Paloma is out of BB24 after a week of conducting Big Brother’s ‘Taylor Hate Train’

“I’ve never seen this on Big Brother. Something’s up, something’s wrong,” Paloma said in a conversation with fellow BB24 houseguests, and about that, this season’s instant villain was right.

But after a week of being the cause of so much that was wrong, including targeting Taylor and acting strangely, Paloma is out of the house, and not because she was evicted or voted out of the game.

Late Wednesday night, the live feeds were turned off (as they were many times as Paloma spoke, such as when she started saying, “I understand Terrance is Black…”).

Hamsterwatch reported that “shortly after that, a source informed me that Paloma was gone, out of the house and the game. Whether medical or voluntary elimination, I don’t know and we may never know. If medical, there are privacy issues for the show to consider.”

The live feeds have not yet returned as of mid-morning Thursday, so Paloma’s exit has not been confirmed there. But that they’re still down is a clear sign that something is amiss.

Update: Paloma’s exit was confirmed on the live episode Thursday night, with Daniel reading a card that said Paloma left “due to a personal matter.” Then houseguests cried and prayed together. That followed several segments edited to center Paloma with kindness.

Earlier: Paloma’s exit seems to have been in the works for a while, foreshadowed when Kyle told Ameerah, “I know they were having a conversation with her” and then the feeds were cut.

Diagnosing people we’re watching on TV or live feeds is never a good idea, but I think it’s fair to say Paloma’s behavior grew increasingly erratic and concerning.

“I have an idea: We should all wear our finale outfits, boycott this shit, and leave so we can know it’s not a simulation. Self-evict,” she said on Tuesday. “I thought I was going to eject—sorry, I’m really thinking I’m in a simulation right now.”

She told other houseguests she’d win and split the money with them, which is explicitly against Big Brother’s rules.

During one wild conversation, Paloma said, “whatever higher power is watching us—anyway they’re pissed, because my checkmate. I’m like, I couldn’t just take that $750,000 and run with it and be like Sorry, you guys, how every Big Brother turns out. I want all 16 of us…”

She was interrupted by other houseguests who told her not to talk about splitting the money, and reminded her that she was being recorded. She told them, “I already figured a way around that. No, listen, they can’t change this. They’re writing that to me, you guys. It’s only going to have one name: Paloma Agular.”

Paloma’s BB24 ‘Taylor Hate Train’

Earlier—and they’ve all only been in the house one week, so this happened fast—Paloma was, as Hamsterwatch wrote, “the conductor” of the “Taylor Hate Train.”

Hamsterwatch said Big Brother “hasn’t had a villain of this caliber for years. But she’s not a ‘love to hate’ type villain, she’s just awful.”

That behavior ranged from Alyssa and Paloma calling Taylor “pageant girl” to Paloma suggesting Taylor would “burn you like an evil witch,” among many other things.

But most egregiously, Paloma raged a campaign against Taylor, and the rest of the house jumped on board.

Hamsterwatch recapped how some of this began, with Taylor telling Monte, “Paloma’s telling everyone she wants to target the guys,” which actually did happen.

Days later, Monte “told Paloma. … Paloma went ballistic and between her and Monte, they told pretty much everyone that version, and now nearly the entire house is against Taylor instead of just the three girls, with Monte referring to the whole episode as ‘an egregious lie’ by Taylor.”

The treatment of Taylor extends beyond game play, though, and most of it happened behind Taylor’s back. For example Head of Household Daniel said, of Taylor, “I don’t actually like her … the minute I saw her, I knew it was going to be bad news.”

He later nominated her for eviction during the veto ceremony, saying, in typical garbled Big Brother-speak, “generally, don’t have a problem with you. It has come to my attention, though, that you’ve been rubbing the house the wrong way, a little bit.”

That’s quite a way to gaslight Taylor—and us—into ignoring how it’s actually the reverse: that everyone’s been treating Taylor like shit.

Daniel then had the gall to suggest “maybe even apologize for some things you’ve said in this house.” The delusion is strong with that one.

Still, it seems likely the house will vote to evict Taylor during tonight’s live show, removing the object of their cruelty, unless the producers’ latest dumb twist saves the day.

Big Brother 24’s episode ‘obscures’ Taylor’s treatment

As usual, the episode CBS broadcast on Wednesday did a garbage job of addressing the reality of what’s been happening in the house. The show has a long history of sanitizing the horrific behavior that’s occurred in the house over 22 years.

Before the Wednesday episode, @EARTHD0GBB on Twitter created a montage of Paloma moments, noting that “CBS won’t” show this.

While the episode did show Paloma and other houseguests encouraging Taylor to model her finale dress (!) and then slamming her for doing that, and did show Daniel referring to Taylor as “aggressive,” there was plenty left out, and what was shown was often lacking context.

For example, the edit showed Taylor crying as if she was upset about being nominated, when she was actually crying about her isolation. That kind of out-of-context editing is very typical for reality TV shows, but the live feeds give us insight into how the raw footage is used to assemble the show.

As Lisa Bee tweeted, the network and producers “[have] chosen to ignore the bad press they’ve received this week about the mistreatment of Taylor Hale in the house. Instead, they are editing her in an unfair way that obscures the situation.” Lisa added, “They could have shown the HGs encouraging Taylor to her face, while bad mouthing her behind her back. That’s more narratively interesting than what they actually showed!”

During the weekend and this week, the treatment of Taylor did get attention on social media, and particularly from reality TV and Big Brother alum.

BB23 winner Xavier Prather tweeted this:

The treatment of Taylor in #BB24 is a prime example of why The Cookout was formed Members of the black community (especially black women) and other people of color stand no chance in the Big Brother House due to the perpetuation of micro-aggressions and unconscious biases which plague our society. I acknowledge my shortcomings during my time on Big Brother and can’t help but feel partially responsible for some of the reprehensible behavior I see being exhibited from current housequests who consider me one of their “favorites”. For that, I’d like to apologize for being an accessory to an ongoing issue. I’ve tried to learn from my conduct and educate myself so that I can stand beside those who need my support, as I attempt to do for Taylor now. In the future, I hope it doesn’t take a “Cookout” for black houseguests (or any POC houseguest) to finally escape the feeling of being ostracized within the Big Brother House for simply existing. Change is a MUST! Until then, I know my fellow Michigander will keep her head high and stand tall like the Queen that she is.

Chanelle Howell, who was on Survivor 42, tweeted, “I really feel for Taylor… its giving survivor flashbacks being socially isolated and ostracized, especially when its perpetuated by other Black women,” and adding that she “was v intentionally and harshly iced out of non-game convos.”

Terilisha from The Circle season 2 replied and said this “Definitely gave me ‘The Circle’ flashbacks… being villainized and ganged up on… at the hands of a black man & a woman of color. TRIGGERING. When a whole group of people turns against you and you finally see why … not a good feeling”

Big Brother 23’s Azäh Awasum tweeted that she “made a cognizant effort to ‘dial back’ in the house for these exact reasons. Dark skinned women always have this in the back of our heads. CBS teaches about racial microagressions but a section on colorism would be beneficial. Taylor’s light will shine outside this house.”