'Big Brother': End Game

Before the votes were revealed, there was an interesting segment in which the four non-voting housemates voted out early were asked for their take on the show. They were the only ones who'd actually seen it, and thereby had an insider and outsider perspective. Brian, who so overplayed his hands at the beginning of this game, gave a wonderfully clearheaded wag of the finger to Michelle and April for their personal attacks against Libra and Keesha. The lesson was completely lost on Michelle, of course, as she spent the entire time mouthing disbelief and rolling her eyes. Even showing her the tapes won't teach her a lesson: I have a feeling that she has such a powerful defense system built up against her own faults that if you show her video evidence of her own ridiculousness, she'll abruptly succumb to temporary hysterical blindness.

Then, after a typically mushmouthed conversation with Jessie about how Dan, as America's Player, messed with him, the votes were read, and Dan won unanimously. As he celebrated, a woman in a black dress came skittering toward him and embraced him, and from the back I thought it was Julie Chen. Had his old-fashioned charms finally won her over? Would she yell, "From now on, you can call me Mrs. Dan!" But no, it was his girlfriend, Monica.

Then came time for the viewers' choice $25,000 prize to be awarded to their favorite jury member: Jerry came in second, which was odd. Considering how you readers have been trashing him on the message boards, I wonder if somewhere out there a Bizarro BB TV Watch exists, in which Jerry is regularly hailed as a hero. But the winner was Keesha, which I was happy with. What I like about Keesha is that she was clearly cast to fill the hot, flirty, ditzy-blonde slot, — but, barring her screechy laugh and cooing over her dog, she refused to play the part. She was smart (enough), sensible, and reasonable; even though she was angry at Memphis, she quickly thawed when he said that his evicting her was a game decision, and he was sorry it "might have ruined a friendship that I might not ever get back."

And speaking of things you can't get back, how about the 29 hours we all spent watching this show this summer? Dan was a great player, but it wasn't a fantastic season: The last four weeks were too predictable, with Dan dominating and steering the proceedings. But it won't make me abandon Big Brother next season: Unlike Dan, I'm no Judas.