Last week I opened up with my Big Brother 21 prediction that the fireworks were coming as the Six Shooters impending implosion was imminent (how do you like that for alliteration?). But I do not think anyone could foresee just how wild and crazy it was going to be – and how this all went down moments before the live eviction which almost saw the first true flip vote of the season. Unfortunately for us live feeders – we did not see it all happen live.
Fortunately – thanks to a smuggled copy of the internal live feeds that went out overnight Thursday into Friday (and since have been taken down) – we got to see it all play out after the fact. Jackson & Jack having an innocent conversation was the spark needed to set the first rocket into the air. Once that happened – it was the Fourth of July in that house. If you were able to see that leaked live feed – I think the best part was Julie Chen watching & listening to the feeds in front of the live studio audience. Something we have never seen before.
For everyone saying this season was the worst ever – the events of Day 44 have at least brought it up to the middle of the road. Then with the power shift and one underdog’s dominance this past week – has brought this ship back around and we have ourselves a great second half lined up.
BUT FIRST – let’s take a look back at the 6th week in the Big Brother 21 house – and see who gets to sit at the big kids’ table & eat bacon, and who will be crying at the kiddies table eating tofu.
Jessica Milagros – 6 strips of Bacon – finally… FINALLY – Jessica turned this game on its head by not only winning HoH & nominating the Jacks (Cliff did that, so what?) – but then she went out and won the Veto. This did 2 things, 1 – it completely neutralized Christie’s Diamond POV power & 2 – Jess was able to keep the nominations the same and get out one of the 2 biggest threats up til now. Because of the way this season has been so far – and how it seems to be going – Jessica is in a very good position as she has people working with her and is not really the target for whichever evicted person’s army remains in the house.
Now – if you are a regular reader of this column, you know the top spot gets 5 strips of bacon, so why did I give Jessica 6? Well – she had a conversation with Jack and pretty much threw it in his face that all of the Six Shooters / Gr8ful / Unde9able conversations that went on and made Jess and others feel left out were now going on and Jack was being left out. She made sure he knew how horrible she felt and showed no remorse that Jack was having those same feelings now. I worried a little that Jess may get a case of HoHitis – but she really played it great this week – so go on girl… get your bacon on!
Kat Dunn – 4 strips of Bacon – while the whole Six Shooters implosion was going on – Kat was going from pawn to target to pawn to… you get my drift. If this was week 1 Kat – we may have seen a much different outcome – but she kept her cool for the most part despite everything being out of her control. Another thing happened this week – Kat went from being a mole/spy to becoming a power player. Her genuine friendships with several people (especially Holly & the whole Cliff’s Angels crew) have Kat sitting pretty for a few more weeks and dare I say – one of the players to beat at the end. Sure she will have to do a lot more if she will pull out the win for the season – but considering how close she was to going home week 1 – and then again last week – this is a remarkable story unfolding.
Cliff Hogg – 3 strips of Bacon – well, don’t we all look dumb now thinking Cliff’s failed opportunity to flip the game a couple of weeks ago would end up being his demise? That may end up being one of the best game moves of the summer – and if Cliff ends up winning the game, I will personally eat a Tofurkey. (crap, now that it is in writing for all to see – I am going to have to do it!) This week Cliff is the “swing vote” that Jack is trying so hard to get – and Cliff is playing cat & mouse with him – giving Jack the impression that he actually still has a chance to stay. No matter how much safety Jack offers (more on that later) – Cliff is not budging on his stance to vote Jack out. Big ups to the Hogg man for playing this week so well!
Nicole Anthony – 2 strips of Bacon – may as well give the last member of Cliff’s Angels some bacon as well this week. While not as much in the driver’s seat as the other 3 were this week, Nicole still brings a sense of compassion and realness that other houseguests see and are starting to appreciate. She really wants to win an HoH – but now may not be the time. Let some of the leftovers from Six Shooters take shots at each other – and to paraphrase the CBS commercial – protect her bacon!
Holly Allen / Jackson Michie – 1 strip of Bacon each. As has been the case all season – Jackson has been bringing Holly’s game down but this was the first week that Holly actually grabbed him by the balls and led him in the right direction. Holly has been able to get others to openly say they do not hold her accountable for Jackson’s actions. Something not often seen in Big Brother when it comes to showmances. I mean – Jack even campaigned to her as if there was a chance she would vote out Jackson. That proverbial slap in the face Jackson created by telling the Kat/Holly pre-existing “relationship” has been the catalyst for Holly going from furniture to an actual game player.
