23rd Season of Big Brother Had The Cookout

Reverse Racism Means No Racism

A well-known "Me" fact is I am a Fan of the competition reality show, Big Brother. Muh Diva is a total fan and I decided to watch with her for Season 5 in 2004. A good-looking houseguest named Marvin Latimore (the creator of the Big Brother Backdoor plan) caught my eye, but all the mind screwing in the game caught my heart. Marvin didn't win that season. No Black person won that season, the previous 4 seasons, or the 17 seasons after it. The 18th season I watched Big Brother, Season 23, was the game-changer.

Fueled by the facts & a former houseguest, Dayvonne Roger's speech about there never being a black winner in the show's history (Subsequently, Big Brother 23 is the first season of Big Brother after CBS' pledged to ensure that 50 percent of the houseguests on their unscripted series would feature BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) contestants.), 6 houseguests, who are Black, on Big Brother 23 formed an alliance called "The Cookout".  (Why that name? The Cookout metaphorical gathering of the black community usually exclusive only to blacks. Thank you, Urban Dictionary.) It was formed on Day 1. There have never been more than 1 or 2 (3 in an All-Star season) blacks in the house. It was quite obvious to Tiffany Mitchell, Xavier Prather, Hannah Chadda, Azah Awasum, Kyland Young, & Derek Frazier that they needed to join forces in the game. The objective was to make it to be the Final 6 players in the house to ensure there would be a Black winner in the game. The plan 1) Never be seen meeting up (Because like in society, most times in the game it is thought that the POC are working together. Whether they are or not. Most of the time, Not) and 2) Every alliance member must have a non-alliance partner (unsuspecting) to shield them in the game.

Unless you have been living under a rock you know The Cookout was Successful. They are Big Brother history makers. They survived 10 other houseguests being eliminated to be the Final 6. That is in no way an easy feat. 1) You or someone you are close to must win competitions to control the house. 2) You can't be a target of anyone in control. 3) Everyone in the alliance must be trusted. 

Ok, Ok The Cookout didn't get everything right. They failed at Trust before & after becoming the Final 6. I know there could only be one winner of Big Brother for the season, but 2/3 of the alliance was selfish. Some sub-alliances weren't formed soon or well enough.

And there were Kyland & Derek, one used harsh insults, especially the B-word when frustrated with women, including Tiffany, Hannah, & Azah in the game & one tried to egg on a fight with Xavier when he was evicted. But The Cookout fulfilled their goal, nonetheless.

Oh, The Cookout angered some of the "fans". It was accused of Racism. Funny because Big Brother was accused of racism & microaggressions so many times in previous seasons. There have always been All-White alliances. I mean there was Season 5 where an All-white male alliance lied to the only Black person in the house, Marvin, and said he was a part of them so they could receive his votes. I don't remember him working with them long. There is Season 21 when 2 of the first 3 houseguests evicted were Black.

And let us not forget Season 15, where the secret code name for the black man named Howard was"the black mamba" and "the dark knight and a white female houseguest called the hair of the sole black woman, Candice, "greasy-ass, nappy-hair" And when confronted yelled, "What You Gon' Do Black Girl" over & over & over. And those are some examples where racism affected the Black people in the game. There were offenses done & said to other non-white houseguests, homophobic slurs thrown around, and sexism showed previously in the game. To the point where some former houseguests were fired from their jobs because of their hateful actions. But when 6 Black houseguests form an alliance...

Why do I watch this show? Because believe it or not, this Mind-Screw of a game is a microcosm of our world.

It was a good season. An interesting example of the show's motto, Expect the Unexpected. Because at the end of last season, I wouldn't have ever imagined anything like it. 

Congratulations to Xavier Prather (a rather nice-looking guy *blushing*) on winning Big Brother 23! Congratulations to America's Favorite Player, Tiffany Mitchell! And Congratulations to The Cookout! Long Live The Cookout!!!

As Always Talking to You in Adult Terms!