After 4 long weeks of gameplay, here are the updated rankings of the houseguests as we head into the final week before jury.
Big Brother’s 23rd season premiers tonight on CBS.
Reading the cast bios and interviews has gotten us so excited for this season. They all seem like great players which is something so many fans have been craving for the past few seasons.
But, as we all know, only one person can come out on top. Based on what we know of the twists, what’s worked on past seasons, and the current houseguests: this is how we rank the houseguests.
Sarah Steagall
Sarah doesn’t seem to be giving a lot in her preseason interview. She says her strategy for the season is to float. Playing the middle can be a good strategy and is a hard one to truly pull off. But if you go in expecting to float, I’m going in expecting you to be sort of boring. I am all for nerds, but her intelligence may get the better of her. If she shows her cards too quickly, she could be labeled a target and evicted. But if she plays the dumb floater game, she could easily be taken out for not providing anything (which may be crucial for the team aspect of this season). I’m not expecting a lot of gameplay from Sarah so even if she does make it far, I don’t think she has a shot at winning, which is why I have placed her in last place.
Azah Awasum
I hope that I eat my words on this ranking. She seems like a fun houseguest with an athletic side which is a great combo. However, her strategy of going after showmances and majority alliances may cause her some trouble. It’s a great strategy that would make for great TV, but in the past, those who have tried to oppose the majority alliance have found themselves on the block pretty quickly. And if she isn’t willing to play for a group with the team’s twist we may see her cut early.
Brandon “Frenchie” French
Brandon is an interesting case. He is a farmer and a dad and is a super fan. However, some of his interview answers are strange. When asked what he looks for in an alliance, he answered “diversity”. Diversity is a great thing but when you’re only looking for diversity when forming an alliance it comes across as tokenizing. It seems that Frenchie will be obsessed with image and being a “white savior” to the point he may sink his own game. I would hope not as that is uncomfortable and unfortunate to watch, but based on his interview responses we may be seeing more of a people pleaser than a game player, which can get old in the house really quickly.
Britini D’Angelo
From what I can see from the interviews and bio, she has a lot of energy and a lot of personality. As a viewer, that’s something I love and look for in a player. However, I do worry that she may come on too strong and come out of the gate playing too hard.
Oftentimes we see great players evicted early, like Janelle and Kaysar on season 22, for playing the game harder than the rest of the house early on. Viewers tend to love these players because they create great TV moments early on. But if the rest of the house isn’t matching her energy level and she can’t match their energy level, she may be an early boot.
Travis Long
Travis is a bro and a prankster. He says he’s most excited to play pranks and swap blame to create chaos. It can be fun and great TV, but if it will keep him in the house’s good graces is questionable.
I think a lot of his placement in the house will rely on his ability to win comps. If he can win comps he may be able to secure himself safety. But if he wants to cause chaos in the house, I don’t foresee that being a team player or something his team would be all that thrilled with.
Winning comps, which we don’t even know if he can do yet, is good, but it won’t get him all the way.
Whitney Williams
I debated where to put Whitney because I really do think she’ll make it far in the game, however, I don’t think she’ll make it far by doing anything herself. Her cast bio is full of gushing over showmances and a strategy of making friends. I think she will get lucky and make friends with the people who will end up towards the end, so they’ll drag her along with them, but I don’t foresee her making any big moves for herself.
Every season there are people the game happens to, and Whitney seems like she will be one of the people this season.
Brent Champagne
He could go one of two ways. He could either be a social and comp beast that makes it far and has an impact on the season, or be too cocky and land himself a big target on his back at the start of jury.
Brent is very confident in his answers and his social abilities, which is a great quality to have, but in the past, we have watched the downfall of many guys who have been running the game with their egos.
He also mentions showmances like Tyler and Angela’s. Showmances are cute to watch, but when it comes to winning, they can hurt your game big time.
Xavier Prather
An attorney with a love of exercising seems like the perfect candidate for reality TV. I know I’m excited to watch Xavier play, but being an attorney and making it through law school takes a lot of intelligence. I worry that if he chooses to be honest about his profession, he’ll have a target on his back from the introductions.
He is smart enough to have mentioned it in an interview, saying “Whenever the title of attorney is attached to somebody, it comes with preconceived notions”. However, he says he wants to show that being an attorney is what he does not who he is.
