Characters / Big Brother 19 Alliances

The House In General

The House In General

The House In General

• Action Survivor: The majority of the house were not the strongest competitors and actually got by in the game by clinging to Paul and depending on them and their strong strategic gameplay to try to make it as far to the end as possible. There were some houseguests that didn't just sit back and let Paul take all the control and pulled their weight competitively, such as Mark, Cody, Alex, Jason, Christmas and Josh. However, even though they did manage to pull their weight on a competitive level, they were only winning competitions for Paul so that he could dictate to them who they should target and take out on their own HOH reigns. And when trying to win competitions in general, Alex would be the most difficult person to convince to throw them, Josh tended to win anything that didn't require endurance, such as the sports challenges and even a couple of brain games, and once he applied himself, Mark was very difficult to keep up with at POV competitions until his big size was used against him in the one that decided his fate once he lost it. Jessica also had a surprisingly decent showing in challenges whenever she fought for her life in the house.
• A House Divided: Considering that there's so many conflicting personalities in this house, it's not surprising that eventually, all of them start to turn on each other. However, the first half of the game doesn't involve anyone turning on each other until Paul decides that the weeks are dwindling down and more people needed to be evicted so they and their alliance can make it to future weeks.
• Blind Obedience: This was such a common flaw amongst the vast majority of the house when it came to Paul, with the exception of Cody and Jessica. They would go along with Paul's plans without ever questioning them.
• The Bully: Almost all the houseguests bullied another houseguest at some point, with some even teaming up to torment their targets.
• Covered in Gunge: The kitchen, which has a floor compared to a New York Subway metro and is Raven's least favorite place to be.
• The Dragon: Pretty much every single houseguest was working for Paul or was a loyal minion for him. They followed Paul and did all of his dirty work for him. They weren't just working for Paul, but they also had Blind Obedience and Undying Loyalty to him as well. Some of them were even willing to sacrifice their own games for Paul or make themselves a target so that Paul wouldn't become one, knowing that they're the sole vet in the house. It should also be noted that many of the houseguests played this role to Paul because they felt that Paul was the designated leader and mentor of the season and that they all needed their help and guidance in the game. Otherwise, they would feel lost most of the time without their guidance and advice.
• Epic Fail: The infamous moment where a Head of Household Competiton that involved running saw ALL of the remaining players throw the competition until it went to the girl with a broken foot. Granted, it made sense to throw the power to her as it was one of the rare few competitions she was medically cleared to compete in, but this moment, while being a fantastic achievement for Paul, was called out by Michelle Meyer, Cody Califore, Dick Donato, Derrick Levasseur, Caleb Renyolds (who also went on Survivor and knew the value of not throwing a challenge at the risk of blowback) and even Dan Gheesling!
• Genre Blind: The second Paul enters the house, the vast majority are taken with Blind Obedience and Hero Worship, while the others have absolutely zero sense of tact to hide their distrust from the vet or recognize when they're moving in to evict them. Even Paul, the most emotionally stable next to Kevin, is subject to this scrutiny for not knowing how to avoid drawing attention to themselves so their traitorous moves aren't traced back to them, which resulted in Josh going after them.
• Hypocrite: Many of the houseguests didn't like being lied to, but also lied and backstabbed people as well. Cody and Jessica complained about how the other houseguests were treating them, but had bullied others themselves earlier on in the game. Mark says he hates bullying and will always stand up to it and stop it if he sees it, but never seemed to stop Cody's antics. Paul even called Mark out on this hypocrisy.
• Jerkass: Mixed with Bait the Dog - it starts off as a nice and well-mannered house, but once Paul enters the fray, all hell breaks loose. It also rivals BB 15's rotten apple cast. Big Brother 15 gave us bigot city, Big Brother 19 gives us Spoiled Brat city mixed with Crazytown. All the thoroughly nice people except for Kevin (and arguably Mark) are gobbled up before the game reaches the halfway point. So many of them are gonna have to go into hiding post-season and freeze out their detractors on social media. If your name isn't Cameron, Megan (Public service announcement: please don't harass the PTSD sufferer, or you're scum), Jillian, Dominique, Ramses, or Kevin, you gunna get it! (Editor's note: And perhaps Josh)
• My Master, Right or Wrong: The houseguests that worked for Paul had a weird Undying Loyalty to him to the point that they would never question what they say or do, even if it led to their evictions.
• Portmanteau Name / Portmanteau Couple Name: Most of the alliances this year are either romances on the set or dynamic duos, resulting in a very simple naming convention. The one group that was a big alliance was eliminated early on.
• Schmuck Bait: This season is the Summer of Temptation, where everyone gets to make selfish moves at a price, and each one usually ends up stirring up trouble in the house.
• Sore Loser: A lot of the houseguests were very poor sports, sore losers and extremely bitter when they were going home or evicted.
• Spikes of Doom: Downplayed but thematically invoked. The Have-Not Room is a spiked lair this season, advertised as the place where houseguests will sleep on "the most painful beds ever", which have blunted spikes on their mattress beds to jab houseguests, as well as an uninviting titanium floor. House pariahs Cody and Jessica seemed to bunker down in here without much dismay.
• Spoiled Brat: This cast was full of stereotypical millenials: people who lack work ethic and demonstrate a sense of entitlement when they haven't earned the right to a reward. Also, most of the cast let Paul do the thinking for them, either wanted to do nothing for themselves, had no plans going into the game or no real ambitious drive to go forward (beyond Team Misfits), and get mad when they don't have their way.
• Too Dumb to Live: With the sole exception of Josh, who astonishingly knows what he's doing, everybody in the house this season (except for Cody and Dominique, who picked the wrong times to do so and it blew up in their faces) has lacked the sense to go after Paul and do so without being caught at a bad time.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Regarding the producers of the show, they seem to pick almost exclusively Kroger brand name products to stock the house this season (most definitely a sponsorship deal).

