Breakout Big Brother stars of the 2010s: Big Brother 19

With the 2010s soon to be in the rearview mirror, we decided to look back at Big Brother seasons of the past decade. Over the next several days, we will look at the most notable breakout player from each season (in our opinion) this decade. This will mean Big Brother 12 to Big Brother 21 with Over the Top and Celebrity versions included.

With the 2010s soon to be in the rearview mirror, we decided to look back at Big Brother seasons of the past decade. Over the next several days, we will look at the most notable breakout player from each season (in our opinion) this decade. This will mean Big Brother 12 to Big Brother 21 with Over the Top and Celebrity versions included.

First up today, we will be examining the breakout star of Big Brother 19. It is generally considered one of the worst seasons of Big Brother ever and with good reason. Almost everyone just blindly followed the returning player, Paul Abrahamian. If Paul hadn’t been there, I feel the season would’ve been a lot better as the newbies would’ve really shined. With the pickings being very slim, we chose Cody Nickson as the breakout star of Big Brother 19.

Big Brother 19’s breakout star: Cody Nickson

Cody was at the center of controversy in Big Brother 19 for comments he made during the season. He was also the only person to stand up to Paul from the beginning. Due to the rivalry between Paul and Cody, Paul resorted to bullying tactics to try and intimidate/oust Cody.

On Day 1, houseguests were sequestered in the Garden of Temptation where they were each offered the chance to earn $25,000. The first person to hit their button when the flower lit up green would win the money. Kevin Schlehuber was the first to hit the button and won $25,000.

However, as with all temptations this season, this came with consequences. The first consequence was that Kevin had to throw the first HOH Competition as he was now ineligible to win it. The second consequence was that Paul would enter the house for a shot at redemption and he would be swapping places with one of the 16 new houseguests.

Upon his arrival, Paul was tasked with selecting 8 houseguests to receive a friendship bracelet. Those with friendship bracelets would be immune. It was clear from the beginning Cody and Paul weren’t going to get along, thus Cody didn’t receive a friendship bracelet. Kevin, Raven Walton, Dominique Cooper, Mark Jansen, Jason Dent, Jessica Graf, Ramses Soto, and Elena Davies received the friendship bracelets.

The remaining 8 battled it out in the Safety Competition. In this competition, houseguests had to stand on a trapeze bar while holding a rope. If a houseguest fell off, they had to select an apple from the serpent. 4 were safety apples, 3 were poison apples. Those with poison apples would be nominated for the first eviction.

Cody won the Safety Competition while Cameron Heard, Jillian Parker, and Christmas Abbott picked the poison apples and ended up on the block. Those with poison apples then voted to decide if they would rather face a vote or eviction competition. By a vote of 2-1, they chose to face a vote. At the eviction vote, Cameron was evicted 8-3-2 over Jillian and Christmas. Cody was one of the 3 votes for Jillian.

Later in the week, Cody won the first HOH of the season, narrowly defeating Paul. Josh Martinez took a temptation during the competition, which earned him safety for the week. Early on in the game, Cody found himself in a budding showmance with Jessica.

Cody teamed up with Jessica, the two other showmances (Mark and Elena, Matthew “Matt” Clines and Raven) as well as Paul, Dominique, and Christmas in an alliance. However, Cody never trusted Paul from the beginning.

In Big Brother 19, there was a twist called the Den of Temptation. Each week for the first 3 weeks, America voted for the houseguest of their choice to secretly enter the Den of Temptation. The Den would provide an advantage in the game for the person selected as well as a consequence to one or more houseguests.

In week 1, Paul was selected to go into the Den of Temptation and received the Pendant of Protection. Paul accepted the temptation and would be immune for the first 3 weeks of the game. As a consequence, he had to curse one houseguest, forcing them to volunteer as a 3rd nominee in the next 3 weeks. Paul chose Ramses Soto.

On Day 7, Cody nominated Megan Lowder and Jillian for eviction. An incident between Megan and Jessica on Day 8 caused Megan to suffer a PTSD attack and Megan chose to quit the game as a result. As a result, Cody had to name a replacement nominee. He chose Alexandra “Alex” Ow as the new nominee. Alex then won the POV that week to save herself after Cody threw it to her. Needing yet another nominee, Cody attempted to backdoor Paul.

