Celebrity Big Brother season 3 recently crowned its winner: former UFC champ Miesha "Cupcake" Tate. Beginning her MMA career in 2007, Miesha gained fame through her success in the sport. She spent time in Strikeforce before embarking on an impressive career in the UFC, where she is currently ranked in the top ten of the women's bantamweight division.
Miesha entered the Celebrity Big Brother house with little preparation and a low level of familiarity with the show. However, she quickly linked up with self-professed "superfan" Todrick Hall. After she won the first Head of Household, she and Todrick gained a powerful foothold in the game. Miesha would go on to win a record-breaking amount of HOH competitions on her way to the victory. She and Todrick made for a dominant and formidable pair, even convincing the opposing alliance to evict one of their own, Shanna Moakler, instead of going after Todrick and Miesha. In the end, Miesha defeated Todrick in a blowout jury vote largely due to the jurors' fury over Todrick's mean-spirited behavior in the house.
When stacked against the other Celebrity Big Brother winners - season 1's Marissa Jaret Winokur and season 2's Tamar Braxton - Miesha's game ranks similarly but differs in important ways. Miesha played a much more dominant game than Marissa and Tamar in terms of competition wins and maintaining power in the house, but she also had major weaknesses that her fellow winners didn't. Marissa and Tamar were both more socially adept in their seasons and positioned themselves to win through their social maneuvering despite their relative lack of competition wins. Even though Tamar frequently had conflicts with other houseguests, she still won a unanimous jury vote in the end because of the force of her personality and passion for the game. Miesha, on the other hand, would have likely lost to any of the other players in the end, except for Todrick. Ultimately, she emerged victorious solely through her strength in the competitions.
Despite her lack of Big Brother knowledge and flawed social game, Miesha played the best of any CBB3 contestant. She might not be considered by fans to have been an electric or dynamic winner, but she exercised a great deal of control and agency in the game and undoubtedly deserved the victory. She made her share of ugly comments about other houseguests, particularly Shanna, but Miesha's social imperfections pale in comparison to those of her right-hand man Todrick, whose comments in the house have led to a major backlash from the CBB viewers and the players themselves. The jury wasn't exactly pleased with Miesha after seeing how she and Todrick manipulated them, but their rightful disdain for Todrick's conduct led to an 8-1 vote in Miesha's favor.
Though Miesha played an unquestionably strong winning game, it would be difficult to consider her among the elite Big Brother winners at this juncture. Celebrity Big Brother seasons generally cast fewer competitive houseguests than traditional seasons, and Miesha greatly benefited from her competitors' lack of game knowledge. With Todrick by her side, she was able to take advantage of the cast's overall naivete, but she would almost certainly have a much harder time winning against a more competitive and knowledgeable group of Big Brother players.