Strategic Alliances

Joshmas -> Poshmas / Team Misfits (II)

Poshmas (Paul, Josh, Christmas - Referred to as "Joshmas" when it's just Josh and Christmas, before Paul firmly aligns with them as his true Final 3 alliance – alternatively known as "Team Xmas")

• Affably Evil: They were very good at acting sociable and friendly to the other houseguests. But they were also very good at hiding their villainous intentions and the fact that they were stabbing every single houseguest in the back with a very sharp knife. It's why everyone was so surprised when they found out that Paul, Josh and Christmas were even a Final 3 alliance because nobody saw it coming due to how friendly, affable and sociable they had all come across.
• Badass Crew: A fitness superstar with a handicap, the guy who lets nobody get away with dick moves in the game, and the mastermind of the house all rolled into one. Yeah, they qualify, alright.
• Badass Family: Although not related by blood, they are definitely a sort of familia. The group is as follows:
  • Team Dad: Paul (looks out for Christmas and Josh)
  • Team Mom: Christmas (consoles/scolds Josh and is very fond of Paul)
  • Tagalong Kid: Josh (the annoying, antic-filled one who protects his allies)
• The Caligula: They ruled the house but they sure were very chaotic and crazy in how they went about controlling everything, especially Paul who relied on chaos and drama to get far, and Josh, who harassed and bullied people by banging pots and pans!
• Combat, Diplomacy, Stealth: Josh is Combat (often uses forces and aggression to scare off the enemy), Paul is Diplomacy (often uses his strong social skills and charisma to convince others to do what he wants), and Christmas is Stealth (plays the game in a very subtle way without giving away too much information to others).
• The Empire: As an alliance, they were big, controlling, mean and they were obsessed with using any means necessary to get their alliance to the very end. And they managed to accomplish just that by conducting dirty tactics.
• Freudian Trio: Paul is the Superego (intelligent, ruthless, mastermind, practical), Josh is the Id (emotional, hotheaded, impulsive, reckless), Christmas is the Ego (balanced between Superego and Id, mediator, peacemaker, spiritual influence).
• One-Steve Limit: Defied. Sometimes, Josh refers to this alliance as "Team Misfits" even though Ramses used the same descriptor of "misfits" for his bunch. Because the first group of Misfits dissolved long before these guys came together, it's easy to distinguish the two.
• Power Trio: Paul, Christmas and Paul were a trio and most definitely a powerful one at that. They were the ones that were in control of the game the entire time and nobody even realized it. Plus, it helps that they accomplished their goal and all made it to the Final 3 like they had always intended.
• Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: Josh remarks how he and Christmas are like this, being the oddball and the injured girl who seem like the most unlikely alliance to make it through to the end.
• Sacrificial Lion: Taking one for the team, Christmas lets herself be voted out in third place because she considers it fair, having come in last in the final HOH competition.
• Terrible Trio: Paul is the Big Bad who controls everything while Josh and Christmas are The Dragon to him and the ones who do all of his dirty work for him.
• True Companions: The only group that actually is in it for each other until the finale, where it's every man (and woman) for themselves.
• The Starscream: Josh wants to dethrone Paul as the big boss of the house in the Final 3 finale part of the game, a la Steve Moses to Vanessa Rousso in Big Brother 17. What he ends up doing instead is completely unexpected. Subverted when Josh decides to not turn on Paul and chooses to take him to the Final 2 over Christmas because he believes that he has the best chance at beating him than he does Christmas. Turns out, Josh's instincts regarding beating Paul in a Final 2 scenario were right on the money.

