Did we just see the biggest house flip in Big Brother Canada history? Johnny, who for all intents and purposes was dead in this game, got a unanimous vote to stay in the house. He’s the biggest competition beast, a social game master and holds the strongest resume to win Big Brother Canada 6. And yet, the house chose to keep him?! Saving someone like Johnny is the type of move that houseguests will come to regret later on down the line. He’s too dangerous to keep around when there are only a few people left. Nevertheless, the decision was made. The house will have to live with its choices.
Thinking about where he started, it was a miracle that he survived. Erica’s elimination shook everyone; Johnny reacted the most emotionally, especially to Kaela and Derek, who caused her elimination. In the ideal strategic world, Johnny would’ve taken the minute to compose himself and walk away instead of lashing out. He didn’t, but we can excuse this moment since the emotions were high. His biggest mistake was lying about the eviction vote. Everyone (and their dog) knew that Johnny voted to keep Erica – he was her closest ally, after all. When he lied about keeping Will, there was the chance that he was going to repeat Veronica’s mistake and completely destroy his game. Luckily he came clean or else there was no chance of keeping him.
As a viewer, Derek winning Head of Household was frustrating to witness. “Daela” had been in power the previous week, and if Canada had not stepped in, they would’ve had their way with Ryan being the one evicted. Now that the showmance was back in power, the odds were that they were going to repeat the same goal. And, in a way, they did. Ryan got the boot. From a storytelling aspect, a shift in power is more interesting to watch and presents a power struggle. Suffice it to say, that theme was not the focus for the seventh week. Either Johnny or Ryan were going to get evicted, especially after Kaela promised Will he wouldn’t go on the block. When the targets are so limited, the anticipation is minimal.
The same can be said about the events of the Power of Veto. The game itself (i.e. launching the catapults and an elimination tournament) kept the viewers interested; this was one of those challenges that would be fun to play if you were in the Big Brother house. However, a Derek win summed up the events of the second episode. Regardless of any discussion the others would’ve had with the showmance, Derek was not going to use the POV. All of the focus would need to be on strategizing and figuring out who would be the player evicted come Thursday night. Nothing that happened before mattered as long as Derek and Kaela held onto their power.
Does Big Brother Canada need the Have/Have-Not competition anymore? The competition had been implemented by Big Brother US before being removed completely in favor of other competitions that offered safety and nomination. Even though Big Brother 19 was dull from a houseguest/strategy standpoint, the addition of a third game that offered safety added a new level of strategy and it made the Sunday episodes more interesting. The Buttsketball game this week made it painfully clear that these Have/Have-Not games only waste time and no one cares who wins. If Big Brother Canada comes back for a seventh season, they should consider following the example of the US series and change things up.
Speaking of lackluster events, was anyone else let down with the crypt twist? Since the beginning of Big Brother Canada 6, Arisa had teased that secret powers were hiding away in the house. She even alluded to the crypt’s tomb holding a big power that could change everything. Unfortunately, we ended up with a Marsha the Moose house challenge. Really? THIS was the big secret hiding in the Have-Not room?! We could’ve had a game-changing moment that would shake up the season and leave these houseguests panicking. Instead, we got ten minutes of Will trying to get the others to kiss a cod. Wasted opportunity.
In hindsight, it’s shocking that the most dramatic scene we had during the seventh week was the argument between Will and Ryan. These two did not get along; Will wanted to completely place the blame on Ryan, especially since Canada chose to save Ryan instead of him. However, Ryan got the backbone we all wanted to see. Let’s be real here: Will was being a hypocrite. If it had not been Erica on the block, he would’ve voted Ryan out if given the opportunity. Ryan said all the right things. Even though Ryan’s stock was still at its lowest, he at least defended himself enough to show people like Ali, Olivia and Paras that he was worth saving.
Big Brother Canada 6 has an editing problem with its episodes. Other past seasons were better at capturing the events from the live feeds and translating them into the three weekly episodes to tell the real story. Big Brother Canada 6, for whatever reason, doesn’t seem to follow this pattern. Don’t get me wrong, it’s incredibly hard to tell a narrative as the game is currently going on in real time, and there’s a lot of footage to sift through. However, when genuinely good footage was available to be used and the editors chose to alter facts, that’s a big problem.
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The series of events that led to Johnny’s safety did not transpire the same way the weekly episodes made it out to be. For many days, Ali and Olivia had jumped back and forth themselves about keeping Johnny over Ryan; they had wondered if Johnny was too much of a threat to keep around and had decided to vote him out. Johnny was the one who did A LOT of the work to win Ali/Olivia to his side, as well as campaigning to the Will/Maddy/Paras and Derek/Kaela alliances. His accomplishment was a huge strategic feat, but that reality didn’t come across during Thursday’s eviction episode. Ali and Olivia got a lot more credit than what actually happened. Seasons one and two of Big Brother Canada were so amazing because the plot in the episodes followed closely to what actually happened inside the house. If Big Brother Canada went back to that tactic and showed the true story, fans would be a lot happier.
The seventh week of Big Brother Canada 6 had all the pieces to be an amazing week of drama and strategic feat. However, a lot of the focus was placed on areas that didn’t need the attention. Challenges that didn’t need to be played, scenes that didn’t need to be in the episodes, and moves that weren’t made. Ryan’s eviction was essentially the do-over week that “Daela” didn’t have because of Canada’s twist. Hopefully now that Johnny is still around, he’ll win HOH and shake up the house.
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