Welcome to the series debut of Big Brother’s Reindeer Games mini-series with the first of six episodes that will be over before you know it! We’ve got nine former Houseguests, the “Big Brother Legends,” as promised and now it’s time to see who can pull off the wins each night leading to Santa crowning one winner. Tonight’s premiere kicks off on CBS at 9PM ET and so will our live recap right here on this post, so stick with us!
If you haven’t caught up yet on who is playing on Reindeer Games, we’ve got the full cast list here. These names stretch all the way back to Big Brother 3 for one of my absolute favorite HGs ever, Danielle Reyes, so that’s really cool to see her back at the house and competing. Then we’ve got all the way to the most recent season with Cameron Hardin stepping back into that familiar setting just weeks after leaving it.
Who knows what we’ll get in these Reindeer episodes, but I’m expecting it to basically be the competition component of the regular Big Brother episodes. But remember, those are one hour episodes and just a portion of the drama and storytelling that we get each night, so with this series being just the challenges, well, I’m curious.
Houseguests Move-In:
Okay, so it’s not a real move-in, but everyone still has to arrive and join the game! Taylor was the first one in followed by Cody then Britney. Xavier arrives next and then we get Danielle (one of my very most favs!). And then we get someone who looks familiar but I’ve intentionally forgotten his name. Next we get Nicole followed by Josh. Lastly we see Cameron arrive to round out the cast.
Santa explains they’re playing for $100K and the rules will change every day in the game. Some will be eliminated solo and others could go as a team. When it’s down to the Final 4 they will face off in the “Reindeer Games” portion of the series for the prize money.
Time for everyone to start conspiring and aligning. Danielle and Britney want the alpha males out. Frankie and Cody are going to team up again, which is no surprise, but will they bring in their other BB16 housemate Nicole? She’s off talking with Britney as they try to bury past arguments from outside the house.
Challenge 1: Christmas Song Riddle:
Jordan Lloyd arrives as the Elf Ambassador, basically the challenge host. She reveals the first comp is to figure out a Christmas song based on three clues: a house, hand pointing up, and a toy top. Each HG gets one guess and the first to get it right wins a mystery reward.
Britney Haynes wins the challenge!
Jordan reveals Britney gets an advantage in the upcoming challenge and also gets to give a punishment to another HG of her choosing. She’s not thrilled to create an enemy this early in the game.
After meeting with all the other HGs Britney settles on Cody for the punishment. He takes it jokingly and then we’re off to the Jingle Bell Brawl.
Challenge 2: Jingle Bell Brawl
HGs are gathered in the backyard. The winner here will get to influence who goes home tonight. So it’s not a situation with the loser getting eliminated, but sounds like they’ll get to vote someone out which of course makes sense. We’re just learning as we go here!
Players are going to have to run back and forth over the balance beam to “deliver” their letters. HGs get to distribute letters to try and make it harder for certain players to complete the challenge as quickly by giving them more. Britney’s advantage is she gets one less card while Cody has to do one more. Cameron notices that everyone is targeting his mailbox. Cody’s is the second big target.
Frankie wins Jingle Bell Brawl!
Jordan reveals that Frankie will get to name two players to go to Santa’s Showdown where one of them will get eliminated from the game. I think. Let’s see what happens! Frankie is definitely safe from this first elimination.
Challenge 3: Santa’s Showdown
Frankie has to pick two HGs to face off where one will go home. Frankie is asking for suggestions and sounds like he’s leaning to target Cameron since everyone was going after him during the Brawl. After talking with everyone he is ready to make his decision:
Frankie nominates: Cameron & Xavier for the showdown.
HGs gather in the backyard. Cameron & Xavier have to assemble 57 pieces (that’s a lot!) that forms a Christmas sweater. This is going to be a tough scramble and it’s do or die for these two players. Who will pull it off??
Xavier wins the Showdown! Cameron is eliminated.
Next episode is coming up Tuesday, December 12th at 9/8c for a 90-minute show. After that we’ll get another on Thursday at 8/7c for another 90-minute episode.
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