Lady Calypso

I think there's been some decent players, and I think at least we've seen Dee's strategy behind some moves. I think, even on another season with some better players, she could still do well. I don't want to discredit Dee because it's not like she's floating or stumbling into good gameplay; she really is putting in the work and I do think it could work in other seasons. It helps the men underestimate her instead of feeling threatened by her, which is something dominant women on Survivor run into more often than not, but that's something she can't really help. I think she's managing her threat level fairly well. She SHOULD be a threat since she's been vocal in her plans, but even her own allies underesimate her. Part of it is definitely bad players, but part of it is her doing a good job. I mean, if Emily and Kaleb didn't really see Dee's threat level or see it in the way they should have, that should be a big sign that she's not doing a terrible job. Look at how Katurah ran straight to Dee to tell her about the plan. I feel like that counts for something. But I just like strategic gameplay, especially when it comes from women.

It all depends how she handles adversity with Austin in this endgame. She's now voicing potentially blindsiding Austin, so if she does that, then I think I can get past this annoying showmance.

I get that. I think, for me, the reason why I like Dee and fight a bit harder to defend her because we've had plenty of cocky men in Survivor and many of them have been well liked. I don't see Dee's behaviour being different than any of those past players who are liked, but I fully see why people do not like her. I guess I don't mind because she's one of the few women who have been able to successfully dominate and not be targeted for not being meek or a follower or invisible.

And Dee wins! I'm ok with it; not that she's in any danger.

I just think the only flashy move he can make is save his idol, get out Julie tonight, then use his idol next Tribal to get out Dee, and then win final immunity and put Drew/Austin in fire. But, like, even THEN, I'm not so sure he can win.

Oh, Jake found a clue to the idol. Oh, he has to go to the tribe raft to get it. I mean, Jake wants to make a flashy move but who he's gonna target? And that requires him to know who's voting where.

This is hilarious. Drew's pissed off that he has to be the babysitter and missed out on the reward, and Julie/Jake don't want to be babysat so they're just outright looking for an idol together.

Oops, I tuned out what the reward was. Oh well.

I've said it before and each episode keeps proving my point: the women have been RUNNING this season. Except for Kaleb, the women have been on point and been way smarter and more strategic than the men. So of course Dee/Julie have a one-up on Drew/Austin. They're simply better at the game than they are.

Is Reba 4 somehow the new Tika 3, where nobody realizes how close people are with each other? Really?

I feel like this acting is for absolutely nothing. They're at F6, they have the numbers. There is literally no reason to lie anymore.

Julie, there's four days left in the game. Also, of course you can't trust them! They voted you out! Why are you wondering if you can trust them? They're gonna try again!

Dee's plan should be very obvious but the players left are Jake (who has had bad reads), Katurah (who was Bruce blinded for weeks), and Austin (who is Dee blinded). Drew's the only one who could catch on to Dee lying.

Julie: We're keeping it secret that Dee and I are working together! I feel like these people SHOULD read into it, but they probably won't.

I did forget that Dee created the whole plan to also vote Julie FOR the aftermath.

The funny thing is that Nicole wasn't even that bad. She was only slightly behind Britney; sure, she messed up a few times but she actually DID finish rather quickly. It was Xavier who messed it up by putting them a whole tree behind the other team. Which would have queued another three years of Nicole not speaking to Cody. But yeah, Frankie seemed to realize that peeking at other players' answers was the way to go and, to his credit, it worked for him.

This is shaping up to be a fun spinoff season. Cameron first boot and Cody second? And the team Cody compiles loses to the Leftovers 2.0? Beautiful. Plus, equitable comps and we get even more Britney? Hooray! This is what we've wanted from the original but can never get because comps are so geared toward a specific type of person winning. It was joyous to see Taylor's Karma bite Cody in the ass this quickly, and all because he decided that Frankie/Xavier were the strongest men best competitors to play with, and Nicole because he trusted her over Josh (but let's not be silly; it's likely not really because he thought she was a super strong competitor). I nearly threw up in my mouth when Frankie ALSO voiced that Cody/Xavier were players he didn't want to compete against because he couldn't beat them but he could definitely beat the other five in the house (probably because they're women and then there's Josh, who varies in skill in comps). Like, please, keep voicing how you can beat the women in the house but not the two men who you claim are well rounded or your bestest best friend who you haven't talked to since BB16, most likely. Like Frankie has interacted much with Big Brother over the last nine years. There is such satisfaction watching the true underdogs win and seeing Cody taken down a few pegs. I would have been fine with any of the three going home. Cody gets to finally lose Big Brother early enough, Frankie's DRs would have stopped, and Xavier is such a boring ass dude that it wouldn't have been a shame to watch him go. Now, unfortunately, Xavier is so pissy that his alliance turned on him that he likely is about to team up with Frankie and Nicole. Hooray? Not at all; Xavier's just bitter that he can't coast to the end and then beat the people he clearly thinks he can beat, despite just horrifically losing the Brawl for his team. He's now said twice that he's realizing it's Win or Go Home. Yes, Xavier, this is a competition-based game. Social game goes out the window once competitions become important, and because they don't know what type of comps are in the actual Reindeer Games, it's best to take out anyone who can even remotely do anything physical as well, just in case. He has to realize that there was a chance this comp could have been physical and Nicole could have lost. Honestly, with how the comp was, Nicole's not stupid but I think she would have been a tad slower than Cody and Frankie so she might have lost this, which would have left three comp beasts in the house.

Also, Frankie, no, Cameron's not the first BB player to be evicted three times in two months. Nicole's husband Victor would actually be the first.

So, I just watched it since I was unable to last night. I gotta admit, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I was worried about comp beast men teaming up but it seems like everyone is acutely aware that comp beasts are the ones who need to be the targets ASAP, which at least give the women a couple of more eliminations to skate by. No surprise even a competition show is filled with Big Brother-esque strategy. It's pretty much what I expected BB producers want the OG to turn into (huge comp-favoured). Britney is a hoot, as always. I absolutely loved all of her DRs and I love that she won the first comp. What I do like is that they FINALLY seemed to figure out equity in challenges. I mean, we now know they can actually make comps equitable for women to win. WHY ARE THEY NOT DOING THIS ON ACTUAL BIG BROTHER? Danielle's DRs are great, as are Taylor's. I have high hopes for the women IF the men are actually going to go against each other for a bit. Frankie's DRs are fake and intolerable, honestly. He's a great competitor, though, so people really do need to watch out for him. Of course we're gonna be stuck in BB16 hell for a while, which sucks. I do hope Nicole means it when she says she's ready to backstab Cody and Frankie, though. I'd love to see her actually dominate AGAINST guys for once in her BB career. She's annoying, but she's not bro-annoying. Taylor made a very rookie mistake in showing her cards to Frankie by displaying how close she is to Xavier and Josh. Taylor's great socially, but that was a blunder. Hopefully, she's able to recover. I do love that the women are playing hard right off the bat, though. The men keeping their mouths shut may be better strategy, but I don't hate the women being a bit more vocal if it works for them. I just think Taylor may have made a mistake if she doesn't connect with more people. I'd feel bad for Cameron, but he knew he was going in with a massive disadvantage, so he needed to play way harder than he did on day 1. He seemed invisible for the most part, which allowed him to become the target. He also lost against Xavier, so how much of a comp beast is he? Xavier isn't THAT spectacular at comps. The Santa stuff is cheesy (but I guess we get to meet the Big Brother announcer in person, finally!) but tolerable for now. The comps so far are ok. The Naughty/Nice comp needs a bit more of a disadvantage aspect because this episode didn't show that it would put someone so far behind. The Brawl feels a bit overpowered but in a game that's comp-based, it falls in line with what they expect. Overall, I am rooting for Britney or Danielle to take this. Taylor wouldn't be a bad option either. I'm super worried about Nicole falling back with Cody/Frankie instead of backstabbing them. If she does backstab them and puts them in Santa's Showdown, she may very well redeem herself. Xavier's boring (and I LOVE Britney's DR about how he gives absolutely nothing; it's true!), Cody's annoying, Frankie's annoying and Josh....is surprisingly the best guy in the house? Who knew? Jordan as the Elf Ambassador was fine, mostly. She's changed a lot since we saw her last (which was, what, BB13? No, after that, they had that engagement segment a couple of seasons later, right?). Overall, this was better than I thought, and I guess I'll just stick it out for the two weeks.

Sure, you're right. We'd need to see the first episode to see if Frankie's as good as he was or if he's worse. It really does depend, but it seems like Frankie's in good enough shape where he may be ok, even against the younger folk. To be fair, even though he wasn't picked for TAR or The Challenge, it doesn't mean he isn't a comp threat. Look at BB24 Michael Bruner. He wasn't picked for either and he was a clear comp threat. And Derrick/Cody weren't picked for those shows either, right? Actually, if I remember correctly, The Challenge/TAR didn't start regularly casting BB people until after BB18 (Paulie/Natalie were the first to make way for BB crossovers). I know TAR had Boston Rob/Amber be the first CBS crossover couple, but it was years until crossovers with the CBS Trifecta (leading into The Challenge) became a thing.

Fair point. Frankie could definitely be worse at comps now than he had 9 years ago (I cannot believe it's been 9 years since BB16; it really does feel like BB16 was so recent, but that's because we keep seeing Cody and Nicole everywhere lol) I agree, that's why I need to see him compete against non-BB25 people to see if he's actually a comp threat or not (I really don't know if he is; he won comps for BB25 when only, like, six people out of 17 won any comps).

