Breaking down the ins and outs of the first week of Big Brother 20 and its comparisons to Survivor has had its ups and downs.
One of the biggest problems surrounding Survivor‘s early game is that we don’t nearly get to know the cast very well. Even in two-hour debuts, we get two rushed episodes instead, whereas 90-minute debuts capture the best part of the cast. Big Brother 20, somehow, managed to go way too long before the first live eviction, and even that process was somewhat extended!
The entire week has been an emotionally fiery disaster, but it’s been an entertaining one for those on Team Chaos. Voting-wise, the flip between Sam and Steve has been back and forth, relying on the surprise of the Level 6 Alliance in order to keep Sam in the game. Mostly, we saw the strife she encountered being so separated from the cast, with the upswing showing her triumphant side in securing the hearts of America.
However, this pivotal live eviction episode of Big Brother 20 saw Steve’s game possibly unfold through the games of others. The opposing FOUTTE Alliance (yes, fow-tay) saw its membership sway with Kaitlyn; one of its founding members. She was distressed over Faysal and Haleigh entering a showmance, flipping on her own alliance to go with Tyler, who was trying to sway her anyways.
A huge difference between Big Brother 20 and Survivor is the advent of the live feeds and yes, dear reader, I did manage to poke my head into the updates during the first two weeks. Though nothing has been confirmed, it seemed like Faysal and Kaitlyn were a lot closer before the feeds went live last Thursday, hinting at Faysal backing off to protect Kaitlyn’s image for a boyfriend back home.
Though I’ve been begging for an extended Survivor episode where we get an extended look at the island life in, perhaps, a 90-minute edit available only on CBS, there’s way too much real life transgressions going on in the house. From JC touching people inappropriately to other houseguests comparing tanned skin to being “ghetto,” there’s too much going on with the players that’s just not right.
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Roughly a third through the hour block, we finally got to the first Big Brother 20 live eviction. It was clear that the expectation was Sam would be evicted, as Julie Chen indicated at the top of the episode that she would do a live competition to re-enter the game if that were the case. Voting for Steve was JC, Rachel, Kaycee, Angela, Brett, Winston and Kaitlyn. Voting for Sam was Scottie, Swaggy C, Bayleigh, Faysal, Haleigh and Angie.
In the end, it was a tight 7-6 decision to end the Summer of Steve 2018. Kaitlyn was the one player to flip, deserting her own alliance and putting them in jeopardy. Though nobody seemed outright angry (other than Swaggy and Bayleigh, who seemed outright shocked), it was clear that Week 1 was busy for the Big Brother 20 players.
Similar to Survivor, you didn’t know if the hint of betrayal would have led to the intended result. Kaitlyn could have easily stuck with her numbers, but that’s not what a crystal-infused independent woman would do. Instead, she’d get hung up over a guy’s showmance and flip on her group.
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Welcome to San Bro-sé was a fun live Head of Household competition, where the focus became landing a job by launching a ball into a series of miniature buildings. Where your ball lands indicated the salary of your job, with the highest salary securing the Head of Household for Week 2.
Scottie started us off with a bank shot for $40K salary, while JC and Brett hit the street. Winston got $12K, Sam got a 50K job, Kaycee bounced into a $15K job, Faysal hit the road, Kaitlyn bounced into the $80K job, Angela hit the streets, Bayleigh missed out on the top job, Swaggy C launched over the city, Angie also came close to the top, Haleigh bounced in and out and Rachel swung for the fences and missed.
Kaitlyn subsequently showed strength in her alliance, crush it from within and obtain the Head of Household in the course of an hour, indicating just how little time it takes for Big Brother to flip on itself. The outcomes of so many players’ games turned on a dime based on a guy and a girl holding hands and hooking up.
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While that’s not to say Survivor players have never entered game-altering showmances (Boston Rob and Amber would contend otherwise), it is interesting to see how personal feelings and gameplay intermingle. It’s going to set up a long summer for CBS, even if this ends our series of recaps!