S24.E29: Power of Veto #10

[Pop Tart]

Air date: 9.14.2022

[dizzyd]

Why is Brittany the only doing it the right way? You have to go in order for a puzzle and not just put anything anywhere. 

Ok I know it gets boring when the numbers dwindle but am I the only one watching? There was a snooze you lose veto that hasn’t been done in a long time and the primary target won to shake it up, so it’s not that bad, right?

Brittany is lucky she won the veto because she sucks at pitching. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by dizzyd

[seacliffsal]

I, too, really enjoyed the veto challenge.  It took focus and making plan for the competitors while making me laugh while they were working on their puzzles.  Anyone else think Monte may have purposefully taken too long so that he would have "clean hands" for the results of the competition and taking someone off of the block?  

Oh, and why do so many of the house guests have to state "your boy/your girl" when they are talking to the viewers?  Does anyone remember when this started?  I find it annoying (Monte used it this episode).  It just bothers me so much because all I want to do is yell back at the t.v. "no, no you're not my boy/my girl" grrrrrr. 

[Cotypubby]

38 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

Oh, and why do so many of the house guests have to state "your boy/your girl" when they are talking to the viewers?  Does anyone remember when this started? 

The first time I remember seeing it was Paul.  Not sure if anyone used that before him.

[North of Eden]

The ending of the episode should be a surprise to no one. Monte has never had Taylor's back going all the way back to drinking the Paloma Koolaid.

Astonishingly poor game play by Monte: Did he think BB was bluffing about getting down to the back yard. To make such an unforced error this late in a critical stage of the game?

I agree with Turner....Brittany shouting FOR MICHAEL was bizarre and frankly pathetic. The guy clearly didn't really give two s___ts about her or he never would have thrown  her under the bus at a point when it was clearly hopeless...that nothing he could have said would have changed the voters mind but he did it anyway.

Speaking of Michael I have no doubt he would have smoked that veto as well.

Witness BIG BROTHER's blatant attempt to steer the AMERICAN'S PLAYER win to Brittany by editing in this heretofore never mentioned infertility sob story...that did not move me one bit.

Brittany was so smugly arrogant after the veto win that it made me dislike her even more than I thought possible. That a coat tail rider is in the final four shall ever be a flaw in this game when people like Ameerah (love her or hate her) were actually playing the game got snuffed out. Completly unearned and yet she'll likely get the second place windfall.

German voice over guy:  scene stealer from the Los Vega zombie movie with Drax the Destroyer?

[Ms Blue Jay]

Brittany threatening Monte was terrible, transparent, cringey, embarrassing, and insulting.  What the hell?

I honestly wondered if Monte passive aggressively missed the Veto competition on purpose, so that Turner would have to do everything.

8 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

Brittany was so smugly arrogant after the veto win that it made me dislike her even more than I thought possible. That a coat tail rider is in the final four shall ever be a flaw in this game when people like Ameerah (love her or hate her) were actually playing the game got snuffed out. Completly unearned and yet she'll likely get the second place windfall.

Yes, yes yes

Edited September 15, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[twilightzone]

1 hour ago, Lucas Rowan said:

It kills me that Monte didn't at least consider Brittany and Taylor's pitches, because I agreed with everything that they were saying.  Turner's the second-biggest competition threat behind the now-ousted Michael, and Monte knows that.  F5 is beyond the time to be worrying about keeping shields around.  If he'd just nominated Turner, he could have him out and run the competition table from the women with no problem.

Monte can't play HOH next week and without Turner, one of the girls will put him up and he will have to win the veto.  Turner has always been more loyal to the guys.  And he doesn't have a relationship with Brittany or Taylor.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Suburban mob boss. Good one, Monte. Brittany really let that veto win go to her head. The same head that had her dedicating the win to Michael. Is she delusional or was she trying to do some jury management?

[Dewey Decimate]

Wow, my take on this was almost diametrically opposite the consensus! Monte dragging his prima donna ass out of bed so slowly, forcing a DQ for an allegedly essential veto, was INEXCUSABLE. Personally I found him a little arrogant when talking to Taylor pre-veto, but figured I was just misreading and gave him the benefit of the doubt. But then in his post-veto convos, he didn't even try to hide the perma-smirk, when imo he should have been scarfing down humble pie faster than Nathan's hot dogs on Coney Island on the Fourth of July.

