Hamsterwatch

So according to a post from Hamsterwatch, Global did something that suggests BBCAN11 may be an All Stars season! Not to be THAT person in the offseason, but I am soooo excited at the thought of this happening.
Some notes before I begin: I watched BBCAN1-4 after they aired, so I do not have any feeds-based knowledge of them. I watched Seasons 5-6 and 8-10 as they aired with some feeds; Season 7 immediately turned me off with the Pretty Boys so I only watched highlights. This cast is NOT a list of the franchise's best players. This is my dream cast of who I would most want to play again, and I tried to make it balanced in terms of strategy, drama, and season representation.
Here is my dream cast in order of debut season (obvious spoilers!!!!!!):

1. Jillian MacLaughlin (1): I think it's only right to have the franchise's first winner on the first All Stars season. I think it would be very interesting to see her play by herself because while watching, it seemed to me that Emmett drove most of the strategy for her game.
2. Gary Levy (1, 5): Every episode of BBCAN is made better if Gary is there. He is one of the best characters in the show's history, and in a cast of huge threats, I actually think he has a great shot. Also, in my opinion, Gary is the most robbed player of all time, simply due to the fact that his loss was purely due to a technicality (I'm not debating the F5 re-entry; that is obviously unfair). For that reason alone, I'm totally fine with Gary coming back for a third chance.
3. Jon Pardy (2): One half of (in my opinion) the strongest showmance to ever play the game. I want to see if Jon can come back and replicate what he did the first time. My guess is that he would be able to excel, considering there would be other more visible threats on my proposed cast.
4. Neda Kalantar (2, 5): The other half of the aforementioned showmance. I really want to see this duo in the same house again and navigate their strategic and personal relationship. Are they able to work together? Or do they target each other right from the beginning? Also, I think Neda needs a chance to redeem herself after her performance on Season 5.
5. Brittnee Blair (3): The Fembots were the main characters of Season 3, so I feel like you need one of them on this season. My (possibly controversial) pick is that I would prefer to see Brittnee back, partially because I really have no clue how she would do on a return, and because I already have half of the winners on this cast.
6. Mitchell Moffit (4): As we all know, Mitch was absolutely twist-screwed on his season, and while I think he works better for a "second chance" season, I just need him back at this point. I think the Season 4 cast is probably the weakest of the entire franchise, so if we're going to get someone from this season, I hope it's him.
7. Demetres Giannitsos (5): Demetres was very close to winning Season 5, and as long as he is playing without Ika, I think he could actually cash the check on a second time around. I wanted a newbie from this season to balance out the third-timers, and I think it's clear Demetres left the biggest impact.
8. Paras Atashnak (6): In my opinion, people either overrate or underrate her game, and I would love to see how she stacks up against some of the other winners on this cast. I find Paras incredibly engaging as a character, and I think she is the best woman to win BBCAN. A lock for me.
9. Kaela Grant (6): Having Kaela and Paras back in the house together would finally give the fans a clearer answer to the endless Paras vs Kaela debate (I think both sides are right; they're both exceptional players!). I also just think, generally, Kaela deserves a second chance.
10. Erica Hill (6): My token pre-jury pick. Obviously very strong in competitions, and I think she's likeable and entertaining. I don't think she's the best from a strategy perspective, but I don't want everyone on this cast to be. I really wanted at least one prejuror on this season, so I settled on her (though I have another in my Honorable Mentions).
11. Anthony Douglas (7): In my opinion, he's the most entertaining member of the Pretty Boys, and he's the only one that I really want to see play again. Possibly the best runner-up in all of BBCAN (strategically), but I need to see him play against tougher competition and without the Pretty Boys.
12. Sheldon Jean (8): I really debated between him and one of my alternates (spoiler alert: Johnny), but I ultimately decided to keep Sheldon on the cast because 1) he was clearly the front-runner on his season and 2) would he ever get another chance to return?
13. Tychon Carter-Newman (9): Tychon is an immediate lock for me due to him cutting Jedson. I loved that cutthroat style of gameplay, even though I do think he is outclassed by many of the other players on this season. The season 9 cast was REALLY bad strategically, and I want to see if stronger allies can bring stronger gameplay out of Tychon.
14. Victoria Woghiren (9): Victoria is one of the most entertaining houseguests of the past few seasons. I don't know if she has the skills to win a season of this caliber, but I think she would provide entertainment for as long as she lasts, and she may even win a few things along the way.
15. Kevin Jacobs (10): I mean, obviously. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I think he is the second-best player to ever play North American BB, right behind Dan. Now, do I think he stands a chance on an All Stars season immediately after winning? Probably not. But I know that I would cherish every moment that he is in that house.
16. Betty Yirsaw (10): Betty got better and better at the game over the course of Season 10, and I honestly do think that she could have great longevity on a second try if she positions herself appropriately. I also would love to see how her and Kevin interact on a second season.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS:

1. Sarah Hanlon (3): If we don't get Brittnee, I want Sarah. I think people vastly underrate her abilities. I think she has a great potential "underrated winner" narrative, but I ultimately decided that Brittnee, as well as the other women who have won, would provide more to the season.
2. Godfrey Mangwiza (3): I want him back so y'all can stop talking about how he was robbed (respectfully). Now, I did not watch Season 3 live, so I'm sure he was better on the feeds than the episodes, but even so, unless he completely changes his game around, I see him having the exact same results. I do think he is an excellent strategist, but his level of UTR is hard to win with.
3. Loveita Adams (4): I feel like her and Erica played very similar roles on their seasons, and it was honestly really close between them. Don't have much to say except that I'd like to see her.
4. Johnny Mulder (6): I think he is above average at all aspects of the game, and he almost made it on for me, but I don't think he offers a unique "storyline" for the season, and therefore he is relegated to the honorable mentions :(.
5. Dane Rupert (7): Dane is very good at the game, but I think having multiple Pretty Boys on the season would hurt them immensely (in this case, him and Anthony). My comment about winners that applies to Sarah also applies to him.
6. Haleena Gill (10): I would love to see Haleena again, but honestly, I don't want to see her with Kevin. They are probably my favorite BB duo of all time, but 1) I think her presence would hurt Kevin even more and 2) I want to see what she can do when playing without her ride-or die (sorry Challenge fans).

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CONTROVERSIAL OMISSIONS:

1. Emmett Blois (1): I know a lot of people want to see him back, but to me, him and Jillian have a very similar story to Neda and Jon, except for the fact that 1) Jon is a winner and 2) you have the betrayal factor with Jon and Neda. This leaves him without a place on my list.
2. Ika Wong (2, 5): I love Ika. But I don't think she can ever have a better season than Season 5. If she comes back alone, sure, but I'd rather have Demetres, and his game would suffer from Ika's presence, I think.
3. Kevin Martin (3, 5): I don't care about the comp robot storyline. Next.
4. Tim Dormer (4): I don't care about quitters. Next.
5. Cassandra Shahinfar (4, 5): She almost made it on my Honorable Mentions list, but I don't know what else there is to see from her. She's fun, she's good at the game, and if she showed up, I wouldn't be mad, but I didn't want to bring back another person from Season 5 unless I had a really good reason to.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I love BBCAN so so so much, and the idea of an All Stars season has my expectations set very high. Please tell me all of your thoughts!!!