If he can hide his intelligence on the down-low, I think he can be a very interesting and dynamic player. But because it looks like he may be upfront about that, he could be a main target.
Claire Rehfuss
Claire is the newest addition to the cast as she swapped out last minute with Christie after she tested positive for COVID-19. I have high hopes for Claire. She’s a superfan of Big Brother and Survivor and has mentioned female duos and taking out the strong
I do believe her experience working in engineering will have mentally prepared her for this, and it’s clear that from her bio she knows the show and has a lot of strategies already. The only reason she isn’t higher up is that I worry that she will come out of the gate too strong and put up too much of an opposition that she gets taken out before she can really make her moves.
Derek Frazier
Derek says he is good at being a leader and if that is true, he could be a great candidate to be the kingpin of a majority alliance.
The only downside to that is he doesn’t care about bigger alliances and only wants someone he can make a final 2 with. While bigger alliances can be messy, it’s always better to have more than just one person in your corner, especially in prejury.
I do think that his social game and strategy of getting close to everyone will help him out in prejury and the beginning of jury, but if he doesn’t get really close and aligned with people towards the end of jury, he might not make it past the top 6.
Hannah Chadda
Hannah has laid out a lot of strategies in her bio. She hits all the major goals of learning everyone’s strengths and weaknesses to them exploit for her own gain.
From what I can see of her now, I think she won’t have trouble going after people, making big moves, and calling people out. She is also only 21 so she has a lot of youth (maybe spontaneity?) on her side.
I think she will be good entertainment and she may have a lot of opportunities and plans to make big moves.
Derek Xiao
Derek X is a start-up founder. To make it in business you have to be cutthroat and competitive, which are definitely things you will need on Big Brother.
He also talks a lot about using logic in the game so I think if he doesn’t let emotions get the better of him, he may end up being the voice of reason in a lot of decisions which will get him far.
Unfortunately, I don’t know if his social game will be that great. He says in an interview he thinks he’ll be perceived as the class clown, but “not the humble guy”. It could be a toss-up because everyone loves someone who can make them laugh, but no one loves an ego.
Tiffany Mitchell
Tiffany is one of the oldest houseguests in this cast, but I don’t think that will have any issue with her gameplay. I think being older, she will have the maturity to be levelheaded in the high-stress/high-stakes atmosphere of the house.
I also think that houseguests tend to gravitate toward the more mature and levelheaded people in the house as a sense of stability.
I hesitate to use the term “house mom” for her because she doesn’t want to be that for the season, and I don’t think it’s the best term for her. I think oftentimes the mother role on the season is someone who is just passively there and a floater while other people play the game around them, and I don’t think Tiffany will do that.
I do think she can use that to her advantage though as she gets close to people by being the person they turn to for advice.
Kyland Young
Kyland has a list of crazy activities that he’s tried suck as parkour, sky and cliff diving, fire walking, and even flying a plane. I think his adaptability for doing all of those as well as the probable athletic ability those must take will set him up to do well this season.
If he is good at comps I think he’ll fade into the background next to the more in-your-face bro types already cast on this season. They won’t see him as a threat to them and he likely won’t be targeted by them until it’s too late.
He also mentions holding back on competitions until the end or when he needs to and wants to incorporate influence, charm, and strategy into his gameplay.
I think he’ll do really well, my only reasoning for not ranking him higher is he could end up playing too well and getting cut at the Final 3 because of that.
Alyssa Lopez
I have said it for years but I think one of the best things you can do in the game is to win the first HOH. Alliances tend to form around the first HOH and it sets up the houseguest who won for a successful season.
Whether or not she can actually win the first HOH is to be decided. But her mentioning it makes me think she’ll have a good strategy and be able to ride it out pretty far.
I think that she’ll have some luck getting an alliance around her and be able to make it far in the season.
Christian Birkenberger
It’s not that I think Christian is the only one to stand out, nor is he my winner’s pick. But based on who has done well in previous seasons, I feel that Christian has a good chance of getting far.
I feel that his social game will work for him and he’ll get into a lot of alliances. For someone whose strategy is “making new friends for life”, he doesn’t seem like he’s the biggest competition this season, but I have a feeling he’ll be likable enough that he’ll make it to the end, or at least close to it.
To see if the predictions on their gameplay is right, watch the houseguests move into the Big Brother House tonight at 8 p.m EST on CBS.
