Thursday September 15th 2011
R.DiMatteo

Day 75-Episode 29-The Finale

It has been a summer filled with tears and laughter, floating and competing, backstabbers and allies, lovers and liars. Last night was the season finale of Big Brother 13 and Rachel Reilly came out on top and was crowned the WINNER. For the last time this season, this is how it all unfolded...

Tonight after 10 evictions, 29 competitions and 75 days cut off from the outside world one houseguest will walk away with the $500,000 grand prize, Julie says as she welcomes us to the season finale of Big Brother. There is a video recap of the entire season complete with voice over highlighting specific events. The theme song rolls on and all of the house guests pictures are back in color just like Day 1. Julie reminds us that 90 minutes remain before this season comes to an end. She goes through a run down of the nights format.

Final HOH Part 1: “The Big Brother Mixer”
BUT FIRST...She talks about the all important three part final HOH competition, which is where we were left off during the last episode. We are brought back to the house guests spinning in the bowl of butter for Part 1: Endurance portion of the HOH competition. Rachel says that she does not know if she can trust Porsche so it is important that she wins the endurance competition. After only 15 minutes Porsche and Adam comment about being dizzy and the reality of the fact that now this is real...this is Big Brother. After 22 minutes has elapsed Adam is looking rough and is complaining of pain in both his arms and legs. He says that this is not easy. Rachel comments that she does not understand him because this is his life long dream and he wants to give up because of a little bit of pain. She does not understand it. After 28 minutes and 57 seconds Adam falls off of the mixing blade and into the bowl of butter. This leaves Rachel and Porsche still competing. Adam says that he did that to save his strength for the second part of the competition. After 34 minutes Porsche asks Adam if Rachel is doing okay? He responds that she is good. Rachel is in the zone and looking strong whereas; Porsche is feeling nauseous and not looking so hot. Porsche asks Rachel how she is and Rachel says that she is good and could stay up there all night. Rachel asks how Porsche is and she responds that she is not so good. Porsche is getting progressively worse and after 46 minutes and 10 seconds she jumps off the mixing blade and into the pool of butter. As Rachel spins around she gives he thumbs up and a big Rachel Reilly smile to the camera. Porsche says good job and is still sitting in the pool of butter. Rachel tells her that she did really good and is still posing and smiling after her victory. Rachel gets off the mixing blade and hops over the wall and out of the pool of butter with ease. Porsche is at the edge of the pool and says that she is stuck in the butter. Adam has to pull her over the edge and out of the butter. Porsche and Adam both know that they need to win round two and step up their games. This may be the shortest final endurance competition in the history of Big Brother.

Final HOH Part 2: Under the Sea
For the second part of the HOH competition the backyard is set up in an nautical theme. There is a half abandoned ship with a dunk tank attached. In the tank is an underwater maze. At the bottom of the tank are pictures of past HOH winners. The object of the game is to slide the pictures through the maze to the correct spot in the correct order in which they won HOH. The correct order is Rachel, Jordan, Rachel, Dani, Kalia, Dani, Jeff, Kalia, Porsche, Rachel, Adam. Once they have the past HOH’s in the correct order through the maze they need to get out of the dunk tank and hit their buzzer to lock in their answers. The player to complete the competition in the fastest time will move on to face Rachel in the final round of the HOH competition. Porsche is first to play. She says that she was having trouble concentrating while holding her breathe and she continues to resurface for air after each face she gets through the maze. Adam is next up and he knows that he needs to redeem himself. He goes down and when he comes up his goggles are filled with water. He decides to throw the goggles out of the dunk tank. When he goes back down into the water, he realizes that he made a big mistake because he could not see under water and it made it harder. Adam has to get out of the water and off the platform to find his googles in the grass. Once he has the googles back, he completes the maze quickly. After Adam finishes Rachel joins the two players in the backyard to reveal their times. Adam finished the competition in 6 minutes and 3 seconds. Porsche finished the competition in 3 minutes and 50 seconds. This means that Porsche has won the second part of the final HOH competition! The girls are planning to take each other since they have a final two deal and Adam knows that he needs to try and convince them to bring him to the final two with them.

