Big Brother Canada 6 Review: “Week 6”

The Head of Household curse has found another victim on Big Brother Canada 6. No, the specific houseguest wasn’t evicted from the game, but their power trip did essentially destroy any chance of them making it to the end with any humility. While the extent of her ego can be debated, Kaela did let the power get to her head. You could see it in the self-satisfied, smug expression on her face all week as people talked strategy. To win Big Brother, you need to make big moves that will be respected and not piss off half the house. Kaela, and by extension Derek, failed in this regard.

Kaela’s troubles could be traced to the beginning of her HOH week when she had her conversation with Ryan. While she didn’t trust Ryan, she wanted to get the truth from him about why he stayed over Merron. To everyone’s surprise, Ryan gave her the complete truth. However, the problem was that Kaela didn’t want to hear the truth. She didn’t trust Ryan and was looking for any opportunity to discredit him. And what could’ve been one of Kaela’s best moments ended up showcasing her biggest weakness in Big Brother.

Ryan gave her the single most important information that could’ve saved Derek and Kaela later on down the season, but she dismissed it all to keep with the narrative she had built in her mind. To Kaela, Ryan was the manipulative mastermind who concocted everything all season and worked as a supervillain on weekends. Everyone else was an innocent bystander pulled in by his lies. (Even though I’m being facetious here, when you say it to yourself, it’s ridiculous Kaela ever believed Ryan of all people was that person.) She didn’t want to believe Johnny, Maddy, Paras and Will were plotting against her, so she made Ryan her scapegoat.

Here’s the thing about strategizing and fact-checking. No houseguest will ever get the “truth.” They’ll get an abridged version which will vary from complete lies to the honest truth with doubts – it is up to the houseguests themselves if they choose to believe the facts or not. Kaela let fear and her bias against Ryan cloud her judgment; she failed to pick up on the cues that showed Ryan wasn’t lying. First, if he was lying, he made up the story pretty quickly and pointed to four people (and their path) in the house who could’ve testified against him – that’s not a smart move. Second, obviously the four people Ryan mentioned would deny the truth and put it right back at him as a defensive tactic to create doubt. And third, these houseguests voted Merron out! They all turned on Derek and Kaela to do so regardless. Even if Ryan came up with an idea, the others would’ve had to vote and still turn against the couple.

To make matters worse, Kaela openly mocked Ryan and his story to the rest of the house. She showed Maddy, Johnny, Paras and Will that she already doubted his story and was ready to believe anything to the contrary. You NEVER give the opposition the upper hand! She was drunk on power, and this made her sloppy.

Speaking of excess power, the way she handled the Will situation destroyed any relationship she had with him. Sure, the offer of dropping out during the HOH was a tad ambiguous. However, the rules were clear enough that she did promise Will safety. Kaela could debate, mold the truth or lie, but he was the only one who stepped off the podium and accepted her deal when she threw out safety to the group if she won. When she went back on her word, that was bad. When she kept smiling and couldn’t keep a straight face, that was inexcusable. Will doesn’t trust “Daela” anymore, and now she created an enemy who is motivated by pure, unfiltered hatred towards them.

Paras is secretly the puppet master in the Big Brother house. The way she discredited Ryan and got Kaela to not nominate Maddy was brilliant. No one is looking at her as a powerful threat. She’s considered a harmless floater who they might not be able to trust. If she’s able to continue sliding into the background while still shaking up the house, we could see Paras slide to the end and steal the victory before anyone notices.

The Power of Veto competition was a good sponsored challenge. I enjoy tiered elimination games where the houseguests are eliminated within different rounds as it gives every houseguest a good chance at coming back to win. Look at Johnny and Ryan, as their power struggle to win the POV shifted between the first two rounds before facing off at the end. If it had not been for the time penalties, Ryan could’ve won the power. The Air Transat mini-games were simple party tasks, but they were fun to watch when they were tied together with the international locations as their themes.

Ryan being saved by Canada’s vote could only mean one of two things: (1) Canada wanted to get back at Kaela for not believing him and mocking him, or (2) they wanted to go against Johnny because they knew Erica would be placed on the block as the replacement. Ryan didn’t get saved because he’s a fan favorite. Many polls had marked him lowest or not wanting to use the power, and the twist was a tactile move against someone. This result will be left up to speculation, but I’m leaning toward the former. The edit highlighted Ryan’s discontent and fury toward Kaela. Him being safe meant he had a target to go after.

Erica’s eviction, while being incredible television to watch, was a sad development. Don’t get me wrong, she was the biggest competition threat in the Big Brother house and could’ve easily won. The houseguests eliminating her increased their own chances to win, so it was a good move. However, she was also one of the most likable players. She got eliminated due to a twist that saved Ryan instead of getting knocked out on her own merit. And while we can argue that any houseguest should be ready when a twist is played, Erica had a bad week due to an alliance that betrayed her, and if the twist had not happened, she would still be around for a few more weeks. The benefit of her eviction is that Johnny is now against Derek and Kaela. There could be a war brewing based on who wins the next HOH!