Big Brother 19: A Weekly Big Brother Season Retrospective

[00:00:15] Hello everyone and welcome back to the Big Brother Retrospective Podcast here in the offseason. I'm your host, Jan Armstrong, and we are here today to talk about Big Brother 19. The season that came after Big Brother 18. It's true. We've been running through the seasons week by week, year by year, and with me to talk about Big Brother 19 is Chantel. How you doing, Chantel?

[00:00:43] You know, it's really great to hear your voice. I feel like we're doing the live feed update since we don't have Big Brother Canada to talk about. So it's exciting to be here. And then I realize why we're here. And all of a sudden I'm like, you know, my feelings might change a little bit. But, you know, I love talking Big Brother with you. So even if it's Big Brother 19, you're the only person that I really would want to talk about it with.

[00:01:07] Well, this is the first season to have live feed update podcasts. Big Brother 19. What an eventful season to have them. They started out back in the day pretty short. You know, that was sort of the original part of the original intention. There were different views, different views on what they would be. My view, maybe a little bit longer.

[00:01:36] They did start here on Big Brother 19. And, you know, that it was it was it was a wild ride. But before we get into Big Brother 19, we do have some unfinished business from Big Brother 18, Chantal. Oh, who do you think is on the poster? Who do you think the audience voted as the top three players to represent the season for Big Brother 18 on the poster?

[00:02:07] Would it be Victor, Nicole and Paul? Is that that season or is that 17? It is that season. You're close. You're missing. Devon. Oh, OK. Devon treats out Victor. OK, OK. If you're watching this, you get to see this poster. We're really starting to have fun with these now. I saw this and I was like, oh, that's fantastic.

[00:02:36] This is great. This is great. I mean, I would say that this is a season about them. This is kind of where everybody was really rooting for Devon and like seeing her dynamic with Nicole and how that all went down. And, you know, they had beef now. And so, yeah, I can see Devon taking some the cover page here.

[00:02:54] Yes. And you see Paul in the background of this poster sort of looming ominously as they are about to truly steal the show from everyone a season later. And that is where we are with Big Brother 19 as it comes a year after Big Brother 18. And rumors were flying early that Paul would be returning.

[00:03:23] I remember being in an airport. I don't remember exactly why. I might have been going to Vegas to see American Ninja Warrior or something along those lines. And and in seeing the rumor for the first time that, oh, Paul is going to be returning for Big Brother 19. And my my immediate reaction, I said it was probably Toledo if we were in the airport going to American Ninja Warrior or I'm fabricating this memory.

[00:03:52] And it was somebody else entirely. I think my for the first thing I said was, well, that's a mistake. Absolutely. I do remember like now that you're saying that this is when the live feed updates started, I definitely watched all of them. And that's why when I said to my mom, like, I'm going to do that with Taryn. One of these days, probably watching that season because I had so many things to say when the season was going down. And I remember not being excited necessarily that they're bringing someone back firstly.

[00:04:20] And then it's going to be Paul, though. I know that Paul was, you know, he's like seeing him learn how to play the game. It's kind of interesting to see him get his footing and get better as he went along. But I just found him so exhausting and I didn't want to see him play again. And so I wasn't necessarily excited about this being a possibility.

[00:04:41] I mean, I think there were some that were I think like the the mistake that I felt it was, it was, you know, obviously the obvious mistake is, oh, we're doing another mixed season right after we just had Big Brother 18. You know, that's that's that's a lot. But in addition to that, I thought it was a mistake for Paul because I felt like Paul kind of went out on top. Paul, you know, he died a hero or they died a hero.

[00:05:10] Yeah. And and they they should not have lived long enough to become the villain was was my I just I've I'd seen it happen for villains can come back and become heroes. Heroes come back and become villains. And I just felt like they were in for a downfall in terms of popularity. On top of the fact that it was probably going to make the season much more boring, potentially. So boring.

[00:05:37] What do you think, though, the producers like their idea around this? Like what did they think that they thought would happen with just bringing Paul back? I just don't understand their mindset around it because there's these are smart people that are running these shows, I would think. And I just didn't think it was a good idea either at all. I mean, I think the idea was here's a fan favorite player from the season. Let's bring them back.

[00:06:05] They were, you know, they were robbed in the final two. Let's bring them back and run it back.

[00:06:15] Basically, you know, well, I think I think on top of it, they were like, well, let's not only bring them back, but let's also give them immunity for the first eviction and then also immunity for the subsequent three evictions, which actually became four evictions because of an ejection. And, you know, we'll basically give them about five evictions to settle in. You know, we really want to make the most of Paul.

[00:06:45] Now, do you can you think of what the timeline is from when Big Brother five Canada happened with Netta? Because like similar thing kind of happened, bringing back a fan favorite, giving them immunity for multiple weeks and them not ended up looking like the hero after they come on their returning season. It had just happened. OK, so they liked that. They loved it. It just premiered or just just aired in in spring of 2017.

[00:07:14] And Big Brother 19 came in just a few months later. And I mean, the thing is, though, like that was the season that almost canceled Big Brother. The petition I say, you know, sign that change dot org or whatever it was. Definitely. I got behind it. But I guess you would have thought they wouldn't want to follow suit. Right. Or maybe they're trying to get it canceled. I don't know.

[00:07:44] This is, I believe, the the season where Big Jeff, Jeff Schroeder is doing the preseason interviews and he's got a question for the house guests, which involves one giant mosquito. And so that was going on. It had to be I must have been going to Vegas because I remember doing preseason stuff in Vegas and talking about the mosquito.

[00:08:11] And we talked to Kevin Martin, who had just recently won Big Brother Canada five. So, yeah, I think I did not. A hotel room maybe. No. Yeah. Yeah. From a hotel room. Yeah. And that's when you were doing the recaps with Lita. Correct? Mm hmm. Yeah. No, I think you're right. I think you're in Vegas. I think you look at my memory of, you know, eight years ago. Impressive. Did you go back and watch any of your live feed updates from your inaugural season?

[00:08:39] I actually I thought I there was one day that I was like, oh, I'm trying to remember. It was specifically because I was I remembered. Sorry, this is a little bit of a tangent, but like I wanted to refresh my memory about what happened with Dominique. And and so I was like, let me watch my own live feed updates. Now I can do that. But I couldn't find it. Oh, really?

[00:09:06] Apparently, Kirsten had trouble finding my interview with Nicole from post BB 18. So this season was actually really difficult to find. And like I was trying to go back and watch the whole thing. I only made it halfway. So you're going to have to definitely refresh my memory with certain things. But then I was trying to see if there's like, you know, a condensed retrospective of like in two hours, watch the whole season. I couldn't find it anywhere like nothing. I saw a couple of like it then at then meal at Nathaniel.

[00:09:36] He had like a little thing about the season and like a couple other podcasters talking about the season. But I never saw like one of those like cut up like week to week and see like the whole progression of the season. So maybe they just white TV 19 off YouTube. Well, I do still have all my notes. So Darren, unfortunately for me, they're a lot less detailed back then. Or like both fortunately or unfortunately, but like where do you keep all these notes?

[00:10:04] Are they not like handwritten on a piece of paper? I guess. No, no, I originally used like some kind of maybe it was like Wunderlist or something, but then it got shut down. I transferred everything to Notion. OK, now Notion holds all my notes, my live feed notes. This is a lot is a lot in there. But at least you get to go back and refer to things like I I like using handwritten notes and notebooks and stuff like that.

[00:10:31] And so I have a stack of a lot of notebooks. I'm like, OK, I don't need to have my thoughts about BB 19. I, you know, eight years later or whatever. Well, unfortunately for me, as I said, these ones are less detailed. So like nowadays, my notes are more detailed, but we'll still occasionally just be like talk about this. But like back then it was all just it was just like when I because I looked at my notes and I was like, there's a big fight about Dominique. And I was like, thanks, Taryn from the past.

[00:11:00] I get that I remembered it at the time, but I don't now. Anyway, this time was an interesting season in that we actually kind of liked the cast in the preseason. I did even watching it again. I was like, oh, my God, like it's not that I forgot that Paul was going to be coming. But like when I was just seeing everybody just meeting for the first time, all that I was pretty excited, even on my rewatch here. And then.

[00:11:34] Yeah, we were pretty optimistic about the cast. We felt like there were good amounts of like fans, at least in terms of in comparison to seasons past or recent seasons. And a lot of people that were like seemingly they're ready to play the game. And I think that there's a misconception about Big Brother 19 that like that they weren't playing the game. But that's not really true.

[00:12:01] They actually were all playing the game very hard all the time. The issue is that Paul just had such an immense amount of control that it led to nowhere and nothing. But this was not like a Big Brother 12 where like it was summer camp the whole time. It was constant gaming. It was just did none of it mattered because it was all gaming around the the nucleus that was Paul.

