Big Brother Northwestern 8

## Cast/Memory Wall

**Big Brother Northwestern 8**, also known as **Big Brother Northwestern: Timebomb**, is the eighth season of Big Brother Northwestern. Taking place on December 5, 2023, this season's theme was Timebomb, meaning that time would speed up, slow down, and go backwards in the house, being a friend for some and an enemy for others.

The game exploded from the jump, as a House Divide gave safety to half of the house for the first eviction, but it was Bobby Axelrod’s betrayal of the Sweeney Todd majority that set the game into motion. With the Timebomb releasing Backwards Week, an Instant Eviction, and a Fake Double Eviction into the house, allegiances were tested and power players emerged as most of the Sweeny Todd majority fell. Entering the endgame, the Board of Directors and Black Girl Magic alliances took control to reach the Final 3, where returning player Morgan Barber was crowned the winner in a 4-3-2 Jury Vote over new players James Cavanaugh-Gialloreto and Kate Horton.

## Production

Big Brother Northwestern follows the format of the rebooted Big Brother Australia series (seasons 12-14), thereby featuring the following production changes from the American version of Big Brother

* **Nominator Challenges:** At the start of each round, the housemates compete in a "Nominator Challenge". The winner of the competition has the sole power over the nominations. Immediately after the challenge, the winning housemate will be called to the Diary Room by Big Brother to name three nominees, and provide full reasons for their nominations. If the competition is run in pairs, then the winning pair must decide together on nominations.
* **Eviction Vote:** On eviction night, all housemates must vote to evict one of the nominees, with the exception of the nominating housemate (who will only cast a tie-breaker vote, if required), nor do the nominated housemates vote when there are only two nominees (on account of their votes canceling the other's out). The eviction vote is by secret ballot, with housemates casting their votes orally in the Diary Room to Big Brother, and must provide a reason for their vote. The nominee with the most votes is evicted from the house.
* **Final 3:** The finale of the seasons consists of the final 3 houseguests in the game.
* **Jury Vote:** Due to Big Brother Northwestern not having a viewing audience, the winner of the season was determined through a Jury Vote as opposed to a Public Vote.

## Twists

* **House Division:** During Round 1, it was revealed that the first houseguest and last houseguest to arrive to the game (Emily Thompson and Elliott Hansen, respectively) would act as team captains in a schoolyard pick. Following the draft, it was announced that the players picked by the first houseguest to arrive were sent to the "Future," meaning they would all have safety for the first eviction, while those picked by the last houseguest to arrive were stuck in the "Past," being the only houseguests eligible to participate in the nominator challenge, be nominated, or be evicted during Round 1.
* **Bank Your Vote:** Hidden in the Diary Room, the Bank Your Vote advantage allows the houseguest that finds it to not vote at an eviction of their choosing, therefore gaining a Extra Vote to be used at a future eviction of their choosing. The last time the Extra Vote can be used is when there are 6 houseguests left. The advantage was never discovered and quietly expired during the game.
* **Fake Double Eviction:** Following the Round 3 eviction, it was revealed that the round was a Double Eviction, with the two surviving nominees facing a second vote. The housemate that receives the majority of the votes in the second vote was also evicted. However, due to the Timebomb twist, the Double Eviction was fake and the evicted houseguests (Emily Thompson and Aidan Einhorn, respectively), were not removed from the game but instead hidden in a secret room.
* **Instant Eviction:** During Round 5, it was revealed that time had sped up in the Big Brother house, and that it was an Instant Eviction. Immediately following the announcement of the nominated houseguests, the nominees gave their speeches and the voting immediately commenced, with the usual strategy portion being skipped.
* **Backwards Week:** During Round 6, it was announced that time had started to flow in reverse in the Big Brother house. First, the houseguests would participate in house nominations, where three people would be nominated for eviction. Then, the three nominees would participate in a Second Chance Challenge, where the winner would be safe. Following this, all-non nominated houseguests competed in the Nominator Challenge, where the winner received the sole vote to evict either of the two nominees.
* **Second Chance Challenges**: During Rounds 6 and 8, it was revealed that the three nominated houseguests would compete in a second challenge, where the winner would save themselves from eviction.

## Houseguests

  **Winner**

 **Runner-Up**

 **Third Place**

 **Jury: *James***

 **Jury: *James***

 **Jury: *Morgan***

 **Jury: *Morgan***

 **Jury: *Kate***

 **Jury: *James***

 **Jury: *Morgan***

 **Jury: *Morgan***

 **Jury: *Kate***

## Alliances

*Arranged by duration/effectiveness/power:*

* **Board Of Directors** - *James, Kate*
* **The Classic Black Girl Magic** - *Kate, Morgan*
* 😈 - *Bobby, James, Jeff*
* **The "All-Stars"** - *Bobby, Emily, Jeff, Morgan, North*
* **We're Expecting!!** - *James, Jeff*
* **Wrong Reality Show Part 2** - *James, Jeff, North*
* **The Mafia** - *Jeff, North*
* **Revenge of the Apocalypse** - *Morgan, North*
* **Toadzilla x Donkey Kong** - *Bobby, North*
* **Bobby's Last Chance** - *Bobby, Emily*
* **Season 7 Throwback** - *Emily, Jeff*
* **HoHi** - *Kate, North*
* **Super Secret Alliance** - *Emily, North*
* **Hidden In Plain Sight** - *Emily, James*
* **Sweeney Tit** - *Emily, Lucy, Nini, Paula*
* **Deceiving Sluts** - *Aidan, Bobby, Emily, Lucy, Nini, Paula*
* **Something Gay** - *Elliott, Emily*

## Game Summary

### Round 1

 **Future Safety**

 **Future Safety**

 **Future Saftey**

 **Future Safety**

 **Future Safety**

 **Future Safety**

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Nominee5 Votes**

 **Evicted6 Votes**

Emily and Elliott served as the “team captains” for the schoolyard draft due to being the first and last houseguests to arrive respectively. Following the draft, it was revealed that Emily’s group was sent into the Future with safety for the first eviction, while Elliott’s group, consisting of Elliott, James, Jeff, Kate, Morgan, and North, was stuck in the Past, meaning they would be the only houseguests to compete in the nominator challenge and be in danger of eviction. It did not go unnoticed by the houseguests that every houseguest associated with Sweeney Todd was picked for one group (coincidentally the whole Deceiving Sluts alliance). North won the first challenge and struggled to make his decision because he was in an alliance with everyone except Elliott. He decided on targeting Elliott with Kate and Morgan as the other nominees. During the voting, the vote ended up in a 5-5 tie between Morgan and Elliott, with Elliott voting for Kate. With his tiebreaker vote, North voted to evict Elliott.

### Round 2

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Nominee2 Votes**

 **Evicted7 Votes**

Bobby emerged as the winner of the next challenge and correctly sensed that he was on the bottom of the totem pole of the Sweeney Todd majority (the Deceiving Sluts alliance). Bobby determined that Aidan was his main target due to him being a strategic and social threat, and he named Lucy and Nini as the other two nominees. When the nominees were announced, the house was shocked and the Sweeney Todd majority was angry at Bobby. All of the non-nominated houseguests decided to work together to evict Lucy, and Lucy left the house in a 7-2-1 vote. After Lucy’s eviction, Aidan and Nini declared to the house that they easily hold grudges, specifically against Bobby.

### Round 3

#### Round 1

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Nominee3 Votes**

 **Fake Evicted4 Votes**

For the next challenge, the houseguests competed in pairs, with Bobby and Jeff winning. They both agreed that they wanted to renominate Aidan and Nini because of their words for Bobby, and despite initially considering Kate as the third nominee, they settled on Emily due to their belief that people would end up evicting Kate but they wouldn't evict Emily. During the speeches, Aidan and Nini both just repeated their speeches from Round 2, but once again called out Bobby. In a shocking 4-3-1 vote, Emily was blindsided, but as she departed from the house the Timebomb started to go off...

#### Round 2

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Fake Evicted4 Votes**

Following Emily's eviction, it was announced that the Timebomb was speeding things up in the house and that this round is a Double Eviction, with Aidan and Nini facing a second eviction vote. In a 4-1 vote, Aidan became the second houseguest evicted, but what the houseguests didn’t know is that both Aidan and Emily were still in the house, the Timebomb having slowed down their departure.

### Round 4

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Nominee2 Votes**

 **Evicted5 Votes**

After rounds of being on the bottom, Nini emerged victorious in the nominator challenge after a tiebreaker against Morgan and Kate. They chose to nominate the white men in Jeff, James, and North, choosing to keep Bobby safe despite their scorned relationship, with Jeff as the target for being the smartest. The house, specifically Bobby, was shocked when the nominations were announced. In the end, North was evicted in a 5-2-0 vote over James, and angrily called out Bobby saying “Sweeney Todd” wasn’t going to get his Jury Vote.

### Round 5

 **Re-Entered**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Nominee3 Votes**

 **Re-EnteredEvicted4 Votes**

Following North's eviction, it was announced that the Timebomb had slowed down time during the Double Eviction, and Aidan and Emily made their return to the house. In the next challenge, Bobby and Kate won. Each choosing to pick one nominee for themself and agree on the third, they settled on Emily, Jeff, and Paula for eviction, with Emily as the target. Following the announcement of the nominated houseguests, it was announced that this round was an Instant Eviction, meaning the strategy portion was skipped and houseguest went straight into the eviction. During the speeches, Jeff called out Emily for already having been evicted, while Emily argued that being voted out meant she wouldn’t be winning the game. The vote ended in a 3-3-1 tie between Jeff and Emily, and Bobby and Kate chose to stick with their plan and eliminate Emily, sending her right back out the door, this time for good.

### Round 6 (Backwards Week)

 **Nominator**

 **Saved**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted1 Vote**

Following Emily's eviction, it was announced that the next round of the game would be Backwards Week, with the Timebomb reversing the flow of time. The round started with house nominations, with each houseguest nominating two other houseguests for eviction. Aidan received 5 nominations, Nini received 3 nominations, James, Jeff, and Paula tied for 2 nominations, Bobby and Morgan received 1 nomination, and Kate received 0 nominations. Aidan and Nini were nomination, and Bobby, Morgan, and Kate cast tiebreaking votes between James, Jeff, and Paula, with Paula being named the third nominee in a 2-1 vote. Next was the Second Chance challenge, which Nini won narrowly over Paula. Finally, everyone except Aidan and Paula competed in the nominator challenge, with the winner earning the sole vote to evict either Aidan or Paula. While James worked for purposefully eliminate himself, Morgan emerged victorious after a showdown against Kate and Nini. With her sole vote, Morgan decided to stick with her gut and evict Paula, who she saw as a big wildcard.

### Round 7

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Evicted4 Votes**

James won the next challenge and immediately nominated Aidan and Nini for eviction, but struggled with naming a third due to his alliances. He eventually settled on Morgan as the third nominee, with Nini as his target. During the speeches, Aidan heavily hinted at wanting to leave, but Kate gathered the votes to instead blindside Nini in a 4-1-1 vote.

### Round 8

 **Nominator**

 **Saved**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted3 Votes**

Bobby won the next challenge and decided to nominate Aidan, Kate, and Morgan, with Aidan as his target. Morgan won the Second Chance challenge and saved herself, leaving Kate and Aidan on the block, and Aidan was evicted in a 3-0 vote.

### Round 9

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee1 Votes**

 **Evicted2 Votes**

The next nominator challenge came down to just Jeff and James, who discussed strategy and agreed on a plan to not nominate each other. Ultimately, James won the challenge, and, wanting to maximize his chances of winning the game, nominated Bobby and Morgan for eviction. While Jeff wanted to evict Morgan, Kate was more hesitant and wanted to get rid of Bobby, convinced that James would break a tie to evict Bobby. When the tie vote came, James struggled to make a decision, but ultimately evicted Bobby as he saw him as a bigger threat for the end of the game.

### Round 10

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted1 Vote**

Morgan won the Final Nominator Challenge, earning her spot in the Final 3. Deciding to stay loyal to the Black Girl Magic alliance by taking Kate to the end, Morgan had to choose between evicting James or Jeff. Both James and Jeff talked about how the other was a massive player, but ultimately Morgan saw Jeff as having better relationships with the Jury and used her sole vote to evict Jeff.

### Finale

 **Winner4 Votes to Win**

 **Runner-Up3 Votes to Win**

 **Third Place2 Votes to Win**

 **Production's Favorite**

The Jury Members returned to the house and listened as the Final 3 gave pitches as to why they should be crowned the winner of Big Brother Northwestern 8. James talked about his strategic and social gameplay throughout the season, Kate talked about her secret alliances and strategy of playing dumb to avoid detection, and Morgan talked about winning challenges and taking control of her own game. In the end, Morgan was crowned the winner in a 4-3-2 vote. After the season, Drew selected Kate to be the recipient of the Production's Favorite award.

#### Jury

 **Kate**

 **Morgan**

 **Morgan**

 **James**

 **Kate**

 **Morgan**

 **Morgan**

 **James**

 **James**

## Trivia

* At one point, this season had 14 houseguests ready to play, but as always, last minute changes resulted in the cast changing to back to 12. The other two players would have been Ashley Valent and Danny Dollase.
* This season marks the first time that a twist planned for the season ultimately did not appear (the Bank Your Vote advantage, which expired before it was found).
* This season marks the first time that more than one houseguest has returned to the game after being Fake Evicted.
* This season holds the record for the most amount of tied votes, with 4 (the evictions in Rounds 1, 5, and 9 and House Nominations in Round 6)
	+ This season marks the first time that a pair has cast a tiebreaker vote together (Bobby Axelrod and Kate Horton in Round 5)
	+ Every member of the Final 3 cast a tiebreaker vote at some point during the season.
		- Morgan in Round 6, James in Round 9, and Kate in Rounds 5 and 6.
* Following the conclusion of this season, every member of the Final 3 in Season 4 has now won a season of BBNU (Alena Haney, Abraham Deitz-Green, and Morgan Barber)
* This season's Jury Vote result (4-3-2) previously appeared in Season 6. This is the first occurrance of a repeated Jury Vote.
* This season marks the second time in a row and third time overall where a first-time player is the first houseguest evicted.
* This season started at 3:41 PM and ended at 8:00 PM, lasting 4 hours and 19 minutes.