Eolivet

I sort of disagree with this. If anything, it saved us from the "trying desperately not to be racist" justifications for voting out Black women on reality TV ("they're so intelligent! They're such a threat!") I didn't enjoy Tiffany and Hannah getting voted out, but at least "we don't trust you" or "we like the guys better" or "you're annoying" were honest reasons versus "golly gee, you're just sooooo good, I couldn't let you win." When Sarah Beth wanted to target Hannah that one week for being "so smart" and "knowing so much about the game," that was one thing I'm glad the Cookout snuffed out. The patting yourself on the back for "getting rid of a threat" when white women are pretty much never seen as being "too intelligent" or "too much of a threat." Maybe it's me, but I'm glad Tiffany and Hannah went out to the Cookout sub-alliance with their middle fingers (metaphorically) raised versus being evicted by a Derek X/Claire/SB/whoever conglomerate that would've gone over the top about how awesome they were, to make themselves feel better.

Yes, but they scored it to "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" which is the perfect song to describe Bear's brief Challenge career. And once Bear went home, nobody else really took their place. This season has been a new couple every week. I know The Challenge used to be like this, but I don't watch Love Island for a reason.

Why I miss the colder weather and the more austere setting: it cut down on the hook-up culture. This season feels trashier than the past few. Not since Paulie and Cara Maria were having sex on all the beds back in War of the Worlds. I would've said CT was interested "that way" in Emy, except he appeared to have a wedding ring on in one of his confessionals. Agreed that the daily challenge was lots of "tell" and not a lot of "show." You can scream how sick it is all you want, TJ -- it made for boring TV. Speculating that Josh isn't getting kicked off, since his edit has been really positive (for Josh). He even got a love interest this year, so you know he's hit the big time.

I feel like 11 minutes would've been last place in prior seasons of BB Comics. Were they harder this year, I wonder? More minute details?

Ugh, I cannot stand the guy who dressed up like a chicken! He dressed up like some obnoxious character last year, too -- a needy grandmother or something. Is he famous? Why do they keep bringing him back when he's not funny at all? Kyland's strategy of dropping the egg instead of maneuvering it was a bold move. And I guess it did pay off for him.

I actually remember when Britney found out she was going to be evicted by the Brigade, and she cried and wailed and was incredibly upset, and yet, the prevailing opinion seemed to be that she was stupid for trusting them. No evil was ascribed to the Brigade, only "game," and how dumb could she be, thinking she was part of their group? On the other hand, are people really that mad about being evicted these days? We're a long way from Boogie and Howie "get to stepping" in All Stars (the real All Stars, not this fake one last year). In this era of gaslighting alliances and "vote with the house," we don't really see deep betrayals on BB anymore, and certainly nothing like what used to happen on Survivor. If you're upset about Claire potentially getting evicted, at least she's not Brenda, who got voted out by Dawn after finding Dawn's teeth.

Even though CT and Kyle were crowing about how there's no skull twist, I sort of hope it's not gone for good. That you have to win an elimination or a daily challenge to make the final or something. The coasting through on your political game and making a final is tired. And a skull twist would be the quickest way for the veterans to turn on each other. Josh is getting an outsized edit, and it's not the buffoon one either. Wonder what that means. CT's exasperation with these Mensa candidates' lack of eighth grade math skills will never get old.

The zings have been awful these past few years. Get the writer back who wrote the BB14 and BB16 zings. Although I blame Zingbot for Andy ("it's pale and it floats, oh wait it's just Andy") waking up and winning BB15. Honestly, this hour's biggest laugh for me was Hannah walking into a room with, "Are you snitches conspiring against me?" Now that is a super-fan.

Dear Evan Hansen is a musical that deals with themes like mental health and suicide, whose main character goes to high school. So, having a fun, light high school-themed Veto (including photoshopping a cast onto someone's arm, which is a major plot point of the show) to tie into the movie was bizarre, considering it's not a happy, fun musical. I wish they had done a Veto that had nothing to do with the movie.

Things I never thought I'd ever see on Big Brother: A "Dear Evan Hansen"-themed ... high school Veto comp. I can't tell if it's truly in poor taste or just extremely tone deaf.

