[Spoiler] is the winner of Season 24 of Big Brother
By Matthew Lutey
From beauty queen to queen of the Big Brother house.
Taylor Hale, a 27-year-old personal stylist and former Miss Michgian from Detroit, became the Season 24 winner of the CBS reality show ‘Big Brother’ on Sunday night.
Hale won by a vote of 8-1 over Monte Taylor, a 27-year-old personal trainer from Bear, Del.
Taylor’s win was one of, if not the biggest, underdog stories in the show’s history. She was outcast by most of the other contestants early on in the season, and it seemed like she could’ve been the first person evicted.
After the Week 1 eviction was canceled due to a player leaving the game, Taylor still had trouble beating some of the misconceptions and group think that started in the initial stages of the game.
“As someone who has sat on this eviction block six times on eviction night, I have bled out the most in this game,” Taylor said during her final speech. “I have bandaged myself together every single time, and gotten up and continued to fight, because like so many other women in the world, that is what we have to do to get to the end.”
Viewers may never know where the jury of nine former houseguests who voted on the winner of the game stood entering Sunday’s final questions and speeches, but Taylor undeniably crushed every question thrown her way. She explained and defended her game eloquently, and leaned into the fact that she was written off early on.
“I had no choice but to adapt my game because I was painted as the most unreasonable, unthinkable villain in this house,” Taylor said during the closing questions. “But in adapting my game what I had to do was make sure I was growing personal connections with each of you. I had to build strong relationships with the women, which is what I came here to do anyway. I had to make sure I was reaching out a hand to the rest of the people in the house and make sure that everyone knows that I was not trying to manipulate anybody, I was just trying to be exactly who I am.”
Who she is, is the first black woman to win in the show’s history, and $800,000 richer. Taylor not only won the $750k top prize, but also $50,000 and a cruise for being voted by the viewers as America’s favorite houseguest.
“This is like winning Miss Congeniality all over again, but there’s a cash prize this time,” Taylor told host Julie Chen-Moonves.
Taylor eventually found her footing, and was a member of “The Leftovers” alliance that dominated the middle portion of the game. She didn’t have as many competition wins as Monte, but won based on her social game and resiliency.
“With what Taylor went through the first couple of weeks, she of anyone would’ve had reason to be rude to people, to be nasty, and she responded with love and kindness and respect,” jury member Michael Bruner said during the jury roundtable.
Taylor making the final two wasn’t in her control, as she lost Part 1 and Part 2 of the final Head of Household competition during the final three. The winner of Part 3 makes the choice on whom to take with them to the final two.
As she did Sunday, Chen-Moonves typically reminds the houseguest making that decision that it can be a $750,000 choice.
In this case it seems to have been the truth. Monte won Part 3 over Matthew Turner (who goes by Turner), and evicted Turner instead of Taylor. He thought Turner was the bigger threat to beat him.
“When I look at my resume, the only thing that I can think that the jury sees missing is a big move made, so today I feel like this is my opportunity to make that big move. Turner I’m sorry but I have to evict you brother,” Monte said as he was evicting Turner.
But Monte’s perception wasn’t reality, since based on the jury roundtable it seemed like Monte would have won over Turner.
The jury consisted of Turner, Brittany Hoopes, Alyssa Snider, Michael, Terrance Higgins, Kyle Capener, Joseph Abdin, Jasmine Davis and Indy Santos.
Taylor received everyone’s vote except for Turner’s.
The finale consists of a final three-part Head of Household competition. Part 1 is an endurance competition; Part 2 is usually a combination of mental and physical skills; and Part 3 is a test of how well houseguests have been paying attention to details about the members of the jury.
Turner was the winner of Part 1 after holding on the longest to a giant mechanical hot dog weiner for 46 minutes.
Monte edged out Taylor in Part 2 by 23 seconds in a competition where they had to zip line back and forth and place the names of the HOH and veto competitions this season in order on two giant billboards. Taylor was frustrated that whether or not she made the final two was out of her hands.
“Monte wins by a handful of seconds, and I am absolutely devastated,” Taylor said in the pre-recorded portion of Sunday’s episode before Part 3 took place live. “I immediately feel like I’ve let all of the women of ‘Big Brother’ down. That means that I won’t even have a shot at deciding if I get to put myself in a final two seat. The only way I get there is if I get carried at the end.”
Monte won the final leg of the HOH competition, getting seven of eight questions right about the jury members, while Turner only got five.
“Both Turner and Taylor think that I’m taking them to final two,” Monte said in the diary room before he won Part 3. “If I take home that last part of the HOH competition, then I’m going to have to make that choice, and I’m not going to lie man it’s going to be tough. Turner and I have been working together a lot longer than Taylor and I have, and he’s always been loyal to me. But I think the jury is really going to respect the moves that Turner has made in this game, so I think that I have a better shot of winning that $750k sitting next to Taylor.”
One of the fascinating parts about ‘Big Brother’ is that houseguests can have a different perspective than the jury has, and it was Taylor’s charm, not Turner’s moves, that Monte needed to be wary of.
Sunday’s ending was likely a satisfying one for viewers who uncomfortably watched Taylor being mistreated, but pushed on while eating her beloved Lays potato chips.
Imagine how many Lays $800,000 can buy.
