Disclaimer:

This article was written before the tragic passing of BB27 houseguest Mickey Lee. I did not know Mickey outside of Big Brother, but she brought me and countless other BB fans joy with her kindness, her spiciness and her determination. May she rest in peace and my thoughts and prayers are with her family.

Link to Mickey Lee’s Family’s Go Fund Me:

Fundraiser for Chanel Hill-McElfresh by Kori Smith : Celebrating the Life of Mickey Lee

I am a huge fan of reality competition shows. I started with Total Drama Island as a kid, and then later discovered shows like Big Brother, Survivor, Hell’s Kitchen and many more. My favorite reality competition show lately though is Big Brother. I find the game to be extremely fascinating; how everything plays out live, especially the evictions, and how there are almost never any long-term teams. It truly is every player for themselves from beginning to end. 

While I was excited for Big Brother Season 27 (BB27), because there were a lot of houseguests that looked promising, I fell behind because I was in a total Superman craze for the summer. I also found out that former winner Rachel Reilly entered the house, and that kind of turned me off to the show too. I am not the biggest fan of Rachel, and I do not like it when the Big Brother seasons puts a vet with a bunch of newbies. The last time they did this ended with one of the worst seasons of Big Brother, where almost all of the newbies just did what the vet wanted. As for BB27, I was not prepared for the emotional rollercoaster this season would be…

I have watched and followed Big Brother since 2015, and most of the time I can predict who will end up being the best at competition (comp beast), who will get evicted early, who will make it to the final 3 and who is pulling the strings. That was not the case this season. Big Brother 27 is one of the craziest and most unpredictable seasons of Big Brother, which left me stunned nearly every week. This makes up one of the reasons why BB27 might be my favorite season of Big Brother ever watched live.

Part of the chaos of BB27 came from the cast. Every houseguest contributed to the gameplay and entertainment factor here, from the drama they caused to the crazy moves some of them made. There were a lot of bad game moves made this season, especially early on, but they made for interesting and compelling TV, leading to drama and betrayals. There are houseguests putting up their allies for eviction, others volunteering to go on the block and one who decided not to use their game-saving power even when they were the one on the block. Each week had me hooked because I was ready to see the next crazy misplay from the contestants.

Going into this season, I was not a fan of Rachel Reilly. Sometimes I have found her entertaining, but overall every time I had seen her previously I had found her annoying, petty and over-reliant on comp wins. This season changed my tune of her entirely. Rachel brought drama, entertainment and style to the Big Brother house. Her social game is impeccable, she is one of the smartest houseguests and she seemed to have matured a lot since the last time she played. I loved watching Rachel this season and I found myself rooting for her more and more each week. She played a better game this season than the season she won. Here, she was never nominated for eviction, and she had relationships with a lot of other houseguests that kept her off the block. It made her sudden elimination all the more heartbreaking and enraging… but we will get to that. 

Rachel is not the only houseguest that I fell in love with here. My favorite of the newbies is gamer and D1 athlete, Morgan Pope. Morgan is someone I rooted for from the start because she is gamer like myself. What drew me to Morgan is that from beginning to end she played the game as hard as a gamer would. Her gameplay included planning ahead for multiple situations, getting her allies to make decisions in her best interest and winning a lot of comps when she needed them.

Normally, I am not a big fan of comp beasts, but Morgan is so charismatic, and she did not start winning until the final 10… but then, after her first Veto win she started winning every week. I screamed when I found out she won her first veto, and I cheered when she won the double eviction HOH. She is not just a great competitor though. One of her best moves was getting her closest ally, Vince, to put one of his final 2, Lauren, on the block. It blew my mind that Morgan was pulling that off and it showed that she was calling the shots. As one houseguest would say, “Morgan gets what Morgan wants.” Morgan did not win the season, but she left such a huge impact and played such a great game. Morgan kept me hooked with her dynamic gameplay, even after Rachel’s brutal elimination.

Then, there is the winner of the season, Ashley Hollis. Ashley is an attorney at law, but she told the house she was a social media manager. I rooted for her right off the bat because even though she was the house target week one, she won the Veto to save herself making the first week interesting and she is funny without trying to be. She is also the most likable houseguest in the house. She is sweet, but not a pushover and she is bubbly, but also very intelligent. From the live feeds, Ashley showed she has some of the best reads in the house, and she used them to make small moves that put her in better positions week after week to the point where once she made final 7, she was very likely gonna make it to final 3 no matter what.

Ashley’s victory is one of the biggest upsets in Big Brother history because she went up against Morgan the comp beast and Vince, who won four HOH competitions. At that time, she had only won one veto, but she managed to beat both of them in the final HOH, evict Morgan and crush Vince in the jury vote to win the whole show. What makes Ashley’s win so satisfying is that in a season, filled with comp beasts and multiple comps to save other games, her social and strategic game is what got her the win. I cheered like I was watching the Super Bowl watching Ashley sweep the jury votes and win in the end. 

