The 'Big Brother' Twists That Absolutely Flopped

By Stephanie Downs

If you're a Big Brother fan, you would know that the show has a penchant for twists. Every season, the CBS competition finds new ways to challenge the houseguests and surprise the viewers all the same. But, as the Saboteur would tell you, not all of those twists were successful. Over the years, there have been a number of Big Brother twists that actually flopped or, in other words, failed to make a significant mark on the course of the game. 

Season 23, the most recent Big Brother season, featured a number of twists. First of all, the season started with the houseguests being placed into four teams — the Kings, Queens, Jokers, and Aces. Additionally, they implemented the Wildcard competition, during which the houseguests could compete in order to win safety for themselves and/or members of their team. Both of these twists were wrapped up after the fourth week. At that point, Big Brother implemented the High Rollers room, another twist that enabled the contestants to either win safety or make a major impact on the game. 

Did any of the twists from Big Brother 23 flop? Read on to find out which of the twists from the past 23 seasons failed to break the mold. 

High Rollers Room (Season 23)

The High Rollers room saw the Big Brother 23 houseguests entering a room straight out of Las Vegas to compete in various competitions. While all of the powers did come into play, they were no match for the Cookout's strategic stronghold on the season. Since none of the powers changed the course of the game in any way, it simply wasn't a successful twist.

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Tree of Temptation (Season 19)

Overall, Big Brother 19 just wasn't the most exciting, particularly as it seemed like only a few of the houseguests were really playing the game (or, playing Paul's game). The show did try to shake things up with the Tree of Temptation twist, which enabled the players to choose an apple that had a specific reward or punishment. Only one houseguest, Mark, chose an apple. In an ironic moment, he earned safety to give to another player, choosing Paul. In other words, it was just an all-around fail.

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Camp Comeback (Season 21)

Camp Comeback is another twist that had the potential to be one of the best. Due to the way it was implemented, and largely in part because of the season's unfortunate cast, it didn't live up to its potential. The first four evicted houseguests, David, Ovi, Kemi, and Cliff, got to stay in the house after their eviction. After four weeks, they competed to see who would come back into the house. While fans were hoping for one of Kemi, Ovi, or David to come back into the house, Cliff ended up winning on the same night that he became the fourth evicted houseguest. Talk about a disappointment.

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Battle of the Block (Seasons 16 and 17)

The Battle of the Block saw two sets of houseguests nominated for eviction by two separate HoHs. The two pairs would then compete to see who would be safe for the week (the HoH who nominated the winning pair would subsequently become dethroned). The only thing is the houseguests immediately found a way to game the twist, realizing that if one of the HoHs simply put two weak competitors together on the block, they wouldn't be able to win the competition. To make this even more of a fail, Big Brother decided to bring the "fan-favorite" twist back for Season 17, prompting groans from fans across the board.

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The Saboteur (Season 12)

The Saboteur could have certainly stirred up a great deal of drama. The individual, who was one of the houseguests, was tasked with wreaking havoc on the others in the house and, if they were successful and made it to the halfway point, they would earn $50,000. This twist flopped almost as soon as it began, as the houseguest that production tapped to be the Saboteur, Annie Whittington, was the first one evicted.

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Triple Eviction (Big Brother 22)

In theory, a Triple Eviction could have been one of the most exciting nights of Big Brother, ever. For the first time, Big Brother tasked the houseguests with evicting three people on the same night. Not only did the Triple Eviction provide a major speed bump in an already lackluster season, but the houseguests weren't surprised by the events, as production let it slip thanks to a stage blunder before host Julie Chen Moonves could shock them with the news.

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BB Takeover (Season 17)

Remember the BB Takeover twist? No? Well, you're not alone. The Takeover occurred once a week for the first three weeks and saw the show announcing a new twist. But, since the twists ranged from blocking eviction votes (Da'Vonne Rogers won, but the power did not help her avoid eviction) and a party week with Rob Gronkowski... it's safe to say that it didn't leave any sort of mark.

Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by ViacomCBS Streaming, a division of ViacomCBS.

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