Now that we're officially in the off-season (hopefully Big Brother Canada 10 will assuage that this winter) I'd like to revisit one of my favorite seasons. It's not a secret that Nicole Franzel is one of the most controversial figures on this subreddit, and for good reason. She can seem like a very off-putting and even problematic person at times. However, I've always really respected her game in Big Brother 18, and I've never understood the people who say she did absolutely nothing, so here I'm going to do a dissection of it.
I do want to say that it's been a long, long while since the BB18 live feeds, and I don't really remember them super well. My main sources for this essay are the archives from Hamsterwatch, Big Brother Network, and Morty's TV, as well as the RHAP BB18 coverage podcasts. Feel free to take all of this with a grain of salt. I also want to give credit to u/TheSurvivorBuff for serving as the inspiration to this essay.
Lastly, please keep in mind a lot of this is subjective, and all of it is just for fun. I hope y'all enjoy it!
Pre-Game Shenanigans
A major criticism of Nicole's game in BB18 is the claim that she had a pregame alliance with James and Paulie going into the game, fostered by Derrick Levasseur. However, this claim is unclear and unconfirmed at best - while it's definitely smart to remember this claim while analyzing her game, it's far from gospel.
The claim of the preshow alliance between Nicole and James begins with a wall yeller on Day 86, who yells "James and Nicole, pre-game alliance" to the houseguests.¹ Afterward, feeds cut, and Natalie (who heard the yell) was very upset with James. James then reassured Natalie that there was no such alliance.² While there was the split pot deal where James brought up giving each other cash prizes after the show,³ that can't necessarily be used as proof they had a pre-game alliance. James seems to me me as the type who would want to give money to Nicole and Corey because they got along, and Nicole herself says it wasn't a serious promise in a post season interview.³⁵
It also strikes me as a bit of a double standard - though James and Nicole were nowhere near as tight as they were, Will and Boogie were blatantly splitting the pot in Big Brother All-Stars, and it's not seen as a huge asterisk on their games. Furthermore, while against the rules, invoking a monetary argument is a strategy nonetheless, and it would've been a bad look for Nicole if she told him no after he brought it up first.
In her deep dive podcast with Taran Armstrong and Jordan Parhar, Nicole said that she did not do any pregaming, saying she did not know who the returnees would be in advance nor did she tell anyone she was going on. She also said she was asked by Derrick if she was going on, which she denied, and that she had only met Paulie once prior to playing.⁴ Derrick himself denied having coached Nicole prior to playing, though admits to having talked to James.⁵ And while it's not the same case, the other returnees had the advantage of pre-gaming as well, but Da'Vonne and Frank were evicted early on, and James was in pawn Nicole's and Natalie's games.
To me, at least from my vantage point, it seems like Nicole, James, and Paulie by no means had a tight pre-game alliance a la Season Six or Chilltown in All-Stars. While they probably had a connection through knowing Derrick, there's not really confirmation that they straight up worked together. However, keep in mind that it's been years since I watched these feeds, so this is only my best rationalization of all of this. To surmise, though, I don't view it as an enormous asterisk on Nicole's game, even if it may be a small one.
The biggest advantage Nicole had pregame, in my eyes, is her aesthetic: she's a white, short, blonde woman with a cutesy voice and look. That, combined with her edit from BB16, would almost certainly help to downplay her threat level. However, as one of four returners against twelve newbies, she also had additional factors to deal with that she was able to overcome, and I don't see her getting a ton of recognition for that. After all, Nicole was never nominated until the Final 4, where nominations did not matter.
Set-Up For Success
Week One is a really hard week to analyze because there aren't live feeds for a large portion of it, so a lot of this information comes from Nicole's own deep dive. The teams were picked fairly immediately, and Nicole ended up with Corey, Tiffany, and Glenn on the Freakazoids. Her team lost the day one competition, so on Day 2, the Freakazoids competed in an immediate eviction competition. It was incredibly fortunate for Nicole that Glenn went home immediately instead of Corey, because Glenn was working with Paul and Victor against the veterans, whereas she had already formed a relationship with Corey and Tiffany about moving forward. Her relationship with Corey was immediate in particular, forming right after they lost the second competition.⁴ If Corey leaves instead of Glenn, the season is completely and fundamentally different.
However, by virtue of having survived the first eviction, the remaining Freakazoids got to choose one of their own to be the first Head of Household. Nicole felt like she needed to receive this first HoH in order to show her loyalty to the other returnees, and she was able to get Tiffany and Corey 100% onboard with giving it to her while also making them think she didn't really want it.⁴
Meanwhile, the 8-Pack formed. Because of the lack of feeds, I can't really tell the specifics of how it was formed, but the edited show presents it as the four veterans aligning and then pulling in Corey, Tiffany, Michelle, and Zakiyah.⁶ Nicole described it as some of the newbies "gravitating" to the veterans.⁴ The women within the 8-Pack also formed the Fatal Five alliance - however, both the 8-Pack and the Fatal Five had infighting and cracks within them.⁴
Even if the 8-Pack never came to fruition, it was still very important for Nicole's game. Nicole had an automatic alliance in the form of the four returnees (which was further supported because of Paul/VictoJozea targeting the returnees)³⁷ but the 8-Pack was comprised of her most consistent and important allies throughout most of the early game. Corey, James, Frank, Da'Vonne, and to a lesser extent Zakiyah were all important figures in the first half (and ultimately, entirety) of Nicole's winning season - so being in an alliance with all of them was great for Nicole.
The 8-Pack itself was also a good group for Nicole's game: it had her immediate number one in Corey (and Corey had a connection to the ever-important Paulie), her teammate in Tiffany, and the other three members of her returnee alliance. The only members of the 8-Pack Nicole didn't already have a relationship with were Zakiyah and Michelle, but I would argue having that alliance with them is still better than not.
Almost every winner of modern Big Brother was part of the big alliance early. The only exceptions to this rule are Steve and Josh, but the dominant players of those seasons - Vanessa and Paul respectively - also were involved in a big group early on. Nicole ingratiating herself in a large network of connections was quite important and arguably a foundation for the rest of her game, even if the 8-Pack itself rarely amounted to much.
Nicole's actual HoH week was relatively straightforward. As the 8-Pack forms, Jozea, Paul, and Victor made it known they were targeting the veterans, which gave Nicole an easy target. However, because Victor had won safety from the day one eviction competition, she was forced to find a volunteer to be a pawn. I find it underrated how she was able to convince Paulie to volunteer to go on the block for her, without any bad blood, whereas she would have needed to get blood on her hands by asking Paul to volunteer.⁴ Hence, she nominated Jozea and Paulie, and with Jozea's various antics and the 8-Pack's support, it was a simple matter to send him home.
Smooth Sailing
From Week Two through Week Seven, Nicole was in a fairly strong position that she didn't have to change, in large part because of her close relationships with Corey and Paulie. Paulie won the Week Two HoH and targeted the four people who had just voted to evict him as his nominees: Victor, Paul, Bronte, and Natalie, ultimately nominating Paul and Bronte with a Victor backdoor plan. This is great for Nicole, as these are Jozea's former affiliates and allies, and Victor had just considered nominating her after he won the Roadkill Competition.⁷ (However, she wasn't in a ton of danger here - he viewed James as a bigger threat, and later targeted Tiffany because of her decreasing social capital. James even told Paulie he'd put a pizza in Victor's bed so he'd go up over Nicole).⁸ Speaking of Tiffany, this was when the Tiffany-Frank-Da'Vonne war began to arise, and Corey in particular wanted to drift away from Tiffany.⁴
The rest of the week was relatively easy for Nicole - after Paulie won Veto, he was able to execute the Victor backdoor plan. However, this week was the beginning of the showmance alliance between Nicole/Corey/Zakiyah/Paulie, which was quite important for Nicole's game.
As the week progressed, Frank had been making some of the women in the house uncomfortable.¹² (While this source is from the following week, the events apply had been happening in the current one). Frank also told Paulie about the 8-Pack - much to Nicole, Zakiyah, and Da'Vonne's chagrin.¹⁰ Because of his lack of trustworthiness, Paulie turned against Frank for this instead of trusting him, and Nicole and Da'Vonne realized fairly quickly what Frank did.¹¹
While Frank became public enemy number one, Paulie formed a loose alliance consisting of Nicole/Corey/Zakiyah/Da'Vonne/himself,⁴ which Da'Vonne leaked to James.¹¹ Even though this alliance was ki-boshed by Da'Vonne's leakage, their setup as a four sans Da'Vonne greatly benefits Nicole, because of Paulie's influence over the house and her great relationship with all three of them.
As Frank's game fell apart, he nonetheless protected Nicole and her alliances the following week. When Bridgette (Frank's only ally) won HoH, she initially thought of targeting Nicole and Corey, but he pushed her to nominate Tiffany and Paul instead,¹² and Nicole encouraged Frank to protect her by influencing Bridgette.¹³ When Frank won Roadkill, he put up Bronte, and she went home.
