Big Brother 9 began the season with a faulty premise, and I'm not sure it ever recovered.  Part of the base attraction of Big Brother is the individual-within-a-group dynamic, as each player only looks out for themselves while attempting to make it seem like they're not.  With the couples twist at the beginning of Big Brother 9, the inherent selfishness of Big Brother was diffused; instead of fending for only themselves, players had to worry about and deal with a total stranger.  How was this a) fair, or b) better than the usual royal rumble of Big Brother?  The experiment was understandable – CBS wanted to change things up, bring some excitement to the first ever winter edition of Big Brother.  How they went about this was, unfortunately, completely misguided. 

We saw it a number of times early in the season: stronger players were saddled with the burden of bringing weaker players along.  Matt had Natalie.  Alex had Amanda.  Sharon had Jacob.  The artificial partnerships helped some people, but not in the ways you might think – Adam and Sheila became regarded as a weak team and were allowed to float on without notice, while better players were evicted on account of their crappy partners (for example, Alex).  All you have to do is answer this question: if you had the chance to do it over, would you rather see the house guests of Big Brother 9 begin as couples or individuals? 

Big Brother 10, let's hope, moves away from any sort of partnering system.  You have to believe that Allison Grodner is smart enough to realize that the couples twist was a minor flop, and that there's no need to try it again.  Furthermore, I've never been all that enthralled with having house guests enter the house with previous relationships.  The twists and turns of Big Brother are not what fans tune in for – it's the interactions of the house guests.  What kind of twists would you like to see next season, if any?  Am I being too harsh on the couples twist of Big Brother 9?  How would you construct a season of Big Brother?


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of CBS)