I thought Ryan had the edge. Despite Ryan's botched beginnings — spurred along by his girlfriend, Jen — watching the last few weeks of Big Brother 9 one must concede that Ryan held the upper hand when it came to game control and strategy. He had his embedded micro-plans and he masterfully kept to them — playing all sides simultaneously: Joshuah, Natalie, Sharon, Sheila, Adam, even James — almost effortlessly. He won many of the competitions with equal flair.

By David W. Taylor (Email The Author)
Reality Reel Media
04.29.08

Adam, even while HOH, appeared ill at ease. He second-guessed his own decisions and appeared to be spending half his time profusely apologizing for them. Yet in the end it was Adam who showed his strength: being able to solidly and convincingly communicate his answers to the Jury. Now it was Ryan who stumbled and sweated.

Both finalists sat on the couch before the inquisition and oozed that mischievous masculine bravado. After the questions began rolling in, their demeanor changed immediately. Adam, however, held his stuff together. Ryan looked nervous and ill-prepared. In a simple question about how he was going to spend his $500K winnings (and here I agree with James: who cares?) Ryan almost totally choked.

After Adam handed in an impressive performance hawking the virtues of giving $100,000 to a children's after-school cause, Ryan said he was going to give money to his mother, Jen, "myself" and some vague, unnamed "charity." He seemed to be uncharacteristically following Adam's lead, rather than building his own. He started to sweat and he looked very uncomfortable. The words stuck in his throat: "...make some good out of my money that, you know, um, you know, that I got here because like I said that's a lot of money, you know, I, I, um, the best that I can do with it, you know..."

His staunchest ally on the jury, Joshuah, said, "That was the worst answer ever..." And it really was. It stunk.

With that, Adam's confidence rose. He spoke forcefully in staking out his claim to the grand prize yet never belittled his "bro-mance" partner. Ryan attempted to regain his composure, licking his lips, but it was simply a case of too little, too late. He had no eloquence whatsoever. He was gasping for relevance.

In comparison, Adam's verbal bellicosity seemed grandiose and delightful. He thundered and gestured wildly (as usual) yet looked vulnerable. His passion upset Joshuah — which I'm sure the Jury relished — who bitchily wagged his finger at Adam, saying, "Screaming at the TV screen is not going to help you any...you need to talk to us with respect...so quit doing that right off the bat, OK?" Adam, again, apologized. But it made Joshuah seem petty and out-of-touch. Doesn't he know A. Baller by now?

Of course it was probably not lost on anyone how outrageous it was for Joshuah to be criticizing Adam, this Jersey-boy, for simply being animated and talking too loud. Joshuah certainly did his fair share of dispatching horrendous, and deafening, personal attacks upon fellow cast members. That he should be the one now applying rules of etiquette was utterly hilarious.

And due to this, and Joshuah's continued harangues against Adam, Adam's stock went up and Joshuah's (and Ryan's) went south. When Adam made an honest assessment of his final HOH Competition effort, defending himself against charges that he threw it, he stated emphatically, "I don't care what anybody believes in that jury house..." Joshuah came back, "Oh really?" but he made that comment in a vacuum. There was no rampant support.