I have been gone for some time and when I come back I see that the blog has seen some changes and I have to admit I like them. It will certainly make it more user friendly.

Big Brother is back

On Wednesday, June 28, Big Brother 19 will premier on CBS at 8/7c. It will follow the same format as previous years with shows on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday nights. Unless otherwise noted Thursday nights will be elimination nights where the houseguests will vote between two people on the block for one to go home and be eliminated from the game. Sunday nights will either finish up or show the Head of Household (HOH) competition and those two that the HOH nominates for the block. Wednesday nights will see the Power of Veto (POV) competition and POV announcement where the holder of the POV will either save someone from the block or keep the nominations the same.

Following last years blogs, I will generally post a recap and update blog on Thursday before the show where I will discuss the previous week's happenings and rank the players. Unlike last year I will be a little less spoiler free as I will be watching the live feeds (most of the action in the show happens on the feeds and is rarely shown on the actual show.

With that an introduction to this year's houseguests:

Elena Davies

Elena Davies is a 26 year old former radio personality from Dallas, Texas who plans to use her social skills to win the game. She says that she is not an emotional person, so naturally I think she may be one of the most emotional people in the house. She will either get herself into a showmance completely destroying her game or be so emotional that people will overlook until late in the game. These are just guesses on these houseguests and I could, and probably will, be completely wrong on these.

Mark Jansen

Mark Jansen is a 26 year old personal trainer from New York who played football at the University of Buffalo. He calls himself a ladies man, so of course I think he is going to strike out quite a bit on the show. It is almost a guarantee now for every season to have a muscled up bro on the show and Mark seems to fit that mold perfectly. Expect to see him working out ALOT and immediately attempting to broker a all guy alliance on day one.

Megan Lowder

Megan Lowder is a professional dog walker. I will let that sink in for a minute. She is 28 and from Phoenix, Arizona. She is expecting to form an alliance on day one and it would not surprise me if she attempts to form an all-girl alliance. Just a brief note, just about every season there has been an attempt to form an all girl alliance and not one has worked. She, like Mark, is going in looking for a showmance but says she will not take her eye off the prize. We will have to see.

Cody Nickson

Cody Nickson is 32 and a construction sales rep from Plano, Texas. He is going in trying to use his skills in that profession to win the game for him. He is also going to try to win the very first competition. He says in his interview that he cannot lie and that he is too honest. With the field that he is in I just do not see it. I expect him to be this year's version of Paul (from BB18) who traded secrets with every alliance in the game and get himself into a lot of trouble.

Jason Dent

Jason Dent is 37 and a rodeo clown and auctioneer who has never seen an episode of Big Brother. Every season Big Brother gives their houseguests a viewing list of previous seasons to give them an idea of what happens on the show. He goes by "Whistle Nut", no, I am not kidding. I really do not get a good read on him. Being a non fan of the show he will either be out quick or make it extremely far (basically the show will either overwhelm him because he truly doesn't know what he is getting into, or he will thrive). We should get a good idea on the very first night.

Jillian Parker

Jillian Parker is 24 and sells timeshares in Las Vegas. She will be one of the more social players in the game, but also believes that she will not be a strong physical player which could doom her. If her personality is as large as she says it is she could easily slip into an alliance and get far in the game. Otherwise she will become a floater and just do what the power group does. People in this group can get far in the game but are usually either one of the first people to be picked off when it comes to the final four or is taken to the final two and looses. She is going to have to prove herself in the mind games to be a power player in the house.

Dominique Cooper

Dominique Cooper is an engineer from Alabama currently living in Washington D.C. and 30 years old. She could be one of the most emotional players in the game as she professes to wearing her emotions on her sleeve. She could provide the powder keg to some of the arguments in the game. If she can keep her emotions in check she should be able to make if far in the game. Expect her to be extremely competitive in the mind games and up there in the physical ones as well. She should be an early favorite, again, if she can keep her emotions in check.

Kevin Schlehuber

Kevin Schlehuber is a former Mr. Massachusetts and has seven children. He is also 55. The older contestants typically do not make it very far in the game. If he can get past the first eviction he could be formidable, especially with his history and background. Sad to say, but he will be a target for the first eviction. If he performs well in the first competition that could be a huge benefit for him. If he struggles he is likely gone.

Matthew Clines

Matthew Clines is a former military brat from Virginia and 33. He will use the experience of moving around a lot as a child to win over friends in the house. He says that not a lot gets to him so I do kind of expect him to be the comedian in the house that tries to make peace. Depending on how he does in the physical games could determine how far he makes it into the game.

Ramses Soto

Ramses Soto is a 21 year old cosplay extraordinaire and an also self described super fan from Grand Rapids, Michigan. This will help him in the early days. He seems like he is going to be a player that tries to play both sides of the house. This could be problematic for him, but his personality could save him.

Christmas Abbott

Christmas Abbott who is from Virginia and 33 is self described fitness nut and even worked in a NASCAR pit crew. She could be the dominant player of the game. She says that she is open to a showmance, but only if it helps her game. She will definitely be one of the better physical players. If an all girl alliance is made it would not surprise me if she fights against it. She already has a hashtag as well #CreepyChristmas.

Jessica Graf

Jessica Graf is a 26 year old VIP concierge living in Los Angeles from Rhode Island. She plans on being the life of the party. She probably is going to be lacking in physical and mental comps so it will be up to her social game to get her any distance in the game. She also seems more concerned about getting in and "epic Showmance" rather than winning the show. This could, and will, be her downfall.

Alex Ow

Alex Ow is 28 from Camarillo, California. She is an eco-friendly marketing rep. Her plan is to fly under the radar and be a non threat. Unfortunately this is fastest way to become a target because it will likely make her a floater.

