Big Brother Season 16 Finale Recap: Undercover Mission Complete, Cop Wins Big Brother

Derrick Levasseur the 30-year-old Police Sergeant from Providence, RI took home the $500,000 prize and was named Big Brother 16 Winner. The 90 minute episode was jam packed from showing us the final HOH competitions, the jury voting meeting with special guest moderator Season Two winner Dr. Will Kirby, the return of all 16 houseguests with secrets being revealed, besides finding out the winner of the game we found out who America's Favorite Houseguest was and Donny Thompson took home the $25,000 prize. Cody Calafiore the 23-year-old Sales Account Executive from Howell, NJ came as the runner up and took home the $50,000 prize. Derrick's game play can now be debated as one of the greats. However let me breakdown and recap what happened last night on the finale.

The Hitmen Face Off

A battle of endurance was squaring off in the first of the three-part HOH competition to determine who would be the final HOH, giving them the soul power to decide who they'd want to take to the final two. Cody, Derrick and Victoria were hanging out for their life in the game to win the first competition. In no surprise, Victoria was the first to drop. Before going into the competition, Cody & Derrick discussed who would try and win which competition. With their prior knowledge of Big Brother competitions from seasons past, knew the first would be an endurance then second being a memory timed challenge and the final competition being a trivia challenge on what the jury would say. Cody was set on winning the endurance, however Derrick wanted to hold on and try to win for himself even though both of them discussed that Cody should win it. Cody felt a little frustrated that Derrick wasn't holding up his end but Derrick finally did let go, giving Cody the win and sending him to the final of the three-part HOH competition.

Meanwhile for the second competition it was Derrick versus Victoria. The second part HOH competition involved correctly putting the evicted houseguests with whom they were nominated with in order from the past 12 weeks. A daunting task of climbing a wall, unveiling each houseguests along with some characters from the season (OTEV Penguin, Squirrel, Zingbot to name a few) and to win it have the fastest time. Victoria had been nominated 9 of the twelve weeks so clearly she should have an advantage in the competition. But speed and accuracy was key. Derrick had completed the puzzle in almost half the time it took Victoria giving him the win, which meant Derrick, would square off against Cody in the third part of the finale HOH competition.

BB Jury Bitterness?

I was excited to see Big Brother season two winner, Dr. Will Kirby moderating the jury's discussion on voting for the winner of the season. From the segment it was clear that Cody & Derrick were the most discussed. However Dr. Will did give some credit to Victoria in making it to the final three but the other houseguests weren't really looking to give her a vote to win. However the minister herself Jocasta and Beast Mode Cowboy Caleb admitted if Victoria were in the final two they would give her their vote. Surprising but those two houseguests definitely marched to their own tune. Frankie was clearly upset still for his elimination and frankly he shouldn't be as bitter as he looked to be. The game is Big Brother and its surprising to hear and see the clips from the discussion how the jury was a little bitter. But in leading up to the finale it seemed as though the jury was carefree. I guess when the pressure finally set in that they were choosing the winner, the memories of their own eviction came flooding back and how their chance for the half million-dollar prize was gone. Bitter or not, the jury was still waiting for their ninth member, as that person would be revealed on finale night.

Cody's Two $500k Mistakes

It literally was a close battle between Cody and Derrick in the third part of the final HOH competition, where they had to correctly guess what the jury would say for their chance to be in the final two and decide who they would take to the finale. It looked to be Derrick's competition to win, but Cody was also in it to win it, which led to a tiebreaker question. The tiebreaker question being, "How long in minutes from start to finish did it take for Cody to win the first part of the final HOH competition?" Both Derrick and Cody were close to the number, however since the question was about one of them, Cody by luck was closest and won the final HOH competition. Which would mean he had the sole vote and decision of who he would take to the final two.

This is where Cody made one of his half million dollar mistakes. Cody could easily win the game by taking Victoria to the final two or square off against his Hitmen alliance member Derrick but the votes could be close. Cody ended up going with Derrick, which meant Victoria would be the final juror in deciding who would win the game. With the jury brought outside the Big Brother house with Julie Chen, they were not surprised to see Victoria coming as the final juror member. But the jury's reaction to Cody winning the final HOH was priceless as it looked as though they assumed Derrick would win it.

