Considering there are so many Big Brother 18 cast rumors of returning veteran houseguests, we have come up with some alternatives to the scenario that might fix one of the inherent problems: inherent alliances with newbies vs. returnees.
First, it is obvious that people do not like the “coach” twist, which I think was pretty clear and I would not expect CBS Big Brother to do this again. For about a month or two now, I’ve been thinking it will be 8 newbies and 8 returning house guests. This is primarily because even though they still had casting calls, they did significantly less casting and recruiting this year than in the past. This would make sense if they didn’t need to fill the full 16 slots with new cast members.
Therefore, my prediction seems possible. It’s not the end of the world; however, there is a problem with a mix of fresh and former Big Brother houseguests. It creates inherent alliances and often turns the show into newbies versus returnees, especially at the beginning.
The main problem with this is that often, returnees are much better at playing the strategic game and tend to dominate competitions. This means that the block always consists of newbies, and since you can’t take two off (considering one is removed with the Power of Veto), the newbies get picked off until there is some crossover of the alliances.
While we want good players and good TV, it’d almost be more fair if you use one of the first 5 that went home. They aren’t always bad players, and often, they go home because they seem like good players. If they don’t seem like good players, they may be unpredictable and untrustworthy which can make for great TV.
Take Devin Shepherd from Big Brother 16, for example, he definitely played too hard too fast, but he made for good TV. If he returned, at least we know he’d be entertaining! His game play may also fit better with a different set of house guests. However, he might have trouble building alliances since he was definitely unpredictable, such as when he invited Amber Borzotra and Christine Brecht into the Bomb Squad alliance without talking to the other members.
If you have returning houseguests who aren’t Top 5, you may have a better chance at a good fight. Since they went home so early, their strategic game didn’t have the time to build. In addition, they haven’t competed in as many competitions as the top players. You also have to account for the fact that the players in the Top 5 have known strategies since almost their entire game was shown on national TV (and the Big Brother Live Feeds). With players who went home early, we have yet to see their true game play which would be similar to having new players since we wouldn’t necessarily know what to expect. In addition, by going home early, they may have trouble building an alliance, even being all returnees who went home early which may prevent the inherent new versus old alliances.
A few other new versus old options that would break the inherent alliance barriers also include a twist. You could have 8 returning house guests and 8 newbies; however, the newbies would be someone that they know – such as a close friend. This would make it hard to form an alliance with only your respective group of houseguests since you would want to align with your friend.
The same could be true if every returning houseguest had a relative as a new house guest. Kind of like a Survivor Blood vs. Water style game. This could be any relative – from a sibling to an aunt or uncle to a cousin. For strategic purposes, I kind of like the “friend” twist better because it’d be easier to hide who you know which would allow you to have a secret alliance. The same could be true for a non-sibling family member, but there could still be some features that look the same.
This article isn’t meant to be speculation or fuel any more rumors. It is meant to be thoughts behind what they could do with veterans which might help with the main problem facing a mix of houseguests.
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