Well folks, this is it! After a summer of drama, streaking, red unitards, bunny suits, family feuds, alliances, betrayals and lots of slop, the finale of Big Brother 8 is finally upon us! Will the houseguests vote for Daniele to win due to her many competition-wins? Or will they be able to get over how badly Dick treated some of them enough to award him the grand prize of half a million dollars? No matter what happens tonight, a Donato will win but how will the houseguests react to the America’s Player twist?
We’re going to be covering the finale right here as it airs live on CBS! Stay tuned for updates and feel free to comment below with your thoughts and opinions!
9:00 p.m.: And we’re off! Julie’s hair is looking especially fluffy and the crowd is definitely pumped. The episode starts off with a recap of the season. Once again we get to see the enemy-twist revealed. As though we could forget Joe talking about getting gonorrhea. Daniele whines about able things being “frustrating.” Eviction. Eviction. Eviction. Dick’s attempts to reach out to Daniele. Dick’s rants. Dick’s alliances. This was truly the season of Dick. And now the second twist: America’s Player. The Dick/Daniele/Eric/Jessica alliance. Eric and Jessica’s eviction. Zach steps up. Jameka goes home. Zach is evicted and the Donatos make the final two.
9:03 p.m.: Back to the cheering crowd. Julie’s already playing up the big “America’s Player” twist. But first (yes!) we get to see the jury’s reaction when Zach shows up at sequester. Dustin says he’d love to see either Donato show up. They’re all pulling for Zach and laughing at the irony of it all. Jen wants Dick to show up. Boy will these guys be disappointed. They groan as Zach walks up, which probably makes him feel good and sad – especially when they tell him they would’ve voted for him to win.
America wants Dick to win! Eric is pleased with America’s vote and gets started campaigning for Dick. Zach says they can get back at Dick for being mean to them by not letting him win. Dustin agrees. Eric says its not in the rules that you have to be polite. Jen agrees that they’re all stupid for not voting either Donato out all summer. Jen says she cant condone Dick winning. Amber calls Jen out for forgiving Dick. Jen says Daniele should win because Dick is an asshole (that last part was censored). Dustin says they should look at each person’s game. Zach says Daniel was an amazing competitor. Dustin agrees. As you can see, the whole conversation is moving very fast. The houseguests seem torn between rewarding Dick for his strategy of meanness vs. rewarding Daniele who might have won a lot of competitions but clearly hasn’t won any of their support as a strategist.
Eric continues to push for Dick. Amber seems to be on Eric’s side with this and so does Jessica. Jess doesn’t think Daniele is any better than Dick. Zach says Dick was the guard dog and Daniele was holding the leash. Jameka says Daniele was the pimp and Dick was the ho. Ha! Dustin says its either evil or evil’s spawn that’s going to win. Coming up we’re going to see the jury question the final two. Well Eric seems to have had his work cut out for him. I’m very curious to see how the jury questioning went.
9:14 p.m.: Now we’re getting to see the jury’s questions which I’m sure will be seriously abridged to keep us from being able to guess who they’re pulling for. Dustin greets them and asks Dick how he feels about Daniele’s strategy to get her dad to the final two because she knows she can beat him (because of how terrible he acted). Dick says he’s happy to be in the final two regardless.
Oh! Amber pulls out the big guns by throwing a question at Daniele regarding her cheating on her boyfriend with Nick. Daniele pretty much throws the attitude back at her with a comment about how her personal relationship with Nick is none of anyone’s business. Way to campaign for yourself there. Tone down the bitch, Daniele. There’s half a million dollars riding on these answers!
Jessica asks an obvious question to Dick about which houseguest Dick would pick to sit next to out of anyone. Obviously, he’s happy to be sitting next to his daughter.
Eric asks what reason why each jury member would deserve to be in the final two. For most of the houseguests, Dick is frank and says most of them don’t. He does say that Eric was a strong player and that Jessica made some moves while she was HoH but she didn’t do much to “get blood on her hands.”
9:19 p.m.: Zach asks Daniele what she’ll take from each houseguest in the house. Daniele uses this as an opportunity to kiss their asses but based on the reactions of the jury members, they’re totally not buying it. Dick is more honest with his answers to this question, pointing out their flaws but finding positive things to say as well, even to Jen.
Jameka asks Daniele what she credits herself for in terms of moves in the game. Daniele says backdooring Jen was one of the big moves. Jen tells them she doesn’t respect either of them as people but she asks if Dick thinks this game has affected his relationship with Daniele. Dick is surprised by the question, considering its Jen that’s asking it. He says he appreciates the time he’s spent with Daniele even more than making it to the final two. Daniele says they don’t have a normal father/daughter relationship but that there’s no one she’d rather be sitting next to. She tells them to vote with their hearts. Dick brings up the deal he made with Eric that resulted in Dustin’s eviction. He says he feels the worst about turning on Jessica and Eric. He says he did a lot of the dirty work and he did what needed to be done. Daniele looks like her head is going to explode. Dick totally owned this portion of the competition.
9:22 p.m.: Daniele’s pissed about how the jury questions went and Dick adds it to the list of things she’s irritated by. And now the jury is walking out onto the stage. Everyone gets cheers although Amber’s were somewhat quieter than everyone else’s. The producers probably forbid the audience to boo as I’m sure many of them haven’t forgotten her antisemetic remarks earlier in the season.
