way to safety in the game. Everybody was obsessed with her cooking skills. She never really felt like she was in too much danger, but she also didn't seem like a strategic mastermind a lot of the time. She just had little secret chats with Jee, Alison, and Erika that ended up getting her to the end.

The Finale and General Format

There's definitely some growing pains with the format that I'm excited to see improve. After BB3 they have the veto so you can use it on yourself. They sequestered the jury this time. But the way they went about this whole finale was just so weird.

First of all they gave Ali and Jun a WEEK alone after evicting Robert. I didn't remember it being that long in previous seasons and checked. For BB2 there were 5 days and for BB3 there were 4 days before the F3 eviction and finale night. I cannot wait until they shorten that time frame. It is definitely nice to give the final juror some time with the jury to talk, but the live feed updates for that week were so boring. They didn't even seem to have any updates on Jun and Alison going off to practice their answers to the jury. Just things like, "Alison just made toast. It looks a little burnt".

And they do so many things pre-taped. Most of the evictions are done a full day before the vote. I was a little annoyed that pretty much everything except the reading of the votes and interviewing the final 2 was pre-taped. They pre-taped the jurors asking questions and voting. Then they showed segments of them watching and reacting to the episodes. Then a reunion without the final 2. It was a little dissapointing.

Then we finally got to the votes being read and I was surprised to see NO reaction from either of the finalists. Jun's face did not change when she got her 4th vote. Then just the two of them get brought out to talk to Julie and they were like... yeah those guys hated us so it was hard to feel happy. Also it was hard because the jurors had seen the episodes while they had not. It was a not very fun tone for a finale.

Returning Players

After each season I try to pick two guys and two girls that I would like to see return to compete. Please no spoilers on whether or not they do.

BB2: Dr. Will, Bunky, Nicole, and Monica

BB3: Marcellas, Jason, Danielle, and Chiarra

BB4: Justin, Nathan, Jun, and Alison

I wasn't a big fan of a whole lot of this cast. Jun and Alison at least played pretty well and were interesting. The guys pretty much all sucked or were boring. Nathan and Justin weren't the greatest peope but they still had some character and were hot to look at (except for Justin's terrible bangs).

I look forward to BB5 which I don't think I have any spoilers for!

I think she played a great game, however she was playing Survivor not Big Brother that first half of the game, and she lost momentum in the second half because of Jared. Jared telling Jag that Matt would use the advantage on him completely decimated her game and she could never recover from it with Jag.

I see people saying getting rid of Hisam was a mistake, however, her stronghold on the game didn't change when Hisam left, she had everyone's trust except for maybe America to some extent.

The two big flaws in her game, Jared, she was completely blinded by how idiotic her son was, and she completely misread Bowie. Bowie was looking for someone to lead and guide her, and at first that person for Bowie was Cirie, but Cirie for some reason didn't see this, which ultimately led to Bowie latching onto Jag. And of course comp wins.

Chelsie played very similarly to Cirie socially, not as sleak but more effective because she won comps and had an ally that could win comps.

What's your take on Cirie's game one year later?

Mainly curious of how when they are talking about a HOH or Veto competition.

My only two interests my entire life have been movies and reality competition shows. Been watching Big Brother literally since the first episode of the first season. I work for Letterboxd now, and the moment I found out that Quinn had an LB I knew I had to shoot my shot and once he got out of the house I hit him up to do a video talking about his favorite movies.

When he was down, I was like "Oh wait, America and Joseph are on LB as well, let's get them in the mix!" Was absolutely insane getting to meet all three and talk for a long time with each about movies and BB. Put together this video with all three of them doing their four faves, hope y'all enjoy! https://youtu.be/O5CwuaoK-2g?si=JEFUauFj9AiPDFIV

Who in your opinion is the best overall competitor from BB26. MJ did have the most comp wins of the season with 11 wins, followed by Tucker with 6, and Chelsie with 5. However comp wins can sometimes be circumstantial and depending on players intentions (whether they throwing or actually gunning for it). Rank all 16 houseguests based on their competition ability.

I think if MJ takes Cam, she loses at best 3-4

Leah votes MJ

Angela votes Cam (She was super bitter against Chelsie and would have the same bitterness for MJ if she's against Cam)

Quinn votes Cam (he was very unimpressed with MJ from a strategic standpoint, and Cam articulated his game well in exit press)

T'Kor votes Cam (Zero personal or game relationship with MJ, likes Cam)

Kimo votes Cam (Same as T'Kor but has a stronger bond with Cam)

Rubina votes Cam (Same as other Trio members, but had strongest personal relationship with Cam + some game towards the end)

Chelsie votes Cam (She is 100% bitter at MJ for cuttin her)

I think if Cam describes his game well, highlights how he beat Tucker in the Veto to send him home, pulled the trigger on Quinn and T'Kor, and how he was in so little danger the whole game, he wins 6-1. I think a worse performance still nets him a 4-3 win. Highest likelihood to flip are T'Kor and Angela.

I’m fascinated by this dude. They seem like such an unlikely character to be where they are in terms of my personal top players of BB. They’ve played two seasons, both of which we have seen TWO TOTALLY different sides of them. It seems the most obvious opinion of them is that they’re the ‘Russell Hantz’ of Big Brother but to me that’s doing Paul and injustice. Yeah they’ve both made the finale on both of their first two seasons, Yeah Paul didn’t own his game at the end of BB19. As far as BB18, I’ll die on the hill that he should’ve won over Nicole F and that’s with no disrespect or hatred towards Nicole’s game whatsoever.

My question: If Paul had won over Josh in BB19, whether it be 5-4 or 9-0, do you put them in the same tier as Will and Dan?