Keanu, the dungeon master (Dungeons and Dragons gameplay director/narrator/player) is another houseguest who I found it very frustrating to root for, but I still respect what he brought to the season. Any other season, Keanu probably goes home early because his social game was lackluster. Due to his success with the Veto and BB blockbuster challenges offered this season though, he was given more chances. I love how hard everyone in the house tried to get the Dungeon Master out, yet week after week he kept saving himself, even firing back at a comp host, who had forgotten to congratulate him out of shock. Keanu’s, “I believe you have a prompt,” is still one of my favorite one-liners this season. While Keanu’s gameplay was not good, he played very hard and was willing to make big moves to shake up the game.

There were a lot of memorable houseguests this season. Vince who was unemployed before entering the BB house is a strong and entertaining player who kept the game very interesting; with his betrayals, stressful HOH reigns, relationship with Morgan, crashouts when the tide turned against him and his drive to do anything he could to stay off the chopping block, even if it hurt his allies’ games. Vince stated that he had been trying to get on Big Brother for 10 years and he played like he had applied for 10 years. I did not agree with everything Vince did over the season, such as trying to get Morgan to use the veto on him when she was on the block, but he played very hard and BB27 would probably be much more boring if he got evicted early on.

 Keanu and Rachel’s relationship is another one of my favorite aspects of this season. Rachel and Keanu had this sibling rivalry, where they would argue one day and make up the next. It seems like they were trying to work with each other, but also trying to get each other out of the house. They fought nearly every week about game and non-game-related things and it always made for great TV. Despite the two butting heads, they respected each others’ gameplay, and Keanu was visibly crushed when Rachel was gone. I enjoyed watching these two go at it and make up each week.

Kelley, who gave the audience a rare and hilarious glimpse into the hypothetical. If during any other season you wondered what it would look like if a newbie (first boot) made the final 7, watch BB27 and pay attention to Kelley. Kelley is a train wreck of a player, who was nominated onto the chopping block four times in a row, but she’s fun to watch— just to see her come up with the worst strategy possible, become the house target and then win exactly when she needs to.

Will is one of the funniest houseguests that I’ve seen in a while, including some hilarious confessionals making fun of the game itself at times. Will’s eviction is one of the saddest of the season, because of how likable he is in a season filled with polarizing houseguests.

Mickey is one of the most memorable pre-jury villains. She steals an HOH, making one of the worst moves in Big Brother history by nominating her ally Jimmy and scraping through the next couple of weeks with a huge target on her back. Jimmy himself was a pretty shocking early boot, because despite his messy gameplay, he is a big character who played very hard and got into a lot of fun-to-watch conflicts, mainly with Keanu. 

I lived for the drama this season. There was much more drama between the cast and a lot less Kumbaya energy compared to the last several seasons. There were arguments from start to end, even all the way up to the final 3 with Morgan and Vince arguing. 

 Ashley calling Keanu out in week 8, Keanu getting into it with Ava after the veto comp in week 4, Rachel calling Morgan out week 5, and Kelley calling Vince out as she was about to leave the house in week 10. These houseguests were not afraid of confrontation and that is a big reason why it stayed so interesting from beginning to end.

Also, this season had a lot of power shifts, some of which took out some pretty big players early on. The house was divided early on; at first, Rachel’s side definitely had the upper hand, but she lost two crucial allies early on and she had plenty of players who wanted to target her. Other players pivoted to other sides when things were not going their way and it helped create a very unpredictable boot order. Jimmy, Zach and Mickey all seemed like major contenders, but they got evicted pre-jury. Ashley is someone that I thought would be one of the first houseguests evicted after becoming a big target week 1, but she ended up winning the whole show. This is one of the few seasons where it felt like anyone could get evicted on any week and that anyone could pull out the win.

A lot of Big Brother seasons have unanimous eviction votes with the occasional sympathy or hinky vote thrown in. Not here. There were several split votes and votes against the majority, even if the vote seemed locked in. We got a very intense 5-4 vote with Morgan surviving over Rylie, a very heartbreaking eviction with Will leaving 3-2 and even our first tie vote since BB24. We even got a rare 2-1 vote at the final 6, with Vince voting against Morgan’s wishes, but ultimately failing to save Lauren. 

Lastly, some of the competition results here were wild. Competitions can change the trajectory of a season and it really did this season. Normally, the competition results would be predictable for me, especially for veto competitions. However, this became the season where targets would end up winning pivotal competitions. Notably, Ashley won the first veto, with her back against the wall, and changed the trajectory of the season for the better. Kelley won multiple blockbusters when it seemed like she was a goner. Mickey won two comps when she was the biggest target in the house, which sent the other houseguests spiraling. Keanu was nominated to the chopping block four times in a row but won three vetoes and a blockbuster in a row to stay, keeping the house shook.

