JessicaRocks

I thought Kevin's blow up over being confronted about taking the $25k prize was ridiculous. In the first place, it was really stupid to tell anyone about it and expect them not to tell anyone else. In the second place, reacting SO defensively as he did was a sure sign to everyone that he HAD taken the $25k and was then lying about it. He made himself look really foolish, and he of all people should have had the maturity/experience to realize that! If he had denied it once and acted geniunely cool about it, he might have convinced them all (except Matt of course) that he didn't take the $25k. I thought it was really interesting that Kevin revealed in his post finale interview that he didn't know that he had won the $25k until later in the diary room. So Paul came into the house before Kevin even knew he was the one responsible for it. I also wonder how many of the house guests pushed the button to try and take the money (Kevin was simply the one who pressed it first). It wouldn't surprise me if EVERYONE in the house (or almost everyone) pushed it. It's also totally ludicrous that BB set up the whole premise that by taking the $25k prize, THAT PERSON caused Paul to come into the house. Come on - there was NO WAY that everyone in the house was going to pass up $25k! Hell, if by some miracle no one pressed the button - BB would have lied and said someone pushed it. There was no way Paul was NOT coming into the house. That was a foregone conclusion on CBS' part.

The halting hex seemed like a big deal power at the time - I mean, it not only protected Jessica but anyone else on the block with her (like Cody). But in the whole scheme of things - her power was NOTHING compared to Paul's 3 WEEKS of safety, since Jessica's only helped her 1 week (compared to 3) AND it didn't get anyone else out of the house. All it did was create a 1 week reprieve. And if you think about it - no matter WHO would have gotten it or WHEN they used it...it pretty much guaranteed that the holder/user of the power would be a huge target the following week. So really - the halting hex was much more a curse than a power: it kept you in house a week longer, but pretty much guaranteed your eviction the week after. Paul's power was so great that it gave the holder 3 weeks to safely work with everyone...anyone with any sense would not necessarily be a big target automatically at the end of it.

If they make it to jury, they get around $10k as a stipend for being in the house (that is - if they make it to jury, they will be in the house long enough to earn that much in stipend money). They also live rent free and have all their food furnished for 3 months (which is definitely worth something). I wouldn't be surprised if they get more than just the stipend...CBS makes a LOT of money off that show - they can afford to pay them more than $750/week! I do wonder what CBS' total grocery bill for the season is...a lot of mouths to feed and they are all pretty wasteful with the food much of the time (the cereal bill alone must have been massive ). I think they feed them even more extravagantly in the jury house. edit: You know, as strict as the union rules out in Hollywood are, I wonder if each houseguest is paid an appearance fee for every episode they appear in (like maybe $1,500 or so)?

Wow - his company tried to bribe everyone to vote for him to be AFP! Ha ha - that didn't work. Too bad GoFundMe doesn't let you take money out of someone's fund in addition to putting it in. I feel that Paul owes me and many other real fans of show for the way he messed up this season!

I agree! I would put Jessica among the 10-15 best looking female HG's ever on BB! She is totally HOT!!!

$500,000 automatically puts Josh in the highest tax bracket: 39.6% (which begins at the $418,400 level). So he would need $81,600 in tax deductions (+ whatever the amount of any other income he has this year, including the $10k or so stipend he was paid for his time in the house) to get down even to the next lower bracket, which is 35%, and since coming up with THAT much in deductions is not likely - that is really probably not going to happen. (And coming up with $80k plus in tax deductions wouldn't even lower his tax that much at all...he would have to come up with like $200k in tax deductions to make any real dent in his tax bracket.) So, most likely, the tax on his $500k will be $198,000 - not around $115,000. He'll pay another $4,000 tax for his stipend, plus any other income he has this year will also be taxed at the 39.6% rate. Since his income other than BB probably had him in a much lower bracket - the BB winnings will cut into his other earnings (since they will be taxed at a higher rate than they would have - ie: the full 39.6% instead of at the 15% or 25% he would have paid without the BB winnings). So, in the end, the total tax burden on the winnings will probably amount to maybe $205k-220k, depending on what his non BB income is for this year. Many people think that the rich can magically hire a tax adviser and knock that tax way down through legal means, but not really so much. The only way to come up with $200k+ in tax deductions would be through illegal means, or by doing something like putting the money in an irrevocable trust - meaning he couldn't spend the money ANY time soon! edit: Or he could give a large amount to charity, in which case he won't be spending that money.

Why do fools fall in love?

I wish BB would learn from the Survivor final...the last hour on the Survivor final begins with the revealing of the votes, so that they wind up having about 58 minutes left in the program to discuss the season. There was less than 10 minutes left last night after winner was revealed. There is MUCH MORE of BB season to reveal to the contestants (of what they don't yet know) than on Survivor (since by the time of the finale, they have all watched all the episodes on TV)...so it makes MUCH MORE sense to reveal the winner sooner on BB finale.

The greatest statement of the night was that Paul didn't even make TOP 3 in AFP voting! In fact, Jason, a guy who made horrible insulting remarks about another contestant's wife and kids, made top 3 AFP over him! I can't wait to see how Paul spins that result!

I agree! At first, I was really pissed at Josh for taking Paul to final 2 - I thought he had made a HUGE mistake. But, yeah, seeing his humiliation at being runner-up (again) was fantastic!! I replayed a youtube video of the results being read, and you could tell that once Paul heard Mark's vote he knew he had lost (I think because he knew Mark, Elena and Cody would all vote together).

Actually, more correctly - they voted in the order they were evicted (ie: Cody first, Christmas last), but the votes were revealed in reverse eviction order (ie: Christmas first, Cody last).

I just can't see Paul playing again. What could he do differently? He's lost 2 years in a row! There is NO WAY another season would let him get so deep into the season now after making final 2 twice in 2 years. No - he's done with BB...there's no way he can return now.

Everyone can thank me for Cody's win. I voted for Jessica the first couple of days, then switched to Cody for the last few when it appeared that there was more support for him to win. I wanted to use my votes on the one with the best chance.

They voted in the order they were evicted - Cody was the first one into the jury house, so his was the last vote. Most of Paul's enemies were evicted first, so they all voted last.

I love how the house basically told Paul: "Hey, Paul - you can take your 'Friendship' and shove it!"