Big Brother 19: A Survivor fan’s newbie perspective – pre-show notes

I have never watched a full episode of this show, but I’m going to try to cover Big Brother 19 from the perspective of a Survivor fan this season.

Survivor and Big Brother are like CBS’ ships in the night. Although players from the latter have made their way to the former, no Survivor players have been subject to 24/7 televised scrutiny within a house for a summer before. The closest thing we’ve got was Russell Hantz’ brother and Brandon Hantz’s uncle, Willie Hantz, playing in Big Brother 14 (before getting expelled for getting into a physical altercation).

Big Brother 19 debuts tomorrow night, with 16 houseguests will be competing for a shot at $500,000 over the course of the summer. Oddly enough, despite being a fan of a CBS reality competition show where more than a dozen people face off in competitions, make alliances and vote each other out, I’ve never seen a full episode of Big Brother in my life.

My only knowledge of the show comes from watching long gameplay compilations for one of Big Brother’s supposed best players, Dan Gheesling. The only reason I was even interested was that I knew him from playing video games online, meaning I’m about as far removed from this show’s demographic as possible.

Regardless, because we’re still months away from Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, I figured there’s no better time to jump into this show with an open mind and a willingness to learn than with Big Brother 19. I expect tons of drama, a few showmances, plenty of gameplay twists (what’s in store with the “Summer of Temptation?”) and to gain a further appreciation for Survivor when the season is over.

What Survivor fans can expect out of these Big Brother 19 post-episode recaps:

• A rundown of each episode’s major events through the lens of Survivor fandom
• Comparisons of Big Brother 19 events and players to those from Survivor history
• Survivor glossary terms, such as “purple edit,” referring to eviction meetings as “Big Brother Council,” mentioning “all the fixin’s” for any sort of food/luxury reward, etc.
• Commentary about how this Survivor fan has come to like or dislike certain parts of Big Brother 19 and what either show can learn from the other
• Discussing how players from Big Brother 19 may or may not be employing certain Survivor strategies, or how certain competitions
• See me slowly come to grips that we’re 92 days away from the start of Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers

Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 33 Sole Survivors By Season

Something that should be noted; Surviving Tribal will still cover Survivor content for its overwhelming majority. This series is my experiment to complement what our site puts out every single day. I’ll stick with Big Brother 19 through the perspective of a newbie as long as people are okay with me writing about it. I’m open to feedback, so let me know if there’s anything that can be improved as things go on.