It’s finally here, the end of Big Brother 14. The season that begin with four all-star coaches is now down to the final three and tonight one of them will win half a million dollars (or, in the case of one man, ANOTHER half million dollars).

There’s Ian Terry, who could become the youngest winner ever at 21.5 years old (today is his half-birthday), nurse Danielle Murphree and Big Brother 10 winner Dan Gheesling. Who will win? How will the jury decide? Who did America choose as its favorite player? And how many times will Julie Chen say “But first”? I’ll be here for the next 90 minutes to find out.

Final HoH Competition, Part 1

Our first “But first” sends us to the endurance HoH battle on the hooks. Before evicting Shane, Dan made Ian promise to drop from the first part of the HoH competition. Since Ian assumed he was getting evicted, Ian agreed to do it. And later, after evicting Shane, Dan told Danielle about the deal in hopes that she would throw it too. I used to find this charming, but the fact that these people STILL do everything Dan tells them is just embarrassing.

Ian drops after just 17 minutes, throwing the competition like he promised. Then Dan makes Danielle believe that he can’t beat Ian in part 2 to convince her to throw her game. Danielle is furious at Dan’s antics, but she buys his B.S. and does exactly what he tells her to do, as she always has. Danielle falls and Dan wins part 1 after convincing his two opponents to throw it. These morons should be ashamed of themselves and they deserve to lose.

I can’t decide if Dan is really that good, or if the others are just that bad. I think it’s a little of both. But one thing is clear: Dan will NEVER be able to play this game again. He would get evicted right away.

Final HoH Competition, Part 2

Beforehand, Dan plots a huge move. If Ian wins, he’s going to be happy and he wants Danielle to act furious and threaten Ian that if Ian doesn’t take her, she’s going to taint the jury and make sure Ian loses. This is all so that Dan can convince Ian to throw the final part so he can win it and take Danielle to the end.

The second part of the competition forces the two HGs to wipe off license plates on a skyscraper and find all the evicted HGs, then put them in order.

Danielle finished in 7 minutes and 31 seconds.

Ian finished in 6 minutes and 4 seconds.

Ian wins part 2.

Now Dan and Danielle Dinner Theater begins. Dan celebrates with Ian and Danielle calls them out on it. Ian refuses to play along with this B.S. and just tells them to stop it. Danielle starts yelling and it backfires because Ian doesn’t care about this nonsense at all. Dan then asks Ian to consider throwing the final part. Ian promises that he won’t, but Dan still thinks he can get him to do it.

The Jury’s Final Deliberation

Shane arrives and tells them all that he got blindsided by Dan. He explains what happened and Jenn suspects that Danielle was in on the plan with Dan. She’s giving that girl way too much credit.

Joe thinks Ian has done a great job, made big moves, tough decisions, turned on his coach and formed the Quack Pack. Frank is angry that Ian got him out and Jenn HATES that Ian was a rat and snitched on Boogie and Frank. Wow, Jenn is bitter.

Britney thinks Danielle had an easy road. Ashley thinks her only good move was playing Dan’s game and letting him influence all of her moves. Jenn tries to defend her. I hate to call her a man-hating lesbian, but if she’s willing to applaud Danielle, she might be.

When it comes to Dan, Jenn loves that he was a brutal assassin and Britney thinks Dan ran the game. Joe has problems with Dan’s ethics and Frank thinks Dan’s lies are worse because he swore on the Bible. Joe says the only way he might vote for Dan is if he’s against Judas.

I respect a lot of the jury, but NOT Jenn. She seems to think Dan was GREAT for lying and manipulating and getting blood on his hands, but she HATES Ian for basically doing the same thing. The fact that she thinks lying is OK but snitching is a mortal sin is pretty stupid. She’s more angry about Ian betraying Frank and Boogie than Frank and Boogie are.

Final HoH Competition, Part 3

Dan and Ian answer questions where they must predict what the six jury members said in exit interviews.

Question 1: They both get it right.
Question 2: They both get it right.
Question 3: Ian gets it right.
Question 4: Ian gets it right.
Question 5: Ian gets it right.

IAN WINS THE FINAL HOH!

Dan seems to have a smirk on his face as Julie Chen announced Ian’s win. He totally threw that competition to avoid getting Danielle’s blood on his hands, because somehow these men are both stupid enough to think Danielle is the biggest threat when, in reality, she wouldn’t win against either of them.

The Final Eviction

Ian is forced to make his choice. He has a final 2 deal Dan and he resents Danielle’s threats against him. On the other hand, evicting Dan at this point would be an EPIC, game-winning move. Imagine how happy the jury would be, seeing Dan get blindsided. The irony alone would be priceless.

Ian votes to evict…DANIELLE

DANIELLE IS EVICTED!

He says it’s because he’s honoring his commitment to Dan. It’s also honoring his commitment to let Dan win this game, because that was a move almost as bad as Danielle using the Power of Veto on Dan last week. After she leaves, Dan tells Ian he tried to win the final HoH competition. I assume that’s a lie.

Julie Chen asks why Danielle put all of her eggs in Dan’s basket. She doesn’t regret it at all because she’s still so devoted to Dan. She says Ian thought Danielle could beat him. She also claims that it was a cowardly move for him to make, which is just dumb. If Ian genuinely thought going with Dan was best for his game, it’s NOT cowardly. Danielle isn’t sure if Dan threw the last competition to ensure her jury vote. At least she seems to be catching on, but it probably won’t matter. She’ll still vote for Dan to win.

The Final Jury Interrogation

Now it’s time for Dan to seal his victory. Seriously, giving that man the chance to speak is just unfair to Ian. When the jury is introduced, Frank seems to get the loudest applause. Britney says she hopes Danielle got evicted because Ian and Dan are more deserving. I love Britney, and she celebrates as Danielle walks out.

