HOLLYWOOD—I have been wanting to write a column discussing the inner workings of one of my favorite TV shows of all time: “Big Brother.” Love it or hate it at times, it is indeed my guilty pleasure every summer, sometimes in the winter as well with those celebrity editions. With that said, after 25 seasons it has become so apparent that the game has some issues, quite massive to say the least. Now, after nearly 23 years, I thought we’d have an epic season, which it started off, but it seemed like after week 6, it all went to hell. Why? Unnecessary twists throughout the game and bad competitions.
Fans had been waiting since season 6 (let me repeat season 6) for the Pressure Cooker competition to return. It finally returned this year and lasted nearly 14 hours. It was massive, that was all thrown in the trash by a twist that gave a contestant the power to save an evicted houseguest. That houseguest happens to be the guy who is currently dominating the competitions to the point that I actually didn’t want the last 3 episodes of the seasons because they were so bad and poorly edited.
Imagine keeping your hand on a button for almost 14 hours, you finally win power to shakeup the game and the person you fought to have evicted, gets an opportunity to stay in the game and play again? Talk about unfair. With that said, we had the horrid zombie week, which stalled gameplay to halt, allowed 2 players who were just evicted from the game to come right back in and cause strategy to halt, then we have the Invisible HOH, who can compete the following week?
What the hell is Allison Grodner thinking? She is totally tanking this series down the toilet. She might think we want to see these silly, stupid competitions, but we don’t, the true fan base doesn’t care about competitions. This is not MTV’s “The Challenge.” If I wanted to see people beast competitions I would watch that series. “BB” by design was a social experiment and if the focus is solely on competitions, the social aspect doesn’t matter anymore. NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH A STEAMROLL of a season and that is becoming the norm of the series.
Take a look at BB16, BB19, BB20, BB21, BB22 and now BB25, are you seeing a trend? These are seasons that endured steamrolls to a point that just lost interest in the viewer. I would place a caveat for BB20 because there were a little more back in forth, but that was the beginning season before we see a player like Kaycee win 5 consecutive Power of Veto competitions in a row. Kaycee won the season, but it should have been Tyler. Kaycee is the most boring contestant I can recall seeing on the show in a very long time, most people even forget she won the season. The following season we saw Jackson dominate the endgame, then in BB22 Cody and The Committee dominated the competitions, then in BB25 we have Jag and Matt dominating the competitions, we had Michael dominate comps in BB24, but he was a bit more likeable and an underdog from the get-go, and that season we had chaos almost every single week, from the split house, all the way down to the final two. The audience truly didn’t know who was going to win, despite the ugliness that season endured its first few weeks.
Why are we seeing so many physical competitions? Please explain producers of BB in particular Allison Grodner, why? The competitions should NOT be so predictable that the contestants know what to expect and they can win out. So they don’t care about some of the contestants because they know they won’t be able to defeat them in a competition. You know how you change that? Make fair and equitable competitions for all players rather you’re 20 or 60, you can win a competition. I want you to look at this statistic for BB25, only 3 women have won HOH all season: Bowie (2 times), Reilly (1 time) and Felicia (1 time). Cameron, Jared and Jag dominated the HOHs, and when it comes to POV competitions, only 1 woman has won, and it was Blue with a guessing competition.
How can you have a plethora of competitions, yet NO WOMAN, but 1 won a single POV? There is an issue there. Not to mention the level of physicality with the competitions. If you’re going to do all physical comps, then you shouldn’t be casting people in their 50s and 60s that won’t have a chance at those comps. Cast people all in their 20s; make it an even playing field.
In addition, we had 3 knockout competitions this season. We normally get 1 of those competitions if we’re lucky in a single season. Those are the worst when you have a dominate alliance, because it works against the houseguests who are in the minority. On top of that we had 1, and I mean 1 single crapshoot the entire season, what the hell. Crapshoots are equitable people because anyone can win a crapshoot and it changes the dynamics of the game when anyone, including someone you least likely expect to win because it can cause a shift in power.
You wanna know why so many people like myself herald “Big Brother 6” as one of the greatest seasons of all-time? It had a constant back and forth between 2 sides of the house where anyone could win a competition at any given time. The constant power shifts kept audiences entertained and on the edge of their seat. Did Janelle slightly dominate some of the comps, yes, but not fully, she was perceived as an underdog and seeing her win with her back against the wall was exciting. We have NOT seen that transpire in years. You know the 1 week in BB22 that fans were excited about? The week David used that Nightmare Power, Davonne won the POV and The Committee was forced to vote out someone who wasn’t a minority.
Stop with the twists, we don’t need them in the game they stifle gameplay more than they actually help. I love BB10 so much because it was a straight forward season besides America’s Player that 1 week. There were no wonky twists that impacted the game in a way that gave an edge to one player over another it was social strategy at its best. Explain to me how in the hell in the 25 plus season of this series, no player has EVER won back-to-back or given the opportunity to play in back-to-back HOHs.
