Big Brother 21 – Wednesday Recap for 8/21/19

Good morning BBJ gang! Yesterday was quite a surprise. I knew Christie would campaign but after Taco Tueaday, I didn’t think she had anything left to pull out of her manifesting bag of tricks. I was wrong about that one. (I was right about her path to staying going through Beth) I’d guessed more of it would hinge on Jess, rather than Cliff, when I talked about it yesterday so I was wrong about that too.  I probably should’ve factored Cliff into it more since I was aware he and Nicole had already had a discussion about hating to send Christie home over Sis. I didn’t, so I obviously don’t need to go the Vegas this week.

Except for the campaigning and a cereal party, the night was basically more of the same. The day can mostly be summed up by saying, Christie’s trying to stay, there’s a really good chance it’s going to happen, Tommy played a little behind all day and people think Nicole is wishy washy.

Here’s a condensed version of the day:

•  Tommy confided to Beth he was upset with Christie and blamed her for the blow up with Nick.
•  Christie made her big pitch to Jackson and Beth which seemed to land. She focused on how Nick was building an army with Tommy, Sis and Nicole. She was fine going home around 5th and they could use her mental abilities to take out Nick.
•  Christie and Nick made peace by having a long talk. He doesn’t hold anything against her. He was worried about her eviction speech and said he’s  been dragged by everyone on Thursdays.  She promised him her speech had nothing to do with him.
•  Nicole’s finally realizing she’s being seen as Nicks puppet. She spoke with Christie and said she was upset by having her name mentioned during Taco Tuesday. Christie apologized and said she was only trying to show people that Nick wasn’t loyal to any of them and didn’t mean to make any of it about Nicole.
•  Christie also pitched to everyone individually:
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•  Jackson told Cliff  he thought it might be good for them to keep Christie and work with her.  Cliff  said he was on board and said he would talk to Nicole but felt sure she would be ok with it.
•  Nicole went to the hoh room to talk to Jackson and Beth about being seen as Nicks puppet or worse, someone who’s always in the middle. Jackson and Beth were pretty honest with her. Nicole said she didn’t know why people saw her that way and they told her that she came off as wishy-washy because she hadn’t picked a side. Jackson told her this was the week she could solve that problem. She promised again to vote the way he wanted and he said he could wait until Thursday to tell her what he was thinking if she preferred so she could have plausible deniability. (This was his phrase of the day) He offered the same to Tommy later in the evening.
• Nicole and Cliff talked about keeping Christie but Nicole was worried because she’d heard she would be the person Christie would put up with Nick to get Nick out.  (I think she heard this from Nick but I missed it and I’m not sure)
• Cliff and Christie spoke again and he said he was on board to keep her but he was concerned about what he’d heard about her potential noms. He admitted he and Nicole were closer than people thought and he wouldn’t  put her in jeopardy. They debated the merits of Jess vs Nicole. Christie said if Nicole kept her, she would want to work with her and she wouldn’t use Nicole as a pawn. (BS)
•  Meanwhile, Sis was crying and isolating herself because she didn’t want to see all the campaigning.  She said it would make her more paranoid but she was beginning to see what was happening.
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•  Tommy talked to Christie and apologized for appearing to take Nicks side after Taco  Tuesday.  She told him it was fine and they made up.
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•  Everyone decided to have a cereal party in the HOH room and Nick and Christie joked about needing to do it because they said they both ruined Taco Tuesday.
• Sis asked Jackson if she was going home. He said he didn’t vote and played dumb. She said she’d heard he might keep Christie to go after Nick but said he could go after Nick himself. She said she was told she was only a pawn, shouldn’t be going home and said that’s not how the game was supposed to work. (bless her little heart)
•  Cliff, Nicole, Jackson and Beth got together and agreed to work together as a 4 along with using Christie as their 5th. Nicole seems a bit hesitant before agreeing and there wasn’t an official handshake or any mention of an alliance name.  (This still feels a little shaky to me) Before this, Cliff teols Jackson, similar to the way he told Christie, he didn’t want to make a deal if it didn’t include Nicole. Jackson admitted that Nicole made them nervous because she seemed indecisive and based her decisions on emotions. Cliff said she wouldn’t be that way if they had something solid together.
•  In separate smaller conversations, Nicole told Jess she wasn’t with Nick even though people were saying it and Cliff  and Jess talked about Christie being a big target to keep in the house.
•  The hgs began hearing different bird noises to study for the upcoming comp. Tommy studied with Nick even though he’d told Jackson earlier, he wasn’t really with Nick.
•  By the end of the night, Tommy knew where things were heading but when Sis asked him how she thought the vote would go, he said he didn’t know.

