‘Big Brother 18’ finale: Julie Chen on Nicole Franzel’s win over Paul Abrahamian (CBS backyard interview)

Here is something that we don’t often get in the backyard: A “Big Brother” interview with Julie Chen in the backyard! She visited Jeff Schroeder for a brief chat on CBS All Access, and we’ve transcribed a few of her answers below.

On the outcome, with Nicole winning over Paul – “I was a little surprise. I thought going into tonight’s live show that Paul had it in the bag … Ultimately when I saw it was Paul vs. Nicole, I had my own little nerdy little calculations … [Paul’s] final statement was good, but he didn’t handle those questions. I would love to ask the jurors [if they flipped the votes], but maybe.”

On favorite moments – “Seeing Victor repeatedly win and get back in the game. He never played the game with any bitterness or hard feelings … Seeing him win America’s Favorite Houseguest was very rewarding.”

On “Over the Top” – She said there were 12 new houseguests plus one returning houseguest, and confirmed that you will get to vote for the winner as a viewing public. There will also be some twists along the way. there is also a new ceremony called the Safety Ceremony that will take place every weekend, but it’s not entirely clear how it will work.

As previously reported, Jozea Flores and Jason Roy are going to compete via America’s vote for a chance to play again. Odds are, this is going to be Jason’s game to lose given that America seems to really be in his corner on this already. We do at least concede that Jozea would bring some hot-mess goodness to the table.

You can get some other news when it comes to the “Big Brother” finale over here. Also, sign up over here to get some other TV news on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)