What an emotional week! - Big Brother (Ep. 6-8) - Week 2

What makes for a good week of Big Brother? Major blindsides, solid competitions, nonstop drama… we had all of those. Let’s talk more about it!

I won’t lie, I didn’t do as good of a job at keeping up with Big Brother this week. Life got busy and I wasn’t checking the live feeds as often. Also, I may or may not have missed Wednesday’s episode because I didn’t realize that it started at 8 /7 (central time zone). Don’t worry, I caught up on Paramount Plus. I don’t know whether to blame myself for not knowing about the changed start time or CBS/Big Brother for not announcing that more. Did anyone else not know about it too? It’s probably just me. Fine, I blame myself.

I found out recently that they usually do the evictions and HOH competitions on the same night. They waste zero time on this show when it comes to competitions and nominations. Let me know if I am right, but I read that the veto ceremony is typically done by Monday. This means they have all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during the day before the live show. I personally feel like I would love the days when all the competitions/ceremonies are going down. While the other days could be brutal. However, I get how all that time could be crucial for someone on the block. You could argue that’s when all the actual gameplay and strategizing happens. Is it too much time maybe? It’s all up for debate I guess.

Let me know what you think about the Big Brother Timeline?!

With that being said, let’s talk about the HOH competition. I’ll start by saying that I like the rule that you cannot be HOH two weeks in a row. Say someone is a competition guru, they can’t just bank on winning all the competitions. You’d still have an opportunity to get that person evicted. That rule right there proves to me that you have to be a multi-faceted player in this game. You can’t rely solely on social, gameplay or your strategic gameplay.

I like when gameshows like this switch up the type of competition regularly. So far, I am happy with how Big Brother has done that. There have been competitions based on puzzles, strategy, memory, etc. I’d love to see one that has to do with enduring something for a long time. Doesn’t have to be a physical challenge, but testing someone’s level of endurance.

This HOH competition was all about memory. This is a game where the second time around you had a better idea of what to be looking for and what questions they would ask. Props to the people who made it far in the competition (Chelsie, Leah, T’kor). Whether it was actually due to having great memory or guessing correctly, it’s still impressive. I did find it funny how Chelsie said she wasn’t sure she wanted to win HOH to have that blood on her hands…then proceeded to win.

That brings up a good point, which I am sure has been discussed before. You can argue both ways that winning HOH can damage or improve your game. By winning it, you can add it to your resume for the end of the game. Yet, you also have to nominate people in the house who you have been progressively building relationships with. Taking it further, I can only see it becoming more damaging the later you get in the game considering the more time you spend with these people. 

A large part of that is determined by how you dictate that week of being HOH. For example, Chelsie took a safe route by nominating people who were already low on the totem pole (Kenney, Lisa, Angela). Then when Tucker told her to put him up so he could win the AI arena, she did. While she had one-on-ones with almost everyone and did her job as an HOH, I don’t think she has much to show for it. Based on the way she played it, it isn’t as big of a factor on her resume for the end of the game. When in that HOH role, you truly do have to find that balance between playing it safe and getting blood on your hands.

In addition, do they have to restate the rules of like the nomination ceremony and veto ceremony every time? It’s kind of repetitive and we also get it haha. Who am I to complain though!

I found it funny how Tucker wanted to talk gameplay with Chelsie, saying that Lisa was the perfect nomination. Then his main reasoning was because she gets on his nerves lol! She steals the spotlight from him, cooks weird food, uses glitter for everything, and can just be a lot sometimes. I do think Tucker and Lisa’s personalities just clash with each other. While I found it funny, it’s totally fair too. I feel like a huge part of this show is just making sure that you don’t become a burden to a lot of people in the house. Being socially aware is huge. 

Considering Mackensy told some people about her advantage (I don’t think she needed to at all), I love the possible gameplay from Cam/Chelsie to throw her on the block to flush the advantage. Unfortunately, I think it’s too early to start that war with her. If it’s two or three weeks down the line and you still have the numbers, go for it. 

When Angela stated, “That’s the group,” to Quinn… that can be taken in so many ways. I can see that comment as that’s the group to worry about or the group to work with. The way Angela said it, she was very direct in her tone and it sounded like a threat. I don’t know if I would have reacted differently if I was Quinn.

