The Big Brother 19 season finale ended with plenty of twists and turns as Josh surprised and shocked us and then the Jury did the same. Josh Martinez was crowned the winner and Paul Abrahamian was beat out 5-4 again. We spoke with Big Brother’s executive producer Allison Grodner about the Jury’s decision, why Feedsters were blocked again from an important competition, and when oh when will we get a season without the dice loaded for a Vet Houseguest.
Big Brother Network: Wow. We did not see Josh beating Paul. What happened with those Jury votes and how did Paul manage to go from running the house to getting beat by one vote for a second straight season?
Grodner: This is what I love about Big Brother and live television. You can never completely predict what is going to happen. Paul played an amazing game but in the end the jury voted emotionally. They felt betrayed and their votes represented that.
After more than a decade of watching the Final HoH endurance competition (round one) Feedsters were denied that experience for the second year in a row. What has changed there and will we ever again get to see this often amazing competition (BB8 comes to mind) play out in full?
Grodner: It all depends on our episode schedule. For the past few summers we have had a Friday show after that final eviction episode and we have saved the HOH part 1 to air in that hour. Every year is is different though and this could change for BB20.
Five for five of the past seasons with Vets (when including BBOTT) have had one of the Vets in F2. Between viewer votes for advantages and innate knowledge of the game, it appears to be a strong edge for these players against Newbies. Considering it’s become “expect the expected” are you ready to get back to an all-new cast for BB20?
Grodner: Everyone has their opinions on this subject and we do take everything into consideration but I think we have had very dramatic, interesting and successful seasons with a mix of newbies and vets. That being said, the verdict is still out on what we will be doing for BB20 so anything could happen.
Thank you!
I was interested to hear why we were blocked from that Round 1 competition for the second straight year and while it does appear to be linked to scheduling the supporting reason is bogus. The Round 1 comp does not air in that special Friday clip show. We see the first 30 seconds of the comp after Julie Chen promises we’ll watch it “start.” That hardly seems like a worthy reason to withhold the competition since we know it’s not actually going to air in that memory lane show and we already know who has won at that point. Instead it ends up being held back until it’s nearly a week old. Blerg.
As for Veterans playing in the game, come on. Five for five , and six for six in North America if you include Big Brother Canada 5, seasons with returning players have had a Vet in the F2. That’s effectively ruining the chances for the Newbies and it’s sucking the air out of the season for fans. I don’t know who in the chain of top decision makers between CBS and production is insisting that a majority of fans want or enjoy Vets mixed with Newbies, but I completely disagree. Stop making the show’s theme “expect the expected” and do something “new” for a change with Big Brother 20. Fingers crossed.