But First Fridays: Your Weekly Big Brother Power Rankings - Week 6

SPOILER ALERT: For this week, we’re including our knowledge of the HOH winner, even though the competition had yet to complete in Thursday’s live episode. The winner will be revealed on Sunday, but, to keep consistent with our previous posts, are including the HOH status for the rankings.

Last Week’s HOH: Vanessa and Jackie

Last Week’s Original Nominees: Clay and Becky

Last Week’s Veto Winner: Clay, in his first comp win of the season

Did they use the veto?: Of course he did.

Replacement Nominee: Jason

Votes for Eviction: 7-2, with only James and Meg voting to keep Jason

New Head of Household: SPOILER ALERT - James won this week’s endurance comp, making him the first solo HOH of the season

Any new twists?: Let’s see.  For, what, the third week in a row, there’s no takeover, so that’s probably over.  Maybe.  Battle of the Block is also officially over, which means we’re back to only one head of household for the rest of the season.  Oh, and after surviving five evictions, Julia has officially joined the house.

Our Thoughts:

GARRETT: Paranoia and Nomination Roulette was the main theme of last week, as the houseguests spun themselves into a frenzy thinking about what to do. We left off last week with Austin squarely on the chopping block with his poor thinking skills leaving him vulnerable, after he spilled the twins’ secret to Jason and left himself as an untrustworthy member of the dominant Sixth Sense alliance. At the beginning of the week, Vanessa and Jackie won Head of Household, and Vanessa made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with keeping it. So she persuaded her close ally Clay and willing participant Becky into going on the block as volunteers, hoping they would win the Battle of the Block Competition. The two Heads of Household, along with Clay, Shelli, Becky, Meg, Jason, and James, made an eight person alliance they called “Dark Moon”, enlisting James to throw the competition with Liz as his fellow nominee, which would ensure that Jackie could stay in power and Austin would be put up as the replacement.

Unfortunately, the Dark Moon never rose (I’ve wanted to use that pun all week) and through sheer determination and an inability to spell on Clay and Becky’s side, Liz dragged James to victory in the Battle of the Block, keeping Vanessa in power as the Head of Household. Vanessa was distraught, and quickly exploded into a fit of raging paranoia. First, she told Liz what her plan was in order to keep her from being surprised, and Liz began persuading her not to make the move. Austin then caught wind of the plan and began his own pleading for safety. Eventually, Clay won the Veto competition, and Austin was able to convince Clelli and Vanessa that he was a loyal ally who simply made a poor, emotional decision in telling Jason about Julia.

So began the next rounds of Nomination Roulette. Clelli and Vanessa went through every single houseguest, and for fifteen minutes at a time, seemed sure that they had made up their minds. But they kept changing what they wanted to do, and unfortunately for one of our fan favorites, landed on Jason as the backdoor choice.

Jason was completely blindsided by the move, as were his allies Meg, Jackie and James. He made a few last-gasp efforts to save himself, and while he was unsuccessful in doing so, he managed to expose Shelli and Clay in playing both sides of the house. They took the brunt of the blame when Jason was evicted, even though it was Vanessa who put the knife into his back.

After the eviction, Julia came into the house as expected, and Julie Chen let them know that the Battle of the Block would be coming to an end. The subsequent HOH competition was an endurance challenge, and after over two hours standing on a tilted ledge, James emerged victorious. Shelli made a deal with him to save herself and Clay, but it seems as though James may be willing to break that deal to split up the power couple. Nominations will be set later today (Friday the 31st), but we’re going to rank the houseguests before knowing who will be on the block for sure.

As more houseguests leave the game, it became necessary for us to change how we do our power rankings every week.  So rather than having a top and bottom 5, starting this week, we’re going to rank all of the houseguests.  So here’s how we think everyone stacked up this week:

12. Meg

JAIME: Oh, Meg.  Once Jason was put on the block, it started looking like maybe this could be a big week for Meg: her friend’s nomination finally gave her the fire to start playing the game and putting pieces together, and she realized that there’s a powerful group in the house who’s been controlling everything the last few weeks.  She even called Clay out for lying to her about where his and Shelli’s loyalties truly lie.  And then….nothing.  Actually, she forgave Clelli, and now she’s tight with them again.  She spent a few days realizing that she, James, Jackie, and Jason were just extra numbers alongside the Sixth Sense and then promptly forgot all about it and eagerly signed up to become a number again.  Good job, Meg.

GARRETT: She’s safe for the week with James in power, but really hasn’t been a figure of any importance in the game. She discarded Audrey’s warning of a six-person alliance by saying she didn’t care, because she and Jason would be better off regardless. She’s just as much to blame for Jason leaving as Jason is, having done nothing but sit on the patio talking crap for the majority of the time she’s been in the game. She’s lucky her minority alliance is in control this week, and may just be brought to the end on virtue of her inability to pose any kind of a threat. But she brings very little to the table.

11. Becky

JAIME: Becky’s still a weird presence in the house.  She gets along with everyone, so the only reason she’s a target in any way is because of her gameplay.  They’re all threatened by her success at competitions, except, as she points out, she’s been losing comps pretty consistently.  Losing the veto this week shook up her confidence and made her question what gives her a leg up in the game.  And then, like Meg, she spent part of the week railing against the Sixth Sense and then wound up joining them.  Without hearing her in the diary room (which, when was the last time we saw Becky in the diary room?), it’s hard to say if she’s truly changed her loyalties or if this is just a plan to win them over and then break up the alliance, but for now, it looks like she’s pretty loyal to Clelli.

GARRETT: Earlier this morning, Becky supposedly ratted on James’s plans to take out a Sixth Sense member to Clelli. So her loyalties to them have been confirmed. She’s trying to play the role of the rat that Andy Herren rode to victory in Season 15, and seems to have a decent perception of what’s going on gamewise. But she doesn’t seem to know that she’s firmly on the outside looking in on the Sixth Sense, and isn’t fully trusted by Shelli and Clay. She’s a sitting duck for them, and should be pretty shocked when her turn comes for eviction.

10. Steve

JAIME: Okay, can we talk about Steve’s weird ass comments about Becky during the veto comp?  Apparently Steve hates Becky.  Who knew.  He’s still not in a great place: he’s working with the Sixth Sense but none of them really have his back, or at least have him as a priority.  He’s still a pretty big target for a lot of the houseguests, even though I don’t think his gameplay is really anywhere close to being a threat.  Still, he’s made deals with Vanessa and John that hopefully will let him stick around for a few more weeks, and hopefully in that time he’ll finally get it in gear and find a way to actually gain some control of the house.

GARRETT: Steve and James had an interesting discussion last night around four in the morning. Steve wanted to know if he was a potential nominee, and James told him no, because he wanted to get “a big player” out first. That’s good news for Steve in the short term, but looking down the road, his inability to win competitions will come back to haunt him. He’s put a world of pressure on himself to perform, and just can’t do it. His final two with Vanessa is dependent upon him picking up some of the slack, and if he can’t, she’ll probably dump him as the game moves forward.

9. Shelli

GARRETT: Shelli was unable to do what Vanessa did this week, and took almost all the blame for Jason’s eviction, even though she wasn’t the one who actually blindsided him. She’d played a phenomenal social game up to this point, but when the evidence was finally presented to James, Meg and Jackie that she was the leader of the Sixth Sense, she wasn’t able to take the blame off herself. Her attempts to assuage Jason were laughable, and now, with James in power, Shelli is seen as the number one target. For someone who’s won two HOHs, that’s a tough situation, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles in Big Brother.

JAIME: Shelli had been playing a pretty great game so far.  If she wasn’t directly in control, she was at least a huge part of the decision making process, but her social game has been strong enough that no one put any of the pieces together.  And even if they did, no one figured out just how much power Shelli has had this entire game.  Clelli may have won Becky and Meg over again, but the house is finally aware just how strong Clelli’s hold over the other houseguests has become.  Thankfully James won HOH this week, because of that side of the house, he might be the only one in a position to do something about breaking up the Sixth Sense.

8. Clay

GARRETT: Clay is ranked above Shelli because he’s done a slightly better job of lying than she has. He’s not seen as the number one threat in the game, and while James wants to split up the showmance, his target is Shelli because she’s seen as the brains. Clay may be able to skate through the week, but not before taking some serious damage. He was able to win over Meg, though, so we’ll see where he stands after (presumably) losing an ally this week.

JAIME: His charm is definitely what’s carrying him through this game, and probably a big part of the reason that it took so long for anyone to figure out his and Shelli’s game.  He’s carrying out Shelli and Vanessa’s plans but isn’t really creating any moves himself, so if James is successful in getting Shelli evicted this week, that’s going to be a huge blow for Clay.  He’s got enough friends left that he’d still be in a comfortable spot, but without Shelli, his long-term chances definitely shrink.  Also, he’s won exactly one competition the entire season.  He’s a physical threat, sure, but so far he hasn’t been very threatening.

7. Julia

JAIME: I’m so excited that Julia has finally joined the game, because while she comes in with a natural partner, she and Liz are at odds about one pretty huge thing: Austin.  Julia doesn’t trust him at all, no matter how much Liz does, so is she going to want to work with him at all?  She’s also closer with people on the other side of the house than Liz is, which creates the chance that she might choose to work with them instead.  She’ll probably stay loyal to her sister, but if she’s wavering on the Sixth Sense, then we might start to see the end of the alliance that’s ruled the game so far.

GARRETT: She’s ranked below Liz for me simply because she doesn’t have the first-hand information as to what went down this week. She wears her emotions on her sleeve a bit more than her sister as well. A blowup with Austin would be worlds of fun for us at home, but could come back to haunt her as well. It’s clear that Austin doesn’t value her as strongly as Liz, so later in the game, her fate may be decided by the large man’s heart.

6. Liz

JAIME: Overall, Liz is pretty comfortable in the game.  Her alliance is in control, and even now that they’ve more or less been exposed to the entire house, Vanessa and Clelli are the real targets.  She got to avoid the blowup after Jason’s nomination, and with Vanessa and Clelli as bigger targets, she might go unnoticed for a little while longer.  Of course, now that she’s spending all her time with Austin, she’s gotten back on people’s radars.  People were angry that Austin wasn’t put on the block when that was the plan; their anger at him might carry over to Liz, so while she’s still probably protected behind the bigger threats of Vanessa, Clelli, and Austin, she’s probably not too far behind in people’s minds.

GARRETT: Liz is in a fine spot if she can avoid the block this week. She could definitely become a target later on as the center of two solid alliances (Liz/Austin and Liz/Julia), but seems in the clear for now. Her best bet is to lay low while the bloodbath ensues this week and hope for a shift in power moving forward. The numbers are still on her side, and she’s smart enough to play them correctly.

5. John

JAIME: John’s in a pretty good spot.  Much to his joy, he wasn’t put on the block this week, finally breaking his streak that started the first week.  And he got close to winning the HOH competition, something that’s probably not going to escape the other houseguests’ attention.  They’re starting to realize how good he is at comps, and now that he’s finally broken his nominations streak, I don’t think he has any desire to go back on the block.  He’s definitely not going to agree to be a pawn again, and he’ll be safe this week.  Our favorite rock star dentist has got some life left in him, and personally, I could not be more thrilled.

