If you have read my previous articles you know how much I love big brother. I am currently rewatching all the previous seasons and this was the inspiration behind my top 5 lists. I have previously done the top 5 winners and top 5 players who never won. In those previous articles I mention my criteria for a great player is amongst other things being great at one or more categories including comp beast, mental game, and social game. In addition, for this list I took into consideration how good the rest of their cast was and if they were the correct choice to win over the person sitting next to them. Keep in mind this is only compared to fellow winners so while some of these players may have played good games they just weren’t as good as their fellow winners. With all that in mind let’s get started.
1. Jordan Lloyd (Winner Season 11 4th Place Season 13)
Maybe this is controversial since she came back and still went far in another season but I just cant get around how little Jordan actually seemed to do. She wasn’t a Comp beast (she won 3 HOH’s and 1 POV across 2 seasons) and she didn’t have much of a mental game (in terms of controlling the house and calling the shots). I guess you could say she had a social game but that would be about it. I personally feel both seasons she was on, especially the season she won, were pretty weak seasons. Sorry Jordan I just wasn’t impressed with your game at all but hey she won $500,000 so she probably doesn’t care what I think.
2. Nicole Franzel (7th Place Season 16 and Winner Season 18)
These next 3 were all pretty close for me and while I consider them to be the worst winners they all do have some moments were I think they played a good game. I think in season 16 where Nicole is the first real person to realize that Derrick is running the house (resulting in her eviction) is actually her most impressive game move. The issue is the person she told to tell this revelation was Derrick himself. Season 18 she had the advantage of being a returning players playing with a bunch of rookies and not the best cast. She ultimately was able to win beating Paul in a close 5-4 vote. She wasn’t a comp beast but she wasn’t a dud either especially in her winning season when she won 2 HOH’s and 2 POV’s. Overall she won 3 HOH’s (as she was dethroned from 2 others) and 2 POV’s as well as winning the battle back challenge to get back into the game season 16. Her social game was decent but she made some really questionable choices especially in her first season that cost her the game. This combined with the fact that she wasn’t great in any aspect of the game and in my opinion shouldn’t have won season 18 (Paul was clearly the better player that season) is why she ends up as number 2 on my list. She is currently playing in Big Brother All Stars so maybe she can change my mind this season.
3. Josh Martinez (Season 19 Winner)
I have a close friend who will disagree with this placement as he feels Josh played a very underrated game. However, I can’t help but point out he wasn’t particularly good at any single aspect of the game. He was decent at Comps winning 3 HOH’s and a POV. That’s about where it ends. His social game was just not good. He had an alliance with Paul and Christmas and most other people seemed to dislike him. His mental game was really just do whatever Paul says and he controlled nothing in the house as Paul controlled everything. The main reason I have Paul ahead of Nicole is he did do one thing that was very smart and maybe that one thing means I am underrating him. That one thing is his good bye messages to evicted house guests. In them he played the good guy and explained how Paul was using everyone thus tanking Paul’s game. In the end he won 5-4 against fellow alliance member and much more deserving player Paul.
4. Adam Jasinski (Winner Season 9)
Some people reading this right now might be asking themselves who? I can’t blame you Adam won season 9 which is in my opinion one of the worst and most forgettable seasons of Big Brother. Adam was not a Comp beast winning 2 HOH’s and 1 Veto. His social game was decent although he did rub some people the wrong way and annoyed fellow houseguests. His mental game was again average at best as he didn’t exactly control the house. Overall he was an average to below average winner but what really puts him on this list is his season in general. It just was a bad season and he was just a forgettable winner.
5. Steve Moses (Winner Season 17)
Steve is not a bad winner by any means. He had a good social game which allowed him to form several strong alliances. He had a below average mental game as he just did what Vanessa told him. He did however have a strong Comp game as he won 4 HOH’s and 2 POV’s. Why is Steve on this list if he was actually a pretty good player you may ask. Well there are really two reasons. First, again as I stated earlier this list is full of winners so pretty much everyone on this list played a good game its just the other 16 winners played better games. Secondly, and the real reason he is on this list is because he rather easily wasn’t the best player on the season he won. That honor would go to Vanessa. The best move Steve did all season was taking Liz over Vanessa to final two. It could be argued that move alone makes him undeserving of this list. For me though I just can’t get over the fact that Vanessa played a much better overall game than him all season long which is why Steve takes the 5th spot on my list.
So let me know what you think? Where did I go wrong? What do you agree/disagree with?