‘Big Brother Over The Top:’ State Of The Game [Op-Ed]

We are heading into the home stretch of Big Brother Over the Top, so it’s time to step back and take a look at the season. How has it gone? Who’s on top? What about America’s involvement — how did that play out? Let’s take a look.

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The Final 5

Last night Danielle was voted out of Big Brother Over The Top, meaning the two arguably best players of the season are out of the running to win.

I’m of course talking about Alex and Danielle. Most of the season fans have been as divided as the house. You were either Team Plastics with Alex as sort of the leader or Team Misfits with sort of Danielle as the leader. Or if you didn’t see either them as the leaders, per se, you at least saw them as the best players on their side of the house.

But they’re both gone now. So were we all wrong about them? Not really. They definitely played the best games up until they were ousted, but others have stepped up late in the game to take claim. Right now Shelby has emerged as the best competitor while Jason has shown a lot of growth as a strategist.

So if I were to rank the Final 5 it would go like this: Shelby, Jason, Kryssie, Morgan and Justin. Those last three are actually tough to rank because they’ve all done very little in the game. Kryssie has shown a few more signs of life than Morgan and Justin, so I think I’m confident naming her as third. And Morgan might slightly out-nudge Justin because he’s just so bad at the game I can’t overlook it. And his social game has even gone downhill has he’s burned out from lasting so long in the season.

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The competitions

Well, watching the competitions play out live has been interesting. I won’t say it’s always been fun. Watching timed veto competitions in the middle of the day is a bit tough for anyone not on home confinement and endurance competitions starting at midnight is also not ideal.

And to be honest, TV production is messy. That’s why editing plays such a huge role. I don’t really enjoy seeing the flubs or watching the delays or hearing the announcers intervene. That’s just not fun for me.

As for the competitions themselves, I’ve been pretty impressed. Sure they’re not all pretty to look at, but those elaborate competitions we see on a regular season are for TV. And often they’re flat-out cheesy. I’m OK with stripped down competitions that can be assembled and disassembled quickly.

The best part, however, has been all the new ones. It’s been so refreshing to not see the same competition we’ve been watching since BB10 or earlier. And they’ve been very inventive. The haunted veto, for example, was so easy to produce but so entertaining to watch. Good job, production.

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Production

Speaking of production … every season we hear what we think is production interference or favoritism. This season there seemed to be a lot more of than than usual. I’m not going to go into it, because it’s always hard to really tell what we’re seeing and hearing, but there were a few times where I just had to go “WHAT???” Like when Shelby talks about her friend in production who some are pretty sure she’s pretty hot for. But who knows. Again, not touching that topic any further. Moving on…

Shelby opens America's Care Package

America’s Vote

Oh America, I don’t know what to think about you when it comes to voting. For anything. But we’re talking about Big Brother right now. Anyway, I liked the idea of America getting a say at first. But then it became way too much. Social media wars were out of control because fans got so involved that they were campaigning and making (bad) graphics and spewing all kinds of nastiness. The game would be a lot different right now if America wasn’t allowed to make a nominee or vote to evict. I think America’s involvement should stay at voting for Care Packages. But now we’ve still got the privilege of voting for the winner of this season. And that’s just ridiculous. This isn’t American Idol. Let a jury decide who wins BB. We don’t deserve that right. Sorry.

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Summary

As of now, I think Shelby is most poised to win the season. If Jason some how ends up at the end after this week, then he has a great shot also. But what happens if it’s a Morgan, Kryssie, Justin final 3? I don’t know and I don’t even want to imagine it. I think Kryssie would have my vote in that scenario.

Overall, this has been a great season of Big Brother. I’d venture to say it’s one of the best seasons in years. I loved the gaming, the strategy and the drama. Most of all, I loved how the house stayed divided and the power shifted from week to week. Sure, America’s involvement got in the way here and there, but as far as the HGs went, they definitely kept things going back and forth. I hope there’s another season next year, but I hope America isn’t allowed anywhere near the power.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

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33 Comments

  1. If this care package makes it so Justin can’t be nominated, Shelby is in big trouble, because then she’s automatically the replacement if Justin, Jason, or Kryssie wins the veto.

    • Read what you just said again. Justin or Kryssie win Veto? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

      Jason’s possible, though Shelby’s a bit better than him in the comps.

