Warning! The following contains spoilers from the Big Brother All-Stars live feeds as of Tuesday, September 8. Read at your own risk!
It has been a crazy couple of days in the Big Brother All-Stars house, and for the first time this season, the tension boiled over. Tyler Crispen had a breakdown and tried to get himself thrown on the block in order to save Bayleigh Dayton and Da'Vonne Rogers, and live feed viewers were left wondering what the hell was happening because cameras were everywhere but the conversation with Tyler and Head of Household Christmas Abbott about making it happen.
Apparently, everyone was in the dark on what was happening, because Christmas and Tyler left it until the actual veto ceremony for the house to find out the veto would not be used. Absolutely nothing changed, despite Bayleigh and Da'Vonne feeling a level of certainty it would and having no heads up from Tyler. Christmas then tried to call out Bayleigh for being mad about the nomination, which led to tensions between the two and Da'Vonne as they went back and forth about what was and wasn't fair in this situation.
Here are just some brief snippets of the smackdown, which got heated between all three rather quickly.
At present, no one is ready to apologize or accept blame for the situation. I'm not sure anyone has to, though I can't help but think the production team of Big Brother All-Stars owns some blame for some of what's happening in the house, as well as what's happening on the outside. Here's why.
Tyler Was Allegedly Told "Encouraging To Be Evicted" Breaks The Rules
While we don't know exactly what was said between parties when Tyler Crispen went into the Diary Room to talk to production, we have heard from Cody Calafiore that executive producer Allison Grodner was involved. Later, Tyler told Da'Vonne Rogers and Bayleigh Dayton that production told him he wasn't allowed to ask Christmas to use the veto to put himself on the block as a means of being evicted. As he said it, the move was "against the rules."
It's a weird rule, especially considering fans have already pointed out a few times in past seasons where houseguests have encouraged others to evict them and Big Brother seemingly said nothing. If Tyler is being truthful that he was told that by production, it's something that needs to be cleared up for everyone's sake. If Tyler isn't being truthful, well, that's another conversation entirely.
Keeping Live Feeds Out Of Tyler's Conversation With Christmas Was A Mistake
One of the biggest issues with this controversy is that there are so many unknowns for the fans. Tyler talked to production and then went to have an over two-hour conversation with Christmas Abbott in the Head of Household bedroom. Big Brother All-Stars may show some of that conversation in an upcoming episode, but there's no way we'll get the full context considering what an episode will have to tackle in regards to the game, let alone the entire scope of this fight.
Had the live feeds shown the conversation, we might better understand Tyler's change of heart, or even why Christmas Abbott was so stubborn about removing a major player from the game with little to no blood on her hands. What was discussed in that room for so long, and why did Bayleigh Dayton and Da'Vonne Rogers have to wait until the ceremony to be told that the veto wouldn't be used? Is anyone else wondering why it doesn't seem like Christmas mentioned the situation with Tyler at all to the house?
There are some serious holes in this situation, and at the moment, it doesn't seem like fans are going to get any real answers. Unfortunately, the ones to suffer from that will be the houseguests involved, as fans have largely attempted to fill in the blanks and come to their own conclusions on motivations of houseguests given their limited perspective on the situation. There have been accusations that Tyler's whole meltdown was an act, that Christmas Abbott is racist, and that production deliberately stepped in and told Christmas not to use the veto on Tyler.
And now, the earliest Big Brother All-Stars may show any footage from that event is Wednesday, September 9, and even then, it would be a condensed and edited sequence. The opportunity for transparency on what happened in that discussion will have passed, which is a problem for the biggest controversy of this season so far. Tyler Crispen has stated in the past that the fight with Bayleigh was something that haunted him since Season 20, and I fear that this event will be similar because the truth behind what actually happened may never be fully uncovered.
Can Big Brother All-Stars Fix This Issue?
So much time has passed since this controversy started that I think the time to really do damage control is at an end. I'd like to think Big Brother All-Stars could release the Head of Household conversation between Christmas and Tyler that led to this baffling decision that everyone is still scratching their heads over, but it almost feels like too little too late. Whether anyone involved likes it or not, houseguests are already facing the wrath of the fandom on social media, and anyone familiar knows the Big Brother fandom can be pretty harsh.
As a fan, I think there is some cause for an explanation behind Tyler Crispen saying production told him he couldn't encourage his own eviction. There's a noted history of players in the past doing that. In fact, William "Dr. Will" Kirby famously did exactly that during the first Big Brother All-Stars. Staying silent only strengthens the conspiracy theory that the game favors certain players season to season, and adds to the list of controversies the show has had when it seemed like the rules applied to some, but not others.
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