Big Brother 19 — Thoughts on Paul

Hi y’all:

I’ve been thinking a lot about Paul lately.  There’s really no way that I, as a Big Brother blogger, can avoid the reality that, so far, this season has pretty much been the Paul show.  To a large extent, the previous season was also the Paul Show.  The only difference is that Big Brother 18 was originally meant to be the Nicole Show until Paul, though force of pure personality, took it over.  Big Brother 19, on the other hand, was clearly designed to be the Paul Show from the beginning.  Right now, you have to wonder if anyone in the house has enough drive and personality to do what Paul did during BB18.  Can anyone force Paul off of center stage?

Even during his first season, Paul was someone about whom I had mixed feelings.  Sometimes, I couldn’t stand him.  Sometimes, I thought he was the greatest thing to happen to Big Brother in quite some time.  I can tell just by reading some of the comments under the previous post that a lot of you have similar feelings.  No one seems to be neutral when it comes to either Paul or his return.  People either think he’s great or they think he’s ruining the show.

During the first part of Big Brother 18, I couldn’t stand Paul.  I thought he was an overly aggressive loudmouth who came on way too strong.  I could not wait to see him voted out.  But, as the season progressed, Paul started to win me over.  It wasn’t so much that Paul himself changed as it just started to become painfully obvious that Big Brother 18 was specifically set up for either Nicole or James to win.  In a season where the other houseguests were just supposed to roll over and let the vets win it all, Paul refused.  Paul not only managed to survive a rough few weeks but he soon emerged as a power in the house.  He was so clearly the underdog that, even if he was still sometimes annoying, you couldn’t help but root for him.

I can’t remember my exact the reaction the night that Nicole won Big Brother 18.  I think, at the time, I was so exhausted with that season that I was just happy that it was over.  But, today, it’s clear to me that Paul should have won Big Brother 18.  Paul was the one who actually had to strategize and compete to survive.   While Nicole was coasting on her showmance and James was playing pranks, Paul was the one who was actually fighting for and earning the right to appear in the finale.

So, now, we have Paul on Big Brother 19 and here’s where things get complicated.  Don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say.  I’m not taking a position one way or the other on this.  However, there are a lot of people online who feel that, so far, Big Brother has been going out of its way to protect Paul.  Not only was he given immunity on his first night back but he was also allowed to give immunity to 8 other people, which immediately put 8 other people in Paul’s debt.  And while the first temptation may have been the result of a viewer vote, it was obvious that Paul was going to win it just because Paul was the only person in the house with a built-in fanbase.  And it was a powerful reward, giving Paul three weeks of immunity.  Three weeks is an eternity in Big Brother.  In short, a lot of people feel that, just as Big Brother 18 was set up for Nicole to win, Big Brother 19 is being set up for Paul to win.

Do I agree with that?  Well, I definitely think that production wants Paul to stay in the house for as long as possible because Paul does have fans and it’s possible that those fans might stop watching if Paul doesn’t at least make it to jury.  Production always has a favorite and this season, that favorite does appear to be Paul.  But, at the same time, being a favorite doesn’t mean you’re going to automatically win.  Just ask Amanda Zuckerman, Vanessa, Frankie Grande, Audrey, and a whole host of others.

However, there is something different about Paul this season.  Paul has always played this game hard but this season, there’s a bitterness to Paul that I personally find to be very off-putting.  It’s a bitterness that you won’t see on CBS.  On the CBS show, Paul is still getting his typical hyperactive, loud but likable guy edit.  But, if you watch him on the live feeds, there’s an anger to Paul that wasn’t as present during Big Brother 18.

Watching him on the live feeds, it’s obvious that Paul is very bitter about losing Big Brother 18 and he is determined not to lose again.  That bitterness, mixed in with a healthy dose of paranoia, could be his downfall.  Already, even some of his allies are talking about how weary they’re starting to get of Paul.  Because he is currently HoH and he has immunity for the week after, Paul is currently extremely powerful but, once he loses that immunity, I wouldn’t be surprised to see people start to turn against him.  They don’t trust him, they know he’s playing hard, and people naturally resent being bossed around.  They resented it when Cody did it and they resent it when Paul does it.

The Paul of Big Brother 18 would have picked up on this and I think he would have done some damage control.  But Big Brother 19’s Paul has, to a certain extent, let the fame go to his head.  He may be getting revenge by evicting Cody but it’s hard not to think that it might have been a better idea to, instead, evict Cody’s allies like Jessica or Jason.  That way, when Paul loses his immunity, there would still be a bigger target than him in the house.  Because, once Cody is gone, Paul is going to be the biggest target around.

Anyway, regardless of what happens, Paul is going to get what he wants this week.  He won the veto last night.  Someone is going to come off the block and Cody is going to go on in their place.  However, it appears that Ramses came close to beating Paul and Paul is really angry about it.  In fact, Paul’s so angry about it that I think all of that anger is going to backfire on him.

We’ll see if I’m right or if Paul can keep winning.

As always, thank you for reading and commenting,

Lisa Marie