BB23: Meet the Cast - Part 1 of 2 UPDATED

 Now we can get a bit excited. BB23 cast information and photos were revealed today. It's really coming! Since there are 16 of them, I'm breaking it into two parts and it's still lengthy. You might want to go get a tasty beverage and settle in! Part Two will be up in a few hours.

Alyssa Lopez

  

Alyssa is 24, will be 25 on July 17. She's from and still resides in Sarasota, FL. She's a swimwear designer who has plans to release a swimwear line. She might do well in physical comps -- she did gymnastics for ten years. Her Bachelor's degree is in Broadcast Production and she has her drone aircraft license -- neither of which will probably help her in the hamster house.

Azah Awasum

Azah is from and currently residing in Baltimore, MD. She's 30. She's a Director of Sales Operations, company not mentioned. Her name means "able to make friends." We'll be the judge of that! Oh my -- her grandfather was a polygamist with six wives and 47 children. Yikes! She attended a Messianic Jewish primary school and loved to travel before COVID. Don't think any of that will help her this summer. I do love the old school 'fro!

Brandon "Frenchie" French

Frenchie-Brandon is 34, originally from Camden, TN and currently residing in Clarksville, TN. He's a farmer with a two-time grand national champion bull. He was very athletic at 13, winning a national NFL punt, kick and pass competition. He's prior military. The only thing he's scared of is his rooster! (I understand!) But, what's most interesting in this increased diversity cast -- he's a proud card-carrying member of the NAACP. Hmm. He just might be a contender. It will depend on personality and threat level.

Brent Champagne

Brent is a flight attendant, age 28. He's from and still resides in Cranston, RI. He's a former D1AA Collegiate Athlete although I'm not quite sure what that is. He's also formerly the Yolanda Vega of Rhode Island! Er, sorry, she's the New York one. I mean to say that he formerly was the Live Lottery Television host for Rhode Island. He won his first car, a 2008 Honda Civic in a video making contest. He has his own fishing website. I'm not sure how much any of that will help him win, maybe the athletics.

Britini D'Angelo

Britini, who I rhyme in my head with bikini so I spell it right, is a kindergarten teacher raised in Niagara Falls, NY and still there. She's 24 and apparently very smart. She won both the Niagara Medal (voted on by the members of the senior class as the individual who represents Niagara University the best) and the Senior Medal (Valedictorian – Perfect 4.0 GPA across 2 Degrees) at Niagara University. Oh my, the first to win both in 162 years. She has her Master's and all kinds of certificates, as well as a black belt and she dances and and and ... Dang, I hope she doesn't talk as much as she writes about her accomplishments. She just went on and on about how smart and great she is. Hmm

Christian Birkenberger

Christian is 23 and currently residing in Harwinton, CT. I don't know where he's originally from. Maybe raised by wolves with that hairstyle. He's a general contractor assistant. He can ride a unicycle, his pupils are two different sizes, he likes chicken and waffles, he has had only one girlfriend and he can do multiple flips. I already like him better than I do Britini. 

Christie Valdiserri

Christie is 27, originally from Philadelphia, PA, currently living in North Hollywood, CA. She's a professional dancer. She's been a vegan for 3.5 years and a pescatarian for ten. Instead of bragging that she was graduated from Penn State early she gave a "lol" when mentioning it. Hear that, Britini? When she was 15 she started a dance company called Diva Dance in her parents' basement. She has11 piercings, five done by herself. I think I might like her.

REPLACING CHRISTIE ...

Claire Rehfuss

Claire Rehfuss is 25. an AI (Artificial Intelligence, I assume) Engineer living in NYC but originally hailing from Chagrin Falls, Ohio. We now have our definitely alpha-WOMAN in the house. She's an ubersuperfan with an online presence, her own popular Survivor online game, creates crosswords and might just be the first one to make a women's alliance actually work. She "wants to target the alpha males and team up with her fellow “black widows” to clear a path to finale night." 