Not that I'm a Crazy Eyes fan. I am glad to see she's gained some perspective on Michael's mostly logical and not-personal eviction plea (guess that means I disagree with Turner regarding her shout-out), but she's so inappropriately intense and annoying talky. I think Monte understands his options; let him come to you if he wants your opinion.

[30 Helens]

2 hours ago, Lucas Rowan said:

Hard to say who'll go between Taylor and Alyssa, but if Monte has enough control on the situation, it'll probably be Alyssa.

Personally, I’d send out Taylor and keep Alyssa. Alyssa is zero threat to win comps, so she’s a great stepping stone to F3, then 2. And I say this as someone who loves Taylor and is hoping she wins.

1 hour ago, North of Eden said:

That a coat tail rider is in the final four shall ever be a flaw in this game when people like Ameerah (love her or hate her) were actually playing the game got snuffed out. Completly unearned and yet she'll likely get the second place windfall.

I agree that coattail riders and floaters make for unsatisfying F2s. But I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re not playing the game if that strategy gets them to the end. Ameerah got cut because she was playing too hard, too soon. That was a flaw in her game. I don’t like Brittany, but being the shadow half of a power couple has clearly worked for her. And she just managed to pull off a veto when she needed it most. You could also look at Michael, who nobody could accuse of playing a lazy game, and say he had a terrible strategy because he forced himself into a must-win-every-comp corner.

There are many paths to victory in a game like BB. Some are fun to watch, some aren’t. But none are inherently invalid.

Also: Monte deserves to go home just for that dumb play of dragging his ass downstairs too late. You have a routine? Good for you. But you’re at final 5; if winning matters, move a little faster.

Edited September 15, 2022 by 30 Helens
Had more thoughts

[Callaphera]

BrITtany LiTERALly tALKS LIKE the SpoNgEbOb mEmE. She even has the crazy eyes down pat.

"ThIs OnE iS FoR mIchael!" I'm not a fan of the stank ass Turner but I joined him in that epic eyeroll.

[Samwise979]

Monte had to go poop right?? That's the only  legitimate reason I can come up with for missing the 2 min deadline - he didn't want to 💩 his pants on tv

[MsMalin]

9 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

There are many paths to victory in a game like BB. Some are fun to watch, some aren’t. But none are inherently invalid.

Yes, I ultimately agree with this statement. If you get to the end, you got there somehow and it is as legitimate as any reason. Just as getting voted out like Michael did showed a flaw in his gameplay.

[Gregg247]

I really enjoyed the veto competition and it was one of those comps that I actually wish I could have participated in (although NOT in the middle of the night!).  I thought it was hilarious, seeing 3 of them building their clocks and carefully testing how well they turned, while Alyssa simply had a board full of randomly placed wheels all over the place, most of which weren't even connected to anything. LOL

Monte's strategy of using Turner as a shield just for this one week makes sense.  Without Turner there, any of the 3 females would for sure nominate Monte (and probably evict him for the "girl-power final 3" that they were discussing the other night).  With Turner still there, Monte has some pretty good protection from eviction next week.  This gets him TO Final 3, but facing Turner IN Final 3 may be tricky.

I think Taylor can survive this week if she reminds the others that Alyssa has 3 nearly guaranteed jury votes (Kyle, Indy, and Jasmine) while she (Taylor) has none.  Brittany is probably the best floater to drag to F2 since she's kind of useless in comps (aside from this veto) and only has Michael as an ally (who may vote or may not vote for her - depends on if he truly values gameplay or if he's butthurt for getting eliminated in 6th place).

[MMLEsq]

11 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

Personally, I’d send out Taylor and keep Alyssa. Alyssa is zero threat to win comps, so she’s a great stepping stone to F3, then 2. And I say this as someone who loves Taylor and is hoping she wins.

Playing devil's advocate here:  keeping Alyssa is risky because she could get all the non-Leftovers jury voters' votes.  She seems well liked and, unless I'm forgetting something, generally hasn't done anything to piss anyone off.

