Reality TV Thoughts

“In the words of Mallory Aurichio, f*ck the icons.”- Barrett Pfeiffer

“The winner of the BB Blockbuster is… Drew!” “The winner of the BB Blockbuster is… Devens!” For two weeks, Barrett’s plans to show his cards and get revenge on the icons have fallen short. Then, a strike of luck comes from a St. Patrick’s day inspired HOH competition. He becomes the new HOH. He is not going to let this opportunity go to waste, and nominates all three icons. Then, Yash wins the iconic BB Comics competition and the Power of Veto. When he decides not to use it, it is guaranteed that an icon is finally going home! As long as Angela doesn’t go home, Barrett’s revenge plan will have worked to perfection. Unfortunately though: “By a vote of 3-2, Angela, you are evicted from the Big Brother House.”

The Week’s Strategy

Barrett’s nominations are straight forward. He’s nominating the three icons to both avenge Mallory and make a big move that will help him win in the end. The icons try to make sure that at least one of them isn’t nominated by exposing Yash’s deal with Dee to Barrett. Unluckily for them, this only makes Barrett want to nominate all of them more, given how well insulated they are with that deal. His main targets are Devens and Dee, with Angela being nominated due to guilt by association.

With his nominations, Barrett officially kills the Crossovers. The longest-surviving alliance of the season has dissolved. Although Drew still wants to work with the icons for some reason, they are done with both him and Barrett. Before the veto draw, Barrett and Drew talk about using the veto on Angela for the fun of it and nominating Yash. Barrett tells Drew he would pick him for the veto, despite telling Yash he would pick him for the veto. Barrett hopes that he just won’t have to pick someone, but his veto chip seems to have magical powers, as he draws it and has to choose someone. He picks Yash, not wanting nominations to change after all. Drew is pissed at Barrett, claiming if he didn’t want Drew to use the veto, he could have just told him. I personally believe he would have used the veto on an icon no matter what, though.

Yash wins the veto and it is a clear-cut decision that he is not going to use it. With nominations locked in, the voting scenarios look clear. Devens will be evicted unless he wins the Blockbuster. If he does win, then Dee will go home instead. Angela would be way easier to beat later down the road than the two Survivors, so there’s no reason to get rid of her right now. Right? Well, that would be the case if Dee wasn’t a master at these social-strategy games…

All week long, Dee has made it clear to everyone in the house that if she survives, she will go after Barrett and Drew. She wants nothing more than for their games to burn. It starts to have an effect on Yash and Taylor, a duo in the middle of two trios. Dee is one of the better competitors in the house, so if she is truly going after Barrett and Drew no matter what, why get rid of her? That’s Taylor and Yash’s logic at least. Dee really sells the deal, pitching a final four alliance between Dee, Devens, Taylor, and Yash. It works! At least, it works in saving Dee. Taylor and Yash still want Devens gone if he’s on the block. Fortunately for Devens, he wins the Blockbuster. Dee calls out all of F.A.P in her final pleas to seal the deal. Devens, Taylor, and Yash all vote to evict Angela.

The BB Comics Ranked

We’ve got 17 new BB comics to take a look at, so let’s quickly rank them all. I’ll give my quick thoughts on each comic as I go down the list.

17. Barrett: The Austin Gangler

They did Barrett so dirty with this comic. All of the body hair, all of his bones visible. What is Production’s problem with Barrett?

16. Melody: The Lady of the Latrine

This one is just lazy. They copy & pasted her time capsule punishment (which she wasn’t even the first to wear!) and called it a day. Nothing about her screaming? Or anything even slightly more interesting?

15. Lala: The Tongue Thrasher

Lala won two competitions. One is the iconic wall comp, which she won in even more iconic fashion. The other is a bizarre fitness competition involving tongues. You really chose the latter for her BB comic?

14. Kamu: The Mixed Martial Artist

Kamu is just a normal guy in this comic? This may be the most normal BB comic of all time. It’s completely inoffensive, but also really boring.

13. Angela: The Eggsecutioner

Just like Melody’s comic, Angela’s is based off her time capsule punishment (once again, she wasn’t the first to wear that!). Unlike Melody’s, though, this one has way more personality, which gives it a small boost.

12. Chuk: Chuk Wagon

Given how boring Chuk was in his time in the Big Brother house, there was very little that the producers had to work with. They went with the boring Cowboy comic, but the “Welcome to Dull City” is an amazing touch.