GARRETT: I’m not worried about him this week, but he may crop up in people’s minds come double eviction night. Hopefully, there’s some larger twosomes to split up by the time that rolls around and Johnny will continue to slide right along. He’s the most widely liked person in the house by a large margin and knows exactly when and when not to open his mouth. I still don’t think he’s going to win, but he’s got a great chance of putting himself in prime position as the numbers start to dwindle down.

4. James

GARRETT: James needed to pull out an HOH victory, and did so this week, coming up clutch for his minority alliance. James has always been unafraid to break his deals and take out major players in the game, so I’m excited to see the bloodbath when he takes his swing at Clelli. He has the tendency to be won over by Clay’s charm, but with Jackie in his ear this week, should move forward and make the right decision. He’s still not in the best spot moving forward, as next week should include a Double Eviction. But if he can work some deals this week and perhaps swing the balance of power back to his side, he should greatly improve his standing in the house. He’s also the first guaranteed jury member!

JAIME: James definitely can be swayed but he’s ultimately loyal to the people he knows have his back.  I loved how during the HOH competition, when Shelli tried to make a deal with him, he immediately ensured that Johnny Mac, the only other person left in the game, would be included.  He’s looking out for his people and doing what he can to keep them safe.  A huge move this week definitely would make his chances of surviving the double eviction smaller, but hopefully this week he’s able to set things up for his people so they’re in a much better position moving forward.

3. Austin

GARRETT: Austin is definitely my least favorite character still left in the game. He’s a bumbling fool that thinks with the wrong part of his body, making decisions that hinder both him and his majority alliance. But dammit if I won’t commend him for the efforts he made last week to save himself from what was once a certain backdoor. Austin pulled a Dr. Will Veto Speech, practically bowing down to Vanessa, Clay and Shelli, and guaranteeing his loyalty and his willingness to be used as a pawn moving forward. He saved himself, and scooted right by the blame for Jason’s eviction in the process. He’s still despised by Julia, as well as James, Jackie and Meg, but has set himself up to stay in the house as the de facto “big target”.

JAIME: First of all, they did not need to show the clip of Austin kissing Liz so much.  Seriously, they showed it like three times in two minutes.  We get it, it was gross enough the first time, please make it stop.  It was a pretty smart move to appeal to Vanessa by promising to essentially become nothing more than a pawn or a number for their alliance - in his full speech, as shown on the feeds, he also said he knows he’s not going to win now, but he just wants to make jury.  Of course, he probably only wants to make jury so that he can be in sequester with Liz which, ew, but if he’s willing to throw his chance at half a million dollars just to get a girl who doesn’t even like him to sleep with him, that’s his decision.  If the other side of the house plays it right, I can see a few different ways they could play the rest of the Sixth Sense to get them to turn on Austin, but for now, he’s pretty solid.  Which is annoying.

2. Jackie

JAIME: Jackie was absolutely out for blood this week.  She had zero problem directly questioning Shelli’s loyalties, and unlike some other people, she didn’t let go of her anger after Jason was nominated.  She’s playing Vanessa hard, and if anyone’s in a good position to blow up the Sixth Sense, it’s her.  Jackie winning HOH again this week probably would have resulted in a more cutthroat game, but she might have the most influence over James than anyone.  She’s become ruthless and I love it.  After spending the first few weeks more or less in the background, she’s emerged as one of my favorite players to watch because she’s so unapologetic about her moves.

GARRETT: She was the first to see through the Sixth Sense last week, and, as Jaime said, has really come on strong as a formidable player. We had her ranked at or near the bottom for a large portion of the rankings, but once Jeff left, she came on strong and started to figure the game out. She’s in no trouble this week with a James HOH, so I’m looking forward to how she maneuvers the bloodbath that should ensue this week.

1.Vanessa

GARRETT: Vanessa was able to make a big move last week, evicting Jason, while also shielding most of the blame away from her and onto Shelli and Clay. I’m not a fan of her inability to make a decision, and her paranoia is something that may be her undoing in the future. But I think she makes a much better player with the ball out of her hands. I don’t think HOH is something she’s going to want or hold in the upcoming weeks, but she’s still extremely skilled at deflecting blame away from her while keeping a core of allies. I think Shelli and Clay may blow up at her this week if they become the targets (and it’s likely that’s what happens), but Vanessa has played a solid social game outside of their alliance and remains a decently trusted person. With the amount of blood she has on her hands, that’s not a small achievement.

JAIME: Considering that she and Clelli have been in control of the house since week three, it’s a huge testament to Vanessa’s game that it took this long to have her decisions questioned.  She made the decision to draw a line in the sand by putting up Jason, and she’s a very rational player.  She gets that putting up Jason will probably result in her being nominated.  But when someone does something that’s not directly rational or causal, she gets frazzled.  Vanessa could understand being put up this week, but if Shelli or Clay is put up instead?  That’d be a much bigger blow to her game.  She’s still got numbers on her side but she needs to be more careful from now on now that the rest of the house is on to her.