Now – this whole paragraph has been about Holly – so why am I giving Jackson a strip of bacon too? Well even if I gave him tofu – he’d just sneak some bacon into the shower where he would eat it hoping to not be seen. All kidding aside – he gets that strip of bacon for unintentionally throwing the last straw to break the camel’s back on the Six Shooters implosion.
Nick Maccarone – 1 strip of Tofu – does anyone really know what Nick’s intentions are moving forward. He is playing a Kat mole/spy role right now – and he has been saying to the Underdogs side that he is for sure voting out Jack. He’s also been saying to the Remnants of the Six side of the house that he is for sure voting out Jackson – and has been a little too eager to put himself back in an alliance with Christie, Tommy, Analyse, and Jack (if he stays). I am sure this will not go unnoticed in the following weeks and used as ammo for someone to try to take a shot at him. Then again, he’s been a dead man walking for the last couple weeks – so, who knows. I just wonder if Bella is watching and wondering why Nick is still flirting with Analyse???
Christie Murphy – 3 strips of Tofu – we have seen plenty of contradictory players over the first 20 seasons of Big Brother – but Christie has taken that award this season. She preaches love and honesty / integrity – but plays the complete opposite. Again, I do not have a problem with that if she would just say to us either in her DR sessions or on the Live Feeds – that this is all her game. When the implosion happened – it was basically Jackson vs Jack & Christie – with Christie making it personal… like she does. She does need to get some credit for using her power as a threat 2 weeks ago – but that ship sailed – and now she will be powerless and completely vulnerable going into next week & beyond
Analyse Talavera – 4 strips of Tofu – at one point this week Analyse claimed she was “F**kin done gaming” – and we all sat here saying – “Wow, I didn’t know that chair could talk”
Tommy Bracco – 5 strips of Tofu – for weeks Tommy was in the best position in the house – he was part of the dominant alliance, he was funny & charming and even people he was not working with did not see him as a threat. Then as soon as the alliance crumbled – Tommy went scrambling and let’s face it – he’s probably a better singer & dancer than he is an actor. He was so transparent trying to apologize to people for how the whole blow up went down. Tommy really has no clue how to play discreet – and now that he is playing scared, he just digs his own ditch deeper (more alliteration for you grammar lovers out there) every time he tries to smooth things over.
That brings us to the Tofurkey of the Week – and its no surprise it’s Jack Matthews. I do not fault anyone when they are on the block and look like they are the target to pull out all the stops in campaigning. That is the game after all – right? But the way he is campaigning has been horrible. He is offering weeks of safety to Cliff thinking that will work. Christie was able to offer Cliff safety – but she had a power to use as a bargaining chip. Jack just blindly offering safety – and trying to sweeten the deal threw Tommy & Analyse’s offer of safety as well. Maybe if you are going to do that – why not get everyone in the room together – offer to start an alliance – and state reasons that this is a good move.
Instead the only talk of forming an alliance was only AFTER Cliff asked Jack to. He kinda-sorta pitched that same deal to Nick – just not as aggressive because he thinks he has Nick as a solid ally (and maybe he did / does). But to go from Tofu to Tofurkey – you need to do some more bad game moves. Well, how about claiming he was going to blackmail Kat to get her vote? Blackmail??? What because she knew about the vote flip a couple weeks ago and never said anything to Jess. OMG – that is the biggest bomb that anyone can set off in the house (that was sarcasm for those of you that don’t know). Jack will have plenty of time to be alone with his thoughts and lament on them while sitting in the jury house alone all week. Looking at the calendar – we probably do not have time for a battle back – but who knows. We may not have seen the last of Aquaman!
OK – there ya go – another week in the books. The season may have been salvaged and now if we can only get one of those Men in Black pens to forget those first 5 weeks – life would be complete. This week we will find out about the Field Trip twist and see if that will shake things up even more. I cannot wait to hear how the people voted in will think they are perceived by us. Will they think – WOW people love me to give me the opportunity for safety – or will they say OH CRAP people hate me?
That brings me to my question of the week – with the cards all shuffled now – what player did you not like early that you like now – and the opposite – who did you like early that you now cannot stand?
Please let me know what you think of my column & answer my question in the comments section below. And for more thoughts on #BB21 – follow me on Twitter @HeavyMetalTeddy – and listen to my podcast Big Brothers – @BigBrothersPod
From outside the Big Brother House – I’m Adam Poch – have a great day!!