The Jury Deliberates
We see the jury come together to discuss who they feel deserves to win the $500,000. Brendon, Jeff, Dani and Shelly are waiting to see who will be the next member of the jury. Kalia walks in and gives hugs all around, she explains what happened and how Rachel won the HOH and she was the casualty. Jordan walks in and becomes the sixth member of the jury. Brendon is happy that he is not seeing Rachel and apologizes for being happy to see Jordan. Jeff gives her a hug and says that he missed her. Jordan explains that she left because Posche won the POV. Shelly asks how they will judge who deserves to win the game. Jordan starts to campaign for Rachel and talks about how she is proud of her and she won a majority of the competitions and deserves to win. Danielle talks about how Rachel complains about floaters and then is acting as one by floating to the person in power. Brendon says that she had to do that to keep herself alive and change her strategy. Jeff comments that being annoying as she was, that she made it to the end. Dani says that the way she treated people along the way was terrible. Brendon admits that Rachel is not smooth at all and likens her to a rhino in a china shop. Kalia comments that her opinion of Rachel has changed because she feels like Rachel had the hardest road along the way and deserves to be where she is. Shelly talks again about how she struggles with them rewarding Rachel’s “vicious” behavior with half a million dollars. Jordan comes back at her with the fact that Shelly is no better than Rachel and says that Shelly has said bad things about all of the girls in the house herself. Jeff says that they all had opportunities to take Rachel out, if they were really that disgusted with her behavior. They discuss Porsche and Adam. Jeff says that he hardly talked to Porsche and wants to hear why the others feel like she deserves to win. Kalia says that she believes that Porsche has played the game and that there was no reason to make herself a target early, if she did not have too. Jordan and Jeff say that Porsche did nothing until day 55. Kalia says that she won when she had to and when it mattered. In comparison to Adam, Dani says that Porsche still won more competitions than Adam. Shelly says that Adam made no big moves and he just coasts. Jordan defends Adam and says that even though he did play both sides, he stayed loyal to her and Jeff. Shelly said he went back and forth to all sides and Jordan said at least he was playing the game. Dani says that Adam flip flopped and never made his own moves she says that he has created a new place called a “piggy-backer”. She says that he never thought for himself and at least Porsche made her own decisions. She is basically saying that he rode on Jeff’s back the entire game. Shelly turns the attention and says that Kalia and Porsche played Dani’s game. Kalia wants to clear the air and says that she played her own game and not Danielle’s game. Jeff disagrees and says that Kalia did play Dani’s game. They jury ends deliberations with this argument.

Final HOH Part 3: How well do you know the Jury?
Porsche and Rachel face off in the living room. Julie will read statements made by each of the six jury members. For each statement Julie will give the choice of two possible endings. They must choose A or B depending on what they think the jury member said.

Question #1:
Brendon said: The moment in the house that I am afraid to have my friends and family see is... A)The moment I was evicted the second time or B)Not doing better in endurance competitions.
The Answer was A. Rachel and Porsche both choose B. No points were awarded.
Question #2:
Danielle said: The most shocking moment in the house was when...A)America voted Brendon back into the game or B)I found out my Dad would not be returning to the game.
The answer was B. Porsche answered A. Rachel answered B. Rachel wins a point.
Question #3:
Shelly said: The fatal error I made in the house was...A)Turning against Jeff and Jordan or B)Voting to evict Jeff one week too soon.
The answer was B. Rachel and Porsche both chose A. Score remains 1-0 for Rachel.
Question #4:
Jeff said: The best thing about being in the house was A)Getting to spend the summer with Jordan or B)Getting rid of Danielle.
Without hesitation both girls lock in B and the audience laughs. The correct answer was A. The score remains 1-0 for Rachel.
Question #5:
Kalia said: The biggest lie told in the house this season was A)That Adam was loyal to the newbies or B)Anything that came out of Shelly’s mouth.
The answer was B. Porsche answered A. Rachel answered B. Rachel wins a point the score is 2-0.
There is no need to continue because with only one question left, Porsche cannot catch up this means Rachel has WON the final HOH competition of the season. The reality sets in and Rachel is shocked. She jumps to the side and starts to jump up and down and scream with joy. She is wiping away tears and cannot contain herself. Porsche and Adam give Rachel a hug and she says that it is surreal and she cannot believe that it just happened. Rachel cries and apologizes. Julie tells her that she will only minutes and will have to choose who to sit next to her in the final two.

