Big Brother Season 17 premiere (Part 1) spoilers ahead!
Big Brother is back. Summer has begun! Expect the unexpected every single week. Unless you expected one of the twists to be very similar to Season 5's twin twist, in which case, expect that. Twist #1 is the "BB Takeover," which will introduce a new twist every week. The other twist is the Twin Twist, which brings the houseguest count up by one... kind of.
Twin Twist.
We'll start with the Twin Twist, since it's more exciting than the vaguely teased BB Takeover twist-athon. Julie Chen revealed this twist to the viewers tonight, announcing that one houseguest would be playing a single-person game with their identical twin this season. From what she's said about the twist, it sounds identical to the Big Brother 5 twin twist, in that the twins will be posing as one person, with only one of them inside the game at any given time. If they can keep the fact that they're actually two people taking turns inside the house from the other houseguests, the second twin will be allowed to enter the game as themselves. They'll need to survive the first five evictions in order to play the game together.
For those who didn't see Season 5 of Big Brother, the twin twist for that season featured fitness fanatics Adria and Natalie, as they played the game as one houseguest for the first month of the competition. Adria was the presented houseguest, but she and her twin sister Natalie would secretly switch out in the diary room for weeks. They managed to pull it off and Natalie was allowed to play the game. Spoiler alert, neither houseguest won. But Natalie's reveal was a major shock to the other houseguests.
This twist leaves us with two big questions:
1) Which houseguest has the twin?
Well, we know Shelli has already said she has a twin, but it's her brother, so it isn't likely that he'll be in on this particular twist. A poster over at JokersUpdates.com has shared some images of yet-to-be-introduced Houseguest Liz and her twin sister Julia, so there's a very good chance it's them. But who knows if any of the other houseguests have identical twins? After all, I don't think Adria and Natalie were the only BB5 houseguests who had a twin sibling.
2) Will they be able to make it through 5 evictions without getting caught?
Adria and Natalie did it, but they had the benefit of being part of a twist that had never been done on Big Brother U.S. before, therefore the houseguests likely couldn't have imagined that they were playing the game with an unannounced houseguest. Granted, it's been over a decade since Big Brother pulled this stunt on the houseguests, but there are likely to be a few houseguests in the game this year that are fans enough to remember Big Brother 5's fitness twins.
There's also the matter of these twins actually surviving five evictions in this game. Never mind being discovered, they could just as well be evicted for other reasons before the big reveal. Then again, maybe this "BB Takeover" will work in their favor. (Ok, "maybe" is probably putting it mildly).
Hopefully we'll get confirmation on who's playing with a twin tomorrow night during Part 2 of the Big Brother Season 17 premiere. If not, it's likely the live feed watchers will crack that puzzle before it's eventually confirmed on the show.
BB Takeover
The Twin Twist obviously wasn't announced to the houseguests, however Julie did tease the "BB Takeover" weekly twist-athon to the eight first-arrivals. This involves special guests and expect-the-unexpected surprises on a weekly basis.
The houseguests seemed nervous about this, and i can't say I blame them. It's hard to have a strategy when Big Brother is throwing one twist after another. I'm reserving full judgment on this twist for now, until we see what kind of twists we're dealing with. We should have a better idea of what's what tomorrow night, as Julie says the first surprise guest will deliver a "game-changer."
Other reactions to the premiere:
Like last season, only half the house (or technically 8 houseguests) entered the house tonight. The other 6 (or 7, if we count the twin?) will enter the house during tomorrow's episode.
Da'vonne has my attention. The poker dealer, who's posing as a teacher, seems to have her eye on things. I liked that she recognized the benefit of Audrey's story. It shows she's seeing how behavior can impact the game. That kind of perspective could serve her well. But her choice to sit out the head of household competition may or may not hurt her come nominations time. We'll see.
I loved the girls tentatively talking about having an alliance. The conversation was careful, which was smart. Whether or not this unnamed female alliance actually sticks remains to be seen.
Audrey revealed her truth about being transgender to the houseguests, and it seemed to go over well.
Are Shelli and Clay destined for a showmance? The were my predicted picks for this season, but we'll see if interest turns to something more.
Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier hosted the Head of Household competition, which included awkward "red carpet" interviews.
The first Head of Household competition recycled a comp from Season 15, in which houseguests had to stand on a plank, against a wall and have tennis balls tomatoes thrown at them. The tomato juice being splattered at the houseguests during the movie premiere-themed competition resulted in everyone looking like they were coming out of a scene from Dexter by the time the competition ended. Is this foreshadowing that Audrey's sinister plans are going to come to fruition? Break out the blood slides!
Has there ever been a four-way tie for Head of Household? The remaining four houseguests up on the wall fell at the same time. Technically, it didn't come down to a tie, as the photo-finish revealed that James, the self-proclaimed "hillbilly Asian" was the last to hit the red carpet, making him the winner.
The "Fan Favorite" game twist (really?) Battle of the Block is back, so there will be another Head of Household competition, followed by nominations and a BotB competition to determine the true HoH and standing nominees.
We'll have more reactions and opinions on the start of Season 17 of Big Brother after tomorrow night's premiere.