Jalex (Jason + Alex)

Jalex (Jason, Alex + Paul as a "3rd" member) AKA the "No-Mance"

• Alas, Poor Villain: Some housemates felt guilty for evicting them. Josh felt so guilty about sending Jason home as he had to lie to him about whether or not he was going home. Paul, who was the one that orchestrated Jason's demise, felt bad about evicting one of their closest friends, but they insisted that they had to do it because Jason was a strong competitor. Christmas felt was too upset to talk when she had to use her tie breaker vote to evict him. A similar fate awaited Alex later on: Josh, Christmas and Paul were affected by his eviction. Josh and Paul both cried about her impending eviction, with Josh not talking to Alex about her fate because he felt that bad about it. Paul was upset after having a discussion about them not using the POV on her, and that she would be the one going home.
• Bait the Dog: Jalex seemed like the nicest two people in the house... until they set their sights on Kevin and became all Jerkass.
• Discard and Draw: Alex went from the first group of misfits to being aligned with Cody to being aligned with just Jason who both colluded with Paul.
• The Dragon: For Paul BIG TIME. They were the biggest Paul followers in the entire house. All that they contributed to the game was being loyal to Paul, follow this order and doing all of his dirty work by doing everything that Paul wanted them to do. So much that when they were betrayed by Paul and Paul decided that they were expendable to him, they didn't even see it coming. Jason and Alex didn't seem to have any brain of their own. Paul was their brain in the game.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Jalex got poisoned by Paul into feeling good about themselves and thinking they were the good guys, when in reality, they were just driven wild by Paul's promises to take them to the end. What they actually did was emit repulsive behavior and cause veteran players watching in the real world to thumb their nose at the whole season.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Paul is upset he betrays Jason and Alex just like that, but admits he has to be rid of them in order to make it to the end of the game.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Breaking up Maven instead of backdooring Kevin got this pair into loads of verbal cussing matches. Also, Jason trying to avoid backdooring Kevin but still having a hand in a group that wanted him out made him guilty by association, and he was soon punished for it, then Alex as well.
• The Resenter: Jason and Alex never forgave Paul for betraying them and they ended up voting against him in the Final 2 due to both of them being a Sore Loser.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Paul brought down these two after dragging down Maven.
• Sore Loser: Both of these two carry on for an excessively long time after being played.
• Too Dumb to Live: They have no one to blame but themselves for their incredibly stupid gameplay moves.
• Unwitting Pawn: Paul played them like a fiddle.

