During Big Brother 13, Daniele Donato commented on Brendon Villegas' return to the game after his eviction, saying, "We have a zombie in the house. We keep trying to kill it but it just won't die." Brendon is nothing compared to Victor Arroyo on Big Brother 18.
Victor made Big Brother history by returning to the game twice after being evicted. Victor's refusal to stay evicted is admirable for a number of reasons. Yet the sheer number of chances that Victor has had to get back into the game is ridiculous -- not to mention incredibly boring to watch.
Big Brother 18 Recap: A Juror's Return Creates a Power Alliance >>>
Longest Season of Too Many Twists
In Big Brother 18's defense the producers who came up with the idea for two Battle Backs had no idea that the prize would go the same guy twice. In addition, the second Battle Back likely only occurred because the Round Trip ticket was not put into use. Still, the root of the problem with Victor coming back to the game does lie with Big Brother 18.
Big Brother 18 is scheduled to be one of the longest seasons of Big Brother ever, but the show still had roughly the same number of houseguests entering the game at the beginning. As a result Big Brother needed to give houseguests two opportunities to come back in the game. It's not their fault that Victor won both opportunities, expect for the part where it totally is their fault.
For starters, if Big Brother 18 wanted a longer season, they should have cast more houseguests for the season. It's true that it is a bit hard to keep track of everyone in the beginning of the season with just a standard cast, and more houseguests could have meant more confusion. But in reality, Big Brother 18 needed to cast just one more person. If Glenn wasn't eliminated right away in Big Brother 18 and there was just one more person cast, there really would have been no reason for two Battle Backs (or a Battle Back and a Round Trip Ticket.)
Brawn over Brains
There's also the fact that while the first Battle Back was well designed, the second seemed very rushed together. It was a clever idea by Big Brother 18 that the first Battle Back saw the evicted houseguests complete miniaturized versions of the Head of Household competitions. It wasn't just brains and brawn that determined the first Battle Back champion, it was a mixture of both.
Big Brother 18 Spoilers: Who Won the Week 10 Power of Veto?
This is not the case with the second Battle Back. The second Battle Back was all about endurance and muscle strength. The girls in the jury house had no chance actually beating out Paulie or Victor in the infamous Wall competition. It takes one of two things to last in that Wall competition -- a low center of gravity or tremendous upper body strength. Since neither Zakiyah, Da'Vonne or Bridgette are particularly short the odds of being the last juror standing were obviously in Victor and Paulie's favor.
This trend of turning towards harder physical challenges is an underlying problem in Big Brother. It's obviously not the whole reason that there hasn't been a female winner of Big Brother since Rachel Reilly, but it is a pretty huge factor. Near the endgame of Big Brother, the competitions swing much more toward the physical side and since the show typically casts athletic beefcakes, this gives the guys a huge edge.
Luck vs. Skill
Victor is not an idiot but if the competitions weren't so athletically minded, no one would really be considering him a "competition beast." Victor's best game move, besides getting back into the house after being evicted twice, is teaming up with Paul. All of Victor's best strategic moves have been planted in his mind by Paul. If Big Brother hadn't given Victor those two opportunities to get back into the house and Victor hadn't won them, no one would consider Victor one of the "best" players in Big Brother 18.
The fact that Victor was evicted twice should mean something. Just because Victor came back from his two evictions doesn't automatically make those two evictions a win. While the fact that Big Brother regularly hands out opportunities for people to get back into the game is great when a fan favorite, like Victor, makes it through, there is a problem with the twist. Victor is not so much incredibly skilled at Big Brother as he is incredibly lucky. The threats in the house should not be determined by how lucky they were to receive handouts from the twists of the season.
But what do you think? Has Victor been given too many chances this season? Do you have a problem with either of the Battle Back competitions? Do you think the competitions are too athletically minded on Big Brother?
Big Brother 18 airs Sundays and Wednesdays at 8pm and Thursdays at 9pm on CBS.
i think there should be more down to earth people not rich people who dont really need it. i also thing a good show would be one with only the first out will play. they never get a chance to really play the game so it would be fun to see how they would do.
ReplyDelete