After 85 long days, iconic players, and historic alliances, it’s time to say farewell to season 23 of Big Brother. We have watched 16 people fight it out for a bigger grand prize, but only one walked away with all the money!
Tonight’s finale began with part two of the final HOH competition, which pitted Derek and Azah against each other to face Xavier in part three. This competition, called Four of a Kind, was competed individually, and they were asked questions about the previous HouseGuests, with each question having four correct answers. They then had to spin these giant roulette wheels to the face of the correct answer, and have them lineup with to a red line. These questions asked who won Wild Card competitions, who actually used the Power of Veto, and who survived eviction the first time on the block.
This competition was also a puzzle, because not everyone’s face was on one wheel. This messed up Azah’s strategy by going quickly, because Tiffany’s face was on one wheel, but not on another, messing up her answers. Derek struggled pushing the wheels, even scraping his knees, and flicking skin off of his knee, which was disgusting when the camera zoomed in on them.
In the end, Azah finished in 13 minutes, while Derek finished in 20. This officially made Derek lose every competition he has ever competed in this season. There haven’t been many people that have made it this far without winning at least one competition, but the people who have also have a decent strategy.
After the competition, Derek was saying some weird stuff about how Azah owes him a seat in the final two, since he’s carried her to the end for so long. The ridiculousness of Derek’s delusions continued when he started acting incredibly condescending towards Azah, saying that he contributed to the overall game more than she has. This argument between the two former allies got so bad, that Azah made the decision to evict Derek if she should win the final HOH. She said that Derek doesn’t deserve the second place money, and even though it would ruin her game, she would rather lose to Xavier, someone who deserves the win. This made Xavier incredibly happy, because there was literally no chance in the slightest that he would be going home in third place.
Azah told Derek about her now changed mind, and Derek continued to dig himself deeper, saying that she was acting emotionally, and that if he acted emotionally, Kyland would still be in the house. I can’t believe my ears when he said that, as he continues to cement his spot as one of the worst players of all time.
The final Jury segment was then introduced, with Kyland joining the jury, and they discussed the final three. The scene was edited enough that they were looking at the pros and cons of each player. They praised Xavier’s strategy of winning competitions when he needed to, but criticized his lack of sharing information. They loved Azah’s social game, but felt that her lack of competition participation was something to be desired. There weren’t may positive things said about Derek F.’s game, and Kyland had the AUDACITY to say that Derek F. and Hannah had interchangeable games. Kyland is already under fire for the comments about Xavier’s nephew, but comparing these two players games is the worst take I’ve ever seen. Hannah had a great social game, won competitions, and was part of The Cookout. Derek F. was carried to the end, nothing more to it.
Julie then began part three of the HOH competition. Xavier and Azah were shown a series of “BB promo videos” showing the jury members playing Vegas-like shows. Each video showed three statements about the person’s game, like when they won Veto competitions, or when they received punishments etc. Very specific statements that required a lot of meticulous study. One of the statements made was false, and it was the players job to identify the false statement. After 8 questions, the leading player won.
To make a long story short, Azah missed one question, ironically the video about her best friend Britini, and Xavier got every question right, giving him the final HOH win of the season!
With all that power, Xavier finally had to make the last eviction vote of the year. After Derek and Azah made very small speeches to keep them, Xavier said that he entered the house with Derek, it felt right to leave the house with Derek, and evicted Azah, sending her to jury. Sitting with Julie, Azah said she still would’ve taken Xavier, and has absolutely no regrets on the game.
The Jury then got to ask the final two their questions, and it’s always the part that makes me the angriest. When the jury knows who’s in the final two, they then have to ask questions written by the producers that are so scripted. Things like “what was your biggest move?” “What was your biggest mistake?” I wish they got to ask their own questions to keep the finalists on their toes during the interrogation. Things could get dramatic too!
What stood out was that Derek said that he invented The Cookout, which wasn’t the truth, the camera even panned to Tiffany after he said that. Derek didn’t create the alliance at all, and he took credit for it twice.
What was interesting was that Tiffany and Claire didn’t even get to ask their questions to them, which hasn’t ever happened before. Not sure if it was time situation since the show was live, but it threw me off that not every jury member could ask a question.
Xavier then gave his final speech that was so methodically thought out, it was so impressive. He talked his whole game through, why he threw competitions, why he won competitions, and how he managed to keep all of his alliances in tact as long as he could, while equally maintaining dominance over others.
Derek’s speech was only about The Cookout, how he created it, how everything he did was for the alliance, and the mission. This caused the jury to laugh at him, which is never a good sign for the game.
After the jury placed their votes, there were other matters to attend to. Travis, Frenchie, Brent, Whitney, and Christian were brought in over Zoom, where they talked about their perspective of watching the whole game unfold.
There was also a secrets segment, where different players of the year revealed secrets they held in all year, like Britini being a black belt, and Hannah being a medical prodigy. Derek F. revealed he is the son of Joe Frazier, the boxer, and Xavier finally revealed that he’s a lawyer. Britini then stood up and told everybody that at 22 months old, she was diagnosed with autism, and she didn’t tell anyone, because she wanted people to like her for her. It was a great moment with the cast, and incredibly brave and inspirational of Britini for coming onto the show with a great message.
Julie then asked Kyland if he regretted the way he was evicted. And he said no. Kyland has given a lot of opportunity to apologize for getting personal with Xavier, and he hasn’t. The game should never get personal, and no one should ever bring up a family member like the way Kyland did.
The votes were read, and for the fourth time, a unanimous vote was reached, and Xavier became the first Black winner of Big Brother!!! Congraulations, X!
With everyone out of the house, the even more important vote was announced, and Tiffany was the winner of America’s Favorite Player!! Congratulations, Tiff!
This season has a winner that will represent the game well, and an Favorite Player winner who had the greatest strategy in history. This season was a fun one, and I’m sad to see it go.
However, BB24 is coming soon, and Celebrity Big Brother is returning for a third season in February! There is plenty of Big Brother to come!