While we all wait for #BBCAN5 and #BB19, most fans take a break from Big Brother. I've even heard that some go outside. For me though, I can't help myself but speculate and do stupid things like cast hypothetical allstars seasons that will never happen.
Hopefully you get some enjoyment out of this futile exercise.
Below is my pitch for #BB19 to be a Rivals season, inspired in large part by the Shelby and Jason rivalry from #BBOTT.
The Cast
First off we've got the cast, listed in reverse chronological order.
#BBOTT Rivals
Rivalry #1
Jason (BB17 and BBOTT) and Shelby
1. Jason
Pitch to be an allstar: Love him or hate him, (and based on voting it seems like people are pretty much split) Jason was the primary star of BBOTT. His rivalry with Shelby was the main story, and he was the player who dictated the way BBOTT would be played, by helping to divide the house and then contributing heavily to it remaining split. The final vote ended up being about whether you wanted to vote for Jason or against him, and while the vote ended up going against him, many believe he played the best game in BBOTT. He is also a strong gay character, that is anything but boring, and a superfan of the show bringing an element of nerddom that many super fans can appreciate.
2. Shelby
Pitch to be an allstar: Shelby is the greatest DR giver of all time. Her live DRs in BBOTT were the highlight of the season, and even most of the Misfits fans agreed they made the show better. Her rivalry with Jason was a main part of the story of the season, and she ended up being one of the top players of the season. Most Plastics fans rank her as the top player of the season, as her strategy of underplaying her intelligence and then coming on strong at the end with comps was almost enough to net her a win. Her DR's, comp skills, and strategic thinking make her a no brainer allstar (if she hasn't been blacklisted due to her meltdowns.)
Rivalry Bio: Arguably the biggest storyline in BBOTT was the rivalry between Jason and Shelby. Starting off as allies and potential best friends in week 1, Shelby had to abandon Jason to insure her own safety with Monte, leading her to permanently joining the #Plastics and pissing Jason off in the process. He reacted poorly, and she reacted to his reaction poorly. The result was a bitter feud between the two with a lot of low blows, although with lots of fans speculating that a #Jelby friendship would occur after the season. Jason and Shelby's rivalry lead to some of the most intense competition clashes of the season, and while Jason was able to defeat Shelby in the house, many of his comments radiated outside of the house, and many commentators point to Jason's feud with Shelby being the eventual cause of his defeat in the final 3.
Rivalry Status: These two don't seem to be mending things anytime soon based on post game Periscopes.
Rivalry #2
Danielle (BBOTT) and Scott (BBOTT)
3. Danielle
Pitch to be an allstar: Danielle is a strong black woman player, which is unfortunately a fairly rare casting type of BB. Danielle was one of the standouts of BBOTT with her strong competitive play, her constant thinking about the game, and her take no prisoners attitude. Some criticized the Plastics for taking her out over Jason, however in retrospect that might have been a game winning move for Morgan, as Danielle was incredibly appealing to the public and did not have the #NeverJason crowd to contend with. Danielle was an interesting player, and it would fun to watch her play the game in a regular season of Big Brother, and see if she was flexible enough to adapt to a game that wasn't necessarily split into two sides the whole season.
4. Scott
Pitch to be an Allstar: I considered Justin, to add another black player, or Alex (but ultimately needed a man in this spot to keep the genders balanced) ultimately my pitch for Scott is little bit contextual. I don't think he is by any means a no brainer allstar, but Danielle needs a true #Plastics side rival for this season, and Scott fits the bill. He is also the only member of the Virgin Superfan casting type I have included on this list. I think Plastics fans and #RHAP perhaps oversold Scott's gaming potential throughout BBOTT, however I am interested to see how he would play in non America controlled season.
Rivalry Bio: The Virgin King of the Plastics, and the Queen of the Misfits clashed in the BBOTT house, with Scott taking out Dani's boyfriend, before Dani got revenge by choosing to evict him when America gave her the chance. Both were arguably game mistakes, as both played personally and there was no love lost between the two. Scott choosing to target her the week before his eviction also hurt him immensely in many fan's eyes, and Danielle needs another plastic to go after in this season.
Rivalry Status: Scott seems to be trying to move on, but Danielle has kept things going on her end.
