After 100 days of multiverse twists, the “Big Brother 25″ winner was about to be crowned in the two-hour season finale. But was it going to be the Australian DJ, the Deaflympics champion or the Sikh competition beast who won the $750,000 grand prize? Also on Thursday night, the recipient of America’s Favorite Houseguest was named, and they earned a separate prize of $50,000. So how did it all play out?
Below, read our minute-by-minute “Big Brother” Season 25 finale recap/live blog to find out what happened on Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Here are the three houseguests still in the running to win the $750,000 grand prize: Bowie Jane, Jag Bains and Matt Klotz. The jury house currently includes six people: Cameron Hardin, Cory Wurtenberger, Blue Kim, America Lopez, Cirie Fields and Felicia Cannon.
Keep refreshing/reloading this “Big Brother 25” live blog for the most recent updates.
8:00 p.m. – “Previously on ‘Big Brother’!” In the 41st episode, the Mafia threesome relived their favorite moments from the season as they toasted to each other’s accomplishments. Later on, they each received emotional video messages from their loved ones. Part 1 of the three-part HOH competition then began in the backyard. And now, at long last, it’s time to find out who wins “Big Brother 25.” Let’s go!
8:03 p.m. – It’s Day 100 in the house, but a few days ago the first part of the final HOH comp began and we need to know who won and advanced to the third part. During this comp, the only thing on everyone’s mind was their goal of getting themselves to the final two without having count on either of the other two to choose them. Covered in slime, scrambled eggs, pieces of hair, and rain while being slammed against a wall, Bowie’s body was the first to give out at the 1 hour and 24 minute mark. At about 2.5 hours, Jag asked if they could rock, paper, scissors for the win. Both guys agreed and in two heats, Matt beat Jag and so Jag fell just before the 3 minute mark.
8:13 p.m. – At the jury roundtable, Dr. Will Kirby stopped by to chat with the first six jurors. First, Felicia arrived to fill the group in on what led to her eviction and how she thinks Jag made a “$750,000 mistake.” America suggested that Bowie managed to get through the game without ever being a target and argued that being a floater worked in her favor. Cory also spoke up for Bowie, adding that she was someone they could always rely on. Cameron and Blue gave her props for being the HOH during Cameron’s eviction, but Felicia pointed out that Bowie never made decisions, she just did what other people told her to. Cory wanted to talk about “who was in control?” and offered that only Jag was in control when compared to Matt and Bowie. Cory fought back against Jag’s run in the game because he had been evicted unanimously early on and was only saved because Matt used a power to bring him back. Everyone agreed that Matt had the best social game because he was able to lower his threat level at all times. America and Cameron dinged Matt for never owning any of his moves to take people out though.
8:25 p.m. – For Part 2 of the HOH comp, Bowie and Jag faced off in a challenge to list all of the comps from the season in chronological order according to universe (Scramble-verse, Humili-verse, Scary-verse, Comic-verse) faster than the other. Jag was confident that he knew the chronology of all the comps because he studied them so well, but he hadn’t prepared for taking into consideration which universe they came from. Because he had so many incorrect buzzers during the challenge, Jag was disappointed in his finish and felt like he had competed terribly. Bowie also thought she knew the order of comps, but like Jag was not confident in which universe they came from. Also like Jag, Bowie had many, many, many incorrect buzzers, and it took one realization about a card in the wrong universe to finally get it correct.
8:33 p.m. – With both players frustrated with their performance, Matt revealed that the winner of the comp was Jag with a time of 1 hour and 2 minutes compared to Bowie’s 1 hour and 30 minute finish. That result eliminated Bowie from the chance to be named the final HOH, leaving Matt and Jag as the two to compete in Part 3.
8:40 p.m. – For Part 3, Matt and Jag went head-to-head in “Jury-verse,” a two truths and a lie questionnaire with each of the jurors. For Cameron’s question, both got it right. For Cory’s question, both got it right. For Blue’s question, both got it right. For America’s question, both got it right. For Cirie’s question, both got it right. For Felicia’s question, both got it wrong. Because they both went 5-1, the comp was decided by a tiebreaker question. In the question “Rounded to the nearest minute, how many minutes was the ‘When Universes Collide’ HOH Part 1 competition from the official start to when Jag hit the water making Matt the winner?” Jag said 163 and Matt said 140. The correct answer was 176 minutes which meant that Jag was named the winner of the final competition. This is Jag’s TENTH competition win. That’s a huge record for Big Brother. Very impressive. So who does he take and will it matter to the Jury’s decision?
8:55 p.m. – As the final Head of Household of the season, Jag has the responsibility of deciding whether he’ll sit next to Matt or Bowie in the final two. Matt pitched that they spent the entire game working together. Bowie pitched that they “took each other as far as they could” and it would be great to sit next to him in the end. Jag told Bowie that they got close in the last few weeks and she pledged to take him with her and to vote for him if a juror. He told Matt that he never turned his back on Jag and it would be wrong of him to turn his back on Matt. Ultimately, he wanted to make the right decision for him and his family and that meant voting to evict Bowie so that he’d sit next to Matt, even if it means he loses 6-1 with his only vote coming from her.
9:00 p.m. – Bowie told Julie that she told Jag that ultimately he needed to do what he would feel best about and that if it meant going to the end with Matt then that’s OK with her.