Big Brother Canada 6 Review: “Week 1”

Will the new season of Big Brother Canada be a heavenly treat or the game from hell? That’s the question we’ll find out this year during Big Brother Canada 6. The new season, which returned from the presumed hiatus grave, is back after a dedicated fan campaign rallied to save the show from cancellation. Well, the campaign worked and the fruits of our effort led to this moment: the sixth season premiered this week. Arisa Cox, the host of Big Brother Canada, deemed this season will be “one for the fans,” but we’ve heard that fan play message before to no success. And based on the events of the first week, things didn’t turn out the way the super fans expected, even with all the good that happened.

Firstly, the design of the Big Brother Canada 6 house looks gorgeous. Production put in every detail to highlight the heaven and hell theme. We’ve seen past themes like steampunk, casino and space, and those houses were designed pretty well. However, this house is the one that stands out above the others. There’s a clear duality indicated in the design with the paint scheme, the rooms and props used; pristine and white on the top floor while it was red and gothic in the bottom level. The stark change in colours overloads the senses and it does hurt the eyes at first look. But who would hate that? The house looks beautiful.

When it came to the cast itself, there seemed to be a good mix of fans and recruits; this also applied to a good mix of gameplayers and floaters (i.e. people who don’t play the game and simply move to power). Since it was only the first week of Big Brother Canada 6, accurate assessments of the cast will be saved to later weeks. People change quickly as the season starts and all pretentions are thrown out the window; the “nice guys” in the beginning morph into the annoying players later on. On the other hand, we did get to know a few players and their gaming styles, as well as the bad moves some made that will no doubt affect their position.

In particular, Andrew practically destroyed his game with the “Heaven and Hell” twist – and it was only the first hour! He had the power to split the house evenly to give half of them immunity, but his choices were thoughtless and off the mark. Don’t get me wrong, he was put in a terrible situation by having to make the decision; no one wants to put the target on their back this early into the game. However, the choices he did make were very telling about his personality and game style. He placed Maddy in hell, who inadvertently handed him the cup that gave him the power, so that immediately burned a bridge; he should’ve saved her and built a relationship that showed he forgave her for putting him in this situation.

Andrew should’ve also evenly distributed the sides between men and women; he put too many men in heaven and placed the majority of women in hell. And, based on who he put into hell, the results made him look worse. He put all of the dark-haired women, women of colour, and the sole gay man in harm’s way. The only other man he did place in hell was made known he did so thinking William would win HOH and be good to work with if he won. Andrew may not have had any ill will towards those he placed in hell, but from the looks of it, the situation created a talking point that the others could use against him. Andrew now seemed like the player who only wanted to work with the physical men. He’s going to have a huge hurdle to overcome.

Johnny also made a bad move during his HOH reign. William and Paras were willing to throw him the HOH in exchange for a safety deal; neither of them wanted the power and he did. Him accepting their offer would’ve been the smart move to build alliances, but he not only declined their offer, he refused to give them any logical reason why he turned them down. People could’ve forgotten this, but why did he have to win the POV too? Johnny didn’t need to win the competition. Winning both challenges in the first week planted a huge target on his back; he’s made himself out to be a challenge competitor now and some people will want out of the house.

Hamza also needed to learn when to quit. Rozina’s game was over the second people started becoming annoyed by her laugh. She had the obvious “first boot” title written all over her and people only want an easy vote in the beginning. He kept pushing for people to save her and instead of knowing when to stop, he let it affect his relationships with the others. Hamza was noble for trying to save Rozina, but it only hurt his game in the long run.

Rounding out the week was Canada’s Vote of the two gate-crashers. Overall, this was a cruel twist; it was cruel back in Big Brother Canada 2 and Big Brother Canada 4, and it was equally worse with the first day evictions in Big Brother US. As someone who has auditioned to be on Big Brother Canada and a fan of the series, I’m well aware of how tough the process can be. The entire path takes a long time and work to even be considered, so for all that to end with a simple vote on the first day hurts the heart of anyone doing it. This twist needs to end. Simply let all of the houseguests into the house on the first day (give some of them special powers, if need be) instead of destroying dreams.

Merron was the expected choice for the men. He has a bigger social media following online and wants to have a fun time in the house. Mikey, unfortunately, didn’t have the same spark or buzz compared to his competition. The women vote, on the other hand, was a complete surprise. Kirsten seemed like the obvious choice – she was the super fan, the villain, and she was determined to play the game. In contrast, Veronica was the recruit who never watched the show before being picked (she most likely watched her two seasons in sequester waiting for the premiere). Veronica winning over Kirsten was a surprise since Kirsten had a lot of super fans pushing for her.

There are many reasons why Veronica probably won over Kirsten. The first being the personality; Veronica’s edit was made for her to be the “fun one” while Kirsten was the “bratty” girl. Also, the color scheme and clothing made Veronica out to be the angelic one – that type of play does skew votes with the casual viewers. No one wants to vote for “devil” characters. Time will tell how these gate-crashers will perform; however, they’re not starting at a great place. Houseguests will be wary of them and if more experienced fans had entered the house, they could find a way to lie, but we’re talking about recruits here. This twist was not a good start to Big Brother Canada 6.