The exception was BB All-Stars when Dani won that power and even she choose not to compete in back-to-back HOHs, however, Jag becomes the Invisible HOH (thanks for stealing that from BB Canada) and EVERYONE knows because he told them, and then he can compete in the next HOH and continue his power dominance, when any other season you can’t. That twist alone killed the game. I’m more pissed because in BB23, Claire was the Invisible HOH, and she couldn’t win the next HOH, she had to throw it, WHY THE HELL DIDN”T YOU MAKE JAG DO THE SAME THING? Think about it, if Claire could have competed in the following HOH after her reign we could be talking about a different endgame for BB23 people.
In addition, stop with the repetitive competitions. I don’t want to see the same comps every season, it is time for a complete overall and do something completely new. The players shouldn’t know what to expect, if they are thrown off it makes the comps more equitable because you cannot prepare for them in advance. That stupid wall, I’m so over it; it is boring and hasn’t been exciting for years. The Slip and Slide, don’t need it and don’t bring it back. The spinning disc is another one that needs to be thrown out, and the stacking vetoes are just not fun to watch. Go back to old school BB when you have comps that are NOT ALL TIMED and you’re only showing the top 3 winners? What fun is that? You can do the guessing comps this is small jar of marbles this is a large jar of marbles, guess how many? How about the eating competitions to earn shots in a crap shoot that anyone can win? I mean there is so much that can be done. I loved the video comp where you have to guess colors in sequence and if you’re incorrect you’re slimed or something explodes in your face.
How about the How Bad Do You Want It POV competition we used to have, in particular the one from BB7. Anyone can win it and it poses the question what are you willing to give up to obtain power. That is fun. Remember when Kaysar shaved his head in hopes of winning that POV only for Chicken George to edge out the win? Those types of comps help elevate the gameplay and social maneuvering in the game. I want to see the return of the Face Morph competition where the Memory Wall comes into play. We haven’t seen that since BB16. Then you can have the HOH like BB10, where the houseguests vote for the HOH before even entering the house and speaking to one another. You go off first impressions then you have to get to know the houseguests without EVEN KNOWING WHO IS IN POWER! That sounds like a social experiment to me.
In addition, it might be time to change up the Final Five and Final Four, perhaps instead of 1 HOH at the final 5, you have 2. Instead of a final 4 where the veto is the determining factor, how about you introduce a social aspect similar to the competition series Sequester, where the person evicted gets to DRAG someone with them to the jury and all this hoopla of the importance of the competitions for the final HOH are shifted.
The two people who are evicted, then compete in an endurance style HOW BAD TO YOU WANT IT COMP where either of them rather you’re 20 or rather you’re 70 has a chance to win their way to the final 3, which becomes a question comp to determine the final two. To be honest you can go back to the jury Q/A; I like the notion of that guessing game. Perhaps it will prove who knows their houseguests best; it is a social experiment right?
What the hell with that ball pit POV that unfolded during both double evictions for BB25? Guess who won the POV both times, Matt a guy who happens to be an swimmer and is quite athletic to say the least. Felicia, Cirie, America, none of them had a chance, which is further proof the game is truly broken.
Think about the number of male winners compared to female winners. A total of 16 male winners and only 8 women who have won in 25 seasons doesn’t that seem lopsided? You know why, the comps are all physically driven. The final four POV used to be all mental and there was no physical element, when you throw in a physical element it makes the comps lean in one direction more than the other and it doesn’t help with the element of equality for all players.
In addition, go back to what we had via BB10 with the Q/A with the final two and the jury, not this rushed questioning during the live finale so we can have a spectacle of events in a flurry. That doesn’t make for good TV, plus I think every jury member should have the opportunity to ask questions and really make their opinions clear and POSE the question of their liking not the producers trying to influence things. You cannot explain your entire game in less than 2 minutes, well maybe you can if you’re Taylor Hale, but that is an exception to the rule people.
The last caveat I have to point out is the age of winners. I think the oldest winner in the game is Evel Dick who was in his 40s at the time of his victory. Why is that? The guy was a character, he was helped by a twist, but he wanted to win as well. With that said, all the other winners of the series have been in their 20s, I think maybe 1 or 2 in their 30s. What does that say people? Look at “Survivor” they’ve had plenty of winners those of a older age when the game because the social element is vital to the game. BB has continued to forget that as time has progressd.
“Big Brother” has to make changes, the number of males who have dominated competitions over their female counterparts is just a stark reality that things are broken and change is needed. If you don’t think change is needed the results are going to become repetitive over and over and over again and guess what, you lose fans. Jag, Michael, Cody, Xavier, Jackson, Tyler, Angela, Kaycee and Paul dominated the competitions from BB19 thru BB25. Hmm, that should be a sign that the shift in comps from BB19 thru BB25 is a major problem that should be the crucial factor of change that is needed to revitalize this game that is becoming stale with each season and a focus on elaborate set pieces that give nearly 90 percent of your contestants no chance at a win.
