HOLLYWOOD—It has been 99 days in the house and a winner is finally crowned! We left off Friday night preparing for the three part final Head of Household competition with our last three houseguests, Paul, Nicole and James.
Paul tries to secure a position in the final two by creating a final two deal with both James and Nicole. Most of the episode is dedicated to flashbacks of the season including houseguest tears, Paulie’s confrontations, and the two showmances and one bromance. It’s all laughter and reminiscing until part one of the three part HOH begins.
Part one is a cat themed endurance competition with the three houseguests dressed up as cats. They have to chase a red laser light between a giant couch, litter box and windowsill. Once the light stops, the houseguests have to climb up onto the assigned posts and hold on until the light returns. Anyone who falls off is eliminated and the last person left gets to skip part two of the HOH competition.
On finale night, we see the three houseguests continue to chase the laser light around. Paul, James and Nicole end up on the windowsill hanging onto a curtain cord when Nicole slips. She falls and James falls immediately after her leaving Paul the winner of part one. Part two is between James and Nicole and is a combined physical and memory competition. The competition is roller coaster themed and the competitors have to run through a huge line after revealing a clue, put the three correct past houseguests into a roller coaster, push the roller coaster and snap a picture in the correct spot to move onto the next clue. The fastest time wins. Both Nicole and James have trouble lining the pictures up correctly, but in the end Nicole beats James by a long time frame.
Before part three between Nicole and Paul, the jury talks the pros and cons of who is left in the house with past “Big Brother” contestant and winner Dr. Will. The group, minus Natalie, all seems to agree that James only had a good social game and played safe the whole time. Paul on the other hand had a great social and competition game, but he offended some of the women with his language. Nicole played a middle of the road game, but the former houseguests are having trouble pinning down one big move Nicole made in the game.
Part three of the Head of Household competition has Paul and Nicole standing on either side of a scale. Julie Chen reads a statement with two different endings that a jury member made, and the competitors have to guess which ending is right. The person with the most points wins, and with one point ahead Paul becomes the final HOH landing him a spot in the final two and at least $50,000. As the final HOH, Paul choose to evict James for backstabbing Paul by working with Nicole and this makes Paul and Nicole the final two for season 18.
The jurors are allowed to question Paul and Nicole about their game play before making their final vote. Paul is questioned on his previous inappropriate comments and his game play. Nicole is questioned on whether she just rode the coattails of a guy’s alliance and her game play. Both players had pretty solid answers and gave great speeches recounting their history as strong competitors who evaded eviction.
The votes are cast and it comes down to a tie until the final vote. With the final vote from Da’Vonne breaking the tie, Nicole is crowned winner of season 18!
Nicole is also the first woman to win “Big Brother” in a final two against a man. Lastly, for this season America’s Favorite Houseguest votes have been counted and the top three are Victor, Natalie, and James. I can agree with this, and the fact that the ultimate competition beast Victor won!
Until next season “Big Brother” fans!