But First Fridays Week 5: Your Weekly Big Brother Power Rankings

Last Week’s HOH: Shelli, with Liz being dethroned after a 90s-themed Battle of the Block

Last Week’s Original Nominees: John (naturally) and Jason

Last Week’s Veto Winner: Vanessa

Did they use the veto?: Of course she did, and took Jason off the block

Replacement Nominee: Audrey, FINALLY

Votes for Eviction: 10-1 to evict Audrey (with a penalty vote for eating regular food as a have-not; Austin/Judas was the only vote to evict John)

New Heads of Household: Jackie and Vanessa

Any new twists?: For the second week in a row, there’s no announced takeover.  The producers might have forgotten about the whole Big Brother Takeover thing.  Something might come up during the week, but don’t hold your breath.

Our thoughts:

JAIME: It took four weeks, but Audrey is finally out of the house.  But of course Audrey’s nomination and subsequent eviction couldn’t go normally.  This was one of the most dramatic weeks they’ve had in the house: first our two HOHs, Liz and Shelli, had absolutely no idea who to nominate.  So Audrey suggested Jason’s name as an option, saying that she’d heard him say that he was gunning for Clay and Shelli.  It gave Shelli a clear reason to put him on the block, but then Jason came to her and explained he never actually said that.  It was, once again, Audrey lying for the sake of lying and trying to create a bigger target than herself.  Frustrated with Audrey’s inability to lay low and trust her alliance not to turn on her, Shelli finally had enough.  She threw a (untelevised, for some reason) house meeting, save for Audrey, to ensure that everyone in the house felt the same way.  It was all to minimize her own guilt, really - if she felt like it was a house decision, then it wasn’t as personal for her to turn on her friend.

And then that’s when things got weird.  After a 90s-themed Battle of the Block, where the players had to find four keys in various grunge band-themed challenges, Jackie and James saved themselves from the chopping block (and Johnny wasn’t even trying to throw it this time!).  Jason, Johnny Mac, and Liz, as dethroned HOH, received a punishment: they were now part of a boy band called the Wackstreet Boys, and whenever they were called, they had to run and perform a choreographed dance.  And you know what, I’ll just say it: Johnny Mac doesn’t look so terrible with a chinstrap.

Once the veto competition became the only step between the houseguests and eviction night, it became clear to Audrey that she was the target.  After a huge fight with Clay, Shelli, and Vanessa about her inability to trust them, and how many lies she’s been telling, the group completely turned on Audrey.  Ultimately, Vanessa won veto, where the players were quickly shown a list of colors, then had to add one of the colors shown to a beaker.  Add the wrong color, the whole thing (rather literally) blows up in your face.  

And then, with Vanessa intending to use the veto, Audrey just kind of...broke down.  Most days, she spent 3+ hours in the diary room, and whenever she was out, she stayed in the have-not room under a blanket, in total darkness.  The few times she got up, the other houseguests acted like they’d seen a ghost.  On Wednesday night, she finally told Shelli she’d had a panic attack, but no one had any idea what was going on.  After she spent five hours in the diary room one day, they were sure she’d self-evicted.  They assumed she was doing it all for attention or sympathy (and honestly, panic attack or not, she probably could have found a way to communicate to everyone that she was genuinely not well), and while they all worried about how she was feeling and making sure she was eating, it didn’t detract from their plans to evict her.  If anything, her not showing up to the veto ceremony (ostensibly because she was too sick - again, true or not, nobody in the house had any idea that she was sick at that point) strengthened a lot of people’s resolve to get her out.

And ultimately, that’s exactly what happened.  The other houseguests (and Julie Chen) weren’t even sure if Audrey would show up to the live eviction, but she was present, and, of course, was evicted.  Ten votes, including one penalty for breaking her have-not diet, to one, which was planned to throw a little chaos into the house (which is an incredibly stupid idea, but what do I know).

It was a huge week in the house, and a lot of players really stepped up and came together to get rid of the house’s biggest target.  It was less about the Sixth Sense controlling everything this time, and ultimately, some of the power finally made it to some people on the other side of the house.  So let’s get to this week’s power rankings.

Bottom 5:

5. John

JAIME: Needless to say, John is the best person in this house.  He’s been nominated every single week, and it was such a bad move to put him up again this week.  He doesn’t really work as the go-to pawn once it starts becoming obvious that he’s a pawn, and part of the HOH’s larger plan.  I’m still waiting for him to win an HOH and take control of his own game, but the longer it takes him to do that, the longer it takes for him to become a real threat.  Still, like we’ve been saying, I think he’s got a few more weeks before anyone starts targeting him, so he’s got some time to turn things around.

GARRETT: I’m #teamdentist until the end, but he just needs to start winning. He’s held two vetos, but has only used them to take himself off the block as part of someone else’s larger plan. He’s absolutely beloved by everybody in the house, which is still an advantage for him at the moment. But soon, the lines will be drawn, and that likability will no longer trump alliances. I want nothing more than a John HOH, so here’s hoping he slides right through this week and can gain some power next week.

4. Becky

JAIME: As Garrett so eloquently put it, “Becky cleans a lot.”  That’s...about all she’s got going on lately.  She was one of the strongest supporters of Shelli’s plan to evict Audrey, and had actually been pushing the idea for a while.  But she could have stepped up and become a key part of the eviction, and she just didn’t.  She sat back and once again, everything happened as a result of Vanessa, Shelli, and Clay’s gameplay.  Becky is pretty close with Jackie, though, and apparently they talk game a lot together, so maybe this week she’ll step up and become a real presence in the house?  Maybe?  Please?

GARRETT: Becky has had zero diary room appearances in the last three episodes of the show. That’s honestly impressive. CBS views her as a non-factor, and even Jason cracks jokes about how invisible she is. A lot of times, this invisibility can work in your favor and you can find an attachment down the line. But what I’m fearing for Becky is a double eviction. If the suspicions of the houseguests and the online community hold true, it’s coming next week. Becky needs to be careful and really start working hard in the game to avoid that fate.