Continuing the saga of Frank's fall, he blew an opportunity to work with Nicole at the Final 12, and threw her under the bus instead. To be specific, Nicole, Da'Vonne, and Michelle initially hatched a plan to keep Tiffany over Bronte so she could target Frank - however, it was quashed by Paulie and Corey.¹⁴ Nicole even told Corey and Frank she'd target Da'Vonne,^{14, 15} which Frank leaked to Michelle (and through her, Da'Vonne) the following day. Michelle and Da'vonne confronted Nicole about it, which she denied vehemently.¹⁶ The following day, as Frank's plans continue to fall apart, Paulie was convinced to evict Bronte and keep Tiffany to target Frank, and him/Nicole/Da'Vonne/Michelle/Corey/Zakiyah made the vote 5-4 to keep Frank confused on who voted to evict Bronte.¹⁷
The following week, Paulie won HoH yet again, giving Frank immunity. This week was the first week Nicole faced any major adversity: Tiffany convened with Frank and the two aligned, as she continued to break down.¹⁸ Paulie put her on the block next to Natalie, but Tiffany won Roadkill and nominated Corey. While Nicole would've been an easy replacement after Corey won the Veto, Tiffany decided to put up Da'Vonne - in part because Nicole confirmed to Tiffany that Da'Vonne lied about Frank targeting her.⁴ Tiffany was unanimously evicted, and Victor re-entered the house due to the battle-back competition.
After James (who Nicole had a great relationship with) won HoH, the rest of the week was fairly smooth - he targeted and evicted Frank (using Bridgette as his pawn). However, during the endurance competition, Frank exposed Nicole's targeting of Da'Vonne to her (though it had already been out there) and their relationship was essentially unsalvageable.⁴
Going into the Week Six HoH, Nicole was in one of her most precarious positions all game, as Da'Vonne began to actively target her and had connections to Bridgette, Michelle, and Zakiyah.⁴ However, Paul won HoH, and he had a good relationship with Nicole, Paulie, and Da'Vonne^{4, 19} so he targeted Bridgette instead with Paulie as his pawn.
The drama over the Week Six pawn was long and slightly interesting. Paul asked Paulie/Nicole/Corey to volunteer to be pawns next to Bridgette, and Nicole made a strategic error by volunteering - but, Paulie went out of his way to make a show of volunteering to be the pawn. He was always the prime choice for a pawn over her despite her volunteering, and furthermore, Corey also volunteered to go on the block in her place.^{4, 36} Nicole had a problem with volunteering to be a pawn throughout the early game of BB18 in general, but one also has to keep in mind that that was the culture of the house: it was very kumbayah and Paulie ruled with an iron fist. There were small selections of targets and volunteers for pawns, so it stands to reason that Nicole found herself in positions where she needed to volunteer - and, ultimately, she always got out of serving her time on the block.
This week, the alliance of Paulie/Nicole/Corey targeted Da'Vonne²⁰ but it isn't until after Paulie won the Veto that she went up as the replacement, a move that can be mostly credited to him.²¹ Nicole also made a huge mistake in keeping Zakiyah and Michelle on the outs of this vote, compounded by Da'Vonne working to make sure they turned against Nicole as she left.⁴
Nicole's game in the early segments of BB18 had a lot of high points, and I honestly think it gets misrepresented here sometimes. Some folks on this subreddit say she used her first HoH to set up a big alliance and coast until Final 7, but that's not the case. The big grouping of the 8-Pack + Paulie was extremely tumultuous, and she navigated around and interfered in the infighting between Da'Vonne, Tiffany, and Frank. Nicole even wielded a certain degree of control in enacting the Bronte eviction and lying to Frank and Da'Vonne in their fights with one another. (Nonetheless, her involvement in the Frank-Da'Vonne-Tiffany war was probably unnecessary, even though she played it well).
In particular, getting Da'Vonne out in Week 6 was crucial because Da'Vonne was a power player coming after Nicole - while people say she's bad at the game (I'm not taking a stance on her gameplay in this essay) people forget that she had Michelle and Zakiyah in her back pocket at this time, which was quite dangerous for Nicole.
The thing is, Nicole was never the leader of her alliances. She had moments of power - her HoH reign, the Bronte eviction, working against Frank and Da'Vonne - but she was always second-in-command to Paulie and sometimes Corey. Nicole was a cog in their power structure, not a creator of her own.
Therefore, Nicole's game - particularly her early game - is ultimately not one of control. Moreso, it's about her relationships with power players - Paulie, Corey, Da'Vonne, and to a lesser extent Frank and James all had different amounts of influence in the early game of BB18, and she maintained good relationships with all of them that kept her safe (at least until things went bad with Da'Vonne). Even though Nicole's allies oftentimes had more influence than her, they used it in ways that benefitted her, particularly Paulie and Corey. Paulie's extreme level of power resulted in a status quo that targeted Nicole's enemies and protected her allies, while Corey was Nicole's shield, number, informant, and helped to connect her to others such as Paulie and James.
Paulie's Downfall
The two week stretch of Paulie's downfall highlights Nicole's fatal flaw as a player: she's too loyal. However, I also think it's important to emphasize the strength of Nicole's positioning here - she had great relationships with several influential players (namely Paulie, Corey, James, Victor, Paul, and to a lesser extent Zakiyah) and the people coming after her (Michelle and Bridgette) were in trouble. It's only because of the Care Package twist, blatant misogyny by Paulie, and amazing play by Natalie and Bridgette that the power shifted away from Nicole and her alliance this week. Furthermore, Nicole was never in serious danger during Paulie's downfall, despite being very tied to him and his power structure.
Victor won the HoH after Da'Vonne was evicted, and initially worked with James/Paul/Paulie/Corey to target Michelle and Zakiyah, two easy house targets and Da'Vonne's former allies.²² Victor nominated them initially, working with Paulie's group, but James received an America's Care Package that allowed him to nullify two votes at the live eviction. Paulie won the Power of Veto (a terrible move on his part, as Zakiyah wanted it used whereas Nicole/Corey/James expected him to not use it). At the start of the week, Paulie had James' vote under his control, and was ready to send home Michelle unanimously with Zakiyah as the pawn.²³
However, Natalie was able to flip James against Paulie, and by extension Nicole/Corey. By emphasizing Zakiyah's romance with Paulie, Natalie pointed out that she was a number for him, which was bad since he was clearly running the game (Nicole and Corey had realized this as well).²⁴ Meanwhile, Michelle was someone who could work against Paulie, and would be easy to pull in to work with James/Natalie. James was convinced, and told Natalie he’d do this.²⁴ Natalie, Michelle, and Bridgette did an excellent job keeping him on course, and Zakiyah was evicted by a vote of 3-2 with Nicole, Corey, and Paulie in the minority.
The events of Zakiyah's eviction weren't really Nicole's fault, in the sense she didn't do anything blatantly wrong. Paulie made a huge mistake by not using the Veto on her, as Bridgette was the planned renominee.²⁴ Leaving someone on Paulie's side on the block over Bridgette, someone potentially coming after him, was not a great move. This was Nicole's mistake in part because she supported Paulie not using the Veto, but she kind of had to as his ally, and she likely would've supported a Bridgette nomination as well because the two never had a great relationship. On another level, Paulie's comments about women were something completely out of Nicole's control that negatively impacted her game.
With Zakiyah out the door, things seemed awful for Nicole: Bridgette/Michelle/James/Natalie had the potential to come together as a solid group against Nicole/Corey/Paulie, with Paul and Victor in the middle. Corey winning the double eviction HoH that immediately followed was huge for Nicole's game, and a very lucky break for her. The entire house was against the trio, and while Nicole was favored to stay against both Paulie and Corey (with Paulie being the preferred target of the three based off of the prior events where Zakiyah left), it wasn't a good situation for her. Because Corey won HoH, he was able to weaken the growing potential alliance of Bridgette/Michelle/James/Natalie (with possibly Paul/Victor), and keep his and Nicole's shield in Paulie.
The following week, Victor won HoH again, and continued Paulie's downfall by nominating him and Corey (notice how Corey was perpetually used as a pawn over Nicole when their showmance was targeted). Nicole received the safety suit care package, which was great for her, since if a nominee came down she was the most likely replacement. However, she likely survives against either of them, as Corey was a bigger threat and Paulie was the target of the entire house. Victor won the Veto, didn't use it, and Paulie was evicted unanimously.
The weeks of Paulie's downfall shows Nicole's most glaring flaw as a player: she's too loyal to her ride-or-dies. The reason Nicole made such smart moves later on was because Paulie lost his chokehold on the game and created a vacuum for Nicole to become a true power player (not that she wasn't already influential, but she was always second in command to Paulie). However, she would never have betrayed Paulie on her own - or at least, not for a long time.⁴ The thing that opened up the game for her was something she was against.
However, this isn't as glaring a mistake compared to when she was making similar mistakes in Big Brother All-Stars. Bridgette and Michelle - two people who were against Nicole - were Paulie's next targets, and Nicole/Corey were Paulie's closest allies. Assuming a Final 8 of Nicole/Corey/Paulie/Natalie/James/Zakiyah/Paul/Victor, Nicole has a strong relationship with every person left (other than maybe Natalie) and a shield in Corey. Furthermore, even if Paulie's downfall didn't happen quite yet, Nicole isn't stupid and already knew about the degree of control he had.²⁴ Lastly, assuming a showmance Final 4 of Nicole/Corey/Zakiyah/Paulie, Nicole has a winnable F2 with Zakiyah and an outside shot at beating Corey, and she would've sided with Corey over Zakiyah and Paulie.