Never thought I'd be lamenting Michele's departure, but here we are. She seemed to be implying that there was something physically wrong with their locks (as in, an equipment malfunction). I'm curious what came of that. Obviously nothing, but she did seem pretty insistent something was up with the equipment vs she and Corey couldn't get the timing right. Boy, for all the hay made about the Survivor alliance, they sure fizzled out quickly. Josh has these weird "a stopped clock is right twice a day" moments of strategic brilliance, and his advice to Devin was one of them. Then he couldn't resist going into "meatball" mode with Fessy. Kaycee is pretty intimidating. Former football player, lots of brute strength, quickness. I'm not sure many women would want to face her.

I'd love to know the market research that led CBS production to think, "Vegas-style gambling games. I know, let's have them announced in an uppercrust British accent!" When the voice asked, "Would you like to play Coin of Destiny," I half-expected them to say, "and a spot of tea?"

Ed is a find. He's the player that Jay wanted to be: undersized, but athletic, smart, witty and self-assured. Or he's Paulie with way more brainpower (and guts). I was not a huge fan of Michele on Survivor, but I'm kind of loving her here. Competitive, but strategic and social. Last episode, her going up and apologizing for taking someone else's partner is the kind of move that probably won her that million dollars. Tommy was ten times more interesting in his three Challenge episodes than his entire Survivor season, too. Oh man, Josh is a seasoned veteran. I can't. I still feel like someone's going to tell me that it's Opposite Day.

This was the (OG) Friendship by the end. This is 90% of Survivor alliances in the early years. I just rewatched a Survivor season (Exile Island) where the dominant alliance hated each other, and chose to keep working together. People forget that Derrick's gaslighting alliances are fairly recent, where they all pretend to be friends and then evict people in a pre-chosen hierarchy. The word is "alliance," not "friendship" for a reason. The U.S. and Russia didn't braid each other's hair in WWII, they were on the same side and had a common goal. After several seasons of reality TV that seem determined to tell me that newschool beats oldschool every time, I am positively elated to see an oldschool-type alliance that aren't all friends, and are just working together towards a mutually beneficial common goal! Like alliances used to! I will take "you're on the wrong side and I have to evict you" versus "I'll pretend to be your friend and working with you, but then I'll bait you into doing something wrong that betrays the alliance, so I can stab you in the back, make myself the victim and cry about why you gave me no choice but to evict you" any day of the week, and twice on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The High Rollers Room was one of those things that must've sounded great when it was pitched, but absolutely fell flat when it was broadcast. There's a reason Survivor got rid of its shuffleboard challenge. Shuffleboard is mind-numbing to watch. It made me long for the days of BB20's the Hacker, and that's saying something. I also didn't understand the rules about betting, and assumed there could be five Vetoes in play if everyone bet on the same person. Luckily, they explained it at the end but when you have to rush through nominations because your new twist needs 30 minutes to explain ... that's not a good twist. And I really have to strenuously object to the one some of them are saving for: spinning a roulette wheel to determine a replacement nomination. This isn't even Clown Shoe (where you need attention to detail), or even one of those "crap shoot" HoHs (where who gets the power is random, but in a good way for the winner, not a bad way for the loser). They think this ratchets up the tension, but it actually does the opposite, for me: if you can't control your game to the point that you could randomly be put on the block when someone spins a wheel, what exactly is the point of playing a good game? Nominations aren't supposed to be based on the shruggie emoji. That's not good Big Brother, and it's really not good TV either. Hope this twist is short-lived, because it seems to be nothing but an airtime-suck based where the outcome of someone's game could be pure, random happenstance. Or to put it another way: there's a reason why flipping a coin isn't a televised sport.

It's official. This year's Big Brother winner will be someone different than the default: a woman, a POC, or both. Anybody left can win and make this a successful season in my eyes, because it proves the entire game hasn't been Derrick-ed and Cody-ed to death. Roll on, jury!

Bye, Purple Victoria! See (or hear from) you never. I still think Trenton is too immature. Steve and Sam seem like the main male contenders at this point. Josie and Emily seem like they're on borrowed time. Antonio will likely be the first black jacket casualty (just speculation). But overall, I like the group they've ended up with. They all seem like they're somewhat skilled at various things.

If you need me, I'll be over here chuckling to myself about the Vevmo posters who lobbied so hard for Michaela to be cast, only for her to be "flung" at the very first challenge. They must be rending their garments over such a spectacular flame-out. And that she learned absolutely nothing from her Survivor "counting out the seashells" plan. At least they didn't send her home because she's "so intelligent" this time. And I love that they fixed the "infiltrate and steal" twist, ostensibly by eliminating the skulls. I'm hopeful there will be a lot more partner-switching this season, which makes for more interesting teams (versus Everybody Wants Fessy/Nobody Wants Cory last year). I also lament the return of the "pretty" headquarters: more like a beach house and less like the Prague bunker or the Iceland college dorms. These people don't need to be pampered, they need to be tortured! For my amusement!