3. Steve

JAIME: I still love Steve, and very much want to adopt him and bake him cookies while he serenades me on the trombone.  But he just has nothing going on.  He made deals with Vanessa and John this week to watch each other’s backs, but nothing’s come of those.  He’s lost memory competitions that the other houseguests assumed he would have had in the bag.  Maybe part of that is because they find his intelligence more intimidating than it actually is, but if he can’t win the competitions that have to do with his strengths, what is he going to do?  I’m still hoping for a turnaround, and even a joint Steve/John HOH, but come on, Stevie, you’ve got to do a little better.

GARRETT: It doesn’t help Steve’s cause that everybody believes he’s throwing all of the competitions. I don’t think he is, but he’s clearly overwhelmed by the social pressure cooker of the competition. He’s trying too hard to fit in, and people are getting sick of him. I’m still rooting for him, but it’s starting to come from a place of pity rather actually wanting him to win.

Oh, and apparently he doesn’t flush the toilet. The drought in California is bad, Steve, but I don’t think it’s THAT bad.

2. James

GARRETT: James is someone that I greatly enjoy in this game. He’s funny, lively, and pulls some pretty hilarious pranks for us to enjoy on the live feeds. But he can’t keep a secret. Anything that gets told to him will be transferred along to somebody in power - Shelli and Clay, or Vanessa - and they’ll give him the runaround. His allies, Jason and Meg, have recently begun to detach themselves from him because of it. I hope he fixes the issue, but for now, he’s got jury written all over him.

JAIME: It worked in his favor this week, because he was part of the reason that Shelli turned on Audrey, but moves like that don’t work when they’re not being pulled against the biggest threat in the house.  He can play smart when he wants to, but when he doesn’t want to, his game can be sloppy.  If he wants to play double agent, okay, but you need to pick your sides clearly if you’re going to do that.  James will share info with anyone, and that’s just not going to fly.  He was close to winning HOH this week, which would have been okay (and Vanessa probably would have just pulled his strings the whole time), so I’m glad it ultimately went to Jackie.  He’s at least solidified himself as a pawn, so I think he’s got a few more weeks left, but he’s definitely a clear jury member.  

1.Austin

GARRETT: So I’m a wrestling fan. I enjoy it. The pomp and circumstance mixed with the athletics, combined with the over-exaggerated fakeness of it all, really makes for a great bit of enjoyment. I bring up wrestling because, as you know, Austin is a wrestler. But outside of his general size as a human being, I can’t possibly see how he’d be any good at it. The guy doesn’t know how to lie and get away with it. His over-the-top antics with the Judas thing is terribly annoying. And outside of being a professional (in the Big Brother sense) and trying to win the game, he’s completely lost sight of the end goal. All the guy does is try to get in Liz’s pants. It’s honestly ridiculous. He’s torpedoed his game and any likability he ever had. On top of it all, he’s mean to Steve for no reason. I can’t wait until he’s gone.

JAIME: I don’t even know what’s happened to Austin over the last two weeks.  He was loyal to Vanessa until he got close to Liz, and now suddenly he’s willing to overturn his whole game for Liz?  Liz is great (and Julia is better), but come on, bro, you’re not even trying anymore.  On the feeds, whenever the two of them are in the same room, he’s always got a hand on her back or shoulders, and then there’s the occasional kiss on the top of her head...It’s gross.  And on top of all that, he’s giving out information without consulting his alliance first, and they already had doubts about how much they could trust him.  Their doubts from last week were further cemented this week, and let’s be real, they could get him out in a second if they told him either he or Liz had to go.  I think maybe he thinks he’s being charming and romantic by being so willing to throw his game for her, but there’s a time and place for chivalry (well, okay, there isn’t really, but work with me) and the Big Brother house is not it.

Top 5:

5. Jason

GARRETT: Jason had a great turnaround this week, and with his back against the wall, got Vanessa to use the veto on him. He went into the week the number one target and emerged with loyalties on both sides of the house. People like having him around, and he’s just sublime on the feeds, making all of us laugh with a devil-may-care NC-17 sense of humor.

JAIME: And Jason knew he was in a really vulnerable position at the start of the week.  He knew he would go home against Johnny Mac, and even once he became aware of the plan to evict Audrey, he knew he wasn’t even totally safe against her.  He had to come off the block, so he started working with Vanessa and her side of the house.  I can definitely see that relationship continuing this week, and with Jackie and Vanessa in power, something big could definitely happen with Jason on their side.

4. Jackie

GARRETT: We had Jackie at the very bottom of our list heading into the week. But after watching the feeds, she’s shown herself as a very perceptive, strategic player. Simply put, Jackie does not buy anybody’s bullshit. She’s good at playing dumb and appearing to let people walk over her, but has a clear goal in mind and is setting herself up as a quiet, ruthless player as we move forward. Good riddance for Jeff being gone, because now that he is, Jackie is quickly rising up the list of houseguests. I’m hoping she stays Head of Household and causes some major damage this week.

JAIME: The feeds have made me love Jackie.  I don’t know if she was actually standoffish before Jeff’s eviction or if it just seemed that way, but she seems to be interacting a lot with everyone, to the point where she was one the only attendee of a Wackstreet Boys performance (much to their delight).  I’m so thrilled that she won HOH, because the Sixth Sense alliance is already crumbling and they know it.  Now that she’s in a position to make some moves and work alongside Vanessa, they might be in a better position to get out some of the weak links in the Sixth Sense (aka Austin).