#BB18 Rivals
Rivalry #3
Paul (BB18) and Natalie (BB18)
5. Paul
Pitch to be an allstar: Another no brainer, Paul was the breakout star of BB18. He was a master in the DR, and despite coming in with little to knowledge of the game, his instincts and competitiveness lead to become the most dominant game player that season. He ultimately lost a jury vote, because he couldn't stop the shit talking against Natalie, however his penchant for causing controversy is just another reason to bring him back.
6. Natalie
Pitch to be an allstar: Call me biased, but this is another no brainer. One of the fan favorites of BB18, Natalie brings sweetness and good looks to help attract casual fans, and also provides some needed ethnic diversity, and her Venezuelan heritage is a storyline that BB18 failed to explore as thoroughly as warranted. Besides her obvious positives, Natalie also brought her share of drama to the show with her conflicts with Paulie, Victor, and Paul, and her presence is also likely to create drama again as her looks and voice naturally bother many other women, and some men. Some will disagree with me, but I also believe Natalie to be a very under rated player, with natural instincts and some physical talent to make her a good social player and a competitor. I also think that without James there to perhaps distract (and provide lousy advice) she will evolve as a strategist and be something of a dark horse. Regardless, I think she is leaps above the usual level of gamer from her character type which makes her an obvious cast in my opinion. Also she was my favorite from BB18, and since this is my hypothetical cast, I'm casting her.
Rivalry Bio: Paul and Natalie started the game in an alliance, sorta, and their relationship was actually very dynamic throughout the course of the season. Their friendship brought down Paulie's tyranny, and the end of their friendship cost both of them the game, as both targeted each other in the house. Ultimately the end of their friendship caused Natalie to be evicted, and Paul's reaction to the end of their friendship lead to Paul tossing away Nat's jury vote with his constant shit talking.
Rivalry Status: Low-key still very much alive. Neither Natalie or Paul really go after each other on social media, however both avoid each other as well. Natalie's biggest point of contention with BB18 was the edit that she threw James under the bus, which Paul very much contributed to. Nat still has Paul stans occasionally harass her, and some Jatalie stans return the favor to Paul. While neither seems to actively encourage this, I doubt it goes unnoticed, and I would be surprised if the two were harmonious if they played another season together.
#BB17 Rivals
Rivalry #4
Vanessa (BB17) and Johnny Mac (BB17)
7. Vanessa
Pitch to be an allstar: Her crying theatrics, her high level strategy thinking, and her being a lesbian all combine to make her an obvious no brainer returning player. Lots of people think she was an even stronger player than Derrick, and I would love to test that theory.
8. Johnny Mac
Pitch to be an allstar: People love JMac. He had funny Dr's, and had an interesting and mostly under the radar strategy that he implemented. Not necessarily a dramatic hg, he'll provide some levity to any season.
Rivalry Bio: These two never really quite clicked. There's not a lot of heat to this rivalry, but I want both of them back, and they weren't super close allies, so I'll stretch to name them rivals.
Rivalry Status: I think they're fine with each other, but I'm sure both would also be weary of each other if they played again. Not a homerun for the theme, but I want both players back.
#BB16 Rivals
Rivalry #5
Derrick (BB16) and Donny (BB16)
9. Derrick
Pitch to be an allstar: He played the single most dominant winning game in Big Brother history.
10. Donny
Pitch to be an allstar: Donny is America's favorite hg from BB16, which is inexplicably one of America's favorite seasons. He is Casuals bait, and unlike any player on this list. While I don't think he really holds his own in terms of strategy, he is a likeable guy with the ability to pull out some comp wins, so he may be someone to keep an eye on.
Rivalry Bio: To those people who claim BB16 was anything other than the season where Derrick massacred a bunch of sheep, Donny is often one of the first hg, people point to as providing him a challenge. Donny somewhat frustrated Derrick by being one of the few people who saw what Derrick was doing, but Team America and BOTB helped Derrick pacify Donny. Ultimately, Derrick completely crushed Donny in BB16, and Donny's only revenge was one of the two votes Derrick did not get to slightly mar Derrick's image as having played a perfect game. It would be interesting to see if Donny could provide Derrick more of a challenge this season.
Rivalry Status: There doesn't seem to be any hard feelings, but I bet somewhere deep down both men kind of have some scores to settle with one another.
