Yes, my TV Fanatics. This is another Big Brother piece.
But what can I say? Big Brother has consumed most of our summer here at TV Fanatic, just like it has for many of you fans. And now that we’re down to the wire, many of us are antsy and ready for that grand announcement of who is taking him, the $750K, and the title.
And while many people have favorites when it comes to who they want to win, only one person’s game has been diminished in these final conversations: Taylor. And truthfully, I’m over it.
Although, to be fair, the wear and tear of a long season has taken its toll, so I’m over the season anyway.
It’s been a long and rough one. For the most part, we had an entertaining enough cast who made the season worthwhile and reminded me why Big Brother is so great to watch in the first place.
We’ve also had the addition of two Survivor players, which has certainly shaken things up as reality TV aficionados have bickered and debated over how fair it was to have them, if things were rigged in their favor, if they’re iconic for owning another CBS reality game, or if they’ve just been a nuisance that detracted from the show, creating new reality TV icons instead of just cashing in on old ones.
At this point in the season, I have no dog in the race, and anyone could win.
But from a strictly entertainment perspective, after seeing how vitriolic and critical fans have been about Taylor Brown and what she brings to the season, a spiteful, petty, messy side of me would genuinely get a great giggle if she somehow managed to pull off a win.
That would be an upset for the books, not because Taylor winning is upsetting (I don’t think that would be the case), but because somewhere along the way the concept of the game has gotten lost in translation, and maybe viewers need a reminder of what Big Brother is and has always been as far as reality competition.
Here’s the thing: Big Brother isn’t The Challenge. It never has been.
It’s time for viewers to stop treating a series that essentially turned a reality TV legend like The Real World into a competitive game.
Big Brother’s very origins were in taking a diverse group of people from all walks of life, sticking them in a house for a couple of months, and having them compete for money in what amounts to a social experiment and reflection of society and how it functions or doesn’t function in a confined space.
Big Brother is a Sociology project come to life, and no, that’s been its greatest strength.
What it isn’t and never has been is a platform to champion athleticism and nothing else.
These folks signed up to sit in a house for months rather than doing grueling tasks in some paradise or starving themselves on an island.
And yet… viewers and contestants alike are now ridiculing contestants who aren’t active enough or don’t win physical tasks all of the time. But the series has never actually been about that in the first place.
Big Brother never changed its rules or concept or switched up, and contestants who still abide by that haven’t either; it’s everyone else who has, by projecting something onto the series that it has never fully been.
If anything, the non-athletic types aren’t the issue. It’s the certified “jocks” using BB as an audition or launchpad for the more physically demanding shows they’d rather be on—or those who feel they can clean sweep a win solely through brute force and nothing else.
It’s reached a point where the game and its contestants’ reactions and perceptions have become a social experiment and litmus test all on their own.
And Taylor making the final three has been a perfect example of this.
Because the stunning number of people who argue that she somehow doesn’t deserve to be there because they didn’t like, see the value in, or even pay attention to or understand her game has me wondering if we really have lost the plot.
Or better yet, this gripe about the lack of comprehension these days.
But mostly, I’m just tired of people trashing her game without examining why they’re so worked up about it in the first place. The ire isn’t just outrageous; it’s disproportionate—and it’s come with blinders, too.
For one, Taylor’s edit doesn’t do her many favors for casual viewers. Nothing is surprising there; it’s become a pattern for the series.
But for those who paid attention to the live feeds, it was clear early on that Taylor genuinely tried to work with other people and strategize in the house.
She strategized a lot, actually. We also spent the season watching her walk through most of the game with Lala, who wasn’t as adept at the social components and other things of Big Brother.
In fact, Taylor worked through how to approach Lala’s HOH win. We also saw her advising others, including Yash during theirs.
But what was interesting about Taylor’s game is that she showed you cannot always guarantee the strategy you’d take heading into that house. It can always turn on a dime.
Taylor had to pivot when she entered a house with returning players and icons forming an instant alliance, starstruck players immediately attaching to them, and outsiders who refused to align or rally, even when she tried to get them to do just that.
Pivots are essential when the social constraints of personalities and cliques come into play, and suddenly, for any number of reasons, you aren’t a priority or of interest compared to someone else.
Anyone who actually did pay attention to Taylor noticed that she had great reads on the house, deliberately flew under the radar, and was actively listening to her surroundings when many, even viewers, assumed she was always sleeping.
The pods were a great area to overhear conversations. The last few days in the house, now that they’re down to the wire, have been illuminating because, via conversations with Devens and Drew, the latter are just now realizing just how much Taylor observed throughout the game.
She had a read on almost everything happening in the house, voted strategically, often had the ear of her allies, and she made herself someone the others didn’t have to worry about.
Even with her own allies—Taylor sat on the block up against bigger threats, and instead of crediting her strategy of NOT being a threat, she’s written off as somehow less deserving of the win.
She’s written off as a floater.
And the irony in that is how floating is only deemed a valuable strategy depending on who the title falls on.
Floating is about perception, and we can’t ignore that it stops being considered a viable strategy when women are involved.
Why? Because it’s only legitimate based on who people think are capable versus who aren’t.
A young, non-disabled guy is capable of winning comps, so when he isn’t, it’s viewed as a deliberate attempt to be non-threatening and to show great gameplay.
When guys do it, it’s strategy. But when girls do it, they’re being carried through the game… because the idea is that they couldn’t win comps in the first place. Never mind the other components of gameplay.
Nope! If you aren’t winning carnival games all summer, you don’t deserve to win.
But a prime example of why the discourse around floating is so frustrating and rooted in ‘isms is the simple fact that Dr. Will is still on record as being considered one of the best and most iconic players of all time despite never winning comps.
He’s a textbook floater in that sense.
Why? Because there’s a difference between someone who treats the show like a vacation and stays completely checked out, and someone who floats and strategically stays off the radar.
Taylor has been an active player all season. She strategized. She built alliances. She made herself the least threatening out of those alliances.
Even with these new comp-heavy rules, Taylor won comps when she absolutely needed to for her own individual game, including one early in the season, lest we forget (because many of you have).
She’s been in the running to win many comps over the season. Most people only pay attention to who snagged the win and rarely pay attention to those who came close, and Taylor? She came close many times.
It helped her to have allies who were bigger threats, and like it or not, it got her to the end.
Her strategy isn’t even a new one — we’ve seen people do similar things before.
And now she’s been spending the final stretch playing mind games on Devens and Drew like it’s a sport. Maybe it’s effective, and maybe it isn’t.
Maybe she’ll be able to articulate her game and win over jurors, and maybe she won’t.
But one thing is clear for me as a viewer (and as the person fielding and responding to the hundreds of comments on our Big Brother Facebook posts): I don’t care if you like or respect Taylor’s gameplay.
Different strokes for different folks. But discrediting it? Nah, flag on the play, my friends.
Big Brother works so well precisely because its strength is that people can win for any number of reasons—it’s not just another celebration of athletic prowess and nothing else—so stop trying to make it something it isn’t.
Where’s the fun in that?
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