HOLLYWOOD—Well, “Big Brother” fans there is still plenty of game to be played. Yes, “Big Brother 25” may have come to an end, and after a season that kicked off super strong and ended on a hamper, I must say I am happy to see a few of these faces competing for the upcoming holiday special. Yes, CBS and the BB universe decided to release the faces of the cast last week via social media.
With that said, are some of the people on this cast questionable? Um, yeah, but for only two weeks, we get to see faces of people that I know I’ve wanted to see for years, and I know fans of the BB universe have been eager to see compete as well. Um, Danielle Reyes, the strategic mastermind from “Big Brother 3” that changed the game after her loss which ushered in the sequestered jury format of the game. We have Britney Haynes from “Big Brother 12” who is hands down the best in the diary room ever. No one comes close to delivering the laughs that this woman does when she is sharing her thoughts. I don’t care what anyone says, I really don’t think she is TV gold.
Other contestants competing include BB24 and BB23 winners Taylor Hale and Xavier Prather, we have BB19 winner Josh Martinez, BB16 alum and BB22 winner Cody Calafiore, BB16, BB18 winner and BB22 all-star player Nicole Franzel, BB16 alum Frankie Grande and recent BB25 player Cameron Hardin. I will admit I can do without seeing Franzel, Grande and Hardin on my screens. I do believe there could have been quite a few other players who are bigger names that could have been introduced for this special series.
The thing to note is that this is not your typical BB game. The players will NOT be living in the BB house. They will simply compete in a series of competitions. All we know is that there are a total of six episodes that will transpire over two weeks. Fans are aware that a player will be eliminated in each episode, which means by episode four, five or six, we’ll see at least two or three players get the boot from the competition.
I love that there is a social component to the game, I love that we are already seeing people play. Cody and Frankie (oh great), Nicole and Britney (interesting), Danielle, Taylor, Josh and Xavier (kind of fun), and then there is Cameron. However, Danielle is back, and she is looking out for herself and I’m glad to see that. That woman came to deliver to fans that have been dying to see her play again.
The winner of the first challenge was Britney who managed to name Dr. Scroogie’s favorite song, and as a result she won the Naughty or Nice Power. Britney is such a breath of fresh air not only in the diary room, but I forgot how excellent her social strategy is in the game. So Britney has an advantage in the next competition and she can give a disadvantage to any player in the game. Oh, this is fun. Brittney and Danielle already look like a dangerous duo in my opinion, and they have the right mentality; target the guys, and even Nicole is realizing she has to target Cody and Frankie because she sees them as a duo.
Britney is the laughter I needed. She sees Cody’s game from a million miles away. Gosh, Xavier is so dry and dead with nothing. Give her something; otherwise, you’re going to be targeted. Taylor is good at that subtle direction of moving things on her target. I’ve only been watching one hour, and this is better than the last month of BB25 and all of BB22 combined.
Nicole giving that smile was hilarious, just as Britney placed Cody on the naughty list, just as Taylor wanted. These slow motion shots are not it. Time for the Jingle Bell brawl, which if you win you earn safety for the day and the winner will earn a power over who potentially goes home. Yeah, the second challenge should have actually been the first challenge.
This is a bit of social strategy which means, you can sabotage some of the players. This is a competition that works totally in Danielle’s favor because she is not being perceived as a threat by any of the players. Frankie is smart, he plans on placing a letter in everyone’s box and the guy is moving fast. Nicole spotted Cody trying to sabotage her, and Nicole returned the favor, as Cameron and Cody were targets people, even Josh was okay targeting Cameron. Yes, Cameron, you’re not a fan of these legends.
Britney, go for Cody because it makes perfect sense to ensure that the guy you targeted doesn’t have an opportunity to gain leverage in the game. Danielle had me cracking up talking about Josh who couldn’t balance on that beam. So, this means there are plenty of people who could be safe, Frankie or Taylor, but Xavier realized that Frankie was close to winning and stopped that, as did Danielle, who realized Frankie is a threat went after him, but Frankie ended up winning the challenge and he is safe.