3. Clay

JAIME: Clay is a weird fixture in the house.  Obviously his loyalty lies with Shelli foremost, and then Vanessa and Liz, but he’s still got ties to the other side of the house that he uses to their advantage.  I think everyone expected him to be running things between him and Shelli, that she’d just go along with whatever plans he came up with.  And yeah, he is coming up with a lot of plans, but Shelli’s not following him blindly.  If anything, he’s kind of her lap dog - finding out where Audrey’s head is at, asking John to be a pawn because Shelli doesn’t want to have that conversation.  If Shelli was more ruthless, then I’d say Clay was in a position to be evicted at the drop of a hat, because he’d go along with anything she said.  Still, he’s on the powerful side of the house, and he’s been instrumental in just about every eviction so far.  He’s definitely going to stick around for a while.

GARRETT: Clay plays a fantastic social game, which is actually very difficult to do if you’re in a showmance with somebody. He and Shelli are actually the first showmance that focuses on the game before their own relationship, which is truly a breath of fresh air. A lot of people find Clay to be boring, but I think he’s very intriguing, and clearly possesses the power to charm people into doing work for him and Shelli. He fits in with everybody, and everybody trusts him. He’s also smart enough to deflect blame and doesn’t open his mouth when he’s given a piece of information.

2. Shelli

GARRETT: Shelli gets a lot of crap from the online community for being so open about her showmance in the house and for setting herself up as a target with her attachment to Clay. But she’s maybe the best social player in the house - she’s friends with absolutely everybody, and she’s adored by everybody. We’re only four evictions in, but Shelli held Head of Household for two of them. She’s in on nearly every alliance and knows exactly when to shut her mouth. Right now, she’s my pick to win - if, of course, she can avoid the showmance target. For now, it seems like she and Clay are safe until well into jury because everybody wants to work with her.

JAIME: But for as powerful as Shelli is for winning two HOHs, she’s also smart enough to know how dangerous that is.  She didn’t want any blood on her hands, and pretty much begged Jason to win the Battle of the Block so that she wouldn’t have to make any more decisions.  And once again, she’s done the impossible: she managed to get out one of her closest friends in the house, after turning on them in the span of a few days, and absolutely nobody is judging her for it.  She’s not going to be seen as ruthless or uncaring for turning on Audrey because everyone wanted Audrey out.  Shelli is absolutely golden right now, and maybe it’s too premature to say this, but I absolutely can see her in the final three, if not final two.  She’s playing such a great game - she makes some mistakes, definitely, but most of the time, she’s brilliant.

1.Vanessa

GARRETT: Vanessa is a talker. She talks and talks and talks. She uses the terms “straight shooter” and “ride or die” a lot. From outside the house, we can see how she’s manipulating and it seems like people would be able to perceive it from the inside. But they can’t. She’s deflected all of the blame away from her. She’s won three competitions. She’s clearly an intelligent, formidable player. And people constantly run to her with any information they have. It’s surprising she isn’t anybody’s target yet, but she’s just so intimidating with all that talking that it seems like she may just run roughshod over all of her opponents.

JAIME: Vanessa also doesn’t like lying, which she’ll tell you right before she lies to you.  It’s beautiful to watch, honestly.  As predicted, she once again controlled the house this week: she gave Liz and Shelli ideas for who to nominate when they were completely clueless, and her veto win meant that, essentially, she controlled who was going home.  Saving Jason guaranteed that his replacement would leave; saving John would pretty much cement Jason’s eviction.  Audrey could not have been evicted without Vanessa, just like most decisions in the house could not have been made without Vanessa.  And now she’s in power again, but this time, she’s got more friends on the other side of the house.  She really could pull anything and she’d probably walk away clean, especially with Jackie next to her.  She’s definitely going to make it far in this game because for the last month, no one has ever had more power than her.

But First Fridays Week 4: Your Weekly Big Brother Power Rankings

LAST WEEK’S HOH: Vanessa (Austin relinquished after Jason and Meg won Battle of the Block)

LAST WEEK’S ORIGINAL NOMINEES: James and Johnny Mac

LAST WEEK’S VETO WINNER: Johnny

DID THEY USE THE VETO?: It’s becoming a narrative trope at this point, but yes, he did

REPLACEMENT NOMINEE: Jeff

VOTES FOR EVICTION: 7-4 to evict Jeff (with Liz, Steve, John, and Jackie voting to evict James)

NEW HEADS OF HOUSEHOLD: Liz and Shelli

ANY NEW TWISTS?: Not that we know of yet, but apparently it’s 90s Week, and there was lots of twisting in the 1990s! Especially in the classic Bill Paxton disaster film Twister, which everyone should purchase in their local 50 cent VHS bin

Our thoughts:

GARRETT: Faithful readers, Jaime and I have a slight confession to make.

Jaime bought the feeds.

And gave me the password.

And now I can’t stop watching them. It’s insane. I can’t believe I haven’t watched them in 16 seasons of this show. It changes everything. But, that said, we’re going to try our damndest to keep any extra information we’ve got from the feeds from seeping into our objectivity in ranking the houseguests. We’re still writing from the TV perspective, but we’ll make sure to include any non-spoiling details to provide context if need be.

JAIME: Though it goes without saying that watching James get a haircut and John wash the dishes is going to have a huge effect on how we write these posts.

GARRETT: It’s been another pretty interesting week, and the houseguests are starting to dig into their trenches. The factions have formed, with the major “Sixth Sense” alliance (which, in my opinion, is a lame name) of Shelli, Clay, Austin, Vanessa, and both twins (Liz and Julia). Last week, Vanessa brought the twins’ real identity in to her alliance with Austin, Clay and Shelli, and they formed a final six pact.

