It went by so fast. It seems like just yesterday Rachel was crying on 'Big Brother' (Wed., 9:30PM ET on CBS) and driving everyone at home and in the house crazy. And now here she is in the finale with probably the best chance of winning between the Final Three. But first, she has to win the last HOH competition!

!!SPOILER ALERT!!

It's been a while since we checked in with the Houseguests, and while we were away, Rachel walked away with the win in Round One of a three-part HOH competition. When it comes to simply hanging onto things, nobody seems able to touch her. Adam gave up quickly, while Porsche hung in there until she was about to hurl.

That put Porsche and Adam head-to-head for the second round, and what a surprise that turned out to be. I think Porsche was going to beat him even if he hadn't thrown his goggles away. She was pushing herself so hard, the poor girl could barely breathe.

That's why I think it's unfair the way people kept saying Porsche wasn't playing this season until Day 52 or whatever. The Golden Key early on forced her out of competitions, and then when she did compete, she came in second place a lot. She may not have won as many as Rachel, but she was right there playing her heart out every chance she got.

In the final round, it came down to guessing what the jury members said by completing their sentences, and neither of the girls did very well. But Rachel got two out of six right, while Porsche got a big old goose egg. It was actually just as impressive to get them all wrong, but it was to no avail.

So Rachel had the choice of eviction, and she evicted Adam, honoring her deal with Porsche. Adam seemed sure he would win if he'd made it to the Final Two, but I don't think he would have against either woman.

As it was, it came down to a 4-3 vote. In the end, the girl we spent most of the summer hating pulled off an unlikely victory and Rachel won it all. She certainly deserved it, as she really pulled herself together after Brendon got booted the second time. She still drives me crazy, but of the Final Three, I can't deny her tenacity.

How much do you bet Porsche is really, really hating that she opened Pandora's Box right about now? And for the record, right after basically admitting that he still hates Daniele, Jeff got the 'America's Favorite' prize.

I do think the producers tampered a bit too much this season, trying to manipulate events as much as they could to keep the veterans around. With 'Survivor' trotting out a pair of veterans again this season, and 'BB13' rebounding in the ratings, I fear this may become an ongoing trend for CBS' reality trio.

It's as if they've got sequel fever like the big movie studios and have no faith anymore that a cast of newbies can generate the ratings. Unfortunately, I think recent seasons of all the shows have proven this to be true, which is why a couple of former 'Survivor's are running 'The Amazing Race' this season as well. This is apparently the new era of reality TV on CBS.