Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Big Brother All-Stars episode that aired Wednesday, October 21. Read at your own risk!
Big Brother All-Stars has really been dragged by the fandom this season, sometimes a bit unjustly. Of course, there are plenty of times this season deserved to be called out a bit, with one coming tonight during what I believe could be one of the worst luxury comps of all time.
The Final 4 Big Brother All-Stars houseguests competed in Clash of the Comics, which was a luxury comp in which the winner received $10,000. Houseguests chose from the comic book versions of the All-Stars cast and once they had four competitors, they'd get to see the heroes do battle on screen in a big showdown. At first, it sounded like it could be a really cool concept. Then I saw it in action.
The houseguests must be really starved for entertainment in the house because Clash of the Comics was not nearly as exciting as Cody Calafiore and others were making it out to be. Not only was I watching the houseguests not compete but sit and cheer on a video game, I was watching the houseguests not compete while sitting and cheering on a poorly animated fake video game. It didn't make for great television, which is extra bad because it ran for about 13 minutes in the hour-long episode.
I also need to point out that this competition was essentially luck. All the outcomes were pre-determined, and with the way the matchups and animations were done, it stands to reason that the winning comic may have been known by production before the houseguests selected their heroes to play. That's not a huge deal considering none of the players knew who they should or shouldn't pick, but couldn't things have been sped along if production knew who was going to win from the start?
The Final 4 is never a high-octane point of the game as is, so planning this comp for this stage in the game just felt like a bad decision. The most drama we got out of it was Christmas Abbott crying at the end because she didn't pick the cartoon of Memphis Garrett, which felt like a betrayal in her eyes. I'll cut her some slack because I know she's had a stressful week and an elimination is likely right around the corner, but it's not like the actual Memphis Garrett was even there to witness this "betrayal."
In case it needs to be said, I'd certainly prefer if "Clash of the Comics" does not become a staple of luxury comps going forward. It wasn't fun to watch, went on way too long, and only made me more aware of just how little there is happening in the house in the week before the finale. Next time, maybe the houseguests can just draw names out of a hat for $10,000?
Big Brother All-Stars airs on CBS Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for all the latest happening with the show, and for more news in television and movies.
