'Big Brother' premiere recap: Temptations revealed as Paul Abrahamian returns and Cameron Heard evicted!

Big Brother premiered its nineteenth season with a jam-packed, two-hour episode featuring twists, temptations, a competition, and even an eviction.


Big Brother evicted its first houseguest, Cameron Heard, a 24-year-old microbiologist from North Aurora, IL, who currently resides in Woodridge, IL, through an 8-3-2 vote on Day 1 of the season.

Christmas Abbott, a 35-year-old fitness enthusiast from Lynchburg, VA, who currently resides in Raleigh, NC, and Jillian Parker, a 24-year-old timeshare sales representative from Celebration, FL, who currently resides in Las Vegas, NV, were also on the chopping block but managed to survive the eviction. Jillian received three of the votes, while Christmas earned herself only two.

"Only being in here for 12 hours really breaks my heart," Cameron, a Big Brother "Super Fan," said in his final words of living in the house. "I'm really disappointed in myself. I should've held on longer in that challenge. I took a gamble on an apple. You put me in a house with crazy people, I swear!"

Big Brother premiered with the 16 houseguests moving into the house four people at a time and host Julie Chen explaining this would be a summer of temptation, and in the debut episode alone, the houseguests would be tempted with money, safety and power. However, with every taken temptation comes risk and consequence.


Julie told the houseguests this will be the "biggest, wildest, most tempting summer ever in the history of the game."

The first temptation was a whopping $25,000. The houseguests were required to sit in pods so they couldn't see one another, and the first person to hit his or her button would receive the money. That person would remain anonymous.

Julie explained that if a person chose to take the money, a twist would be unleashed on the entire house as well as a personal consequence for the person who became $25,000 richer.

Kevin Schlehuber, a 55-year-old stay-at-home dad from Boston, MA, pressed hit button to take the money. He soon learned he would not be eligible to win the first Head of Household competition because he'd be forced to throw it.

As for the twist unleashed on the house, Julie welcomed back Paul Abrahamian, the loud and quirky runner-up from Season 18 who was a fan-favorite player and became known for his motto of "friendship."


The houseguests' reaction to Paul's presence was mixed, as Cameron, for example, liked having a more obvious target in the house than himself. Cody Nickson, a 32-year-old construction sales representative from Lake Mills, IA, who currently resides in Plano, TX, on the other hand, didn't like Paul at all and thought he was sneaky. Cody couldn't wait to backdoor him.

Julie then announced to the group that Paul would be taking one of the cast member's places in the game in the first-ever "Big Brother Swap." Julie revealed that someone would be evicted that very night and Paul would stay no matter what.

That's when the second temptation of safety came in. Julie gave Paul a box of nine friendship bracelets, one for himself and eight for his friends.

Paul was told he could hand them out to any eight houseguests of his choice, and receiving a bracelet signified immunity from eviction. Julie told the houseguests they must tempt Paul to pick them, which resulted in quick deals made, persuasive conversations and even cheese sandwiches.

Paul decided he was going to split the bracelets between guys and girls to be fair, adding in a couple of nerds and a couple of beasts into the pot of soup he claimed to be stirring.


Paul ultimately gave his friendship bracelets to Kevin Schlehuber, a 55-year-old stay-at-home dad from Boston, MA; Raven Walton, a 23-year-old dance teacher from DeValls Bluff, AR; Dominique Cooper, a 30-year-old government engineer from Tuskegee, AL, who currently resides in Woodbridge, VA; and Mark Jansen, a 26-year-old personal trainer from Grand Island, NY.

Jason Dent, a 37-year-old rodeo clown from Humeston, IA; Jessica Graf, a 26-year-old VIP concierge from Cranston, RI, who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA; Elena Davies a 26-year-old radio personality from Fort Worth, TX, who currently resides in Dallas, TX; and Ramses Soto, a 21-year-old cosplay artist from Grand Rapids, MI, also each received a bracelet.

Josh Martinez, a 23-year-old in hair care sales from Miami, FL, who currently resides in Homestead, FL, was convinced that Paul wanted to work with him and so he didn't hand him a bracelet in order for them to appear disconnected. Josh thought it was a solid plan and he trusted Paul.

As a result of Paul's decisions, the rest of the houseguests were told they'd have a chance to save themselves by competing for safety in a competition. Three individuals would end up on the chopping block by the end of the competition.

The players who had to compete were Cody; Cameron; Jillian; Christmas; Josh; Matthew Clines, a 33-year-old renovation consultant from Arlington, VA; Megan Lowder, a 28-year-old dog walker from Cathedral City, CA, who currently resides in Phoenix, AZ; and Alex Ow, a 28-year-old eco-friendly marketing representative from Thousand Oaks, CA, who currently resides in Camarillo, CA.


For the competition, the participating houseguest were required to spread their legs on a trapeze and hold onto a single rope in front of them in order to balance and hang on for as long as possible.

If a person fell off the trapeze, he or she must pick an apple in the grasp of serpents around the "Garden of Eden." Three of the available apples were poisoned, and the houseguests to choose those particular apples would be up for eviction.

Throughout the challenge, Julie read clues so the houseguests knew which apples to steer towards or away from, meaning the longer a houseguest held on, the better his or her chance to choose a good apple. The last person left standing on the trapeze would be safe from the upcoming vote.

Jillian was out of the competition first, and she was soon followed by Megan, Cameron and Christmas. Both Cameron and Christmas dropped so that they wouldn't be viewed as really tough competitors this early on.

After an hour, only three houseguests remained in the competition: Matt, Alex and Cody. In the end, Cody won and secured himself safety for the night. After the other houseguests tore open their apples, everyone learned Christmas, Cameron and Jillian were in jeopardy of going home.


Julie then explained the third temptation, power, would be coming into play. The temptation was only offered to Jillian, Cameron and Christmas.

The three players could choose whether they wanted their fate in the game to be determined by their peers -- meaning the houseguests would vote to evict, per usual -- or by themselves. If the players wanted to determine their own fate in the game, they'd have to battle it out in another competition, and the loser goes home.

Cameron wanted to compete, both of the girls decided they wanted the houseguests to vote out someone.

Christmas' decision was surprising since she's extremely strong and athletic, but she said she wanted to see where the houseguests stood. Jillian's choice made sense because she didn't think she could beat Christmas in a physical competition. Cameron hated the idea that the game was out of his hands at this point.

Paul was told he would only vote in the case of a tie, and at the end of Day 1, Cameron was voted out with eight eviction votes.

The episode concluded with Julie revealing the upcoming "Den of Temptation" twist in which America will be able to choose a houseguest to enter the "den" and be offered a temptation.


Once a houseguest is offered something in the den, he or she will not be able to receive a future temptation. The first temptation will be the "Pendant of Protection" that will keep one houseguest safe from eviction for three weeks. But again, this temptation will come with a sacrifice or consequence.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski