15 Reactions To Watching Big Brother Canada For The First Time

Wait, it's not the same tropes over and over again?!!??!

As a dedicated fan of the US version of Big Brother, I am itching for the new season to start.

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I decided to check out what Canada had to offer this year with their third season of Big Brother, and I was shocked.

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Here are fifteen thoughts I have had while watching this season of Big Brother Canada.

1. Canadians really know how to kick off a show!

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Instead of the lame do nothing week that always happens week one in BB-US, BB-Canada decided to jumpstart the relationships between the houseguests by making them earn their food, hot water, furniture, and personal belongings immediately upon entry to the house. I'm all for this! It was interesting to see the houseguests forge authentic bonds with their peers right away instead of the self-segregation into cliques reminiscent of high school that happens in the BB-US house.

2. The BB-Canada house is head and shoulders above the BB-US house.

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First of all, the BB-Canada house has to be at least three times as big as the BB-US house. Second, all of the houseguests except the HOH all share one room, which means that instead of five bedrooms, there's a recreation room inside, a much larger living room, an open floor plan living / dining / kitchen area, an outside recreation area with a pool and a hot tub, and lots of space around the house to hang out. The vault is a nice touch too.

3. The houseguests all seem so nice!

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Even the houseguests who just want the world to burn are being so nice to each other. There has yet to be a cat fight! When someone is voted off, all of the houseguests hug them, tell them that they played a good game, and clap as they leave the house. It's not like the awkward silence that happens whenever someone is eliminated from BB-US.

4. The casting is much better than BB-US.

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I love BB-US, but let's be real, the casting is repetitive at best, and a monotonous drivel at its worst. It's always the exact same stereotypes in the exact same ratios every year, which gets boring because the same things happen every year. There's always a few buff meathead types, one So-Cal stoner bro who thinks he will be "underestimated", one flamboyantly gay guy, a few girls who want to start a girls' alliance, one or two super-fans, one older cast member, and a few random floaters.

In my opinion, BB-Canada has done a much better job of casting. They have managed to actually cast people who don't seem to be caricatures. Also, they cast people for their knowledge about the game, not how pretty they are. There weren't players who came into the house that had no idea how to play the game.

5. The competitions are much more interesting to watch.

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I loved seeing several endurance competitions in the first half of the season instead of those boring quiz competitions. The competitions were also much more unique than the ones in BB-US. They seem like the producers are actually producing more ideas, instead of rebranding and re-presenting the same six competitions over and over again.

6. They don't show the new HOH at the end of the episodes.

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The first part of the HOH competition is shown, but the viewers are left at a cliffhanger, unaware of who will become the new HOH. I think is this a much better way to create a dramatic ending than showing the winner of the HOH competition and then having Julie Chen speculate about what this will mean for the rest of the house. Also, not showing the entire HOH competition every episode means that there can be many more endurance competitions, because there won't be ten minutes of dead air to fill.

7. There are so many more alliances than BB-US!

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At this point, everyone is aligned with basically the entire house. At times I think this is some genius game strategy, and at other times it seems like an entire house full of floaters. I am honestly not sure which is more accurate. I can confirm however, that the Canadians are no better at naming alliances than their American counterparts. I mean, the "chop shop", c'mon. I literally laughed out loud when Greig stated that he would create a new alliance called "chop city" if he was readmitted to the house.

8. The DR sessions are so much funnier than BB-US.

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The DR sessions are great. Everyone's unique personality really shows through. Perhaps this has something with the producers not riling the contests up to the point that they're just yelling at the viewers.

9. The storyline is not showmance-centric.

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BB-US has this strange habit of using editing to force any showmance as soon as two people introduce themselves. While there are many showmances in the house, the BB-Canada editing focuses almost solely on the game. Showmances have probably gotten 20 minutes of coverage in the entirety of the show so far, which I think makes the show much more interesting to watch.

10. The lack of "dramatic pauses" from Arisa is refreshing.

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It's nice to see the actual drama that happens in the house, instead of wasting time with fake drama from manufactured dramatic pauses every two sentences. Julie Chen - you've been warned. Maybe it's time to get rid of the "but first (dramatic pause for effect) turn (camera switch)" routine CBS.

11. The twists are much more interesting and unexpected than those in BB-US.

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The first night twist, the balloon popping twist, the double veto twist, the $10,000 prize twist, the house re-entry twist, the safety twist, and I'm probably forgetting some twists. The twists came early and often and were actually interesting to watch, because they actually changed the game, and made the players rethink their strategy. The only one I wasn't completely satisfied with was the double veto twist, wherein the veto holder could veto both of the HOH's nominations, but that wasn't even a problem with the twist itself, more the timing.

12. The players actually play the game.

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Again, this could be a byproduct of the players actually knowing how to play the game. Every player came in ready to play the game. People didn't float through the entire first half of the season. Brittnee made some big moves week four evicting Greig, and Bobby evicting Sindy the second week was an astute move, that girl is a competition beast. Getting rid of Naeha was a good move for Kevin even if it was too early, as she was another big competition and strategy threat.

13. There's so much more branding in the show!

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Everything in the show is branded: the twistos twists, the KFC evictee challenge, the oxi clean detergent HOH competition, HOH furniture from the brick, and the HOH basket from shomi. I feel like the many alliances are going to be sporting branded gear in exchange for sponsorships soon.

14. They don't try to force alliances together.

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Team America anybody? As a viewer of the show, it is frustrating when the producers try with all of their might to throw people like Derek, Frankie, and Donny together who are never going to be in an alliance together. But yet again, this is a twist that BB-US tries to roll out like it's new year after year and hope no one is the wiser. Stop trying to make Team America happen Robyn, it's not going to happen!

15. The instant evictions are amazing!

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I was shocked by the brilliant gameplay that is the instant eviction. It's kind of like a double eviction night, but different. The new HOH from the previous episode is shown and then they are forced to instantly put two players up for eviction. The players do not get to play for veto, and the only campaigning that they can do is in their speeches before the vote. This is an epic tool that a player could use to eliminate a big threat in the house without the fear of them winning veto and becoming another player targeting the HOH.

I was also shocked by the timing. According to BB-US tradition, double evictions really only become a possibility after week six. So to see an instant eviction week three was incredible!

Congratulations Canada, I'm a convert!

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You guys definitely won the US v. Canada culture war for Big Brother!