Frankie gets to send to players to Santa’s Showdown, where a competition will determine if you’re out of the game. Win, you stay to fight another day, lose and you’re out. So, everyone has to kiss Frankie’s tail; Cody is safe, but who is not safe? Great, BB16 alliance, at least only for this first episode, as long as someone places Frankie and Cody as nominees in the next elimination, I’m ok with that. I totally remember I despise Frankie from BB16 because he is too much, all this energy that is annoying after a while. Danielle working that social game as usual, as it’s apparent Cameron is a sure threat.
Frankie was so obvious that he was going to put Cameron into the brawl, and X is looking like his target. Frankie, the hugging with everyone is not a sign that you want to work with them, which Xavier immediately picked up on it. Britney pegged that Cody and Frankie are aligned and he’s not as charming as he thinks he is. Taylor is targeting Cody right in front of Frankie which is not the brightest spot. Frankie spilled to Cody that Taylor pushed his name, and the war is on.
Cody is getting that villain edit and so is Frankie. Cody is not used to people targeting him and that is something I am happy to see. This season ain’t going to be a cakewalk for Cody. Yeah, whoever comes back is immediately coming for Frankie so it’s a target on his back, which means you want Frankie out because Nicole will turn on Cody in a heartbeat and that will be exciting to see.
This competition between Cameron and Xavier is a puzzle of a sweater, so this is going to be interesting. Looks like Cam’s wheelhouse, there are 57 pieces. Britney is smart she is rooting for Cameron because he’s a solo player which is smart, and there is a reason Britney is underrated as a player in the BB universe. This puzzle is not easy and that is good that BB is delivering competitions they should consider for BB proper.
X managed to defeat BB25 comp beast Cameron, and Frankie you made a mistake by not putting Taylor and Xavier against each other. Why? You take a number away from Taylor or Xavier. I think people see Frankie and Cody as a threat. Each player who is evicted can receive a present that could be money, fruit cake or jelly. I need Frankie or Cody out next because this war between Cody and Taylor is fun to watch. Now I didn’t love that the previous Naughty or Nice Challenge was a whimper for Britney, but for this upcoming challenge, you get the decision to pick the teams for the upcoming Jingle Bell Brawl and you can give a player a disadvantage.
Yeah, talk about an advantage. It was a memory competition about Christmas songs and guess who won the advantage, Cody. He decided to stack his team with Frankie, Xavier and Nicole. Yes, Nicole people. That left Danielle, Britney, Josh and Taylor as the opposition. Oh, Taylor also got the disadvantage too, which involved decorating a small Xmas tree before the actual tree balance challenge. Nicole struggled, Xavier struggled, but the opposing team moved with wicked good speed.
What did that mean? It meant Danielle, Britney, Josh and Taylor were safe. They had a big decision too; save one player from the opposing team sending three people into Santa’s Brawl. Yes, three people would duke it out, two would survive, one would not. The move was obvious send the three guys into battle and save Nicole. Would I loved to see Nicole sweat a bit? Of course, but strategically the move Britney, Danielle, Taylor and Josh made was the right one, but Xavier was not pleased with it.
Xavier and Cody are not used to playing from the bottom and it’s fun to see BB players face adversary; it is harder to play the game that way and both those players learned that in the first two episodes. Just a slight issue, X was not pleased with Taylor, Josh or Danielle for not saving him and the guy holds a grudge people. So the Santa Brawl was a memory logical task involving toys. It was fun to watch, X dominated, Frankie cheated and Cody, yes, Cody got the boot! Yes, I thought it would be impossible to get him out of this game, but here we are. Cody was a bit sad, I think he expected to win it all, and unlike BB16 and BB22, these players had your calling card and they went after the massive player.
Frankie was ecstatic with his win, and I suspect you’re about to see Xavier and Frankie align, and if they can pull Josh away and target a woman that only helps their cause people. We’ve only seen guys in Santa’s Brawl and I’m ready to see a few women sweat. Two episodes in and this spin-off has been fantastic to watch! “Big Brother Reindeer Games” airs this week on Thursday at 9 p.m. Then next week it airs Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 9 p.m.
