Hello, fellow Canadians and all you international fans who just can’t get enough Big Brother! It’s time for a new season of our favourite show! Now, this is my first go around for BBCan, so go easy on me. Only one episode in, and I’m already hooked. And no wonder; this tonight’s episode boasts a season full of high roller stakes and wild cards.

Yes, we’ve entered the BBCan Grand, a wondrous casino-themed wonderland. I already like the place better than the usual American house. It’s huge, and bright, and colourful – everything you’d expect from a Vegas hotel. Amazing. Even the Have Not room goes with the theme, though I wouldn’t want to have to live there. We only get a very brief glimpse of it, but it looks like a chapel, complete with hard, wooden pews to sleep on.

But enough about the house, let’s get to the contestants, shall we?

Dallas – a welder from New Brunswick. I take an immediate liking to him. He seems like a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, and like me, he can’t handle people who think they’re better than others. He does sort of resemble Spencer, from Season 15 of BBUS, but hopefully he won’t turn out to have Spencer’s personality.

Cassandra – and of course, to answer Dallas’s comment about hating holier-than-thou people, we get Cassandra, who clearly thinks she’s hot stuff. She doesn’t come out and actually admit that she’s a diva, but it’s very clear from the way she gleefully brags about the fact that she’s made her family her slaves. She doesn’t have to do anything because they do everything for her. And I think I’ve already got my pick for the first evicted house guest.

Maddy – they really don’t spend a lot of time on her, which makes me wonder if she’s a little boring, but she’s a self-proclaimed gym rat. Most of her intro is filled with shots of her working out to show that she’s going to be a beast in comps. We’ll see.

Philippe – and of course we need to follow Maddy with a dude who loves athletic girls. Phil is a DJ and a hockey nut who admits that his downfall will be women. It’s hard to tell how he’ll fare. He’s a good-looking guy, so I’m sure the girls will love him. As long as he doesn’t turn into Caleb or Austin, he could be ok. He seems like more of a Clay though. Or maybe a Cody.

Sharry – a bilingual customer service provider. She spends most of her intro talking about her relationship with her girlfriend, which I find really sweet. She wants to win this for both of them.

These first five people go into the house, and I already like them a lot better than the contestants on the American show. Why? No constant screaming. They just walk into the house and show their excitement by looking around. See guys? We don’t need to scream and pierce the audience’s ear drums just because we’re excited. The other interesting thing I find is that instead of staking out bedrooms, they all immediately go to the kitchen, and Dallas gets started making drinks for everyone. I’m impressed.

Raul – a fashion stylist who wants this season to be a giant fashion show. I love this guy already. He’s all about his family, which I find really endearing. I do worry that he may be one of the first to get homesick though.

Loveita – a strong woman from Alberta. She worked in the oil industry, so she knows how to get dirty. She looks fearless. I immediately take a liking to her because she’s clearly physically and mentally strong. I could be wrong, but she seems like the kind of person who is just real and isn’t afraid to be herself.

Joel – a musical theatre actor from Edmonton. He’s clearly the Canadian Steve. He’s extremely geeky – complete with bowtie – and he admits he’s never had a girlfriend. He knows that he’s not going to be good at comps. I really hope people will find him endearing, because he’s pretty awkward. His social game may suffer. But then again, I thought the same thing about Steve, and look how he turned out. Maybe Joel will have the same kind of luck.

Jared – a true country boy. He says girls love his hair – and he’d be right. I fully admit that he’s got nicer hair than I do. I may be a little jealous. He also considers himself charming. He seems likable enough. At this point, I’m not sure if he’s got it in him to win, but he seems like he could make enough friends to last awhile.

Kelsey – a flight attendant and bartender from Calgary. She says she’s boy crazy and loves big strong guys. Pretty sure she and Jared will start something up. Other than that, I’m not sure about her. I feel like she could rub some of the other girls the wrong way.

Paige – an outdoorsy girl from Thunder Bay. She hunts and traps and goes snowmobiling, but she’s bad at math. Currently, she’s trying to convert hours to minutes to seconds. Seriously. She’s cute, but I’m not sure how much is up in that head of hers. She could be fun to watch.

Mitch – a Youtube personality from Guelph. I’d never heard of this guy, so I watched a couple of his videos, and I’m already hooked. He and his partner have a Youtube channel called ASAPScience, and it’s really interesting. Based on what I saw in the videos, this guy is really likable and intelligent. Love him already. He says that his biggest challenge in the house will be super bros.

