We’re heading into the home stretch, Big Brother fans. The final three have been revealed! Christmas, Paul and Josh are sitting pretty with a chance at the half million dollar prize while Alex and Kevin are moving into the jury house. Usually, the final few evictions knock out some heavy targets with as little blood as possible – that’s not so much for Big Brother 19. Sloppy gameplay is ruling the house, and these houseguests couldn’t care less about keeping these evictions simple. They want the splash. They want the ties. And they’re not ready to make the really big moves.
Alex’s eviction was a long time coming. In the last few weeks of Big Brother 19, it was one bad move after another. She was blinded by the will of Paul, so much so that it not only ruined her game but Jason’s as well. Alex trusted Paul and believed him when he said that the ideal final three would be Paul, Alex and Jason. Once Paul turned against the pair and blindsided Jason at the double eviction, her game was set. Alex moved to the bottom of the totem pole and relied on challenge wins to survive. With this specific final five in mind, there were three points we can look at where Alex couldn’t make it work.
Firstly, she messed up by targeting Kevin and Raven during her Head of Household win in the double eviction. She knew Christmas and Josh betrayed her, but she ignored this anyway in favor of following her alliance again. By keeping two untrustworthy people not on the same page, the numbers were stacked against her. (It should be noted Raven betrayed her as well, so this point is lowest on the list.)
The second point is that Alex was a mean player. I don’t simply mean shady comments, but vicious and cruel actions. She directed all her hatred towards Kevin to the point that almost every day was an attack. Her actions ruined her social game with Kevin; he never would vote for her to stay in the game. She needed his vote.
The biggest and final point is quite simply…Alex gave up. There was a legitimate chance Alex could’ve stayed after Paul pulled her aside and told her he wouldn’t be using the Power of Veto on her. Josh was waffling on kicking out Alex; he was contemplating blindsiding Kevin instead to work with Alex to get out Paul. She didn’t want that – instead she’s going after America’s Favorite. Alex lost the fight to play after many weeks of poor decisions. It’s admirable to see her as one of the few competitors in Big Brother 19. If only she hadn’t fallen under the will of Paul.
Josh’s waffling, and Christmas’ unstoppable devotion to Paul, is disappointing to see. He’s making valid arguments why he needs to stop Paul, but he’s putting off the inevitable until the final three. There’s no guarantee this plan will work. He’s risking everything to keep his alliance intact. Part of it, I believe, is due to his alliance with Christmas.
Whereas Josh is considering blindsiding Paul, Christmas is putting out the flames instead. She loves Paul – this isn’t an exaggeration, she has feelings for him. She’s talking down her “ride or die” alliance member in favor of helping Paul. In any other season of Big Brother, people would be listening to this sound advice and considering their options; that’s not happening here. It’s even to the point that she’s willing to take Paul to the final two with her if she wins the final HOH, knowing full well that he’ll win. This is a bad move. In fact, this is the worst move! You can see the extent of her thinking when Josh is bringing up how dangerous it is to have Paul around.
I loved the challenges during the eleventh week of Big Brother 19. (Give me as many comic book- and steampunk-themed games you can think of.) Sure, it was cheesy to have the past houseguests return in superhero costumes for an “Avengers” parody, but after the frustration that has been poor gameplay most of the season, it was nice to have a break. I wouldn’t mind seeing more pre-Big Brother 16 houseguests return in future trailers as comic book characters.
Advertisement
In regards to the current houseguests, their comic book covers were fun, but I feel like some could’ve been pushed more. Why didn’t Raven’s get called out for her lies? Why wasn’t Matt’s cover about cereal? Come on, those were missed opportunities.
The only person happier with Kevin’s eviction may be Kevin himself. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice man who treated people with courtesy (notwithstanding his comments earlier in the season), but he never fully grasped how to play Big Brother. He didn’t know the format, how to backstab people, or what he needed to do to win the game. After how the house has treated him the last few weeks, Kevin must be breathing a sigh of relief now that it’s over. This was a big challenge for him and we can give him some credit for trying. Would he have been a good Big Brother 19 winner? I don’t think so. Still, he’s leaving the game with $25,000 – that’s a great prize to have.
The jury segment was, by far, the BEST PART of week eleven. I was living for every minute as each new jury member entered the house and spilled the tea about their eviction. Jason’s realization that Alex didn’t betray him after all was heartbreaking. You can see the realization on his face that he did a bad thing by not hugging his friend on the way out the door; it’s good they made up when she entered jury.
I don’t even know where to begin with Matt and Raven. Is “delusional” a good enough word? Her argument for being a puppet master has no footing; she did nothing during Big Brother 19 and playing house with Matt isn’t worthy of any accolades. And Elena cracking up after Raven’s reasoning is the best GIF-able moment I will be using again in life. Her laugh sums it all up.
Advertisement
The eleventh week of Big Brother 19 provided a lot of flashy, fun elements to distract us from the last of gameplay. The jury segments, comic book challenges and the tie vote were enough to tide us over until the finals. However, it doesn’t hide the fact that this was a filler week to eliminate the two outsiders of the Paul/Christmas/Josh alliance. Let’s hope the drama is here for the finals. Are you ready?
Advertisement