#BB15 Rivals
Rivalry #6
Amanda (BB15) and Andy (BB15)
11. Amanda
Pitch to be an allstar: This should be a no brainer, but I worry that BB15 has been blacklisted by CBS. Amanda was a very controversial figure on the show, and a lot of the controversy was cringeworthy. However Big Brother 15 was an entertaining and dynamic season despite the controversy, because people were there to play. Most notably you had Amanda, who played the closest to what I'd call a female Evel Dick game as has ever been. She ran the house for weeks, or at least it seemed like that was what was happening. Then Andy pulled the rug out from under her, leading to her eviction, but not before she went out swinging, even managing to turn Elissa, one of her most bitter enemies into an ally in the effort to save Amanda. Amanda provided drama, comedy, and a hell of a game, and deserves to come back. I would also love to see Amanda play without a showmance to distract her. Watch out!
12. Andy
Pitch to be an allstar: Andy is probably not going to come back, if I'm being totally honest with myself. However, one of the big storlyines that I want out of a BB Rivals season is to see Derrick and Andy play against each other. Because in my opinion, Andy and Derrick played the two most dominant winning games in Big Brother history, and while Derrick's game is widely recognized, Andy's game is widely dismissed. So I stretched the rules of this season's them to include Andy, because he SHOULD return back, and his relationship with Amanda may be his best chance of returning. Andy was an incredible floater, to managed to brilliantly hide how much of the game he was running, so that many of us feedsters missed it until the end. But while Derrick had near superhuman control over every one of his fellow BB16 hgs, Andy fought against a field of much stronger players using some of the most well executed strategy in the game's history. While Derrick is the most dominant winner overall in Big Brother history, I consider Andy to be the game's best strategist, and watching them duke it out would be a massive treat.
Rivalry Bio: Amanda dominated 2/3 of BB15 with Andy as her seeming sidekick, then Andy turned on her and slit her throat. He was the key vote in Amanda's eviction, and several Amanda fans felt Andy robbed her of her win.
Rivalry Status: Their rivalry is honestly a joke, and I've really stretched the theme on this one. They're besties in real life, so I might need them to fake a twitter feud to get this to work.
#BB13 Rivals
Rivalry #7
Rachel (BB12 & BB13) and Dani Donato (BB8 & BB13)
13. Rachel
Pitch to be an allstar: She already is one. I'm bringing her back because I want to see her and Dani compete against each other in an endurance comp. Also, I want to see a full season of Rachel without Brendon.
14. Dani Donato
Pitch to be an allstar: See Rachel. Also I want to see a full season of Dani WITH Dominic. Cuz #Dominelle forever.
Rivalry Bio: These two clashed throughout BB13, as Dani turned on Rachel when Rachel refused to backdoor Jeff and instead sent Dominic packing. Dani retaliated by evicting Brendon TWICE, but was unable to stay long enough to take out Rachel herself. Many fans ended up seeing Rachel as the hero of BB13, and Dani as her villainous counterpart, although I personally always saw it the other way around. Seeing these two come back and duke it out in an endurance comp is one of the top reasons for the theme of this season.
Rivalry Status: Rachel is currently beating Dani in terms of producing children. Get on that BB super baby, #Dominelle!!!
Rivalry 8
Shelly (BB13) and Dominic (BB13)
15. Shelly
Pitch to be an allstar: Shelly is an incredibly underrated player who would have won BB13 if it weren't for a stupid twist. That's right, I said it, Shelly was the #RobbedQueen of BB13. Also it would be nice to have some age diversity in this cast.
16. Dominic
Pitch to be an allstar: #Dominelle forever. Also, Dominic does add some diversity, and he felt like someone who left too soon.
Rivalry Bio: Dominic was one of the leaders of the Newbies in BB13, which was betrayed by Shelly leading to the Renegades becoming one of the worst alliances in Big Brother History, (BBOTT's 4 Horseman may have stolen that title.)
Rivalry Status: Okay, maybe this theme is a charade, and I'm just casting who I want, but hey not all the people in Survivor Heroes vs. Villains fit that them either, at least I can do some mental gymnastics to claim these two are rivals!
Game Format:
Okay, I would obviously prefer that we get a twist free season, but here's my idea for twists, since that obviously won't happen.
First off: I think CBS feels that they need a Sunday competition that is relevant to the game, and a way to involve more of the very large cast into the game of the early weeks, because otherwise much of the cast will get 0 storyline for the first half of the season.
So I introduce....
The Rivals Twist.
For the first 4 weeks, (until the cast is small enough for everyone to get a relevant storyline on their own) Everyone will play with their rivals. If you win HOH, your Rival is guaranteed safety. AS HOH, you nominate two sets of rivals. They then compete in the....
