"Big Brother" crowned Steve Moses as the season 17 winner during Wednesday night's finale on CBS.
At the start, the "Big Brother" finale on Wednesday night looked like it might be a duplicate of last year: A competent participator with an advantage from a job in the outside world would win the $500,000 grand prize. But what is expected doesn't usually happen.
Vanessa Rousso, a polarizing 32-year-old professional poker player who had been strategically manipulating the players, was the final person sent packing. It happened quickly, as she lost the final head of household competition to Steve Moses, an inconspicuous 22-year-old college student. Calling Vanessa "strongest female player" in the show's history, Steve booted Vanessa from the contest and chose to go head-to-head with 23-year-old marketing coordinator Liz Nolan - a much weaker player - as the final two contestants.
The "Big Brother" panel of judges beforehand evicted contestants and awarded the $500,000 prize to Steve (Liz got $50,000 as the runner-up), so it worked out fine for him. However, the ending illustrated the disappointment with watching a show like "Big Brother," a psychological minefield that traps competitors in a camera-filled house and makes them vote each other out, week by week.
The other contestants hated Vanessa because she controlled them all through the whole game, switching back and forth so naturally between subtle and intimidating strategy that most didn't even comprehend her power until it was too late. But her manipulation made the show appealing.
So although Vanessa was the one to continue the show moving with her regular manipulations, she lost out on the prize at the last-ditch, an irritating ending for people who have been investing in the show for the last three months. Even if Vanessa was despised generally, which many viewers did, at least she kept things entertaining.
It likely wasn't the satisfactory finale CBS was looking for. A few weeks ago, CBS chairman Les Mooves publicly slammed this season: "This wasn't a great year for casting on 'Big Brother,'" he told Vulture. "Usually you have one or two disappointments. I think we had five or six disappointments."
Really, the best way for "Big Brother" to avoid disappointments is to cast more than one real-life savoir-faire, strategic player - ensuring that no matter who makes it to the end, viewers won't depart feeling cheated.