Big Brother 21 – Monday Recap for 9/9/19

Good morning all!  I can’t believe we’re a 3rd of the way through September already. It’s still in the high 90’s where I am in Missouri, so it feels like it should still be the middle of summer. In BB time, it definitely feels like it should be ending. I’m not knocking the season because truthfully, I’ve enjoyed the 2nd half. Some of the things that happened during the 1st half, mixed with dislikable people and average to below average gameplay has made it feel like a very long season. We’ve had weeks we had no idea who was going home on Thursday and real gaming (although sometimes sloppy) so it definitely hasn’t been all bad. We also have (mostly) people at the end who want to fight to win and that’s always good too.

My top 3 guesses from way back to win the game were Jackson, Tommy and Beth. All 3 are in the F5 (yeah! I’m a genius) but I was wrong about some of my predictions. (Oh no, I’m a dumbass!) For a while, I thought Beth had the best chance to win, especially after Sis left. (Once Tommy didn’t have Sis as an option, he moved on to Beth) I didn’t think she was playing the best game but she was playing a good game and she was positioned better than anyone in the house, except for Tommy. Her social game was one of the best in the house even after her old alliance turned on Jackson. She found a way to play the middle, sort of remain a 6 Shooter and put their target completely on him.  Her game didn’t just go downhill, it went over a cliff. (That’s ironic because only a Cliff can save her this week)

Her game didn’t tank because she might go home on Thursday. Her game is a dumpster fire because of everything leading up to this week. She was never close to Cliff or Nicole but they’ve been working together for weeks and she had plenty of time to get close to them. Instead of fighting with Jackson, she should’ve been drawing Nicole in closer. She couldn’t  predict Nicole would win 2 comps in a week but at the very least, she knew she’d be voting and the same goes for Cliff.  For comparison, think about how much time Christie and Tommy spent working on Nicole leading up to last weeks eviction. No, it didn’t save Christie but Tommy isn’t starting from scratch this week because of the time he put in.

Beth puts in minimal effort with everything.  She told Jackson they needed to keep Nicole close but spent her days in the hoh room, while Nicole became buddies with Christie and Tommy. She plans ‘Hot Takes with Hols’ but it falls flat because she’d need to interact with people other than Jackson to do it. She prepares eggs for an Easter egg hunt to keep everyone distracted but there wasn’t any time for that yesterday. It’s because she was hung over and worried about her fight with Jackson. She thought it was a good idea to give Nicole the hoh room to butter her up but within 24 hours, she’s complaining to Jackson that she couldn’t sleep anywhere else and was tired. (they’ve taken the room back) People get hohitis but this is different. After a month in power, she and Jackson really feel like the room upstairs belongs to them. The biggest difference is, Jackson’s never stopped playing BB but she has. Beth spends her time picking arguments with him, creating drama with him or trying to make up with him. He’s a jerk but the fight the other night was completely her fault. She got drunk, got mad over something stupid, stormed off and got more upset when he didn’t follow after her. When he didn’t chase after her, she came back to argue more and follow him around when he tried to get away from her. She rarely has a point to make in these arguments (because there isn’t one) so she ends up calling him names instead. Except for the drunk part, she repeats the same pattern every few days. Nicole doesn’t fully trust Tommy and I believe Beth could’ve prevented the debate over who should go this week if she’d have put in even minimal effort. In just a few weeks, she’s gone from being a player the others liked and had respect for her game to being seen as riding Jacksons coattails. (Christie, Jess and Tommy have all said this) She went from being a real jury vote threat in a F2 to the person everyone left in the house could beat. I just think it’s disappointing because I feel like I’ve watched Beth all summer but I would’ve really like to see Holly play this game.

As for The Decision: (ya, I know Nicole isn’t Lebron but I don’t think I’ve had an NBA reference yet this season and that’s just not right)  I’ve leaned more towards Nicole and Cliff needing to keep Beth since before the double. I never thought she should’ve gone after the shomance that week but I did think it was better to take Tommy out instead of Christie.  I’ve also never felt this weeks decision was a right or a wrong choice because there are pros and cons to both. I think it may be better for Cliff to keep Beth but better for Nicole to keep Tommy. Obviously, that isn’t an option and that may be why so many people (including me) are undecided this week. They’re a team but it doesn’t mean the same thing is best for both of them. Online polls, regarding who to evict are staying close to 50/50 or at most, 60/40. With most of us liking and disliking the same people this year, (unusual) we’ve barely had anything to debate so we were due. I’ve heard so many good reasons to vote both ways and I like this part of BB. This is one of those times, people will say they screwed up if the comps don’t go the way they want and that isn’t fair. Instead, I’m going to suggest things to consider other than the comps that could make the decision they make a mistake.