Rachel has the POWER...again
Back in the Big Brother house, Rachel must choose who she would like to bring with her to the final two. Adam and Porsche will make their final pleas. Porsche is first and stands she addresses Rachel and tells her that they started and ended the game as allies and would love for Rachel to take her to the final two. She tells Rachel that she is a great competitor and killed her in the last HOH and she wishes her luck. Adam is next, he stands makes some shout out and starts his plea. He tells Rachel that from week one she has said that she did not want a floater to win the game. He says that Porsche flip flopped and that he was with them the whole time and supported Rachel and Brendon the whole time. He says that last year Rachel said floaters grab a life vest and this year she wants to give one a pay cheque? He says sorry to Porsche and then congratulates Rachel. I need to interject... Adam thinks Porsche is a floater? What season was he in because clearly he needs to watch Big Brother 13 and take his crown for the biggest floater of the season.
Julie tells Rachel that this is a $500,000 decision and asks if she is ready. Rachel says “No” and Julie tells her too bad. Rachel stands and addresses Porsche and Adam. She says that it has been amazing with both of them and it is surreal because she has fought her heart out and has been a target since day one. She says that she has had to play this game on her own and that although she has had allies, she was one of the biggest targets in this game. Rachel says that she feels that she deserves her spot and in the past few weeks she has fought alongside Porsche. She says that Adam has said to earn your spot and she has and she is sorry but she has to evict him. Adam has been the last person evicted from the Big Brother house. Adam hugs the girls and says his goodbyes. He gives one more holler on his way out and exits the house.

Outside of the house Adam tries to get the audience riled up. He brings Julie in for a hug and takes a seat. Inside the house Rachel sits and looks upset, she is quiet. Porsche tells Rachel to relax. Julie asks if Rachel made the right decision by choosing to sit next to Porsche? Because he didn’t do the best in competitions. He says that he stepped up towards the end, as did Porsche. He says that she did make the right decision because if he was in the final two that he would have won. Julie and the audience laughs...Adam is actually serious and thinks he would have won. He says that he played good socially and made friends with all of the jury. Julie tells him that he is now part of that jury. He stands and tries to amp up the crowd. Julie is trying to talk and he is walking all over. He runs into the audience to hug his girlfriend Fara.

Questions, Questions, Questions
Julie welcomes the jury onto the stage to applause in order that they were evicted. Brendon, Danielle, Jeff, Shelly, Kalia and Jordan. They do not sit into the order that they were evicted and are separated as The Vets on the top stools and the Newbies plus Dani on the bottom. Julie introduces the jurors to the seventh and final member of the jury...Adam. As soon as Brendon sees Adam and not Rachel he jumps out of his chair and cheers. The jury is very happy to see Adam join them. Julie tells them that Rachel just won the final HOH competition and chose to evict Adam. The jury has decided on questions to ask the final two. Julie goes to the living room to begin the questioning:

Question #1 from Brendon:
“I love you very much...that’s not my question. Rachel, some in the jury think you did and said a lot of hurtful things that had nothing to do with strategy. Why do you think you should be rewarded for this behavior?”(Brendon Villegas, BB12&BB13,Ep.29,CBS)

Rachel responds:
“I do apologize if I did or said anything that was hurtful...But I should be rewarded for this behavior based on game play. I have fought. I was a target since the second I walked through the doors. I have done nothing but fight in this house. I won four HOH’s and two POV’s, the final HOH and I think that, you have to base this decision on game play and base this decision on someone that has competed this entire game and someone that has done nothing but fight to compete, fight to be here and has put their heart on the line in every single competition. I fought my heart out. I do apologize if I was ever hurtful to anyone...”(Rachel Reilly, BB12&BB13,Ep.29,CBS)

Question #2 from Jordan:
“Porsche, some people in the jury think all you did in the house was wear bikinis and cook. What else did you do to deserve half a million dollars?”(Jordan Lloyd, BB11&BB13, Ep.29,CBS)

Porsche Responds:
“Okay, well starting this game off I was given a golden the first week but that wasn’t my decision necessarily. It was part of the twist in the game and it was what I had to do. I decided to play a social game and was friendly with everybody and got along with everyone and have played game with each one of you that are sitting in the jury. Or talked with you at some point and we’ve gotten to know each other. So, I did not just hang around in a bikini. I was here just as much as everybody else and I competed in as many competitions as I was allowed to compete in”(Porsche Briggs, BB13,Ep.29,CBS)

Question #3 from Kalia:
“Hi Rachel...Aside from winning competitions. What did you do to deserve to win this game?”(Kalia Booker, BB13, Ep.29,CBS)

Rachel Responds:
“I had one of the biggest targets on my back this entire game. I was nominated four times and was on the block five times so I was the person that was nominated the most. I was the person that has won the most competitions. When Brendon left the game I had to completely change my game play and I played in as many competitions as Porsche, with her golden key and I won more competitions. When Brendon left I had to play a social game. I had to start to branch out. I always listened to everyone and I had to make big moves in this game. Kalia, one of the biggest moves I think I made was evicted you, because I think you would have won this game if you were in the final two...” (Rachel Reilly, BB12&BB13,Ep.29,CBS)

Question #4 from Shelly:
“Ladies you look beautiful congratulations. Porsche when did you start playing the game and tell us about some of your big game moves.”