[00:12:31] I know. And like with Paul, it's like he came comes back as a returning player and he has all this knowledge and like it's great for him. Right. Like I'd probably take the opportunity to to come back and give it a go again with all the knowledge that I have to potentially win another season. But it's like they end up like looking up to him for everything because he knows and he becomes his guru and his word is God and gospel. And it got really frustrating because we saw these people that really wanted to play.

[00:13:00] But then he just came in and just made everybody play his game, which really was frustrating. And it right right from the beginning with them giving him friendship bracelets and they just really made him become this guru that everybody wants to listen to. They'd everyone know what to step out of line and anyone that step on a line, we're going to be outcasts and, you know, they're going to get rid of them. They're out of this game. And so, yeah, it was just really frustrating because it was a promising cast that did want to play.

[00:13:28] And he came in and just kind of sucked, sucked the air out of that balloon. Yeah, this was the season dubbed the summer of temptation. The the main twist of the season was going to be the den of temptation. And, you know, there was this. This was sort of like the thing they're still kind of doing this where there's like a themed twist that, you know, ultimately is.

[00:13:57] I mean, it was it was more consequential than the, you know, the BB takeover for sure. But it was it was I mean, if anything, it was probably one of the more interesting themed twists.

[00:14:14] But only because it was so like overpowered and it led to just so many really bad situations that the players had to deal with, which can be entertaining, but ultimately just allowed for the steamroll that that ended up happening. And, you know, I feel bad the most I would say in the beginning for Ramsey's because he was such a big super fan and a gamer. He just wanted to be there and play.

[00:14:42] And then he got like that negative twist that happened. And I'm like, why did they choose him? Like, why did it have to be him? And then obviously we'll get into what happened with with him being on the block and all that. I just I wish that this season didn't have home. Could have just seen these people play because Ramsey was somebody that I wanted to see get better at the game and make friends and allies. And a lot of people really didn't get a chance. Mm hmm.

[00:15:07] So the first temptation right away was was Paul's inclusion into the game that they for whatever reason, they did this thing. And I say for for whatever reason, but we talked about it at the time. It was basically in our eyes. It was a thing done to be like, don't blame us. It's the players.

[00:15:29] The players could have chosen to not put Paul into the game because they were given the opportunity to like press a button. And the first person to press the button gets like twenty five thousand dollars. And but that but that like, you know, unleashes a consequence. And so, of course, with like sixteen people all sitting there, not being able to see who else is pressing button. Multiple people pressed it.

[00:15:58] Kevin gets it first. He wins twenty five thousand dollars. Oh, now you did it. Oh, oh, this is all your fault. Now, Paul is going to enter the game. And and to make it even worse, because it's such it's so it's so much your fault. Paul is going to replace one of you. And no, not the one that pressed the button necessarily. One of you in general.

[00:16:28] And and that is is the fate of one Cameron. Is that heartbreaking? Now, I wonder, though, if if everybody would still have pressed the button if they knew what the the other choice was that like they knew that Paul was going to be coming in and that any one of them might be, you know, eligible to have be replaced by him. But poor Cameron, he didn't do anything wrong. And he's gotten a bad, bad position.

[00:16:56] And another classic night one eviction joining the ranks of Jody and Glenn. And and it happened because of this twist that they, again, put the blame on the the contestants themselves for. So Paul enters the game via the temptation. Paul then is going to replace one of the players.

[00:17:25] In addition to all of that, Paul has the ability to to keep half of the house safe by giving out friendship bracelets of safety. So the, you know, eight people that he gives friendship bracelets to around that number, they are immune from the night one eviction. And so Paul gets to talk to every single person.

[00:17:51] They're already in a position to be sucking up to him so that they can receive safety. The people who Paul gives safety to are now grateful and indebted to them for for giving them that safety. And like right away, we were like, wow, really friendship bracelets.

[00:18:14] But all of this culminates in, you know, a series of competitions that ends with, I believe, Christmas and and and and Jillian was Jillian's phone number. And was on the box of on boy. Yeah, I believe so. And and Cameron all vulnerable for the night one eviction.

[00:18:36] Poor Cameron is going to try to do a little bit of a strip tease, anything he can to ingratiate himself, but ultimately is voted out funny enough. I believe Paul would have wanted Christmas gone here. But, you know, against his own desire, it's going to be Cameron instead.

[00:19:00] I mean, I wonder what the sliding doors for that result would be, because Christmas did become a very interesting part of the season. And, you know, I wasn't necessarily a big fan of hers at that point. I would have rather seen Cameron play just because he's a little more of a gamer and he was more excited in the way that I like to watch somebody play the game. And so I would have liked to see that sliding doors. Well, I mean, not even just this season, but like if Christmas is the one voted out here instead of Cameron, Christmas doesn't break her foot.

[00:19:31] Christmas doesn't then get invited back to Big Brother All Stars, doesn't end up marrying and divorcing Memphis. Like there's a whole butterfly effect going on here. And and in these, you know, 13 people decided that fate made a different choice, completely different life outcomes. I like so crazy how the world works.

[00:19:57] Yeah, I would like to see that we shouldn't we should do sometimes like actually really map out what could have happened to some of these people's life paths. Hmm. Well, of course, the other person to talk about, especially here in the beginning, Cody Nixon is going to win the first HOH of the season. Cody, I didn't even realize because I scanned through my notes of the first, you know, a couple of weeks of the season.

[00:20:28] How how quickly this was that we that we found this out. It's like one of the first things I wrote was Cody makes transphobic comments. So like that happens way faster, way sooner than I thought. But despite that quickly became a fan favorite in in the community because of his kind of no nonsense approach to the game.

[00:20:54] However, early on, I would say he was not super well liked. He was a guy that came on in the preseason saying, I am not going to do showmances. They're stupid. And then, you know, the the feeds. Oh, the one of the first things we see on the feeds is him cuddling up with Jessica in the HOH room. And we're like, wow, really? Like we're doing this.

[00:21:15] And so ultimately the Charlie Browning of him in this first week's HOH, I think probably helped his popularity, his ultimate popularity. But he's going to win this first HOH. But there's a couple other important things to to note before we get into like the events of the week. One of them is Josh Martinez, a big fan of the game coming in, a big personality.

[00:21:45] He has now made a name for himself on the challenge and of course, eventual winner of the season. But early on here, he was one of the vulnerable people. He had some trouble fitting in. And in the first HOH competition was given the opportunity. They were divided into teams initially. He was given the opportunity to take a temptation of safety that would then eliminate his team from contention.

[00:22:13] And he took it. I sorry, guys. I'm not stupid. I know my position in the house. I'm going to take safety. And that was decently important. I mean, I wouldn't you take it as well. You don't know these people yet. You know how risky everything is and camera and all these things that are happening that, you know, if you don't have that bracelet or that safety and you have an opportunity and you can get it. I understand him doing that.

[00:22:42] And I wouldn't be surprised if he would have gone out kind of he's a bit loud and he wasn't really getting along with people that much. And so he needed it and like clearly he needed it to end up winning the game. So, yeah, I mean, if I think if I were in his position, I would probably I'd probably take it. I think in an ideal world, I'm not in his position. In that case, I wouldn't take it. He took it and he got safety for the week.

[00:23:07] So so just just to be clear here, Josh had to betray the team he was competing on to get safety for that week. Meanwhile, Paul received for doing nothing other than being a fan favorite from the previous season, a power from America voted by America to receive a power in the den of temptation.

[00:23:34] He was tempted to take this power. And what are the downsides, you might ask when Josh had to piss a bunch of people off and he was only safe for a week? What were the downsides to Paul's power? Well, Paul, you will be unleashing a curse to somebody else that is not you in the house. Sounds familiar. Sounds exactly like what happened when Paul entered the game and then somebody else paid for it.

[00:24:04] So wouldn't you know it, somebody else has to pay for Paul's power. And it turns out to be somebody who he's not even aligned with. So it was great, although it didn't possibly lead to a ruined plan the following week. But Ramsey's ends up cursed and is going to have to go up on the block the following week. But the power itself. The pendant of protection. This power gives Paul blanket immunity for three weeks.

[00:24:34] He they cannot be evicted. They cannot even be nominated. And nobody even has to know until they try to nominate them. It is so powerful. Probably the most broken power in the history of the show. The coup d'etat is certainly very powerful, but that's like a quick one and done.

[00:25:01] This is so unbelievably powerful, especially for the beginning of the game, because what this does and in what and what happens with it, it makes it even more dramatic. But what this does is tells everyone in the game that this person, Paul, is going to be here for at least a couple more weeks. I need to be on their good side. I need to work with them in some capacity because they are going to be here.

