Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the final two players of the fourteenth season of Big Brother are undoubtedly two of the best players to play the game. And that was in a season that included four former House Guests, two of whom were previous winners, and some strong physical players as well. Of course, the season had its share of floaters, but overall I would have to say this has been one of the best seasons in years. Why? Let’s start with the twist — four former players enter the house to coach the House Guests of their choosing. With Janelle, Mike “Boogie,” Dan, and Britney in the house, everyone else thought they had a great shot at winning … especially because the coaches were not playing the game. But anyone with a simple grasp of mathematics had to know something was up, because by week three there weren’t going to be enough people left in the house to get the show to September. That’s when the producers pulled the rug out from under the House Guests and the viewers!

Britney called it early on when she assumed that since the coaches all had keyholes next to their pictures on the Memory Wall, that they would be entering the game as players. Turned out she was right, but the coaches had the choice to remain as coaches (with one of them winning $50,000 if they had the winning player on their team) and have already evicted House Guests return. Either way, the game would be re-set and we’d basically be starting all over again. It was a twist that was shocking and maddening, mostly because four players were entering the game that had basically been immune from eviction for several weeks. The other thing I found strange was that most of the House Guests remained loyal to their former coaches, some to their benefit (ahem, Danielle). Only everyone’s favorite nerd had the balls to flip on his coach, and when Ian helped orchestrate the eviction of Boogie, he proved that he truly was a master of the game. Dan may want to take credit for the Quack Pack alliance, but Ian was pulling all of their strings without them knowing it. Which, I think, helped him win $500,000 (and it was a pretty risky move taking Dan to the finale).

Dan, on the other hand, manipulated everyone … and they all knew it. There really was nothing subtle about Dan’s game, brilliant as it was, but when you look someone in the eye, tell them they’re safe, and seal the deal by swearing on your wife/wedding ring/family/Bible only to stab them in the back by gathering the votes to evict them, it’s going to cause some major hard feelings when it comes time to beg for votes at the end. Yes, Dan played everyone to perfection, but he left such animosity in his wake that it would have been a complete shock had he won the grand prize. And he hurt everyone on the jury so badly, that he lost 6 – 1 … and he only got Danielle’s vote because she felt she had to honor her word! I almost feel sorry for her knowing what she’s going to see when she gets home, to see how Dan really manipulated everyone, how he had made final two deals with everyone … and seeing her face when Ian revealed his final two deal with Dan, including holding Dan’s grandfather’s gold crucifix necklace as collateral, had to be one of the greatest moments of clarity for her of the season. The poor girl is going to have some serious trust issues for a while.

But even to the end, Dan was trying to make sure he had the upper hand. He managed to get Ian and Danielle to throw the first part of the HOH competition, and he even thought he could convince Ian to throw the third part. But not even one of the worst performances of “anger” from Danielle — and I really thought Ian had caught on to their game at that point — couldn’t sway Ian. Dan still managed to get to the final two because Ian wanted to honor their deal, but I’m dying to know why Ian felt he couldn’t win against Danielle. I never thought for a minute anyone on the jury felt she really deserved the big prize, and I was right. They felt she played a $50,000 game, but she never would have won against either of the guys. I’m sure Dan must have drilled into his head that Danielle would win over them both, and Dan had to be counting on the jury forgiving and forgetting their hard feelings and admire his game play instead. Ian’s brilliant speech before the vote which revealed just how dirty of a game Dan played, I think, changed a few minds at the last minute and gave him the win. The fact that he still managed to play a good social game with everyone didn’t hurt either.

And speaking of social games, Frank also won the $25,000 fan favorite prize (I thought Ian might have pulled that one off as well since everyone assumed Dan was going to win), and I think it was well deserved. The poor guy tried to play a clean game, he was well-liked by viewers and House Guests alike, and I think his betrayal garnered him a lot of sympathy with the folks at home.

And that’s it for season 14 of Big Brother. I think either Ian or Dan was deserving of the prize, but in the end I think the better man did win.