Big Brother 24: Week 1 Recap

In the last year plus, I've grown into a fan of Big Brother. BB23 was the first season I watched as it happened, but I've seen a bunch of the modern seasons and get the gist of how the game works. Since everyone who watched the show seems to have huge opinions on the show and what transpires, I figured I'd give my two cents every week. Doing it after every episode would get tedious, so I've opted to write something after each eviction episode on Thursday. With each post, I want to hit on some of the big stories from the week, the HoH's week, the eviction results, and what I expect to see happen next week. Without further adieu, here is my review of last week (really the first nine days). 

First Impressions

With the houseguest entering the "BB Motel" last Wednesday night, it is also customary for the show to give us a little background on all 16 houseguests through small vignettes and interviews as we get a look into their daily lives. I, like everyone else, tend to have preconceived notions about the houseguests based on these small clips. It isn't until they get into the house that we see the true nature of the beasts that are being unleashed. Initially, I was a little on the fence about some of this season's houseguests, especially Brittany, Jasmine, Pooch, and Turner. For Pooch, he has that energy about him that would likely rub me the wrong way and the other three just didn't strike me as being the strongest competitors. It was made very clear that Turner might not be the best human being in the world, so that certainly didn't help things either. Kyle and Terrance gave off strong "first-week evictee" vibes, Terrance because he's the elder statement of the house, and Kyle because he feels super naive. The introductions also made me think about my early favorites to win the season. Monte and Joseph are in that group based on their physique and personal training experience. Ameerah and Michael both come off as extremely intelligent and could probably surprise some people in the competitions. Paloma, Taylor, and Alyssa felt like the extremely attractive women that could also sneak in a win or two. Indy, Nicole, and Daniel were my Wild Cards because they might not be the obvious pick to win, but could also seem likable enough to survive a long time. 

Alliances Everywhere

As the week progressed, alliances formed like wildfire. There was a six-woman alliance. There was a six-man alliance. Daniel and Nicole are going to the Final 2 together. Kyle and Michael are going to the Final 2 together. Paloma and Alyssa are going to the Final 2 together. Honestly, that's not even all of them. It seems like everyone, outside of Taylor and Terrance, was in the middle of everything. Of course, some of these alliances crumbled in the first week, and some will likely run out of steam shortly, so it's anyone's guess as to what could happen moving forward. 

Paloma/Taylor

The big storyline all week on social media was the treatment of Taylor in the house by everyone, but mostly Paloma. It brought out posts from former players of Big Brother, likely last season's winner Xavier, calling out Taylor's mistreatment within the house as being unacceptable. For a little bit of background, Taylor is a black houseguest that was very outspoken about being a pageant girl. She spent a lot of time early in the week with the guys and it rubbed some, mostly Paloma, the wrong way, saying that she was just trying to get in with the guys and using her past as a weapon, which to me sounds like a great strategy to win the game. The entire objective of Big Brother is to make it to the end and win the money by winning a vote that is done by the houseguests. It was perceived that she was giving the other women in the house the cold shoulder by not being in the middle of what they were talking about. What would transpire was a week-long smear campaign against Taylor's character based purely on Paloma's paranoia. She quickly became a target. 

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't watch much of the Live Feeds this week and relied a lot on others' posts to get the scoop on what was going on in the house. It was very clear that Taylor was being targeted by everyone for a bevy of reasons that made no sense. Paloma was in the middle of it all. The problem with the episodes is that they can only cover a small amount over a few days. I'm sure the editing of the episodes makes it come off as being not as bad as it really was. I can't vouch for that personally, but that was my interpretation from reading everyone else's assessments. It became very clear in tonight's eviction episode that something was wrong with Paloma and I knew that when Paloma asked if she was being rude to Taylor when she responded in a very crass way when she clearly was and then called herself "Buddha". Something was clearly up with her and the episode talks about her inability to sleep and a bunch of other things. I want to make it clear that it doesn't excuse her attitude, the things she said, or the things she did. She is absolutely in the wrong. I do want to also clarify that the only people that truly understand what being in the Big Brother house is like are the people that have played the game before. They are the experts and can attest to the mental toll it takes. You have to be a special type of person to be brave enough to do that for three months. 

Daniel's HOH Week & Eviction Reaction (I was going to do these separate, but they bleed together now)

Upon their entrance, the houseguests were divided into three groups based on the tickets they picked up when they first got into the house to compete with the winners of each of the three games advancing to a fourth and final competition to crown the first Head of Household for the season. Monte, Turner, and Daniel won their respective rounds before Daniel prevailed in the final fight to wield the power for the week. Or at least he thought he had all the power. The twist for the season premiere was that of the "Backstage Boss" as selected by the tickets the houseguests picked up. That honor belonged to Pooch, which meant he was safe from eviction for the week, but couldn't compete in the veto competition or vote on Eviction Night. He also had to pick three people to be backstage with him, meaning they also couldn't compete or vote, but it didn't mean they were safe for the week and could still be out of the door on Eviction Night. Pooch selected Brittany, Paloma, and Alyssa, basing his decision purely on who was out first in their respective legs of the competition. 

With the cloud of the "Backstage Boss" looming over the house, Daniel set his initial sights on Michael since he is a superfan of the show, expressing that during a 1-on-1 with Daniel in the HoH room, meaning that he knew the ins and outs of the game and could be a major threat. He put Terrance up as a pawn next to him on Nomination Night. After Michael won the Power of Veto and with the inevitability of him using it on himself, Daniel's week as HoH turned into the house's HoH. Fueled by a nearly house-wide campaign against Taylor, she replaced Michael as the nominee for eviction. I don't think she was blindsided by Daniel's decision, but everything that happened before it was surprising at least. 

Things took a serious turn last night and into today. While, again, I didn't watch the Live Feeds, the rumor mill started to swirl after the feeds went down. It was reported that Paloma was no longer in the house and was done for the season. After watching tonight's episode, it became very clear that she wasn't in a healthy headspace and she exited the house. The rest of the group knew something was up when she went into the Diary Room for a very long time. The look of heartbreak on the faces of the other houseguests when Daniel announced that she wouldn't be coming back was so sad. I know that what she said was wrong and it is inexcusable, but despite it all, even Taylor shed tears as well. We are all human beings and the fact that the houseguests came together despite everything to wish Paloma well shows that maybe the feeds don't truly capture everything. 

Paloma's decision to exit the game left a lot of questions for Eviction Night, the biggest being what would happen to the "Backstage" twist and would there be a vote tonight since someone was already out? America had voted all week for who among the three Backstage women they wanted to be safe and Julie revealed that Brittany was America's choice. She also stated the initial intention was for one of the Backstage women to compete against either Taylor or Terrance with the loser being evicted. With Paloma being one of the people backstage when she exited, it completed everything and rendered the night almost completely useless. It meant that Taylor, who would likely have been the person voted out by the houseguests during a normal week, and Terrance were both safe along with Alyssa and Brittany. Honestly, I think the elimination competition would've come down to Taylor and Alyssa, with Alyssa being the first evictee of the summer had things gone to plan. 

In the end, Daniel's week as HoH is a wash. I think he played it extremely safe by allowing the rest of the house to pick his replacement nominee to keep the blood off his hands for the most part, so I don't think he necessarily did much. The first week is always tough because usually, it's a bit of a feeling-out process (unless your Frenchie from last season and you come in guns blazing). Paloma taking herself out of the game, or however that all went down, changes how his week looks because it was out of his control.

What Could Happen in Week 2 (SPOILERS FOR HOH THAT WON'T BE AIRED UNTIL SUNDAY!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!)

It was a very weird end to the week in the Big Brother house, so it's anyone's guess what Week 2 will hold. Despite falling on her ankle during the first leg of the competition, Jasmine is the HOH for the week. I think this week ends up going one of two ways. Either Taylor continues to be the target since she was in Week 1, or she goes after Pooch or Brittany. Taylor probably isn't as big of a threat as Pooch, so he might be the initial target, but I also think he could easily win the veto competition and take himself off the block. Brittany has been playing both sides of the house so far, making her an easy target also. I think it would be best for everyone if things cooled down a little bit. They've been going hard all week, so a bit of a reset with Paloma leaving would likely be in order. 

The other big story at the end of this week's eviction episode is that Julie has a huge announcement for next Thursday's eviction. She promises that it will be a twist that will turn the house on its head. What could it be? It'll either make this week or next week extremely fun viewing. Excitement is good, but maybe a little bit less this week would be alright too.