[00:25:31] And that safety, you know, on top of, you know, again, what happened that week, just put them in such an unbelievably powerful position on top of the friendship bracelets on top of everything else on top of the fact that it was America vote. An American voted power. So it's like this is the popular person as well. You should be on their side. There were so many.

[00:25:55] Incentives given to all of the players right away, stacked one on top of the other that put so many pieces in Paul's hands that it is no wonder the rest of the season crumbled down and fell in the way that it did. Well, and also, though, when you know that you have safety, you can play a lot looser. You can make these plans. You can you know, you can talk about people.

[00:26:24] You don't have to be really cautious about what you're doing or saying because there's no real repercussions, because like even if they come for me, if I make them mad, they're going to they can't get me out anyways. And so the fact that he even had that protection of being like so loose in how he's playing the game increased to his power. Five people had left the house before Paul was even eligible to be nominated. Now, granted, one of them came back.

[00:26:52] But by that time, Paul had had so much time to set themselves up in such a way that the the lead became insurmountable. And we already know that on top of all of what we've talked about, being a vet in the first place is already such a massive advantage, both socially because people know you. They look up to you. They're, you know, a little bit like fame struck. Yeah.

[00:27:20] And and on top of that, you have experience, which which is a huge advantage. There were just so, so many advantages placed in Paul's corner. So Cody, the H.O.H., decided I want to target all this week. I don't trust Paul. I see everyone else flocking to Paul. I don't want all this day to stick around.

[00:27:47] And this is part of why Cody was liked by the fans. Paul, Cody was one of the only people that was not in awe of Paul. And so Cody attempted to backdoor Paul, despite the fact that they were initially working together. There was an initial group of people that came together to try to work together. But Cody blew that up, didn't tell anyone what he was doing and went to backdoor Paul. Paul stands up and says, sorry, you're gonna have to do something else.

[00:28:17] Uh, Cody has to nominate Christmas instead. Oh my God. And, and Paul gets to essentially be like, this is what happens when you go against me. Exactly. You can't. Um, and on top of that, in, in, in, in part, because, you know, why would you vote against what Paul wants? Uh, when, you know, Paul's going to stick around and Cody can't win H.O.H. next week. The vote also flips against Jillian, who is up next to Christmas.

[00:28:47] Uh, and, uh, and Christmas sticks around. Um, and Paul's, uh, Cody's H.O.H. is a complete flop. Now there's more to this H.O.H. Because, Paul, Cody had already nominated the first person, uh, ejected, or not ejected, but, uh, uh, the first person who walked from the game this, this season.

[00:29:11] Uh, I say first, but she was the only person that walked from the season, but like, uh, Cameron was the first person evicted, but, but Jillian was the first person like properly evicted. But, but even before that came Megan. Um, and, uh, she was an initial nominee by Cody. Um, she got into this weird, uh, controversy. I think much of this happened, uh, before the feeds, uh, even, I think it, uh, maybe all of it happened before the feeds even came out.

[00:29:41] Came on. So details are, uh, fairly were fairly sparse and are fairly sparse, but, uh, she got into this situation where she was talking about potentially racist comments made by somebody else, uh, who was denying those comments were made. Um, and on top of that, uh, she was dealing with, uh, some like severe stress, I believe. Uh, and, and other things that she's talked about, uh, since being out of the house, but she ends up walking from the game, which means that Cody has to, uh, pick a.

[00:30:10] A re nomination. A re nomination. How many did he have to do like five in total? Like how can you, you can feel so sorry for this guy that all these crazy things that are happening with his first HOH of the season. Um, I was really upset with like how a Megan went down though. I wanted to understand more. I wanted to support her. I thought that she was getting seemingly what I saw bully. Cause I obviously didn't have any of the backstory really of what might've actually been going on, but it just was really unfortunate that she ended up just like having to leave the game.

[00:30:40] Um, so did she kind of explain after? I don't remember. Like she did release a statement. Um, I can try to look it up. Um, Um, I remember she's getting in fights with like Josh and Josh is just like berating her and like, you know, people might say things wrong or make mistakes, but sometimes it's like the way that people retaliate against people in this house. This season especially is, was really uncomfortable.

[00:31:09] And I, I definitely felt bad for Megan. Yeah. So the, so this is what she, she talked about it afterward. I believe this was, um, originally reported on, uh, entertainment tonight. Uh, she talked about having some, uh, uh, trauma in the past. Um, she was assaulted, um, and she had very bad PTSD from it. Um, and in the house, when she got into those arguments, she had a lot of guys yelling at her.

[00:31:38] Um, and, uh, it started, uh, bringing up a lot of that PTSD. She was getting physically ill. Uh, she was throwing up. Um, and so, uh, she, uh, she ended up having a panic attack. They took her to the hospital, she said, um, and ultimately decided not to continue with the game. Um, so, uh, pretty, you know, pretty nasty stuff, uh, that she, that she went through. Absolutely. Especially hearing what that triggered within her.

[00:32:08] Like you want people to be able to come onto these experiences, no matter what they've gone through in their lives and, and at least have for the most part, a positive experience. Like this is, you know, something that she worked towards that she was probably dreaming about for a little bit. And like to have it bring up those parts of her past, um, it's so far that she has to leave the game. Like that's, that's really unfortunate for her. Sorry. Yeah. Um, so, uh, Cody has to replace her with, um, with another person.

[00:32:38] I believe, uh, Alex is the replacement, uh, nominee here. Um, and that's not Alex. Uh, there's Alex, um, Alex and Jason, uh, bond pretty quickly, uh, in the game. Uh, they become a bit of a duo and, um, they are kind of on the outside of any big group. Uh, and they are seen as, as pretty big threats.

[00:33:03] Um, so Alex goes up ostensibly as the target of this big majority Alliance initially, but she goes on to win the veto. The idea from the Alliance is that when she uses the veto on herself, that, uh, Cody should replace her with her ally Jason. Um, but, uh, Cody has other plans. He wants to make a deal with Alex and Jason and instead go after Cody, but I was sorry, go after Paul, but of course, again, he doesn't tell anyone he's going to do that.

[00:33:33] Um, and when he tries to do that, he ends up, uh, trying to nominate Paul ends up having to nominate Christmas instead. So he Cody nominated Jillian, Megan, Alex, all, and Christmas five people in the first week. And of all of them didn't get a single one of his targets out. Oh, poor guy, poor guy. This is why, why we came the fan favorite because he had a rough go. That wasn't a fun time for him at all.

[00:34:02] And especially cause like, you know, you want, at least maybe you'll get one person that's not working with you out maybe, but yeah, you got none of it happened for him. He yes. So, so again, you know, Paul is able to flip this vote against Jillian for Christmas in part because a lot of the relationships that Paul is making and deals that they're making, um, are backed up by the fact that Paul is going to be around for a while.

[00:34:30] And so a couple of key votes, Kevin, um, Josh. Now Josh is a person again, who had been ostracized, especially after choosing the safety Christmas was one of the few people that really reached out to Josh. They become a bit of a duo, uh, Rocky road over the course of the season, but end up, you know, that relationship continues throughout. Um, uh, Kevin has this initial bond with Paul that also becomes Rocky eventually, but those are two of the key votes.

[00:34:59] Kevin does this weird thing for a while where he's pretending to, uh, play both sides, uh, and pretending that he voted for Christmas to go. Uh, he eventually gets caught. It doesn't have a lot of relevance to the overall, uh, story of the game, but, uh, Kevin, of course, a very funny character on, on the show. Um, and, uh, and it is Jillian that leaves.

[00:35:24] And then after that, Paul wins the following HOH and, uh, and basically just takes the shot right back at Cody. Like, how is that fair? How is that fair? Like maybe it should be one or the other. Like if you get, if you use it, you can't play for head of household or something like there needs to have been a little bit of a downside for getting nominated and having to use that power or reveal that you have it.

[00:35:47] Mm-hmm. Um, so at this time, there's a couple of different groups, basically by describing the structure of the house, we'll be describing the structure that basically remains for the rest of the game. Um, but, uh, there are kind of the couples, um, and those are, uh, Mark and Elena. Um, and, uh, let's get their pictures up here.

[00:36:13] We've got Mark flexing, um, and Elena. They, they quickly became a bit of a couple. Um, and then you had Matt. There he is. Uh, you had Matt and you had Raven, um, who were, uh, a bit of a couple as well. Uh, they were kind of like the couples for a while. They are one faction. Then you had the Christmas and Josh, uh, faction.

