Big Brother 21 – Thursday Recap for 9/19/19

Good morning. We’re finally at the final 3 since Cliff was evicted last night. The end game feels like it’s taking forever this year! It probably always seems that way and I guess I forget from year to year. We’ll have a winner in 6 days so were almost there. I’ll warn you now, this recap will mostly include just a bunch of random stuff since there isn’t much to cover. I lost focus once I saw there wasn’t much on the feeds to cover and ended up all over the place.

Beth=Holly

Live feeds last night:

• Jackson won part 1 of the hoh comp. It involved walking along a rope and some kind of puzzle. Nicole injured her knee during the comp and came in last. For Nicole to have a chance at the finale, she’ll have to win the next one against Beth.
• Let’s not forget, Jackson had a plan and it involved throwing the first comp to Beth once Nicole was out. I said a few days ago, Nicole’s best hope would be Jacksons inability to throw the comp. I agree with Steve about Nicoles chances. (We’ve agreed a lot this year, which is a little unusual. Lol) Traditionally, Nicole wouldn’t have won the first one (endurance) and Beth would do the worst in part 2 (physical mixed with  puzzle/questions) so it was better for Nicole to compete against her in part 2. I said “traditionally” and I’ll talk more about that at the end of the recap. Jackson and Beth were close and Nicole was far behind so he didn’t need to win it to make sure Nicole didn’t.
• Nicole was upset with herself because it sounds like her time or amount of whatever they were doing was terrible and not even close to Jacksons or Beths. She said she doesn’t want to be the person who was dragged to the end because they arn’t capable of winning. She said most seasons have someone who everyone else wonders how they got there and she doesn’t want to be that person. Beth said “welcome to my fears” and said she doesn’t want people to think she played Jacksons game and he drug her along. I’m sure in the moment, Beth thought she was bonding with Nicole. Unfortunately, Beth bonds with people by trying to one up them. ‘Oh Nicole, you’re afraid? Well I’m terrified. You hurt your knee? My backs broken from sleeping downstairs because you’re entitled and you didn’t give me the hoh room. You’re upset you sucked in the comp? How must I feel? I did amazing but I’m mad because I think I could’ve done better.’
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• Jackson tried to give Nicole a pep talk and she told him “please don’t.” She asked for a few minutes alone but this is Jacksons house, with Jacksons needs and he needed to be seen on camera being nice, and needed to be heard word vomiting encouragement to her. He insisted:
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• He also insisted she needed to be hugged:
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• Jackson and Beth congratulated each other on being so amazing and he told her she had to win the next one. She was still annoyed she didn’t so as well as she knew she could’ve. This weeks ailment is ADD. She said her ADD kept her from listening to all the rules or instructions for the comp.  They both mentioned making sure Nicole didn’t feel left out the next few days. They said they needed to make sure she felt included.  Beth said “it’s why I let you guys do your thing today.” She said “I’ve been getting closer to her too.” (These two actually have to prepare themselves to be nice. I mean, just….be….nice, is it really that complicated?) Beth asked Jackson if she looked hot during the comp and wanted to know if she looked hotter in this than the fashion show night which apparantly, was her hottest look to date. She was concerned with the outfit for the comp at first but it’s good to know, it all worked out in the end. Maybe the jury should vote for her to win the entire game if she looks “hotter” than Jackson or Nicole at the finale. Let’s scrap the last 3 comps and have a fashion walk off instead!
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• The hoh room was shut down for good so we can only imagine what Nicole will be subjected to over the next few days. I wonder if they were allowed to take the stool before the locked it. Even BB16 winner Derrick got in on the stool jokes:
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• Late last night, all three of them were joking around and talking about Beths roommate. Nicole asked if they could’ve picked a better 3rd wheel to be with them in the house. Beth said “we didn’t have a choice.” (She may have to work on that ‘nice’ thing some more)

My thoughts from the episode:

• Nicole looked like a bad ass chick in her leather jacket. (I’m assuming this is the side of Nicole who locked her parents in the basement)  I wondered if they’re letting her wear more of her own clothing now that they’re at the F3. I remember how miserable Sam was last year over her clothes. She accepted she’d been cast as a certain ‘type’ and they wanted her watered down and wearing thing like overalls. They had her looking like a soccer mom who was sick of her kids and had just given up. She said she was ok with it until she got to BB and other women (Angela, Rachel, Hayleigh) were able to dress the way Sam usually dressed. It’s one of the reasons she seemed to get down on herself. She said she didn’t feel attractive when she was in the house. Clothing can be armor to a certain degree for a lot of people. Remember when they made Cameron wear glasses on BB19 so he’d look like more of the nerd? (Cameron doesn’t need glasses)
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• Wow, Julie really came for Cliff in his interview. You could tell she liked Tommy but was she really that pissed he didn’t keep him? (Kidding) He screwed up this week but still, it must suck to be called stupid on national tv. (He did deserve it tho) At least he isn’t Jack, better to be called stupid than racist.
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• A couple of past winners chimed in regarding Cliffs jury vote threat:
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• The jury segments were nice to see but as usual, we don’t know much more than we knew before, other than the stuff about Kat and Nick. I don’t  believe she’s into Nick any more than she was Jackson. She wants tv time and CBS has sent the message loud and clear, hooking up is the way to get it. Nick was voted as Americas Prankster so he still thinks he’s popular. I’m sure he’s spread that in the jury house, so for Kat, hooking up with someone they think the fans like doesn’t hurt either. (Jess must be devastated since part of her issues with Nicole were because she was friends with Nick) Production either really dislikes Nick or Bella….or both.
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• I’m over Kats storyline about being anti Jackson. She liked him, then hated him, told Julie what an amazing guy he was during her exit interview and now hates him again? Who cares?
• I was a little offended on Nicole’s behalf when Sis sounded so shocked Nicole won a comp. Since when was Sis a comp beast? (Nicole 2, Sis 0) Sis needs to just sit there in her hat and pose for the camera, talking isn’t required.
• I liked Beths jumpsuit last night but the speech, not so much. If she’s in the F2, she better hope she can tighten it up a little. What the hell was she saying? (Not that it matters, Kaycee won simply by repeating the same thing to every question. What did you do? I was nice to people. What’s a move you made? I was nice to people. Why should you win? I was nice to people. Too bad she can’t spend the next few days with Nicole since she’s naturally a nice person)
• Jackson and Beth trying to get Cliffs vote as he left was funny. Jackson was telling him to vote only on game and Beth was adding ‘love yous’ to him. She was standing there doing her best ‘Hey, dont forget about me. I’ve always liked you. Maybe you didn’t know it since I didn’t talk to you but I think you’re great.’
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• By far, the best moment was Nicole in the DR saying to Jackson “You do me a favor and go f*ck yourself.”
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Voting for Americas Favorite Houseguest started last night. You have to vote on the website this time: www.CBS.com/bbvote. The site had a few issues last night but that’s nothing new. I’ll have to stay off Twitter from now until the finale because all the crazies come out and want to fight with you if you arn’t voting for whoever they’re campaigning for. (It’s nuts the way some people get riled up over giving 25k to someone they’ll probably never meet)  Truthfully, I’ve only voted a couple of seasons because I think they give it to whoever they want anyway. In case I’m wrong, this is one of the seasons I’m voting. Most of the cast was a huge dumpster fire in my opinion so it makes me want to vote. Originally, I wanted to vote for David, Ovi or Kemi because of how they were treated but they’ll never get enough votes to win so I’m going all in on Nicole. Along with everything else about her, I loved seeing her dance all season. She gives new meaning to the phrase ‘dance like no one’s watching.’ That alone, was enough to make her my favorite. As for everyone else, they’re your votes, use them however the hell you want.

Sam is out in full force campaigning for himself. He was selling t-shirts with his picture on them and the words “Send It!” Maybe he hasn’t sold enough to get that pool he talked about because he’s working for AFH or AFP, whatever they’re calling it ths year.

Sam has spoken about being a FB user but is new to Twitter. He’s learned the hard way that although they’re both social media, they’re  basically two different planets. Sam is funny and he seems like a great guy. He just doesn’t have a clue what happened during his season, while he was in the house or after he left.

I don’t known if Dr. Will is doing the jury discussion this year because there’s been some talk about people who’d like to do it. Jessica from BB19 posted something about wanting to do it. (I didn’t see it but it had some people in an uproar) I don’t blame them because what can she contribute? She had a power she told Paul she had and when she was able to make a big move, she took out Ramses. I hope she stays busy spending that Amazing Race money and stays away from the jury. I saw another Tweet that I CAN get on board with though. It’s a travesty if production sees this and ignores it. Will may have been a great player but he doesn’t even watch the show. Danielle does follow the show and she’s pretty much amazing too.

I mentioned the way the final 3 comps are traditionally set up. They’ve already veered away from that this season so we don’t know how the rest will play out. The comp they did last night (part 1)  is usually endurance but this one sounds closer to what part 2 is usually like. If so, will part 2 be the endurance? Will they skip endurance since that’s what they did for the final 4 hoh comp? This could make a huge difference in what kind of chance Nicole may have in part 2. Maybe Jackson didn’t screw up by fighting for part 1 last night. We probably won’t know until sometime tomorrow because that’s usually when they do part 2.

I don’t mind production changing up the comps. It’s harder to plan when the hgs really have to “expect the unexpected.” It’s become predictable and sometimes, it’s hard to get players to play the game from week to week. How many times have we seen players doing nothing because they were waiting for the double to make a move and…..they could guess exactly when it would happen?

What I don’t like is seeing how physical the comps are becoming. It used to be an even mix but if last season and this season are any indication, we’re entering into a different kind of BB. Cliff wasn’t wrong last night when he told Julie, he figured there would be more mental comps towards the end and be able to take out Jackson, if someone hadn’t already done it. I’ve lost count of how many physical comps they’ve had in the second half of this season. Even the last veto comp was ridiculously physical which followed and endurance for hoh. Yes, they had to answer questions but there were only 3 of them and they were super easy ones. The hardest part of that comp was running all over the yard to retrieve your balls and having the strength to easily pull back the slingshot. This was a comp made for an athletic person. The fact that Nicole was only a few minutes behind him proves it was mostly physical. He had trouble with the questions and she didn’t, so if she did so much better, why did he win? She couldn’t compete against him with the athletic part of the comp.

BB keeps evolving and the players will have to adapt. There was a time “jury management” wasn’t a discussion because the game didn’t revolve around avoiding hurting someones feelings. Now, it’s a huge factor in winning the game. If they continue down this path for the style of comps, strategies will need to change with it. They days of keeping some big targets in the house to use as a shield and help you win comps may need to end. You’ll see people start to target the most athletic people first because they’ll be too afraid they can’t get them out later. It’s nice to see the hgs who practice and study get rewarded too and we’ll lose that if they continue to do less mental comps.

Hopefully, we’ll have a better idea on Saturday what the F2 could be looking like but I’m only guessing. Is it too biased to hope part 2 is a unicorn drawing comp or naming all the charms in the Lucky Charms cereal? How about seeing how many streets you can name in Long Island?  Have a great Friday and a lovely weekend.

Mel