Ashley’s Question: She says “Hi” to Ian. She asks about if he made his own decisions within the Quack Pack. Ian says he made his own decisions. Dan tries to disagree, but Julie cuts him off because it’s not his question.

Frank’s Question: He asks about Dan swearing on the Bible and his wife. Dan says he’d take it back but he doesn’t regret doing it.

Jenn’s Question: She hates snitches and asks Ian about it. Ian just says he used whatever info he could to his advantage.

Joe’s Question: Joe asks about what blood Dan has since he only won a single HoH. Dan admits to lying to people to stab them in the back.

Britney’s Question: Why does Ian deserve to win over Dan? Ian repeats about taking destiny into his own hands by turning on his alliance. Meanwhile, Dan had Danielle and stuck with her.

Shane’s Question: He calls Dan Satan and asks why Dan deserves to win over Ian. Dan claims Britney had Ian by the leash and played him. Ian mutters “Bull” under his breath. Wow, this is wonderfully contentious.

Danielle’s Question: She asks if Ian knew that Dan had a final 2 with her. Ian then says that he didn’t and that Dan gave Ian his grandfather’s cross as proof that Dan would’ve taken him. Danielle is shocked by this. Dan pipes in to add that he would’ve taken Danielle, regardless of the cross. Ian is shocked that Dan just said that.

Wow, Ian is pissed at Dan and Dan is still playing UGLY. And I really don’t know what way it will go, but I don’t think Dan had the slam dunk win he was hoping for. Ian definitely held his ground. Now it’s time for final speeches from the final 2.

Ian’s Final Speech: Ian says he’s disgusted by what he just learned about Dan and now he’s going to play ugly. He says he won more competitions than Dan. He also says Dan had three lives and lost two right away, but Ian only had one. He says Dan backstabbed everyone and mentions Dan giving him his grandfather’s cross. He once again repeats controlling his own destiny. Wow, that was good.

Dan’s Final Speech: He sucks up to Frank and Shane as strong physical threats and Jenn and Joe as strong social gamers. He also sucks up to Ashley as a wildcard and Britney as a competitor. He tries to be humble, talking about how he had to play a ruthless game. He claims Ian said evicting Joe was a waste, and Ian says he never said that. This is shameless sucking up. He sounds panicked, like he knows he was starting to lose them.

Now it’s time for the jury to vote.

Ashley talks about putting the winner on her dream board.
Britney says they both played a good game and “Quack, quack.”
Frank votes for who made the best decisions in the game.
Joe just thanks both of them for a great summer.
Jenn says it was a pleasure. Dan sucks up to her one last time and Ian calls him out on it.
Shane wants to say so many things to Dan and he basically admits to voting for Ian.
Danielle is trying to keep her word.

I’m pretty sure Ian just won in a 5-2 vote, with Jenn and Danielle as Dan’s only votes. But I’m not sure. There’s even a chance Jenn switched because Dan’s final speech was just scattered, ugly, contentious and misguided. But I feel confident that Ashley, Frank, Shane and Britney DEFINITELY voted for Ian. So much for Danielle’s threats if that’s the case.

Non-Jury Reunion

Kara, Jodi, Wil, JoJo, Janelle and Boogie are back! JODI!!!!!! Ian and Dan both give Jodi a shout-out.

Janelle was surprised by all of Danielle’s lies and Dan’s masterful gameplay by fooling all of these people. She claims it’s an “absolute travesty” if Dan doesn’t win.

Julie asks Boogie if Dan is one of the best of all-time, but instead Boogie talks about how amazing Ian’s journey was.

Shane asks Danielle if she knew about his eviction. Danielle swears that she didn’t know and Dan seconds that. Shane wants to understand why Dan did it and Dan simply says he just left his morals at the door.

Wil does an awesome “Eagle-Eye Joe” impression and tells all the bitter HGs to blame themselves for falling for the lies.

Finally, as Julie talks about America’s Favorite, Dan and Ian both say Jodi should win. Big Brother should absolutely bring Jodi back next season. Maybe they can bring back four players who were evicted first: Jodi from season 14, Keith from season 13, Annie from season 12 and Brian from season 10. That would be a cool twist on the “new and returning players” formula.

The Results

Let’s see if Dan wins for a second time or if season 14 is an “absolute travesty,” as Janelle says.

Danielle voted for…DAN
Shane voted for…IAN
Jenn voted for…IAN
Joe voted for…IAN
Frank voted for…IAN
Britney voted for…IAN
Ashley voted for…IAN

IAN TERRY IS THE WINNER OF BIG BROTHER 14!

Congratulations! Ian races out like a mad man and Dan looks depressed. Dan’s ruthlessness was too much, and Ian played such a solid game that he made a viable alternative to Dan’s evil ways. And double congrats to Ian who is now the youngest winner ever, beating season 1’s Eddie by a little over a month.

I loved Dan’s game, but I think he played it a little too aggressively. He thinks he had to play as ruthlessly as he did, but I suspect he could’ve made it to the end without it. I feel pretty bad for the guy because you can tell from Dan’s face that he really, really, REALLY wanted to win. He’s a good enough player to be disappointed in second place.

America’s Favorite is…FRANK EUDY!

Wow, what? America liked Frank Eudy? Maybe there were just so many options that he snuck in after the Quack Pack split the vote.

Oh well, that’s it for Big Brother 14. It was a pretty great season. Sure, Dan played a great game, but you have to give credit to Ian. He really came alive in that final round of questions and his final speech was earnest and off-the-cuff, unlike Dan’s which was obviously very calculated and full of shameless sucking up.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

John Kubicek

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire DiariesSupernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.