The Best Player Wins BB15

Ladies and gentlemen, Andy Herren is the winner of Big Brother 15. He beat Ginamarie in a landslide 7-2 vote to become the first gay winner in 15 seasons of Big Brother.

In a season filled with racial controversy, everything exciting happening prior to day 25, and a cast full of very unlikeable characters, it’s easy to forget about the simple fact that Big Brother is a game, and someone is going to win. It may not be America’s favorite (and it certainly wasn’t in this case), but we always hope it’s the best player. So… was Andy?

Now, the most common things I have heard Big Brother fans say about Andy are boring, rat, and floater. I think this is a little harsh—although each complaint about him does have some truth to it. But what people seem to be overlooking is where Andy ranks in the history of Big Brother winners.

So I ask all you anti-Andy people to read this with an open mind. I am not trying to make you like the guy, but I think his game should get the credit it deserves.

But before we can talk about the way Andy played the game, we need to take a trip down memory lane to the summer of 2003 and talk about the winner of Big Brother 4, Jun Song.

The original floater.

Long before Rachel Reilly told floaters to grab a life vest, Jun Song was floating her way through the BB4 house in a way that was considered strategy. In fact, she floated her way right to the final 2, where she beat out the hated Allison Irwin for the $500,000 grand prize.

I know newer BB fans are screaming that floaters are useless! Floating is not a strategy!

I am sorry, but I am going to have to disagree. Yes, doing NOTHING all season is not a valid strategy. But becoming friendly with all sides of the house, keeping up lines of communication, making everyone think you are on their side—now that takes strategy. That takes hard work. But sometimes people don’t realize it as much, as it isn’t as exciting to watch on TV.

Season 4 was the “Ex factor” and Jun was one of the houseguests who was unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how you look at it) enough to have her ex, Jee, in this house. With this, she was able to form an alliance with the eight original houseguests before he exes came into the game. She also kept up a relationship with Jee, using that to her advantage in the game until she didn’t need him anymore—then she was the one to nominate him as HOH the week he was evicted. As the competition continued, Jun made a secret alliance with the most disliked houseguest, knowing she could beat her at the end. And just to go the extra measure, Jun threw the final HOH competition so Allison would have to evict Robert at the final three, ensuring that Jun would get his vote. Not that she needed it—somewhat like Andy Herren, she won in a 6-1 landslide, losing only the vote of Allison’s showmance.

No, Jun didn’t win a lot of competitions. She was also rarely on the block, so she never really had to scramble for votes. She wasn’t exciting. But she was brilliant, and a very deserving winner. One of the best, in my opinion.

So what does this have to do with Andy?

Well, I am not the first, and I certainly won’t be the last to compare the gameplay of the two. I know Andy was pretty upset when the Zingbot called him a floater, but let’s face it. He floated through this game with the precision only a brilliant BB player could.

Early on, when the season was still fun, all everyone would talk about was how Andy was on the live feeds. That literally every time there was strategic conversation going on, Andy would bust into the room. He’d be in the HOH room one second, and by the time you started paying attention to the contestants talking strategy in the backyard Andy was now with them. It’s impossible to be involved in every conversation, but Andy made sure that he was in the middle of whichever ones he could be. And the best part? None of the houseguests were even concerned about this fact. Everyone had to notice that Andy was always around, but they all just let it happen.

Not only was Andy involved in everyone’s conversations, but he was socially attached to every houseguest. Until they were walking out the door realizing Andy had voted against them, everyone thought Andy was their best friend, and that he was 100% on their side. Elissa actually thought McCrae voted against Amanda, she was that convinced that Andy wasn’t lying to her.

And the final portion of Andy’s game of floating was the fact that he not only involved himself in every conversation, he not only convinced everyone that he was their best friend, but he was able to do all of this for 90 days, spending almost no time of the block, and never really being in any danger of being evicted from the house. Andy was always in a position of power by convincing those in power that he was aligned with them. And when he decided those in power weren’t really helping his game anymore? He shifted to another group to get out his original allies. Andy’s loyalty to Amanda and McCrae got him to a certain point in the game—then he switched his loyalty to the Exterminators (who were overall weaker competitors than Andy) to take out McCranda. This move basically ensured Andy a place in the final 2.

I am sure it’s not easy to be a target every week and have to win HOH competitions and Vetoes. But having a position in every alliance in the house, being everyone’s best friend, and keeping that all straight—that is just as hard, only in a different way.

And if any jury was going to be bitter, it was going to be this one. I could imagine everyone sitting on the jury deciding to vote for the lesser of two evils, or the person they liked more. But for some reason they didn’t. Maybe I wasn’t giving this cast enough credit, or maybe Andy was just that good, even in the final minutes of his time in the BB house.

As the show was drawing to a close, Andy, the floater who didn’t want to be a floater, took ownership of the game he played. He answered the jury questions honestly (with the exception of the whole “alliance-with-GM-from-day-one” thing—that seemed to be a bit of a stretch), and in a manner that you couldn’t help but agree with. There isn’t much as you can complain about as far as his game is concerned. It was nearly flawless, and it was the type of gameplay that can never be repeated in a follow up season.

I think Andy was, by far, the most deserving to win Big Brother 15. And not even just out of the final 3—you could argue he was more deserving than a good chunk of the house guests if you are basing “deserving” on being a good game player. Which Andy, a student of the game, clearly was.

In closing, I’d like to go beyond the scope of BB15 and talk briefly about Andy in regards to Big Brother house guests of the past. Because let’s be honest—there are not a lot of great BB players. Yes there are a select few—Dr. Will, Dan, Danielle Reyes, Janelle. And there are even fewer great Big Brother winners. If Andy had not won BB15, he would be a middle of the road player. But by winning, Andy had put himself in the top 20 of best BB players ever—maybe even in the top 5 for BB winners.

It’ll take some time to move on from your personal feelings about him betraying basically everyone, and talking bad about Elissa, and not being super exciting. But in time—people will be putting Andy on their lists.

People didn’t love Jun Song back in 2003, but now she is considered one of the greats. Not the greatest—but up there. Eventually, Andy will be joining her. 

Floater for a new generation.