Here we go folks, it's another season of Big Brother, where we spend all summer hoping that the drama will be juicy and the twists will be fun. If you've been here before for these recaps, you know the season premiere is always a little lacking. After all, there's only so much you can write about when the 90-minute runtime mostly involves the players introducing themselves, but I'm still here to give some first impressions on every player and set us up for the first week of the game. Let's get to it!
The first four guests to move into the house, which this season boasts a "BB Hotel" theme, are Jasmine, Kyle, Monte, and Paloma. Jasmine is a self-described "Southern Belle" who grew up on a farm and now runs her own press-on nail business. She's bubbly and excited to be here; she seems sweet but could be a lot to handle. Kyle is an ex-Mormon and "entrepreneur" who mostly makes TikToks while living at home with his parents and comes with some slightly creepy "good guy" vibes. Paloma is in real estate and interior design, and she seems like someone who will ingratiate herself easily with everyone. Then there's Monte, a personal fitness instructor who does awful impressions but has a certain charm about him.
Each of the four new players retrieves a ticket from inside the house, and that ticket is used to sort out the first competition. In the backyard they find a "BB Fest" setup, much like an outdoor concert. There's a stage, a piercing tent, porta potties, and a merch stand. Each player scans their ticket and is sorted into one of the areas where, later in the episode, separate competitions will begin. Oddly enough all four of the first houseguests end up in the porta potties, which hopefully isn't a harbinger of what's to come for them.
Alright, on to our second round of players. Alyssa reps a swimwear line and works at a plastic surgeon's office while writing poetry on the side, and she makes it known that she's here to play the game for herself and won't hesitate to make ruthless moves. Daniel is a professional Elvis impersonator and Big Brother superfan who, despite his occupation involving performance, seems a little shy initially. Taylor is a personal stylist who's used to being confident and dominant to deal with her high-powered clients and believes that will benefit her in the house. Finally there's Michael, a criminal defense attorney who's a member of Mensa and has a massive "BB Bible" in his house. Serious question: has any previous houseguest who's had one of these notebooks actually won the whole thing?
Once they get all sorted it's on to the next group (I told you this first recap was repetitive! I promise we're getting to the competition soon!). There's Nicole, a private chef and "proud lesbian" who thinks her "feminine and masculine energy" will help her get along with everyone in the house. There's Turner, a thrift shop owner and rug artist who's going to bring a lot of hippie energy to the house. Joseph is a lawyer and personal trainer who insists that there's some brains behind the brawn, and Brittany is a hypnotherapist who's giving me real "Christie Murphy" vibes. You know the ones, like she's going to spend most of her time in the house trying to "manifest" a win. Honestly, I'm here for it. Give me all the weirdos.
Okay, last group then we can get into the good stuff. Let's meet the final four players. Terrance is a Chicago bus driver and the oldest in the group, a family man who's a big fan of the show. Indy is a corporate flight attendant who thinks her social skills will get her far in the game. Joseph, aka. Pooch, is a college football coach who, like the other Joseph, doesn't want to be singled out as a "dumb jock" type. I love that every season has a few jocks who are very insecure about being just that. Finally, there's Ameerah, a Google employee and constant traveler who says she'll do anything to win the game and thinks she can adapt to any situation.
As always, things are a little awkward as everyone is sorted for the first game. They're all just meeting each other for the first time but then immediately getting thrust into the game, where three people will battle it out for the first HOH and then have to nominate players they barely know.
Let me speed this up a bit. The three separate stations (Piercing Station, Merch Stand, and Porta Potties) each get their own competition, and the three winners face off to crown the first HOH. The competitions are a good mix of skill, memory, and endurance. Our winners? Monte, Turner, and Daniel.
Those three advance to the HOH competition, where they must assemble a large drum kit puzzle. It's fairly close, but Daniel pulls out the win, becoming the first HOH. At some point we'll get more on Daniel and the decisions he needs to make, but the end of the episode is focused on Pooch, who is the lone houseguest who pulls the "Backstage Boss" ticket, and Julie has a surprise for him. He sits out these first competitions, but he still has a role to play. Julie informs him that this week he will not play in any competitions and he won't be able to vote during the eviction ceremony, but he is safe this week, as he can't be nominated. Sounds pretty great. The downside? Julie tells him he must pick three players to go "backstage" with him. Those three players will also not play in the competitions or be able to vote on eviction night. But, unlike Pooch, they will still be available to be nominated for eviction by Daniel.
Obviously there's no real strategy here, but there's potential consequences with who Pooch picks. After some brief consideration, he decides on something "fair," choosing two players who were eliminated first from the previous competitions, and a random person from the third competition. That leaves Pooch, Paloma, Alyssa, and Brittany "backstage", with the latter three potentially in harm's way. But before we go off the air, there's one final twist. Julie tells America that they can vote to keep one of those three women safe this week.
Alright, that gets us all up to date on the first happenings of this season! The premiere is never all that exciting, but I do think this cast has some potential, and hopefully this first week of competition is compelling. So, while the houseguests are getting settled in and look to start forming alliances, I'll see you all on Sunday for our next episode!
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Julie Chen hosts as the houseguests battle it out.