For the first half of the season, Morgan struggled at the comps and was seen as one of the most disappointing competitors despite having a few good showings. After being nominated as a target by Keanu in the final 10, it seemed like she was in a lot of trouble… and then she clutched the veto. I remember that day and I screamed when I found out my favorite player won her first comp. 

The single most stunning competition win, however, was Ashley winning the final HOH. Coming into the final HOH, Ashley had only won one Veto and she was against a powerful duo of Vince and Morgan. It seemed like Ashley had no chance to win against either of them, but she managed to beat Vince in Part 2 of the finale, making a huge comeback against him and then she defeated Morgan in Part 3, crushing her in the Q&A (4-1). I was stunned when I found out she beat Vince, and I remember shouting out loud at the end of my work shift. I find it very poetic that Ashley only won the two comps that she needed to win the game, making for an exciting finish to the season.

I also remember watching the double eviction live, where she seemed like the target going in and then she won the Double Eviction/HOH. I cheered so hard, and personally it was a great moment that cheered me up after a rough couple of weeks. By the end, Morgan holds the record for the most weeks of safety from comp wins, and she ties Kaycee and Janelle for the most number of Vetoes won by a woman in a single season! Very rarely do I root for a comp beast, but I really like Morgan, she started out not winning anything and she won against stiff competition like Keanu, Vince, Lauren and Kelley.

That brings me to the finale. I watched it live and I remember feeling giddy, excited and nervous for how this season would end. First of all, BB27 had an excellent final 3 with Vince, Morgan and Ashley; who all played excellent games in different ways. I had two players I wanted to win: Morgan and Ashley. When it was the two of them in the final HOH, I decided to root for both of them. The result ended up being bittersweet for me. I was so proud of Ashley pulling off a huge upset, but I was crushed for Morgan who ended up being the last houseguest evicted after carrying the back half of the season. However, I understood that Morgan was a bigger threat than Vince, who burned a lot of bridges with the jury.

Compare that to Vince, who had very lackluster answers; his first answer started off with not even owning up to his manipulative game. I knew right then and there, he was probably not gonna win it. His speech was not that bad. It highlighted his game and how he got to the final 2, but I feel that overall, Vince should have prepared a lot more for the end.=

Watching Vince and Ashley answer the questions from the jury was like watching a baseball team having to pull the Mercy Rule. Ashley answered the questions like a champion, making great points about her gameplay, like when she turned her enemies into allies, helping create The Judges (which was made-up of the dominant alliance this season) and taking inspiration from Elle Woods from Legally Blonde for her game. I adored her Final 2 performance and it frustrated me seeing Julie interrupt her speech.

Now, while I think Big Brother 27 is a great season, I do think it has some issues. First of all, the White Locust twist is quite possibly the worst twist in Big Brother history. It breaks the game and goes against the core social game, by having a competition determining who gets eliminated. No vote, no campaign, no veto, no blockbuster… lose the maze comp, you instantly go home. Guess who ended up being the victim? Rachel Reilly. We never got to see Rachel on the block, how she would campaign or what speech she would give. Taking live feeds away for over 24 hours, and having them turn back on with Rachel gone after they come back is a huge slap in the face. To top it all off, Ashley, Will and Keanu who ended up on the block that week could not even compete for HOH; only the other players who survived the maze were able to fight for HOH that week. I hope they never bring back this trainwreck of a twist.

My other problem with this season is the editing for the episodes. There are a few houseguests who got big edits, with the two biggest being Vince and Keanu. While I think Keanu and Vince were big players important to the game, I feel like some other players got shafted hard… mainly Morgan and Ashley. Despite being the frontrunner to win in the final couple of weeks and running the game, Morgan felt more like a background player, particularly during at least two of Vince’s HOHs.

Even worse though is that Ashley’s excellent gameplay almost never showed up in the episodes. We saw snippets of her smart reads and influence, but we rarely got to see her thoughts in the diary rooms. Both Morgan and Ashley deserved better in the edit, as they were arguably the two best players of the season. This also shows why live feeds are important, because sometimes the edited show does not always accurately represent what is going on in the season.

To give you guys an idea, by the end of this season when Ashley won, I went and watched Legally Blonde. I created a Twitch account so I can eventually subscribe to Morgan’s Twitch account. Despite being a huge gamer, I only stuck with YouTube until now. I now want to watch Rachel’s other appearances such as her first two Big Brother seasons, her appearances on The Amazing Race and The Traitors US. This season of Big Brother got me to try things I would never do before and I already miss watching the feeds and the show. I hope BB28 can match this season’s entertainment value!

Overall, I loved BB27. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and most importantly, it was incredibly entertaining to watch. Each week had something fun happening, several evictions were surprising and the cast delivered on the drama and messy gameplay. Even early on when a lot of people were criticizing this season, I said it is fun to watch because of the unpredictability and it stayed unpredictable to the very end. In a year that brought a lot of stress for me, this season of Big Brother gave me a lot of joy I really needed.