[00:36:41] Um, that duo plus Paul, you had the couples plus Paul. Um, and then eventually, and then like sort of during this week, during Paul's, uh, second HOA train. Um, despite the fact that Alex and Jason had been working with Cody the week before because they made that deal. Uh, Paul is able to win them back over because, you know, it's Cody nominated Alex in the first place. Paul is in power now. And, uh, there's a lot of reason to, to go over to, uh, to Paul's side.

[00:37:10] And so Paul is able to pick up this other, uh, duo, um, which is, uh, Alex and Jason. Um, and so you have the Alex and Jason trio with Paul. You have the, uh, uh, Josh and Christmas trio with Paul. You have the couples group with Paul and Dominique, uh, who we haven't talked about quite yet. Um, but Dominique was, was tight with, uh, with Mark.

[00:37:37] Um, and so the couples group was kind of like a big powerful group. They were the ones that had a lot of connection to, uh, to Cody initially. Um, it is important to note this because they are the most dangerous group for Paul. Uh, and it is going to be Paul's mission to split this bigger group up so that they can manage the smaller groups moving forward.

[00:38:00] And that means eventually taking out Dominique and then turning the couples against each other so that it becomes, uh, two more trios. It's, uh, Matt and Raven and Paul, and then Elena and Mark and Paul. And then Paul gets to be in a trio with everyone and play them all off of each other. Uh, that is the ultimate goal. And that is the structure that will basically remain in place for the entirety of the season.

[00:38:28] Now, I mean, obviously we're seeing it on from the outside and we have had a few years to reflect, but what I'm just like, when I see how Paul had so much power and so much influence, I just, I can't imagine being like, Oh no, I want to be with Paul. Like I would, I feel like I would see everything that he was doing. He wasn't very discreet about it. And like, if I saw someone like Cody, that was going to be going after Paul, I wouldn't let him and I would want to keep him in the game. Cody was not playing ball with anyone.

[00:38:58] He didn't tell anyone his plans. He, he was like, I hate all of you. Yeah. He, yeah. He wasn't actually playing well in the beginning. Um, another thing that Paul was doing was, uh, again, because Paul had such a long period of immunity, Paul was able to use the first few weeks to be like, Hey, I'll go out there and take the risks and take the shots for you guys. Um, and what that means is that I'll win this HOH. I'll take out Cody.

[00:39:26] I will be in a position to take the fall. Uh, you guys sit back, uh, play under the radar. You're in a great position. Um, and how that manifested itself was Paul was the one going out and brokering deals and then bringing them back to the, these, these individual duos. Um, Hey, I think I've worked something out with these guys. Hey, I think we're in a good place over here. Hey, because of a deal that I've worked out, we're going to be able to get out this enemy for us.

[00:39:54] Um, and it was all working really smoothly up until the point where Paul turned on you. And then you realized, Oh, I gave him the keys to the kingdom. He's been the one doing everything. And when he decides he doesn't need me anymore, I'm gone. But the problem is that by the time you realized it, it was too late. And, uh, and everybody else who was content within their little silo with Paul, uh, was, was deaf to your, uh, to your complaints because you were the enemy. Mm-hmm.

[00:40:22] Um, I mean, for, for Paul, like, this is a good structure and a good way for him to be like working with what he has in the game. And people were letting him do this, but it's so frustrating to watch. It's just like, you got never, there's only one of him. You guys can figure this out. You do not have to allow him to kind of manipulate you guys. But I know when you're inside it, you can't really see what's going on from the outside. So I'll give them some grace here, but it was really, especially on the rewatch, frustrating.

[00:40:50] So I'm just like, why don't just get rid of him? Like, play your own game, please. But they couldn't hear me. No. Uh, so Paul goes ahead and takes out Cody in week two. Uh, there was a little bit of drama here again because of the curse. Ramses ended up being nominated or having to nominate himself essentially. And the drama was that if Ramses won the veto and took himself off the block, there would be no replacement. And therefore Paul would be unable to backdoor Cody.

[00:41:18] So he, uh, so Paul put a lot of pressure on Ramses to throw the veto and, uh, Ramses did not throw the veto. And, uh, that, that, uh, caused a lot of consternation, but ultimately did not win because Paul won the veto was able to backdoor Cody. And they sent Cody out in week two. How dare Ramsey try to win the veto without him saying that he could. It was so like obnoxious.

[00:41:45] I thought, uh, so Alex wins the following HOH and, uh, in Paul's mind, Jessica, who was, you know, Cody's showmance, uh, was no longer a threat. Um, Jessica was by herself. Paul had set, uh, their eyes on the new, the bigger threat, which was this showmance couples group.

[00:42:11] Um, and primarily within this couples group, uh, Paul was particularly concerned about Dominique. Um, reason being, uh, in part because, uh, of a, uh, a whole, like weird, like talk show that Dominique hosted in the game where she would ask questions.

[00:42:33] And it led to this discussion with Cody, where she was questioning Cody about like, Hey, I know groups were forming and all of this stuff. And then Cody ends up talking about like, Hey, there were people that knew about Paul's, um, backdoor plan, uh, or the back of the plan to backdoor Paul. Uh, Cody eventually says Dominique is one of those people. Mark is the other one.

[00:42:55] Um, there was a lot of drama around Dominique and Mark in general because, um, Mark was with Elena, but, uh, but Dominique, he was also close to Dominique. And, uh, there, there was like a lot of, there were a lot of rumors that like Dominique and Mark were like a secret duo. Um, and, uh, Dominique was a little bit concerned that Elena resented her for being close to Mark.

[00:43:18] But, uh, you know, like, but in reality, uh, Elena had been up, you know, vouching for Dominique to Alex during her HOA train. So when Dominique went to Alex and said, I think that, um, you know, somebody is feeling a little, uh, you know, uh, threatened by my relationship with another person. She's like, you mean Elena is threatened by you and your relationship with Mark? Uh, that's sketchy to me that you're saying this because Elena has been vouching for you.

[00:43:47] Um, and it was only further confirmation that Dominique was somebody that couldn't be trusted. Um, and again, remember Alex at this time, not aligned with any of these people. And so Paul is able to point, uh, Alex at, uh, Dominique, uh, and the couples because they are the big power in the, in the game. That's what he's saying, uh, or that's what they're saying. So, um, so that's kind of how this goes.

[00:44:12] Of course, Dominique and Jessica end up nominated and it is going to be Dominique that goes home this week after, uh, even more drama goes down. And I think the, the issue with Dominique is that she was always speaking kind of encoded language. She was never clear about exactly what she was saying, what she meant, who she was talking about. So she can get it out all the table on the table. And so people were speculating on who she was talking about and maybe he's talking about this person.

[00:44:39] And oh, I think, and so there's never anything concrete and clear with how she was having any of these discussions, which I think made it easier for people to be like, okay, well, let's just get her out then because she's not, she's not being transparent enough. So I obviously wanted to see Dominique play the game, but she, yeah, she was up against a snake.

[00:44:58] Right. And so, uh, the issue is that when the tables start turning on Dominique, she is suspicious and or able to just recognize, uh, that Paul is kind of the person behind it to some degree, or at the very least could be doing more to stop it.

[00:45:17] This is a position that a lot of, uh, players, power players get into where when they cut one of their allies, they often get caught because if you were really an ally, wouldn't you be acting differently? Um, so Dominique starts talking about how there's a snake in the house. Um, and of course, everyone knows that she's talking about Paul eventually.

[00:45:38] Um, and this leads to the, uh, very, uh, infamous, uh, snake costume, which, uh, I think was, uh, seen as like blackface makeup. Uh, and it was used to mock Dominique. And this was, this caused a lot of controversy. And I mean, it makes sense as to why people were offended by it, because I guess how he was coming to her was like,

[00:46:04] he was just making fun of her and kind of just like, kind of implying that she's stupid. And like, you know, she, he wasn't really respecting her views at all. Like, I know it was because what she was saying was about him. And so he was doing what he could to defend himself, but I just didn't like the, how he was defending herself. He was just, in my opinion, just making her look bad. It's not the word, but just like not look great. And so I think all of it all that the mockery that he was just making of what Dominique, Dominique's beliefs was kind of what was leaving a bad taste in everybody's mouth.

[00:46:34] And this was the first taste of the kinds of tactics that were going to be used for the rest of the season for the audience, where Dominique, who was once a trusted friend and ally, needed to be targeted.

[00:46:48] And therefore, Paul decided to kind of do everything in their power to gaslight, isolate, demonize, you know, like anything in their ability to make it seem like she was basically out of her mind. And then anything she said had no value. And you'd occasionally get, you know, a whisper here or there, like, I don't think she's really that guilty of all the things that he's saying.