  2. I like the idea of America being involved, but this is definitely way too much. It GREATLY decreased the benefits of winning HOH. Going forward, I think they should get rid of America’s nominee, but still give America one vote to evict each time, including one vote to decide the winner (along with the jury’s votes). I’m indifferent on Care Packages, but I liked them better in the summer season when there weren’t so many.

    • I agree. There were too many Americas noms going home this season which must have been frustrating if you were HOH. Americas nominee voting should either be gone altogether or should have ended after week 4. I’m fine with voting for CP and eviction. There should be a 4 man jury with America getting one jury vote next year.

  3. I disagree with several of your points. “Kryssie has shown a few more signs of life than Morgan and Justin, so I think I’m confident naming her as third.” and “But what happens if it’s a Morgan, Kryssie, Justin final 3? I don’t know and I don’t even want to imagine it. I think Kryssie would have my vote in that scenario.” Kryssie would not get my vote and is definitely not before Morgan and Justin. She quit during a competition. She solely exists to keep Jason in the game. That is great if you are a misfit fan but its not game play in my book.

    I cheered when I found out America could nom and evict vote. After a few weeks I saw the error to this plan. The HOH power is almost none existant which is not great for game play. I like the uncertainty of the HG not knowing who America will vote to evict but I do not like the AN.

    I also like that there is no jury and America votes. Why shouldn’t we vote because we see all and if they are in the jury then they miss a lot of play and then get to vote. I have always felt the jury should have access to the feeds so they can make an informed decision. So America making the final decision is a good idea.

    • Regarding your last paragraph, I definitely agree with most of it. I’m pretty sure last season Davonne was only in the house for 51 out of 99 days and helped decide the winner. She didn’t see ANY of Paul’s gameplay in the back half of the game, except the tapes of the competitions. There’s no reason she should have had a vote. Personally, I think they should shrink the jury to 4 or 6 people (preferably 4), and give America one vote for the winner.

    • It really bothers me that everybody keep saying krissie quit on the competition yes she quit in the competition because your hands were hurt and bleeding. I watched that competition and she tried she gave it her all but you can’t tell me if your hands the palm of your hands were bloody and they hurt that you would continue to climb if your hands wouldn’t let you you would have quit too so come on with krissie quit the competition

      • EVERYONE was complaining that their hands were hurt. Other HGs were bleeding. Kryssie’s the only one who threw a temper tantrum and raged quit the comp. Poor. Sportsmanship.

      • They showed shots of her hands several times and she was NOT bleeding. Everyone’s hands hurt. She wasn’t the only one who was experiencing it. She did quit and whined the whole time, unlike all the others.

      • Agree! Think of James who held his arm up for 5 hours and lost feeling in his hands for over a week, with no whining. Winners don’t quit.

      • Everyone’s hands were hurt. They didn’t quit did they? She’s done nothing this entire season except act nasty. She wanted to quit before they even entered the house. She’s also threatened to quit several other times. She doesn’t deserve to be playing the game because she’s not even playing.

  4. The cast has definiteiy been the most interesting in a while. It’s too bad they can’t get better ones for TV, which gets the ratings. It’s been a fun experiment, but I would like the regular version to stay the same with these additions: better casts, the requirement to be awake from 10AM-10PM, America having one vote for winner, and no more coming back into the house.

    If there is another OTT season, I hope they get rid of America’s nominee and sole voting for the winner. I am afraid they would have to shake things up for the novelty of this season not to wear off.

    • Totally agree, especially no players coming back in during the regular season. When you’re done, you’re done.

  5. I agree with most of what you wrote. I’d like to add that the staying awake is a great idea but they never enforced it. They need to make a penalty nomination a real possibility. Also think you totally overestimate Kryssie. Besides the quitting (and yes her hands hurt but she was not alone there and it has happened in other seasons too). She is so delusional about what is going on. The only comp she won was rolling a ball. She whines and trash talks others and takes credit for puppeteering moves she had nothing to do with. I would vote for Cornbread to win over her, given the chance.

  6. I’m shocked it took Branden this long to voice his opinions about the season, lol. But, yeah, let’s get right down to it.

    Kryssie… sorry, you give her way too much credit. She’s only one a single comp, the one that was luck based (though, admittedly, she came close last night). She quit during a Veto comp. Outright QUIT. Her delusional behavior can be fun to watch (if only because it provides us a good laugh during those DRs), but there’s only so much we can take. The rest of the time? She sat around doing absolutely nothing. She’s going to end up in the F3, but only because the others see her as beatable. She’s this season’s biggest coaster.