In the article I read at the Big Brother Network, she shows extensive BB knowledge even dating as far back as BB2. Why the heck didn't she make first cut? Sheesh! 

Derek Frazier

Oh, cool. Derek is "Smokin" Joe Frazier's (the boxer) son. He's 29 from Philadelphia and still living there. He's a safety officer. Now, Christie above is also from Philly and only two years younger. Do they know each other? Probably not. Philly is a big city with many schools. Scratch the thought of high school -- he went to a military boarding school. We'll find out. He can fall asleep sitting up or standing. Hey, my cat can do that! He must be quite strong as he goes on about bench presses and such. That isn't always a plus in the comps in BB. He LOOKS like a safety officer, doesn't he?

Part 2 with the remaining hamsters can be found here at this link.

BB23: No Cast Information Release Today

 ... now they are saying tomorrow. CBS put up a tweet saying so. 

So it must be true.

Remember last season ...

BB23: Some More Information ...

 

Oh, we're getting close now. A week from tomorrow is the live Big Brother 23 season premiere! The cast reveal is set for tomorrow. Yes, of course I will be posting on that! Unfortunately (at least, in my opinion), Allison Grodner is still the executive producer. While CBS is pretty much demanding diversity in the form of around 50% people of color on reality shows, there is nothing said about age diversity -- something this show is woefully lacking. With her at the helm, I expect more hamsters will look great in bikinis than not.

I found an interesting interview with Grodner at this link. Here are some tidbits gleaned from it:

• The theme for the season is actually BB Beach Club. It's to be set up like a Vegas boutique hotel. Yeah, you know all those beaches in Vegas, right?
• Apparently gambling of some sort or other will be a thing this season. Hmm. That's not really my favorite thing.
• No, absolutely none, returning players! She said a few superfans, some fans and some who don't really know the show at all.
• In the live 90-minute season premiere, the hamsters will be split into teams, vying for team captain AND there will be an HoH comp.
• The team captains supposedly get a "snapshot" of the hamsters and decide who they want on their team. I'm not sure if they have to split it male/female, but I hope so. We don't need a pure alpha-male team of four!
• Yes, I said teams. There will be four teams of four (16 hamsters this season). At least that should reduce house votes! Grodner also points out that it will cut down the large alliances ruling the game. True dat.
• An excerpt from Allison Grodner in the linked article: This season, our theme is full of risk-versus-reward dilemmas. We're dialing up the risk, hoping and anticipating the houseguests are faced with decisions they've never really had to make in the Big Brother house before.  -- Okaaayy ...
• Julie Chen-Moonves will be making a "double or nothing offer" that cannot be refused (but surely will be by most) at the end of the live episode. I'm thinking it might be a bribe to quit. We don't expect an eviction the first night.
• Hmm ...

Long Time, No Blog -- BB23 Starts Soon!

 

So ... how have you been?

Before we get really into things BB23 -- I received notification that Feedburner will be eliminating email notifications to anyone subscribed in July. Oh noes! Offhand I don't really know of another service. I will have to research that. What I can suggest is using my social media notifications on either Facebook or Twitter. I always link my posts to those platforms as soon as they're published. Here's the info -- My Twitter and my Facebook Big Brother Page. (Click on the links.) You can always sign up for my personal FB page but I only post show night links there, not the live feeds and other links.

What's the latest news about the show?!?!

Unfortunately, the latest news is that there isn't much news. Hmm ... let's see ...

• Julie Chen-Moonves will be hosting as she has done every season.
• No house images have been released yet.
• CBS has new criteria for diversity on their reality shows. But I bet we still won't see a lot of diversity in ages! (Grr.)
• According to various sources, the casting has been finished and the new hamsters and alternates have started their pre-season sequesters which include a two-week quarantine due to Covid precautions and a third week of regular sequester. They will once again be tested for Covid prior to entering the house.
• The season premiere is set for Wednesday, July 7 at 8pm ET/PT and will be 90 minutes.
• The regular weekly shows are to be an hour and are scheduled for: Sunday, Wednesday, Thursdays all at 8pm ET/PT, followed by Love Island (gag).
• CBS All Access has changed to Paramount Plus. Same feeds venue, different name.
• RUMORS: All new cast, theme for the show and the house is BB Rebirth or New Beginnings. No one goes home the first night and an HOH will occur in the premier. These rumors I can't really verify other than they're coming from a fairly often reliable spoilers source.