[00:47:17] But it didn't matter because the overwhelming consensus in the house eventually became that she needed to go. And so she did. And and that would have been like the true start of the steamroll, theoretically, at least. But but there but but there were a couple of things holding it back. One was that Jessica proved to be a lot more of a threat than Paul gave her credit for. She was getting back in with Mark and Elena.

[00:47:46] She was making inroads with Christmas. And and this is pretty dangerous for Paul, who had really just counted her out for being a complete loner and somebody who didn't have anybody left in the game. Essentially took Dominique's spot and worse because she was like even better at kind of like wrangling people and was more, you know, anti Paul than Dominique ever really was.

[00:48:10] And so, you know, ultimately, probably a mistake to take out Dominique over Jessica here, especially given what happens, although what happens kind of ends up in a weird way neutering Jessica's progress in the game, because it turns out there was a battle back. You didn't like the battle back, Taryn? Cody's back.

[00:48:37] And this is again, like, you know, if if there hadn't been a battle back. Cody probably doesn't go on the amazing race. That's true. That's true. But like but maybe Jessica would have won the season. She might have been able to put herself in a better position. I think she would have been in a better position, quite frankly. But, you know, what are you going to do? Cody comes back into the game.

[00:49:07] And Jessica wins that HOH. So now Cody and Jessica are back just after Paul took the first shot at their own alliance. And this is theoretically a disaster because they could take a shot at Paul. Now, the issue is that Paul is so well insulated at this point that even if they do take the shot at Paul, Paul is very unlikely to actually leave. Because you have all of these individual pockets of people that would probably try to keep Paul around. Jessica is not like ignorant to this fact.

[00:49:37] But. There are a couple of problems with the eventual direction that Jessica and Cody ultimately go in. One is that, you know, Cody and Paul are going to talk and Cody's like, yeah, I don't even care about any of these people anyway. I have no emotional attachment to them. So man to man, we can agree that, you know, we took your shots at each other and it'll be fine. And we can, you know, I don't we don't need to take shots at each other anymore.

[00:50:03] And of course, if Cody is lying to some degree, but they don't take a shot at Paul here. And Cody wants to take one later. But he's OK with not taking one now. So that's already off the tape. They're not going to take a shot at Paul because, A, they don't think they're going to be able to to land the shot anyway. And B, Jessica wants to try to make inroads with the rest of the house. That's what she's been doing and doing successfully. The problem is that that strategy is not compatible with Cody Nixon.

[00:50:32] And so when she tries to appease the house by taking out a fairly consensus target in Josh, who has been pissing her off. The house says, sorry. And giving you what you want. Very sort of famously, she's going to use Ramses as the pawn against Josh.

[00:50:55] And this spells doom for Ramses as the house turns on Jess and Cody once more and votes out Ramses over Josh. No, I totally understand Jessica wanting to, you know, be in the house and have people want to work with her and want to hang out with her. And she doesn't want to be the outcast and the target of everybody in the game. She doesn't want that. I get it.

[00:51:21] But how like just because she wants to have that as an outcome, the fact that she lost sight that other people's mind might not have been changed and they don't necessarily care to have like a different relationship with you because you always need to have a target of some sort. And I just wish that she went with her gut because her gut was saying many times like, you know what? Maybe I should. Well, she didn't use the veto on Ramses.

[00:51:46] She's like, she should have used the veto on Ramsey and take him off, put Alex, who has been the bane of her existence so far this season, and then make the house have to make a real decision here. This was a classic scenario. It became one of the great examples of this rule of thumb that we talk about all the time now, which is, you know, don't nominate a person that the whole house wants you to nominate. Right.

[00:52:13] Because what in her mind, Josh is a pretty consensus target and Ramsey's is the best pawn because nobody's going to be mad that Ramsey's is on the block. The problem is the reason nobody's mad about Ramsey's being on the block is because Ramsey's has no allies. And if Ramsey's has no allies, then who would want to vote to keep him? He has no people to keep him safe on the block. The reason they all want him on the block is because ultimately they want him to go home. And if you want a specific outcome, you need to force that outcome.

[00:52:42] You need to have the other people deal with what you are doing, not the other way around. You're the one with power and you need to use it when you get it because it's pretty rare for the people in the minority to have it in the first place. And so ultimately. This goes down as one of the most disastrous H.O.H. weeks in the history of the show. Oh, my God. I remember like I think I was definitely watching live feed updates, but I was so upset with Jess. I remember like screaming on my TV being like, just use it. Use it. Use it.

[00:53:11] Use the feed out, Jess. They're lying to you. And I was hoping so badly that she would just like come to her senses because that really would have shaken up the game. Make them actually have to make a decision. Make Paul have to decide between two people that he's been working with. Like it really could have exposed him a lot earlier on in the season and it would have opened up the game a little bit for her. Definitely more than this move did. Yeah.

[00:53:38] I mean, this is basically the only H.O.H. win aside from the first week that was blocked by the pendant of protection. The only H.O.H. win in the entire season. That is not one of Paul's allies. And and this H.O.H. is used to take out the only other person that is not one of Paul's allies. The Ramses was the worst. Aside from Cody himself, the worst person she could have evicted.

[00:54:07] And she willingly put him on the block and willingly kept him on the block. And so ultimately quite a disaster. Now, this continues to be prolonged because Paul wins the next H.O.H. And of course, guns right back after Cody and Jessica. There's a whole thing with the temptations and all of that.

[00:54:33] But Paul ultimately wins the veto and leaves Cody and Jessica on the block. One of them going home once again, except once more, we have a temptation blocking the way. And it is the the halting hex. I believe this happened on a during a live show that we did. Yeah. In New York. Yeah, I think so. I wasn't there, but I remember. Halting hex rise.

[00:55:02] Can you say it for me, Sharon? I don't. It's eviction dies. I don't remember. I think so. So dramatic. But it's good. I mean, it's terrible. And it's just a reset. It just prolongs the entire situation. Jessica stops the eviction and gives them another whole week of doing the exact same thing again because Josh wins the next H.O.H.

[00:55:28] And he is going to go ahead and do the exact same thing, except this time there's again more complications. Cody wins a temptation. And it's ultimately going to be Jessica that takes the hit before Cody, which is the reason why Cody, despite being evicted in week two, ends up making a jury. Do you think, though, if Jessica could have played the halting hex differently? Because I know Paul was so, I'm calling her bluff. I'm going to see what's going to happen.

[00:55:58] I'm going to put her on the block just to see if she really has something. And, oh, she doesn't. And it was only going to be at the eviction ceremony where it was going to be revealed what it actually does. Do you think if she could have wielded that in a different way that could have had a better outcome for her? I mean, ultimately, Paul had to do what they did there because I remember the analysis at the time. It was like, well, OK, you could say I don't want to do this because they might be able to like stop me.

[00:56:28] But but then if I don't do it, then they'll still have the power to stop whoever else does it next time. So I either have to like call the bluff and hope they don't have it or if they do have it, well, at least it burns it. And it did. And that's ultimately what happens. There was some, I think, analysis that said maybe Jessica shouldn't have used it. Let Cody go home and then save it for herself, I guess, in the future. I don't remember if it could have lasted any longer.

[00:56:57] But but, you know, we talked about the Cody being back in the game wasn't exactly great for her. She was never going to win this game with Cody unless they just dominated competitions, which maybe they could have. But it wasn't looking great. And but but ultimately, you know, once you have your ally in the house, you kind of have to do what you can to keep them around. At this point, the damage had been done. Cody leaving wouldn't have salvaged her game anymore. She'd already tried once and then Cody came back and then lost that progress. So I don't think she was going to build it back up again.

[00:57:27] Yeah, I mean, I definitely think that keeping him in the game at this point was better for her. And you know what? It was better for their life story because they end up getting married. I have some kids now. And so maybe if he had left at the beginning, like maybe they wouldn't have rekindled and, you know, got back together and then started life together. So maybe it was all this day still making transphobic comments. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. I mean, I don't I don't fall. I saw a hat that they were wearing and I decided not to follow.

[00:57:56] So I can understand those comments being so part of it was vernacular. But yeah. So I so so so Jessica goes. Alex wins the next H.O.H. And they coordinate the week to make sure that Cody goes the following week and then back to back. They are now gone. But this time, Cody has now made the jury. And this is important because a pre juror winning America's favorite is pretty unlikely.

[00:58:25] And Jessica is able to campaign for Cody. And he eventually is going to win the fan favorite. This is also important in the sense that Jessica has been on record in saying that she likely would have been a Paul vote, whereas Cody, of course, was not. And so a very important change of who would have been on the jury based on the multiple twists that kept Cody around long enough to make the jury. Do you think that I guess?

