Big dramatic opening with lots of cool shots and overlaid dialogue and then we go into a season long "previously on Big Brother Canada" review. We get a lot of focus on the brothers, . . . and then the introduction of the International WildCards, Nikki and Tim with his intention of mentoring rather than winning, . . . and then we switch over to see Kelsey who was evicted once before but managed to work her way back in for another chance. There's also the news that Ramsey received about his father which forced him to self-evict with the full support of his new friends, . . . and then one by one the house guests bid farewell. All that in just ten minutes.
We join Arisa inside the High Roller room as she announces its time for the final HoH, and then we find the final 3(+1) stranded on an ice flow in a blizzard. They need to jump into frozen water to retrieve chunks of ice to build a stairway and then climb to the top to set off their flare, and that's just for part one. Phil gets to play in this one while Nick sits it out and he's probably thankful for that because that water is cold.
Everyone is in the water to gather their large chunks of ice and it's apparently harder than it looks. While Kelsey struggles to find her first piece, Phil and Tim are already on to their second level. Phil takes the lead as gets to the top and starts filling his tube to get his flare. Tim thinks that Kelsey is throwing it because she hasn't even laid down one piece, but she swears she isn't. Phil's flare s finally visible but Tim is right on his tail. Phil sets off his flare and the Pax Brothers are guaranteed a spot in the final competition for HoH.
Round Two is going to be just Tim versus Kelsey and I hope she does a lot better in that one than she did in this one. Between competitions they all warm up back in the house where Tim is still mentoring Kelsey and Nick. Nick points out that even though they've taken different paths to get to this point in their lives, both he and Tim have a similar compass to get them through life. Interesting.
Time for Round Two and we find Kelsey on a giant poker table where she needs to uncover her task on giant poker chips and then move a bunch of giant dice in the fastest time. Kelsey does well with memory challenges, so this may be her turn to shine. On her last question though she starts to mess up by getting the order wrong between herself and Loveita and starts moving everyone but. It took awhile but she finally got it with a time of 50:03. Not a great time, and she goes off to cry it out on her own.
Tim's turn to run the same challenge and Tim admits he never bothered to study who did what in the house so he's not sure how well he's going to do. However, he starts seeing everything that happened in the house like screenshots in his head and he's off and running. Well, he was, then he ran into a problem on the same question and he decided there's no way he'll ever get this one. Tim decides to forfeit and goes back inside to tell the others, but nobody seems to be there. Kelsey heard him but this isn't how she wanted to win.
Day 76 and Tim knows that the only way he can win the game is if he convinces someone to take him, so he starts with the brothers. He makes his pitch and tells them there's no way they'll win against Kelsey, they'll just be throwing away $40,000 each if she's at the end beside them. Maybe, but the brothers have stuck by that alliance for some time and they'd definitely lose against Tim.
Back on stage Arisa welcomes the first five evicted house guests of the season. She asks Paige what her favorite moment was this season and Paige goes for the puppies. Sharry can't believe the three finalists are all Wild Cards who should have been out weeks ago. Dallas admits that Tim has played awesomely this entire season and hopes he wins it while Loveita, on the other hand, is hoping that Kelsey wins.
It's time for the final stage of the HoH Competition. Back in the house everyone is in their finest as Arisa chats with them and asks Kelsey how she made it this far and she admits she made good alliances, while Tim says he's been true to himself, and the brothers pretty much did the same. They all head to the backyard where it's Phil versus Kelsey on what looks like a Tron stage.
It's a Q& A about the jury members and I'm not going to bothering repeating the questions but both are correct on the first one, then both correct on the second, then Kelsey takes the lead. Question four goes to Kelsey as well and you can see Phil is out of it, but they both get the fifth question. The sixth question goes to Kelsey and that makes her the final HoH of the season and guarantees her a spot in the final two. Now all she has to do is choose wisely who she wants to sit beside when the game flips to the jury.
Let's be honest, if she chooses to take Tim, there's a good chance she'll lose, but if she takes the brothers she at least has a fighting chance. She can talk better than Phil and she has played better overall than Nick and Phil, especially Phil, but against Tim . . . He's made friends with everybody inside the house and even though he's already won in Australia I wouldn't take him to the final two.
It's all up to Kelsey as she decides who to evict and who to go up against in the end. She gives a good speech but then makes the right choice and edicts Tim, who then races out of the house to meet Arisa. The crowd goes wild outside the house as Tim runs out and hugs Arisa. Tim admits that even though he could win he really came for the adventure so he's okay with it. There was that moment in the tub of popcorn where he was thinking he should win but then he decided against it . . . right around the time Kelsey chose to evict him. So Tim goes off to join the jury.
The jury had some quiet time on stage the day before the crowd arrives and while they're sitting around out comes Jon Pardy, who won Season Two. He mentions the empty jury seat and out comes Cassandra who gives a quick breakdown. The jury is all upset with Tim but Cassandra admits he did stay loyal to her and Joel. Jon asks the usual questions about how the others played and everyone takes their shots, but so far they're still waiting for their final juror.