Frankie was actually exceptionally good at comps. I think it's easy to forget, but Frankie did very well in many of the comps. I know BB16 was weird with the Battle of the Block comps, but technically, Frankie still won multiple comps that season, and did well in the ones he didn't win. I'd count him as a comp beast, easily. Xavier probably less so, so I'll take that back (I also forgot Xavier was on The Challenge; I guess he's more forgettable to me than I thought because I really thought he comped out at the end of BB23 for some reason). Cameron has done fine at comps, but he didn't start winning comps, or even doing well, until after Hisam left, and Cameron's placements ranged from first to dead last in comps. I know some of those comps he threw but there were some he legitimately lost. Cameron's fine at comps and it's probably the reason why he'll make it halfway, but I don't think he's so good that he'll comp beast to the end. He really does range from fairly good to just average. He nearly gotten beaten in a couple of the comps he played in. I just think he's overhyped in comps to an extent. He's better than the average Big Brother player, no doubt, but he still has lost comps (and been in the bottom of comps). That's the only reason why I say to an extent, he's overhyped; it really depends on the type of comp for him. He nearly lost the first comp he played in against Izzy, Felicia and Jag, after all. I think Cameron's on a similar level to someone like Cody and Josh. He's above average, but he wasn't so good that he couldn't be beat. He got taken out twice, both fairly early. He can be taken out. And I think people calling him a comp threat are overhyping him a bit. He did well in comps, but many men have done well in comps on Big Brother. Cameron won six comps; so has Cody. So has Xavier. It also doesn't matter about Frankie's reputation, as nobody on this season really knows who Cameron is so even with Frankie's reputation, he has more connections than Cameron does. It makes Cameron an easy target if there IS an ability for strategic gameplay. Frankie not only has his BB16 alliance (Cody and Nicole), thanks to Big Brother, he ALSO has Britney and Danielle who he got to film different segments with earlier this year. That automatically makes him safer than Cameron. And with how I assume this Reindeer Games is set up, even though it does rely on competition wins, we don't know how players get taken out beyond there being a Santa's Showdown. I assume there's a way to still strategize people out of the game even without voting.

I don't want to watch but there's a small chance I, at least, tune in for the premiere. I expect this to be a Big Brother producer's dream and what they've been leading to all along: Big Brother being a competition show. This is what they can lean into without changing the entire format. They've basically done everything but on Big Brother, so they can really embrace their need for their show to be about the competitions. I don't want to reward them with actual views, and I also don't like most of the people they've cast (half are boring, the other portion aren't good at comps or were known for comp status, and then there's infuriating annoying people who are both). Also, Janelle said that Rachel was initially reached out to and they allegedly decided to go with boring ass Nicole Franzel over her so....yeah, not thrilled with that. I just expect it to be exactly how we've seen regular Big Brother seasons to go: the real comp beasts team up, they take out the weaker threats or the outsiders, so we're left with people like Cody or Nicole, Frankie, Britney (who doesn't win anyway) and Cameron or Xavier. I mean, I love to see Danielle here, since I never saw her original seasons and have heard great things about her, but unless she's about to be a comp beast, I expect she's taken out early. The only comp threats I really expect are Frankie, Xavier, and like MAYBE Josh (who at least has done The Challenge so he has some experience). MAYBE Cameron but I think people overhyped his abilities to an extent. I also think, with Cameron's lack of connections, and again depending on how the comp aspect works, he'll have to keep winning out, and I don't foresee him beating people like Xavier and Frankie. I expect the women to be screwed early since, let's face it, Big Brother will always have issue with the actual type of comps. And some of the men will automatically pair off with each other. And I think Cody/Nicole are still fighting from All Stars, but Cody will team up with people like Xavier and Frankie so I fully expect an Xavier/Cody/maybe Frankie finale. Maybe throw in Britney for female representation. Big Brother hasn't been able to fix their comp issues for women vs men, and they're not gonna suddenly figure it out with Reindeer Games. So cue a lot of women going out, in however these comps are decided, and it's gonna be dull AND frustrating all the way through. Let's see if I'm right by the end, if I'm even still around by the end of the six episodes.

It does seem odd that Station 19 would be cancelled, especially given it has one of the highest ratings on ABC currently, but I guess if ABC wants 9-1-1 to work (it garners more success online, I guess) and they don't want two firefighting shows, I guess choosing to cancel Station 19 makes sense. But I agree with some other theories; usually, in these cases, it's all about money, so them getting 9-1-1 is going to cost a hell of a lot of money. If 9-1-1 can maintain their ratings, or even increase their ratings from Fox, I can see why they chose it over Station 19, if that's even what has happened. But I think part of it is that, despite Station 19 doing well on the network, it probably doesn't do well streaming OR social media-wise in the way that 9-1-1 does. Station 19 does fine, but I guess not enough for the network to commit to it for longer. They may also be looking to pick up new shows that may be more expensive, and they're willing to sacrifice Station 19 to free up their budget and schedule. I guess we won't really know the answer, at the end of the day. It's probably a lot of reasons behind this decision. I personally prefer 9-1-1 to Station 19 (both aren't great shows but I find 9-1-1 more entertaining) so I'm not particularly upset by this; however, only having 10 episodes to conclude the series is what I'm disappointed about. I think 13 episodes would be enough to conclude, but 10 episodes feels short.

I WAS rooting for Austin until he said he was fine to lose if it meant Dee won, and when he sold out the plan to Dee because "he felt bad". The moment he showed his head isn't in the game, it solidified that he's just too bad of a player for me to want to see win. To be fair, they didn't know Julie had an idol; only the Reba 4 knew. ETA: Unless I'm wrong about that. I know Drew/Austin emphasized it has to be a total blindside, but I didn't think it was because everyone knew about the idol.