This week the Big Brother 19 drama and fireworks have continued to explode at any given moment, and hopefully the injury that Raven suffered during the Cody/Josh/Alex altercation will not need it’s own Go Fund Me campaign. But I am sure we will hear about it on Thursday Night’s broadcast.
The hardest part about doing my weekly Big Brother recaps is when to start mentally ranking them. Most weeks, by end of the day Monday, we are pretty sure who is going home, or if there is even a chance of flipping the vote. By Tuesday night, I start putting pen to paper (or in this case fingers to keyboard) and start to organize my thoughts.
This season, I am always afraid to start writing something the night before press time because who knows what will happen in the overnight. I am hoping that the huge fight between Josh & Jess/Cody Tuesday afternoon has solidified the decision this week, and I do not have to re-write this paragraph when I wake up. (Note – I did not, phew!!!)
BUT FIRST – lets hand out some swine for the fine, and tofu for the ummmm what rhymes with tofu…. not fine…
Kevin Schlehuber – 5 strips of Bacon – I found out a few weeks ago that Kevin & I share the same birthday, so that’s partially why he gets top honors for the week. Let’s face it – he did have the best week of everyone. He is out of the crossfire, in good with everyone, none of his lies or deceits have ever caught up to him, and this week a lot of players made mistakes, which just vaults him up even higher. Kevin would have earned just 3 or 4 strips on any other week, but he gets the 5 pack for being Aug 7th buddies!!!
Christmas Abbott – 4 strips of Bacon – Christmas used her Den of Temptation reward to eliminate Cody from the Veto competition, and then she was not even allowed to compete in it. While some have thought she should have kept it to help herself later in the game, using it now could be the bargaining chip needed to later in the game to get someone to help her. “Hey, I prevented Cody from winning the Veto and pulling Jess off the block, you owe me.” Christmas also earns big ups for subtly planting the seed in Josh’s brain to think for himself and not follow Paul’s every word. A lot of fans thought we were going to see a crafty gamer in Christmas, are we starting to see that coming to fruition?
Mark Jansen – 3 strips of Bacon – if there was a book on How to Play Big Brother – Chapter 1, line 1 should read – “If you are on the block and you win Veto, take yourself off the block” (line 1a – unless your name is Brendon). Seriously though – how does anyone ANYONE think this was a bad move (people do, more on them in the Tofu section). Mark has been on the receiving end of some massive bullying this season – and for the most part has kept his cool. His emotions dont always help him in the game, but his brain is working fine… on the block, win veto, remove self from block. THE END!
Jason Dent – 2 strips of Bacon – Jason had a pretty ho-hum week, not involved in the drama, not making himself into a target, staying cool and havin fun in the BB house. I still hold hope that when the numbers start dwindling, he will be the one to take Paul out.
Alex Ow – 1 strip of Bacon – kinda like Jason, Alex had a ho-hum week, but for this house this week – that’s a good thing. She still leans way too much in Paul’s direction despite having close ties with Jason & Kevin. Sure those 2 guys also lean Paul’s way but they still have their other foot out of the pool. It does not sound like Alex is on Cody’s radar in the chance that he wins HoH – so that also bodes well for her.
Elena Davies – 1 strip Tofu – so far in this game, Elena has not had to feel the pressure of being on the block – and while she may never know how big of a target she actually was this week, she is lucky that Jessica had such a meltdown on Tuesday. Any other week, any other season, Elena could have stood out as a potential flip vote. All the work she has done with Paul is also keeping her safe for now, but her game is slowly declining and she will have to step up her competition game the rest of the way.
Cody Nickson – 2 strips Tofu – Cody & Jessica knew they were the targets as soon as Josh won HoH – so they knew the only way both of them were going to be safe was winning the Temptation Challenge as well as the veto. Cody went out and did the first part pretty easily, then he got picked to play in the Veto giving him & Jess a 33% chance of winning. That was until Christmas came in and removed him from the playing field.
Cody is pretty much on his own the rest of the time he is in the house. Mark is there for moral support, but it sounds like even he would nominate Cody if he wins HoH. Cody has proven himself a great competitor and will possibly stick around another couple of weeks, but there is no way he can win all the way out. Let’s see how he plays without Jess around.
Josh Martinez – 3 strips Tofu – raise your hands if you are upset that Josh will no longer be able to bang pots & pans together… let me count… ok, just what I thought – no one! Josh did win HoH this week and actually had a good idea of trying to target Elena. We did see him get a little leery about how Paul is calling the shots, that lasted about a day.
Ultimately Josh could not take the high road like he said he wanted to moving forward in the game and went back to bullying & fighting. Then he had the nerve to cry about someone attacking him. He is young and naive, and nothing in life could prepare you for the stress that living in that house causes, but he does not need to be such a hypocrite about it.
