Big Brother has aired 20 seasons in the U.S., and Celebrity Big Brother is currently airing its second season. So far, no African-American houseguest has ever won the game in the nearly 20 years since the show started airing in 2000. That looks like it's about to change with Celebrity Big Brother Season 2.
Anything separate from gameplay shouldn't determine who wins, but it has become an infamous frustration that African-American houseguests almost never even get close to the end. (Danielle Reyes was seriously robbed in Season 3.) That's why it's noteworthy to see all of the black players cast for Celebrity Big Brother Season 2 have officially made it to this Wednesday's finale night. Plus, one of them is the most likely to win the game -- and they would deserve to for their gameplay, certainly over the one white player left.
CBB Season 2 is now airing, and we're down to the final five:
Kandi BurrussTamar BraxtonRicky WilliamsLolo JonesDina Lohan
It's possible Dina Lohan (yes, Lindsay Lohan's mother) somehow gets to the end and somehow the jury votes for her to win. But she hasn't done much to deserve it, besides quietly survive to this point, and she doesn't have much support in the house, or any comp wins to suggest she'll make it to the final two.
Everyone else in the house is biracial -- like Lolo Jones -- or they identify as black. A predominantly African-American finale is first. It would be nice to think that race doesn't matter, but that's pretty naive. Most of the Big Brother U.S. winners have been white, with the most diversity represented in Jun Song as winner of Big Brother Season 4, Josh Martinez as winner of BB19, and Kaycee Clark with last summer's BB20.
For my money, singer/Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss has proven herself a savvy strategic competitor and I'd like to see her win this season. Tamar Braxton has had a lot of dramatic moments in the house, but she's also won several comps. Kandi doesn't have the comp wins of Tamar, Ricky, or Lolo, but she hasn't been as emotionally trying as Lolo has been at times. That goes for Tamar as well, and she didn't do herself any jury management favors last night as Tom Green was walking out the door.
If Kandi doesn't win, I'd pick Ricky, but the remaining women should evict him as soon as possible. Ricky has played well, plus the very male-dominated jury -- not all big fans of the women -- may reward him just for navigating all of the emotional carnage.
There was a double eviction in the Friday, February 8 episode, with Natalie Eva Marie leaving under Head of Household Tom Green, and then Tom himself leaving after Lolo became HoH. But Lolo had trouble making a decision on who to nominate, and Julie Chen herself warned Lolo that she would lose the HoH if she didn't make up her mind.
With Tom and Natalie out of the house, CBB2 lost two major threats to win. But now the game is potentially wide open -- depending on how things play out from here in the final two episodes.
The "best" player doesn't always win in any season, with "best" being subjective but usually leaning toward the more strategic. Celebrity Big Brother Season 1 was won by Marissa Jaret Winokur last year, because the jurors were upset (bitter?) at strategic Ross Mathews for lying to them. (Ross was named America's Favorite Houseguest.)
It's not clear yet how the Season 2 houseguests will vote, but -- unlike in the long summer sessions, when only a few HGs make it to the jury -- the entire celebrity cast gets to vote for the winner. (Does that include The Mooch, or will he not show up because he was "never a real houseguest?")
Celebrity Big Brother is a sprint at only four weeks, unlike the 90-plus days of the summer seasons. There are only two episodes left to Season 2 -- airing this Monday, February 11 and then the big finale on Wednesday, February 13 on CBS. Here's what else is airing on TV during the busy midseason 2019.
