All good things come to an end and it is time for Big Brother 16 Winner & Season Wrap Up. We finally have a winner of Big Brother 16 and congratulations to Derrick.  Up until the big reveals of Derrick being a cop as well as being part of Team America, I felt the vote could have gone either way.  After the reveals, I knew Derrick was going to win. Seems the only Bitter Bettys on the jury were Jocasta and Donny. Hey, Christine even voted based on game play. Anyway, time to wrap this puppy up!

It’s always bittersweet for me when the season ends. I’m glad to get back all of the time I’ve spent watching primetime, BBAD and the live feeds, but I’ll miss my daily hamster watch. Nevertheless, with this extra time I find on my hands I figured “why not chime in with my opinion about the HG’s and this season overall. . .Hey, everybody’s got one, right?

I’ll start by saying that season 16 was a bit of a mixed bag for me. First off, it took me a good while to get on board with most of the HG’s. After both groups of eight were settled in the house, I found myself disappointed at the probability of another boring mix of the same type-cast characters.  Not an eclectic mix of people, just the same ol’ same, young attention seeking crowd, with one lonely elder amongst riding solo. 

Although I’ve watched every episode since season one, as well as the live feeds and BBAD like every other fan, it took much longer than usual for me to really get comfortable and excited about the game being afoot.  Just thinking about blogging this year became difficult and it took me a while get my mojo working when it came to posting updates. I was torn and quite frankly bored. 

Thank goodness for Zach. He’s the main reason I kept watching.  

Very quickly it became apparent that the season 16 “house” was going to be the biggest player and by no means would any blood be spilled! “We must do what the house wants us to do”.  Uugh! With a gynormous alliance of half of the house, how were we not to expect the expected to happen. . .and it did, week after week after week.  It was boring to watch.  

The cast was not doing much for me, but as a fan of the game of Big Brother, not watching was not an option. Lovers of the game (not the show) will watch regardless. As much as we protest and object, we watch. I think Season 9 proves my point. Check out this Definitive Ranking of Every Big Brother Season from Worst to Least Worst for some fun. Fans give up a lot of time for this game because we love it so much.

What can I say about this cast? Well, first and foremost, Zach was immediately my favorite. I was on that crazy train right along with him and inevitably headed for catastrophe, but man was it a fun ride.  In my book, Zach is probably the most complex character to ever hit the Big Brother house. His fan base is growing crazy every day and the appetite for everything Zach is insatiable. There were times when I would find myself yelling at him to keep cool so he wouldn’t become a target and get evicted. I needed someone to keep me company during BBAD! After his first time on the block, I knew Zach had no shot of winning the game. But, boy oh boy did he keep it 100% entertaining. My personal pick for AFP. 

I was even with the whole Zankie situation, thinking they were both going to be really entertaining for me. For some reason I had a feeling even before Frankie revealed his sister secret. that he would start out being funny and the life of the party, and quickly become annoying. Remind you of anyone? Remember Amanda Z from Season 15?  She was quite funny in her early days in the house, and captured our attention, but quickly became annoying and just plain mean. Yes, of course Frankie had good reason to get Zach evicted for his personal game, but he took things to an ugly level. He claimed to love Zach so much, but disparaged him every chance he could get. Just not a nice person and I have nothing else to say about the self proclaimed social media mongrel – oops – mogul.  [Cue Donny for crickets].

The only other HG’s who grabbed any of my attention by the end of the first week were

Derrick – because of his job as a police officer which gave him unique training for the game. 

Cody – because he is just easy on the eyes. Easy.

Donny – because he’s just likeable, but clearly the underdog, and I tend to root for the underdog. Did you notice that every woman evicted before Donny cried when they saw his goodbye message? 

Derrick played the game masterfully, however, it would have been nice to see him play with better players. I would definitely put him in my top three all time favorite players: Dr. Will, Dan, and now Derrick. Top four all time favorite HG’s would include Jeff, but I’m talking about masterful players here.  I would love to see Derrick return in the (distant) future for an All Stars Big Brother. 

Donny was very smart in the game, and the only one to pick up on Derrick. He knew Derrick had his hand in every decision that took place in that house. He also felt that Derrick did not actively try to save him during the last full Team America mission. This must have caused Donny to be a bit salty towards Derrick. Nonetheless, I liked Donny and appreciated the way he carried himself in the game, even when being solo was tough going. Donny was my second choice for AFP

Cody, Paisan, Mr New Jersey. Cody was just cool. I don’t know if Cody did as much in the game as Cody thinks he did, but OK, whatever. Just shut up and look good. He would crack me up when production would call him out about something and he would just yell back at them. On the last night of BBAD he was in rare form and really gave production a hard way to go. I do, however think that because of the Hitmen alliance, Cody earned his spot in Final 2. Oh, one other thing I will say about him.  His momma taught Cody well. I saw Cody in that kitchen more than several times, cleaning like I clean, and by that I mean like a woman cleans.  He has clearly been taught how to clean up after himself and not live like a complete pig. Just a heads up for any of you ladies looking for a well raised man. It was very sexy watching him in the kitchen. Enough said.
One look at Joey and Paola and I correctly dubbed them each a hot mess!  Joey fooled us all. . .for about one episode, Just long enough for us to vote her as part of Team America. Then she had to go bat s#!& crazy after she outed her own plot to start an all girls alliance, Most of the girls were just blah. I remember several of them (Paola, Joey, Amber, Jocasta?) told us in their packages that they wanted to go into the house and start an all girls alliance, because it had never been done before, and the women could rule the game, and I am woman hear me roar. .   Eh, Great plan, piss poor execution on all of their parts. Joey had the right idea when she had the impromptu “Meeting in the Ladies Room”, but when she brought up the plan, the girls looked like deer in headlights. Pathetic. This probably set women back a few years. I was crushed at the fear in their eyes at the very thought of going against the boys. 

Moving on, my grandmother and my mother always taught me that hate is a very strong word, and that is about the only word Christine ever had for any of her housemates. Aggravate her in any way and you’re done! I have just four words for her: “I strongly dislike Christine”.  After being “hand plucked” by Devin (of all people) to be in an all male alliance, with Amber, I thought she would be smart enough to see that she would not go far with that robust amount of testosterone.  As for the whole Cody issue, I try not to judge anyone for their actions – who am I to judge. What makes what she did so wrong in my eyes is the fact that she flat out disrespected her husband on national television. Flirting to get ahead in the game is one thing, but I bet you all my women friends reading this know that she was not simply flirting. This girl was enchanted and it was quite obvious.  The disregard and disrespect for her husband is the reason I would have booed if I were sitting in the audience on her eviction day. 

Nicole will be remembered simply because she wore the most costumes, had the funniest accent, and last but not at all least, she was the first player who wanted to stir up some stuff in the house. Nicole is a very smart player, although emotional, but she made her mark on this season indeed. There were two opportunities where women were HOH’s and they really could have taken a shot at the boys, Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk. It would have been interesting to see how Nicole would have played deeper into the game with a little help on her side. 

Hayden was the dark horse. I think it is quite possible that if the plan to oust Frankie during Nicole’s HOH had come to fruition, Hayden could have possibly had a chance to make a mark in the game.  At least he marked his girl – let me rephrase – at least he got the girl in the end.

Caleb – Beast Mode (insert Ninja, Cowboy, Mousehunter here) – Oh Caleb.  The anomaly. This kid definitely grew on me. i noticed him more after he cut his hair during the Adam and Eve punishment. Once Zach left the house, Caleb stepped in and offered up his own odd brand of entertainment. Granted, most of this entertainment was entertaining to him, but some of it was funny and quite endearing for some peculiar reason(s).  I could probably watch the Judy Chop segment over again, several times. Simply put, Beastmode is like no other. I really felt a twinge when the Hitmen had to let Caleb go, but he took it like a man and I respect him for that fully! Hence the reason I will call him Beastmode Cowboy.  

Jocasta and Brittney. Let’s see. . .um. . . Ok, got it.  Once again the wise women in my family also taught me that if I have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.  I could say some things about them, but I don’t see the point. It wouldn’t be nice anyway – not mean, just not nice. 

I don’t have much to say about Victoria. I will say that she came off as a spoiled brat, and even though she was pretty useless in the game, she did grow on me a bit.  I believe Derrick when he says that she is actually a good girl with a good heart.  In my opinion she is just young has has some growing to do. Overall, I have nothing bad to say about her. . .and not much to say about her either. 

Finally Devin, Devin, Devin.  He was turnt up from the minute he entered the house and went full throttle until he knew he was going home.  When he came to accept his fate, he actually turned out to be a not so bad guy. Devin could have gone further than he did in the game if he would have just relaxed for the first month, He was playing purely on paranoia. One of the most anxious impulsive players I ever seen.  

Did I forget anyone? If I did, then they are forgettable. Big Brother Season 16 is a wrap, and so we wait for next year to spend another summer with a houseful of strangers.

My wish list for next season?

A better mix of players – the good, the bad and the straight up fruitloop dinguses. truthful edits of HG’s on the primetime show, more jury house activity, more hard core players or less dead fish (just didn’t want to say floater), a two-hour finale for more time to crank up some finale drama, less “outside” manipulation of the game for the sake of the show, a follow up after the HG’s have watched the episodes to see what they really think, may something called Big Brother After Days? – and my biggest wish – HG’s who don’t let the water run constantly while washing dishes (a big pet peeve of mine, just saying – fill up the damn sink with water!).

I want to thank all of you who stopped by each week to check the happenings in the house, and I am forever grateful that you chose to do so. I know there are plenty of places where you can get tons of Big Brother information, and I am glad you chose me as one of your sources.

For now, I’m moving on to the fantastic fall line up of shows including Survivor, Amazing Race, Gotham, How to Get Away with Murder, Scorpion and of course I can’t wait for the return of The Walking Dead.  As for Big Brother. . .See you next year! 

. . .and scene!