As Friday’s Battle Back episode came to a close host Julie Chen revealed a brand new twist just as we were told earlier to expect more coming our way. This one is the return of something familiar from way back in Big Brother history: a hidden, secret room.
Update: The hunt is over and the room has been discovered. Scroll down for the spoilers!
Julie’s announcement delivered a sneak peek at five special signs around the house which hints they could be used to unlock this secret room and gain access to what’s inside.
There’s a power inside that room capable of changing up the game but the HGs better hurry because it’s only available for a limited time! Here’s how Julie described it.
Julie Chen: The Battle Back has just shaken up the game, but another twist is about to be unleashed. Throughout the house are clues to a secret room. Any Houseguest who figures it out will unlock this room and could gain a power to change their fate in the Big Brother house. This secret room will only be in play for the next four weeks.
As Julie described the twist we saw images of travel posters (per the house’s theme) featuring these slogans plus a large view of the Departures sign added in:
- Discover Your National Parks
- Secret Tokyo
- Ocho Rios – Your Dream Destination (Translation: eight rivers)
- Departing On Quarter Hour – Big Ben – London
- Nairobi – Your Adventure Starts NOW!
- Departures (sign with listings in living room)
We’re teased to check in next Thursday to see if anyone has discovered the secret room, but that’s silly because we’ll find out on the Live Feeds AND let’s start speculating right now!
In preseason exec producer Grodner said to expect the return of the room used for Pandora’s Box and the Coaches’ quarters. So right there I’d say we’ve got our secret room location. But how do they get in to it? I immediately guessed as it was revealed, so we’ll have to see if I was right.
Now nothing in Big Brother needs to be fair, but if they put the secret entrance in the HoH room, as that space is typically accessed, then it’d really restrict the chances for discovery. You know what’s on the outside of that space though? The metal phone booth. I’d wager you dial in a secret combination and bingo bango, you’ve got your secret room. I love it.
In the posters we see details like “ocho” (eight), “quarter hour” (15), maybe a suggestion of a hint in the Tokyo room, and that Departures sign is full of numbers. But how in the world are the HGs suddenly going to be motivated to search for hidden messages? I’m guessing Big Brother will prompt them with some sort of vague clue to get the ball rolling. They’ve only got four weeks to figure it out!
And if you’re wondering about when this idea was used before, it was BB6 when an extra room was discovered by Rachel Plencner. Great season and probably my favorite. You should go back and watch it on CBS All Access.
What do you think of the new Big Brother twist? Lots of fun or just too much? Who do you hope finds the power and what sort of impact could it have on the game? We’ll keep watching to discover more!
Update: As a reader pointed out, if you take the green words in all four posters you get “Secret Destination Departing NOW!”. Awesome!
Update 1.2: Another poster in the backyard says “Discover Your National Parks” with “discover” in green. So that’s “Discover Secret Destination Departing NOW!”
If you check the Departures board you can see that Paris is the “now departing” entry. Hmm, so what’s the code to get in? Could be the flight number.
Update 2: This morning on the Feeds (10:06 AM BBT Cams 3/4) the camera operators zoomed in on both sides of the plane. One side says “CALL” spelled out in the windows and the other side says “PARIS.” If you look at the departures board you’ll find that to be number 211. First HG to dial that in on the upstairs phone booth will gain access to the secret room and possibly earn a game changing power with it.
Update 3: Is this the Paris room inside the old Pandora & Coaches room? These photos were released weeks ago in to the press photos section from CBS but were labeled as Roadkill related which was weird. I mistook them for part of that week’s RV set up.
It’d make more sense as the Paris themed secret room since Paris is the “Now Departing” destination.
Hat tip to @JustInTimeBB for putting those pieces together.
Update 4: The hunt is on! Big Brother announced via the TV screen for the HGs to start searching for clues. Flashback to 7/25 @ 4:20 PM BBT as the HGs start to scramble.
Someone got it! Check the next page to see who got in…
The first Houseguest to get inside the secret room is…
Update 5: Paul got it! Flashback 5:13 PM BBT. He heard a message that said to wait for a clear coast and then the door will open. Now Paul has to get Frank & Bridgette away but Frank won’t leave upstairs and keeps trying the numbers. Paul has told Corey and James to get them away so he can try it alone.
Flashback to 5:41 PM BBT. Paul got so anxious he rushed in after trying the number again and getting the message. Natalie overheard the voice. Paul dashed inside the tunnel and entered the room!
Here’s how it works. There are 12 cards in the Paris room. Anyone who comes in there gets to pick one card. Yes, everyone can go in and that’s why Paul was instructed to wait. So what’s in the envelope? One card is a “round trip ticket” that will send the evicted HG back in to the game, the rest are something much less exciting.
Paul picked his card and crawled back out the tunnel where everyone was waiting for him. Now the lies begin. Paul is trying to convince everyone it was just for one person and says it was just a travel flight ticket. He doesn’t say it’s a chance to get back in the game. Everyone asking for the number he used. He’s trying to avoid revealing too much. You know everyone is about to be back up there trying!
Victor just gained access too (6:06 PM BBT) as Paul continues to try and lie to everyone about it and denying multiple people can get it. He still won’t share the number he dialed (likely “PARIS”).