Cody's other mistake was his responses to the questions that jury had. Cody was acknowledged as a puppet while Derrick was seen as the puppet master and Cody took it as a compliment but also a little hurt by the comment. A true game player would realize when they were being played, however Cody was clearly blinded by his own loyalty to Derrick. Cody never mentioned how he got out a certain player or how he played the game, his answers were always "we," meaning him and Derrick. Which goes to show how much of a puppet Cody really was because there can only be one winner of Big Brother and sadly for Cody it wouldn't be him.

Secrets Revealed & America's Favorite Houseguest Is Revealed

After the jury interrogated Cody and Derrick, gave the final case, the jury cast their votes for the winner. Before the announcement we were introduced to the first five evicted houseguests. Or as our Michigander, Big Brother Season 10 winner and Season 14 runner-up had tweeted:

Surprisingly even with an additional 30 minutes, there just wasn't enough time to talk with the first five evictees as there were secrets that were revealed in what was pitched as "The Most Twisted Summer." The first reveal was Team America, who was in it, what they did and were shown clips from their completed missions. Sadly they didn't recognize that Joey was the first member, but really she didn't get the chance, as she was the first sent home, which paved the way for Derrick, Donny & Frankie. The jury members and Zach finally saw who really took their personal belongings. The second secret revealed was Derrick being a Cop and going "undercover," in the Big Brother house. Julie Chen even showed a clip from his casting audition video about how he was going to use it as a strategy for the game. Which by that time there was no chance for the jury to change their vote, but I don't think it really would have mattered.

After the winner was announced, Julie then announced the winner of the $25,000 prize as America's Favorite Houseguests. There was over 10 million votes cast and the top three were Donny, Nicole and Zach. However Donny had received half of those votes (5 million) to be crowed the winner. So you could say this is another blunder for Cody because not only did Donny win the $25K but he had also earned $15K from completing Team America missions as well as a guest role on "The Bold & The Beautiful." Which it's pretty clear the Groundskeeper did better than the runner-up. But I may just be rubbing salt to Cody's wounds now.

How Derrick won the game

It's pretty clear how Derrick won this game. However if you've been living under a rock here's how he did it. Derrick being a Police Sergeant had prior experience as an undercover cop and used that as the base of his strategy coming into the Big Brother house. Derrick aligned himself with everyone in the house, not posing as a threat to any of them, however also making sure when it came to evictions getting the least "blood on his hands," or at least flack form the evicted houseguests and especially jury members. Derrick's influence with the houseguests showed how well he played his social game, as he was never nominated, until the finale due to losing the final HOH competition, for eviction. He used that as his base to the jury as to why he should win, even though many jury members during the discussion couldn't really pinpoint a definitive decision that was solely his own on people's evictions. But Derrick did get himself to the finals at Cody's expense and showed how he got his "puppet," to take him to the finals. Though Derrick in answering Victoria's question would have also taken Cody to the final two and breaking his deal with Victoria. Theory aside, Derrick won this game in the fourth non-unanimous vote of the season, by a vote of 7-2.

So after 97 days of Big Brother it came to a close. "But First," as Julie Chen will say, CBS announced that they've renewed Big Brother for two more seasons! Which means not only can you try out next year or the following year. However for many Big Brother Super Fans predict another All Star Season. For now, apply on www.bigbrothercasting.tv, watch past seasons to study from past winners, prepare for the Open Calls which will most likely be announced sometime early next year and come back next summer to watch Big Brother 17!

For now it's been a pleasure recapping, thanks to CBS Detroit 62 for the opportunity and hopefully we'll see some more Michiganders on the show and apply the next two seasons!

Mark Drum is a Farmington Hills, MI native and Big Brother fan since 2000. Mark is a graduate from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Theatre Arts. Connect with Mark! Blogspot / Twitter / Facebook / Email