[00:58:55] Yes, Jessica was, you know, getting people to vote for him. But do you think it was the way that he exited? That was the time where he steps over the table or on the table. Like that was an exit. So I'm sure people are just like, yeah. Yeah. And and again, was like the the only steadfast anti Paul voice. Of course, there's more drama that happens when when they enter the game again. This is when like the like the barking comes in.

[00:59:24] They talk about wanting to like trigger Cody's PTSD because he's a vet. That's awful, though. And and and so like there's a lot of that going on. Again, like the tactics being used throughout continue to be no holds barred is is is is a light way to phrase it. So. So.

[00:59:48] With Cody and Jessica gone, the game just becomes about, again, picking off the rest of this onion layered group. And the first to go are the people who are the most receptive to Cody and Jessica. They are demonized for it. And again, as they start to realize something is up, it's too late. They've already been ostracized. The couples have been split and turned against each other.

[01:00:15] Elena and Mark are going to be evicted back to back. Of course, they are. I mean, they didn't do anything to protect themselves in the game. They just allow themselves to be sitting ducks. And I get it. They were kind of under, you know, the guys like the the veil of Paul. But man, like nobody could see until they were actually at the door. It's it's actually pretty fascinating to see what influence that he had. But unfortunate for their games.

[01:00:45] This, of course, comes Jason takes out Elena, but it's going to be Christmas that evicts Mark. And and this is this is not the H.O.H. Actually, I think that she the coordinated H.O.H. I think that's the second one she wins. The one where the stoplight won. Yeah. Yeah. I think that was later on. Yeah.

[01:01:14] But Jason then wins another H.O.H. after that. And now Paul is fully using the strategy of just like pinning these or pitting these these duos against each other. And so Jason and Alex are going after Matt and Raven. And so Jason is going to nominate the two of them when the veto as well. And that's goodbye to Matt Klein's the cereal eater.

[01:01:42] I mean, even in my rewatch, I feel like I didn't hear him speak that much. It's just the. What are you going to do? My God, he used to do that impersonation all the time. Yeah, that was that was like I think that was the first time I like went for it with an impersonation. I was like, let me let me get weird with it. And that's my feed updates. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. People have to experience this. It was so weird.

[01:02:11] Now, did him and Raven date outside of the game? I can't remember what I believe they did for a bit. But not I don't think anymore. And were you in the backyard when Rob interviewed them or no? No, not for not for this season. OK, but that was the one where he talked about Kool-Aid and got it. OK, yeah. I'm remembering it all. It's all come back to me. So, I mean, I guess like let's talk a little bit more about like these couples.

[01:02:42] Mark and Elena, they were the most dramatic couple. They were just constantly fighting. And like it was it was so much effort. I remember to follow the back and forth with these two. I believe they also tried to date for a bit after the game. It also did not work out, though, I believe. No, they went on another show together. What was it? It was like X's or something.

[01:03:12] Was it X on the Beach? It might be X on the Beach MTV. Um, yeah, they they weren't a match. I kind of think that Elena wanted to have that whole big brother couple thing and have like some notoriety after it seemed like she was looking for some spotlight. So, yeah, I don't I don't think that that was ever going to be a lasting relationship. Um, and in the in the house, I like I actually liked watching Cody and Jessica together. Like there was something genuine about their relationship.

[01:03:41] But with those two, I just like and even with Raven and Matt, I just was like I didn't feel like seeing them on my screen. They kind of annoyed me. Hmm. Uh, Matt, most known for his cereal eating and how boring he was. Um, he is taken out by again by Jason.

[01:04:02] Um, then, uh, Paul gets worried about the the competition prowess of Jason and and also Alex to to to some degree. Um, Paul needs a way to take, uh, the two of them out of the game, but he can't or but they can't do it themselves.

[01:04:21] Um, and so this is when they I believe coordinate the HOH win for Christmas, who is still, uh, with a broken foot going to be competing in this competition and win a foot race. We never even spoke about the fact that she voted once from a hospital room and like that was unprecedented. I don't think they've ever done that before or let somebody leave for a surgery and come back. Like I thought that that was wild.

[01:04:51] Most people, you know, if you break something, it's like, oh, sorry, you're going to have to leave the show. Well, also like when she came back into the house, she was like loopy on painkillers for a while. Yeah, it seems like you're not supposed to be on drugs when you're in the Big Brother house, you know? Well, tell that to multiple people. But anyways, I just remember being so frustrated because there's a lot of people that have had injuries or had to leave for certain things and they didn't have the opportunity to come back into the game.

[01:05:19] And so the fact that she got that opportunity, um, was really frustrating. And well, I think that's more survivor than Big Brother. I think, uh, Big Brother, we really haven't had medivacs. Medivac, I guess you're right. Not in this particular show. I guess I'm thinking people in general. Like I watched the challenge all the time and someone broke their toe and they were taken out of the gate, you know? And like she had a serious foot break where she was wheeling around on that scooter. Oh my God, in front of the squeaky scooter. The squeaky scooter. Yeah.

[01:05:48] I believe this, this might be a false memory. I believe that we, at the time when they allowed her to stay, I think I was saying like they should allow her to stay because that seems the most fair. But I think I might have also said pencil here and for the final three, because who wouldn't want someone with a broken foot in the final three? Exactly. Exactly. I mean, I, I also, I get that point too, that you're, you're, you made in the, your past self.

[01:06:16] My imagined point that I made in my memory. Did you really make it? I mean, I can, I can picture it to be fair. Um, I don't know, I guess because I wasn't a fan of hers. I didn't want her and she was supporting a side that I wasn't, I didn't want any additional help. Um, and the fact that she would be somebody that nobody's going to really want to take out for the reasons that you said, like someone with a broken foot, like take her to the end.

[01:06:40] And so it just became like another person in the house that wasn't really going to help people that I, people's games that I wanted to do better or have. I remember it was like a very serious injury. Uh, I think she broke like 10 bones in her foot. Um, I think I, I, I, I, I think I might've written in my notes, like that she needed a, a donated bone or something to replace some of her bones.

[01:07:08] Uh, and that, uh, people were like, well, you'll eventually get like full range of motion back. And she's like, no. Uh, and she was worried like her athletic career would be over. Um, and so it was kind of like, are we also going to send her home after that? You know, like at least let her, if she wants to stick around, like that's, I think that's how I was doing. And then also Jason would probably feel really bad for like taking her out of the game. So maybe it was also. Oh man, I can't imagine. I would, I would feel so bad. Yeah.

[01:07:37] It's like I broke her foot and she gets ejected. Ooh. Okay. You're convincing me here. It's fine. Um, well, uh, Alex, uh, wins. So, so, so Christmas takes out, uh, Jason. Um, and of course this just further stokes the flames, um, you know, between these, these duos just competing against each other and it leaves, uh, the, you know, Christmas and, um, sorry, yeah. Christmas takes out Jason.

[01:08:05] Um, and so, uh, this puts Paul in a, in a tricky position because at this point, Paul feels best about the final three of Christmas and, and, and Josh, um, because they are the worst competitors and the least respected people in the game. Um, and so in Paul's mind, I would love to get them to the end, but, uh, you know, it was a very tricky scenario to get Christmas to be the person to be able to take out Jason.

[01:08:34] So when Alex wins the next HOH, Paul needs to make sure that Alex is pushed onto Raven, um, instead of Christmas or Josh. Um, and, and, and again, not him. Don't take the blame for any of it. Uh, Paul, of course, very determined to not be blamed for anything so that they can continue to do what they're doing in the game. Um, but with Jason gone, Jason, uh, was, um, Jason, like many people on this season,

[01:09:03] got into some controversy for some, uh, misogynistic and violent comments in the house. Um, and, uh, but ultimately it was just kind of like, you know, he won a few comps here and there. He was aligned with Alex for most of the season and fell into Paul's web and then was, was taken out just like everyone else. I don't remember. Maybe I blocked it out. I don't remember him saying, making comments, but it's wrong because they blocked out most of this season. Hmm. What'd you say? TMZ.

[01:09:33] Okay. Okay. I'll, I'll, I'll go back and look at that. I forgot. I think we were joking at the time. Like, uh, how, how quickly will a TMZ article be written about a season of Big Brother? Do you remember you saying stuff like this before? So yeah, it's like foggy, foggy, foggy. Um, yeah. Like everybody just became a disappointment in this season because of the game that they ended up not really playing. And so, okay, well, he's out now.

[01:10:00] Hey Sandra, wir haben uns ja lange nicht mehr gesehen. Grüß dich, Nadine. Mensch, du siehst ja toll aus. Ja, danke. Ich hab mein Plus fürs gesündere Ich entdeckt. Was? Komm, ich zeig's dir. Die Bewegungskurse der AOK Plus. Kostenfrei für AOK Plus Versicherte. Entdecke dein Plus fürs gesündere Ich und starte mit unserem Selfcheck. Ganz einfach online auf aok.de. Aus Liebe zur Gesundheit. AOK Plus.

[01:10:31] So, uh, Alex then does take out Raven, um, and, uh, and, you know, Paul not taking any responsibility for this works on Raven and Matt as she leaves the game feeling like, well, they caught me. They caught me. Ah, officers take me away. I'm guilty. I'm the mastermind of the season.

[01:10:57] Hey, my protege, Paul, you go on to win this for me. Okay. You carry my torch. Darren, I actually forgot. I mean, this makes sense as to why Rob was talking. Anyways. Um, I forgot the delusion that she had about her positioning in the game and, and how she had been affecting the game. Um, right. Raven. I would like to see her back again.

[01:11:23] Let's see if she's, how she's grown in the last half decade or whatever. Yeah. Um, so Raven goes out. She's going to be a voice for Paul on the jury. I think probably one that is counterproductive ultimately. Uh, but, um, but that is, uh, that is it for that. Uh, Josh then wins the next HOH. And of course they're going to take out Alex. Um, and Alex is going to feel very betrayed by Paul.

[01:11:53] This is a key vote that Paul loses. Um, of course with, uh, Alex, um, not voting, uh, for, for Paul. Uh, Jason also is going to feel very betrayed by Paul. Um, neither of them vote for Paul. Uh, and, and those are again, two very, very key votes, but Alex in particular, I've been working so closely with them for so long.

[01:12:16] Um, and when Josh wins this HOH, um, and, and puts Alex up with, um, with, with Kevin, uh, Paul wins this veto and, you know, is essentially in a, in a position to, um, to force a renom decides not to has this whole explanation about how it'll be fine. Um, and then has to turn around and be like, Oh, sorry. Uh, man, this sucks.

[01:12:45] I'm going to cry to you about how I made such a mistake, uh, and how you're leaving and I don't want it to happen. But in reality, he had planned this out from the start. Um, and so she ends up leaving feeling like what is wrong with this person? Yeah, it's, it's definitely unkind. It's, they've been working together for so long and, you know, she's made it this far into the game. I think she probably thought that she was the one that he was the closest to.

[01:13:12] Um, and yeah, that betrayal people in big brother, these kinds of social strategy games, the betrayal really, really hurts when it comes to this, this level. And I get it. Like I'd be a bitter juror too. If that, if, if Paul did to me what he did to Alex, um, as Brett will say, just a year from, from this time in big brother, 19, just own it, just own it. Um, and Paul was not owning it.

[01:13:40] In the meantime, Josh was Josh's diary rooms or sorry, his exit, uh, exit had Josh's goodbye messages, um, were spelling out what was happening. Uh, and, and essentially outing Paul as having betrayed all of these people. Um, and, uh, this is because Josh as a super fan knew what was coming and was trying to

[01:14:04] prepare for the final two scenario with him versus Paul, uh, and hoping that Paul's way of handling the jury would come back to bite them. Ultimately it did. A lot of people point to this as Josh's best move in the game. Some say his only good move in the game. Um, but, uh, it is certainly effective and something that actively hurt Paul. Um, because Paul left the door open for it to her all did not need to lie to these people

[01:14:33] in the way that he did, that they did, uh, did not need to continue to continue to pretend like they weren't behind these decisions. Um, they just, they just needed to own it and they didn't do that. I wish that Paul, like you would think that they had gone back and watched over their season a little bit, uh, the year before and looked at all the mistakes that they had made and then come back and realize that, oh, it's the connections that I made or didn't

[01:15:00] make with some of these people that affected me getting that extra vote in the end. And so it is very surprising that they had such a, like a hole in their perspective around the game and that they allowed Josh to take it from them. Um, yeah. Uh, Paul then goes on to win the final four HOH and veto. This is finally time to cut Kevin loose, um, who they've been kind of just dragging along.

[01:15:30] I mean, at this point the game is over. Like, uh, in terms of, uh, just being able to dominate the rest of the competitions, Paul's competing against Christmas, Kevin, uh, and Josh and Josh is going to be able to win the final three HOH. Of course that one is still a bit of a crapshoot at this point. Um, and so, uh, so Paul's basically primed to dominate the rest of the competitions. And even if they don't, even if Paul, even if somebody like Josh does win the final three

[01:15:59] HOH, he's going to take all final two. Um, so everything's set up perfectly. Kevin goes home. Kevin, again, fun character. Didn't make much of an impact. Kevin was a lot more active in the early days, playing both sides, being a mole. He gets caught, um, few weeks into the game and never really recovers, uh, and just kind of hangs around. He is going to do a lot of good jury management with people on their way out the door. He really makes friends with them, but it never, it's never going to matter because

[01:16:28] unfortunately for him, the end game competitions, even at this early stage are not built for somebody like Kevin to be able to win. Um, and, uh, and so, uh, he ends up taking, taking a bullet here. Um, he did see what Paul was doing to some degree. He was a bit anti Paul by the end, but, uh, just had no power to do anything about it. Now, um, Kevin was one of like, he was a top three for America's favorite player. Right.

[01:16:56] Cause I remember he got a lot of love and people really were loving, you know, the game that he played and his, who he was as a person. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, everyone was invited to Thanksgiving. Oh, right. Right. Did you go? I did not. Um, I think I, I think I met Kevin though. I think I've met him. Not, not at Thanksgiving, but at probably some event. Um, he's tall. He looks tall. Yeah.

[01:17:26] Yeah. Uh, so the final three Christmas, Josh and Paul, um, by this point, people were pretty annoyed. I mean, people had been pretty annoyed with the whole season, but they were even more annoyed at the fact that, you know, a Christmas was just not going to win this final three at all ever. No chance. Um, but also Christmas was bowing out.

[01:17:56] You guys take each other. Um, which if there was any inclination to take her granted, this wouldn't have mattered, but like, if there was any inclination to take her, she was essentially killing that inclination. Um, and that was frustrating because people wanted to see something happen at some point. Um, Josh and Paul face off in part three, Josh wins, takes Paul, the internet explodes. He made such a mistake. Yep.

[01:18:25] And at that point I was praying for a, a not Paul win. And so that would be in favor of Josh in the end. So I was really rooting for a not Paul win. Yeah. Um, and you know, ultimately who knows what happens with Christmas here? What kind of votes she's able to pick up against Josh? Um, maybe she beats Josh. Um, maybe she beats Paul.

[01:18:50] Uh, if, if either of them take her, um, I guess it would have been pretty funny if, if that had happened, but, um, but the vote comes down five to four, same way it did the time, the season before. Um, this time there is a group in the jury that has come together to ensure that Paul will not win.

[01:19:15] It is Cody, Mark, Elena, Alex, Jason, a group of five, two of his duo, two of their duos, Alex and Jason, Mark and Elena, uh, who Paul betrayed and never took ownership over that betrayal. They're feeling burned. They link up with Cody and they deny Paul the win. It was glorious. And just like that, Josh wins Big Brother 19. No, I'm not a Josh Martinez fan.

[01:19:44] Actually, I've come around on him in the later years with, um, the challenge, but definitely wasn't a fan of him at this time. But I just, I needed the satisfaction of Paul going through all this, the entire season and not winning and losing against somebody that he thought that he could beat. No problem. It was very satisfying. Um, and it, it wasn't a great season by any means, but it helped the season. I thought the ending was pretty, pretty exciting. It's crazy.

[01:20:14] There's a lot of schadenfreude, uh, that, that, that happens for people at the end of this season. They, they really enjoy seeing Paul lose again, I think in the same shirt. Um, and, uh, and so there, there's that. Um, but, uh, but ultimately it is, it is a season that is sort of like the strategic equivalent

[01:20:37] of like a big brother 25, um, in terms of it just being so poorly designed by the producers that one player is able to just dominate, uh, and big brother 25, of course, that's Jag with the competition. Um, in season 19, I forgot how annoying that season was too. I was like, which one's 25, which one's 25. Thank you for reminding me.

[01:21:04] In season 19, you kind of have the equivalent, but with strategy and that's bringing Paul, a vet in as the sole person, giving them so many advantages at the start, giving them such a long period of immunity. Um, even with Netta and big brother Canada, uh, where she had that immunity for a while, of course, it was a fellow vet who was able to turn the tables on her when the immunity ran up, uh, ran out. Um, Paul had no such enemies in the house.

[01:21:32] Uh, and so the initial already distinct advantage of being a vet was, uh, multiplied by those advantages. Um, and they just ran the table, uh, just nothing, nothing really else to say. It was impressive to watch, but you know, it was frustrating because it wasn't organic. Um, it was manufactured by the setup.