Regardless of feelings and bias, BB19 was an absolute master class in puppeteering the competition. I’d say my favorite big brother moment of all time is Paul’s fake crying in front of Alex and then smiling to Josh as soon as she left the room. Josh’s face is all you need to know about the type of stranglehold Paul had over the rest of the cast. The manipulation, the charisma, nobody wanted to go against him.

I’m like an 8/10 drunk right now, so I may not be super detailed or even throwing a good fight for Paul right now, but I was talking BB with my wife and it clicked in my head that if Paul had owned theyre game to the jury in BB19, they’d be considered one of the best of all time.

Thoughts?

Completely

Backdoors were all too common lol

I'm not complaining about people using the veto. I'm complaining that every week it was a backdoor/replacement nom went home. I hate that players don't even have the guts to put their inital noms up anymore and that the veto was used every time to save angela she was on the block before her eviction.

Also, Kimo and Rubina were just backup replacements if a nom won and the target didn't change.

Haven’t been through all the threads, so…apologies if this has already been brought up, but…the twist of AI arena seems to be a really popular addition to season…if they decide to include it going forward, it obviously can’t be called AI arena since the next theme wouldn’t be artificial intelligence…what should it be called if the twist becomes permanent???

It’s been a while since I watched big brother live. Other than this past season (26), the last one I watched live was 17. That being said, I’ve obviously been away for a minute lol, and this was the first time I’ve kept up with the Reddit/live feeds. After reading through a bunch of posts and comments (all the way back 4 years lol), I still cannot figure out pregaming works. How are players able to form relationships prior to going in the house if they don’t know each other? If it’s a brand new cast, do the producers get them in touch with each other or how does it work? I can understand the all star seasons cause they seem to all have some sort of connection with each other.

Does anyone here know anyone in your personal life that you’re convinced would win Big Brother or at least be really competitive? For example, my best friend I really think could do really well; has the social game, comp beast, and strategy. Tried more than once to have him look into it haha. Curious about everyone else here.

This season got me hooked! I just finished binging Celebrity BB immediately after. With this seasons episode showing the most recent 3 winners, is it worth it to still watch if I know the winner? And should I decide to skip the recent 3, what do you recommend I do? Start from the beginning and watch all the way through? Or start from a certain point? Do they have a “new season/old season” like Survivor where it inherently gets better or different? Help a girl out!

I don’t mean bad game plays such as poor nominations or veto choices. I mean real slip-ups from the houseguests, such as being overheard, saying the wrong name, not realizing a certain player was in the room, stuff like that. I grew up watching the show and started rewatching old seasons this year since I don’t remember a lot. I know BB26 had the time Leah overheard Chelsie, Kimo and Rubina talking in the backyard. I’m just curious if there were any big mistakes that you guys remember that were possibly detrimental to the player’s game.

I’ve seen people say before that once Ivette won the final HoH on bb6, she had no way to win. I know that the friendship had said that if they cut one another they wouldn’t vote for the person that cut them. My question is would the friendship REALLY have handed the win to Janelle had Ivette cut Maggie? They couldn’t stand her. I imagine the sov 6 would all vote Janelle in that case but the friendship would still vote Ivette. Would Maggie have really stuck to that or would she understand the game move?

In a hypothetical BBAS3 with 18 players, the cast should be split inton3 random teams and attempt to game from that position before merging some weeks before the jury phase. This may be flawed if people who had a locked in pregame alliance stacked one team but its one of the best ways to weaken the effects on pregame on returning seasons.

I’d love to see an all stars that has a last minute safety competition like the AI twist. Or throw something at them that would completely shake up their pregame strategizing, like random partnering or something. Any ideas how we could make an all stars season that’s not a team up and bulldoze?

Something that bugs me year after year is this stipulation in the tiebreaker ruleset. I know its from price is right (or probably something else), but I cant help but hate it over the years. I feel like it takes a comp that is generally something knowledge based and turns the tiebreaker into something that someone can win with a wildly incorrect answer. It changes the strategy of actually trying to estimate into purposefully miscalculating so you dont go over. I can see how its more entertaining but something in me cannot feel like its fair enough to justify it 😭 Do you think they should keep it or change it to "closest answer wins"?

I didn’t really care for BB6. I mean it was Big Brother, but I had a hard time watching it.

If MJ somehow cuts Chelsie at F3 where would you put Chelsie in your ranking for non winning games?

The biggest concern with the BB AI Arena Twist is how it benefits players who are good in competitions and increases the probability of a steamroll by one or two players. How do we fix this? Well we need to figure out different ways that players can be taken off the block due to this twist. Maybe each week is a new random way that a player can be taken off, or the players know all of the possible ways that players can be taken off the block at the start of the game. Here are some options:

Find a hidden Artifact in the house after the VETO ceremony
Everyone in the house votes for the player they want taken off the block anonymously. Every vote will count as a token which will be picked at random draw for which player will be taken off the block
How far will you do challenge, a live challenge that ends when one player is left standing. You have the option to stay in the challenge and take a punishment in the game, or drop off any not take the punishment.
America votes for who to take off

Here's my pick.

Chelsie (26) America (25) Taylor (24) Tiffany (23) Nicole (16, 18, 22) Holly (21) Kaycee (20) Natalie (18) Victoria (16) Elissa (15) Britney (12, 14) Keesha (10, 22) Daniele (8, 13, 22) Maggie (6) Allison (4,7) Monica (2)

Most people think Dan or Will are the best players in the US edition, however is there a better player in the entire world?

I just want to see if anyone else is/was as annoyed with Michelle’s reaction when Libra took the Hawaii vacation and gave Michelle the unitard from 8+9. I mean, Michelle came in SECOND TO LAST for crying out loud and genuinely thought she was gonna get to keep such a great reward..? I feel like that’s just… stupid to be that naive and then to let it get you SOO upset. Am I alone?😂