The Misfits (I)

The Misfits (Ramses, Dominique, Jillian, Megan, Cameron)

• Born Unlucky: All the names you see here comprise the first chunk of the house evicted, back-to-back (excluding Cody's reversed eviction). Their gameplay always backfired on them spectacularly, they were screwed over as pawns, and they were absolute numbskulls when it came to strategy.
• Epic Fail: This alliance fell apart so fast that you'd be surprised it even existed after getting much deeper into the season.
• Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: The name of the alliance is self-explanatory. It's what Ramses calls them when he has his group assembled at the start of the game.
• Too Dumb to Live: Every one of these people contributed to their own downfall:
  • Cameron: Threw an important first competition to stay in the game.
  • Megan: Said something foolish that got blown out of proportion and thrown back in her face, triggering her PTSD.
  • Jillian: Let herself be an Unwitting Pawn at the worst possible time because her safety for the week was not guaranteed at all and sudden and forcible changes to the eviction block made her a flip target.
  • Dominique: Let her temper get the better of her and played herself by being too hysterical when she called out Paul's behavior.
  • Ramses: Didn't know better to steer clear of Paul and let him backdoor Cody, and played a cowardly game that netted him no trust.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Alex initially seemed to be on their side, but quickly jumped ship when Megan pissed her off and quickly shuttled over to working with Jason.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Practically everyone in this group except for Megan were the kindest people in the whole house, and unfortunately, the others took advantage of their innocent and good hearts.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Cameron was out 11 hours in, Megan walked in Week One when she had a panic attack from PTSD and completely removed herself from the game, and Jillian was unfortunately the victim of a rotating eviction block that finally outweighed her (Jillian, if you're reading this, we mean you no slight regarding your figure- you look good!). Dominique ran her mouth off and got knocked out next, and none of the three active competitors survived the Battle Back Showdown, having the misfortune of going against Cody, who is the Alpha Bastard of the house. Ramses managed to hang on long enough to be mildly developed, but with his alliance all gone, he found himself all alone in the house and soon on the way out.

The Showmances

Jody (Cody + Jessica)

Jody (Cody + Jessica)