11. Lyric: The One Hit Wonder

It’s a joke about her dad being a one-hit wonder. Could have been higher with a cool design, but the design is as basic that retro can get.

10. Devens: Diamond Devens

Devens’ entire body is made of diamond and he looks badass soaring next to fighter jets. There’s not much else to say, it simply looks pretty cool.

9. Haley: The Flanimal

Haley was always wearing that red flannel every chance she got. What really carries her comic though is the “She’s having a plaid week!” tagline. Love production giving a nod at one of the funniest ongoing jokes this summer.

8. Rome: The Rome-ancer

Love the Lyric cameo on Rome’s comic. Rome’s comic feels like a fever dream. He defends his ship from pirates with pickleballs somehow and has Lyric right behind him. I don’t know if I’m missing anything, but it’s perfect either way.

7. Drew: Rebel Without a Comb

Love that production made a joke about him losing his beloved comb. Also love that they had to show the segment from two weeks ago of Taylor taking his comb in order for casuals to understand the comic! Production, as usual, always plans ahead.

6. Dee: The Dee-stroyer

It is a fitting comic, given Dee has flipped votes at the last minute and betrayed allies for no reason just for the fun of it! The “Dee’s nuts” joke wouldn’t be as funny if Dee seemingly didn’t understand it until the others explained it to her.

5. Ashley: Burger Kong

Given Ashley’s short stay in the house, there wasn’t much they could do for her comic. They had to make it about the fact she hadn’t ever eaten a burger until she was in the BB house. It shouldn’t work, but for some reason this one just clicks with me.

4. Jason: Heavy Kettle

Nobody loves tea more than Jason! I love the concept and think that it was executed very well. It could be higher if something didn’t feel off about Jason’s face.

3. Mallory: Pipe Queen

It was just a given. Mallory’s BB Comic had to be the Pipe Queen. Nothing else would have felt right. She looks menacing on her throne of pipes in her Eve & Eve costume.

2. Yash: The Skullet

Just like his Zing, Yash’s comic also had to be about his “unique” hairstyle. I’ve got to admit, it’s growing on me! Him putting people in a trance as he gives them his signature Skullet is amazing.

1. Taylor: Pod Almighty

I’ve got to admit, I don’t know how I feel about Taylor being the first person production calls out for bed rotting. She is nowhere near the first to do it in the BB house. Ignoring that, though, the artist did a great job and she looks badass in her comic. No matter how bad production tries to make her look, she’s always amazing.

Winner Watch + Player of the Week: Dee’s Comeback

I’m gonna combine both of these segments because, let’s face it, Dee was far and away the best player this week. Everyone else was either in danger or made a potentially detrimental mistake for their game. Dee, however, was able to come out of this week in an amazing position. She lost her best friend, Angela, but she now has a solid and united four person alliance! I didn’t even mention the Ceasefire alliance between the newbies in my strategy recap because it fell apart before it even started. Sure, she lost Angela, but Devens is a bigger target than her and he’s still in the game! After giving up hope for a bit, I am once again seeing a reality where Dee wins BB28.

Flop of the Week: Melody Morris

I’ve been a Melody fan for most of the season, but I feel like I’m losing hope in her. She showed promise early on, but every time I see an update from her, it’s her complaining to Barrett and Drew. She’s isolating herself. Even worse, she’s isolating and attaching herself to a sinking ship! I can no longer see a world where she wins the game. She might not even win a competition!

Angela Murray: The Woman Who Saved Big Brother

I’m sorry, I will never stop loving Angela. BB25 felt like a low point for the series. That season dragging on for so long and having the worst possible outcome happen almost every week was so demoralizing. The competitions were so unbalanced, hugely favoring young athletic guys. When BB26 was about to start, I entered hesitantly. I prepared myself for the worst possible outcome to happen every single week again. Then, a miracle happened. Angela, a 50-something year old woman, won the first HOH competition and gave us one of the most iconic BB moments of all time: Crazy Eyes! Just like that, I fell back in love with the show and the pain BB25 caused me washed away.

I was so excited to see Angela return this season, and she may have disappointed a lot of people, but not me! I still loved watching her play her heart out. Although she did not have a moment more iconic than Crazy Eyes (that was once in a lifetime!), her winning the Blockbuster in week 6 is one of my season highlights, for sure. I’d love to watch Angela play on every Big Brother season!