What a tumultuous time Big Brother 24 is turning out to be!
I feel bad for those that gave up on this season after the underwhelming Premiere…a Premiere that was followed-up by a week of ugly controversy within the House. I don’t really blame those who bailed, or those that simply wanted CBS to have a stronger response to the racism and general mistreatment towards houseguest Taylor Hale. But for the fans that stuck with it, we have been rewarded mightily these past few weeks! It’s rare to see such a massive flip of power and it must be karma that Taylor has been at the center of it all. And whether or not it has to do with crafty editing or just showing things the way that they are, the best part of it is that those that seem to be coming out on top are the “good guys/girls,” and the ones that the fanbase has been rooting for thus far this season.
Three weeks of unbelievably cruel and unwarranted behavior towards Taylor finally culminated in the rest of the house rallying around her. It was quite baffling to watch it play out, with Nicole really struggling with her decision to throw an upcoming POV competition in order to put her “Festie Bestie” partner, Taylor, up on the block. When Taylor tried to offer Nicole some comfort, it was misconstrued, and resulted in Daniel and Nicole openly chastising Taylor in front of the whole house. In private, Daniel and Nicole discussed their feelings about Taylor, and their thoughts that they still needed to get rid of her right away or else she would go on to win the game. You see, this sort of feeling is acceptable in the house, if it ended there. What was not acceptable was that Daniel and Nicole added in that they think Taylor is “just a bad person” and that she was also a “loose cannon.” Taylor has not shown any such behavior that would warrant these kinds of personal attacks, attacks that started early in the game and never (until recently) have let up. All of the other houseguests – and also America – see that while nobody is perfect, Taylor at bare minimum has been under control in the middle of a stressful situation that would have broken a lesser person. Even when being verbally attacked, Taylor kept her cool and never once showed even a fraction of the ugliness that both Daniel and Nicole were pouring out for all of America to see.
Thankfully, that scene seemed to be the last straw. It rallied the house to form what is now the dominant alliance in the house – named “The Leftovers” – or those that found themselves on the outside of what had previously been the power alliances. The Leftovers consist of Taylor, Monte, Turner, Brittany, Michael, Kyle and Joseph, and wow have they delivered a shot of adrenaline and excitement into this season. It began when Turner blindsided Ameerah, sending her home and leaving her previously powerful alliance (Daniel, Nicole, Indy and Alyssa) reeling. After sending Ameerah out, another blindside was on tap, this time for Nicole. But a “chef’s kiss” was added to this sweet blindside when they actually were able to convince Daniel that it was in his best interest to use the POV and pull down Indy and Alyssa from the block. Nicole – sitting next to Taylor – once again thought that Taylor was the target but ultimately followed Ameerah out the door.
It has been sweet, sweet revenge for Taylor, as those that wronged her are now facing BB justice. As the show went to end credits on Thursday night this week, Daniel was literally all alone, ostracized from the rest of the house and with not one single ally. He might be the most hated houseguest in quite some time, and he’s not the sort of underdog anyone is rooting for. We’ll have to wait to see if there is any redemption coming for Daniel, or if he will leave the rude and abhorrent villain that he’s become.
Besides The Leftovers alliance, the biggest development of the past two weeks has definitely been the season’s first budding show-mance. Kyle and Alyssa have been casually flirting since the start, but their relationship took a huge step forward this week, despite the fact that Alyssa had a “situation-ship” already back home. Alyssa and Kyle finally shared their first kiss, and seem smitten with one another. The problem is that they are on opposites sides of the house. Could Alyssa be Kyle’s downfall in this game? If The Leftovers are successful moving forward, will they deem Kyle their biggest internal threat and part of a show-mance that will need to be broken up? Or will Kyle somehow utilize his relationship with Alyssa to possibly bring in Indy, as the next power group to take a swipe at The Leftovers?
It’s unclear how long the “Festie Bestie” twist will remain in the game, but it definitely has been a fun, successful twist, that has added a lot of new layers of strategy to the game. It’s refreshing that as we enter the second month of the show, it is starting to feel like Big Brother again, and the corniness is in full swing…complete with challenges where drug-use is more than just referenced, and whole segments of an episode that are dedicated to houseguests needing to take cold showers so that they aren’t noticeably aroused. And please, keep those Jasmine sound-effects coming (the scooter squeak has become louder and louder, but I personally love the “boing!” sound they use when she hops around).
Taylor has come out on top, it seems, but there is still nearly two months to go until someone is crowned the winner. Can Taylor finally make some deeper connections to ensure she remains even after The Leftovers have run their course? Inside of The Leftovers alliance is the smaller alliance, “The Pound,” made up of Turner, Monte, Kyle and Joseph – and then there is the Final Two of Brittany and Michael – so there is definitely a lot of game left to play…but at least – save for Daniel – it’s coming down to a group of players that we actually enjoy watching week to week.
BB SCOREBOARD:
Current HOH: TBD (will be shown on Sunday, 8/7)
Nominations: TBD
UPCOMING EPISODES:
Sunday, 8/7 – HOH Result and Nominations
Wednesday, 8/10 – POV Comp and Ceremony
Thursday, 8/11 – Next Live Eviction
TELL US – WHO DO YOU HOPE IS THE NEXT VOTED OUT? DO YOU SHARE MY FEELING THAT THE SEASON IS GETTING BETTER AFTER A TERRIBLE START? AND WHO DO YOU THINK IS IN THE BEST POSITION THUS FAR?
[Photo Credit: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2022 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved]
