James Huling didn’t have to rely on his gut alone last night to see what was coming down the nomination pipe this week on Big Brother 18. The house division was clear enough to leave both James and Natalie anticipating the obvious move which put James in to action.
In hopes of cutting off the plans early James went to the new HoH to try and set a different course for the week but instead ended up making the case to keep things as planned.
With Michelle voted out by a tiebreaker James & Natalie knew they were in trouble and Victor’s win as the new HoH didn’t help their concerns one bit. Natalie spoke to James telling him he should have voted out Victor like she asked. “I begged,” she told James placing the blame on his shoulders. Nevermind that she put Victor on the Block herself.
James hoped he could at least save Natalie and maybe even give himself a fighting chance so he went to Victor to make a pitch for clemency.
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James wants to be honest with Victor and see if it could influence his pending decision. He explains to Victor and Paul that when Victor needed James’s vote he couldn’t give it to him because James and Natalie actually had a F4 deal with Nicole and Corey. With that he had to vote to keep Corey.
We’re watching James try to build a case that this was all a logical, strategical move and nothing against Victor personally. In fact it was a move of loyalty, James suggests, since he was staying true to his F4 deal. The deal he just made against his old deal with Victor… Oops.
Victor asks James: “Was that final four deal made before or after Paulie left the house?” Remember that Victor & Paul worked with Natalie & James (plus Michelle) to get Paulie out and they were together as a group before Natalie decided right after Paulie’s eviction that they needed to target Victor instead of Corey and Nicole. They broke the deal here and flipped over to Nicole & Corey. James actively encouraged this flip while Michelle passively went along with it even though she wanted Nicole out.
James answers Victor that it was after Paulie was evicted. He’s telling him the truth. Victor replies, “after I did the dirty work of getting Paulie out you switched to them.” He tells James that he understands it was just the game, but Victor was being loyal while they weren’t. Especially since James says this deal with Nicorey was made “when it was convenient,” as Victor explains it.
James says he understands that he deserves to go up, but Natalie doesn’t since she wanted Victor to stay. This isn’t working on Victor or Paul either. They explain that Natalie and James are a unit and just as if someone wanted Victor or Paul out then the other would go up with him. Victor promises that if they go up together then it’s not a shot at Natalie.
“The situation is literally the exact same, but flipped on you guys,” explains Victor. Well, it’s hard to argue with that and James can’t. He tells Victor he knows he screwed up and hopes it isn’t used against Natalie. Victor promises to explain any decisions to Natalie if he goes that route (which he will, but rules prevent him from confirming in advance) and again says it would be to go at James and not her.
Nicole and Corey walk in to the HoH room after this and the talk ends. James gave it a good try but it’s not going to work. I’m still glad he went for it though instead of taking an approach like Michelle did. Really the only hope for James and Natalie at this point is the Veto on Saturday but even then they’ll need a game shift to keep both safe.
What do you think of James’s approach with Victor? Did he do the best he could or was this a sloppy method? Share your thoughts below as we continue to wait for today’s nominations ceremony.
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