Reality TV Thoughts

What could possibly top “Crazy Eyes” and #Showergate? Well, to be completely honest, nothing in BB28’s first week does. This week 1, compared to the last two seasons’ first week, was mostly tame. Dee becomes the first head of household and pretty quickly solidifies her alliances. It’s a return to normalcy after the last five week 1 HOHs were all complete disasters. Despite the lack of a wild week 1, though, BB28 is still very promising, as we see the split of the house into two sides. With a non-entity evicted at the end of the week, it’s looking like an all-out war between Dee’s side and Rome’s Betas and Submissives

Alliance Breakdown: The House Splits

At the start of the game, there are plenty of trios. There’s the obvious reality tv icon trio between Angela, Dee, and Devens, but two other trios form as well. There’s an all women’s trio between Lyric, Mallory, and Melody that forms and falls apart quickly. The more important trio is the one between Chuk, Kamu, and Haley. They decide to name their trio the “Red Corner” because they solidified their trio in a red corner, not for any other reasons you might be thinking about. They also want to create a strong alliance and decide to add Dee and Devens to the Red Corner. Both are receptive to the alliance, obviously, even if Dee grows to be pretty tired of Haley by the end of the week. The Red Corner isn’t the only alliance that Dee and Devens are loyal to though. The two of them, alongside Angela, team up with Drew and Barrett to create the Crossovers. Drew and Barrett serve as a connection for the icons to the other side of the house, who do not seem particularly receptive to them. Drew in particular does an amazing job at getting the other side to trust him, building a bond with Melody and even having a trio with Jason and Melody. In addition, he and Devens form a really close duo.

On the topic of Jason, let’s get started with the other side of the house. It turns out Rome’s preseason comment about working with the “Betas and Submissives” was completely genuine. He leads the other side of the house, consisting of mostly women. By leading that side, he becomes the figurehead, with the Red Corner and Crossovers knowing he’s the biggest threat on that side. He may be saved, though, by the fact that Jason has a messy first week and pisses off the person you never want to piss off, Angela. We’ll get to that later, though, as it deserves its own segment. The two are also greatly helped by the fact they both won safety. They won’t have that next week, though…

Nominations Throughout the Week

Dee’s logic as the HOH is to nominate one person from each of the HOH competition teams. It is a relatively safe approach to the first nominations of the season, at least compared to the past week 1 HOHs. She has an easy first nominee in Mallory, whose trio with Melody and Lyric is not a secret to the rest of the house. The Red Corner especially is worried about that trio and want to split them up. After an awkward conversation with Dee, Mallory’s fate is sealed. As for the second nominee, Dee was aligned with everyone in Devens’ group but Taylor. She had the Red Corner with Haley and Chuk and then the Crossovers with Drew. Add in that Taylor talked little with Dee and was a number for Rome’s side and she becomes an unfortunate casualty. The last nominee is more complicated. Firstly, Dee choosing to nominate someone from her own group is controversial within the Red Corner. They want Barrett on the block, someone who didn’t even compete in the safety competitions. It is mostly Kamu that pushes for Dee to nominate Barrett. However, Dee is working with Barrett, meanwhile Yash, the person she eventually nominates, is someone she does not have much connection to. So, even if he was an important piece to helping her become the first HOH, Yash is going on the block. After the nomination ceremony, Mallory is the target, as even her former trio start to distance themselves from her.

This being modern BB, an era where the veto is being used more than ever thanks to the Blockbuster, plans need to be made for a replacement nominee. Initially, Dee lands on Melody, who was part of Mallory’s trio. When it’s time for the veto players to be drawn. Barrett and Melody are selected. Mallory is excited, as she believes the two of them would save her. However, Melody then tells her before the competition that she wouldn’t use the veto on her. Then, Barrett, who is more loyal to the Crossovers, secretly decides to throw the competition. That means Mallory must rely on herself to win the veto. And then in a competition with cameos from both Howie and Dr. Will, Mallory absolutely crushes everyone else, earning the first POV of the season!

With the primary target off the board, Melody could be in danger. However, then, Dee’s logic of nominating one person from each group comes back into play. She already nominated one person from each group, but she hasn’t nominated one of the two people who didn’t compete for safety at all. Since Barrett is her close ally, Ashley is looking like a good replacement. Ashley is not really close to anyone in the house, so she would be an easy nominee. So, when the veto ceremony comes, Mallory saves herself and Ashley takes her place.

