Final Thoughts: Big Brother 9

I don't particularly recalling being blown away by this season of Big Brother when I had originally watched it. I didn't really like the couples twist. I disliked half of the cast members. Plus I was a little bit Big Brother-ed out. Usually there is a year or so between seasons of this show, but because of the writer's strike back in 2008, they decided to release a special edition of Big Brother during the winter months since nothing original was being written at this point in time.

I always considered Big Brother 8 to be the last "great" season of Big Brother. I loved Evel Dick and his antics, plus the game was just flat out a lot of fun. Good characters, big moments, fun twists, great winner. Anything was bound to be a letdown after a season like that.

Rewatching Big Brother 9, I was kind of surprised to find that I liked the season. In fact, I really liked it.

This season was completely different in the sense that the game was played (at least, in the beginning) with partners instead of individuals. 14 people came into the game, and were quickly partnered off into couples. Supposedly personality tests had been given to the players, and it was determined who each other's "soul mates" were based on compatibility. These couples would play the game as one person. Competitions were won as couples, nominations made as couples. People were evicted as couples.

This seemed like an unfair twist to me originally. You could play the best Big Brother game in the universe, but if you happened to get coupled with someone the house hated and wanted out, you would be screwed. And this actually did happen on a few occasions.

In addition to the couples twist, there were also a few other wrinkles to the game as well. A few people entered the house knowing other players in the game. There was Ryan and Jen - a real life couple outside the house. These two came into the house and were supposed to act like they didn't know one another. They got coupled with other people as well. Due to in game reasons (Jen's partner wanted to target Ryan for eviction) they couldn't keep the fact that they knew each other a secret for very long. This made things all kinds of awkward.

Then there was Sharon and Jacob. These two had been a real life couple for a long time, but had recently broken up before the show. They were then paired together as each other's soulmates. Cruel, Big Brother, cruel. I hated Jacob right away. In the introductions he was all Jesus this, Jesus that. And then we found out that he had separated from Sharon because he had cheated on her, lol.

These were the only pre existing relationships in the house coming into the game. Well, unless you count the house guinea pigs, which the show did in a competition later on in the game. Other pairings included Sheila, a sassy cougar, and Adam, a fast talking, Jersey boy. This couple was dysfunctional right from the get go. They hated each other. Sheila in particular didn't like Adam and the fact that he smoked and seemed like kind of a spaz. He didn't earn points for himself either when he referred to the special needs kids he worked with as retards.

Alex and Amanda were another couple. He was a pretty boy New York DJ. Even I can admit he was a good looking man. She was a butterfaced Wisconsin girl with a high pitched little girl voice. Hot body though.

Previously mentioned Jen was partnered with Parker, a black dude with a fro. He seeemed cool at first, but kinda morphed into a dick during his short stay in the house. Jen's boyfriend Ryan was partnered with Alison, a sporty loud mouthed Boston chick. She kind of annoyed me.

There was a token gay couple - Joshuah and.... uh some other guy who quit the game on like day 3 or 4. There was James, with his pink mohawk and his tale of bicycling around the world (is that possible?) and bad girl Chelsia. I had the major hots for her when this season first aired.

Last couple was one that I HATED when I first watched the show - Matt and Natalie. Matt was your typical cocky Boston guy. I tend to hate these people on reality shows. He was kinda like a younger version of Boston Rob. He was paired with Natalie, a bikini barista (those exist?). She was another Jesus freak like Jacob, but apparently she gave Matt a blowjob on like the second or third day of the game. This is according to the live feed reports. They never showed this on TV though. WHY?? I thought she was super annoying the first time I watched this. She had one of those obnoxiously loud voices, and everything about her screamed fake. She was constantly fawning over Matt, who didn't even really seem to like her that much. Words can't describe how this couple annoyed me the first time I watched this show.

Upon rewatch though, they may have been my favorite couple. They are so dysfunctional, it is hilarious. She is constantly all over Matt, but he is talking trash about her to the camera, and constantly pursuing other chicks like Chelsia and Sharon. It was kind of hilarious to watch actually.

Once all the pairs had been created, a challenge was held for power couple. The winner would evict any couple of their choice singlehandedly. Or would it be doublehandedly because they are a couple? I don't know. Jen and Parker won this first challenge.

Here is where the unfairness factor came in for me. Sharon would have been in no trouble whatsoever, but her partner Jacob started rumors about people calling Parker a snake. In reality, no one had said that - and Jacob was the one trying to make Parker look bad. Jacob and Sharon were chosen (obviously) by Parker and Jen to leave the house. Sharon did nothing wrong, but paid the price for her partner's stupidity.

Joshuah's partner was forced to quit for personal reasons, giving Joshuah the choice of selecting either Sharon or Jacob to come back into the game to be his new partner. Obviously, he chose Sharon rather than the shit stirring Jacob. I was glad for her to get a second chance since she got screwed over by her partner. And she did end up making it pretty far in the game.

