Big Brother Canada 2 Preview!

I'm Brooks MacLachlan, someone who for some reason thinks his obsession with Big Brother in recent years makes him qualified enough to judge those who are actually playing the game. I analyze everything I can: the episodes, interviews with eliminated players, side show, and occasionally the live feeds to come up with the motivations behind what each player has done. I decide what should have happened, because I obviously know best, and I predict what should and what will happen in each player’s future in the game. And I’ll probably get it right every time because that’s just how I am.

Reading through the recently released cast list for Big Brother Canada's second season, I was not very optimistic. The whole time I was like "Okay, when are we going to get to the people who actually have a chance to win?" ... And I'm still wondering that. With any luck, this mysterious final Houseguest will be some sort of superfan, although that seems unlikely.

I'm really excited to do this preview though, because I think I'm going to get really mean! All I have to go off are each houseguest's written bios, which is probably part of the reason that none of them seem great. But it makes it more fun for doing a preview blog, because I get to assume that their entire being is portrayed in their answers to a few short questions, and completely pick them apart because of it!

However, I don't like being extremely negative, so I'm going to try to come up with one positive thing to say about each contestant! (Key word: try. I can't make any promises)

Plus, I'll make a winner prediction at the end! Which will be really easy, because there are so few of them that show any potential whatsoever! (I reserve the right to change this prediction after finding out who the final houseguest is, as there's a good chance I'll find that person better than all of the rest)

Okey dokey, here we go!

Adel Elseri

First things first: Get ready for a whole bunch of first names you've never heard before. There are a lot of them in this cast.

First problem with Adel is his answer when asked who he'd rather take to the final 2: Gary or Peter? He says Peter because he knows he can beat him in any challenge... Umm, he knows that there aren't any challenges in the final 2, right? That might put a wrench in his plans.

He says that what he'll miss most while in the house is the girl he wants to marry. I'm a little confused by the wording. He doesn't say fiance or girlfriend, which could just be a coincidence but kinda makes me think this is just some random girl he's creeping on.

He goes on to say that he's scared of mental challenges because he CAN'T SPELL OR READ. I really hope that's an exaggeration. Especially since his occupation is an inventor. You'd think that would require a little bit of intelligence.

He also says he's aggressive, which is great if that mean's he's going to put his all into the game, and not give up, but very bad if it means he's going to go out Willie Hantz style.

The positive: He does seem to have a good personality/sense of humour, so he may be a good social player as long as that agressiveness isn't too prominent. He'll also be a force to be reckoned with in physical challenges (although, let's face it, it's rare for a big brother challenge to get very physical).

Andrew Gordon

Giant red flag right off the bat is that Andrew has only watched one season of Big Brother before (Canada's first season). While he could still do very well, he may not have the game knowledge to really ever be in control of his fate.

And... there's actually nothing genuinely bad about the rest of his bio. It's not amazing, but it's not bad.

The positive: He's very confident, which is a plus as long as it doesn't get too out of hand. He has a good plan of how to approach the game strategy wise: Focus on being likeable at first, and worry about making big moves and power plays later.

Oh, wait. He says he's gonna miss beer. That's not good for his likeability, in my opinion. It's hard to get a gauge of his personality from his bio, but going off things like that, he may have a hard time making friends with anyone other than the other jerks. But we'll see, maybe he's not so bad.

                                                              

Anick Gervais

Anick's occupation is a... Reiki master? Umm... I'm fairly sure she just made that up. (More likely, I just don't have a lot of common knowledge, but whatever)

She would take Peter to the finals over Gary, because she could beat him athletically and mentally... maybe these people answered this question taking into consideration the weeks leading up to the final 2. In any case, Peter is the wrong answer. Although if she's as smart as she seems to think she is, she maybe could pull it off.

Okay, reading through this again, these people may not be as bad as I initially thought. A lot of positives here:

Dr.Will is her idol. That's a great choice, and suggests that she's seen her fair share of big brother.

She says she's not normal; anyone who can admit they're weird is amazing!

And she's got the right idea about strategy: it depends on the variables in the house. You can't have a solid strategy before you even know who you're playing with, so this is a good answer. She goes on to say she's going to... let destiny decide her fate, meditate and let the universe tell her what to do?

I take back what I said before. This is bad. Very bad.

Mean people get on her nerves... based on this cast she may not be very happy in the house.

On the other hand, she gets on the nerves of negative people, and this cast is super confident and positive so at least she won't be getting on their nerves.

She ends by describing herself as a butterfly ready to break out of her cocoon. How beautiful.

