A refusal to strike against the men’s alliance has negatively impacted the Big Brother Canada 7 house. As the numbers dwindled, the “Pretty Boys” held a firm control over the decisions and the competitions. Since the beginning of the season, this secret alliance has won the majority of the competitions and they’ve controlled the nominees/eviction votes. Who would’ve thought that Adam’s pre-season goal of making a Brigade alliance (i.e. four men in a secret alliance, each with one additional close connection) would work? Apparently, he did since the plan worked. But unfortunately, that success ruined everything for the viewers.
In the weeks since Maki’s eviction, the Pretty Boys dominated the season with a momentum of Head of Household and Power of Veto wins. It didn’t matter who ended up on the block, Dane, Adam, Anthony, and Mark influenced the progression. And, since the boys had Chelsea, Samantha, Este, Cory, and Kyra as trusted side alliances, they held all the power. It also didn’t help that Eddie held no power in the game, KiKi and Kailyn made terrible moves, and Damien didn’t win a challenge. Big Brother Canada 7 essentially got handed to this secret alliance.
From a gameplay standpoint, the Pretty Boys alliance killed it. They did exactly what they needed to do to propel them further to officially earn a jury spot. Of course, there were hurdles along the way, like the sudden blindside of Chelsea, and the continued conversations to evict Samantha. This alliance will eventually be their own downfall since they’ll fracture and turn on each other – it’s the natural development with so many side alliances being formed. It’s a shame that no one took the opportunity to go against the boys, especially since they knew the truth.
Here’s the thing about secret alliances: beyond having trust in each other, there’s power in them if: a) they’re kept a complete secret, or b) people do nothing to stop them. Unfortunately, we’re living through this hell of the latter. The majority of the houseguests sensed that an alliance had been formed between the men. Meanwhile, Samantha, Chelsea, and Kyra placed the pieces together after Kailyn’s bedroom meeting and yet, they did nothing to stop them. In fact, no one in the house did anything to break up the control. Kailyn tried, but it was too late for her game to do anything beyond have conversations.
This is the turning point when Big Brother becomes frustrating to watch. We as viewers and/or superfans want to play this game, and try as we might to get on the show, we’re left to watch people throw in the towel or put in no effort when given this great opportunity. Sure, sometimes it’s smart for these houseguests to step back and be a floater or coaster. However, if all they do is sit back, the opposition will eventually get into a power-position and evict them. It’s not fun to watch people wait until they get nominated and evicted.
(Definition Note: A “Floater” is someone who jumps from one alliance to the next based on who is in power. A “Coaster” is someone who does nothing in Big Brother and just coasts to the end – they’re essentially furniture who took an actual player’s spot.)
What also hurt Big Brother Canada 7 was the houseguests’ inability to use the twists to their advantage. In the weeks since, we have had the Double Eviction and the Blood Power of Veto, both twists that could’ve shaken up the season. Instead, the house used the Double Eviction to get out Eddie, who was a powerless floater and they gave the Blood Veto to Kyra, who squandered her opportunity to eliminate one of the Pretty Boys after she publicly and continuously stated that “a girl would not be evicted this week.” Chelsea being the first person eliminated during the Double Eviction helped many people since she was a threat, but it helped the Pretty Boys more than anyone else.
Kailyn was by no means a good player. She entered Big Brother Canada 7 with plenty of unnecessary lies that only hurt her trust with the others. She should’ve used the fact that she was a mother and psychic to bond with her fellow houseguests. But, what hurt her even more came in the form of her inability to sense when danger came near. (I know! It’s strange that the clairvoyant didn’t know she was being targeted.) Kailyn fell deep into Chelsea’s trap and couldn’t campaign her way out of it. Plus, she had a great leadership position in the outsiders group, which meant she had to go.
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Chelsea’s elimination started as a snowflake that snowballed into an avalanche that sent her out the door. She started the week as a pawn, but when the real target couldn’t be backdoored, she was the deadlier nominee to eliminate. Seriously, who would vote out Kyra when a powerful competitor like Chelsea sat on the block next to her? In addition to those odds, Chelsea threw in the towel after being emotionally attacked and manipulated by Kyra. You always need to try to survive, even when things look bleak. It’s a shame because I rooted for her.
What happened to you, Eddie? Seriously, he had so much potential and early fan love, but he squandered it all. Eddie started Big Brother Canada 7 as the growing behind-the-scenes threat with his manipulative gameplay and shady diary room confessionals. But, after he ended up on the losing side of the Maki vote, it’s almost like he withered away and collapsed internally. The fear of being “seen” destroyed his confidence and he made one bad move after another. By the time he got evicted, he had no real connections left.
And finally, there was Kiki (aka Kiera) as the most recent houseguest to be evicted. Kiera’s elimination was another product of the house sweeping the Pretty Boys’ issue under the rug. She allowed herself to stay in the background with Estefania to make cutting remarks, gossip, and dish icy clapbacks, but that doesn’t work unless you have the trust of the other houseguests to protect you. Samantha, Kyra, Cory, and the Pretty Boys knew they couldn’t trust her; even Dane couldn’t help her, and he’s in a flirtmance with Kiera’s best friend. And Kiera’s campaigning was bad. She said things that made herself look like a bigger target than she needed to be.
In addition to that, let’s not forget that she threw in the towel early for the Blood Power of Veto. Kiera knew that she was an odds-on-favorite to be nominated during Week 5 and that the rumor of a men’s alliance had floated around. Kiera made one too many errors that culminated into an elimination.
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Weeks 3 – 5 of Big Brother Canada 7 felt like a roller coaster going up the tracks toward an unsatisfying conclusion. The houseguests plotted and promised big moves, getting us hyped up for the “drama” that would come. But, they backtracked quickly to avoid any real conflict – in the process letting a powerful alliance gain more footing. The houseguests oversold and under-delivered an interesting pre-jury phase. I still have hope that something will shake things up, but I’m starting to doubt these houseguests have it in them.
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