Honestly, if you spent any time on the live feeds during the summer of 2016, you probably have a very specific image of Nicole Franzel and Corey Brooks burned into your brain. It usually involves them horizontal. Bundled under covers. Whispering about strategy—or absolutely nothing at all—while the rest of the house was actually, you know, moving around.
People called it boring. They called it "Nicorey."
But looking back from 2026, that relationship was way more than just a "showmance" to kill time. It was the literal engine that drove one of the most controversial wins in the history of the show. While fans were busy making memes about Corey’s obsession with Christmas or his weirdly intense goat stories, Nicole was using that relationship as a human shield. It worked. She walked away with $500,000, and he walked away as the guy who helped the first woman beat a man in a Final Two.
The Strategy of Staying Under the Covers
A lot of viewers thought Nicole was just "lovesick" or "distracted." That’s a massive oversimplification.
Coming into Big Brother 18, Nicole had a massive target on her back as a returning player from BB16. She’d seen how showmances like "Haycole" (with Hayden Voss) could blow up your game. So, what did she do? She jumped right back into another one.
Counterintuitive? Maybe. Brilliant? Definitely.
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By tethering herself to Corey, a 6'1" baseball coach from Dallas, she created a buffer. Corey was a physical threat. He was likable. He was also, frankly, willing to let Nicole do the heavy lifting when it came to the "snakey" social maneuvering. While they were "cuddling," they were actually tallying votes.
Why the "Boring" Label Was a Mask
Corey wasn't exactly a strategic mastermind, but he was incredibly loyal. That’s a rare currency in the Big Brother house.
- He won a Double Eviction HOH and Veto in the same night.
- He survived multiple nominations because people liked him more than the person sitting next to him.
- He never once considered cutting Nicole, even when it might have helped his own path to the end.
The beauty of the Nicole and Corey alliance was that it didn't look like an alliance. It looked like two people who were too busy making out to care about the game. Meanwhile, they were the swing votes for half the season. They flipped between the "Executives" and whatever weird side-deal Paul Abrahamian was cooking up at any given moment.
The "Pump and Dump" Rumors vs. Reality
One of the nastier narratives that followed them out of the house was that Corey was just "using" Nicole for the summer. Feed watchers pointed to his sometimes evasive answers when she asked about their future. It felt like a classic summer fling destined to die the second they hit the wrap party.
And yeah, they didn't last forever. They dated for a few months after the show, visiting each other in Michigan and Texas, but eventually called it quits.
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But here’s the thing: it wasn't a "fake" relationship for the cameras.
Nicole has since talked about how she truly thought they were the "real deal." Corey, for his part, has stayed relatively quiet about the specifics, but the distance between Ubly and Dallas is no joke. Sometimes a relationship is just a relationship—it serves a purpose in the moment, it's fun for a while, and then the real world happens.
What Really Happened Post-Show?
The irony of the whole Nicole and Corey saga is who ended up winning the long game.
While Nicole and Corey’s romantic fire fizzled out, another BB18 contestant was waiting in the wings. Victor Arroyo, the guy who got evicted three times in a single season (which is still a wild stat), ended up being the one.
Think about that.
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Nicole spent the summer in bed with Corey. Victor spent the summer trying to win his way back into the house. They were barely a blip on each other’s romantic radars inside those four walls. Yet, a year later, they reconnected. Now, they're married with a kid.
It makes the "Nicorey" era feel like a weird fever dream. But without Corey, does Nicole win? Probably not. He was the shield she needed to get to the Final Four without ever touching the block until the very end.
Lessons from the Nicorey Playbook
If you’re a superfan or someone dreaming of being on the show, you can actually learn a lot from how these two operated. It wasn't "good TV" in the sense of shouting matches and thrown drinks, but it was effective.
- Lower Your Threat Level: By being "the couple in the corner," they let bigger personalities like Paulie Calafiore and Jozea Flores take the heat.
- Information is Power: They used their privacy to compare notes. Because they were always together, they knew exactly what everyone else was telling them.
- Loyalty Over Flash: They didn't need to make "big moves" every week. They just needed to be the two people everyone else wanted to work with.
Ultimately, Nicole’s win is her own, but Corey Brooks is the most underrated "Sidekick" in the show's history. He didn't just play the game; he played the role of the perfect partner, allowing Nicole to navigate the treacherous waters of Big Brother 18 all the way to the winner's circle.
If you're looking to rewatch a season for pure strategy, don't sleep on the "boring" parts of the live feeds. That’s usually where the check is actually won.
Your Next Steps:
Check out the Big Brother 18 archives or the "Coco Caliente" podcast where Nicole has occasionally spilled tea on her past seasons. If you're analyzing winner rankings, pay close attention to the weeks where Corey won Vetoes that kept Nicole safe—it’s the most overlooked part of her path to the $500k.