However, Paul’s Pendant of Protection voided that nomination and Cody needed still another nominee. Cody made Christmas his 5th nominee of the week since she was Paul’s closest ally. Paul was able to flip Kevin and Josh’s votes, leading to Jillian being evicted 8-4.

Having attempted to backdoor Paul, the house now turned on Cody. He and Jessica were all alone in the house. In week 2, Paul won HOH and nominated Alex and Josh for eviction, with the intention of backdooring Cody. Ramses chose to make himself the 3rd nominee that week.

Christmas was chosen by America to go into the Den of Temptation by America and received the Ring of Replacement. The Ring of Replacement allowed her to swap one of the randomly drawn POV players and take their place in the competition. As a consequence, 3 houseguests would have to wear the Ve-toad costume for the rest of the week. Christmas used the Ring to replace Cody in the POV Competition and chose Cody, Jessica, and Jason to wear the Ve-toad costume.

Paul won the POV that week and used it to save Josh. He named Cody the replacement nominee and Cody was evicted 7-3. The 3 votes to keep Cody came from Jessica, Christmas, and Kevin.

While Cody was gone in week 3, Jessica was selected by America to go into the Den of Temptation and received the Halting Hex. The Halting Hex had the power to stop one of the next 4 eviction. Jessica accepted. As a consequence, the Temptation Competition was unleashed for the next 3 weeks.

In week 4, Cody won the Battle Back Competition against Cameron, Jillian, and Dominique (who had been evicted in week 3). The house voted for one person to face Cody in another competition. If the person the house selected won, Cody would remain evicted. If Cody won, he would re-enter the game. The house chose Paul to face Cody and Cody won the competition, re-entering the game.

With Cody now back in the game, Mark and Elena started growing closer to Cody and Jessica and flipped to their side. In week 4, Jessica won HOH and nominated Josh and Ramses for eviction, with the intention of targeting Josh. Jessica also won the POV that week and chose not to use it. Knowing that Jessica and Cody were targeting Josh, Paul flipped the house against Ramses and Ramses was evicted 7-3.

In week 5, Paul won HOH and Mark won the Temptation Competition, earning him safety for the week. Jason became a 3rd nominee after finishing with the lowest placement in the Temptation Competition. Paul nominated Cody and Jessica for eviction, with the intention of targeting Jessica. Paul also won the POV that week and chose not to use it. However, Paul’s plans to re-evict Cody came to a stop when Jessica used the Halting Hex, cancelling the eviction.

In week 6, Josh won HOH and Cody was the target again. However, Cody won the Temptation Competition, earning him safety for the week. Jessica had the lowest placement in the competition, making her the 3rd nominee. Josh nominated Mark and Elena for eviction alongside Jessica.

Mark won the POV to save himself that week and Josh named Raven the replacement nominee. Jessica was evicted 7-1-0 over Raven and Elena. Cody was the only vote to save Jessica that week as he had voted to evict Raven.

In week 7, Alex won HOH and Mark won the Temptation Competition, earning him safety for the week. Matt was the 3rd nominee since he placed the lowest in the competition. Alex nominated Elena and Jason for eviction, with the intention of backdooring Cody. Matt won the POV that week but instead of using it on himself, he used it to save Jason per Paul’s instructions. Cody was named the replacement nominee and evicted 7-0, making him the first member of the jury.

Cody returned on finale night and cast his vote for Josh to win. While Cody didn’t like either finalist, he respect that Josh was more upfront about the fact that he didn’t like Cody. However, all wasn’t lost on finale night for Cody. He won America’s Favorite Houseguest, earning $25,000.

You could make cases for Josh, Jessica, and Kevin to be the breakout star of Big Brother 19. However, not only was Cody the only one to stand up to Paul from the beginning, but he faced very long odds early on. His perseverance, lack of willingness to bow down to Paul, and gameplay earns him the nod as our breakout star of Big Brother 19. I firmly believe Cody got a raw deal on Big Brother 19 and could’ve done very well on just about any other season.

We would also like this time to thank Cody for his service in the United States Marines. Regardless of what people thought of you on Big Brother, you are a true American hero.

Who is your breakout star of Big Brother 19? Let us know in the comments!