In the days leading up to the eviction, it is looking like Yash will go home if he doesn’t win the blockbuster. The Red Corner and Crossovers want to keep Ashley as someone who could be an easy pawn and potential number in the future. Unfortunately, when Drew tells Ashley about the plan, there may have been some miscommunication, as she interprets what he is saying as to tell the other houseguests that she has the numbers and that they should vote with the numbers. When she tells this to Melody, she is just confused on why Ashley is telling her this. Melody brings it back to Drew, who is spooked. Eventually, word gets back to the rest of the group about this and they decide to ditch Ashley. She is now in a situation where she has to win the Blockbuster to advance.

As for Taylor, she mainly spends the week being under the radar and friendly. As a result, Rome’s side, who she is working with, want to keep her while the others do as well because she doesn’t pose much of a threat. She is safe in all scenarios.

The Blockbuster is the same as the first ever AI Arena in BB26. Anyone could win it, but who does? It is Yash, who is the only person to correctly guess that Mallory was shown on the screens the most times. With that, Ashley’s fate is sealed and she is evicted in a 14-0 vote.

Showmance Alert: Rolyric

It doesn’t take long for the first showmance of the season to solidify. Rome and Lyric link up pretty quickly and don’t do a good job at hiding it from the rest of the house. Everyone knows about their showmance. They are messy, cuddling above Mallory’s bed and then denying cuddling when they’re with a group. With Rome as a target for the Crossovers and Red Corner, the two of them could be in jeopardy.

Jason vs Angela

We’ve got a potential iconic rivalry of the season! Jason and Angela start off positively, as Angela takes a liking to Jason and even recognizes him. Since he is trying to hide his reality tv experience, though, he brushes it off. Still though, Angela really does see Jason as a friend and a potential ally. He doesn’t feel the same though. In fact, he is firmly aligned with Rome’s side of the house and does not even like Angela. One night, when Angela thinks the two are bonding over him telling her she reminds him of his dead mom, Jason just sees it as strategy. He laughs about the encounter to Drew and Melody. Drew reports this back to Angela, who cries in the diary room about feeling betrayed. She vows to get revenge though and does not want to even let him suspect anything. Even though there are mixed reactions from alumni about this situation, I see this as a potentially amazing rivalry. Of course I feel for Angela, one of my favorite houseguests of all time, but I love fights and drama. And I don’t think Jason has crossed any line yet. He should not receive hate when so many people who did way worse things like Cameron Hardin were rewarded by producers and casuals.

Winner Watch: Lyric’s First Week

Of course, my winner pick for the season was Lyric. So, how did this first week go for her? Well… at least she didn’t get evicted. Lyric’s first week was rocky to say the least. The big elephant in the room is her showmance with Rome. The two of them are so blatantly in a relationship and everyone in the house knew it by day 2 at the latest. As for how it affects her gameplay, I am so conflicted. Most of her week revolved around him and she had moments when it seemed like she knew she couldn’t let a relationship get in the way of her game but then there were moments when she seemed content with being evicted because of a showmance. I really could see it going either way but I hope she does eventually focus on the game again and unlock the potential I saw in her.

Player of the Week: Drew Campbell

Drew really surprised me in his first week. Of course, it is early, but right now, he is in the best position of the house. He is aligned with people on both sides of the house and most of the houseguests trust him. No one is looking to target or nominate him at this point, which can’t be said for most people. There’s such a long way to go and the threat of his game being exposed is always there, but for now he is the best player in the house. Maybe a friend to all can indeed just be a friend to all.

Flop of the Week: Yash Patel

Since I am not allowing myself to pick the evicted player as the flop of the week, Yash is my pick for that title instead. Yash just seems like such an expendable player. Dee nominated him even though he helped her a ton in the HOH competition. At one point, he was cooked if he didn’t win the Blockbuster. Even though he’s floated around both sides of the house, it doesn’t seem like either looks at him as a necessary ally. He’ll just continue to exist as the game is played around him.

Ashley Trail: Record Breaker

Ashley is a record breaker for all the wrong reasons. She is the first woman to be evicted in 17th place. She is the first person to be evicted without competing for an HOH or veto. She is the first person to be evicted in a 14-0 vote. For those reasons, she is iconic. Her reaction to hearing that 14-0 count is something I will remember for a long time. She was largely aloof in the game, so it’s not like we lost a great player or anything. It’s surprising too, as if you had asked me who I thought was most likely to make jury, I would have said it was her. But I was so so wrong on her potential and game knowledge, my first massive miss of the season. I’m sure there will be many, many more though…