Reality TV Thoughts

You’ve heard about the fall of Rome in your history class. You’ve seen the fall of Rome on Survivor. Now, it’s time for the fall of Rome on Big Brother

Rick Devens makes the first big move of the season, exposing Rome’s power structure and successfully backdooring him. Also this week: the most explosive nomination ceremony in Big Brother history, a fake break up, and a new mega-alliance

Strategy Breakdown: The Toolshed

Rick Devens accidentally wins the HOH competition after initially agreeing to throw the competition to Haley. Not having planned to win the HOH, he wants to make a safe move in targeting Mallory, who people were already willing to evict week 1. However, his ally, Angela, has a different idea. She thinks that Devens needs to take a big swing at Rome’s side of the house this week.

At the beginning of the week, Rome is optimistic about Devens being the HOH and thinks he can sway him to his side. In a one-on-one with Devens, Rome gives him a list of who he wants to be safe: himself, LaLa, Lyric, Jason, and Melody. After Devens points out that that’s a lot of people to keep safe and asks Rome to narrow it down, Rome tells him that he wants to protect Lyric and Jason the most.

With Angela’s pushing and Rome’s boldness in who he wanted to protect, Devens is convinced to go all out and backdoor Rome. Late into the night, after Devens discusses his plans with individual members of both the Crossovers and the Red Corner, he and the other vets eventually decide to bring all of their allies from both alliances into the HOH room to discuss the backdoor plan. They agree to nominate Lyric, Jason, and Melody and backdoor Rome after the veto is used. Drew comes up with a name for this new mega-alliance: “The Toolshed.” Also, Rome is awoken and is denied entry to the HOH room, alerting him that something is afloat.

After the nomination ceremony, all plans for the rest of the week rely on the veto. Once Rome isn’t picked for the veto, though, the plan to backdoor him is set. Devens beats out Jason in a close finish to win the power of veto. While it does initially seem like Melody will have the veto used on her, as she has Drew vouching for her and puts in good work with Devens by promising to not nominate him for at least three weeks if he saves her. However, a combination of the vets being weary of Drew’s relationship with Melody and Lyric & Rome’s work in having the veto used on her mean the veto is ultimately used on Lyric instead. Lyric and Rome’s plan was to have a fake break-up to make people less scared of them. Unfortunately, nobody really believes that. What does save Lyric is her conversation with Devens where she promises to not nominate him in the future.

With Lyric off and Rome on the block, he needs the blockbuster to stay alive. If he does win the blockbuster, though, who would go home between Jason and Melody? On paper, it would be Jason given he’s already gotten in so much drama and been exposed for being a “messy b*tch.” However, a lot of paranoia from Angela and Dee about Drew’s loyalty to them causes some confusion. It seems people are starting to catch on to Drew’s floater game. I’m not sure it’s in Angela and Dee’s best interest to flip on him though, since he seems more loyal to them than Rome’s side of the house. After a solid first week, I’m starting to worry about both of their game abilities.

Taylor is also pushing hard for Rome and Jason to stay in the house. She is the most vocal advocate, also the only, for evicting Melody. She never really gains traction, though, as by the end of the week, Melody is safe in all scenarios. Come time for the Blockbuster, Jason easily wins the puzze challenge, saving himself from the block and proving himself to be a very capable and dangerous competitor. Rome is evicted in a 12-1 vote, outing to everyone that he and Lyric are still together on the way out. I’m sure that was shocking to everyone in the house.

Strategic Blunders

It obviously doesn’t end up mattering at all, but I have a gripe with the fact that Devens saved Lyric instead of Melody. Why would you give the showmance a lifeline? If Rome won the blockbuster, both him and Lyric would still be in the game and pose a serious threat to the Toolshed. Also, Devens seems to have completely burned Melody, as she is now eager to target Devens if she wins an HOH competition. Was it just because Angela and Dee were so paranoid of Drew and Melody’s connection? I struggle to understand the logic.

