Reality TV Thoughts

Lyric and the Red Corner have just been blindsided by the entire rest of the house due to a last minute vote flip. The Red Corner are dazed and confused by the eviction. They start blaming and turning on each other due to the vote, while the icons plant seeds of distrust. This is all before the iconic Wall Comp.

In a result that nobody saw coming, Lala became the new HOH, outlasting Kamu and becoming and oldest player to ever win the wall comp. Lala’s HOH reign leads to the best week of the season yet, as the alliances and lines are completely redrawn…

The Week’s Strategy

Lala is a complete wildcard. She was part of Rome’s fallen empire, but the only person she was comfortably aligned with was Taylor. Nobody has any idea what she’s about to do. This is her chance to make a mark on the game and solidify a solid alliance. While she does do both of those things, it’s questionable whether or not she actually improves her position.

Lala and Taylor both agree that they want to target Haley this week. However, they initially want to backdoor her to prevent her from competing in the veto competition. They also want to nominate Drew, Barrett, and Kamu as pawns to backdoor Haley. For a while, it looks like these nominations are going to go through, with Lala telling all three of them that she’s going to nominate them as pawns. At the last minute, though, Kamu goes back to Lala’s HOH room and throws his former Red Corner allies, Haley and Chuk, as far under the bus as he can. It works, as Lala decides she wants to team up with Kamu now and switches her nominations to be Chuk, Haley, and Barrett. Funnily. Lala never tells Drew she no longer plans on nominating him, so he dresses up for the nomination ceremony and is blindsided when he isn’t nominated.

New alliances form with the destruction of the Toolshed. Lala and Taylor have a new alliance with Kamu, but Yash is also included in that since he was already close to them previously. Then, there’s the alliance with the best name: F.A.P. It consists of Barrett, Drew, Mallory, and Melody. Although they don’t have much explicit power, the fact they could be a large voting block makes them pretty large targets. The icons are still working together, and it’s up in the air whether the Crossovers is still a thing. One thing that is for sure is that F.A.P and the icons made a pact not to go against each other.

Chuk picks Kamu to play in the veto expecting him to use it if he wins it. When Kamu does win the veto, however, he has different plans. He knows that most of the house sees him as being in a trio with Chuk and Haley. Not using the veto could be a way to change that perception. So, he does not use the veto to the dismay of Chuk and Haley, one of whom will 100% go home now.

Haley is still the clear target for most of the house. Nobody really likes her and she just got into a heated confrontation with Angela. However, Haley could be a way more useful weapon and shield than Chuk, so yet again, the icons flip the votes at the last minute. Chuk is now in a must win situation to stay in the game. When he absolutely flops in the blockbuster, his fate is sealed and he is evicted 9-1. It is a shame that we never actually got to see a vote flip because of Haley’s blockbuster win though.

Haley vs Angela

The guilt of the Lyric blindside is eating Angela up. She lied to Haley, who she considers a friend, for some reason. Without consulting the other icons, she admits to Haley that she voted out Lyric, to her shock. It is such a bad game move, as Haley totally believed everything that Angela was selling to her. After this, though, a meeting between Chuk, Dee, Haley, Kamu, and Yash happens in the gym. They discuss the Lyric vote and who was in on it. Kamu calls Angela to the gym to intentionally start drama. Once Angela arrives, Haley confronts her about the blindside, lying that Angela said Dee was also in on it. At this point, Angela completely blows up on Haley, swearing at her and having to be escorted out by Lala. It was kind of unprovoked, as I personally don’t think a lie like that warranted a huge blow up. But Angela was already on her last straw and Haley’s lie was the straw that broke the camel’s back. With that, the Haley and Angela friendship fortunately comes to an end. I almost felt bad for Haley here, seeing as someone she thought was a close friend completely blew up on her, but everything that happens after made me rescind that. It was a great Tv moment though, no doubt about it.

Player of the Week: Taylor Brown

Taylor played a large hand in controlling Lala’s HOH and found herself in a new power alliance after being in a tough spot last week. Lala ran all of her plans through Taylor and it’s looking more and more like they’ll be ride or dies. I should also mention that Lala took a lot of heat, specifically for how she treated Haley, so we’ll have to see how that plays out. It’s a great recovery and the other houseguests have taken note of her influence. The Icons, specifically Dee, are looking at her as a big threat. It looks like we could see the two of them face off in the future. Although there could be some danger for her in the future, I think she shined bright this week. If I was completely unbiased, I would pick Kamu, but I’m biased so that’s not happening.

Flop of the Week: Barrett Pfieffer

Being completely honest, I like Barrett. He seems like a nice guy and so far seems to be well connected. Unfortunately, there aren’t any good options since I can’t pick Chuk for a second week in a row. Barrett’s tendency to give up information to the icons, specifically Dee, can get annoying though, even if it often is beneficial for his game. Also, seeing him get second in both the veto and blockbuster was frustrating, especially the blockbuster as it stopped another blindside from happening. Overall still willing to give him a chance though.

Winner Watch: Dee’s Power Crumbles

Of course, the week after I pick Dee as my new winner pick, her position starts to lower. This was not a particularly good week for Dee, even if her preferred target left. A lot of people are looking at Dee and the icons as big threats and she is not aware of it. She is correctly targeting Taylor, but her blind spot is Kamu. He is not loyal to her and is a huge threat to win, yet she still wants to take him far. I’m hoping she is able to eventually see how big of a threat he is, because it’s starting to look bleak.

Chuk Anyanwu: Flop Cowboy

Chuk is easily the biggest casting fail of this season and maybe even the biggest in the modern era. He knew so little about the game yet thought he knew everything. Even when Taylor tried to help him survive, all of the tips went straight over his head. He was so clueless the entire week, even thinking he’d somehow stay over Barrett. To top it off, he is extremely boring in every aspect. One has to wonder if there’s a problem with casting when a flop like Chuk can be casted straight away while Taylor and even Yash can be alternates. Chuk being gone will have absolutely zero effect on the season.