It’s the end of June, the first official week of Summer, and that can only mean one thing — it’s Big Brother time! Another season, the seventeenth to be exact, is upon us and in about 36 hours we’ll have a whole season of gameplay (or lack thereof) to criticize & ridicule all from the comfort of our homes. Just like last season, Big Brother 17 is starting with a two night premiere, the first of which begins at 8pm tomorrow night where I am assuming we’ll meet about half of the cast. The premiere will wrap up the following night at 8pm where we’ll finish meeting the cast, and possibly get to know our first twist of the season. I say “first twist” because evidently we’ll be treated to a new twist each and every week this Summer, but beyond that CBS hasn’t provided anymore details.
While I’m a little concerned how these weekly twists will shake out (hoping for the best and expecting the worst is a phrase BB superfans know all too well) I’m much less concerned about how this cast will shake out. Actually — I’m not concerned at all — I think this might be one of the best overall casts we’ve had in seasons. There is an interesting mix of mostly interesting people; reading the houseguests (HGs) bios and watching their interviews has given me hope that we could still get an interesting season despite all these twists we’ll be getting thrown. Without further ado, let’s get into it…
via CBS
Audrey Middleton
Audrey is 25 and a digital media consultant from Villa Rica, Georgia. She is also the first transgender contestant to ever be on Big Brother US.
My take: Audrey seems very intense but she also seems charismatic which could make for a lethal combination in this game. She says she wants to play this game like Dexter Morgan, minus the whole serial killer thing, and from the vibes I’ve gotten from her that makes total sense in a weird way. I think there’s only two options for her summer go to: she’ll either crash and burn OR school the house and win the game. Either way, I think she’s going to bring a lot of fireworks.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Austin Matelson
Austin is a 30 year old professional wrestler living in Woodland Hills, California.
My take: I’m not sure if I just had pre-conceived notions about wrestlers or I am still scared from another wrestler that made too many appearances on this show, but Austin really surprised me. He was quite charming and hilarious in the interviews I watched, plus gets bonus points for being a true but not-at-risk of overplaying superfan. My fear is that the other HGs aren’t going to be able to get over the physical threat he poses (he’s 6’5″ & 240 pounds!) and he’ll be in trouble early on.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Becky Burgess
Becky is 26, a retail store manager, and lives in Denver Colorado.
My take: After watching the interviews, most of the HGs found their way into my brain…Becky was not one of them. She just did not make an impression on me at all, and seems like she was put in there as filler. It’s because of this that I think she could be around for a while — I just can’t see her making any huge moves that will put a target on her back — or it could go the other way and she could be out early due to being a “pawn.” Either way, I don’t think she’ll be making an impact on the show this year.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Clay Honeycutt
Clay is 23, is a graduate student at Texas A&M from Dickinson, Texas. Previously he played football for the Texas A&M as well.
My take: Clay wins the prize for “most obvious recruit” this season. He’s an extremely attractive, nice guy that wasn’t a fan of the show until a few months ago aka when casting found him. Based on this I see him going pretty far but, similarly to Becky, I don’t expect him to make many waves this season and foresee him being kind of forgettable to anyone not watching the show to stare at good looking people.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Da’Vonne Rogers
Da’Vonne is 27 and is a poker dealer originally from Inglewood, CA but currently lives in Los Angeles, LA.
My take: Out of all these HGs, Da’Vonne made the biggest impact on me. She had a great energy, engaging personality, and some seemingly sound plans for how she wants to play this summer. Da’Vonne is unknowingly part of one of the more interesting things to look towards so far: Although she says she wants to keep her real job underwraps, there is another HG this season that is very prominent in the poker world. I’m already itching to see if Da’Vonne will recognize the other HG and how that will effect her game.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Jace Agolli
Jace is 23 and is a personal trainer who lives in Venice Beach, California.
My take: Confession time: When I see an attractive young guy that lives in a surf town and has hair longer than the typical length show up in a reality show cast I automatically assume he is going to act a certain way (laid back & goofy, perhaps?). Well, Jace gave me the opposite of that. He seems nice, but he also seems obviously confident and he was already beginning to play for the cameras in the interviews. This doesn’t bode well. Jace seems smart & knowledgeable about the game, but I can’t shake this feeling we’re looking at a pre-jury boot here.
More information from CBS here
via CBS
James Huling
James is 31, a retail associate, and currently lives in Wichita Falls, Texas. He’s proud to be the first (his words, not mine) “Hillbilly Asian” to ever be on Big Brother!
My take: James seems like a very sweet guy who is not going to excel at this game. I sense that he’ll get along well enough with most of the HGs but I can see him never really finding his niche and thus being on the wrong side of the numbers. I don’t think he has it in him to play a cutthroat game or go on a competition run (two of the strengths he would need to make it far) so I’m expect him to go pretty early. He might be our surprise-funny person in the DR of the summer though.
More information from CBS here
via CBS
Jason Roy
Jason is a 25 year old school supermarket cashier living in Swansea, MA.
My take: Jason was the first interview that I watched this year and he really set the bar high — I love this guy. This is the second time he applied for the show. The first time was for BB15 but he wasn’t picked, which he said was a “bullet dodged.” That line had me actually laughing out loud. I think he is the perfect combination of funny, game savvy, self-aware, and charismatic which could all equal doing really, really well this summer.
More information from CBS here
via CBS
John McGuire
John is 27, lives in Jefferson Township, PA and is a dentist by day but a rock-n-roller come night time.
My take: John is a trip and a half. He was already yelling in all his interviews, which means he’ll be yelling in all his DRs too, and he made the most lasting impression out of the all the HGs during these interviews. You could feel the energy just radiating from this guy and while that is awesome to watch, I fear it might be not-so-awesome to live with and can see John getting himself in trouble really quickly. More than any other HG, I hope my instinct with him is wrong, because I would love nothing more than to watch an entire season of the this character on my TV.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Liz Nolan
Liz is a 23 year old marketing coordinator born, raised, and currently living in Miami, FL. Liz is from Miami, FL. Miami, FL. Did I mention that Liz was born and raised in Miami, FL?
My take: I really don’t have much to say about Liz. In what I think might be the strongest overall cast we’ve seen in seasons, she’s the blatant weak spot for me. She fills the “attractive young woman from FL” casting type that we’ve seen many times on this show and I didn’t get any sense that she’d be more than that. She was the most vocal HG about wanting to have a showmance, so we can expect that from her. My money is with Clay.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Meg Maley
Meg is 25 and is a server from New York, NY. She is best friends with Andrea of Survivor fame.
My take: The first boot vibes are strong with this one. Meg was A LOT in all of her interviews, and unfortunately not in a good way. Her energy read as overwhelming and grating instead of charming and quirky like I have a feeling she thinks it does. She said she knows she has to tone herself down or else she’ll get on the HGs nerves, but I don’t think that she’ll be able to do it. I will be surprised if she makes it to jury.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Shelli Poole
Shelli is 33 and is an interior designer and home stager who lives in Atlanta, GA. At the ripe old age of 33, she is the oldest HG this year.
My take: Shelli came across as very sweet and likable in her interviews but that was about it. I can’t envision her being in the driver’s seat of an alliance but I can see her being a Very Good Alliance Member, so she’ll probably be around for a while. Similarly to Becky and Clay, I can’t see her being the focal point of the show this summer.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Steve Moses
Steve is 22, a Cornell college student from Gouverner, NY. He is also a huge Big Brother superfan.
My take: In a cast that is surprisingly filled with a number of fans of the show, Steve stands out for being the most “typical” superfan. I think this could spell trouble for him because he seems very set in his opinions and beliefs about how this game should be played and unwilling to change these viewpoints. Considering a lot of this game is how well you can adapt to new situations, I can see this being a huge problem for him. Unless he gets this early on and begins to change, he might not be in the house for long.
More information from CBS here.
via CBS
Vanessa Rousso
Vanessa is a 32 year old Professional Poker Player and DJ living in Las Vegas, NV. I feel the need to mention again that she is a Professional Poker Player because she’s made $4.5 million in winnings and rose to the #2 female poker player in the world.
My take: Vanessa embodies everything that you think when you think about poker players – cool, relaxed, and low key. While Big Brother and poker have a lot in common they also have some key differences and I wonder how Vanessa is going to manage those differences (mainly, you have to be a great listener in BB and poker doesn’t involve too much real conversation). As I referenced above, it’s also going to be interesting to see if Da’Vonne recognizes her and what she’ll do if she does. Personally speaking, I’d love if they teamed up because I like Vanessa almost as much as I like Da’Vonne, and it would be so awesome to see them run the house.
More information from CBS here.
Big Brother 17 begins with a two night premiere on June 24th at 8pm & June 25th at 8pm on CBS.
Do you have any opinions on the cast?
The Hudsucker 
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