• If they keep Tommy and he teams up with Jackson. Tommy may not want to go to the F3 with a duo any more than Nicole does.
• If they evict Beth,  Jackson and Beth are bitter jurors AND those two votes cost one of them the game.
• If the jury doesn’t respect the move to split up the shomance as much as Nicole thinks they will. (It is the flashier move)
• If Tommy wins because he has more jury votes than Jackson would’ve, assuming they get him out at F4. (We can’t possibly know that yet)
•  If they keep Beth, get to the end but the jury ends up thinking Cliff and Nicole played Jacksons game because they stayed with their F4 deal.

There’s things that concern me for Cliff and Nicole. I think Nicole is overtaking Cliff as someone you don’t want to take to the end and Tommy seems to think it too.  It’s great that everyone loves her but is that going to turn into a liability?  If she wins another comp, could it prevent Tommy from taking her to the end? For Cliff, if he’s at the end with Nicole, will it look like she did it all?  She’ll get all the credit for getting out Christie and breaking up the shomance. Even though he had a better game the 1st half of the season, she has flashier moves. Regardless, I’m happy some gaming is still going on this week.  There weren’t a ton of game conversations yesterday but they were important ones. I’ll go over those but first, here’s the answer to yesterdays trivia and one more thing.  Someone asked in the comments yesterday if Nicole had shaken hands on the deal with Jackson and Beth. I replied that she hadn’t.  It would take me forever to scroll through and find it so I thought it would be easier to correct it here. I was mistaken because Nicole avoided shaking on a deal with them week before last, she did shake on it the week after. I’d forgotten that happened so sorry about that.

Trivia answer from yesterday: Nicole is only the 3rd person in BBUS to win the veto at F5, use it and force the only remaining player to go on the block.  The question was when were the other 2 times this has happened?

• BB5- Diane used the veto on Drew
• BB10-Memphis used the veto on Dan
• Both Drew and Dan won the game. 

Finally, yesterdays recap:

• Cliff had a camera talking session and said what a great experience the games been for him. He said it comes down more to competitions at this point than anything else. He also said if he couldn’t win a comp at the end, maybe he didn’t deserve to win. He talked about what he was doing during the initial hours on 9/11 and how he couldn’t believe how many years it’s been. He said they plan to get up early Wednesday to have a moment of silence.
• Cliff said he finally felt ok to unpack:
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• Tommy and Jackson talked about Christie’s effect on Tommy’s game.  Tommy agreed it made it more stressful and he couldn’t play the way he’d originally planned. He also acknowledged it helped him too because he said he was able to hide behind a much bigger target. Jackson related his situation with Jack as the same thing. (It isn’t)
• The Veto ceremony happened and Cliff  came off the block. Nicole worked on her speech earlier in the day. Tommy ran his by Beth to get her thoughts and he did or said something about one of the puppets they made. (doubt that makes the episode since fans won’t know what the hell he’s talking about) let’s hope we don’t have to see a segment on the puppets so they CAN use Tommy’s speech.
• The face Nicole said the jury would make if they sent Beth out on Jacksons hoh:
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• Cliff and Nicole talked more about what decision they should make this week. They went over the same things as before. Cliffs main point is getting Jackson out and making it to F3 may be easier with Tommy’s help but going against Tommy in F3 will be harder and he thinks having Beth in the F3 might be a better choice. He agrees Nicole has a point about going into next week with 2 vs 2 isn’t great. Nicole’s main reasoning is the 2 vs 2 or with Tommy, it would be 3 vs 1 and she said, as a fan of the show, you have to take out a shomance and break up the last duo. She also doesn’t see any reason Tommy wouldn’t want to get Jackson out too. (This may be the right choice but she’s too focused on “you always take out the shomance.” Another unwritten rule is “you always take out the bigger threat” so she has a bit of tunnel vision)
• Beth and Jackson hashed out their fight from last night. She wanted to explain why she said what she said. Earlier, she blamed it on wanting them to have a date night and it not working out. She also said she was only irritated by the The Challenge talk because it’s all they talked about. (That’s not true. They talked about a lot of things up until she got pissed over The Challenge talk) The latest reason was about her anxiety because of a past relationship. He said he had the same. They basically had a pissing contest over who’s been the most scarred by an ex. (They’re both ridiculous. I’m not minimizing any kind of emotional abuse. I’m just saying, she’s fine until she doesn’t get her way and then it’s all about the PTSD, PMS, STD and a bunch of BS) They didn’t really get anywhere. He socialized and she laid around looking miserable but strategically positioned where he could see her.
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• Nicole wondered if the Jackson/Beth fight was staged. Cliff said he’d thought the same but said she was up crying until 5 am.
• Jackson asked Nicole if she’d told Tommy about having a F4 with him. She said she hadn’t. (She has) He said Tommy talked about it to him like it was a known fact and he knew for sure. They both said they’d made it sound to Tommy like it was something casual and unofficial. Nicole said Tommy was saying the same things to her. Jackson also let Nicole know he was there for the game, respected her game and hinted he’d be ok if Beth left. He made it sound like he’d love to be in the F3 with Cliff and Nicole. Jackson had also invited Nicole to the hammock while Beth laid on the outdoor sofa in the fetal position.
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• Nicole filled us in on her plan. She’s Cliffs  F2, is mostly sure she’d be Tommy’s F2 and said if Beth goes, she thinks she can get Jackson to take her to the F2 as well.
• Tommy and Jackson noticed Nicole across the yard talking with her hands. Jackson pointed out to Tommy that’s how he could tell when Nicole was talking game. (She isn’t  off the radar anymore) Jackson told Tommy if he (Jackson) made F3, he would win the game. (I don’t know why anyone would say this to anyone but there ya go)
• Nicole and Cliff continued to discuss things mixed in with some Tommy time. Cliff was leaning towards keeping Beth at that point. Meanwhile, Beth took Jackson to the hoh room to show him the new showerhead that had been installed in the hoh bathroom. (The showerhead broke the day before when they were in there with the stool) Apparently, it’s been upgraded to a newer model with different spray jets and shit that I don’t even want to think about further.
• Beth asked Jackson if he wanted to take a “shower.” She said she was worried about them and Thursday. She said they could talk things over in the shower and it not be on the show. He told her no at first but eventually they did.
• While Beth was playing with the ummmmm….hose, Tommy was busy campaigning to stay.  He told Nicole his offer to keep him was that he’d throw the next hoh comp but fight hard for the veto and promised he’d take out Jackson if he won it. He said he felt so much more himself for the first time in the house. (I don’t know if he’s  lying but I like toned down, humble Tommy so much more than always auditioning Tommy)
• Cliff, Nicole and Tommy had pizza on the hammock and eventually Beth and Jackson joined them and they were mostly back to normal. (Whatever normal is for these two drama queens)
• Tommy gave his pitch to Cliff. He said he would officially campaign Wednesday but told him the gist of it.  He said he knew he needed to offer something bigger than Beth could in order to get Cliff to go against any deal he might already have. He repeated the same stuff about giving either Cliff or Nicole the next hoh which would guarantee one of them the F3 and would try to get Jackson out and fight for veto. Cliff told him he also factored in peoples live for the game even if he shouldn’t and he knows Tommy is a big fan like Christie.
• Beth created a new hairstyle:
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• Jackson and Beth talked about something said in the shower and they hoped it didn’t make the show. Beth said that’s a line the show wouldn’t cross and Jackson said something about getting a letter in the mail. (I have no idea what this was about and this year, anything is possible)
• Jackson made a comment about only 5 people being in the house.  He said with only 5 people, the cameras are more focused on each of them now, so they couldn’t get away with even the slightest thing.
• Nicole told Cliff she had a conversation with Jackson that made her think he’s ok with them evicting Beth. Cliff said it was possible and maybe Jackson wants her out but doesn’t want to have any part in doing it.  They talked about being treated badly by some of the others earlier in the season and why certain people were chosen for the field trip. He said they might look better themselves for taking out Beth. (He means to fans and I think they partially read Jackson correctly. I think he was letting them know he would go to the F3 with them over Beth and that may be a lie. I also think he meant at the F4, NOT this week. Jackson may be over it but he wants to win. He’s not wanting to lose a number, even if that’s how he sees Beth now)
• Jackson asked Nicole if he could take back the hoh and she said sure. Jackson told Beth earlier that he’d ask for the room back so she could finally get some sleep. Later, he announced to her that he was sleeping up there and said she could if she wanted. (Lol, he’s such a jackass)
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• Nicole was a little emotional late in the night and Tommy joined her. She talked about how bad she wanted this for herself.  He said she was amazing, lovable  and had earned her way there. He said he couldn’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t take her to the end. (This should be a red flag)
• Cliff (alone) said he still didn’t know what he was going to do but said Tommy made a really great offer.

Cliff and Nicole (but mostly Nicole) seemed to get a little cocky yesterday.  It didn’t me rub me the wrong way and it’s probably because I like them mixed with the fact that they really were treated as afterthoughts for a long time by most of the house. They’ve earned the right to have their moment as power players if they want it. However, I’d prefer Nicole sit back, eat her unicorn poop and pretend to be shy and timid just a bit longer. I think it’s better for her game but personally, I’m enjoying watching her shine. There’s  more to Nicole that this cast realized. She may be meek and lack many life experiences outside of her small world but she isn’t a pushover. Let’s not forget, she’s nice and kind but she also locked her parents in the basement when she didn’t get what she wanted.  This Nicole has always been there, she’s just finally letting her out a little.

Hopefully, we get some good game talk today or if Beth is in charge of house activities, an egg hunt and campaign brunch. Have a great Tuesday.

Mel