For most of this week watching Big Brother 12, I've been falling in love with Matt. His incredibly cockiness, his relentless sneakiness and his willingness to put himself out on a ledge made me respect that he's playing a very dangerous game, like a man riding a unicycle on a tightrope without a net. It helped that the person targeting him, Rachel, became unbearable.

But in the live eviction episode, Matt became my favorite houseguest of the season, and it's almost entirely due to his nominee speech. He's playing the game hard with reckless abandon just like two of my favorites from past seasons, Evil Dr. Will and season 10's Dan. What do those two have in common? They both won.

Here are just five of the many reasons I love Matt.

Mocking an Old Man

His nominee speech started by saying that he wasn't wearing his military regalia. For those of you who didn't understand, he was referencing Jerry, the 75-year-old season 10 contestant who said the same thing to try and earn respect. It was a senior moment that everyone made fun of and has since became a laughingstock among Big Brother fans, so for Matt to actually use it on a live show, effectively mocking an elderly man, was hilarious.

Hating on Natalie

Matt also added in his speech that "Natalie sucks." In case you were wondering, he was referring to last season's runner-up, who is generally regarded as one of the most reviled HGs in Big Brother history. There was no reason for him to throw her under the bus like that, but he did, and I love him even more for it.

His Fake Showmance with Ragan

One of the best parts of following the live feeds is that we get to see storylines unfold that aren't making it to TV. The biggest of these might be Matt and Ragan's connection. The two bonded while they were both Have-Nots the first week and have since became an inseparable pair, often encouraging jokes about how they've started a showmance.

Combining it with his hatred of Natalie, Matt revealed in the live feeds that he was also going to say that Ragan proposed to him with a twist-tie from a bag of bread, something Natalie's boyfriend did when he got to come inside the house.

He Avoided Eviction

Matt plated hard this week, he showed most of his hand (though he kept the Brigade a secret) and last week's HoH didn't trust him at all and repeatedly called him a snake. Yet somehow he stayed. When you can act like a lying villain while nominated and still stay in the house, you're doing something right. Rachel can accuse him of being dishonest and sneaky, but he's playing the game harder than anyone, even if it's not how Rachel thinks the game should be played.

The Chenbot Shout-Out

Matt gave every single online Big Brother fan a nerd-gasm when he called host Julie Chen the Chenbot, a hilariously affectionate nickname given to her by BB fans online due to her often robotic and emotionless speaking voice. Julie laughed a bit, obviously getting the joke, and though it might sound mean, the truth is that Julie Chen is like the fans' geeky little brother. We can make fun of her, but we love her more than anything and we'll defend her at all costs. Calling her the Chenbot was Matt's way of expressing the Big Brother fans' love and support of Julie Chen, and for that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.


Sure, there are plenty of other reasons I love Matt, like the fact that I think he resembles Logan Echolls, but regardless of the reason, Matt stepped up in the past week and became a serious competitor, a major player in season 12 and a definite future All-Star.


(Image courtesy of CBS)