Another person who got screwed was Parker, who was voted out because everyone hated Jen and her shit stirring ways. People didn't like her at all, and she only made things worse for herself when she went around calling her real life boyfriend Ryan a racist to make herself look better. Like, what was she thinking?

Alex was another one who got screwed. Amanda, his partner, was a huge gossip who went around the house starting rumors and irritiating the crap out of everyone. These rumors blew up in her face during a big fight with Joshuah, who called her a horse face and told her to hang herself like her dad. Low blow, but she brought it on herself. This couple got evicted, even though Alex really did nothing wrong and seemed to be playing a good game.

The last screwed player was Ryan, who was taken out because his partner Allison was hated by the house, and again - fought with Joshuah who came after her looks and called her an ugly bitch. Allison also squabbled with Sheila and a few others. Ryan was spared however, when the couples twist ended and everyone was forced to decide whether to vote him out or Allison. Allison left and Ryan got to stay in the game.

Once the couple twist ended, the game got really good. Ryan became the new HoH, and people were trying to threaten and intimidate him into putting his good pal Matt out of the game. No one trusted James, who was kind of seen as the ringleader for the anti Matt movement, and he became a huge target. When the veto was used, a lot of people expected Ryan to put up his friend Matt - but he took out James instead. This was a big game changing moment, and where this season really got good.

A big twist occurred that saved James's skin. The players had to vote whether to save James or bring a mystery player back into the game. America had voted for the screwed over Alex as the mystery player, but the players in the game didn't know it. Rather than risk the unknown, the players brought James back into the game. Appearance wise, you would think James with his pink mohawk would have been this huge over the top character. Plus his nickname was Crazy James. But I didn't really see too much crazy behavior out of him. I did hear rumors that he was in gay porn before the show, so I had to look it up to see if the rumors were true. They are. I would suggest not following up on this yourself, however.

Upon his return, James made his enemies pay, winning all kinds of competitions and taking out his rival Matt. Every week became a struggle to evict James from the house, but he kept winning veto challenges. He saw two of his alliance members leave before him - Chelsia and Joshuah. The alliance of Natalie, Ryan, Sheila, and Adam took control of the game. James eventually lost a veto challenge and was finally voted out at the final 6.

Sharon became the last outsider, but was saved when the dominating alliance (Team Christ... ugh what a name) decided to take out one of their own in Natalie because she was such a big threat. Sharon's reprieve was short lived as she got voted out next anyway. Sharon was okay. She seemed nice enough, but she was another Jesus freak in the house. Plus I hated how she would always yell wooooooo all the time. It was obnoxious. Her baby talk to the guinea pigs was annoying too.

Within the Team Christ alliance, Ryan and Adam had a final 2 deal and took each other to the finals when Sheila couldn't come up with a challenge win at the end of the game. Sheila was an emotional rollercoaster - up and down and down and up. She cried quite often and was very quick to anger in many situations. But there were other times she seemed like the most loving and caring person in the world. She was a little bit of a mess but I liked her a lot. Why has she not been back as a returning player?

I actually liked both of the people in the final 2. Ryan seemed like a genuinely nice guy, although whenever he would speak to Julie or to his houseguests on live TV, he would always say the phrase "you know" way too many times. This bugged the crap out of me. "Yeah, you know, I, you know, nominated James because, you know, he was a threat and, you know...." Ugh.

Adam was my favorite when the show first aired. He is goofy, off the wall. Not your typical type of Big Brother winner. Not your typical kind of human being actually. He was a very strange guy, kind of reminiscent of a Muppet or a cartoon character in his mannerisms. When I first started rewatching this season, I was like how the hell does Adam make it to the end and win? I thought my memory had failed me miserably. But no, he did win in the end.

It was a 6-1 vote. I am a little surprised it was such a blow out. People seemed to like Ryan, and a few people suggested that Adam didn't have a backbone or hid behind Ryan's game play. But Adam was rewarded with the vote. He was always very passionate about the moves he made, which I think was a big plus in his favor versus the usually cool and level headed Ryan. Plus Adam works with children and made it clear that he was going to use his money to improve the lives of autistic children through charity work.

"I'm going to do great things with this money," he assured his fellow houseguests.

Which is funny, because didn't he get busted for drug possession and trafficking not too long after the game ended. LOL. Great things indeed.

All in all, I really enjoyed this season upon rewatch. I was actually kind of dreading watching it again since I didn't enjoy it much the first time I watched it. But I had a lot of fun this time around and would often look forward to being able to watch the next show in line. Usually when I watch shows, I take my time and only watch an episode here and there every once in a while. But this one kept me coming back, which is a sign that I truly enjoyed.

I loved the cast. There wasn't a dud in the bunch. I liked the way the show went down, the people I wanted to see leave generally left the show early and the people I liked tended to stick around in the game. The format and the couplings were great for drama. I enjoyed the winner. I just really enjoyed the season as a whole.

Oh how my opinion has changed. Whereas I used to think back on this season negatively, I now see it as one of my favorite seasons. If you have never seen this season before, it is DEFINITELY worth a watch. And if you have seen it, you may find that you like it more a second time around.