Rivals Duels (your Sunday competition)
In the Rivals Duels, Rivals will face off in an EXCITING GAME CHANGING COMPETITION. The winner will be safe for the week, the loser will be one of the nominees.
The veto will then be played. If someone is taken off with the veto, the HOH can nominate any individual who is not safe.
When someone is evicted, their Rival earns a Golden key which guarantees them safety until the end of week 4.
Additional Elements of the Rivals twist: Every week on CBS.com, viewers can vote for the rival they prefer. The winner will get $1,000 (this probably won't happen) and be able to eat, take hot showers, and sleep in the comfy room for the week. The loser will be named a Have Not. HOH and their rival is exempt from voting.
Following week 4, the Rivals twist ends (preferably with some kind of cool ceremony with good character beats) and all 12 remaining hgs compete in an endurance comp for HOH.
Again: I want as few twists as possible. But since I doubt the twist's will stop there, I continue.
Following week 5, we get a Battle Back tournament, composed of the first 4 duels, plus a new competition.
Big Brother brings back Care Packages, however to fix the issue of the most popular players getting the worst CP's, the good ones are up front. I suggest the first CP being a "Slop Pass" that the CP recipient learns in the DR is a secret DPOV, or coup.
Jury starts at 10 people. There is an 8 person jury, with America getting a jury vote.
Final Selling Points:
I'm going to start this section with the biggest con, so I can finish positive.
There are issues with this season. Obviously the theme gets stretched thin at points, but the biggest issue is that there is only one Black HG on this season. This is a real problem, and I did consider adding others to diversify the cast, but none quite fit with what I wanted this season to be. While I stretched the Rivals theme, having Justin as Danielle's rival from BBOTT would have been ridiculous. Da'Vonne just had two back to back stints on Big Brother proper. Lawon and Kalia just didn't fit. And I kept this season within the last 5 years, which ruled out Danielle and Roddy.
The biggest issue, is that it should be much easier to cast a season of allstars with a diverse cast. BB needs to diversify their alumni roster. I hope that if #BB19 is a newbie season, which it probably will be, the casting people really should cast more black hgs. I'd suggest 4 or more, to increase the likelihood that you'll have cast strong players, and reduce the chance that bigotry (subconscious or not) prevents them from playing a strong game.
That said, I do think my cast has some good LGBTQ (please don't be angry if I mess up that acronym) representation, and while there is not a ton of ethnic diversity, I think all 16 of these players are very different types of players who would make a very strong overall cast.
Now on to the other good stuff, that would really excite me about this cast.
Drama:
This cast would bring the drama. There are a ton of built in dramatic storylines, from the obvious rivalries, especially among those from recent seasons, however this are also some interesting cross seasonal rivalries that I could see being fun. I really do think Andy v. Derrick would be a thing, and I would love to see how Rachel and Amanda got along after all the shit Amanda said to Elissa during BB15. I think there are a lot of issues these hgs would have with each other, that could be quite explosive.
Love:
This season wasn't built for new showmances, unless you subscribe to Shelby/Paul, which is part of why I included Dominelle. Plus, #Dominelle forever.
DRs
Amanda, Johnny Mac, Jason, Paul, and Shelby are 5 elite DR givers. That's more elite DR givers than any other season in my opinion, and unless there is a really weird strategic turn to this game, you'll have at least a few of them stay for the majority of the game to make sure the episodes are always fun and funny.
Competitions:
The players I picked for this season are almost all very strong competitors, and I think we could get some top notch competitive battles this season. Obviously my top one to look for is the endurance comp between Rachel and Dani Donato, although I wouldn't count Natalie out of that one either.
Strategy:
Donny may not be a very strong player, and people may disagree about Natalie being a good player, but this cast would have the highest average gamer level of any season in Big Brother history, including the first allstars. Derrick v. Andy is of course the highlight for me, as I believe they are two of the best, but Rachel is another Big Brother winner. You get 3 finalists in Jason, Paul, and Dani Donato, and then you also get the "robbed queens" of Shelby, Danielle, Vanessa, and Shelly. I think this cast would provide the most intense strategic game the show has ever produced.
Closing
Anyways, that's my pitch for #BB19 #Rivals. I hope those with enough free time to read this, enjoy the idea. I just wanted to share.
Any critiques, tweet me at
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