The Big Brother 21 cast consists of several competition “beasts” and savvy superfans, but one unexpected player could surprise everyone and win the whole shebang, at least according to showrunner Allison Grodner.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , the Big Brother boss was asked who she thinks has been playing the best game so far, and her answer was surprising. Grodner predicted that there are a couple players “who will be sitting comfortably for a while,” and she noted that Tommy Bracco has played a great social game and is unlikely to be evicted anytime soon. But then Grodner zeroed in on this week’s Head of Household, Cliff Hogg III, who will undoubtedly end his reign with multiple targets on his back.
“Cliff is smart and clearly good at competitions. I think he could end up being one of the biggest surprises of this season.”
Indeed, in a stunning turn of events, Hogg pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in Big Brother history after being sent packing on Thursday’s live show, winning the Camp Comeback buy-back into the game, and then immediately winning Head of Household, all in the span of an hour.
“There’s a new sheriff in the Big Brother house and his name is Cliff Hogg, but you can call me Boss,” the 53-year-old petroleum engineer said after his HOH win, per Too Fab .
Hogg then dared to nominate this season’s power couple, the two Jacks, for eviction. With Whacktivity powers still in play, Hogg’s HOH could turn chaotic. Still, his willingness to target two alpha males so early in the game makes him a hero to the “Outcasts” in the world.
While Hogg has made the biggest move this season in the Big Brother game and is putting various targets on his back in the process, he’s not doing anything blindly. Hogg has curated his own alliance as he created a major division within the bigger group in the house, and he’s smart enough to know that big moves are the only way to win the game.
Jack Matthews, one of Hogg’s nominees for eviction, called his comeback a “Cinderella story” and noted that his HOH win was not good for Six Shooters, his own alliance with Jackson Michie, Christie Murphy, Tommy Bracco, Holly Allen, and Analyse Talavera.
“Cliff wasn’t even supposed to be here, he then wasn’t supposed to win the HOH, and then he wasn’t supposed to nominate me and my boy,” Matthews said, per Gold Derby .
Meanwhile, fellow nominee Jackson Michie also addressed Hogg’s rogue HOH move in a Diary Room confessional, saying the lines have now been drawn.
“This is a do or die moment,” Michie said. “I’m looking to win [the Veto] and Cliff is now number one on my hit list. I will be coming guns blazing.”
According to his CBS bio, Hogg is a Big Brother superfan who has studied legendary winner Derrick Levasseur’s style of play. Hogg, who once won an award for rowing, also revealed plans to present himself as “the loyal soldier” to the other players while creating enough chaos or paranoia in the house to “have people pointing fingers and targeting each other.”
“People WILL assume that I am a loyal kind of guy because that is how I live my life in the real world,” Hogg told CBS. “I will use that to my advantage and betray as necessary in the end game to get me to the finale.”
Big Brother 21 airs Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays on CBS.
