Big Brother 20 Review: “Week 6”

For the sixth week in a row, Big Brother 20 delivered another blindside dripping in flames and drama. You wouldn’t think that the momentum would still be this strong heading into the second phase of the summer, but Week 6 kept up the powerful theme. Bayleigh, the previous Head of Household, got blindsided by the Level 6 alliance after being blamed for being the BB Hacker. Being placed on the nomination block triggered an eventful wave that kept going right up until eviction night. As sad as it is to lose Bayleigh, the events of Week 6 made up for it in a big way.

Firstly, let’s give Angela her due credit for winning both the Head of Household and the Power of Veto competitions. She finally stopped pretending to be furniture and actually started playing Big Brother 20. It’s been no secret that I have been less than impressed by Angela – she faded into the background quickly and didn’t do anything for the majority of the game. Now, she’s owning her villain role and making decisions that are putting a HUGE target on her back. However, she’s playing Big Brother… and I can respect that.

On the other hand, what is wrong with Angela? Week 6 was the second week in a row where she evicted a houseguest who had her back implicitly. Both Bayleigh and Rachel (Week 5) wanted to take Angela to the end and protect her, but instead, she kicked them out and lost a chance at two jury votes. Sure, Bayleigh became a new ally during Week 6, so maybe she didn’t trust that much yet. However, I will never understand her choice with Rachel – she played that hand badly. There’s nothing Angela could say that will get Bayleigh’s jury vote; she played a bad game.

Tyler was also going through his own power-trip as well. Jury management is so important in Big Brother that it could determine the winner more than anything else. Big Brother 18 and Big Brother 19 are perfect examples! Once Bayleigh became the replacement nominee, Tyler’s attitude toward her was a new low of petty we hadn’t seen since he talked about Kaitlyn. And his demeanor reached its strongest during the house meeting. It wasn’t clear if he could ever come back from it.

The pair might’ve made up before she left for the jury, but there’s no way Tyler will get Bayleigh’s jury vote. Regardless of if he actually threw Angela under the bus or not during Week 5, Bayleigh had a narrative about Tyler that she was keeping. That narrative caused Rachel to get evicted and now it caused Bayleigh’s eviction. He dug his hole, and it will take a great speech for him to get back out in Bayleigh’s opinion.

I had no problem with the BB Hacker twist or the three powers that were won from it. The houseguests earned it by playing a brainteaser challenge, so the twist was up-for-grabs to anyone instead of it being a public vote. This is preferable when twists are won through house discoveries (i.e. Allison discovering the secret Power of Veto in Big Brother Canada 2) or winning a competition as it makes the odds fair for everyone. Haleigh winning the challenge was a nice change of pace because it gave FOUTTE some power to shake up the game. Unfortunately, we’re talking about FOUTTE/Hive here… they’re terribly messy houseguests.

Haleigh nominating Tyler might be a reassuring sign to us viewers. Tyler is easily dominating Big Brother 20, so there is a fear that he will become the “Paul” this season. The Tyler nomination showed us that people are noticing his game, and they will do something about it to stop him. The downside of Week 6, on the other hand, was that nominating Tyler was the only right decision she made. Choosing Kaycee to compete in the POV made no sense since the others already knew someone from FOUTTE won the twist, and it only stacked the odds for Level 6 to win the POV. Plus, Haleigh shouldn’t have told the house she won because now she has a huge target on her back and it could lead to her eviction, especially now that Tyler knows she wants him out.

Haleigh’s revelation caused the (now) infamous house meeting, which might go down as the most volatile house meeting in Big Brother US history. Bayleigh went off on Tyler with fury. She was not having anything that he was saying to her. Her rage got so heated that she started bleeding in her mouth due to the yelling and pressure on her jaw. As viewers and feedsters, the house meeting was so much fun to watch – Twitter was in an uproar about it! But, as strategic gameplay, nothing good ever comes from a house meeting. Bayleigh sealed her fate, Tyler’s game got exposed, and Haleigh/Angela were pulled into the fire, too.

It’s sad to see Bayleigh go because I think she had potential to win Big Brother 20. People genuinely did like her in the house, and she was capable enough to win challenges like Head of Household. If she had focused and didn’t let her personal feelings affect her game, she could’ve made it farther than she did. Unfortunately, her loss can be traced back to two specific spots: (1) She spent too much time on her showmance with Swaggy C in Week 2 to make strong bonds with Level 6, and (2) her decision to tell Rachel about her BB Power App. All of it came back to haunt her, especially revealing the BB Power App since that was what drove people to target her.

Week 6 of Big Brother 20 seemed like a calm week at first after Angela won HOH, but the blindsides kept on coming. Though, the trend of messy gameplay continued for another week as well. These houseguests are battling hard to make it to the finals, but they’re making strange decisions that could cost them the game. (Seriously, why did Brett rub it in Bayleigh’s face during the goodbye messages?) These houseguests need to start playing smart.