The Challenge Vendettas - Who Are These Newbies?: Big Brother

Following is an excerpt from DCBLOG's "Who Are These Newbies?" post for The Challenge Vendettas posted earlier today, reposted in the interest of our mobile-first users.

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

🏠 BIG BROTHER 

Once upon a time, MTV and CBS were corporate siblings under the Viacom umbrella... one of the first mega-conglomerates in the media world before the companies went their separate ways in 2007. Last year saw a partial reunion of sorts for the two companies when America's Next Top Model crossed the old Viacom way from its longtime home on CBS' younger-skewing sister network The CW to MTV's older sibling VH1. Now comes another crossover between the most-famous eye in television and a pioneer in a thing called cable TV... and with all due respect to Tyra Banks, this one takes on a greater profile among those in the reality TV world.
   Except for one who prefers MTV and sports during those dog days of the calendar from Memorial Day to mid-September, it's likely that avid reality TV fans like you spend your summer watching Big Brother. Everyone except yours truly knows what that show is all about: 16 house guests enter the house after the summer solstice, spend 100 days being fully isolated from the outside world and have just each other to rely on, while those who watch either on CBS or the live feeds watch over them as if they're fish in a fishbowl. Of course, $500,000 goes to the one who becomes victorious in the end, and no wonder why all of you in that big fan base who live for that show love flooding my Twitter feeds with all of your commentary while I was just busy doing my blog work on the MTV world.
   As for those who are making perhaps the biggest crossover into The Challenge than what the AYTO kids did going to Exes 2 or Magic Mike making his jump from the love fest to Real World last year, they have something in common: like those we have seen on any MTV reality series BB fans got to see them get into a relationship for the camera that's best known as a showmance, then saw the usual manipulative gameplay we see all the time there make its way between them. Below is an example of both of our representatives being part of one of those Head of Household competitions - in essence, a daily challenge - that determine control of the house.

Season 18 in 2016 featured twelve new houseguests including the two who will join The Challenge family tomorrow night, and four former castmates who were so popular that they were given another summer of living in that pad. Also among the newbies were two siblings of former houseguests: BB16 runner-up Cody Calafiore's brother Paule (and rumored to be part of Ex on the Beach U.S.) and a sister of BB17 member and poker player Vanessa Rousso, Tiffany.
   BB18 saw a number of big twists, starting with a Cutthroat-like draft and four teams of four when they moved in, followed by a Road Kill competition that added to an additional roommate to the eviction list. Similar to the Dirty 30 Redemption House, a Battle Back competition gave evicted houseguests a chance to return to the game and those who survived a bowling-style step-ladder bracket won their way back to the house. A Round Trip Ticket gave a housemate exclusive access to a secret room in the house, and a Care Package was given to one of the players as determined by the power of the public votes. Nicole Ann Franzel, a mid-Michigan nurse who was a previous houseguest on Season 16 two years earlier, eventually won the $500,000 when the jury voted 5-4 for her over L.A. clothing designer Paul Abrahamian in the final vote.

👁️ NATALIE: We first met Natalie Negrotti as a Venezuelan who calls the Trenton, NJ area home and works as an event coordinator planning parties in the Jersey state capital. She described herself in her BB18 bio as "altruistic, athletic and beautiful," something that's necessary for The Challenge. Natalie is a jack of all trades in having all sorts of favorite activities and being a makeup enthusiast who loves the color pink, but her most notable job was of spending her fall Sundays in the Meadowlands wearing green, as a NY Jets cheerleader. BB18 was the first time she had to share quarters with men and her strategy was, "I'll act very innocent, stay low key... then I will start showing I'm a powerful force not to be messed with. I'm very kind, very tough and have street smarts because I was raised by a single mother. I've had to work my whole life and helped my mom pay her own bills when I was in high school. People won't expect how much adversity I faced and how tough I am because I'm so pretty."
   During Natalie's stay which saw her place sixth just out of the final month, she found a way to not get into sight of her houseguests, did very well in the challenges and showed her ability to flip alliances when needed, including being a co-HoH with fellow guest Michelle and winning that Care Package. She's also known for a romance she had with Asian and two-time BB guest James Huling, where they created a couple that no one expected would be together and they dated for some time after they left the house until Natalie realized that he wasn't the cool guy fans watched in the house. Below is her preseason interview and her romance and fight with James.

👁️ VICTOR: The other BB crossover is Victor Arroyo, who hails from just north of New Orleans in Slidell, LA near America's longest bridge in along Lake Pontchartrain. Like Natalie, he's very athletic as a gym manager, but also smart and sexy too... he loves women and always has his eye on looking for a lady to talk to and is always left with wanting more in not being satisfied with what's just there for him. The challenge of being totally isolated from everyone else and the world around him was something Vic had to get used to in that house last year, and coming into the house he didn't have a clear strategy going in other than for trying to win over the ladies. But as he wrote in his BB bio, "I want to be part of two alliances, but be loyal to one. That way, I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. I won’t change my personality though. I'll still be the funny guy that I am and do my best to stay on everyone’s good side, while slowly stabbing people in the back." He also happens to have a stuffed toy since he was a kid that he brings to every house... think, Alexis' AYTO companion Bridget.
   In the house, Victor gained prominence for being very competitive and steadfast, won multiple competitions that saw him gain house control and immunity, especially the physical challenges where he dominated. He was first evicted on Day 23 as the third one to leave, but like what happened to Jordan on Dirty 30, he won his way back to the house in winning that Battle Back competition, then he did it again in Week 10 echoing what Aneesa did in Colombia. Vic was Head of Household three times before being re-evicted on Day 90 in 5th place just shy of the final week, becoming the first to be evicted three times in a Big Brother season. Below is both that moment of him winning the Battle Back and his return to the house.

 BB's VENDETTA MOMENT 

While this blogger was busy watching Rivals III, Tori's AYTO season and the Rio Olympics last year (and who actually watched way more of Siesta Key than all of Season 19 last summer - don't hate), the moment that would ultimately see Natalie and Victor make this historic crossover came when they were part of the same team, Unicorn, at season's beginning. The two were allies when the house gave a unanimous vote to send home the aforementioned Paulie, and when Natalie was HoH she decided to turn her back on Victor by blindsiding him and voting him in which eventually sent him back to the Redemption House, where a jury vote saw him return yet again. He and Paul then formed an alliance with Nicole and Corey Brooks, and they returned the favor by sending home Natalie after they took out her close ally Michelle Meyer.
   Along with their Challenge intro video, below is the showmance and attraction Victor and Natalie had earlier in their summer, along with him nitpicking her later on.

- I AM DC