S01.E05: Big Brother: Reindeer Games

[Guest]

4 down.  1 more to go.

[Thalia]

I'm kind of loving that Derek is tanking on this Jingle Bell Brawl.   And his excuse, "I didn't concentrate on the right things," reminded me of my former students:  "You didn't ask about what I studied!" 

C'mon Brittany!

[iMonrey]

I call BS on that final Santa Showdown. Xavier is twice Britney's size, the zipline part was much easier for him than it was for her. Granted there was a technique to it she should have figured out sooner but still, she had to work twice as hard. There was an unbalanced physical advantage to this one. 

[30 Helens]

Damn it, Taylor! If you’re choosing between Nicole and Britney, why not choose the one who poses absolutely no threat to you? Nicole has proven she can win challenges (unless they involve disgusting food), but Britney is about as far from a challenge beast as you can get. I know I’m just salty because I was rooting for Britney, but still. It’s just logical.

And now you’ve left me hoping that Frankie takes you out. What is the world coming to.

[DEL901]

Shocked by Frankie being so good at the trivia memory challenge AND that he not only understood the zip line technique but could articulate that Brittany needed to use a pendulum technique.   X lucked into the final because he sucked at the memory challenge and barely beat Brittany at the zip line/puzzle challenge.   

Taylor came across as smug and I’m no longer rooting for her.  If Nicole doesn’t win, 8m now okay if Frankie beats X and T.  

[choclatechip45]

I want Taylor to win, but I would be okay with Frankie winning (which I'm shocked I feel that way). 

[Lady Calypso]

It's a shame that Britney went out here, but at least we got her for five episodes. It's better than no Britney at all. I think she also did so well here; she won some comps, she had the best DRs and proved why she's the best confessionalist in the history of Big Brother, and she got to have some memorable moments, such as her kicking ass at the hamster wheel Showdown.

I don't really get why Taylor chose to take Nicole instead of Britney. Unless she thought she could use Nicole to beat the men in the finale, I don't get her thought process. Or maybe that's a testament to Nicole's social game because, goddamn, what does Nicole do to get people to trust her so much? 

I'd be more upset about Santa's Showdown's challenge but we HAVE gotten the most equitable comps here than we have in modern Big Brother, so one comp like this isn't the end of the world. Plus, there was a clear strategy to knock the blocks down, it just took Britney longer to figure it out. On the other hand, Xavier needed no strategy because he's so tall, so what it took him in two tries to knock everything down, it took Britney probably about ten-twelve tries. She got lucky that Xavier almost bombed the puzzle portion. Had she been able to figure out the strategy even 5 minutes faster, she would have beaten Xavier.

This type of comp would need to be tweaked to help the people who are disadvantaged, but it is clearly a comp that can work. I can't be too mad, though, since they have had equitable comps and Britney almost did tie with Frankie on the quiz portion.

Alas, it's not meant to be and we're probably heading to a Frankie win. Eh, it would be a partial shame but I don't think it would take away from the positives of this spinoff show, which has been showcasing that Big Brother IS capable of creating equitable comps, they just literally chose not to for years. Thanks Big Brother for showing your true colours; you can do it, you just don't care to.

My preferences to win would be Nicole, Taylor, then Frankie and then Xavier, but other than Xavier, I would be fine with anyone winning. I also wouldn't hate an Xavier win since he DID have to work for it, but I'd be bored by it.