Then when Quinn mentioned it to T’kor, it was inevitable that it was going to blow back up in his face. Word travels way too fast in that house. Let the Angela meltdown commence. Angela is losing control of her scenario and is growing in paranoia (like last week) and in her emotions. Which, it doesn’t seem like she can control them at all. There’s a new meltdown every couple of days with her. Sometimes I would like for her to not talk and just listen. Then again, it’s fun to watch her go crazy. Poor Cedric was put into a verbal headlock and forced to comfort her too. He looked stuck and it was so funny to watch.

It will be interesting to see whether Angela and Quinn’s relationship will mend itself. They did give each other their final two promise.

Quinn is a cool dude and I think he’s someone I would get along with in real life! However, in this game, he is playing so risky. He’s “aligned” with so many people, not saying no to working with anyone. He’s too double-sided as well. I can see it coming back to hurt him sooner rather than later. Not just from Angela, but other houseguests too.

For the veto competition, the nerd outfits and Quinn as the host were perfect. When it came to this competition, Kenney dominated and it wasn’t even close. His strategy was the most logically sound and safest. Whereas the others were just throwing up contraptions that were no doubt going to topple over. I was honestly shocked at how badly some of them were doing. Now, I say that like I would have rocked that competition, I very well could have been just as bad haha.

Tucker’s strategy of calling out the people he’s suspicious of having the advantages is super interesting (Mackensy & Lisa that is). It’s a really good tactic if it works. Like in Mackensy’s case, where she felt bad for hiding it from him and revealed that she did have it. However, his tactic can go wrong if he isn’t right about who has the advantage. When it came to confronting Lisa about having the advantage, he made himself look a little silly that time. 

Here’s what I will say, people need to watch out for Tucker. He’s sneaking under people’s radars too much. Especially when he offered to put himself in a very risky position on the block and dominated the AI Arena competition. He’s building a nice case for himself.

On Angela's hit list this week is… Lisa!!! I wasn’t sure if we were going to get this side of Angela this week after what we just saw last week. Maybe she would dial it down and play quieter this go around… nope. It wasn’t as substantial as her blow-up against Matt. Yet, it was plenty enough for us fans to enjoy full-heartedly and her spiraling is TV gold.

We even got the term “bully” thrown around! Which, by the way, Angela was no doubt being disrespectful to Lisa by making fun of how she walks and calling her a twit (I looked it up… it’s basically calling someone stupid). Lisa has a right to be upset about those things, but I think “bully” is a loose term to throw around. Though, it’s her feelings and she can feel however she wants about that scenario. She clearly was hurt. 

In what only can be described as pure domination, Tucker won the AI Arena Competition. Leaving Lisa and Angela on the block. 

On another note, since it’s a live episode… the puzzle had to be solved very quickly. You wouldn’t want the contestants stumped on a puzzle while you’re running out of air time for your program. Maybe that’s why Tucker got it so quickly. Though, It would have been kind of hilarious if they couldn’t figure it out. 

After the votes were played out, I don’t think I was very shocked. Out of the two, Lisa is clearly a more strategic and strong player. She did win the veto competition last week! She was more of a threat and Angela has dug herself into a hole of not being a threat anymore. I can see Angela going far in this game by being a pawn who will constantly get thrown on the block. Lisa left shocked and it was a great reaction by all in the house. Yet, I think she should leave knowing she was a strong player.  

As I mentioned at the top of the blog, I didn’t catch up too much with the live feeds. Two things I did notice were this: 

1. Is Kenney still contemplating even wanting to be in the house anymore? A lot of people on social media were convinced he was going to self-evict himself. It’s so frustrating to me. You were so lucky to be offered a spot on the show, why throw that away?!

2. Leah and Cam got real close earlier in the week. Maybe, it was just Cam following Leah around like a dog on a leash. Leah has him wrapped around his finger possibly? (Shoutout Sabrina Carpenter)

3. I’m shipping Tucker Rubina big time

Here are my top 3 predictions as it stands as to who I think will win this season of Big Brother: Cedric, Tucker, and Brooklyn (these are subject to change based on what happens!). Mackensy gets taken out of my top 3 after her advantage was revealed so easily. We’ll see how it plays out this week! Talk to you all soon :)