Battle Of The Block Twist Ends On Big Brother 17

Battle of the Block has officially ended on Big Brother 17 and I couldn’t be happier as Houseguests finally said goodbye to this anchor of a twist holding us back from a good ol’ game of Big Brother.

Battle of the Block
Battle of the Block – Source: CBS

Announced as part of last night’s live eviction show, the BotB twist, which put two HGs in charge as HoH and resulted in four noms, is over for Season 17. Sending it off in grand fashion we were treated to an awesome endurance competition, something previously blocked by the Battle twist itself.

Initially reintroduced to the season as a “fan favorite,” a claim that drew scoffs from Big Brother fans who remembered its negative impact on last year, the twist was an unnecessary complication to a season that was strong enough to stand on its own.

Things were made worse this year when it was used as nothing more than a Backdoor delivery method week after week with players like Johnny Mac being asked to repeatedly throw it to set things up for a normal noms/Veto routine. It became a lame, weekly turn of events.

While I did appreciate the extra boost the BotB gave Fridays with an additional competition for fans to discuss there was just too much trouble caused by this twist to want it to stay. Of course my biggest gripe was how it it kept us from having endurance competitions due to the scheduling conflicts that would have caused. Then just like that, BotB is gone and endurance is back. Hooray!

Thankfully that’s all over and the Battle of the Block is gone and done for Big Brother 17. We don’t need it in the least. We never did before and definitely don’t now. The house is clearly divided, thanks to Vanessa’s backtracking on Austin BD, and that fuels the flames of competition. Stack on top of that we’ve just had a major power shift, a classic in the game. We’ve got everything we need for solid fun.

Welcome back, Biiiiig Brother. We’ve missed you.

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42 Comments

      • That twist had actual potential, unfortunately it didn’t last too long. Maybe they’ll actually bring back the BB takeover as a REAL fan favorite twist!

      • Huh? The BB takeover twist wasn’t abused… Ohhhh no the BotB was well intended but did not work out in any way, I was referring to the BB takeover for the entirety of the comments, my bad for the ambiguity.

      • The BotB was this season! Cyril changed the subject from BotB to BB takeover! haha

      • Not stupid, really if used the way it was intended, but this season, it was abused!

      • The way I understood it was the BOTB was intended to get the HOHs to be more strategic in their nominations- i.e. if you wanted to stay HOH then put up two weak players who aren’t going to win, and vice versa if you wanted to get dethroned…right?

      • The original intentions of the BoB was busted last year when the HGs figured out they could get around it by having the 2 HoHs work together.

      • It had potential, if they had kept it up and actually had a potentially game changing twist EVERY week, like Chenbot promised.

      • CBS wanted the two HOHs to battle each other to keep their nominations. Instead, it was just a collusion between the two HOHs teaming up to decide their nominations. Big alliances were formed so that EVERY weekly HOH had at least one of their alliance in it, if not both. People who won HOH were intimidated to use it hard because they could lose and be put on the block.

  1. The only way I can see botb winning is if the house is divided into two sets of 8. An hoh is named from one of each set. The hoh can only name nominees from the other side of the house. Hence the house is divided and there is real incentive to win.

  2. Once those clever little house guests figured out the Battle of the Block, it was senseless and needed to be modified. It should have been an immediate, no-consultation nomination ceremony as soon as the two HOHs won, and it was definitively unfair to use so early in the competition. Since life is not fair, I would point out that it did require guests to start thinking and acting strategically early.

  3. Players were seeing how BotB could be used and everything became more predictable than expecting the unexpected! hahaha

    • If I’m not mistaken, they ended this one earlier than Season 16. They got the message.

      • They did!!! Last year they got rid of it when there were eight players left. This season there are 11 left.

  4. BOTB will come back next year. They don’t listen to fans because they know that the 2.4 million fans will not walk away from the summer guilty pleasure despite what the producers do to indirectly influence the course of this show.

  5. And when will they explain what the heck happened to the BB Takeover Twist that just vanished after 3 weeks?

    • I feel like it got to the point where production had so much stuff to cover during the shows just from the house guest drama that they didn’t have time to also do the BB takeover on Thursday nights. Especially the week when Audrey was evicted, they barely had enough airtime to give the TV viewers a good overview of what all happened. So I’m thinking production made the choice to not do the Takeovers and dedicate that airtime to covering the drama.I do have a feeling that they may bring it back later in the season if things slow down since they didn’t officially announce the end of the Takeover.

  6. BOtB was a cool idea, I’ll admit, but it was executed poorly once the hgs figured out how to backdoor every week and throw comps….GLAD it’s gone…let’s play some Biiiig brother now!

  7. Do a poll Matthew for CBS and lets see just how many like it. I think the NO’s would win. It was a good idea but once HG figured how to use it, it became worthless.

    • They figured it out by the 1st or 2nd week of last season! HGs this year used the same ol’ work around, even when the 2 HoHs (Van and Jackie) were from opposite sides of the house.

  8. What does “something previously blocked by the Battle twist itself” mean? Couldn’t it just have been the last two left were HOHs?

    • What he means is that there are no endurance comps while BoB is in play. There isn’t enough airtime to show end of endurance, nom picks & BoB plus DRs and an overview of what led up to the noms on Sunday night. So, no endurance comps, hence, they were blocked by the Battle twist.

      • If CBS wasn’t so greedy (by filling airspace with many commercials) we’d have seen at least a few minutes (maybe 5) ,more of last nite’s HOH comp on broadcast TV.

  9. At what point does the house have their “breakfast club” moment and the outcasts can partner up with the popular group

  10. Can we start a petition for no more BoB ever on any future seasons? I’d put my John Hancock on it!!

  11. I don’t remember Julie saying it was over for the rest of the season. She just said the first solo HOH. Don’t get too excited they can bring it back at any time. “Expect the unexpected.”

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