I too, however, am hoping for a Taylor win.  Monte shouldn't be counting on Turner to have his back; Turner's ultimately going to do what's best for his own game (which is probably getting Monte out, if he can).  I agree with Turner's thoughts?/plan? to force a tie and make Monte be the bad guy and vote out either Taylor or Alyssa.  

I guess at this point my choice for winner (in descending order) would be: 

1.  Taylor

2.  Turner

3.  Brittany

4.  Alyssa

5.  Monte (seems like a nice guy, but his lack of hustle in getting outside to participate in the veto challenge is inexcusable).   

And, this might be an unpopular opinion based on posts I've been seeing over the last week, but I hope Michael gets AFH.

[iMonrey]

Good Lord, the Veto episode is always tedious but this one especially so. How many times did we have to hear someone explain to us that if Brittany won the Veto Monte had to put up either Turner or Taylor? Ten times? Every single one of them, in the DR, saying the same damn thing, once before the comp, and again after the comp.

I swear, the Veto episode follows such a lazy pattern, the producers drag the players into the DR, make them say why they need to win the Veto, make them say what their strategy is for winning the Veto, make them say what will happen after the Veto, and then we hear all of them saying the same damn thing over and over and over and over. Every time they cut to someone in the DR they were saying something that a.) someone else had already said or b.) something THEY had already said. The editors must think we have the short-term memory of a Dory fish.

Quote

Personally I found him a little arrogant when talking to Taylor pre-veto, but figured I was just misreading and gave him the benefit of the doubt. But then in his post-veto convos, he didn't even try to hide the perma-smirk, when imo he should have been scarfing down humble pie faster than Nathan's hot dogs on Coney Island on the Fourth of July.

And that's what really bugs me about Monte - he's smug. Every conversation, he looks smug as hell. Every DR - smug. I'm not crazy about any of them that are left, but none of them are smug like Monte is.

I'll give the show credit with the Veto comp itself, it looked wicked complicated. And I don't think poor Alyssa would have been able to figure it out if they'd given her the entire summer to do it.

[North of Eden]

2 hours ago, MsMalin said:

Yes, I ultimately agree with this statement. If you get to the end, you got there somehow and it is as legitimate as any reason. Just as getting voted out like Michael did showed a flaw in his gameplay.

No...doing nothing but riding someone's coat tails should not earn you the second highest amount of money in the game. Someone that actually used their wits or comp skills but falls just short of the number one spot has earned that money.  Coasting on your ride or die's victories for an entire summer does not. Unearned and unworthy.

[Nashville]

55 minutes ago, Gregg247 said:

I really enjoyed the veto competition and it was one of those comps that I actually wish I could have participated in (although NOT in the middle of the night!).  I thought it was hilarious, seeing 3 of them building their clocks and carefully testing how well they turned, while Alyssa simply had a board full of randomly placed wheels all over the place, most of which weren't even connected to anything. LOL

49 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I don't think poor Alyssa would have been able to figure it out if they'd given her the entire summer to do it.

Actually, Alyssa already had a cheat sheet for the comp; unfortunately for her, though, she’d folded it up and tucked it away in her passport for safekeeping on her last trip to Newark.

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, North of Eden said:

No...doing nothing but riding someone's coat tails should not earn you the second highest amount of money in the game. Someone that actually used their wits or comp skills but falls just short of the number one spot has earned that money.  Coasting on your ride or die's victories for an entire summer does not. Unearned and unworthy.

@North of Eden - to paraphrase Peachy’s comments to Russell Hantz on Survivor: the game you describe sounds interesting, but it  ain’t Big Brother.

By the time Finale Night rolls around, “should/shouldn’t” are pretty much irrelevant concepts; “did/didn’t” is what puts a HG’s ass in one of the two F2 chairs…

1. Did the HG execute a strategy which successfully took them to F2?
2. Did the HG do so in a way which acquired/retained them the majority of available Jury votes?

…and within the context of BB, nothing else matters.

At their essence, the primary ethos of pretty much all competitive reality shows boils to the same three elements so succinctly stated in the Survivor slogan:

• Outwit (strategic execution)
• Outplay (physical execution)
• Outlast (social execution).