The Craziest Nomination Ceremony Ever

At the nomination ceremony, Devens exposes Rome for being okay with LaLa and Melody being nominated, causing the former to break down in front of everyone. That is not the end though, as Angela’s had her last straw with Jason and calls him out in front of everyone for using his emotions to manipulate her. Then, when it seems that both of them have made their points, Haley jumps in and accuses Jason of wanting to target the girls, which Jason says was just a lie. Then, Devens accuses him of the same thing and when Jason responds, “didn’t you fall for it,” Devens looks back at the nomination screen and says, “no.” Then, Angela jumps back in and tells everyone how messed up it is that Rome put Lala’s head on a silver platter. Rome is forced to defend himself, telling everyone that he gave Devens a list of who he wanted to be safe and then boiled down the list after Devens told him to. Devens confirms this story and the two act really respectfully toward each other even though they are now out to get each other in the game. After Devens says the ceremony is adjourned for what feels like the millionth time, Haley makes a comment that causes Rome to snap, calling her a “snarky b*tch.” He calls her unbearable, a common sentiment throughout most of the house.

What I love about this nomination ceremony is the unintentional comedy of Angela doing all of this in Vince’s Hard Boiled Eggtective costume. Also, her and Jason, probably the two most overdramatic people in the house, bring on the theatrics. They both know how to appeal to the cameras. It is still very early in the season, but I believe that this nomination ceremony will be remembered as one of the season’s best moments by the end.

Winner Watch: The End of Rolyric

This is another confusing week for me in terms of assessing Lyric’s game ability. Starting with the positives, it is really impressive that she was able to get the veto used on her instead of Melody. I think her being willing to separate herself from Rome is also a good sign. Even though her vote didn’t matter, her actually voting to evict Rome shows an ability to be cold-blooded. It seems that even Rome didn’t expect that. She was also willing to flirt with Chuk and Yash to sell the Rolyric breakup. There were still warning signs though in how attached she was to Rome and how attached she seems to her side of the house. She still hasn’t made inroads with the other side and could be used as a pawn or even targeted if the Toolshed continues to hold onto power. Overall, while I don’t think she’s in a strong position, week 2 still showed a lot of promise for Lyric’s game potential and that she’s not just a Love Island reject.

Player of the Week: Kamu Kirk

Unfortunately, I do have to admit that Kamu is playing a really solid game so far. While it seems like his Red Corner trio is not particularly well-liked in the house and being targeted by Rome’s side, Kamu is never the one actually being targeted. It is always Haley who is being targeted, while Kamu is never talked about, even as a backup target. To add on to that, basically everyone in the toolshed trusts Kamu, with it seeming that only Drew and Barrett are apprehensive. The icons’ paranoia and distrust of their own allies also makes me struggle to pick any of them as the player of the week. Shout out to Devens, though, who did not at all disappoint with his HOH reign.

Flop of the Week: Chuk Anyanwu

Where is Chuk? He’s a part of the Red Corner and Toolshed, but beyond that, where is he? It feels like we are barely hearing anything about Chuk’s game plans. While I don’t think anyone wants to target him, it’s not because of any stellar gameplay. He’s just such a non-entity who isn’t really doing much in the game and therefore isn’t on anyone’s radar.

The truth is, if I wasn’t refraining from picking anyone as FOTW twice in a row, I would have just picked Yash again. His refusal to work with women at all and creating an all-guys alliance that no one besides him is taking seriously are more than enough to secure him the title. Since I already chose him last week though, I’ll just have to go with someone who is barely even playing the game instead.

Rome Seymour: The Leader of the Betas and Submissives

Rome did exactly what he set out to do. He rallied together who he believed to be the betas and submissives of the house to his side and led them. Unfortunately, being so out-in-front made him an early target and ultimately the second boot of the season. To soften the blow though, he scored himself a showmance who he will most likely be with after the show. He brought a lot of entertainment to the season and his presence will be missed.

As for my prediction, I nailed it. Not only in terms of placement, but also in how he would go out. He was similar to Brian Hart, at first leading the house but instantly finding his position crumbled. He even had his moment of people pushing the HOH to backdoor him.