    I definitely agree that America’s Vote was just way too much this year. It brought out the worst of people, from the arguments of who should get the votes to legit cheating to ensure it would happen (which usually only happened from the most zealot Misfit fanatics, the ones who don’t tend to grace the page). If we get another season of BBOTT, I want to see the ACPs return and I’d even like America to still get a say in who wins the game (maybe work it like how they did in BB11, where America was the final member of the Jury). But no more America’s Nominee and no more America’s VTE.

  7. Wow, I’m stunned! You would vote for Kryssie to win if she was in the final 2??? I would vote for anyone, including Jason over Krusty. She did not earn it at all unless people are judging her on how many times she burped, farted, complained and trashed talked the other side. She won one comp, one comp, that’s all. Not that big of a deal. And that was a total crap shoot. The fact that she bailed and quit one of the comps should make her exempt from anyone wanting to vote for this waste of space to win BBOTT.

  8. Personally, I didn’t like it that much. I hope CBS only did this one time fall version to see what stick to the wall. I.E. try stuff they were not sure if it would work or not, in the summer season. I hope they stick to the summer season only from now on.

    Plus the fall is very bad season for that. In the spring would be better, but some of us (including Matthew) have BB Canada in the spring. Too much stuff in the fall. World series, NFL football, Survivor and this year the election. I really had a hard time keeping up, but I didn’t want to miss it, so ….

    • This season was only set up to get more CBS All Access subscribers. I like the idea of them trying new things for OTT, then implementing the ones that work on the summer version. This way they can figure out the best way to do things without wasting the televised version. Remember battle of the block? It would have been nice if they tried that in the fall, realized it was awful, and never did it in the summer.

  9. This has been an interesting season. It’s obvious that everyone has their favorites, but at this point in the game there is no denying that Shelby deserves to win.

    Thank you and have a nice day!

  10. Look, Justin is far from the best game player, but he has been so much fun to watch all season. His clips are what keep me coming back week to week (Pizza Song, anyone??) I have never enjoyed a houseguest so much, and I’ve been a BB fan forever. For that reason, I’d vote for him over anyone left in the game to win it all. It’s all about the entertainment factor for me.

    • Really? You would pick Justin over Shelby, Jason and Morgan!?? Justin has not *actually won* anything this season. He was *awarded* an extra POV b/c of ACP–Alex actually won that comp. He will be *awarded* ACP due to him being the *only* HG left eligible to receive one…however, let’s see if he can make as being a HN first b/c from what I hear that is the challenge BB will ask of him and he failed being a HN the last time…and was never penalized for it too btw! I mean really? In what BB universe does Justin deserve to win this game!? He has trash talked the entire season and NEVER paid the consequences for his actions. He totally egged Danielle and Jason on to make that fake alliance with the BS girls, (which was unbelievable stupid) but the only HG who paid the price for that bullcrap has been Jason & Danielle. Justin even called the girls “suckas” as he left the LR, but he has completely flipped sides and now is kissing Shelby’s bum after talking *so much* crap about her all season!!! WOW! I liked Justin at first, but now… UGH! If that is the kind of HG America wants to win, BB is doomed!

      No doubt about it, Shelby deserves this BBOTT season. Jason should be second and Morgan third. IMO, these three have won the most comps, as well as survived the stress of being targeted week after week! They have received crucial game changing ACP’s b/c America likes them the most and they have fought hardest to be in F3. I wish this would be so, but unfortunately, unless Jason wins POV he will be going this week and (worst case scenario) if Jason does win POV…Shelby could go and that would be a true crime! Well, maybe the biggest crime imo, would be Justin winning this season actually….

  11. I was finally able to watch the HOH comp and other highlights. I don’t understand why Shelby had to reveal the answers every 10 minutes. It seemed like forever. Kryssie is just horrible at everything she does. She could have won this one. If Justin had answered correctly, he probably would have won.

  12. Krissie as number 3? No way! She’s done nothing except burp, fart, talk nasty, act nasty, rubbing her arm pits on the girls pillows, threatened to quit at least 3 times. Did quit in the veto. Oh and so much more. All she deserves is to be gone this week. She’s the most disgusting person I’ve ever seen on BB and I’ve watched since season one.

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