The three members of the RBG (Remains of the Brigade, or the Real Brigade, if you prefer) made it to the final 3, but when it came down to it, it was every bro from himself, and there can be only one winner of BB12.
Lane and Hayden battled it out in Part III, and as is often the case with the final HOH when the players are close to each other and know the evicted HGs equally well, it came down to a tie breaker. Question was how many times they had bashed into the wall during Part I. I was figuring it was at least twice a minute, and they were supposedly up there for about 2 and a half hours, so I guessed 240. Answer was 250. They were both way low, but Hayden was closer.
Hayden kicked Enzo, which didn't surprise me in the least. In his GB message to Enzo, Lane said he would have chosen him had he won. Enzo did a decent exit interview with Julie. He left all his bitterness behind, and was just the entertaining Meow-Meow.
In jury land, Britney arrives and outs the Bro-gade, reopening the partially healed wound in Ragan and Matt's relationship. We did get to hear Matt's version of the formation of the Bro-gade, which was that it was his brain-child, not Enzo's. I had sort of thought that early on, but I also knew Enzo had gone in with the idea of the meow-meow Mafia, and since it all happened pre-feed we only got the CBS edit of the birth of the Brigade. As with most things, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Matt admits Enzo did all the naming, etc. but according to Matt, the actual alliance was his idea. It's not as if forming a 4-man alliance is an original idea, so I can easily believe that they both had a plan and they just came together in the same group. I do, however, believe that the whole side-alliance plan was all Matt. As he kept saying, he was called the brains for a reason.
Later on, Enzo joins the jury and we proceed to questioning. It was all pretty lame. Neither Lane nor Hayden really had much to say, and neither rose to any of the jury's challenges. About the highlight of the questioning was when Matt asked Lane if he would have chosen Britney or the Brigade and Lane said he was 100% loyal to the Brigade, Matt responds "not 100%." And later on, after the votes were cast, Julie shows Lane's DRs that he was actually loyal to Britney. To give Lane credit, he probably figured Britney believed that anyway (which she did, but she was still clearly touched to have it confirmed), but if he admitted it to the whole jury he'd lose major loyalty points.
The rest of the secret revealing was about as exciting as the rest of BB12. The fact that there were no lifelong friends was not news to anyone who thinks for a living. Andrew kind of botched the final Matt-bashing over The Lie, by not really revealing it to the F3 and causing Julie to have to point out that they didn't know what he was talking about. And then Hayden further stabo-tooled CBS' apparent desire to continue the Matt-bashing by acknowledging that it was good gameplay. But at least Andrew got the correct pronunciation of melorheostosis (which I can't believe I've learned to spell) out there. I noticed he didn't admit that, even as a doctor, he hadn't heard of it before. The Hayden/Kristen showmance reveal seemed to shock a lot of the HGs, but as it didn't matter a bit in the game, it wasn't really big news. The reveal of Ragan as StaboTool 2.0 was probably the best. No one was on to him in the least.
The votes came down much closer than expected because after a season of talking about nothing but winning comps Rachel, and therefore Brendon, decided to vote for the better social player. I'm mostly annoyed at them for StaboTooling me and my chance at finally having a 100% correct jury prediction. But it did make for a more dramatic final win for Hayden.
And finally to the surprise of no one other than the RBG, Britney got the $25K Favorite HG prize. With that, her hide-and-seek $10K and the fact that she gets the stipend (which the F2 do not), she's not only solidly in 3rd place in the money, but pushing right up on 2nd. And don't forget that $10 she got in the first HOH comp for sliding off the weiner.
I usually end these finale night blogs by saying congrats and "good show" to the winners, but this year from my BB POV, the best of the show was in the jury. So, though I absolutely congratulate Hayden and Lane on their wins, I'm not going to stop there.
The BY interviews after the finale were about as interesting to me as tonight's show itself. Kathy admitted that as a cancer survivor she really shouldn't be smoking, and that it bothered her that the whole world sees that. Britney was totally charming, and so appreciative of winning the fav. HG prize. As a fan herself, she knows that's what makes one a true BB star.
Matt got to once again go over The Lie. He also got to try to explain the hands down the pants thing--he says he just feels like there should be a pocket there; perhaps he's part kangaroo. He was quite surprised and amused to learn that his wife has been watching the feeds and calling in the SuperPass shows, etc. He was also clearly touched when Missy told him what Ragan said in his exit interview about feeling like Matt was his brother.
And when it was Ragan's turn, he confirmed that he still feels that way, and made it clear that the things that happened in Big Brother aren't going to come between them in real life. Ragan is just too emotionally stable for BB. That may seem like an odd thing to say about the guy who cried half the season, but it's true. At the end of the day, he understands what's game and what's not, and sees people for who they really are, regardless of the role they try to play. So he knows that his bond with Matt is for real, but at the same time when Rachel tries to say that her antics are "just for TV" Ragan knows that's utter bullsh-sugar pops.
Speaking of Brenchel, I missed Brendon's BY interview and don't care enough to go back and watch it now, but apparently he just said that he loves Rachel. And Rachel pretty much just said that she loves Brendon. But she can't wait for VEGAS!
Enzo's interview was one of the most interesting. He admitted to a lot of eating while a HN--more than we even saw. He also said he was given a warning and he was glad they didn't give him a penalty vote/nom. But then he pretty much just laughed it off, said he wouldn't have been evicted over Matt even with a penalty vote, and basically didn't see anything wrong with what he'd done. Well, from my BB POV....it's not okay. I realize that a lot of people see sneaking a peanut as no big deal. It's like cheating on a diet by having an M&M. But that's not the point--the point is the HaveNot restrictions are some of the core rules of the game. And I think it's shameful that CBS constantly bashed on Matt for making up a story to try to gain an edge in the game, which is not only within the rules, but arguably good strategy, but then doesn't even address actual rule breaking. I've said it before and I'll say it again: FOUL!
Anyway, moving on. In other news, Enzo also said that he really does hope to parlay his BB fame into a Hollywood career. There have been a couple people who have managed to go from Reality Star to Real Star, and I'm not going to say Enzo doesn't have a chance. I actually do wish him luck at that, I just wish it hadn't been such a big part of what he talked about during BB.
And finally, the final 2. They didn't have a whole lot new to say. They were both just happy with their wins and I think a little shell-shocked. And with that's it's a wrap for BB12.