Porsche responds:
“Okay, I started playing the game week one. Once I know there was a decision for a golden key Keith was definitely standing in my way when we were on the block...I did try to work with him as much as I possibly could and then he tried to mess up my game with half of the house...Unfortunately at that time I had to make a game move that I was willing to accept a golden key and sit out some competitions even though I was up in the HOH room crying about it because I did not want to sit out of anything. I came in here to compete and thats what I have done the entire summer and I made game moves, bigger game moves since fast forward. I am very happy that I got to make all these game moves that I have and sometimes you take what you are given...at first yes I was given a golden key” (Porsche Briggs, BB13,Ep.29,CBS)

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Julie tells them that they will each have a chance to make a final statement to the jury.

Rachel goes first and re-iterates what she has said in her answers to the jury questions:
-thanks them for an amazing season
-target since she walked into the door
-nominated four times and on the block five times
-had to win HOH, POV or be nominated
-competed her heart out through the entire game
-made big moves like exposing Dani for trying to back door Jeff and evicting Kalia
-strategic decisions
-re-formulate game once Brendon left
-played a more social game after Brendon left
-saved herself and Jordan
-won four HOH’s and two POV’s and the final HOH
-listened to everyone, considered options, stayed true to her alliance
Julie interrupts and thanks Rachel. Rachel apologizes and everyone laughs.

Porsche is next and says that the six people in jury were the six people that voted for her to stay in the game during week one:
-showed what she is capable of and made it to final two
-competed hard
-respected people and played socially
-played in competitions
-won four competitions and came in second in four competitions
-won HOH and POV’s and was here to play the game
Re-iterates that they saw something in her to keep her in the game to begin with so she is hoping that they see something in her to award her with the grand prize.

The voting begins and jury members will go one by one to the voting box and insert the key of the person who they want to see win the game...
Brendon is first and says that it is going to be a very hard decision. He jokes that it is because of Rachel that he is in the jury house. He says that when Julie asked him why he left her in the game and he said because he thought she would go further that she has proved him right. He says that he is proud of her and that regardless of the result that he loves her with all his heart.
Danielle is up next. She tells Porsche that she adores her and is proud of her and she tells Rachel that she is lucky it is not a personality contest. Porsche is trying to keep in her laughter and Rachel looks pissed.
Jeff says that he does’t have anything cute to say. He congratulates them both for getting to the final two.
Shelly goes to vote and says that she is proud of them and that it is a game and loves the heart that they have and loves them, but not as much as Brendon loves Rachel.
Kalia goes to vote and does not know what do say, so she shout outs referencing pajama jammers.
Jordan is next to vote and tells Rachel that she has missed her and congratulations to both of them and that they did good.
Adam is the final vote and tells Rachel that her smartest move was evicting him because he would have won the game. Especially if he didn’t throw his goggles and smoke and the half million would have been him. He says sorry to Fara and that next time he comes to All-Stars that he will win the game.

Re-United At Last
The jury is re-united with the first five house guests to leave the game, Evel Dick, Keith, Cassi, Dominic and Lawon. Julie welcomes them all back and begins with Evel Dick. She tells him that he only got to play for six days before he left, but in that amount of team he formed the veteran alliance. She said that it appeared to be a strong alliance and what does he have to say about it now? He says “woulda, shoulda, coulda been the best alliance that has ever played the game, really should have. If they stuck together [Dani is shaking her head no] But my lovely daughter blew it up with an atomic bomb and there it went”(Dick Donato, BB8&BB13,Ep.29,CBS). Julies asks if he thinks that Danielle single handedly brought down the veteran alliance? and he says absolutely and that there is no question and Danielle is nodding her head in agreement and the audience is laughing. Julie asked if Danielle agrees with that, she says “Absolutely, Okay...here’s what I say is the biggest problem people make in this game is making alliances day one or two. When we came in the house, we were kind of forced in that situation and then two weeks later I am like ‘I don’t wanna work with these people’. [She points to the early evicted house guests] There’s all my friends over there. I wanted to work with the people that I actually cared about and had relationships with. I did what I had to do. It got me sitting here, but I have really great friendships that I made in this game and I know that I made big moves soo...” (Danielle Donato, BB8&BB13,Ep.29,CBS). Julie asks what Dick thought of Danielle trying to take out Jeff and if it was a dumb move. He says that he says things about Dani behind her back, not when she is right there. He says that he thinks it was a case of playing to hard to fast and if she would have waited the newbies would have won an HOH and she could have had her secret newbies alliance on the side. He said one of the veterans would have gone and they just had to make sure it was not one of them (them being Dick or Dani).