• Asshole Victim: The whole house hated them, and wanted them gone, and got their wish in one sweeping motion.
• Breakout Character: Because of their showmance during their time inside Big Brother house, Cody & Jessica ends up becoming one of the teams racing in the 30th season of The Amazing Race, in which they end up winning the season along with the $1 Million grand prize.
• The Bully: Cody and Jessica were not very pleasant to the other houseguests and they displayed unnecessarily mean and aggressive behavior, in particular towards Josh. Cody has humiliated Josh by calling him a constant victim that cries too much. Jessica has also echoed Cody's sentiment saying that she's sick of seeing him act like a victim all the time. Cody also threatened that he would have no problem physically beating Josh outside of the house. Jessica also fat shamed Josh and insulted his intelligence by calling him stupid and a moron. Cody and Jessica were the meanest houseguests of the season, especially at the start and when they were in power. Although they do become the victims of bullying and harassment from the other houseguests later on in the game which is a serious case of The Dog Bites Back.
• The Black Sheep: Due to being the most unlikable pair in the house, the rest of the house outside their own allies turned against them and tortured them back.
• Disaster Dominoes: Cody, much like Devin from Season 16, went from commanding a huge alliance (the showmance alliance in Cody's case), to making a selfish move out of nowhere far too early in the game and stupidly trying to cover for it, leading to the instant collapse of the alliance and only Jessica's loyal support.
• The Dog Bites Back: How the house reacted to them after they managed to treat them so abhorrently at the beginning of the game. Since Cody and Jessica got off on bullying people, humiliating others and making other people feel terrible, the house decided to give Jody a little taste of their own medicine when Paul decided to lead a bullying tirade against Jody in Week 5. Although it can be seen as something that is unnecessary and controversial, some argue that the house snapping back at Jody was completely justified after the many weeks they spent mistreating them and bullying them.
• The Extremist Was Right: Yes, Cody and Jessica were horrible people and they mistreated a lot of other houseguests through cruelty and bullying. But they weren't kidding when they warned all of the other houseguests that Paul was playing them, manipulating them and using them to further his own agenda and his own game. Despite how nasty they went about trying to go against Paul and how they treated other people, it seemed that they were merely Well-Intentioned Extremists that were just trying to break through to a bunch of mindless sheep who were just blindly following Paul without understanding what Paul's true intentions were in the game. And look what their accurate warnings about Paul ended up getting them: ostracizing, harassed, bullied and targeted endlessly by everyone.
• Hopeless War: Oh boy, Jody were certainly fighting it against the majority of the house. All Jody wanted to do was to earn some numbers so that they would have enough people on their side to advance themselves in the game. But because the vast majority of the house were so blinded by Paul and sided with him over them, Jody pretty much had nothing left to fight for because nobody would take their side in the battle against Paul. Cody and Jessica were pretty much doomed anyways since Cody was a huge target from the start after he abandoned and turned on his own alliance and Jessica was a target because of her association with Cody. Their attempted efforts at battling against Paul were severely foiled as Jessica was evicted before jury even started and Cody was the very first person in jury. Neither had a shot in hell of striking at Paul no matter how much they may have wanted to.
• Jerkass: Cody and Jessica definitely were not the nicest houseguests on the playground. They were unfriendly and unsociable towards the other houseguests. When they were in power the very first week, they ended up abusing their power and personally attacking and bullying other houseguests to do what they wanted. In addition to that, they proved to be both dishonest and disloyal to their own alliance as Cody was responsible for turning on his alliance by trying to get rid of his fellow alliance member Paul. Their unkind behavior ended up costing them the game big time as they became everyone's number one target.
• Only Friend: To each other. It's understandable why they would be each other's only ally and friend in the house considering that the entire house was against them and wanted them gone. They only had each other to rely on for safety so they made sure to do anything to protect the other. It's also why they had such a strong Undying Loyalty to each other.
• The Republic: Cody and Jessica (along with later Mark and Elena) were the only ones that were trying to stop the Paul, Josh, Christmas, Matt, Raven, Jason and Alex alliance that were controlling everything in the game. Too bad that their efforts in trying to bring down such a powerful alliance failed drastically.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Some of the other houseguests were completely sick of Cody and Jessica isolating themselves from everyone and only hanging out with each other engaging in tons of endless PDA. Hell, people were just plain sick of Jody together period that they went to the extent of separating them before jury started.
• "Stop Having Fun" Guys: Cody's excessive will for violence caused this alliance to be viewed in a disastrous light.
• Undying Loyalty: Oh SO MUCH to each other. They are pretty much each other's Only Friend in the house. The two were each other's ride or die. they would both be willing to give up their games for each other. That is how much loyalty that the two had with each other. Considering how much the both of the were disliked by the other houseguests and didn't really have the opportunity to build stronger bond and relationships with other houseguests than each other, this makes sense why they are each other's ride or die.

Marlena (Mark + Elena)

Marlena (Mark + Elena)

• Ambiguously Evil: Even though they were working for Paul aka the bad side, they weren't completely evil either. They weren't necessarily good due to their association with Paul but they weren't as terrible and as hateful as some of the other houseguests.
• The Dragon: Mark and Elena were loyal minions to Paul since the beginning. They were working together and they sided with Paul against Cody after he betrayed the alliance. However, they eventually subvert this when the two of them become The Starscream and plot to get Paul out of the house along with Cody.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: These guys have no solid alignment, which is why they get pushed out the door after Jody, for being too untrustworthy all the time.
• The Starscream: Originally, Mark and Elena were loyal to Paul and they were very much The Dragon for him. That is until mid game when Mark realizes that Paul is running the house and is the biggest threat and Elena realizes that she is completely expendable to Paul per Cody's confession. After realizing these facts, Mark and Elena decide to turn against Paul by siding with Cody once again and plotting to target Paul and get him out of the house.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Mark gets in big, big, big trouble for trying to defend Cody and Jessica as opposed to someone like Dominique.
• Will They or Won't They?: Elena doesn't seem all that willing to accept Mark as her lover... until they eventually end up getting together.