Everyone tried out Tommys “botox face” during the cereal party and this was Jacksons attempt:

This is a guessing game right now, for us and for them. Honestly, I don’t think any of us can judge most of them too harshly for these game decisions because things simply aren’t that clear cut right now. (We can still judge them on being a**holes so we do have that) Not only are the players unpredictable this year, there’s more than one path for many of them to take. Yesterdays enemy could be todays new alliance member. Christie will be harder to get out than Sis down the road but because of the strong bonds and pairings this season, it makes ‘the right move’ a bit more tricky.

Naturally, Jackson should want Christie out because he clearly named her as his target. However, he’s a strong competitor and in a shomance so he needs big targets in the game.  If he wanted to go this direction, he should’ve done it from the beginning but it took the blow up between Nick and Christie for this to become an option for him.  I still see him as the person with the most to lose if they keep Christie. He’s  putting too much faith in Christie’s “mental abilities.” Cliff and Nicole aren’t really loyal to him, despite what they say but he isn’t loyal to them either so IF Christie stays loyal, it could work out….for now.

Beth is in a similar situation and she dropped hints all week about wanting Sis or Nick out.  She knows she could easily go otb with a Nick HOH, so if they were going to do this, she should’ve pushed harder to get Nick put up from the start.  Beth’s had a hang up with Sis for a long time and even though she was worried about Nick, she was too focused on Sis. (It’s a personal issue for her with Sis and that alone, makes it a bad game move. Remember way back when Beth and Kat complained about being jealous of the attention Sis was getting? It’s the reason Beth talks about beating Sis in every comp so much and says Sis is bitter because her shomance is gone. Those are two things Beth has done better than Sis)

It boils down to this: If Christie sticks with Jackson and Beth for a while, it wouldn’t be a bad decision to keep her. If she’s just saying what they need to hear and turns on them, they should’ve sent her home. Unfortunately, whether keeping Christie is a good or bad move will be sort of results oriented.  I don’t like evaluating a player’s game based on that because it’s the same as saying “well, it worked out, so obviously it was a good move.” It’s like Cliff and his decision to make a deal with Christie rather than make her use the power. It was a smart decision because he’s still there and more importantly, his word is gold to people. Should he have made Christie use the power? Yes, he should’ve but we can say no at this point because his gamble paid off.

Nick certainly needs Christie to leave, Tommy can benefit from either scenario and I think this could actually be good for Cliff and Nicole.  It could also be terrible for them depending on who backstabs who….so I’m really going out on a limb with predictions, huh? (This house simply has too much movement right now for anyone to know how it could play out imo)

I know many people are irritated that Christie could stay and I doubt I’m going to change anyone’s mind so I’m going to toss out some ‘glass is half full’ thoughts instead:

•  Christie is playing the game and Sis is not. Love her or hate her, that alone makes her more valuable for the show.
• Christies annoying behavior makes for better feeds. We can complain about Christies narcissism, her emotional outbursts and her chewing or we can complain about Sis not playing the game, using flirting as a strategy and not being very bright. Both annoy us so what does it matter? Either way, we’re still complaining.
• I’m sure there’s (a couple) of fans for each of these people but most of the people I chat with (including myself) dislike most of the house. For that reason, I’m ok with Christie staying because it doesn’t upset me for Sis to be evicted. I think it’s entertaining that Christie got put otb, had a meltdown and had to feel like the game was going against her. I don’t mind seeing it happen to her again.

Here are some other thing I don’t mind:

• Seeing Jackson regret his decision if he gets burned by it.
• Christie going after Nick and watching him squirm.
• Sis being blindsided and walking out the door tonight when I’ve had to listen to her talk about hating the game, not caring and wanting to leave.
• Tommy continuing to be stressed out because he’s finally ready (and actually pushing) for Christie to leave, only to have her stay.
• Tommy having to worry about what Christie might say or do to blow up his game.
• Kat having to be alone with Jack and Sis while they search for a stool in the jury house. She left pretty bitter and with HUGE double standards so it’s a fitting punishment.

I’m ready for all of them to go so I’m not picky about the order.  Some of you are dead set on Christie leaving tonight and I can respect your feelings about her.  I’m just saying, even a shit storm can sometimes grow flowers once it ends.  For me, good feeds can be defined by my blood pressure.  I may be very excited or I may be very angry but at least I’m feeling something other than boredom.

Take care, ‘see you’ tonight and have a great Thursday!

Mel