While we’re at commercial. I think Dick was smart to appeal to Eric and Jessica by saying he felt bad about turning on them. He must know their voices will be very strong on the jury. Good move, Dick!
9:27 p.m.: Dick and Daniele are now sitting in the house talking to Julie. Both look really happy. The jury is about to cast their votes. One at a time they’ll insert the key of the person that they want to see win Big Brother 8. They’ll be allowed to make one final comment to the final 2 before they cast their vote. Eric goes first! This is probably going to tie in to the America’s Player twist reveal. We’ll get to see who America voted for then whether or not he was able to sway the houseguests.
Eric says the decision was clear-cut. Jameka goes next. She congratulates them and says her vote will be going to someone whose game she respects. Dustin votes next. Dustin says actions speak louder than words. He’s voting based on strategic action, not just words. Jen says she would rather vote for anyone besides them but votes for one of them and steps away. Zach, Amber and Jessica cast the final votes. Amber is basing her decision on game-strategic-purpose. Ha! Jessica says she’s voting for the person she enjoyed in the house most (everyone laughs) and may the best Donato win.
9:35 p.m.: Here we go! Howie is in the audience screaming something loudly while Kaysar sits next to him smiling. Dick’s mother (Daniele’s grandmother) and Vincent (Dick’s son) are with Julie. Both look kind of serious (which could just be nervousness). Dick’s mom says it’s a miracle that Dick and Daniele have resolved some of their issues. Vincent says Dick’s always the way he was portrayed in the show.
The first five evicted houseguests are seated on stage opposite the jury. Julie gives Nick a chance to say hi to Daniele. He says “hi” to her and Daniele does the little “Awk-ward!!.” Julie asks Carol what she thinks of Jessica (her high school rival) getting so far in the game. Carol says she was proud of her friend despite some of the “hurtful words” that Jessica said. Joe talks about watching Dustin play. He said it was neat to see him fall apart but then congratulates him for doing well and getting far. Dustin has no response to that.
Mike says he was rooting for Zach to make it to the final two. That’s the most he’s spoken all season. Kail says she’s not surprised that the Donatos made the final two. She said they came out strong and finished strong.
Julie’s about to reveal the twist! She addresses Dick and Daniele and tells them there’s a twist. The jury looks nervous. Julie says one of you is “not all you appear to be.” They cut to video. Eric is explaining the twist on camera while the live Eric sits on the couch on the stage looking seriously nervous. The houseguests laugh about mustard and look shocked when Eric targeted Jessica. Eric tells the camera he never got to cast his own vote. We get more footage of Eric finding out who he had to get evicted and then the campaigning process. Eric says Dick owes America a big fat thank you! He confesses to the mystery votes and now we get more footage of the silly stuff like Eric mimicking Dick.
Jessica looks very nervous and uncomfortable. They show the “silent treatment” task that Eric failed. Then the sleepwalking task and we see Joe on stage watching and laughing. Daniele and Dick are laughing hysterically at this. Eric says he didn’t always agree with America but it was his job to do the tasks and he hopes they understand. Back to the Eric on the stage. He leans in and whispers something to Jessica. Jessica says Eric said they could talk later. She seems genuinely shocked. She says she’s not mad at him. Eric looks kind of upset and still, very nervous.
Julie asks Dick how he feels about learning that it was the America’s Player twist saved him in the game. Dick thinks its hilarious but seems confused by how it affected the sequence of events. Dustin says Eric can sell anything and that Eric probably knew he was a big threat to everyone in the game. Julie addresses Jameka and asks her if it all makes sense now. Jameka says her woman’s intuition lead her not to trust Eric but she’s smiling about the whole thing. Jen seems good-natured about the mustard thing.
Eric tells Dustin and Amber he never would’ve pushed for their eviction if not for the twist. Eric then appeals to Jessica and assures her that everything they had in the house was real to him and he wanted to tell her but obviously, he couldn’t. She’s smiling but seems a little uncertain. These two are definitely going to have to talk. Chances are, she’s genuinely afraid she got played all season. Once she sees the episodes, she’ll see that Eric’s feelings for her have always been sincere. Hopefully she’ll get over the “woobie” task. Julie tells them that Eric cast America’s vote for this final round and they’ll find out who America chose after the break.
9:51 p.m.: Julie is about to count the votes! She reminds them that the winner will get $500,000 and the 2nd place winner, $50,000. Eric voted for Dick (we knew that one already but now Dick knows.) Jameka voted for Daniele. Dustin voted for Dick. Jen voted for Daniele. It’s 2-2! Zach voted for Dick. Amber voted Dick. Dick wins Big Brother 8!!! The Donatos hug. This will probably be “so frustrating!!!” for Daniele. Congratulations, Dick!
9:53 p.m.: Dick and Daniele come out and everyone is hugging them. Julie congratulates Dick. She has to fight through the crowd to get Dick and Daniele back at her side. After the commercial they’ll be back to share a few final words.
9:57 p.m. Julie reveals that Jessica voted for Dick to win. Dick won 5-2. Dick says he’s going on a trip. Daniele says she’s ecstatic and it doesn’t matter because “we won!” Julie will be interviewing Dick and Daniele tomorrow morning on The Early Show.
And that concludes this live-blog and this season of Big Brother 8! So are you happy that Dick won? Out of all the houseguests, who do you think deserved the win?
Here's the America's Player twist revealed:
