Big Brother set to wrap
Local woman remains in contention
TORONTO — Big Brother Canada crowns its first champion Thursday when the campy reality series wraps with a twohour finale on Slice.
As of Monday, four house guests were in the running for the $100,000 prize: Edmonton wild child Talla Rejaei, Toronto socialite Gary Levy, East Coast dairy farmer Emmett Blois and Nova Scotia teacher Jillian MacLaughlin.
“It’s so much harder than it looks,” says host Arisa Cox. “(But) of course we have so much more information on what everyone’s doing than they do in the house.”
Cox took a look back at the scheming so far and offers this list of the Top 5 game-changing moments of the season:
THE R I S E OF JEMMETT
The “showmance” that united Jillian and Emmett was instantaneous and powerful. “All the other ‘showmances’ — Tom (Plant) and Liza (Stinton), Alec (Beall) and Topaz (Brady) — were both sent home on double evictions on the same day, but Jemmett has managed to eke out victory after victory after victory and they find themselves in the final four.”
TOM’ S DOWNFALL
The beefy Tom seemed to be on a solid trajectory to the finals thanks to a secret deal with Emmett, Alec and Peter ... until he pulled an embarrassing prank on a naked Alec in front of all those cameras. Suddenly seen as a bully, the house turned on Tom and he was evicted. “And the quatro alliance — one of the ones that people thought was one of the stronger alliances — was dead in the water.”
THE B ETR AYAL OF TOPAZ
Topaz’s reign as Head of Household was remarkably brief thanks to a twist that demanded she nominate two house guests for eviction immediately after taking power. She chose Andrew Monaghan and A.J. Burman, making it clear Andrew was her target. Nevertheless, her supposed allies Peter and Alec voted to keep Andrew, who felt no allegiance in subsequent weeks when he booted Alec, Topaz and then Peter from the house. “That was one of their two chances to get Andrew out and they didn’t and they definitely paid the price.”
THE ICE BERG ALLEY CHALLENGE
This head of household contest saw Topaz and Jillian as the last two standing on a cold, wet iceberg. Until Jillian convinced Topaz to surrender the win if she promised to protect her and Alec from elimination. “Next thing you know, (Jillian) puts Alec up and surprise, it’s a double eviction ... That was absolutely the fatal error on Topaz’s part and she ended up getting sent home.”
GARY’ S N I NE L I VE S
Canada voted to send Gary back into the house last week and he wasted no time in winning a Power of Veto to avoid elimination by the surprised house guests. Since then he’s approached Jillian and Emmett separately in a bid to make a final-two deal, arguing his charmed run burned bridges with the jury and virtually assures his co-conspirator the win. “But you never know what could happen,” says Cox. “It’s a lot on the line and I think he’s proven himself to be a really good social player, mental player and physical player.”