Ramsey – and cue the super bro. This guy calls himself charismatic, talking about going out to the bars in Toronto – though he doesn’t drink. He’s obviously very proud of his heritage, which is pretty cool, though I’m not sure I like this guy. Based on first impressions, he seems a little bit self-centred.

Christine – the oldest of the group. She’s 47 and had kids when she was really young. Most of her life has been about the kids, and now it’s time for her. She’s ready to cougar it up. I want her to do well in the game because she’s so much older than the rest of the house guests. I hope her age won’t alienate her from everyone else.

Now that everyone is in the house, they get the party started. Someone insists that Joel be the one to open the bottle of wine – I’m assuming to help him feel included, maybe? And it doesn’t go super well for him. He was right about not having muscles. It takes him quite a bit of time to open the thing, and I think the whole experience might have been more embarrassing than anything else. Or maybe I’m just projecting my own feelings onto him.

Afterward, we get to see a few introductions, and immediately, Maddy thinks that Kelsey is fake. I could totally see the house divided between these two girls, some friends of Maddy and some friends of Kelsey. Or maybe these two will become the best of friends. I can’t wait to find out which will happen. Kelsey, for now, doesn’t even seem to notice Maddy’s dislike of her. Her attention is all on Jared, as predicted.

And now we get our first twist. It turns out that Phil’s brother, Nick, will be joining the house, but neither brother knows that the other is there until they’re face to face with each other. They pretend they don’t know each other when Nick enters the house, but Arisa quickly lets everyone in on the secret. Then she drops the next bomb: these two will be acting as one contestant. If one is evicted, they both go. If one wins, they split the winnings. Only one can participate in competitions, alternating each week, and they only get one vote between them. This week, Nick gets to compete.

Which brings us to the first HoH challenge of the season! It’s called One Night Stand, and the premise is that the house guests have to stand on a platform around a pool while holding a rope coming from the centre of the fountain. After so much time has passed, they’ll move to a smaller section of platform, and then to an even smaller one. If they fall or let go of the rope, they lose. The last one standing wins the first HOH. The twist is that, before the challenge, the house guests had to vote on who they thought would be the first one out and who they thought would win the challenge. Everyone thinks Joel will be the first one out, but if he can prove them wrong, he’ll be safe for the week. Nick is voted the most likely winner of the challenge, and if he doesn’t win, he and Phil will have to spend the night secluded away from everyone else. No pressure, Nick.

Kelsey immediately starts flirting with Jared, until things start to get real. The platforms are small and wet, and the water from the fountain is freezing. Luckily for Joel, Cassandra, lamenting over the fact that the water is ruining her makeup, takes herself out of the challenge first. And now that he’s safe for the week, Joel takes himself out too. Why stick around when you’re already safe? Dallas falls next, followed by Christine, Paige and Maddy after they have to move down the smallest piece of platform.

Nick knows that he’s got to win this for himself and his brother, but it’s just not in the cards for him. The rope starts to pull tight, and before long, he falls into the fountain, taking Sharry with him. Poor girl. It kind of looks like it hurt. After that, just about everyone else quits the challenge. All save for Jared and Loveita. He offers to give in if she keeps him safe, and she agrees. And thus, our first HoH is Loveita!

We don’t get to see much of the house guests after that, but we do get a glimpse of the four international house guests who are vying for spots inside the house. We’ve got Nikki, from the UK, who says she can’t control her mouth and apparently is great at offending people, Veronica from Italy, who used to be a Playboy model, Jase from the US, who was an American All Star and the first to be backdoored, and Tim, from Australia, who is hilariously obnoxious. Our job now is to vote for one guy and one girl to enter the house, and I’ve already cast my vote. I’m guessing we’ll get Nikki for her unpredictable nature, and Jase, since he’s American and therefore probably more well-known than Tim. I’ve watched a tiny bit of Australian BB though, and Tim is hilarious. I really want to see him in the house. Please vote for him!

And that’s about it for the night! Who will be the first evicted house guest? And which two international house guests will get to move in? Who do you want to move in? Let me know!

P.S. I will try to have these articles up as soon as I can after each episode. However, I work two jobs, and sometimes my second one conflicts with the show, so they may be a little bit late sometimes. My recap for tomorrow’s show will probably be out on Saturday. But I promise to try really hard to stay on top of things.

– This article and other Big Brother-related stuff by the estimable Rebecca Griffin