Big Brother 24: Finale Recap

After 82 days in the Big Brother house, there was a lot of business that needed to be handled in two hours of television. We started the night with three houseguests remaining but by the end of the night, we would be left with just one standing tall and claiming the $750,000 prize. It all came down to Monte, the personal trainer with a mechanical engineering background, Taylor, the pageant queen and personal stylist, or Turner, the rug maker and thrift store owner. A full season of play came down to one night. Here are my thoughts on the final night of Big Brother 24.

The 3-Part HOH Competition and Final Eviction

The tried and true three-part competition for the final HOH of the summer featured the same competitions we've come to expect from Big Brother. They opened with an endurance competition that saw the Final 3 holding onto a rotating and bucking hot dog for as long as they could. This competition was designed to benefit someone with good upper-body strength and a strong grip whose arms wouldn't get too tired. From the jump, Turner made it clear that he gets extreme motion sickness and that this was his worst nightmare. Taylor would be the first person out after over 36 minutes, leaving it up to Monte and Turner. Despite his considerable strength advantage, Monte's arms gave out on him and Turner withstood the constant motion to secure his spot in Part 3 of the competition. 

The second part of the HOH competition would force Taylor and Monte to place the HOH and veto competitions in the order they were played. They would need to place signs with the names of the competition on a large board while ziplining across a gap. They both killed this competition. It was evident that both had studied the order of the competitions and came prepared. The difference in this competition really came down to the time it took to get across on the zipline, which clearly was an advantage for Monte since he could carry more momentum and speed across given his size. While both were perfect and got it on their first tries, Monte would edge Taylor by 23 seconds to win the second part and set up a matchup with Turner in the final part. It was at this point that Taylor felt defeated because she felt she'd have to win the final HOH to have a legitimate chance at winning the season. 

The final part was something that has been reoccurring for the last several years where Monte and Turner would need to determine which of three statements about each member of the jury was incorrect. Through the first four rounds, neither would falter nor give any sense of not knowing as they sat tied at four. It was around when they got to Terrance's question that the game shifted a little. Neither seemed to know the answer to the question about Terrance and though both were right, it was definitely the turning point. For each of the final three questions, Turner and Monte would have different answers. When it all came down to it, Monte was the better guesser of the two and he would beat Turner 7-5 to win his third HOH of the summer and earn the right to decide who to bring with him to the Final 2. 

With his victory, this meant Monte had to make a decision between two people he'd been extremely close with during the later stages of the season. Turner tried to appeal to his lack of jury management, calling it the worst jury management of the last decade of Big Brother. Taylor chose to go a different route, opting to take a more gracious route, and wasn't going to hold his decision against him. At the end of the day, Monte would make a surprising decision, to me at least, by taking Taylor to the very end and evicting Turner in third place to become the final member of the jury. Turner took it with grace and wasn't malicious towards Monte in his interview with Julie, while Taylor and Monte hugged it out in the house. 

Bring in the Jury

Arguably the most important part of Finale Night is the jury because it is ultimately a jury of your peers that decides the winner of the season. One of the other big staples of Eviction Night is the jury roundtable between the first eight jury members with the houseguest evicted in fourth place joining the group as they talk to Big Brother legend Dr. Will Kirby about who should win the game. They broke down the games of Turner, Taylor, and Monte and shed some light on how they viewed each of their games. When talking about Turner, there was a discussion as to whether Turner was playing dumb a lot or whether it was just great gameplay. Michael seemed to drag him for sleeping during strategy meetings, not contributing much to the Leftovers, and giving Monte credit for evicting him. The jury saw Taylor as being resilient while also asking if she made any big moves. Brittany called her first HOH reign a mess since the target changed a lot. Based solely on this segment, it felt like Monte was a runaway winner for this season no matter who he was up against. He was lauded for his position in the game and the moves he made. He managed his threat level well and made sure to get in good with people. He felt like the consensus pick before the keys were locked in. 

Questions and the Final Speeches

With Monte and Taylor locked into the Final 2, it was going to come down to the last major portion of the finale before the jury cast their votes. This is where the game was truly decided in my mind and where the winner became crystal clear. The jury started by asking each of the finalists questions. Monte was asked three questions by the jury members before Turner got the final question and he answered two of the questions with the same statement. He didn't do anything to stand out during this portion. Taylor was better, though she stumbled when asked her biggest moves, but gave great answers to whether being on the block so many times was a weakness and if she adapted her game. Being on the block six times with the threat of going home yet still being alive to the end is what defined her game. 

With the jury set to make their votes, Monte and Taylor were given one last chance to plead their case. Monte touted his physical prowess in the game and all the surface-level wins that he had. He talked about his loyalty, which did get some looks from Michael and others on the jury. It didn't do much to set him apart and make a great case. Regardless of what Monte said, Taylor's speech might go down as the greatest Final 2 speech in the history of Big Brother. She opened by saying she didn't win the most competitions, but was on the block numerous times and stayed week after week in the house, called out the narrative surrounding her from the onset of the game, and talked about her resiliency. It is a few minutes of beautiful word-weaving and it was clear at that moment that she hit all the points she needed to, leaving it up to the nine people whose votes matter. 

The Final Vote

Before the votes were cast, I thought I had a good sense of where the votes were going. It felt pretty clear to me that Jasmine, Indy, and Joseph were going to vote for Taylor. I thought that Kyle, Terrance, and Turner were going to vote for Monte. This left Michael, Brittany, and Alyssa as the deciding votes for this season. Michael, as a student of the game, was going to be impartial about his winner while Brittany and Alyssa were wild cards. At the end of the day, I clearly knew nothing. As each jury member was putting their keys in the wheel to lock in their winner, my optimism continued to grow. Julie started by reading Turner's vote for Monte and I wasn't surprised. Then she read Brittany's vote for Taylor and I was a little surprised. Then Alyssa and Michael also voted for Taylor, leaving her two votes away from winning. The next two votes were going to be Terrance and Kyle, which felt like surefire votes for Monte. But then Julie said Terrance voted for Taylor and I was lost for words. The final vote read was Kyle's vote for Taylor and I can honestly say that I jumped off my couch in celebration. The final three votes from Indy, Jasmine, and Joseph were also for Taylor, giving her an 8-1 victory. On top of winning the season, Taylor also was voted America's Favorite Houseguest, beating out Michael and Kyle to become the first winner of the game to also win the extra money from the audience vote.

Did the Right Person Win Big Brother 24 and America's Favorite Houseguest?

Yes, obviously. I don't think I need to justify it because Taylor said it better herself. From night one of the season, Taylor was the target of the house and was almost the first person evicted. If not for the ringleader of it all leaving the game three nights in, she probably is out the door. She then sat on the block for three of the first four weeks and survived each time. She was on the block on Eviction Night six times this season, the most for any winner in BB US history. She is the fourth winner to win three or fewer competitions. She is the second winner to win the game after not winning the Final 3 HOH competition. She is the first black woman and second straight black houseguest to win a proper season of Big Brother, no disrespect to Tamar Braxton for winning Celebrity Big Brother 2. She is also the first person to win the two biggest prizes in a season. She was the villain of the house in the eyes of her fellow houseguests for almost three months, despite being nothing like what she was being portrayed. Taylor didn't need to win the most competitions to win this season. The queen came to get what was hers and she will forever be the representative houseguest of Season 24. There might not be a more deserving winner in the show's long history.