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Sleeping Through The Night

It is an important rule in Big Brother that the “social game” of a player can often be more important than their competitive play. The ability of a player to weave their way through the House and be seen as an asset and ally to as many people as possible can make or break a game. When a player develops these alliances, they can walk through the game and win the entire thing – Dr. Will Kirby is a testament to this. When someone forgets this and strays from playing a strong social game, they can burn out spectacularly (Witness the spectacular flameout of Shelly’s game in BB13).

In the case of evictee Donny, the lack of a strong social game and weak strategic thinking were glaring weaknesses that could not be overcome by strong competitive play and a good personality. Continue reading “Sleeping Through The Night”

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Masterminded, Blindsided and Being Shown The Door

There are times in Big Brother where a Houseguest has no idea how much their game is being influenced by another player’s efforts. Whether it be because of some real or imagined slight, a game move or simply because of someone moving their game forward, players across the seasons have had their games destroyed with no real knowledge of their own until it was too late. This is the point behind the backdooring strategy, as an example – get the person out without knowing they were the target.

The latest victim of this type of play, Zach, operated for weeks never knowing that 3 players were using him as their toy in the game – and his cluelessness to the machinations being played out around him was a testament to a player who was fun to watch, but weak when it came to playing this game. Continue reading “Masterminded, Blindsided and Being Shown The Door”

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Moments of Weakness

Typically in Big Brother, the show is defined by moments of Houseguests stepping up and becoming the great gamers we knew they could be. Rachel, as an example, won Big Brother 13 by stepping out of Brendon’s shadow and playing her own game. Two years ago, Ian showed the kind of player he was by engineering Mike “Boogie’s” eviction. This season, however, has seen a different focus. Time and time again, we have seen potentially great players fall victim to a moment of weakness in their game that changed the course of the season.

This week’s HoH run by Cody showed one such moment, and although it may prove beneficial in the long run his allowance of that weakness to come through proved to be game-changing once more.

Continue reading “Moments of Weakness”

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Done, By Design

It isn’t often that a week goes as smoothly for a Head of Household as it did for Derrick this week. From the beginning, every move he made to get his ultimate target out was set for success and performed by a House united in its belief that the biggest, strongest and most dangerous Houseguest of the season needed to go. One Houseguest was convinced to put himself up to ensure that this happened, and by the time the Veto Ceremony took place there was very little question how the week would end.

Indeed, for Devin the hope that he would remain in the House evaporated faster than any one could predict – and his acceptance of this loss was the icing on the cake that was delivered to feed watchers and Houseguests alike.

Continue reading “Done, By Design”