To surmise, Nicole's loyalty to Paulie was a glaring mistake, but she had plenty of time to figure out what to do with it, and in the short to medium term, it was better to be loyal to Paulie than to lose him when she did. He was propelling her forward in the game, and had been evicting the people who were against her up until that point. Some people say Nicole was working for Paulie against her own self-interest, and I disagree: Paulie used his social capital to make moves that benefitted Nicole, sometimes to his own detriment, and was on track to continue to do so until the endgame. It was good for her to be in an alliance with him, and bad for her game when he left, even if it needed to happen for her to ultimately win. It's also unfair to say Nicole wasn't conscious of her over-loyalty to the guys, as she knew she was intentionally choosing to align with stronger players by shoring up with Corey and Paulie.⁴
Final 7s
The two Final 7 rounds of BB18 were really great rounds for Nicole, and show her skill as a player. She was able to use Corey's relationship with James and some clever lies to restructure the house so she's in the middle between two pairs, rather than at the bottom against both of them.
During the live eviction where Paulie went home, Nicole took Natalie aside and told her that Paulie told her that Paul told him that James would nominate Corey. Nicole wasn't aware of this, but it was true, and she was able to see that after reading Natalie's expression. Because Paulie was about to go home, he was never able to confirm or deny this story, allowing Nicole to use him as a scapegoat.⁴
Before Natalie won HoH, she already had hesitation about Paul and how he was playing like "the new Paulie".²⁵ Nicole went work on Natalie before she even won, throwing Paul under the bus to her and making him out to be a liar, while pleading her and Corey's innocence.²⁶ After Natalie won, her and James began to consider targeting Paul/Victor, and Paul and Victor became increasingly paranoid. Nicole also told Natalie that Michelle could potentially work with Paul and Victor. James told her soon after that they may be the bigger threats because of the Michelle factor.²⁶
The following day, Michelle received the Co-HoH America's Care Package, which was critical for Nicole - because of this, Michelle couldn't vote, nor play in the following HoH (something Nicole realized relatively quickly).⁴ Nicole continued to throw Paul under the bus to Natalie, leaking to her that he knew about Da'Vonne leaving before it happened.^{4, 27} Soon after, Natalie began to convince Michelle to target Paul over Nicole and Corey, saying him and Victor are bigger threats, and working overtime to prevent Michelle from nominating Nicole.²⁷ Nicole also told Corey to work on Michelle for her because of their rivalry.⁴ Ultimately, Natalie and Michelle nominate Paul and Victor, though Natalie realizes they made a mistake later that day.²⁸
Paul won the Power of Veto, and took himself off the block. Michelle ultimately nominated Corey over Nicole. While I'm consistently impressed by Nicole's habit of staying off the block, and her active (and sometimes passive) work to make sure Corey hits the block over her, in this case I attribute it more to Michelle's spite than anything. She saw Nicole doing her hair and makeup before the live show, and according to Nicole, nominate Corey instead just to contradict Nicole's expectations.⁴ It is worth noting that Victor and Paul went to bat for Nicole by telling Michelle to nominate Corey over Nicole, but that's simply because he hadn't received a Care Package yet and she had.²⁹
Because of the Co-HoH power, Michelle lost her vote, making James the swing vote between evicting Victor or Corey. However, there wasn't a ton of danger, as James remained steadfast in his decision to side with Nicole and Corey even while Natalie wanted to flip back to Paul and Victor.^{4, 29} Paul and Victor faked a fight in a ploy to try trick James into keeping Victor, which Nicole saw through and explained to James. In a fight between Paul and Natalie, James accidentally said out loud in front Nicole that if Natalie had her way, Corey would be gone - exposing Natalie's loyalty to the two and indicating that Nicole needed to reach out to Paul against Natalie and James.⁴
James held true in the live eviction vote, and sided with Nicole to evict Victor in a 2-1 vote. However, Victor came back immediately after the next battleback, and Nicole won HoH. At this point, Nicole/Corey/Paul/Victor locked in a Final Four alliance, with Paul being genuinely loyal to Nicorey.³⁰ Nicole targeted Michelle because of their season long rivalry, and though she initially planned to nominate James as the pawn, she convinced Paul to volunteer as a pawn. This enabled her to keep the showmance of James and Natalie safe, allowing her to pretend to be loyal to them. In addition, it prevented James and Natalie from veto'ing Michelle, as she could threaten to nominate one of them if they won the Veto and wanted to save Michelle. That was eventually irrelevant though, because Corey won the Veto, didn't use it, and Nicole broke the ensuing tied vote to send home Michelle.
At this point, Nicole truly took hold of the game. At the beginning of the first Final 7, her and Corey are on the bottom against five players, and at the Final 6, her and Corey are in the middle between two opposing pairs. This is really, really great gameplay - the typical floater game of playing both sides is super hard to pull off, and though it was on a small scale (as it was only between two opposing pairs) Nicole was able to position both herself and her boyfriend/shield into safety and control. She also actively maintained this position, making sure to keep James in the loop, avoid being seen with either pair to hide her alliances, and maintain her great relationships with Paul and Victor.⁴
March to the End
At this point, Nicole and Corey were the frontrunners to win, and Nicole was a near-lock for F2 or the win itself. She reaped the benefits of her spectacular Final 7 rounds when Victor won Head of Household and targeted Natalie and James over her and Corey. Corey won the Veto, discarded it, and it's ultimately a straightforward week.
Nicole also made sure to send home Natalie over James - while both are strong competitors (and while James is hated on this subreddit, him and Natalie are both strong social players and decent strategists) James was loyal to Nicole and Corey while Natalie wanted to get back with Paul and Victor. However, Nicole and Corey were able to convince Paul and Victor that Natalie was a stronger competitor than James, making them okay with sending her home over James when they really should not have been.^{4, 32} With Paul and Victor onboard, it's unanimous to send home Natalie.
Going into Final 5, Nicole was in the middle between Paul/Victor and James, with Corey as her shield. After Corey won HoH, Nicole was essentially locked into the Final 3 and the frontrunner to win. She was well positioned enough that it would take James, Paul, and Victor coming together against Nicorey and the person who wasn't on the block between them winning the Veto to send her home. (James threw the Veto in exchange for being left off the block as well.⁴) However, neither of these happened because Nicole had a good relationship with James and won the Veto herself, allowing her to betray and evict Victor for a third and final time. From there, Corey couldn't win the Final 4 HoH, and would always be evicted over her at Final 4 or Final 3 because he was a bigger threat and a better competitor.
Because of her good positioning, Nicole had an easy Final 4 round. Paul won the Final 4 HoH and Veto and let James be the sole to evict either Nicole or Corey. Nicole was never in any real danger because Corey was the bigger threat - Paul was adamant about making sure James evicted Corey over Nicole in exchange for leaving him off the block, and James obeyed. Nicole also formed a final two with Paul here.³³ Due to their showmance, Corey didn't campaign to survive,⁴ and James evicted him over Nicole.
From there, Nicole was in the final three. She continues to solidify her F2 deal with Paul while (not very effectively) paying lip service to taking James as well.³⁴ Paul ultimately won the final Head of Household competition, evicted James, and lost 5-4 to Nicole. And there we have it: Nicole Franzel, the winner of Big Brother 18.
The only main criticism toward Nicole's endgame is that she'd willingly go to the end with Corey, where she would probably lose.⁴ However, I do feel that she has a chance against him - I'm not saying she isn't favored to lose (she is) but there's a world where she gets the votes of Da'Vonne/Zakiyah/Natalie/VictoPaul, with a shot at Paulie's (Paulie was closest with Corey, but his mom talks with Nicole's - I can't find a source for this, but I've heard it mentioned several times). It's also kind of unfair to hold this against her too much, because the two of them were a showmance and Nicole thought it could extend outside of the game.^{4, 38} It's a similar situations to Diane wanting to take Drew to the end in Big Brother 5, or Jillian wanting to take Emmett to the end in Big Brother Canada 1. However, in the end, none of that changes the fact that Nicole is just too loyal a player.
All in al, I feel like Nicole Franzel is a very underrated player in some ways, and a very overrated player in other ways. Nicole is not, and has never claimed to be, a strategic mastermind. She's not ruthless enough to make the hard moves she needs to to consistently win, and she can sometimes focus too much on particular groups of people while isolating others. However, Nicole is still a really strong player. She's able to position herself extremely well in spite of her tendency to be overly loyal to her ride-or-dies, has a really strong mindset for the game, is great at leveraging relationships with the right people at the right times, and when she really needs to, can lie, scheme, socialize, gaslight, win competitions, and backstab - all without touching the block until the Final 4.
Sources:

• 1 - http://www.hamsterwatch.com/bb18/90516.shtml
• 2 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-09-06/2/
• 3 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-james-huling-nicole-franzel-cash-bribe/
• 4 - https://robhasawebsite.com/rhappy-hour-big-brother-18-winner-nicole-franzel/
• 5 - https://www.inquisitr.com/3397860/big-brother-18-rumors-bb16-winner-derrick-levasseur-coached-nicole-franzel-james-huling-and-paulie-calafiore-to-win-the-game/
• 6 - https://bigbrother.fandom.com/wiki/8-Pack
• 7 - http://www.hamsterwatch.com/bb18/63016.shtml
• 8 - https://mortystv.com/archive/bb18/bb18_07012016.shtml
• 9 - http://www.hamsterwatch.com/bb18/70216.shtml
• 10 - https://mortystv.com/archive/bb18/bb18_07052016.shtml
• 11 - https://mortystv.com/archive/bb18/bb18_07062016.shtml
• 12 - http://www.hamsterwatch.com/bb18/70716.shtml
• 13 - https://mortystv.com/archive/bb18/bb18_07072016.shtml
• 14 - https://mortystv.com/archive/bb18/bb18_07122016.shtml
• 15 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-vote-flip-flop-saving-tiffany-rousso/2/
• 16 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-michelle-meyer-outs-frank-eudy-evict-davonne-rogers-plans/
• 17 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-07-13/2/
• 18 - http://www.hamsterwatch.com/bb18/71416.shtml
• 19 - http://www.hamsterwatch.com/bb18/72816.shtml
• 20 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-recap-episode-19-paulie-continues-to-rule-america-sends-the-first-care-package/
• 21 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-07-31/2/
• 22 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-08-04/
• 23 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-08-04/
• 24 - https://mortystv.com/archive/bb18/bb18_08072016.shtml
• 25 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-08-18/
• 26 - https://mortystv.com/archive/bb18/bb18_08182016.shtml
• 27 - https://mortystv.com/archive/bb18/bb18_08192016.shtml
• 28 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-08-19/2/
• 29 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-house-divides-james-huling-swing-vote/
• 30 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-08-25/2/
• 31 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-nomination-anticipation-in-week-10/2/
• 32 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-09-05/
• 33 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/big-brother-18-live-feeds-highlights-2016-09-13/
• 34 - http://www.hamsterwatch.com/bb18/91316.shtml
• 35 - https://bigbrothernetwork.com/nicole-franzel-big-brother-18-winner-interview/2/
• 36 - https://mortystv.com/archive/bb18/bb18_07292016.shtml
• 37 - https://bigbrother.fandom.com/wiki/The_Returners
• 38 - https://screenrant.com/big-brother-nicole-franzel-dating-history-victor-married/

