Recapping the Finale of Big Brother Canada 2

Who would have predicted a Jon victory?

It's been a long, crazy ride in the BBCAN2 House...who would have predicted a Jon victory? Certainly not I; as recently as this Monday, I wrote that "I see no way that Jon doesn't go home [at Final 4]," so winning the game seemed out of the question for him.

As you may expect if you've been reading my recaps all the way through, I am rather distraught at Neda's loss. So be prepared for some complaining. Let's get into it. (Image credit Slice)

At the Final 4, Jon does indeed win the POV. I wasn't expecting this, although he clearly was; usually the last POV is some kind of puzzle; this was not only a puzzle but also involved luck, so it's not like Jon had any clear advantage like he often does.

Heather obviously didn't want this as much as the others; she refused to take the punishment of wearing her squirrel costume for the rest of the season, which really ended up only being one more day. So Jon won the Veto, which really throws a wrench in Neda's plans.

Heather obviously didn't want this
as much as the others.

At least in my opinion; I thought that she should have gotten rid of Jon at the Final 4 given the chance, although from what we've heard about her plans, she was going to take him along to the Final 3 anyway.

So Heather goes out here, and you have to wonder: what changed for Jon? He had the opportunity to get rid of Neda at this instance, and doesn't take it. I think that Neda was a much greater threat to win the Final HOH than Heather would have been. So something must have changed for Jon in between the F4 eviction and the F3 one.

It seems like smooth sailing from here on out for Neda (except for part 1 of the final HOH), who has Final 2 deals with both Sabrina and Jon; there's no way either one of them will cut her before the end, right?

Smooth sailing for Neda?

Jon wins the first part of the HOH, as anyone could have predicted. What couldn't be predicted was just how well Sabrina did at it; even if Jon was gone, I don't think Heather or Neda could have won this. And then Neda easily defeats Sabrina in the second part (again, if Jon was gone, Neda would be up against Heather, so it would probably be even easier).

Going into part three, it's really a toss-up, especially because the questions are just random bits of trivia about the season, not information about what the jurors said after leaving, as I prefer. When Jon won, I was reasonably disappointed, but still not worried.

And then...the moment of truth. Jon gives one little speech to Neda and one to Sabrina (how does he keep coming up with new stuff to say...he just did this last night), preparing to evict one of them. And...boom.

I was absolutely shocked.

She's gone.

Neda's out.

Nooooooo!!!

Neda said that she could see it on Jon's face the whole time he was preparing to evict her, and I could definitely tell right at the end too. Still, I was absolutely shocked. My mouth literally dropped open.

And I finally understood how a jury could be so bitter; especially the final member who doesn't have any time to process what's happened; Jon took Neda's win. That's how it feels. It was rightfully hers, she had done all the work to get the two of them there, and then he cut her right before the end.

Now for a more unbiased opinion. Aside from disappointment, I was impressed with Jon's move. There was no possible way that he could have beaten Neda in the Final 2, although I think that would have been more interesting to watch. After this moment, the finale was relatively anticlimactic; the only question was whether Jon would Sabrina 6-1 or 5-2. Allison followed Arlie's lead and made it the former.

Speaking of Arlie, it was clear that he had been preparing for a Neda victory, and probably lining up the votes for her. Arlie seemed to have a lot of sway in that jury house, so that's one of the reasons that I think Neda would have had an easy time of things.

Jon took out the best player and got
himself to the finals with a goat.

Jon definitely deserved his win; I'm not arguing that. He took out the best player and got himself to the finals with a goat--that's good gameplay. But it is a shame that people cannot now talk about Neda on the same level as some of the other great winners of Big Brother.

It's an interesting comparison between Survivor and Big Brother; in general, Survivor players who do not win are given more credit than Big Brother players who don't. And I think there's a lot of truth to that; Big Brother is so strategic that in general, the best players win.

Contrast that with Survivor, where some of the "greats" are Cirie, Rob C., Stephen, etc. Players who never won. I think we need to start giving that same merit to some of the great third place BB players; Neda was in the same place as Rob Cesternino and Cirie--one immunity/HOH away from winning the game.

Did Neda make mistakes? Certainly. She needed to get Jon out earlier, although it's hard to say exactly when that could have been. Her best chance would have been during the Instant Eviction, when Allison went home, but that seems far too early to get rid of Jon and try to ride things out by herself to the end.

And Jon was safe all the way from the Final 5 onward, so I guess during Adel's HOH...that would have been the last opportunity. Alas, Neda came up just short, but she still played an amazing game and I hope we see her back for Big Brother Canada All Stars.

It was a great season, and the
casting was incredible.

It was still a great season, though, and the casting was incredible. This wraps up the official coverage of Big Brother Canada 2 on Survivor Scrutiny. Can't wait till BBCAN3!

I may have a chance at some point soon to bring you one more post about the season, though. With all the talk about Neda being one of the best (or possibly one of the best), I wanted to examine the games of these great players and contrast them with Neda's. But I have seen only a couple of Big Brother seasons. So, I'll be comparing Neda's game with the only season I've seen one of these "great players" play; Dan in BB14.

If you think about it, there were a lot of similarities. A lot of differences too, but if I get the chance sometime soon, I'll go over them. So stay tuned for one last post about Big Brother Canada--Dan BB14 vs. Neda BBCAN2!

But wait, there's more! The U.S. season of Big Brother will be starting before too long; sometime around June 25th or 26th, I think. That'll be the main focus of our summer coverage, along with The Amazing Race Canada 2 and maybe watching some old Survivor seasons.

Stay tuned for more Big Brother in the near future, and tell me if you liked the coverage of it this spring! Also, check back tonight for an Amazing Race recap.