It was sometime after the second fart-themed event in as many episodes of Big Brother that I made a decision: I am #TeamCameron. And as the current Head of Household, I watched with not a tiny bit of glee as Cameron made the biggest move of the season. After telling the entire house that he was going to nominate Jag and Blue for eviction, he revealed his masterplan: he was actually nominating Season 25 masterminds Izzy and Felicia. Burn it all down, self-proclaimed “space cowboy.” And maybe strike your match in the bathroom and bring the “Stink-O-Meter” down a bit. Lord, this show…
Proclaiming myself to be #TeamSpaceCowboy feels like an extreme move, because the season seems to want me to think that Cameron is the villain. After all, he’s been nominated for eviction three times and has been the target of pretty much everyone all season long. He’s only stuck around because he knows how to win challenges at the exact right time — like the win he pulled off last Thursday after watching his ex-bestie be sent packing.
I think the season wants me to root for the Cirie/Izzy/Felicia triumvirate that’s at the center of approximately 38 different alliances. After all, Cirie is a fan favorite thanks to four seasons of Survivor and a win on Peacock’s The Traitors. Izzy is someone I would absolutely want to hang out with IRL. And Felicia is just good television. She drops a mic pack in the toilet every day and apparently sing/screams in her sleep at night. Icons, all — but I’m still #TeamBigHairDontCare. Why? Because that’s how storytelling works, baby.
The way Big Brother is presented in its final, edited form three nights a week, all of the narrative pressure is being applied to Cameron (yet the hair still stands tall). All of his larger alliances have fallen apart. He had one solid ally in Red, and Jared torpedoed that Final 2 alliance right before Red was evicted. The man is now an island, which makes sense since his hair is roughly the circumference of Kahoolawe.
His only hope of winning Big Brother is to take down the ringleaders, the ones who have somehow evaded detection until now. He’s an underdog, y’all! He’s Luke Skywalker on Bespin in The Empire Strikes Back. He’s Buffy in “Anne.” He’s Captain America fighting Thanos.
Mind you, I am not following the live feeds, nor am I following any of the podcasts or YouTube recaps of the feeds — because all of the ones I’ve found are still, like, a 60-minute commitment every day. Brevity, people! I have no idea what’s going on in the house outside of headline-grabbing controversies that the main show ignores. I only know what Julie Chen Moonves (emphasis hers) and CBS present to me three nights a week — which is already a huge commitment. But because editing is storytelling, this actually reinforces my point. The BB Gods, who I’m sure we’ll meet before this bizarre season is over, are crafting this exact story regardless of how closely it lines up with reality.
This is just how storytelling works. I like Cirie, Izzy, and Felicia a lot and I have mad respect for how aggressively, stealthily, and professionally Cirie is running the game. I love that Izzy was smart enough to recognize the tiny bit of leverage she had — she’s the only one in the house who immediately knew that Cirie is Jared’s mom, and Izzy knew that because of Instagram — and use it to get in a Day One alliance with the house’s best player. And I love that Felicia truly loves gloating. These kids tried to get her out of the house on the first eviction. Gloat all you want to, Felicia!
But the truth is that narratives need conflict, and these three have had it way too easy all season long. They have had too much power and too much control, and it’s really hard to root for people who seem to be coasting through the season. They have all the power, and Cameron would have none were it not for a lucky Head of Household win.
There’s almost no way all three of these queenpins will survive this eviction. Izzy or Felicia are going home, and even if someone uses the Power of Veto to save one of them, you know Cameron is putting Cirie up there. And considering how even Izzy and Cirie are starting to give Felicia side-eye for spilling secrets, it seems like we’ll likely be saying “bye Felicia” sooner rather than later. After that, the tides could very well turn! I’m #TeamCameron now, but that truly depends on where this story is going and how it’s told. How Cirie, Izzy, and/or Felicia bounce back from this loss will make for riveting television… that will surely be undermined by a snot-based challenge and Party City-level costumes.