More news as I get the news ...

TAR32: Season Finale Blog Pool and Party

 

Welp, here we are at the season finale. That went by quickly, didn't it? I a bit surprised that it's only an hour show tonight. But, if memory serves, they had more than the final three going into the longer finales. It's not like Survivor or Big Brother with a reunion show following the finale. There's no jury, no voting ... just whatever team makes it to the last welcome mat wins it all. 

I have not been keen on the alliance bit this season, not at all. To me, it ended up with the teams not in the alliance akin to the child chosen last in a schoolyard game pick. I understand teams occasionally helping out others or not. But, to me, the alliance dominated the game and knocked out other teams. I'm old school. I think every team needs to race on their own merits. Oh, well.

Lifeguard SueGee has updated the blog pool for the last time --

The Final Three  

Hung / Chee -- Bizaro22. Glenn Allen. chrob61 

Riley / Maddison -- Dr_Celine, PDX Granny, Marthalight 

Will / James -- Petals, CherylNY, Nickelpeed 

 Philiminated: 

Nathan / Cody (everyone reassigned back into pool) 

Kellie / LaVonne -- David, ChicMc, Sharon N 

Jerry / Frank -- Donna NY, Monty924, Andi, Willie J 

Michelle / Victoria -- Mario L, Jackie, SueGee 

Alana / Leo -- Jennasmom, Sharon C, Donna in FL 

Kaylynn / Haley -- Jennifer, Indiana Jane, Ed in Ohio 

Aparna / Eswar -- Cheryl in NC, Kelsey NY, Skyriverblue 

Gary / DeAngelo -- JLaf, CherryPie, Judy Sweeney     

I will be updating this entry with the major happenings as they air here on the East Coast. Please refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area. Feel free to join in on the discussion! May the best team win!

We're getting a brief recap of the season. Yes, the alliance of three made it to the final leg together. We know that.

Teams are flying to New Orleans. Party on Bourbon Street, so they're heading to the French Quarter. They have more luxury on their flight than I've ever seen!

They're heading to Louis Armstrong Park. All teams flew there together. 

Route info cards gotten. They have to collect 50 red and 50 gold necklaces thrown on Bourbon Street to get their next clue. The necklaces have to match the ones the Grand Marshall is wearing. The Beard Bros are lost.

James and Will finish the beads first.

Who will be left holding the baby? Next up they have to find the baby in the cake for their next clue. That's a tradition in which a small (not real!) baby is baked in a large King Cake. This will be a needle in a haystack kind of Roadblock.

James/Will found the baby first and then had to sit and eat a ton (or six) of gooey pastry beignets.

They head to the New Orleans Convention Center next. Will/James remain in the lead. 

Roadblock. Climb under a bridge, then onto a beam, then jump out about 200 feet over the Mississippi River to grab a clue. Crescent City Convention Bridge.

Beard Brothers still in last.

Both team members must rappel back down from the bridge. Then they have to roll a ten foot ball back through town.

James/Will at the ball. Hung/Chee headed to the ball. Maddison/Riley just finished finding the baby.

Next they have to search a warehouse for puzzle pieces and make a globe out of their ball.

James/Will finish the globe and they're the first team heading to the finish line at the New Orleans Superdome.

JAMES/WILL WIN THE AMAZING RACE! And we have a down on one knee marriage proposal.

Hung and Chee come in second place.

We know who's on third.

And, there they are -- Riley and Maddison.

This season put the show over 1,000,000 miles raced.