CURTIS HENRY
Distribution Manager
On the surface Steve Moses is a pretty simple guy. He comes off as awkward. All of TV-watching America was able to watch him confess he still sleeps with his teddy bear and still declares himself a “momma’s boy.” He is genuine. He seems harmless.
It is easy to tell that he is intelligent, even brilliant. Moses seems like an easy person to like.
Moses is a self-declared fanatic of the CBS reality series “Big Brother,” claiming to have watched the show from its humble beginnings. This summer the awkward trombonist and sound recording technology major from Fredonia found himself as one of the contestants on the show. He was on his way to fulfilling a life-long dream: to win his favorite show with the entire nation watching.
For those who are unfamiliar with the show, it’s much less complicated than it seems. The show runs on a format similar to other reality game shows on television, such as CBS’s “Survivor” and MTV’s “Real World: Road Rules Challenge.”
Contestants participate in various challenges that test themselves both physically and mentally. By winning challenges you gain the opportunity to become the “Head of the Household” (HOH) for a given week. At the end of the week, the HOH gets to evict a fellow contestant from the household. The last man or woman standing wins $500,000.
Last Wednesday night dozens of members of the Fredonia community gathered for the season finale, which was broadcasted live. The event was organized by Mike Barone, the director of marketing and communications here at Fredonia.
“Watching one of our students on the national spotlight is incredible,” said Barone. “We’ve had national spotlight shone on us before, but never to this scale.”
Moses found himself in the final three alongside Vanessa Rousso and Liz Nolan. Moses entered the competition as the youngest and, seemingly, the most harmless contestant on the show.
The fact that he had made it to the final three was an underdog story. That wasn’t enough for Moses, who made it clear that he was there to win it.
The first competition of the finale was a physical test. Contestants had to swing from side to side on large candy apples while being covered in an assortment of powder and other candies and sauces.
After a grueling three hours and 15 minutes atop the candy apple, Moses was the first to fall. Rousso ultimately won the challenge, guaranteeing her the opportunity to have a shot at becoming the HOH.
In the next challenge, Moses and Nolan each had to complete a crossword puzzle using clues drawn from throughout the season. Moses completed the puzzle in 28 minutes and 27 seconds, nearly three minutes quicker than Nolan was able to. He earned the right to compete for the final HOH spot against Rousso.
In the final competition, Moses and Rousso were given statements from eight members of the cast who had been voted off. The statements were incomplete, and they were given two options to finish the statement. If they picked the correct option that completed the sentence they were awarded a point.
The final tally was five points for Moses and four points for Rousso. Moses earned the final HOH spot of the season and guaranteed himself at least $50,000 in winnings.
It took him very little time in choosing to evict Rousso. The final two to be voted on by the jury of members who were voted off were Moses and Nolan.
“Vanessa, it doesn’t make sense for me to drag the best player in the game with me to the jury,” said Moses.
Little did he know how right he was.
Moses and Nolan each presented their cases as to why they should win to the final jury of nine former contestants.
“I’m very glad to see Steve made a smart decision,” said Austin Matelson, one of the evicted contestants who was serving on the final jury.
One by one the jury turned in their votes. A pin drop could be heard in the Williams Center as even more people piled into the MPR. There seemingly was not any way that this brilliantly awkward momma’s boy would lose. Cautious optimism filled the room, the murmurs of the crowd only to be outdone by occasional outcries of “Let’s go, Steve!”
And then it happened. Moses received his fifth and final vote. Five votes was the majority. Five votes was good for $500,000.
Pandemonium ensued. Some of the quietest people on campus turned into some of the loudest people in the world in that moment.
Some were in tears. Some overcome by laughter. Some were screaming. Some were speechless.
Graduate student Zach Busch played trombone alongside Moses for a couple of years. He claims that this couldn’t have happened to a better person.
“It’s fitting, really. The cast said that at first he seemed shy and awkward, and that they thought it was part of his strategy to win,” said Busch. “That’s just Steve though. That’s just how he is.”
Joel Rosario, a senior finance major, said that he got to know Moses through tutoring sessions on campus. He may be the least surprised that Moses came out on top. He claims Moses is among the most intelligent people he’s ever encountered.
“He’s brilliant, really,” claimed Rosario. “He would be taking 21 credits each semester and then set aside time to sit with us and teach us [calculus]. He made it seem so easy and mind you, he’s a music major, not a math major.”