#1 in the first list is dependent in varying degrees upon all three elements, but #2 is 100% tied to a single element - the player’s social game - and is the yawning abyss into which most players’ games fall, never to be seen again.  If you think I’m wrong, just ask Russell - or Paul (twice 😆)* - or Janelle, for that matter.

*Damn, that’ll never get old.  🤣🤣🤡💀

[North of Eden]

59 minutes ago, Nashville said:

@North of Eden - to paraphrase Peachy’s comments to Russell Hantz on Survivor: the game you describe sounds interesting, but it  ain’t Big Brother.

By the time Finale Night rolls around, “should/shouldn’t” are pretty much irrelevant concepts; “did/didn’t” is what puts a HG’s ass in one of the two F2 chairs…

1. Did the HG execute a strategy which successfully took them to F2?
2. Did the HG do so in a way which acquired/retained them the majority of available Jury votes?

…and within the context of BB, nothing else matters.

At their essence, the primary ethos of pretty much all competitive reality shows boils to the same three elements so succinctly stated in the Survivor slogan:

• Outwit (strategic execution)
• Outplay (physical execution)
• Outlast (social execution).

#1 in the first list is dependent in varying degrees upon all three elements, but #2 is 100% tied to a single element - the player’s social game - and is the yawning abyss into which most players’ games fall, never to be seen again.  If you think I’m wrong, just ask Russell - or Paul (twice 😆)* - or Janelle, for that matter.

*Damn, that’ll never get old.  🤣🤣🤡💀

An interesting interpretation for justifying doing zero for an entire season and making it to the end so I'll give you that.

Can we at least agree it's  totaley UNSATISFYING watching a coat tail rider in one of the final two chairs when someone who actually makes and effort and was a mover and a shaker falls short?

[MsMalin]

I agree that it is unsatisfying. I have pondered this through the years and ultimately concluded that everyone has some sort of strategy that either works or doesnt. Michael was fantastic at the comps but he didn't take into account what a threat he was. He was also lacking in social.game. So no matter how he dominated in the comps that just wasn't enough.

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, North of Eden said:

An interesting interpretation for justifying doing zero for an entire season and making it to the end so I'll give you that.

Can we at least agree it's  totaley UNSATISFYING watching a coat tail rider in one of the final two chairs when someone who actually makes and effort and was a mover and a shaker falls short?

Truthfully? It depends on the individual HG, and their style of play. For example: are we talking floaters, or coasters?  A true floater may be a master of understated manipulative skill, while a coaster’s gameplay may more closely resemble that of an endtable.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Michael was fantastic at the comps but he didn't take into account what a threat he was. He was also lacking in social.game. So no matter how he dominated in the comps that just wasn't enough.

I don't think Michael's social game was all that bad. At least two of the jurors - Indy and someone else I can't remember - walked out of the house and told Julie they liked Michael. Granted, their opinion might have changed post-Kyle eviction but while they were in the house with him they seemed to like him.

As for Taylor and Alyssa, they made a gamble they'd be better off with Turner and Monte than with Michael, and now both their asses are on the chopping block. Doesn't seem like that worked out for them. And I have every confidence they will follow Michael into the jury house right behind him.

[iMonrey]

Quote

With how much Brittany is hated?  I doubt it.

Well either Alyssa or Taylor is going tonight. Whether the other goes before or after Brittany is kind of a moot point. Neither will be F2. Brittany has won more comps than either Alyssa or Taylor, she may just stumble her way into F3.

[30 Helens]

6 hours ago, MMLEsq said:

Playing devil's advocate here:  keeping Alyssa is risky because she could get all the non-Leftovers jury voters' votes.  She seems well liked and, unless I'm forgetting something, generally hasn't done anything to piss anyone off.

What I meant was, Alyssa is not  threat to keep for F4 and F3 because it’s highly unlikely she will win either of those comps. (Unless she lucks into a numbers challenge where all the questions are about Kyle’s bedroom timing.) Whoever wins at F3 could then choose not to take her to F2, if they think she’ll get too many jury votes.