Big Brother 18 Finale Recap and Live Blog

Tonight is the season finale of Big Brother 18! Read a live recap and join the discussion here.

After 99 days, either Paul, Nicole, or James will win Big Brother 18. Tonight we will see how the Final 3 HoH plays out and which two Houseguests will plead their case to the jury. Who will be crowned the winner and walk away with the $500,000 grand prize? And who did America vote as their favorite Houseguest? Let’s find out!

Julie Chen welcomes us to the live season finale of Big Brother. We will later find out who will win the game, but first we must see who won Part 1 of the final HoH competition. The endurance challenge picks up from where it left off last time as Paul, Nicole, and James are in cat costumes as they try to stay standing on various stations. We see clips of the Final 3 trying to hang on to either a wall, a post, or a rope as the challenge progresses. After a designated amount of time has passed, they must follow a red light that will take them to their next station. At the rope station, Nicole and James fall off right after each other. Paul wins Round 1! He automatically advances to Round 3 that will play out live tonight.

Now it’s time for Nicole and James to battle it out in Round 2. The winner of this competition will go against Paul in Round 3. The competition is set up as a roller coaster. They must answer a question and the answer will be the names of three different Houseguests. They must put the three cutout pictures of the Houseguests on a roller coaster-like cart and then take a photo of the cart as it goes down the ramp. Whoever completes the competition faster will win. We first see Nicole attempting the challenge. The first question asks who was never a have-not. The answer is Glenn, Bronte, and Frank. Nicole gets it correct, but her photo was not in frame. She gets it right her in her second attempt. The next question asks who won exactly one Veto competition. The answer is Bridgette, Michelle, and Victor. Nicole gets it correct. The last question asks who were evicted with five votes. The answer is Bronte, Bridgette, and Paulie. Nicole gets it correct too. We next see James attempt the competition, and he struggles with the competition. He incorrectly answered Jozea instead of Bronte for the first question. He also struggles taking the picture; the photo is not in frame. He makes up time for the next two questions. Afterwards, they find out who won. 19:06 is James’ time. 07:24 is Nicole’s time. Nicole won Part 2. She will go against Paul in Round 3. We hear from Paul and Nicole separately in the diary room. Paul believes he can win against either of them, so he’s considering taking Nicole to Final 2 because he doesn’t believe James should be rewarded a Final 2 seat since he’s done nothing. Nicole wants to take James since she’s confident she can beat him.

Next is the jury segment. Dr. Will (season 2 winner) is there to lead the round table. They speculate who the penultimate jury member is before Corey joins them. He tells them how Paul won HoH and Veto, and how he ended up getting voted out. Dr. Will starts the discussion about James and why he should win. Natalie thinks James never gave anyone a reason to vote him out and Bridgette likes his social game. However, Da’Vonne, Victor, and Corey think James did nothing to deserve to win. They next give kudos to Paul for playing a great strategic game, but they note how he has said some hurtful stuff. Da’Vonne says the dilemma is that Paul the player is phenomenal, but Paul the player is obnoxious. Natalie says she’s bitter to some of the stuff Paul has said. They next discuss Nicole, and Michelle can’t think of a reason why Nicole should win. Da’Vonne thinks Nicole’s biggest move was convincing people to take out Da’Vonne. Natalie and Michelle, however, are unhappy that Nicole made a personal move by taking out Michelle. Natalie also says taking out Jozea was a very safe move and not strategic at all. Corey passionately disagrees and predictably asserts that Nicole should win. Michelle also gets upset and starts crying due to Corey giving her ugly looks as she downplays Nicole’s game. Bridgette said Nicole’s game failed by not having good relationships with the girls going to the jury. Da’Vonne gives Nicole credit for having guys as her shields and puppets, but Michelle asserts that Paul and James are better players than Nicole.

It’s now time for Round 3 of the Final HoH competition. Either Paul or Nicole will win and decide who to take to the Final 2. They will have to answer a series of questions to complete a jury member’s statement and answer A or B. Afterwards, they will see the correct answer.

Question 1: They both get it right.

