Big Brother 13 Finale Recap: Is Rachel Reilly the Comeback Kid?

This season of Big Brother was one of many twists.

At times too many. The golden keys. The duo format. The one-week return of the duo format. It all felt a little convoluted at times - even by BB standards.

Things really picked up in recent weeks, however, beginning with the double eviction mayhem that ousted both Daniele and Jeff, making it anyone's game.

At that point, the Big Brother 13 house was essentially Rachel Reilly and a crew of true floaters. America's Most Hated was somehow in the driver's seat.

Not that Rache was undeserving. She came in as a painful Big Brother villain of yesteryear (okay, last year). But she was always a fierce competitor, and had morphed into someone who actually understands the social elements!

In short, as we noted weeks ago, she could really win this thing!

IF she could make it happen and win the final Head of Household battle against Adam Poch and Porsche Briggs, Big Brother 13 was hers to lose. But did she?

She did. Rachel won part one, then part three against Porsche, then chose to face off against Porsche for the $500,000 prize, henceforth evicting Adam.

"If I was in the final two, I would've won," Adam said, hilariously, to Julie Chen. He's a likable dude, but going up against Rachel, that's a dubious claim.

In any event, it came down to a jury vote between Rachel and Porsche, who may not even understand how the game works, but did deserve to be there.

She floated for half the season, but really turned it up of late. Not the best strategist, no, but a mid-level contestant who opportunistically caught fire.

"I hope you see something good in me also to compete in life and do something good with it," Porsche pleaded with the jury, somewhat convincingly.

In truth, the seven-member panel likely saw this as an easy call. Brendon was going with his Boo-Key, and Jeff and Jordan were clearly on Team Rachel.

That meant Porsche needed everyone else. Kalia and Dani were locks to vote for her, and did so. Adam also did, for reasons unknown, knotting it at 3-3.

Shelly Moore was the dealbreaker for Porsche in the end. Despite issues with Rachel, Shelly voted with her brain and handed the redhead a half million.

It's hard not to be mildly annoyed at this, given her cattiness the last two summers. At the same time, would you have preferred Adam or Porsche win?

Rachel Reilly deserves due credit for doing more than win absurd games to control power. She formed alliances and kept the peace from mid-August on.

Meanwhile, Jeff won $25,000 as America's Favorite Houseguest, which fans voted for online. That was far less of a surprise than Rachel winning it all.

What do you think of Reilly's triumph, which seemed impossible a few months ago? Did the jury make the right call? Did Rachel deserve to win BB13?