Big Brother 24 Week 2 Recap: The Festie Bestie Twist Shakes Up The House

What a difference a week can make. To say that Big Brother 24 started off a bit rocky would be quite the understatement. After waiting to announce the cast until the day before the show was to start, they had a last-minute change-up that resulted in Joseph entering the game after having previously been an alternate. The two-hour Premiere was rushed and underwhelming and didn’t give us too much time to get to know the players. And then the days that followed had Twitter in an uproar, with a massive controversy in the house as to the treatment Taylor was receiving from multiple other houseguests. The accusations ranged from “microaggressions” to full-blown racism, and in any case, it was undeniable, ugly behavior that stretched far beyond the game, and made the first week of the show hard to handle. It culminated with Paloma making a sudden exit from the show (citing “personal reasons”), and Julie Chen Moonves basically washing away Daniel‘s Week 1 HOH, as if it never happened.

Of course, almost none of the big controversy made it to air, with any proper context at least. All of the trouble was available to be seen on the live feeds, but the live-feeders then became even more outraged when it seemed like the show wasn’t addressing anything that they were seeing and/or hearing. The good news is that once Paloma was out of the house and the dust kicked up from the debacle that was Week 1 started settling, things began actually resembling…Big Brother? Houseguests were talking strategy, alliances were forming, dumb moves were being made, and cheesy sound effects (like the added-in squeak of Jasmine‘s new scooter) were being heard. Ah yes, the sweet smell of Big Brother had once again returned to our nostrils. Oh how we had missed thee!

Rebounding from that terrible start, Big Brother seems to be picking up momentum in Week 2. First, we saw Pooch volunteer himself as a pawn, even as shouts from millions of people from around the country yelled in unison, “Don’t you know that pawns go home on Big Brother!” Since Paloma self-evicted, Pooch was still technically the first person to be voted out of the house, and it was unanimous…his close ally Turner ended up reluctantly voting with the house, and even Joseph – who had developed a true bro-mance with Pooch – voted him out. Pooch was gone, and the game churned on.

But this is Big Brother, and on Big Brother we “expect the unexpected.” There was nothing more unexpected this week than what ended up being revealed as this season’s biggest game twist of all. Dubbed the “Festie Bestie” twist, essentially the game will be played in pairs here on out. It creates very compelling, exciting new possibilities for the game, and it sent the existing alliances scrambling. Basically, two players are now playing the game together. A pair will get nominated to the block together, and if one of them win POV, they both come off the block and the HOH selects a new pair of Besties to take their place. This twist forces you to work with someone, but also be mindful that you have to beat that person should you end up on the block together. I love that this twist came two weeks into the game and not right from the start, because it will be interesting to see just how it affects the game’s existing alliances. Mind. Blown.

The pairs – which were determined during the HOH Comp, were as follows: Brittany/Michael, Monte/Joseph, Nicole/Taylor, Kyle/Daniel, Alyssa/Indy, Ameerah/Terrance.  Turner was the one on top at the end of the comp, becoming this week’s HOH, and because no one ended up selecting her, Jasmine became his Bestie, which also meant that she too would be guaranteed safe this week.

Having now lived together for two weeks in the house, there seems to be a few competing alliances that have formed and seem solid. The most potent alliance seems to be “Po’s Pack,” named in honor of Paloma (“Po” was her childhood nickname), which consists of Kyle, Alyssa, Michael, Monte, Nicole and Ameerah. This alliance managed to split themselves up, making sure that each of them was paired with a person outside of their alliance, so that if they were to be nominated, each of them would have the votes to win over the other person not in their alliance. There is also the “Girls Girls” alliance, known also as the “Six in the City” alliance on the feeds, were all of the women in the house – save for Taylor – are aligned. “The Oasis” alliance – which was an all-male alliance consisting of Pooch, Turner, Kyle, Monte, Joseph and Daniel – now seems DOA with Pooch having been sent home and blindsided.

Turner‘s HOH Ceremony ended with him nominated the Bestie pair of Brittany and Michael, and Turner’s target seemed to be Brittany. Michael and Brittany were shown to have made a Final Two alliance on Day 2, but at least from what we’ve seen on the broadcasted episodes, Michael appears to be more loyal to “Po’s Pack” than he does “Brichael.”

The interesting development during this week’s eviction episode was also that Nicole – paired with everyone’s Public-Enemy-#1-For-No-Reason-Whatsoever, Taylor –  floated the idea that the house should backdoor Taylor, by taking Brittany and Michael off of the block and replacing them with Nicole and Taylor. So Nicole is offering herself up as a pawn? Even after what just happened with Pooch? The exasperated shout, “Don’t you know that pawns go home on Big Brother!” were once again heard in the distance.

Final Thoughts: I’m so, so happy that the game seems to be in full-swing. I really like the new twist as it adds a really entertaining level of strategy, and prevents – I think? – a dominant house alliance from forming. But while I am happy that I don’t have to say the word “Pooch” for the rest of the Summer, it is a bit draining to know that I’ll have to say the phrase “Festie Bestie” about a zillion times. Oh well.

It’s still so early in the game, that it’s hard to know where allegiances truly lie, but it’s clear that the fanbase’s allegiance is with Taylor thus far. Even though she isn’t facing the wrath of the house in the way that she was early on, that period of time ostracized her from the rest of the house, and she doesn’t seem to be in any real alliance. America loves their underdog story, and so far this season, that underdog player to root for has definitely been Taylor. Will she be nominated next to Nicole and finally be taken out? Will she avoid the block? Can’t wait for next week!

Important Note! For those that read and follow this column, many thanks! I wanted to let you know that there will NOT be a Recap next week, but I’ll be back again the following week and for the rest of the season. Hope you stick with it and can’t wait to hear all of your thoughts as the season progresses!

BB SCOREBOARD:

Current HOH: Turner (1)

Nominations: Brittany and Michael

UPCOMING EPISODES:

Wednesday, 7/27 – POV Comp and Ceremony

Thursday, 7/28 – Next Live Eviction