[01:21:59] Uh, and, um, and so, you know, that was a frustrating part. It was, uh, it didn't like necessarily mean that it was, you know, that, that organization of the HOH win for Christmas was like really fun to watch. There's a great segment for the show. Um, but like all of the rest of it, the, uh, like the, the downtime of every single day, if you're a live feeder, just being like, well, is there anything that could change the trajectory of this game?

[01:22:29] Nothing. Well, no, here's what could start a change that could eventually happen in a couple of weeks, but that's not happening. Um, and so it was just a long walk to the end. Um, and, and quite frankly, uh, you know, for as much as it was a little bit of a surprise for Paul to lose, there was a lot of anticipation that they might lose because of those goodbye messages, because of the way Paul was handling, uh, people's exits.

[01:22:58] Um, and the fact that they lost previously because of their behavior. So it was like, are we really watching all of this? And then the person doing all of it isn't even a win anyway. Like, uh, like what are we watching this for? I don't know. I don't know. I think maybe the producers thought that they would have kind of understood on how to win at the end. It's kind of like a Russell hands situation where yeah, they can get to the end, but they haven't figured out how to make people want him to win or them to win.

[01:23:27] So yeah, they just didn't figure it out. And we watched him, watched them go through the entire season being so dominant, but then not being able to, you know, clench it in the end. Yeah. So that's big brother 19. Um, we, uh, we didn't talk about, uh, pickle juice gate. Uh, do you remember pickle juice gate? Remind me. That, uh, Josh and Mark, uh, yeah.

[01:23:57] The pickle juice. He thought Mark got so angry about that, but then Josh just owed up to it. You double tap the damn white ball. Like you, you lost, but no, uh, just a lot of, a lot of nonsense. Of course, Josh does the pots and pans, uh, as a, an evil Dick reference, because you know, that's, that's the guy you want to reference.

[01:24:21] Um, and, uh, it's just overall, it's not really a season that has a lot of value to go back to quite frankly, in my opinion. Um, there's some interesting sort of like psychological and sociological things to examine from it, but you're not really going to get those from watching the episodes. Um, so, uh, so you don't even really have that either.

[01:24:47] Um, it's again, it's like you could, you could watch it for those moments of strategic dominance, but it is marred by the fact that it was set up so, so much by the producers in the first place and that it's not even rewarded at the end anyway. Um, so like, you know, there's just, there's just so many things about this season that, that hold it back. And, uh, I think it's fairly, uh, fair for, uh, the, the audience to consider this to be, uh, one of the lowest of the tiers of seasons. Definitely.

[01:25:17] And, and aren't the producers still on a Paul kick after this? I feel like there was a celebrity. Paul comes for OTT. Oh, it's OTT. And then also Celebrity Big Brother, right? Or like, I remember. Oh, you know what? I think Paul did make a Celebrity Big Brother appearance. I was like, stop! They're winning! We're good! I believe that they've kind of like stepped back from the whole, uh, Big Brother thing nowadays. Although I, I think they're still, you know, friends with many people in the, uh, in the

[01:25:47] alumni community. But, um, I think they're kind of like, uh, let's, let's leave Big Brother behind, which I think is probably a good call. Yeah. Maybe wait 20 years and come back for a reunion or something. But, not, no time soon. What I will say is, uh, you know, from what I often see from Paul on social media is that they're, uh, often trying to, uh, get, get recognition for the, uh, Armenian genocide. Um, Paul, of course, uh, is Armenian, um, themselves.

[01:26:15] Uh, and so, uh, I, I do think that that is a, uh, there's something worth pointing out and, uh, check out Paul's social media, I guess. Boom. Um, and they're also a band as well. And so I'm sure that you're doing shows and such, but yes, that is true. Yes. All right. Well, Chantel. The cover. Who's in the top three? Who is on the poster for Big Brother 19?

[01:26:45] Well, obviously Paul has to be there. Now, oh, I don't know. I feel like Jessica and Cody were just so, like the biggest adversaries for Paul. And with the fact that Cody's vote was the one that took away his vote, like his win in the end or their, um, their win in the end.

[01:27:10] Um, so maybe Cody, Jessica, Paul or Cody, Paul, Josh. Hmm. Hmm. I mean, I, I think Paul is obvious. Uh, I think Josh does make some sense. I could quite frankly see the, uh, Paul, Josh Christmas combo, um, as the final three. And it would be pretty funny if, uh, just as a, as an aside, I'm going to let this, let

[01:27:37] the graphic designer know that, uh, Christmas on the scooter would be pretty fun for the poster. Um, uh, me personally, I think this is, uh, this is a tough one. Um, uh, I'm, I'm like, you know, I, I don't want Cody on the poster. Uh, I feel you. Yeah. Now he is still currently actively saying the things he is. Um, but this is, uh, you know, this is, this is something that is up to the audience.

[01:28:04] Um, uh, I, I could see an argument for Kevin. I could see an argument for, uh, for Raven, quite frankly. Um, but, uh, but ultimately it is. Raven could be hilarious with the fact that she was maybe to be having any of her like looking like the puppet master. Listen, I'm pretty sure there's an image of Raven as a puppet master already in existence, but like, uh, uh, uh, was that her comic? I don't know.

[01:28:33] I don't think so. Right. Um, but I, I think I've seen an image of, of Raven, like being a puppet, but it'd be very funny if we could also get Raven on the poster as a puppet. I mean, I'm not against that. If it was Raven, Paul, I guess, Josh. Yeah. It's spitting for the season. Uh, all right.

[01:29:00] Well, I think that's it then for big brother 19. Anything else to bring up Chantal? I can't believe that I relived baby 19. Um, and you know, it, it definitely, it had promise, but it does. It definitely, even on the rewatch, it didn't, it didn't, it wasn't better in the rewatch. Like sometimes people say like, Oh, if you binge it, yeah, you're going to like it better or it's going to be a better watch when you, you know, you, when you had some time away from it.

[01:29:29] No, it didn't really. But hopefully I'm, I'm hanging up the big brother 19 skates for ever. I, uh, I Googled Raven puppet master to see if I could find that photo. Uh, and instead I'm just seeing recent photos of Raven. She looks so different now. It's really wild. Yeah. Uh, I think she, I guess she got engaged at some point. Um, and maybe, in fact, maybe married. I mean, facts life goes on. Yeah.

[01:29:59] To big mother. Big brother. Um, anyway, that's it. That's what we got for big brother 19. Woo. We did it. Proud. Uh, we'll be back next week to talk about big brother 20, uh, which is quite a ride. Um, and I think what a lot of people needed after big brother 19 for all of the chaos of big brother 20, at least for the first half of the season.

[01:30:26] Um, and, uh, plenty to talk about there with all of the twists and turns in the gameplay. Uh, again, at least until, until it stopped. Um, so, uh, come and join us next week. When we talk about big brother 20 in the meantime, find me over on YouTube and Twitch. I'm streaming and watching things. Uh, I made a fun video about, uh, of me watching the genius UK on YouTube that people, uh, have seemed to really like, uh, so you can check that out new format.

[01:30:56] For this kind of thing. Um, and, uh, you know, all, all the other stuff, scripted shows, lots of things. You, you find those things. Just search, search, search for it. Genius is pretty fun, Taryn. I'm enjoying watching you recap it. Um, I love the show. I find it, you know, watching it through your eyes is pretty fun. And especially if I've already watched the episode and I come back and like watch what your thoughts are.

[01:31:23] And it's like seeing what we're aligned with or what we're thinking or seeing when you say right before what's going to happen, what's going to possibly happen. Like it's, it's, it's pretty great. Or the opposite. Or the opposite. But then you already kind of put in that clause that like, maybe that could be the opposite. Anyways, it's a fun watch. I like seeing you kind of like your, the wheels turning. It's, it's pretty good. Um, for me though, you can find me on Instagram at Jamfranfran or on my YouTube channel, Rihanna Builders with 3 S's.

[01:31:48] But I also, I've been venturing down the pop, the balloon lane, um, from Netflix with Chappelle on Recap Kickback. And so we've been recapping that show. Uh, it's more so me and Chappelle getting in each other's business and finding about all, all the things about our dating life and our ics and what we think about certain dating situations. So that's been pretty fun.

[01:32:14] And then also I was on the Top Chef recap this week because I happened to be a diner at Restaurant Wars and I was able to get Haley also, um, uh, to be a diner. So we both were on two different restaurants for Restaurant Wars and we basically came together to talk about both of our experiences. So that book does happen this week as well. So you can check it out on the Top Chef RHAP podcast. All right. Well, that is what we have for you then today.

[01:32:44] Thank you all so much for joining us and I will see all of you next time.