Meanwhile, the rest of the house was reeling from Da’Vonne being evicted instead of Audrey, and assumed that evicting her would be the plan. But Vanessa and Austin, who won HoH, had other plans. The two put up pawns again, and Vanessa told John to throw the competition again in order to keep her in power. John, happy to do as the HoH asked for the second week in a row, didn’t even need to try as James was completely baffled by the competition that required him to match women’s clothes together.

And so Vanessa stayed as HoH with her sights on evicting James rather than Audrey. She planned on keeping the nominations the same, but the plan was dismantled by yet another Johnny Mac veto win - this time, aided by a last-second throwing of the competition by Austin.

Vanessa was not too happy about having to pick a replacement nominee, especially because she saw right through Austin’s throwing of the competition. But Austin had grown displeased with Jeff - who, he believed - was trying to win away the object of his affection: Liz.

Vanessa, backed into having to make another power move, concocted a plan to catch Jeff in a lie about splitting up Clay and Shelli. The plan worked, and Jeff, with no credibility left, went up on the block and was evicted in a vote that seemed closer than expected.

I, for one, won’t be missing Jeff, as his macho attitude and douchey, mopey attitude towards everyone around him was not my favorite thing to watch. Good riddance to him I say.

And so we stand heading into the week with Shelli (for the second time) and Liz in the HoH room. Liz has two more evictions to survive before her twin sister Julia can come in to play as her own self.

5. Meg

GARRETT: I actually don’t have too much of a problem with Meg as a person or as a gameplayer. She isn’t outright annoying and actually seems pretty well-liked. But as the weeks go on, the alliances you form are what you live and die by. She picked Jason, James, and Da’Vonne early on, and they just haven’t been able to win any competitions. Slowly but surely her entire foundation is crumbling.

JAIME: And she voted to evict Jeff, so clearly there is some communication going on between her and the side of the house in power this week.  She just hasn’t totally committed to that side of the house yet; for now, though, she seems to make her moves based on what best serves her own individual interests, and that strategy seems to be working for her.  She’d definitely have a stronger hold in the house if she officially joined forces with Shelli/Austin/the rest of the Sixth Sense, but I can see her skating by a little longer.

4. Steve

GARRETT: So Jaime and I both agree that we do really like Steve. He’s actually, no lie, our second favorite houseguest out of all of them. But regretfully, neither of us are playing the game this year. And the people that are just don’t seem to like him all that much. He can’t get any semblance of a social game going. He has no alliance, and seems a much weaker mental player than Ian Terry, a player who he’s constantly compared to. Steve needs to win a Head of Household or Veto to gain some bargaining chips. Otherwise, his time is going to come soon, as much as we don’t want it to.

JAIME: Some people are really mean to Steve in the house and it breaks my heart every time, okay.  He’s in such a difficult position socially, because he does find it hard to connect with people, and it seems like whenever he really tries, the other houseguests aren’t willing to cut him any slack.  Part of that, I think, is because he hasn’t really proved himself as a competitor yet - once he does, I’m sure more people will be willing to work with him and solidify his place in the house, but until then, I think most of the other houseguests are content to write him off as the smart guy they can occasionally convince to vote their way.

3. Austin

JAIME: Austin was in an incredibly powerful position for most of the week - he and Vanessa were totally on the same page when they started the week as joint HOHs, and they almost immediately came up with a plan that benefited both of their gameplay.  He spearheaded the movement to get Jeff on the block and eventually evicted, but as the week went on, Austin lost sight of why they were working so hard to get Jeff out.  Maybe it was just due to the editing of Thursday’s episode, but all of a sudden, apparently Austin viewed Jeff as a threat solely because they both had a connection with Liz.  It underscored everything the Sixth Sense built this week - suddenly Austin’s main focus isn’t his friendship with Vanessa, but his feelings for Liz?  He’s willing to risk his time in the house in order to protect Liz?  Um, no, that’s stupid, don’t do that.  Clearly Austin needs Judas to smack some sense into him.

GARRETT: He’s been a major liability for his alliance ever since he threw the veto. He’s also the most paranoid person on the feeds by far, and sooner or later, that amount of paranoia (especially before jury) will put you in jeopardy. And on the long list of Big Brother Don’ts that have been added up over so many seasons of this game, one of the ones near the top is to never take your eyes off the prize. You’re here to win, Austin. Not to find love. Especially when that love doesn’t actually have feelings for you.

2. Jason

GARRETT: I really value having Jason in the house, especially on the feeds. He’s very, very intelligent about the game, and very, very perceptive about what’s going on around him. He’s entertaining and funny and makes the show interesting. But he can’t catch a break in competitions. As we said about Meg, his core group is dwindling. I think he’s smart enough to get himself onto the powerful side of the house eventually, but time is running out, and he may just be the biggest target of the Shelli/Liz HOH reign.

JAIME: I totally agree - he could definitely reposition himself, but it seems like his side of the house has dwindled enough that now everyone remaining is standing out.  The more time that goes by without Jason aligning with Austin or Vanessa or any of those people, the more obvious it is that he’s purposely staying away from them.  I guess it’s good that he’s so loyal to James and Meg, but he just doesn’t have the numbers.  Come on, Jason.  Be smart so you can stick around to liven up the feeds.

