Big Brother 20 prediction: Our preseason winner pick is…

Figuring out the preseason winner pick for Big Brother 20 was not a particularly easy thing to do. While there are a number of interesting people in the cast this season, including a few real possible contenders for the win, nobody really screams “I’m going to dominate this game.” There are people who think that they have a specific skill set who will do well in it, but they all are missing something. Steve, for example, seems to think that being a former undercover cop will help him, but the fact that he is older than everyone else is going to make him an obvious target as it always does. Meanwhile, Brett’s attempts to lie about his job (basically, he’s a hacker for the good guys) will probably work in the early going, but we don’t think he’s got the background in bluffing/lying necessary to really carry him to the end.

We often come up with different lists of players we like through various phases of the pre-game whether it be the CBS bios, the interviews on the live feeds (this time hosted by Ross Mathews), or some of the other video interviews conducted before the game. After the bios, for example, we were really high on Sam Bledsoe and Chris a.k.a. Swaggy C — that faded a little bit after seeing their interviews with Ross, where they came across more as characters and less as winner contenders. Meanwhile, we came out of the Ross interviews really impressed with Rachel Swindler and her knowledge of the game. Yet, her other interviews have us thinking more that she’s going to struggle to connect with some of the other players who don’t have the sort of performing history that she does.

(Of course, there are some people who have zero chance of winning, and we’ve documented some of them as possible first-boot candidates.)

What really surprises us about our winner pick this year is that it is someone who came across as complete milk-toast in the pre-game bio and a poor man’s Matthew Clines. Now, he actually seems like the guy that Matt Clines could dream to be.

Winston Hines is our pre-game winner pick

We’re totally fine flip-flopping on our original perception of him as the boring generic dude with a slight southern accent, mostly because he comes off totally different in video form that he does on paper. He’s charming but at the same time competitive, and while he has a good sense of humor, he’s not obnoxious or over-the-top. He’s not seeking approval or to be this big character; he’s also not seeking a showmance. He’s there to win the game and seems to understand the game enough to go for it. He doesn’t want to win a lot in the early going, but he seems physical enough to be rather good at the competitions down the line.

One of the things that really sold us on his comes via his pre-game interview with Ika Wong over at ET Canada (which CarterMatt has for you to watch below), where he carries on a really good conversation with her and showcases his strategic thinking with someone else who also understands the game. He reminds us a little bit of Hayden Moss, except less of an overt bro, with then also Jon Pardy from Big Brother Canada thrown in there. We could see him making a really close alliance with someone and then cutting them down the line, and his background in sales should help him emphasize some of the things that other players probably want to hear from him.

Winston’s got a great chance, and after seeing his interviews all of a sudden his quirks (we still don’t get the writing love notes to his dog) seem like just that rather than a definition of who he is.

Check out the video below for more insight — also, subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for more thoughts.

Who do you want to see win Big Brother 20? Be sure to share right now in the comments!

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