                                                                  

Arlie Shaban

Arlie's occupation is... big brother houseguest? Okay.

Besides that, his bio is actually pretty good. He comes off a little arrogant, but hopefully that won't show in his actual encounters. Arlie is one of the two people here who I actually think has a good shot at this.

He's a superfan, and he chose Dr. Will and Dan Gheesling as his idols. He's ready to lie and actually play the game, and he's extremely confident about his chances in the competitions (at least the ones he doesn't throw).

Really the only thing that could hold him back is if this overconfidence and arrogance shows to the other houseguests, or if he plays too hard and gets caught in his lies. Overall though, things are looking up for Arlie. Cool name, too.

                                                               

Heather Decksheimer

Heather idolizes Rachel Reilly. I've never seen Rachel play, unfortunately, but from what I've heard her game was all physical: She was great at the competitions. That tells me that Heather will be predominantly focused on the competition side of the game rather than the strategy.

She would take Gary to the final 2 because he was more fun and loyal than Peter... again, am I the only one who took this question as "you're at the final three with Gary and Peter, and you've won final HoH. Who do you take to the final 2?"? Because at that point it shouldn't matter how fun or loyal someone is.

She fears challenges with multiplying and dividing, which sounds pathetic to me but I guess would be pretty reasonable to the general public.

The positives: She claims that she will play dumb, but is actually very smart, which, if true, is great. She also says she doesn't really feel emotions, which would be a useful trait in a game where it's usually best to play with your head rather than your heart. Plus she seems to have seen at least a few seasons of big brother.

                                                                

Ika Wong

One of Ika's three words to describe herself is "extra". Have you ever heard someone say "I'm extra!" before? What does that even mean!?

SHE ACTUALLY ANSWERS THE PETER GARY QUESTION FROM A STRATEGIC POINT OF VIEW!!! That's so exciting. She even picked Gary, which is the right answer!

She has two strategies going into the house, and she'll decide which one to use once she's there. That flexibility is good, but one of her strategies sucks (to only ever talk game with one or two people), so let's hope she goes with the other one.

She finds it hard to keep her feelings to herself; If she doesn't like someone, they're going to know it. If she can't keep that in control, she could be in big trouble.

Besides that, there are a lot of good things in her bio. She idolizes Dr. Will and Rachel, and references Danielle Reyes at one point, which tells me she's watched a lot of big brother.

                                                                

Jon Pardy

He only started watching big brother halfway BBUS season 14, so he hasn't seen a ton of the show.

He says that he'd take Gary to the final 2 because both Gary and Peter would be tough to beat but Gary would be more fun to have around. This is just code for "I don't wanna put much thought into the strategic aspect of this, so I'm not going to." 

He says he'll miss his dog the most. Now, I love dogs as much as any other, but this seems a little much. You're really going to miss your dog more than your family and friends? This tells me that Jon doesn't actually have any solid relationships in life. Thus, I don't expect him to be making many friends in the house.

The positive: He seems interested in the manipulation side of the game. If he can do that effectively, he could be a player to watch.

                                                                   

Kenny Brain

First of all, his last name is Brain. That's pretty great.

He says he'd take Peter to the end over Gary because Peter's game wasn't as good, which makes zero sense, and tells me that he really doesn't know what the game's all about.

The thing he'll miss most is... his dog!? Again!? He says that this will be the longest they've ever been apart, and will hopefully be the longest they're apart for the rest of Kenny's life.  ...  ... Umm, Kenny? That's not going to happen. Hate to break it to you, but dogs actually DON'T have as long a life span as humans... I know, hard to believe... I'll just move on while you digest that little tidbit.

Tim Horton's commercials make him cry... that's just a little ridiculous.

His pet peeve is messy people. Jon Pardy described himself as "untidy". I see a conflict between the two.

The positive: He claims he's smart, his idol is Britney Haynes (BB12) which tells me he's watched more than one season of big brother, and his initial strategy of starting slow, making friends, and throwing challenges is a good one.

                                                             

Kyle Shore

One of Kyle's occupations is "picking up the girls downtown" and one of his three words to describe himself in "jacked." I already hate this guy.

This is his answer for who he'd take to the final 2, Peter or Gary: "Gary for sure! He was dead honest and played himself the whole time. Peter I'd probably eat him for breakfast. I'm always hungry though. I'm 225 lb."   ... I don't think I need to comment further on that.

He doesn't like people who lie. He's also about to start playing a game where you'll need to lie to win. *Sigh*

The positive: He at least admits that he's stupid. He says "people will mistake my stupidity for strategy" which really isn't a good thing because if people think he's playing strategically, they'll target him even more. Here's hoping they do.

                                                                  

Neda Kalantar

Neda is the second person who I think has a good shot to win it all. She's a big brother superfan; She watches BBUS, BBAU, BBUK, and BBCAN. She says Britney is her idol but admits that she wasn't a great player. She asnswers the Peter/Gary question perfectly (she chooses Gary, for strategic reasons, and then changes to Peter so Gary won't hate her. But she got the message through... her real answer was the first one. It's actually pretty great what she did: made a strategic decision, and then found a way to soften the blow for the person she was essentially "voting against")

She will be throwing competitons and making as many personal connections with others as possible, which are both good things.

Like Arlie's arrogance, Neda has one thing that could be her Achilles heel: She's blunt. Hopefully she can restrain herself from always telling others when they do something that bothers her. If so, she can definitely win the game.

                                                            

Paul Jackson

Paul is a lot older than most of the other contestants, which will be a big obstacle to overcome in his social game.

Oh my. I just discovered that there ARE "meet the contestant" videos. Oh well. Too late to factor those in now.

Anyways, Paul decides that Gary was more well-liked than Peter, and therefore he should take Peter to the final 2. He is wrong.

He's the only person so far I think who said he was more worried about the brawn challenges than the brain ones. That's refreshing. 

His strategy is to build a relationship with the audience. This is actually a great point considering how much influence Canada had on the game last year.

His idols are Chilltown... nothing else really special about his bio. Overall he'll probably do well but I see the age gap getting between him and the final 2. 

                                                             

Rachelle Diamond

Rachelle's idol is Rachel, obviously. Her reason is because she was good at the competitions, which again makes me feel like Rachelle will not be focused on the strategic side of things.

She really seems to love Peter Brown, which is nice. But her decision to pick him over Gary had nothing to do with strategy, which is not nice.

She also says she'll have a tougher time with Brawn than Brain, which makes sense. She doesn't exactly look like a physical powerhouse.

She says she'll need to tone herself down in the house. She can be really loud and confrontational. She then says that she and her friends think she would be perfect for the show, so either she's actually not loud and confrontational, or she and her friends don't understand the show. I'd bet on the latter.

The positive: She could be entertaining? Good TV? I think she won't be a big factor game-wise.

                                                               

Sabrina Abbate

Like most of the others, Sabrina makes her Peter/Gary decision based on who she likes better, not who would be easier to beat.

And once again, the thing she'll miss most are her dogs. Wow. Okay. I will admit that "dogs" is a better answer than "beer". Anyways, moving on...

She says that she's the devil when she's hungry, so don't put her on slop. The chances that she's never on slop are pretty slim. So at some point she's going to turn into the devil, which will be great for us viewers but very un-great for her game.

Finally, she says she's obsessed with the show. Awesome. She says she can see every twist coming. Impressive. She says she predicts who the winner will be after one episode, and 90% of the time she's right... which pretty much means she's not actually obsessed and she can't see the twists coming because this is all clearly exaggerated.

If by some miracle she isn't exaggerating, then that is seriously impressive.

The positive: She seems to have a really fun personality and could have a great social game.

                                                                      

Sarah Miller

Sarah wrongly thinks Peter would be easier to beat than Gary. I'm tired of that.

She refers to her husband and daughter as her "most prized possessions" which is just a little unnerving.

She's fairly confident for the challenges (as is almost everyone. With only a couple exceptions, people are either planning on throwing competitions or will without a doubt win every single one!)

She doesn't like mean people and bullies, so maybe her and Anick will bond over how much they hate all the guys in the house.

The positive: She has the good initial strategy of simply being likeable and waiting until she's in the house to flesh out a more solid strategy

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for! Who will I pick to win the game? Like you've probably guessed, it's between Arlie and Neda. Both are superfans who will know how to play the game, but both have a fatal flaw: Arlie's arrogance and Neda's bluntness. My decision is based on who I think will be able to overcome their flaw, and who will be seen as less of a target. 

Without further ado, my prediction to win Big Brother Canada 2 is...

Neda Kalantar!

Congratulations Neda. You should be honoured.

And once again, the final houseguest may take that spot depending on who he/she is.

One last prediction before I go. I see a brolliance forming in the early stages of the game, as so often happens on Big Brother. I think Kyle, Jon, Andrew, and Adel will form an alliance early on, maybe win the first couple HoHs, and then fall apart miserably.

I plan on posting one BBCAN blog per week, based on everything that has happened up to the latest eviction, so there's no need to worry about live feed spoilers (assuming I ever watch the live feeds). Thanks for reading!