‘Big Brother 16’ review: The fall and rise of Zingbot, and a distaste for Team America

Tonight’s episode of “Big Brother 16” was like the show’s equivalent of zinging us. Maybe we are just too invested in the show at this point, because this is starting to get at least on the same insufferable level to watch as parts of last season. Then again, at least then it felt like there were opportunities for people like McCrae or Judd to sneak to the end most of the summer.

The first problem that we had with this episode as simply a matter of Zingbot not being the same Zingbot we know and love; instead, we had Kathy Griffin. We typically like Kathy Griffin at least once a year, and that is when she’s trolling Anderson Cooper on New Year’s Eve. However, she actually felt even more robotic than Zingbot here, and there were some moments in the house where it didn’t even seem like she knew who everyone was. (She struggled to pinpoint Zach at one point.) Some of the zings after the Veto, when he was “rebooted” and started saying nice things, were pretty good, especially the one about Cody making an enemy in Christine’s husband. We at least chucked at Donny’s, mostly because it’s kind of true.

In the end though, the return of Zingbot could not make up for what came next. Team America has messed up this season in so many ways, and the one that we hate the most is that it has turned Frankie and Derrick into very two-faced players. While Dan Gheesling, Evel Dick, Dr. Will, and other greats would own their game in the Diary Room while acting evil within the game, these two keep to put on this nice “Hay America” persona while doing some pretty terrible things in the game. It’s like they are playing a game with us, and expect us to be so stupid that we cannot see what they are up to. Well, we’re not.

The entire fallout and the blaming of the Zach as saboteur would probably be great television if we weren’t so biased, but the problem is that the two-faced behavior of the other players makes us biased to Zach. It’s just sad to see the guy be consistently framed, and then have a show that is right now being completely inaccurate from what is happening on the live feeds. It’s almost like they are too afraid of their own Team America twist to paint either Frankie or Derrick in a negative light, even though the two have said and done way worse things than anything that Zach has, and yet he’s the one made out to be chump.

He’s backdoored, he’ll probably be going out the door tomorrow, and we can only hope that he finds a way to go back in. Something needs to happen to shake up this season, since other than Donny, there really will not be anyone else to root for. Grade: D+ (it would be lower if it wasn’t for Zingbot).

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Photo: CBS