Big Brother 18 flashback: A look back at the BB18 cast, unexpected final two

Big Brother 18: Nicole Franzel, Victor Arroyo have fun putting up Christmas tree. (Image via CBS)
Big Brother 18: Nicole Franzel, Victor Arroyo have fun putting up Christmas tree. (Image via CBS) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Big Brother 18 cast members are participating in The Challenge on MTV this summer. It’s time to take a look back at the summer 2016 BB18 cast and some of the drama from that season.

Big Brother 18 was a season packed with drama and twists. The BB18 cast, playing during summer 2016, created quite a lot of memories for viewers. Among them were several key showmances, but also the way that the BB18 jury decided on the $500,000 winner.

Big Brother 18 winner

Let’s start at the end with this look at the BB18 cast. Nicole Franzel was declared the Big Brother 18 winner, beating out Paul Abrahamian in the jury vote. She was a returning houseguest, giving her a bit of an advantage while playing the game. Though Paul came up short, he would return for Big Brother 19, leaving with another cash prize.

As previously reported by Inside the BB House, four houseguests from Big Brother 18 are appearing on The Challenge this summer. It’s another competition show, with MTV giving CBS a bit of free advertising. The Challenge will pit some BB18 cast members against each other who had drama inside the Big Brother house. That includes Da’Vonne Rogers and Paulie Califiore.

More from Hidden Remote

Summer 2016 season recap

12 new houseguests were introduced by host Julie Chen, who let them all enter the game and start getting to know one another. Shortly after, though, four returning houseguests began popping up in the BB18 house. The Big Brother 18 cast moved forward with 16 members from that point. The four returners seemed to have an advantage over the newbies. That thought was echoed by the new cast members and viewers.

The returners were Nicole Franzel, James Huling, Da’Vonne Rogers, and Frank Eudy. The four returning houseguests all survived the first four weeks, but the Frank and Da’Vonne were sent home in successive eviction ceremonies. James made it all the way to the final three, but Paul Abrahamian won the final Head of Household Competition and decided to take Nicole with him to the end. It may have been a $500,000 mistake by Paul.

The Big Brother 18 drama

Paulie Calafiore was involved in a showmance with Zakiyah Everette. The problem, though, was that Paulie conspired against her and talked down to her any chance he got. This annoyed Da’Vonne quite a bit, who took it upon herself to defend Zakiyah. Consequently, a lot of in-house fighting took place. It even carried over to the BB18 jury house. As a result, CBS showed a lot of footage from the jury house, pushing the drama as a continuous sub-story.

Especially relevant were the Big Brother 18 showmances. Due to those relationships, the couples made it further in the game. Nicole Franzel and Corey Brooks were in one showmance, while James Huling and Natalie Negrotti were in another one. Both couples nearly made it to the end, but it was Nicole and Paul in the final two. Especially relevant, was that this started a trend for Paul, who would finish second on Big Brother 19 as well.

Next: BB20 Cast Revealed By CBS For Summer 2018

Rather than dwell too much on the past, it’s time to start looking forward to Big Brother 20. Furthermore, the reality competition show has a new companion show debuting on July 29. Called Off the Block with Ross and Marissa, it serves as another way for fans to learn about the BB20 cast. Another item worth mentioning is that Big Brother: After Dark returns this summer.