According to Dingo at hamsterwatch.com:
Day 71 - Wednesday - September 15, 2021 As predicted here, tomorrow's double eviction will be taped today. This was all but "officially" confirmed when hamsters were woken before 8am, then feeds went to adoptable anipals shortly after. We had a quick peek of Tiffany gathering her things to pack and then feeds, and Tiffany, were gone. Last night the guys never told her she'd be going, and she turned down not one but two invitations from Kyland to go upstairs to HOH to talk and sleep over.
Around 9.30am this morning, audio leaked onto feeds of hamsters listening to music, including the entirety of Rihanna's Disturbia, in HOH lockdown, and random people chatting on the other side. Those randos were the stand-ins for the hamsters for the show tech rehearsal, which they do each week to get timing, camera angles, etc right for the show. Live TV is still a big deal and those details are important, especially timing. They might be staffers, or they might be day actors - it would be interesting to find out.
Pictured here is Dan's stand-in when we had a short tech rehearsal leak on BB14 finale morning.
Then we heard someone reading Julie's script for the veto comp, which will be true/false What the Bleep. There was no Tiffany stand-in so she would have already been evicted in their rehearsal. Kyland's stand-in won that veto comp, and at least one of the stand-ins said "should have been Hannah." For anyone thinking they'd stretch a normal double to two hours tomorrow night, that doesn't seem to be the case since the veto comp will be a simple booth one, and Julie's stand-in told them to "get inside, right now" for the next stage when they finished.
The show then tweeted that feeds would be down until after tomorrow's show ends in the west (so 10pm Pacific/1am Eastern). They called it "tomorrow's live eviction episode" which is unusual and rather clunky wording. We'll find out what that second hour's about, and if they'll revive someone or not, when we find out.

