Big Brother Season 15 Finale: 3 A.M. Exterminator Andy Wins Big Brother!

By Mark Drum
@whoismarkdrum

After 90 days being stuck in the Big Brother House, Andy Herren the 26-year-old college professor from Aurora, Illinois won this season's game.  Andy stuck true to his game plan and with a 7-2 vote it was clear he was the one to beat for the half a million dollar prize. Where did GinaMarie or Spencer go wrong? Or how did Andy get everything right? Well let's breakdown last night's finale episode and I'll tell you why Andy was the clear winner and most deserving out of the final three to win this season's Big Brother.

Final HOH Competition

Wasn't surprised that GinaMarie won the first part of the HOH competition. Between all three, GinaMarie was the clear favorite for the competition because it was an endurance and she won one of the endurance HOH competition this season as well. For the second part of the HOH competition, Andy or Spencer needed to secure their fate in getting into the third part. As expected it was a timed memory challenge, where they had to put all the houseguests that were evicted in order of their evictions. I was surprised that Andy made an error on his first attempt. Spencer had a great strategy of getting all the evicted houseguests photos and putting them near the wall. However he should have also put them in order on the floor then going up to put them up. Andy blew past Spencer's by 15 minutes. For the third part of the HOH competition it was what I predicted it to be, "What would the jury say," and Andy was the clear winner for this as well as he had the most connection with all the jury members and would know what they would say.

I was surprised when Andy had decided to take GinaMarie over Spencer for the final two. Now I'm pretty sure they never aired the conversation of GinaMarie and Andy talking to each other with Andy saying he'll take her to the final two. If they did then I completely tuned that out. Either way, it's interesting how that came to be and it set up for a vote that wouldn't be a unanimous one because Aaryn has been GinaMarie's confidante in the game as well as Judd professing to America that he wants GinaMarie to win. Before the jury can even vote they put the final two in the ringer with some questions.

Dr. Will Talks To Jury

Finally after his cryptic Tweet a few weeks back, we saw winner of Season 2, Dr. Will Kirby moderate a group session with the jury members with the reveal of McCrae as the final houseguest evicted before the final three. With Dr. Will appearing it felt like the producers wanted a moderator with the jury to get them to clear their heads and have a jury that wasn't bitter. Was anyone surprised that Candice and Aaryn made amends? Or when McCrae flat out told Amanda he wasn't planning on taking her to the finale? I laughed when nobody could think of a great move Spencer made other than Helen having to stretch the fact that he had to fight since day one because let's be honest all the houseguests had to fight since day one. Dr. Will did put things in perspective for the jury members and to try to get them to vote for gameplay over personal vendettas or bitterness. It was slightly comical to hear Julie say, the jury had three questions, but then we hear a sleuth of questions being asked to the jury. With the votes revealed it was really obvious who most of the jury thought played the better game.

How GinaMarie Lost

GinaMarie was a hot mess during the grilling from the jury and she went way over time during her final plea. For a (former) beauty pageant coordinator, one would think GinaMarie would know her time constraints. The "Nick" lamenting was way over done! GinaMarie would have had a better shot if she mentioned her competition wins as well as being true to her alliances. Even though she may have pissed off some houseguests she was blunt and said "This is me, GinaMarie," good/bad/indifferent we saw who she was. I was glad to see GinaMarie even tried to apologize for her ill-said words to houseguests asking for forgiveness. To GinaMarie's credit she did win two HOH competitions and did get Amanda evicted from the house. However that pretty much wraps up her accomplishments. Her gameplay really didn't pick up until the later half of the season, when she joined the Exterminator alliance and stayed true to Aaryn. Alas as I said from last Thursday's breakdown, GinaMarie was playing for second and it was Andy's game to lose

How Andy Won

Luckily for Andy the jury wasn't bitter, unlike last season's. Ian however in his own right was still deserving, but as a Michigander I was rooting for Dan to win. This year's jury was in tune with the game and really thought about who would be the most deserving. Maybe having Dr. Will was helpful after all. The real key to why Andy won was he stayed true to his plan when entering the Big Brother house. If you saw his bio on the CBS website it clearly stated how he would play the game and he played that game throughout the season. Yes, I've said he's a rat and a floater, but he managed to use his abilities as a speech/communications professor to his advantage. He played a well executed social game and won competitions when it mattered most. Getting four HOHs and two POVs and was a force to be reckoned with. However during the first half of the season, like GinaMarie as a little bit of a sleeper in competitions. He did have a good run during the BBQ challenge with Elissa. His alliances helped carry him throughout the game. Starting with the 3AM alliance and then to the Exterminators. Even though he may have been a rat in my eyes, Andy can float away from Big Brother with more than a half million dollars.

America's Favorite Player

After hearing who the final three vote getters were, a part of me really hoped that Howard did win. But the Brenchel army was too strong as they and America elected Elissa as America's Favorite Player and winning the $25k prize. Kind of like the Miss Congeniality award for Big Brother.

Apply For Next Season!

Having this season be the most socially discussed season so far, it was a no brainer for CBS to renew the show. So if you think you have what it takes to be on Big Brother, start practicing being on camera, showing your personality and getting into mental as well as physical shape for next summer. Who knows maybe we'll have another Michigander to represent our great state on the show. Other than Mike Labinski from Lansing (Season Five) and Dan Gheesling (Seasons 10 & 14) from Dearborn, maybe we can get someone from the Upper Peninsula to represent or someone from Grand Rapids. Go to bigbrothercasting.tv for more details. My personal advice, work on a video to submit or start conversations with strangers to bring your personality out there for the casting call. Anyone 21 and over can be on Big Brother and that could be you!

Thank You

Again I can't thank you the readers for checking out my breakdowns/recaps/thoughts of the this season! It's been a wonderful journey and only hope to one day be on the show! Don't forget to continue to check out CBS Detroit's website for all the info for Big Brother as well as all the CBS shows and news of Metro Detroit. When more info is announced for Big Brother 16, expect to read my thoughts and my advice. Until next time, have a wonderful year and expect to see me again next summer writing about Big Brother Season 16!

Mark Drum is a Farmington Hills, MI native and Big Brother fan since 2000. He hopes to one day be on Big Brother and win. Mark is a graduate from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Theatre Arts. He's a member of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity and can be found popping up in movie production sets and theater stages around Detroit. Connect with Mark! Blogspot / Twitter / Facebook / Email