Apologies for this being a day late – but wow, it was an INSANE week once again inside the Big Brother 19 house. I cannot remember a season with this much drama week to week since perhaps Season 6. Unfortunately, there is no way the vote will flip and Cody is walking out the door. FORTUNATELY – we are seeing some major cracks forming in the “Paul Manson & the Friendship Family”
With the numbers dwindling, as soon as Cody walks out the Big Brother door, they will all start turning on each other. If there was this much drama over $5000, imagine how PETTY and XTREME they will fight and claw their way to the half million.
BUT FIRST, lets hand out some tasty Bacon for the players that had good weeks, and some nauseating tofu for the players who’s weeks were not so stellar.
Matthew Clines – 5 strips of Bacon – as many of you know, when you win Veto and you are on the block, you are very likely going to get much bacon awarded. If you don’t use the Veto on yourself however, you are very likely going to get the Tofurkey of the Week. Somehow The Cereal Killer himself Matt, is staying at the top spot.
Sure it was no secret that the whole house wanted to backdoor Cody, so him doing it this week was the right move. He did throw the Temptation Challenge perfectly to put himself in the nominee chair, and Veto competition, increasing the odds to get Cody out. So “at the end of the day” (one of thew most overused phrases in Big Brother) – Matt pulled off the perfect week to backdoor Cody. Sadly – this is probably the only time I will give Matt the top spot.
Mark Jansen – 5 strips of Bacon – part of Mark co-headlining this week is because he won himself safety for the third week in a row (2 Temptation challenges, 1 Veto). With the mayhem and chaos going on in that house the last few weeks, having safety is a blessing. HOWEVER, I am also givin Mark the top spot because of his ability to maintain his composure while constantly being berated by his on again, off again best friend Josh.
Sure, Mark’s name is in everyone’s mouth (and other parts of him are in Elena’s mouth) – but he can still go out there and win when his life is on the line. Mark also may benefit by the cracks forming around him, and Elena is the way bigger target in the Marlena showmance.
Paul Abrahamian – 4 strips of Bacon – Ok, ok, I know last week I was a bit harsh on Paul – but you have to understand that Paul was breeding the hate in the house last week (and most of the season). I was so offended by the way he handled the Josh/Mark non-issue and turn it into a huge thing, meanwhile calling Josh “The Blob” behind his back. BUT….his hypocritical attitude has been effective so far, and still has a few people willing to throw away their games for him.
As the cracks start to widen in his alliance, he is actually doing a great job turning these people against each other. Kevin was always going to be loyal to Paul, but Paul recognizes how much people were loving him, and now they are all starting to go against him. He kept Elena safe the last 2 weeks on the block, just to have another person for people to go after. He also did a great job turning Josh around to be the most loyal lapdog of them all when Christmas was trying to get him to think on his own last week.
The question now starts to become, when people get to jury & start comparing notes – will they recognize his game as genius, or all become bitter Bettys???
Alex Ow – 3 strips of Bacon – another HoH win for Alex, add to that her Veto win & any other season, people may have seen her as a threat. This season, its not even brought up by anyone other than Cody to Alex & Jason. By doing what “the house wanted” again, Alex is back to being protected by everyone and should be pretty safe for the next few weeks. Jason is already her Ride or Die and Paul needs another strong ally to win HoH’s and keep him safe. Alex keeps building that resume, and other than a few fake fights here and there, had been relatively low on the drama chart. This bodes well during a final plea to the jury for the big prize.
Jason Dent – 2 strips of Bacon – see Alex above – and add the fact that he was a successful pawn – which can sometimes be brownie points to the rest of the house (unless your name is Elena). Unlike Alex, he has not even had to be in any fights so far this season, and that too could be a good talking point if he gets to plead his case to the jury. Jason has also been a good sport this week with his 2nd punishment costume of the season. Very curious to see who Jason would actually nominate down the road, but if he wins HoH in the Double Eviction this week – he’ll just do whatever Alex tells him, which will be whatever Paul tells her.
Christmas Abbott – 1 strip of Bacon – Christmas was nominated night 1, and week 1 – but has not seen the block since then. Heck, she is rarely even been discussed by anyone as a target, a pawn, a threat, nothing. That sympathy scooter she is wheeling around is doing the job both physically & game-wise. Meanwhile people are still confiding in her. Until she can actually compete & win challenges however – she cannot be in the conversation as a potential winner.
Kevin Schlehuber – 1 strip of Tofu – Kevin is getting tofu this week mostly because of the house’s perception of him. In a lot of ways, their perception is right but for the wrong reasons. Kevin has always been the one to soften the blow on the exiting houseguest – and especially now that they are in jury, Kevin knows the importance of jury maintenance. Paul knows nothing about this – and is doing the same crappy job this year as last – so subliminally maybe this is why Paul is so against Kevin right now.
I am still pretty amazed Kevin has lasted this long under the radar – but now that he is on the radar, how will he react? He still may have a few weeks left in him, or he could be an easy out during this upcoming Double Eviction.
Raven Walton – 2 strips of Tofu – other than complaining about her many injuries/diseases, and food poisoning stories from Outback steakhouse – what else has Raven done this week? She did one thing pretty well, discovered she is not being called into the Diary Room at all. She did one thing bad though – did not realize this means she is not getting the type of airtime her mother she wanted.
Cody Nickson – 3 strips of Tofu – Cody was a lot more open this week with Jessica gone for good – and we actually saw more of his personality showing through. At times he was even fraternizing with the rest of the house and sharing laughs. Who knew he was such a fan of the show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia?? But Cody knew his life in the game was coming down to 2 competitions. He could have either won the Temptation Comp or Veto and he would be safe. Instead he tried to lose the Temptation Comp to ensure he played for Veto. He blew that by actually getting a question right – and he never did end up playing for Veto.
There was still a sliver of hope and he tried to get the target on Elena bigger to get people to vote her out instead of him. He did have some progress in that area – but he had to know that it was not going to work by using logic on this group of people. He says he will blow up other people’s games on his way out the door to try and protect Mark & Elena – but again, he is using logic with illogical people. Good news is he will have the rest of the summer to chill out and hopefully do some soul searching to figure out how he wants to proceed in life.
Josh Martinez – 4 strips of Tofu – I just cant with this kid anymore… one second he says he wants to stop fighting, and is afraid of how he is coming off on the show to his “familia.” The next second, he is jumping down someone’s throat and getting told to stop being a jack*** by production. The fact that he cannot see how contradictory he is being goes a long way to say how great of a job Paul is doing pulling Josh’s strings. Anything other than turning on Paul, this kid has no shot of winning the game.
We have come to the Tofurkey of the Week – and this week’s honors go to Elena Davies. Her MO all season is how badly she needs money. She quit her job to be there, she cannot afford her rent when she gets out – so the stipend will help. In this week’s VETO comp she promised Alex not to give her a punishment. So when it came time for her to decide which prize / punishment she wanted GREED took over and she gave Alex, the HoH, a punishment for $5000.
If she had time to really think about this move, she should have traded with Mark, take his vacation & cash it in. i always say living in the Big Brother House – you are also living with the 7 Deadly Sins – and how you are able to control them will determine how your game will go. Greed definitely got the best of her – and now she has $5K (after taxes probably about $3K) & her whole stipend, but her chance for $500K went bye bye!
Only now she is starting to realize how that just screwed up her game and put the nail in her coffin. Sure, she was already near the bottom of the totem pole, but this move removed her from the pole entirely and unless Mark & her can steamroll through the rest of the HoH’s – she will be joining Cody in the jury house sooner rather than later.
That brings me to the question of the week – if you were Elena, which prize/punishment would you have taken?
OK – another week in the books – and the intensity of a Double Eviction is coming up – so who knows how the next few weeks will play out. I have seen a lot of people “quitting” Big Brother because of this season. I understand why, but don’t really know what they expect from this show. If you have been a fan for a long time, you either have to accept that it has become more soap opera & less of a true competition reality show – or move on. To the ones that say they are “never watching again” see ya! For the rest of us – sit back and enjoy these last few weeks!
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