Maven (Matt + Raven)

Maven (Matt + Raven + Paul as a "3rd" member)

• The Dragon: For Paul to Blind Obedience levels. They followed Paul blindly and did everything that he wanted or asked. They were extremely loyal to him to the end and they even ended up voting for him in the Final 2.
• High Hopes, Zero Talent: They talk big, but do absolutely nothing to warrant respect.
• Hufflepuff House: They never really stand out as competitors (aside from the rare moments when they aren't throwing competitions or playing to win).
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: The rest of the house is quickly fed up with their antics as a couple.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Paul easily swept them out of the house by making them think they were pawns.
• Too Dumb to Live: They played right into the hands of Paul. Then they seemed to get onto the Jury without realizing this meant they've lost the game.
• The Unfavorite: For basically the entire house next to Jody. These guys are ridiculously annoying to rest of the houseguests for being nuisances and driftwood in general. Matt's Annoying Laugh grates on people's nerves, and Raven's Consummate Liar tendencies mixed with her offensive behavior pisses off the rest of the houseguests.
• Unwitting Pawn: Paul duped them to go up as pawns, then flipped the votes on them.

Rogue Players

Kevin and Paul

Kevin and Paul

• All of the Other Reindeer: Into the second half of the game; Kevin's ostracized by the remaining houseguests with the exception of Paul. And by the end of the game, the Jury is so bitter that ironically, Kevin is the only person outside of Joshmas who is still firmly on Paul's side.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Kevin seemed like he had promise, but his unwillingness to do much in the game beyond self-interests was what defeated him in the end. He tried to ape Derrick's strategy from BB 16, but the very fact that Kevin lacks the competitive power to make him look untouchable is what ultimately made it fail.
• Butt-Monkey: Poor Kevin is outperformed in every competition, one of which messed up his own closet, and on top of that, after Mark is out of the house, a lot of the remaining houseguests treat him like crap behind his back, no thanks to Alex's bitchy ranting about how he sucks poisoning their minds. Contrast Paul, who is The Ace, but still subject to some humiliation.
• False Friend: Both these guys pretend to be on your side, but never really are.
• Odd Name Out: Kevin is the only person who never has a true alliance beyond Paul, and even that is doubtful by the end of the game, because while Kevin is loyal to Paul to a fault, Paul is gunning for him once all of his perfunctory targets are gone, knowing that Josh and Christmas can't stand him.
• Only Friend:
  • Paul and Kevin are this to each other. Kevin recognizes that he's probably not going to make it to the end and allows Paul to carry him as long and as far as possible until there's nowhere further he can go, and knows Paul is probably going to drop him at fourth place (in favor of his personal Final 3), which he does.
  • Zig-Zagged with Jason and Kevin. Jason seemed like he was the only person who had Kevin's back... but a certain rape joke from this cowboy was so over-the-top and noxious for some Moral Guardians (Jason was joking that if Kevin betrayed him, he'd fuck Kevin's wife and tie up all his dogs- possibly slang for kids- and make them watch) it sullied live feeders opinions' of Jason (even if it was just a joke).
• Only Sane Man: Kevin, due to being the only person who isn't any shade of bitter whatsoever on the Jury, how he consistently ends up being the voice of reason with hints of being the Meta Guy when he points out how irrational everyone else is acting, and the man who absolutely hates how messy the youths made the house after "Hide and Go Veto".
• Playing Both Sides: Paul sides with alliances and pretends to be their ally, but when the cards are on the table, it's himself whom he looks out for above all others.
• Wild Card: Kevin sides with anybody so long as they're easy to get along with. But not Jody, for that reason alone. Meanwhile, Paul pretends to side with you, but his Hidden Agenda is to always make the move that will guarantee he moves closer to the endgame.