Can someone please explain the twist to me? Due to personal circumstances I’ve been too busy to watch the last two episodes. I tried to stay updated on hamsterwatch on Twitter, but I don’t understand what the twist is
Thank you!

Claire Rehfuss was apparently the co-founder of, and served as co-President/producer for Survivor Michigan. It was announced today that she's replacing a member of the previously-announced BB23 cast
https://twitter.com/ClaireRehfuss/status/1227722852637511685?s=19
https://twitter.com/hamsterwatch/status/1411832372325093378?s=19
Edit: Someone said she was apparently an alternate or a finalist for Survivor 39, but I don't have a legit source on this

Besides hamsterwatch and BB_Updates?

I haven't been plugged in to any of the BB rumors or news this cycle and I was wondering if there's any of the typical hamsterwatch style buzz about a potential returnee or if we are confident it will be all new players? Don't attack me for asking please I'm just genuinely curious.

Hamsterwatch, BBGossip, and Bigbrothernet are talking about an email CBS sent to them regarding the live feeds. They don't know if they can talk about it openly or not. They said it isn't TMZ worthy and said it isn't good or bad news. A lot of people are in the comments are talking about a Christmas med evac rumor but I doubt that was what the email was. Any ideas? Or does anyone want to spill anonymously?

Reading this tweet made me wonder whether what the hell kind of NP is a grammatical structure.

I’ve been going through a lot of old Hamsterwatch daily summaries (a great, fun resource for anyway looking to get insight on some of the older seasons feeds) and from what I’ve gathered, BB8’s Eric Stein wouldnt exactly have been a beloved underdog he is regarded as today if he behaved on the feeds nowadays like he did back in ‘07 (he said some pretty foul things about some of the other HG’s that weren’t aired on the show). Who are some other players who similarly might have benefitted from the lack of social media presence in their season?

BBGossip was the first to post the move in date weeks ago. There are so many silly accounts that pop up on Twitter every year claiming to know "inside info", that I thought it would be great to acknowledge the ones who get it right.
BBGossip has over 100K followers on Twitter and more people should be aware of the good Big Brother accounts out there.
https://twitter.com/BBGossip/status/1279877259353096200
Also Alex Kidwell who was the very first person to announce All Stars this season and Hamsterwatch who recently announced the premiere date too.
Are there any other good Big Brother accounts people should follow this year now that the season is finally here?

If the cast is being sequestered for 14 days & Hamsterwatch is right about the premiere being on August 5th then we wouldn't have that first week with no feeds. They'd be in the house a day before the premiere.
I think they might do it since CBS doesn't have much original programming airing right now & probably will draw big ratings with all stars happening during Covid. Definitely the most anticipated season i can remember.