1. Jackie

JAIME: No, seriously, what does Jackie do in the house?  She spends most of her time with Jeff, Jason, and James, though she considered Jeff her only real friend in the house.  With him gone, her only allies are people who have next to no power in the house.  She has almost no relationship with the powerful side of the house, and seems like she has no desire to develop relationships with them.  She has two, maybe three, people on her side, and refuses to expand her connections in the house - I think it’s safe to say things aren’t going to go well for her.

GARRETT: I think she’s going to make jury, just because the people in this house seem to constantly want to make big moves and take out the big personalities. But she in no way is setting up herself to win the game. She doesn’t seem to have much of a personality and has really not done much in competitions. For all the crap we’ve given Audrey in these posts, at least she keeps grinding along, trying to get herself into good graces again, and, above all else, makes the game interesting. Jackie just does none of that.

5. John

JAIME: First of all, let’s all take a moment to applaud Garrett for finally seeing reason and coming around to accept that John is the best person in the house.

GARRETT: What did it for me was this hilarious compilation of Johnny Mac quotes. And we’re only three weeks in!

JAIME:  He’s been put up as a pawn every week, and so far he’s competed in every single competition.  He’s still a floater, but he’s put himself in a position where the HOHs know they can rely on him, even if they’re not necessarily counting on him to come up with big moves of his own.  Obviously that’s going to have to change if he wants to make it past a certain point in the game, but I think he’s going to be completely safe for the foreseeable future as houseguests set their sights on more visible threats.

GARRETT: John is definitely making a beeline for the jury house. He’s not a threat at all in the foreseeable future, and just seems happy enough floating along in his happy-go-lucky way. Hopefully some luck swings his way because I’d love to see him finally be the one telling someone else to act as a pawn instead of the other way around.

4. Clay

GARRETT: Clay, man. I wish I was as attractive as him so that I could just waltz into the Big Brother house, align myself with the prettiest woman in the house, and let her win Head of Household twice. He’s honestly caught so much luck every week, and has emerged with no blood on his hands.

JAIME: He’s so, so pretty.  And he’s actually kind of smart, too, which was an unexpected bonus.  He’s definitely gotten lucky pretty much every week, but he’s certainly not skating by.  He was instrumental in getting Da’Vonne and Jeff evicted, and even though he hasn’t won any competitions yet, he’s capable of handling power when someone in his alliance has it.  Whatever plan Liz and Shelli have this week, Clay is definitely going to have a big week.

3. Liz/Julia

JAIME: For as much as I wanted a Steve/Johnny Mac HOH this week, I was really excited that Liz won.  Obviously this means the power hasn’t shifted in the house, but this is going to give Liz a great opportunity to prove herself.  Is she going to come up with a plan that benefits her alliance as a whole, or is her own self-interest going to come first?  Considering that she went against the plan and voted to evict James over Jeff, I can see her putting herself first this week.  I’m so excited to see where this goes, because it could just be a complete continuation of the last week, or Liz could make some huge moves and blow up the Sixth Sense just as it got going.

GARRETT: I’m very interested to see what happens with the next switch, to be honest. Liz and Julia are showing more and more to be different people, and both of them clearly want to be able to play their own game. For now, it’s Liz in the house, who’s been flirty and the subject of a macho male love triangle. She seems to relish her situation. But what happens when Julia comes in? Is she going to be pissed that Liz voted to evict James over Jeff? What happens if people find out? It’s exciting, if nothing else, and I’m glad the twin twist has brought a fair amount of narrative to this game.

2. Vanessa

GARRETT: Vanessa stays near the top of the power rankings this week because of her alliance sweeping HOH, and for concocting a great way of putting Jeff and his game on blast. As much as she was worried about getting too much blood on her hands, the Jeff vs. Clay/Austin/Shelli argument cleared her from any potential bad graces. She’s a lot to handle on the feeds, and seems to be drawn into paranoia quite easily. But with her alliance in charge this week, I think she’ll calm down quite a bit and play the great game we’ve seen her build up over the first few weeks.

JAIME: The way she prevented herself from getting any blood on her hands was such a smart and calculated move, too.  Her alliance wanted her to put up Jeff, but she didn’t have a reason to put him up.  So she draws him into a very public fight, where he questions her integrity and lies to her face.  Just like that, it would be stupid NOT to put him up.  She made sure to cover her tracks, which is something most HOHs forget and then leave themselves open to retaliation as soon as they lose power.  Vanessa is playing a really interesting game, and luckily her reign as HOH seems to have solidified her near the top of the alliance, meaning she’s probably going to call a lot of the shots over the next few weeks.

1. Shelli

JAIME: Shelli kind of dominated this week, and I don’t think anyone was really aware just how much power she had.  She was part of the initial group who petitioned Vanessa to put up Jeff, and while their group had strategic decisions for wanting him out, she also developed a personal vendetta against him as the week went on.  He tried to throw her and Clay under the bus, and since she and Jeff had been close at the beginning of the game, she felt betrayed.  But she managed to keep calm and, though that personal reason became her main reason for wanting him out, she still played totally logically and strategically.  And now she’s HOH again, making her the first repeat of the season, and only in the third week.  Last week solidified the Sixth Sense’s power in the house, and now Shelli and Liz are going to keep that going.  I feel like another big move is coming up.

GARRETT: Shelli has been outright dominating socially and in competitions. She’s got a big alliance and just keeps winning competitions. She’s also seemed to remain calmer than most of the people in the house. That might be because of the fact that she’s been in power from the absolute start of the game, but the fact remains the same. Her only worry should be coming off as too much of a threat, with two HOH’s before jury. I’m thinking she throws the HOH to Liz this week if she can find some pawns to do so - and with her persuasion skills, it seems likely.