Question 2: They both get it incorrect.

Question 3: They both get it incorrect.

Question 4: Paul gets it right!

Question 5: They both get it incorrect.

Question 6: Paul gets it right!

Question 7: Nicole gets it right.

Question 8: They both get it correct.

Paul wins Round 3! After the commercial break, he will evict either James or Nicole.

Paul stands up in front of Nicole and James. He says that James stabbed him in the back again by trying to make a deal with Nicole, so he refuses to be stabbed in the back again. Paul evicts James! James walks out of the house for Julie’s interview. Julie asks him his thoughts, and he realizes trying to be sneaky with Nicole got him evicted. Julie asks him about his lack of competition wins, and he says his strategy was to not win a lot. She then asks him about Natalie. He says he is ready for a relationship and says “who knows?” when it comes to a relationship with Natalie.

Next it’s time for the jury questioning. The jury comes to sit down, and Julie asks Da’Vonne’s prediction of the final jury member. She hopes it won’t be Paul before James walks out and joins them. Afterwards, it’s time to begin the questioning.

Natalie says Paul is a good player, but Paul said a lot of vulgar stuff. Why should they give him their vote if he didn’t give them respect? Paul says it’s just his crazy personality and he has nothing but love for them.

Michelle says the jury struggle pinpointing a strategic move of Nicole’s. Nicole says it was getting Victor and Paul on the block when Natalie and Michelle were the two Heads of Household.

Corey says he doesn’t think Paul is a good strategist. Paul said he is, and reminds him that he was on the block six times yet only received two votes to evict and is in the Final 2.

Victor said Nicole rode coattails. Nicole said she was more of a behind-the-scenes player and just allowed stuff to happen since it’s what she wanted to happen anyway.

Zakikyah asks Paul why he should win. Paul said it was his first time playing. He worked his ass off and he was always a target. He didn’t hide behind the scenes; he was involved in everything and played hard.

Paulie asks Nicole why she should win. She said she gave it 100% and had the disadvantage of everyone knowing her entire game since she was a returning player.

James asks Paul if he ever seriously considered taking him to Final 2. Paul said he wanted to see who was more loyal to him. Nicole told him everything James told her, but James didn’t bring any information to Paul this past week. He chose Nicole since she was more loyal.

Paul gives his final plea. He reminds them all of his merits, such as having to fight hard from Day 1. He tells them all again that he was on the block six times. He also has the most competition wins besides Victor and he split up Nicole and Corey. He won the Round Trip ticket that prevented five previously evicted Houseguests from returning to the game. He won the Veto when he was the target. He also aligned with people when he needed to, and he won his way to the end after his closest ally Victor was evicted. He also says he stayed true to himself throughout the whole season and was a target the whole time. He gives a very passionate speech and is quite impressive. Nicole is next, and she tells them about her game, such as winning the first HoH and not having many bumps along the road. Afterwards, the jury casts their votes. Honestly, Paul gave a much better final plea and played a better game too, but who knows how the jury will vote?

The pre-jury evicted Houseguests join the jury on stage as Julie begins to reveal the votes.

James voted for Paul.

Corey voted for Nicole.

Victor voted for Paul.

Natalie voted for Nicole.

Michelle voted for Paul.

Paulie voted for Nicole.

Bridgette voted for Paul.

Zakiyah voted for Nicole.

Da’Vonne voted for Nicole.

NICOLE WINS BIG BROTHER 18

Honestly, I’m not happy about the result. Paul played a much more impressive game than Nicole, but it’s not the first time the jury voted for the wrong winner (BB14 especially comes to mind). Afterwards, it’s time to see who America voted as their favorite Houseguest. The Top 3 in votes were Victor, Natalie, and James. America’s Favorite Houseguest is Victor! 

And that wraps up Big Brother 18! Thanks for reading and feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section below.

About Steven Curtis 539 Articles
Steven is a graduate of the University of West Florida with a bachelor's degree in communication arts. He enjoys watching reality competition shows, such as American Idol, Survivor, Big Brother, and The Amazing Race.