When it comes to reality TV shows, few series are as demanding as Big Brother. This historic CBS competition created by John de Mol Jr. pushes its players to their strategic limits, asking them to outmaneuver one another and practice constant deceit for a grand prize of $750,000. It’s a cutthroat game that has yielded some of the genre’s most iconic moments, with fans delighting for years over the scenes of backstabbing, conflict, and jaw-dropping deceit that the show never fails to produce.
Yet while all these contribute to the series’ legendary status, what really draws viewers in is its long line of astounding winners. With Big Brother being one of the hardest games on television, its victors are some of the most calculating and strategic competitors that the medium has ever seen, each amazing in their own right — though one stands out above the rest. While all are great, one winner faced more trials and tribulations than anyone before, someone who had to literally drag themself up from the bottom and fight every single second to get to their season’s finale. Big Brother has many truly exceptional winners, but when it comes to Taylor Hale, nobody else can compare.
‘Big Brother’ 24 Made This Winner a Target
While every player has a legitimate chance of winning Big Brother, early viewers of season 24 didn’t think that Hale had any chance of making it past a few episodes, let alone winning the installment! The young woman faced derision right off the bat; introduced as a former pageant Queen, her charismatic nature and poised confidence seemed to upset many of her fellow players. Led by future-quitter Paloma Aguilar, Hale began receiving nonstop rudeness from other people in the house, the majority alliance backing Paloma and beginning to label Taylor as not a “girls-girl” and as someone who couldn’t be trusted. While Paloma quit the game early on, her initial (and seemingly random) distrust of Taylor had half of the house viewing her as a shady person who needed to be sent out soon. And while it’s not uncommon for a player to be targeted in Big Brother, few have had as horrible of an experience as Taylor did in her first few weeks in the franchise.
From being called a b*tch multiple times by other houseguests to having her integrity questioned at every turn, the early episodes of Big Brother24 had Taylor Hale facing more personal attacks than most people have across their entire season. And, unfortunately, these attacks’ randomness seemed to be caused by the biases that Hale was on the show to try and beat. She spoke openly about how rare it is for Black women to make it far in the game and that none had ever won it, so she had come into the house with the intention of making history and fighting against the subliminal racism that had plagued the show since it began.
It’s unfortunate that, even with this intention driving her forward and literally no tangible reason for people to dislike her, the season’s first big alliance constantly targeted her. This left the player deeply hurt and thinking there was no path forward, but luckily those not in the majority alliance (“The Leftovers”) recognized the unfair treatment Taylor was receiving and welcomed her into their secret group, with players like Matt Turner even calling out the rest of the house for their mistreatment of her. This was exactly what Taylor needed, and as audiences watched, the player who couldn’t seem to catch a break used her hardship to fuel an all-out warpath that eventually won her the game.
Taylor Hale’s Big Finale Is the Best ‘Big Brother’ Has Ever Seen
Taylor Hale faced many obstacles on Big Brother, not only in the form of hateful contestants, but also in shocking twists like the “Festy Bestie” mechanic that saw her survival in the game get tied to another’s. Yet despite this, after finally being welcomed in by The Leftovers, she did something that many people on this series forget to do: she looked, and she listened. While it was terrible to be on the receiving end of so much hate, by existing as an outcast in Big Brother, Hale gained insight into the other players’ mindsets and learned exactly what she needed to do to earn their trust.
As the season went on, she used this knowledge to bring many of the people who initially hated her over to her side, all while maintaining her moral goals as shown in things like her not wanting to vote out another Black woman or calling out people’s racist suspicions of an all-person-of-color alliance. This was in addition to her making key relationships with people like challenge beast Michael Bruner and eventual finalist Monte Taylor; Hale used the endless charisma that initially earned her ire to cement these individuals (and many more) as allies in the game. These accomplishments built upon one another to create one of the best social games in Big Brother — though it all pales in comparison to the utter triumph of Hale’s finale speech.
Each Big Brother season finale gives finalists a chanceto speak to those who will decide their fate, these final words to the jury of eliminated players ultimately deciding if they win the huge cash prize or go down in history as a lovely first alternate. Monte’s was a fine example of an end speech, the man calling on past competition wins and some decent strategy as to why he deserved to win. But Hale’s… Taylor Hale’s was unlike anything the series had ever seen. She stood (in a gorgeous jumpsuit, by the way) and “challenged” the jury to vote for her, calling back to the many weeks she spent as the House’s resident scapegoat and how she clawed her way up to become one of this season’s true power players.
She cites that she had some challenge wins, yes, but that Big Brother means so much more than simply being good at some random games. Hale showed the grit, determination, and emotional intelligence required to win a game that focuses on interpersonal strategy, making it clear in her words how nobody had it as tough as her and that she conquered it in a way that nobody else could. Her speech left the jury (and viewers) in awe, conjuring up the image of an inspirational legend in a way that no winner ever had before. A finale speech as inspiring as that made her the most deserving winner this series has ever seen.
Taylor Hale Did Something No Other ‘Big Brother’ Winner Could
Big Brother has dozens of great winners, and it’s hard to really say which one is considered the best. Some people prioritize competition wins, some prefer to view a person’s social game, and some just like to see who has the best personality, while others use their own criteria to decide who is at the top of this illustrious group. Yet Taylor Hale has all of that and more, not only winning this game through hardcore strategy and manipulation of its own mechanics, but using each success to further the mission she’d always set out to do on Big Brother. She made it clear that she was fighting for something beyond herself, but a good morality doesn’t immediately make her the best winner (even if her trying to end the show’s long history of ignoring Black women is extremely commendable). It’s this goal, combined with her strategic wins and endlessly endearing personality — one that made her the first winner to also win America’s Favorite Player — that synthesizes to create a truly unique winner, the absolute best this franchise has ever seen.