Julie turns to Cassi and asks what she was most surprised about this summer. Cassi says how cute Adam is underneath that beard. Julie tells her to be careful because his girlfriend is here. Cassi makes a comment about his 10:10 messages to Fara. She says that the most shocking thing was Shelly because she did not think that Shelly was actually playing the game and just thought that Shelly was happy to be there. Cassi says that where Shelly lacked competitively she made up socially. Shelly says that she adores Cassi and was not fooling her about that. She says that they will be friends for life after this experience. Shelly says that she knew that she could not win competitions so her only option was to play socially and to play both sides to the best of her ability. Julie turns to have Jeff weigh in on this and everyone laughs. Julie asked if everything was put aside in the jury house. Jeff says that he was very upset but it had to be put aside that they have moved on from it because it is a game.

Julie turns to Kalia and says that Kalia mentioned that her strategy was to bite her tongue, but she is not playing the game anymore so Julie is hoping she is not going to bite her tongue. Julie asks what is on her mind. Brendon makes a comment about Kalia not biting her tongue and she says that she did a lot in the house. The one thing she addresses if that she met Danielle when she came into the house and she has watched all the past seasons of Big Brother and knew what game she was going to play before going in there. She re-iterates that she was not playing Danielle’s game, because she did not leave her life behind to not play her own game. Dani is nodding in agreement during Kalia’s statement. Kalia turns to Dani and says that she loves her and the two smile. Julie goes back to Jeff and says that him and Shelly made up and that it looked tense between him and Danielle in jury and what is the status of that relationship. Jeff says, “We gave each other back our friendship bracelets. Danielle’s a strong person and I’m a strong person you know?...We both have our feelings, not everybody likes each other in this room, that’s understandable...I don’t dislike Danielle. I just...I guess I do dislike her. I don’t like her. But it’s no big deal, I don’t mind if she doesn’t like me”(Jeff Schroeder, BB11&BB13,Ep.29,CBS).

The Moment of Truth...
We are back and here we go! Julie begins to count the jury’s votes. The results are...
Brendon cast his vote for Rachel
Danielle cast her vote for Porsche
Jeff cast his vote for Rachel
Shelly cast her vote for Rachel...
At this point Rachel puts her hands over her mouth and already starts to cry because Shelly’s vote gives her three, she knows that Jordan voted for her and you need four votes to win.
Kalia cast her vote for Porsche
Jordan cast her vote and the WINNER OF BIG BROTHER 13 IS...RACHEL

Rachel is screaming and jumping, she hugs Porsche and is screaming, crying and shaking. Julie tells them to come out of the house. Rachel exits first, opens the door and a shower of confetti explodes in the air. Brendon meets her at the door and she jumps into his arms. Rachel is hugging Brendon. She is in shock and is ecstatic. The house guests start to hug each other and Rachel is saying thank you to everyone . She thanks Shelly and tells Brendon that she just won Big Brother. Rachel spots her family and runs into the audience. There is a lot of screaming and hugging going on outside of the Big Brother house.

When we come back the chaos has calmed down and the houseguest are standing lined up with Julie. Julie congratulates Rachel and reveals that Adam voted for Porsche. The audience seems surprised. This is a surprise because Adam has openly said that he would vote for the person who won the final HOH competition, and had told Rachel that if she won the final HOH that he would vote for her to win. This means that the vote was 4-3 and that Rachel won by only one vote. Julie gives Porsche the key from Adam’s vote and tells her that she also gets $50,000. Julie reveals that the final prize of America’s favorite house guest goes to...Jeff...Shockkkkker. This is second time that Jeff has won Americas favorite player. With that, the season has ended and we will be back next summer for who knows what Big Brother will throw at us in Season 14.

For The Record...
After this season Rachel Reilly (BB12&13) has tied with All-Star Janelle Pierzina (BB6&BB7) for the most HOH’s won in two seasons. Janelle also holds the record for the most POV’s won in two seasons and she is tied with Danielle Donato (BB8&BB13) for the most POV’s won in a single season. Janelle did this in Season 7:All-Stars and Danielle did this in Season 8.

All good things must come to an end. It has been a very eventful season. Congratulations goes out to Rachel Reilly for winning season 13 of Big Brother and to all the house guests for a great season.
Thanks to Jokers for indulging me and giving me an outlet to share my thoughts and love for Big Brother with all of its amazing fans.
Thank you to all my friends in the live feeds for not yelling at me when I asked “what happened” and for listening to me rant with you all throughout the years.
Thank you all for reading and I can honestly say that I have truly enjoyed writing and sharing this season of Big Brother with you.

See you next summer my friends.