Big Brother 19 - Episode 39: My Own Personal Blind Side

A winner was crowned tonight, #ButFirst...

Josh, Paul, and Christmas are holding on to their unicorn tails for dear life.  Holding on to a small area of a rope while on a tilting platform has got to be taxing on the body.  Christmas' foot is killing her, but she refuses to give up.  Josh falters and falls after 40 minutes.  Both Christmas and Paul continue on, but the conditions prove to be too much for Christmas, and she falls.  Paul wins round 1 of the HoH Competition.

In round 2, Christmas and Josh go head-to-head.  There are cutouts of the evicted HGs in the backyard.  There are three clues, and only a few cutouts will be the answer to the clue.  They have to use slingshots and catapults to knock down the HG's cutouts that do not match the clue and ring a buzzer.  If they are correct, they can advance to the next clue.  If not, they have to go back and try to get the right combination.  The person to do this in the fastest time will win round 2 of the HoH comp.  Christmas took 1 hour and 39 minutes to complete.  It only took Josh 1 hour and 32 minutes, advancing him to round 3.

Side Note: Josh says he has been a fan of Big Brother since he was 14.  I have been old enough to compete since it started in 2000.  Damn, I'm old.

Dr. Will Kirby is back for the roundtable discussion with the jury, and it does NOT disappoint.  Kevin is brought in as the latest evicted houseguest, and no one is stunned.  Raven said she knew it would be him after saying just seconds before that it would 100% be Christmas.  Mark calls her out on this, once again bringing up the fact that she called herself a "puppetmaster" while winning nothing in the house.  The screaming starts and Matt calls Mark "The Incredible Sulk."  I'm sorry, but that was probably the funniest shit to happen all night!

Everyone on the jury thinks that Paul played an unnecessarily deceptive game, Josh is described as  "nonviolent, emotional psychopath," and Christmas is only there because she broke her leg week two.  Dr. Will points out that no one is actually acknowledging the fact that the final three did something to deserve to be in the position they're in, and calls the jurysore losers, pointing out that the final three outplayed all of them.  It's a bitter pill to swallow, but a truthful one nonetheless.

The final HoH competition is "The Scales of Just Us."  Paul and Josh are weights on a giant scale.  Julie reads part of a statement from a jury member, and they have to choose between one of two ways the statement was completed.  The person with the most points at the end is the final HoH and makes the final eviction.

In a twist I did not see coming, Josh beats Paul for the final HoH.  Josh evicts Christmas, reasoning that he couldn't see himself beating her in the final 2.  There are no hard feelings, and Josh and Paul are our final two!

The jury questions Josh and Paul, to try and understand their gameplay.  Paul tells how he single-handedly orchestrated all of their evictions, stressing that while he may have a true friendship with all of them, he never said he would jeopardize his own game for one of them.  He helped when he needed to, and he stayed in the background when he saw his plans being carried out.

Josh, on the other hand, said that his strategy was to not let on just how much of a superfan he was and how much he had studied the game.  He also stated that he downplayed his intellect to move farther in the game.  I don't know if I buy all of that, but he's in the final two so I'll give it to him.  The jury casts their votes, and the remaining HGs of the season are brought out to discuss what they've been able to watch on TV.

Jessica tells all of them that she tried to warn everyone about Paul and they wouldn't listen.  Julie, in turn, showed DR footage of how everyone in the house trusted Paul and followed his lead.  She also showed the goodbye messages where Josh blew up Paul's game to the outgoing HGs, so they would know Paul was the bad guy and not him.  Paul said that he thought it was a cowardly move on Josh's part, but Josh knew what he was doing when he revealed secrets. He wants potential jury votes.

The votes are revealed, and once again it comes down to a tie vote.  The tiebreaking vote was Cody, who was obviously never going to vote for Paul.  Josh is this season's winner, and I'm fucking BLOWN.  I was texting my husband as I watched the votes tallied, and when I realized that Cody's vote was the last to be read, I fired off a barrage of "FUCK!" and "DAMMIT!!" and "FUCKING CODY!!!" texts.  For the second season, Paul loses by exactly one vote.  The hubs seems to think that if Paul had won HoH and taken Christmas, he could've won.  I have to respectfully disagree with that.  You never know how a jury member is going to vote...except for Cody. He made it crystal clear that he would never vote for Paul. His was a vote made out of spite, and personally, I think it's bullshit.  The element of human emotion is the one variable in the house you really can't plan for.  Unfortunately, I think Paul may have done too much, thereby poisoning some of the relationships he had with jury members, specifically Alex and Jason.  They both voted for Josh, but if Paul hadn't led so many people on for so long, they might have respected the gameplay instead of just being mad at him for what he did.

I really wanted Paul to win.  He played the best game, in my opinion.  I will give Josh credit, he lasted a hell of a lot longer than I thought he would.  I thought his emotions would get the best of him and he would be gone.  Truthfully, it's only because of Paul that Josh was even still in the game!  Jessica was going to get him out during her HoH, but Paul orchestrated the eviction of Ramses, saving Josh so that he could wreak havoc on Cody and Jessica's game.

America's Favorite Houseguest is revealed...and it's fucking CODY?!?!?  Jason, Kevin, and Cody were the top three choices, with Cody winning out.  Honestly, I haven't had faith in America's voting results for a few seasons now, so something like this shouldn't surprise me.  Even Cody didn't think it made much sense.

Congratulations Josh, on your Big Brother 19 win.  It's not what I wanted, but I'm happy for him just the same.

Sorry if this blog post is all over the place, but my head is reeling.  I was not expecting Josh to win.  Expect the Unexpected has been the show's motto for some years now, so I guess it's fitting.  Another season has come and gone, and I will be actively campaigning to be cast next season.  Until then, I have the thought of Celebrity Big Brother arriving this winter to keep me warm.  I hope you've enjoyed my take on this season's show, and I hope you'll be watching me next summer.  Until then...#BB20 campaign is a go!