Xavier's fealty to the Kings is so odd to me. He can't be the main proponent of the Cookout and the Kings. By lobbying to keep the Kings safe, it's like he was trying to get members of the Cookout nominated. He does realize the Kings run in direct opposition to the Cookout, right? Oh, Sarah Beth. I guess Hannah was just as smart as you thought she was.

On Millennials vs Gen X, Michaela, a Black woman on the millennial tribe, broke down a post-merge strategy for her millennial alliance members, Jay and Will, using seashells, much in the same way Tiffany broke down her strategy using chess pieces (though Tiffany's strategy, I have to say, was far more coherent). Jay and Will then decided this meant they had to get rid of Michaela. In fact, they kept saying it ad nauseum ("She's so intelligent!" "I know, she's so intelligent!") and they did blindside her. (google "Michaela survivor blindside," very memorable.) They actually used the same "we can't keep her 'cause she's too smart" logic that Sarah Beth used to try to boot Hannah this week, and that is always used to get rid of Black women on reality shows ("help, they're too smart!") and very rarely to get rid of anyone else. Which is why I side-eyed Sarah Beth for recycling that old trope. Interesting stats about houseguest popularity. Not surprised about Derek X, a little shocked about Claire, but stunned about Sarah Beth. It now makes me wonder if the America Votes will help protect Derek X from the Cookout majority. Hmmm.

Not surprised Facebook doesn't know the actual definition of racism (and this isn't it), but okay. Because the Cookout isn't an alliance. It's an agreement. I don't remember who said it, maybe Tiffany, but the word "alliance" never crossed their lips. It's an agreement to work together, which yes: semantics, but I don't think anyone has ever said "alliance." It's like a final 2 deal -- I don't think those get outed either. Really? I feel like the audience must be enjoying this not-dudebro + pretty girl-dominated season. And whomst is the white person behind which they shall throw their support? I can't imagine it's Britni or Sarah Beth. And Claire is safe til jury. That leaves Christian, which ... is he really that popular? Because Derek X is a POC, as is Alyssa. On the contrary, I feel like this might be to help the Cookout succeed. ETA: And on Survivor, Jay voted Michaela out because Michaela mentioned targeting Michelle, who was his primary alliance. He said as much in post-season interviews.

I'm not so sure, but I hope not. If the Cookout stays strong, all the rest of the house has to do is keep nominating one non-Cookout person, and presumably, they'll go until it gets to the point where there's no numbers to go against the Cookout. The Royal Flush is actually the biggest threat to the Cookout, as it doesn't hold majority there, and Tiffany (and possibly Xavier) seem to be the only ones who realize this. The Royal Flush was great to get out Brent, and hopefully now Whitney, but it's served its purpose. I really, really hope they realize this or this season is going to end with Christian and Alyssa as nicer! Jackson and Holly, with Sarah Beth in the designated "third place useless also-ran" spot.

Ah yes, the old, "But the Black woman is so intelligent!" argument that has been the staple of (mostly white) reality contestants since time immemorial. I almost forgot it existed this year. I love that the Cookout could save Hannah, and the other three Kings would still have no choice but to stick with the Royal Flush. Who else are they going to align with? Britni?

That was the most confusing competition I've ever seen. I thought you had to reset the clock after 25 seconds, but it look like it just kept resetting for you. And then I thought you had to get out before your 25 seconds expired, but I swear I saw some people run with 2 seconds left and then the clock just reset to 25 and kept going. It played out like a straight-forward "first one to complete the puzzle wins," but I swear it was explained as more of a timing comp. Weird. Brent seemed manic to me. Medicated. Closer to Cody (of Jess and Cody) leaving than Mike Boogie with Howie and "get to steppin." The latter was a blindside. I don't know what this was.

I don't. How many years has Big Brother protected players like this with the edit? Erasing all kinds of behavior for a pretty face? Two seasons ago, this show tried to convince me that a grown man demolishing a watermelon per day was charming. So they showed that Brent wasn't self-aware. So they showed how that behavior rubbed people the wrong way. They didn't put words in his mouth. He said these things. For once, they're airing them. For once, they're showing the pretty boy, warts and all.