Jessica Graf – 4 strips Tofu – escaping from tough situations in the Big Brother game separates the legendary players from the weak ones. Jessica & Cody almost were able to pull out keeping both of them safe (see Cody’s write up) – but when they could not win Veto, they needed to go to plan B. With 2 other people on the block, especially Raven & Elena, it would have taken some fancy footwork to get people to vote to evict one of the other girls.
Instead of trying to lay low and plant some seeds, Jessica felt it necessary to attack Josh in front of the rest of the house. Looks like Cody’s Big Brother 19 game rubbed off on her a little & now she will be walking out the door on Thursday. Of all the pre-jury HGs, Jessica is sure to be the one that everyone will want to hear from since her game was such a roller coaster ride.
Matthew Clines & Raven Walton – 5 strips Tofu each – I am just so over both of them. The fact that Matt made such a big deal of Mark using the Veto on himself is so, so, I don’t even know the word (I am literally sitting here with my jaw open shaking my head back and forth). I mean, that should be expected from Matt since he has no concept on how to play Big Brother – other than what Paul tells him. I started thinking Matt was his own person last week when he actually spoke out against the bullying. But no, he went back to his orange shirt, bowl of cereal, and trying to get Raven to do unholy stuff.
SPEAKING OF RAVEN – I cannot believe that after the altercation with Josh & Cody, all she talked about was how much her hand hurt. Again, this girl is playing the pity game so hard. It’s sad that she thinks everyone should feel sorry for her, but that’s probably her mother’s fault for years of trying to get money from people by hyping up Raven’s “medical conditions.” Raven acting like the victim when Josh put her up as a re-nom is also very laughable. Does she not remember volunteering? It’s like when you go out to dinner, and you fully expect the other person to pay, so you make that false gesture “oh, let me pay” – and they say OK! If you did not want to be a pawn, then keep your mouth shut.
Let’s hope the next injury Raven gets, they will have to sew her mouth shut! (sarcasm people, that was all sarcasm – I do not wish anyone gets hurt playing Big Brother!)
That brings me to the Tofurkey of the Week and I am giving it to Paul Abrahamian. Yes yes yes, I have been anti-Paul all season – but I have also been very fair with him in relation to his game. However this week there are 2 reasons for giving him this dubious dishonor.
1) Paul has always thought he had Josh deeeeep in his pocket, and this week with Josh winning HoH, Paul basically thought he could run the show. I always say on Big Brother, you get cocky, you get confident, you go home. If you ask every winner, they were fighting for their lives every single week. Paul started to show his arrogance and Christmas recognized that as a wedge to put between him & Josh, and maybe others to follow.
2) If you did not see the Josh vs Jess/Cody fight – it was pretty harsh. The name calling (fat shaming) was out of line. How Paul acted after that fight was even worse. First he tried to play the Best Friend to Josh “I woulda stepped to Cody had he gotten close to you blah blah blah…” Paul has been the one egging Josh on to attack Cody & Jessica – now that Cody & Jessica struck first this round, you act like they are the worst people on the planet? And if that was not enough, he decided to drag Mark’s name in the mud. Blaming Mark for not standing up against Cody & Jessica for the weight comments?? Are you *&^%$* kidding me bro??? Mark even went up to the room to check up on Josh, and Josh told him to go away (with Paul in the room). But then an hour later got in Mark’s face about not doing anything or saying anything about it. Mark finally said to Paul, why should I stand up for the guy that was bullying me?
Where was Paul and everyone else to jump in and stop that from happening? I honestly feel at this point in the game, Paul has lost touch with reality and only believes his actions are justifiable – and if you are against him, then you are the worst person on the planet. I better hear a DR from Paul on Thursday saying he regrets how he put all of this in motion by feeding into the anger of others in the house. I do not think I will.
Wow – I got a little carried away there huh? Perhaps, but hearing a bully, or even worse, and instigator of bullying complain when it goes the other way is completely ridiculous!! No need for that in Big Brother or in life.
Ok then – that brings me to my question of the week – and I will make it a fun one… since I share a birthday with Kevin, and we both share our birthday with Bruce Dickenson from Iron Maiden & David Duchovny of X-Files & Californication fame – what celebrities do you share your birthday with?
That’s all I got for this week – Let me know what you think of my rankings this week – as well as answer my Question of the Week in the comments section below.
From outside the Big Brother House – I’m Adam Poch – have a great day!!
Follow Adam Poch on Twitter: twitter.com/heavymetalteddy.
September 9th – join me at PIG ISLAND in Brooklyn – this is the festival I proposed to my wife back in 2012. More info & tickets can be found here: http://pigisland.com