The show of the summer is back! Sixteen houseguests were welcomed into the BB Motel, a colorful, desert oasis inspired by past styles found in Palm Springs, and will compete for a chance at $750,000. As a superfan who religiously watches every Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday night, I’ll catch you up on some highlights so far!
The basics: If you’re new to the BB scene, contestants (known as houseguests) are filmed 24/7, with no communication with the outside world, and compete each week in hopes of making it to the end and winning the grand prize. Weekly, houseguests battle for power in the Head of Household competition, and the HOH has the authority to place two people on the block for eviction. Midweek, the power of veto allows the nominees, HOH, and three other houseguests to compete to keep noms the same or take someone down and put up a replacement nominee. Thursday night is the real excitement because viewers get to watch houseguests vote live and decide who is evicted from the house.
Now that you’re all caught up, let me give you the scoop on BB24. After Daniel, an Elvis impersonator extraordinaire, won the first HOH comp, alliances quickly formed. Michael and Terrance were nominated for eviction but dodged a bullet when Paloma voluntarily quit the game leading to a free pass for week 1. After Pooch’s eviction week 2, host Julie Chen dropped a bombshell on the house. She revealed the “Festie Bestie” twist where everyone will be playing alongside a bestie from now on. The HOH competition would still be individual, but if your bestie wins, you are guaranteed safety for the week. As far as nominations go, the HOH puts up a set of besties.
The Leftover alliance was the dominant force this season, evicting Ameerah, Nicole, Daniel, Indy, and Jasmine. However, it came crumbling down when it was revealed that the houseguests would be split in two, for the week, with Big BroChella (Michael as HOH) being inside and Dyre Fest (Terrance as HOH) outside. They would have their own set of noms, POV, and eviction. Things went smoothly at BroChella with Jasmine having no allies and being sent home. Outside everything fell apart. Kyle spilled the beans to Terrance about the Leftover alliance in a last-ditch effort to save himself and Alyssa. Terrance put up Turner and Joseph, ultimately sending Joseph home.
The villain of the season: JASMINE
SO MUCH DRAMA!! In the second HOH comp she rolled her ankle and milked that injury for the rest of the summer. She hobbled around the house, complaining about everything and everyone, complained about being nominated during her birth month, and thickened her southern accent just for the cameras. Her biggest scandal: muffin gate. During week 4, Jasmine’s festie bestie Turner ate a part of her muffin that she left out which sent her into a spiral. In an effort to catch someone in the act, she set a trap by hiding behind the couch and watching them in the kitchen. After all the commotion, it quickly helped Turner to become one of America’s favorite houseguests.
The star of the season: MICHAEL
SO MANY WINS!! Michael shattered BB 7 Janelle’s POV record and earned himself 6 veto and 3 HOH wins. His social game was unmatched with having no enemies in the house and he developed strong bonds with his festie bestie and the other leftovers. Some stats to tie you over: Michael was the fastest houseguest to win 4 POV comps, the first houseguest on BB24 to win HOH more than once, and the first to beat his all-time favorite player’s POV record of 5.
Michael’s downfall: In a surprise double eviction last week, Turner was quickly crowned HOH and threw Brittany and Alyssa up. Monte won POV and told Turner it was time to make a big move. With relentless effort, Michael knew it was coming and tried to change their minds, but it was not enough. During his speech, Michael threw Brittany under the bus in a last-ditch effort to sway the houseguests. With a vote of 3-0, Michael stood up and announced he has “one last thing to say,” before bolting out the door to reunite with Julie. Even though he was salty in the moment, he recognized that it was a great game move because he was a comp beast and a big brother mastermind who would have won the game if he had made it to the final.
With only a few weeks left, the competition is fierce. After 82 days and endless drama, tune in to the finale on September 25th to see who is crowned the winner!!