After that little bit of time travel, Arisa welcomes the jury members to the live stage where they all find the last member as Tim joins them on stage. He goes for another hug with Arisa before sitting next to Cassandra. Now the jury gets to ask their questions and they open with Mitch who asks if her relationships with Raul and Jared was real or manipulative, and she says that those relationships were real.
Raul asks Kelsey if having him and Jared was her best strategy and she says that they were her stabilizers even though she had formed other relationships. Maddy asks the brothers to explain how their duality benefitted their game and Nick says it was hard keeping two stories straight throughout the house. Jared tells Kelsey she looks great and then asks how her strategy changed after he and Raul left and she says that aligning with the brothers was her best option.
Nikki asks the brothers how they feel about evicting her on her birthday, and Phil apologizes profusely. Joel asks Kelsey about her return and why she should win over Nick and Phil who have never been evicted and she says she played hard and won the pivotal competitions. Cassandra asks the brothers, really Phil, what his best lie in the game was and Phil asks if you really have to lie to win and he doesn't think he ever lied. We close with Tim who asks the brothers what Kelsey has done better and Phil says Kelsey has a huge heart and made real relationships and . . . Tim is having too much fun interjecting comments but eventually he gets his answer.
After the break, Canada gets their chair in the jury and then Arisa brings out Ramsey as an honorary jury member. Ramsey let's everyone know that his dad is out of the hospital and doing much better now and you can see the relief on his face. It was a hard call for him to self-evict but it was the right one.
Time for Kelsey to plead her case to the jury and she admits she came in blind and wanted to play with kindness and honesty and it would be nice if Cassandra would stop rolling her eyes and distracting her. Nick and Phil mention great moments and great possibilities as they plead to make Big Brother history by crowning a duo, and because there's two of them they seem to get more time, but eventually Arisa cuts them off.
Speaking of time, it's time for the jury to make their vote using a poker chip with the name of whom they want to win. Mitch makes his vote and just randomly picks a chip. Raul makes his choice, then Maddy who really doesn't want either to win but probably chose Kelsey. Jared votes for Kelsey (I'm sure), then Nikki goes up to vote with a little speech about the winner being in jury. Joel votes based on luck, then Cassandra goes up and makes her choice. Tim picks who wants it the most, then Canada's jury vote is delivered by Ramsey. Now we get to tally the votes.
While production tallies those votes we get some more video footage of some of the craziness involving the jury members and the final two and the inset showing their responses is actually more fun to watch. There were a lot of tears and a lot of hugs this season, and there's likely to be a bit more before the night is over.
Arisa takes some time to chat with the jurors and everyone admits they've made some great bonds now that they're out of the house. Arisa then takes us back to the beginning to introduce the two other International Wild Cards who are in the audience even though they were never in the house and then we get a reminder of Tim and Nikki entering the house and the shenanigans that followed.
Nikki is still way too weird especially in the selected footage, but she was very grateful to have been voted into the house. Tim is just hoping that nobody on the jury hates him because he wants to make sure he has a couch to crash on next time he comes to Canada. When he says that Cassandra will definitely have him over I'm not sure whether she was agreeing or not.
They really drag out this finale with more repeat footage, this time of all the dynamic duos in the house . . . especially Jared and Kelsey. Let's not forget Cassandra and Tim, or Maddy and Ramsey, or of course Nick and Phil. Arisa asks Kelsey about her bond with Jared and she admits she couldn't have made it without him. Then Arisa says she's expecting wedding bells for Tim and Cassandra but Tim says, "nope, no bells." No kidding, right. If it weren't for all the repetitive footage this would have been a ninety minute episode, maybe even less.
The results are in and it's time to crown a winner for Big Brother Canada Season Four. They only need five votes to win and Arisa pulls the first chip. Canada voted for Nick and Phil. Mitch voted for Nick and Phil. Raul voted for Kelsey, Maddy voted for Nick and Phil, Jared voted for Kelsey, Nikki voted for Nick and Phil, Joel voted for Nick and Phil, and that's all they needed. Nick and Phil have won Big Brother Canada Season Four and $100,000.
The three of them race out of the house to join everyone on stage and the brothers can't believe it. Neither can I. Phil is still processing and can barely talk. There are hugs and congratulations all around as Arisa bids farewell to another great season. Kelsey doesn't walk away empty handed though, as the runner up she gets $20,000 which is nothing to sneeze at.
Overall it's been a really good season with some really interesting house guests. There were a few that I would have liked to see stay longer in the house, and a few others that overstayed their welcome right from the start, but it was a good cast and I'm sure we were all entertained. Personally I'm surprised that the brothers won because Kelsey played a better game but apparently being popular is the key here . . . which is probably why I can't wait for season four of The Amazing Race Canada where teams win not because of their popularity but because they ran the best they could.
I'll be back soon with my review of the Amazing Race finale and then the Survivor finale before taking a short break. I know that the US version of Big Brother is almost upon us but I'm not sure that I'll review it quite as thoroughly, if at all. Maybe, but I'll decide that based on those who actually think I should continue saying they've enjoyed my reviews this season. I will however be here for The Amazing Race Canada as soon as it airs, probably sooner. Farewell house guests.