Cameron Heard

Cameron Heard is 24 and a biologist from Woodridge, Illinois. He is an intelligent person and reminds me of Ian from BB14. The interesting thing about Ian is that he managed to play both sides while also stirring up the houseguests without them knowing it was him. It helped him to a win. If Cameron can follow this he will be in it to the end.

Josh Martinez

Josh Martinez is 23 year old haircare salesman from Homestead, Florida. He describes his game as like Evil Dick from BB8. Many players have come into the game comparing themselves to Evil Dick and just turned out to be far worse human beings than Dick could ever imagine. Josh is coming into the game with a chip already on his shoulder and it will not serve him well. He appears to be someone that will be easy to push into an explosion and I could easily see him be one of the first three ousted. If he keeps his attitude in check for the first few weeks he could make it far into the game, but that is unlikely.

Raven Walton

Raven Walton is a 23 year old dance teacher from DeValls Bluff, Arkansas (already my favorite). Because she is a dance teacher this could really benefit her in the physical comps. Her social game will also be particularly strong unless he overdoes it and then it can be a huge liability. She compares herself to Frankie from BB16. If so her "bubbly" attitude will run wrong with some of the houseguests.

Early Impressions

Overall I am not very impressed with this season's housemates. It only looks to have two dominant players and it seems like people are more interested in showmances than playing the game. No word yet whether there will be a twist at the beginning of the show and introduce former house guests, but they have promised an early twist to the show.

They typically eliminate a cast member in the first night (it is a 2 hour premier). If I had to wager a guess I would say that Kevin may be the first houseguest out of the game. They are already in the house and getting to know each other, so when we first see them on Wednesday they will have already had quite some time together.

Enjoy.

​All information taken from the CBS Big Brother page

Update with spoilers

The first night of Big Brothers introduced "The Summer of Temptation" and had three temptations on the first episode. The first temptation was for $25,000. If a houseguest decided to get the money they would unleash a twist and consequence on the rest of the house along with having to throw the first HOH competition. Kevin took the money and oddly enough pissed off the rest of the house. The house twist is that Paul was brought back into the house. The consequence was that he would actually be swapped out with a houseguest.

Paul was given nine "friendship" bracelets, one for himself and eight for other houseguests that he decided to save from the swap. Those eight were Kevin, Raven, Dominique, Mark, Jason, Jessica, Ramses, and Elena.

The other eight had to compete for the block. The last person standing would be safe from the swap. The other seven would have to pick an apple. Whoever picked the three poison apples would go on the block. Those three were Christmas, Cameron, and Jillian. Cody won removing himself from the swap.

In the final temptation the three on the block got to vote whether they would be eliminated by vote or by competition. Oddly enough Christmas who looks to be a competition beast voted for the selection to be by vote as did Jillian. By a vote of 7-3-2 Cameron was eliminated (all five of the women in the house voted to evict Cameron.

Josh and Jason voted for Christmas

Mark, Cody, and Matt voted for Jillian

Elena, Megan, Dominique, Kevin, Ramses, Kevin, Alex, and Raven voted for Cameron. Paul did not vote as he was de facto HOH and would have only voted if there was a tie.

HOH and Nominations

Cody won HOH and nominated:

Jillian and Megan but really wants Paul out of the house.

BREAKING

Megan apparently self-evicted after getting caught up in a bunch of lies. The story is still developing as the housemates talk about but there are new nominations:

At this point I am not really sure if Alex was named as a replacement nomination or if they redid the nominations because Jillian said on the live feeds to the cameras that this was the third time she's been nominated. Will update as I learn more (there are rumors that a replacement player will come into the house from the list of alternatives. No one new is in the house at this time so I cannot confirm). ​UPDATE: ​From listening to houseguests, specifically Paul, apparently Megan had made some racist remarks either directed at Alex or Jessica and Paul decided to stir the pot. This caused Alex to confront Megan and shortly after their fight Megan went to the Diary Room and self-evicted. I do not know how much of this is true because it is Paul, after all.

POV

Alex won POV but the nomination has not happened as of yet. Paul was awarded with three weeks of safety from the fans. I am not entirely sure what the consequence for the house is yet, but it should be on the show Sunday.

Small update:

Cody has amassed a 9 person alliance who all seem to be aligned with his plans. The alliance consists of Cody, Jessica, Paul, Jason, Dominique, Christmas, Raven, Matthew, and Elena. It seems like they have their top 3 targets lined up Jillian this week (because Alex took herself off the block and Josh is safe for the week), Josh or Alex in the next two weeks. I believe they are all in agreement to get Josh out next week if at all possible because of his attitude and short fuse. Cody wants to go after Paul as well but at this point he is unaware that Paul is safe for the next three weeks. He is still extremely tight lipped about who is going to put up in Alex or Jillian's place. Alex has told Jillian she wants to take Jillian off the block, but I highly doubt that will actually happen.

This of course can change quickly and possibly has already changed as the eviction is not until Thursday.

POV Update:

Alex used the POV on herself and Cody put Christmas up for nomination. It sounds like he initially tried to put Paul up, because the housemates are floored that he has three weeks of safety and did not tell anyone. Cody is storming around the house refusing to talk to anyone about his re-nom. Christmas is blowing a gasket as expected. However, Cody is kind of out of control at his point. He is seeing threats that are not even there. He even took a shot at America for giving Paul three weeks of safety. Christmas is pissed at the house because no one told her it was coming. The thing is, no one knew it was coming. Cody was absolutely tight lipped about his plans.

So the new nominations are:

Right now the target is fully on Christmas. This is only Sunday so the target will change several times before Thursday.