I became a Big Brother fan back in 2019, and as such, I've missed a lot of the most iconic seasons of the series. Fortunately, with my Paramount+ subscription, I've been able to slowly make my way through previous seasons and get more context on one of America's greatest game shows. Despite that slow trek, I've finally found my way to Season 16, and boy, do I have some thoughts.
Big Brother 16 is generally considered the season that changed modern Big Brother forever. I can certainly see how after watching one of the best to ever do it Derrick Levasseur play the game. Here are some other thoughts I had that I felt I needed to get off my chest before jumping into another season.
Too Many Hashtags
It's very clear that we're in the early years of Twitter catching on with networks during Season 16 of Big Brother due to how many hashtags pop up over the season. Literally every fight, showmance, big moment, and alliance is given a hashtag. It's a lot, and I think in hindsight, we've since learned it's not the best strategy to try and make a ton of hashtags happen at once.
These days, it seems like the online Twitter fandom will attach to a specific hashtag, while Big Brother will usually designate a single hashtag that could be as simple as the show's title. Twitter is still one of the more popular places for fans of the show when it comes to interacting, but I am glad that we don't have to deal with all of the hashtags in the modern seasons.
Devin Really Paved The Way For The Detonators To Be Successful
Devin Shepherd is one of the most chaotic players to have ever played Big Brother, but I think he's largely responsible for the success of The Detonators. Sure, that alliance wasn't formed until he was out of the house, but I feel like the chaos Devin sowed made it clear to Derrick that he had to branch out into another alliance and tighten things up to truly remain in control of the game.
Additionally, I'd add that if it wasn't for big personalities like Devin, Derrick wouldn't have been able to fade into the background nearly as easily as he did. It might be a stretch to say that Derrick wouldn't have won in a season where Devin wasn't in the house, so I won't go that far. With that said, I think Devin certainly helped lead to the strongest alliance throughout a bulk of the game, and unified a bunch of people still reeling from the chaos.
Caleb And Amber’s Story Is Just Icky
Caleb Reynolds and Amber Borzotra is one of the worst storylines of Big Brother Season 16, full stop. This story began with Caleb expressing his interest in wanting to start a showmance with Amber, and should've ended after she politely told him that she was not interested in him like that. Instead, it went on much longer and got super icky and upsetting at points.
This season felt really unfair to Amber, whose game suffered in part due to someone she had little to no association with in the house. Not only did Amber have to play Big Brother, but she also had to play nice around Caleb, and even that would often not be enough to keep him from getting into random tiffs with her about why they weren't dating.
This Season Wouldn’t Be Nearly As Good Without Zach
Is Zach Rance in the conversation for one of the best Big Brother players of all time? I don't think so, but he is one of the most entertaining. Zach was there to make moments happen, and I'm not even sure it was done for the good of the fans. He was just bored and wanted to shake things up in the house, which is exactly the type of energy the last few seasons of Big Brother have lacked.
I'm crossing my fingers the day will come when we'll get another Zach who really shakes up a Big Brother house and presumably gives some great live feed content. I can't really speak to the latter part considering it wasn't available to me while watching.
Christine’s Boos And The Cody Storyline Aged Poorly
I recognize that as someone watching in 2023 and not live, there's some obvious context I'm missing out on. With all of that said, I do not think the modern iteration of Big Brother would demonize any Houseguest the way that they did Christine Varner. I was gutted when she left the house to boos, and even more upset to see that her husband and family agreed to do that segment admonishing her for cuddling with Cody Calafiore.
In my mind, if Christine and her husband agreed to cuddling before she entered the house, that's their business. It wasn't right for Big Brother to highlight and demonize her for something she believed was ok, even if her husband changed her mind on it after the fact. As a married person, I can understand the anger fans would have because I don't think I'd be comfortable cuddling up with someone, even with my wife's permission, but I don't think that excuses what Christine was put through.
Frankie Played A Good Game… Until The End
Derrick gets all the love for his masterful play in Season 16, but his whole strategy would fall apart if it wasn't for the dominant players like Frankie Grande willing to go all out in every competition and even had that clutch comp win despite theories it was rigged in his favor. When Frankie was finally taken out of the game, the remaining Houseguests said it was because no one would win next to him. They were absolutely right, and had Frankie been a bit smarter with his alliances, he might've made it to the final two chair.
Frankie's downfall came when he turned on Zach Rance and got him out of the house. Granted, he was in a position where his back was against the wall, but if he had any chance at winning, leaning on that strong alliance with Zach was his best bet at winning. Those two would've had Caleb in their corner and probably would've had a damn battle if they made a hypothetical run to Final 3. Of course, things didn't play out that way, though I don't think there's any denying Frankie would've won this game in a world where Derrick left early.
I Need To See Donny In Another Season
Donny Thompson, need I say more? I've watched enough Big Brother seasons to meet some likable older Houseguests, but he blew them all out of the water. The saddest part of this season for me was knowing that Derrick won, because I would've really wanted Donny to win it if I was watching back when it aired.
We don't know if a Legends season will ever happen, but if it does, Big Brother needs to extend an invite to Donny. Even if he ultimately decides he's not available to play, he's a great player and it's a shame he wasn't a part of the last all-stars.
Cody Borrowed One Key Part Of Derrick’s Strategy For Season 22
I watched Big Brother Season 22 before seeing Season 16, so I wasn't familiar with Cody Calafiore and Derrick Levasseur's game. Now that I've seen it, I can definitely see how Cody played relatively the same way he did the first go-around but adapted one key element from Derrick's strategy into his own for a win.
One major key to Derrick's success was to create scenarios that led to the most predictable outcome. Cody was essentially able to control the entire All Stars 2 season from start to finish and ensure he was the winner at the end. Derrick doesn't deserve all the credit because he wasn't in the house, but he should get a bit of a hat tip for presumably teaching Cody that key element.
Big Brother Season 16 is available to stream right now on Paramount+. Check it out, and remember to hold onto that subscription for when new episodes roll around in August. Also, be sure to check out what we know about Season 25 so far.
