BB18 is over, and while it was a marathon that overstayed its welcome, the season was one of the most dynamic I have ever seen, with power flipping around every week. I called Nicole as the winner very early on, but the journey there ended up being very unpredictable. Pre-jury was marked by the Frank/Day/Tiffany civil war, the early jury had the excitement of Paulie's downfall, and then you had the tragedy that was Jatalie trying to seize control of the game by backstabbing Victor, only for a buyback and James' laziness cost them, leading to a brutal f6 where 3 couples took turns brutalzing each other, and ending the season with the closest f2 vote in BB history.
So while this season was exhausting, I think it is actually a pretty strong season, and I am curious if it will be more revered in the future, especially if we get another BB16. Below I am getting into my final Game and Show point giving, going through the jury votes, ranking the season and the winner, and giving every member of the cast a letter grade.
And then this season will be put to bed.
1. Nicole
Final Gameplay Score: 1170
Ranking: #2
Final Showplay Score: 690
Ranking: #5
Overall Grade: C-
Nicole wins BB18, and as you can see from my ranking of her Gameplay, I don't think she was a bad player by any means, even though obviously I would have voted for Paul over her. But she did enough to win, turning it up in the final third of the game with a decent chunk of comp wins, and her showmance was the last to be split up. I am still not a fan of her overall game, and the fact that I've been calling Nicole's win since the start of JULY means that I think this season was on a silver platter for her. The strong feminists and strong misogynists ended up compromising and giving the game to the woman who turned her back on the other women. I also think Nicole's coasting strategy was made more effective by this marathon season, and every twist benefited while harming players who I believe are overall superior such as Natalie, (Including the early vet alliance, James trusting her because of vet status, and Victor coming back at just the right time to screw over Jatalie's game.) The result is a game that I am not entirely satisfied about, and a character who was annoying more than anything else. Still, a win's a win, so I give her credit.
I'm also ranking her win in the Good but heavily flawed tier of winners, which will be reflected below.
2. Paul
Gameplay: 1830
Ranking: #1
Showplay: 1510
Ranking: #2
Awards: Best Player, Star of the Show, DR King, Worst Move of the Season, Future Allstar
Overall Grade: A+
Paul lost the game by pissing away Natalie's vote during her eviction week. I literally watched the moment when she decided that she would vote for Nicole over him, and it was because he could not stop himself from shitting on her. So in my opinion that was the worst move of the season.
However there is no doubt that Paul was the star of this season, the best player in my eyes despite costing himself the win with that terrible move. He is ranked #2 in Showplay, only because of my personal bias, because otherwise he absolutely stole the show, especially with the way he owned the DR and was the origin of every single catch phrase of the BB18 house including: Pissed, Friendship, Your Boy, and of course the word he thinks applies to him Boned.
Watching Paul learn the game by throwing literally everything and the kitchen sink at the game was a highlight, but he does need to learn when to accept victory and keep his mouth shut.
3. James
Gameplay: 1000
Ranking: #6
Showplay: 530
Ranking: #8
Overall Grade: C-
Jury Vote: Paul. (Presumably because he appreciated Paul's underdog status, comp wins, and thought Nicole had betrayed him worse.)
Oh James. I really liked James last year, but this year the only thing I really appreciated about him was that he was good for Natalie on a personal level. I have written before how I didn't think he was good for her game, and that holds true for how I think James' game overall this season was pretty anemic. I hope Jatalie works out, but I do not want James on BB ever again. The guy just doesn't have a win in him in my opinion.
4. Corey
Gameplay: 1100
Ranking: #5
Showplay: 260
Ranking: #13
Overall Grade: F
Jury Vote: Nicole (cuz she was his showmance)
Barf. No, that's too strong. Snore. Yep, that's right. The 4th Place finisher was #13 on my Showplay rankings, and those are cumulative. He was garbage, contributing to the misogynistic slant of the season, while also being incredibly boring. He's a crappy person, and I don't want him anywhere near Big Brother ever again.
5. Victor
Gameplay: 1150
Rank: #3
Showplay: 770
Rank: #4
Overall Grade: A
Awards: AFP, Future Allstar
Jury Vote: Paul (Because of Sitting Ducks)
I am not a Victor fan. I am annoyed that I ended up putting him above Natalie. He would have been my bottom ranked winner if he had managed to win. But although he was evicted 3 times, Victor had a strong 3 dimensional game, and he never gave up. He was also pretty entertaining in version 2.0, so I can understand the fans getting behind him. He'll probably come back, and it'll be interesting to see if he learns from past mistakes and becomes more strategic.
6. Natalie
Gameplay: 1130
Rank: #4
Showplay: 2120
Rank #1
Overall Grade: A+
Awards: My personal favorite, Best Move of the Season for uniting the house against Paulie, Future Allstar.
Jury Vote: Nicole (Because Paul mismanaged her jury vote, talked shit about her AFTER she apologized, and attempted to sabotage her relationship.)
I have spoken at length about how much I loved Natalie this season. She was such a shock to me, as I was expecting either another Victoria or the typical model 2nd boot. Instead we got a strong and intelligent woman, (with some insecurities) who came into the game and learned on the fly. CBS screwed up the edit as Natalie was so much more than the trophy girlfriend to James they presented. While her game was more flawed than Nicole's, she had superior intuition and social skills, and without the 2nd buyback and James ignoring Nat's instincts in favor of his own flawed gut, there's a good chance I'd be able to put her in the correct place as the 2nd best player of the season, and a true rival to Paul's #1 spot. As it is, her game collapsed in the final third, and unfortunately it seems she got caught up in showmance drama instead of playing through it. If she had shown ANY game at all in her last two weeks, that #2 gameplay spot would easily be hers.
Even so, Natalie was a highlight for me this season, and I desperately hope CBS asks her back. She needs to work on trusting her own instincts, (probably ignoring any James' preseason advice), and maybe taking some time with Da to master the art of the DR.
7. Michelle
Gameplay:930
Rank #7
Showplay: 60
Rank: #6
Overall Grade: B+
Awards: Most Personal Growth
Jury Vote: Paul (Because she hated Nicole)
Michelle probably seems like a dud to a lot of the BB community that focuses on gameplay or pure fights. Indeed, Meech did sleep a lot, but with so many hamsters serving as distractions that's okay. For me, I enjoyed Meech's personal growth throughout the season. She was arguably the cattiest girl in the house when the feeds turned on, but as the season went on she grew to recognize her faults and try to improve herself. Her friendship with Natalie in particular was a highlight. Shockingly, and this may be the first time this has happened in Big Brother history, I think Big Meech left the Big Brother House a better person than when she came in.
8. Paulie
Gameplay: 890
Rank:#8
Showplay: 640
Rank: #5
Overall Grade: F
Jury Vote: Nicole (she was loyal to him)
I considered giving Paulie a higher grade, because he did provide drama to the show. But the truth was, he was unwatchable. He was a disgusting human being, that oozed out misogyny. I don't want anyone to mistake him for good TV. He's an asshole.
9. Bridgette
Gameplay: 560
Rank: #9
Showplay: 330
Rank: #10
Overall Grade: C+
Jury Vote: Paul (she recognized his game)
I feel bad about this one, because Bridgette seems like a lovely person. She is probably a better player than we got a chance to see. Unfortunately her closest ally was Frank whose big mouth got both of them in trouble, and sent home Bridgette's closest friend Bronte. Bridgette herself didn't do much to cause good TV, but she did stand up for Natalie, and I commend her for that.
10. Zakiyah
Gameplay: 490
Rank: #10
Showplay: 170
Rank: #15
Overall Grade: F
Jury Vote: Nicole (Nicole was loyal to her.)
I wish Z was the queen her fans believed her to be. I saw a catty woman that allowed herself to get played all summer, and allowed her game to fall out of her hands.
11. Da
Gameplay: 420
Rank #11
Showplay: 1040
Rank: #3
Overall Grade: B+
Jury Vote: Nicole (the 9 person jury, and peoples' explanation of what was going on in the house lead to her believing Nicole was the better player.)
Da owns that DR, and is the runner up in the DR Royalty department this season. Her game left a lot to be desired though, and while I enjoy train wrecks, I don't feel like I can quite give Da an A grade for the trainwreck she provided, because it would have been more interesting to see what she would have done if she had stayed longer.
12. Frank
Gameplay: 410
Rank: #3
Showplay: 440
Rank: #9
Overall Grade: C+
Frank's overplaying caused some fun in the beginning of the season, although that was stifled quite a bit by the team twist. Overall though, I was disappointed by the way he contributed to the douchebro alliance, and I feel like he really muddied his legacy this season. I no longer consider him an allstar candidate, which is sad.
13. Tiffany
Gameplay: 260
Rank: #13
Showplay: 270
Rank: #12
Overall Grade: C
Tiffany was fine. She had some outbursts, but for the most part she really didn't contribute to this season much, even though the Frank/Da battle seemed to be centered around her.
14. Bronte
Gameplay: 150
Rank: #14
Showplay: 200
Rank: #14
Overall Grade: C
Bronte was fine for an early boot. I would have loved to see the Spy Girls make it past the team twist and try to play a more strategic game. The Frank/Da fight pisses me off because it denied us a chance to see whether the 3 underdog women could have done some real damage. I think with Natalie being as skilled as she is, they could have been a real force, but I guess we'll never know.
15. Jozea
Gameplay: 10
Rank: #15
Showplay: 270
Rank: #11
Overall Grade: B+
A fun trainwreck.
16: Glenn
Gameplay: 0
Rank: #16
Showplay: 90
Rank: #16
Overall Grade: C
Poor Glenn.
Now for my updated Winners and Season Rankings!
1. Derrick BB16
2. Andy BB15
3. Jun BB14
4. Dan BB10
5. Will BB2
6. Hayden BB12
7. Maggie BB6
8. Jon BBCAN2
9. Dick BB8
10. Sarah BBCAN3
11. Ian BB14
12. Jillian BBCAN1
13. Nicole BB18
14. Boogie BB7
15. Drew BB5
16. Steve BB17
17. Lisa BB3
18. Nick/Phil BBCAN4
19. Adam BB9
20. Rachel BB13
21. Jordan BB11
Season Rankings
1. BB Allstars
2. BBCAN2
3. BB8
4. BB14
5. BB4
6. BB10
7. BB2
8. BBCAN4
9. BB3
10. BBCAN3
11. BB18
12. BBCAN1
13. BB15
14. BB11
15. BB5
16. BB6
17. BB17
18. BB13
19. BB12
20. BB9
21. BB16
Now that I've put BB18 to bed, I'll see you guys next summer.....I mean...next week for BBOTT!
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