Hello everyone, there’s still a couple of days left but this is my last recap. I’ve enjoyed the feedback, the comments and the shared jokes all season. No matter what the cast gives us to work with, this group always finds a way to make it fun. I’ve said many times, this is the worst strategic cast I’ve ever seen and I stand by the statement. However, it’s not been the least enjoyable season I’ve ever watched so that’s something at least.
We can’t deny there was some memorable people on this cast, either because they annoyed us or because we liked them. For example, Rachel came back and played (imo) the best game of her 3 times playing, even though she lost. I’ve said I was never a Rahcel fan and her playing a social game this time around made her less annoying to me. I also don’t know what I said in one or more of my posts that made a few commenters think I was a Rachel stan. I tolerated her and at times, thought she was playing well. That’s it. I’ve criticized Keanu’s game alot and with the whole Keanu vs Rachel for AFP, maybe that’s where it started.
For full disclosure, Will was my favorite player this season. I haven’t voted for AFP but I hope he comes in 3rd. If not, I won’t lose any sleep over it. I wouldn’t mind Rachel getting it because she was the only player who was “eliminated” instead of being evicted. I’ve also said I think Keanu will win it and that’s fine too. I don’t want either Ava or Rylie in the top 3 (because they both thought they had it in the bag) and that’s the only strong opinion I have about AFP. (Hope that clears it up)
There was also Kelley, who should win a worst BB player in history award. Keanu will be a very memorable player, for being both an underdog who won comps and also really bad at the game. (Sorry, he can be likable and also be bad at BB) I also don’t think we’ll forget the Morgan and Vince saga no matter how the season ends. It’s been a soap opera the past month. I guess I’m only saying it’s not been a season for strategy but it’s had its entertaining moments.
With little going on, this recap is basically more of an end of season summary mixed with a few recap updates. For starters, the players waited around during the day for the veto meeting, not realizing there wouldn’t be one. These super fans didn’t realize Ava was going to be evicted during the live show. Vince finally had another talk with Ava and said he was keeping Ashley. This was after he led her to believe he was keeping her. (What’s that saying? If it’s not working, why change it?) Ya, I know that’s not it but it is to Vince apparently.
I’ll at least give this much to Ava. She had the necessary conversations, put in a decent amount of effort and really tried to convince Vince to keep her. Nothing Ava did this week really cost her the game. She lost the game weeks ago with her poor game decisions. No, I’m not saying if she’d chosen Rachel during the white locust, she would’ve won the game. I’m only saying she had a better path if she was sitting at the end, if she hadn’t chosen Vince.
She tried to promise Vince her vote if she left at three, as long as he kept her at four. She also promised to sway the jury in his favor if she left at three. None of them seemed to realize, Ava wouldn’t have time to sway anyone leaving at three. When nothing worked, she threatened her vote against him if he evicted her. Vince and Morgan were surprised by it and said they think their season was the first to threaten jury votes. (Its definitely not) Naturally, Ava was mad over being lied to for days and called a house meeting….all 4 of them.
Her plan was to blow up Vince’s game but she didn’t have anything earth shattering to say. Vince and Morgan talk all night so Morgan mostly already knew what Vince was doing. If Morgan wins the last hoh and doesn’t take Vince, it won’t be because of Ava.
Vince said in the DR, he needed to do what was best for his game and not Morgan’s so he needed to keep Ava. Vince stood up last night and did what was best for Morgan’s game and kept Ashley.
To be fair, I don’t even know if it matters because Ashley’s talked like she would evict Morgan too. I also think Ava may have more guaranteed jury votes than Ashley. The point is, Vince doesn’t see it that way so he kept Ashley because its what Morgan wanted. I imagine he’s worried if he pisses Morgan off, that could give her a reason to cut him and take Ashley or Ava to the F2.
Ava was evicted with Vince’s single vote and she headed out to see Julie. She was going for the one liners the way Kelley did. Unfortunately for Ava, it hit better when Kelley did it. This is Ava, looking for a response from a quiet audience after her shuffleboard joke:
Hey, if you can’t win the game, I can’t blame anyone for trying to get AFP. Ava simply doesn’t realize, the only part of that in her control was with live feeders, and she went about it the wrong way. For most of us, the moment you start talking about getting it, we’re pretty much NOT giving it to you. The rest of it usually comes down to what kind of edit you get on the show. She had a good start with the edit but with Keanus underdog story and his comp wins, production went a different direction. She said yesterday, she’s leaving with 25k so that’s something. (Stipend, 5k won during veto comp, 4th place bonus money)
Keanu was also interviewed by Julie but he was brought from the jury house to do it. If he didn’t seem surprised by any of his goodbye messages, that’s probably why. I’d imagine he’s already been told alot by Rachel, Will and the others. (Kelley’s still probably in there making shit up) I couldn’t believe Julie actually asked Keanu why he kept giving Rachel chances. Look, I don’t care what side you’re on with this Keanu vs Rachel thing. It’s a fact that Keanu kept buring Rachel, not the other way around. (Haha) I don’t think they should be pitted against each other anyway. I think Keanu will end up being great friends with Rachel and Brendon after the season and I’d imagine you’ll see him on the Challenge at some point too.
As the show was ending, Morgan started talking about a message she accidentally got from production before the season started. She’s mentioned it before on the feeds but was vague. It’s basically what she said to Ashley last night because Vince already knew. She got a message that was meant for someone else and it mentioned a possible alternate for the season named Ava. That was it, nothing major. The only way it was remotely relevant was Morgan’s theory was Ava could’ve been the accomplice. (I don’t know if she mixed up alternate with accomplice or what) It was still pretty funny that it happened and she had to be reminded the live show hadn’t ended yet.
Part 1 of the final hoh comp happened last night and Morgan won it. Vince didn’t handle it very well and his whining may have reached a new high. Instead of being happy for her, (or at least faking it) Morgan spent her time giving Vince pep talks. He’s paranoid she’ll win the last hoh and maybe not take him to the end. I think more than that, he’s realizing she’s played a much better game and he thinks he can’t win.
He’s talked about how he lied to everyone and said they all hate him. He’s worried about what his life will be like after the show ends. Vince also said Morgan won’t have time for him once the show ends. I don’t know how much is about losing the game and how much is about losing Morgan. It’s obvious he likes her and knows she’s going to find out he lied to her too. Sure, they all lie but she’ll find out he never planned to take her to the final 2 and spilled all the things she ever said to Lauren. He’s sworn to her she was his F2 all along.
She’s also going to see he tried to trick her into using the veto on him instead of herself the week Keanu was hoh. She’ll know they were also going to evict her if she’d fell for it. It’s all game related but as close as they’ve gotten, he may worry she won’t forgive him.
I’m not going to miss the mustache curling he does all the time:
Last night, Vince said Morgan was playing the game he wanted to play and winning all the comps that he thought he’d win. She reminded him he had won 4 hoh’s. (Which ties the record, by the way) I wondered if he thought about how many players felt that same way this season when they were about to be voted out. Sure, maybe it’s worse to be evicted the closer you get to the end and not make it. However, how bad is it to walk into the backyard and see comps with physical components, knowing your competing against Morgan, Vince and Keanu? I’m sure it wasn’t fun for a lot of players going into it, knowing they didn’t have a realistic shot to win it.
Ashley talked to Morgan about Vince last night too. Ashley said she wouldn’t be surprised if they’re dating a few months from now. Morgan said they’re just friends and she may mean it. Has she led him on a little to force what she wanted to happen in the game? Sure, it’s possible. Does she have actual romantic feelings for him that she may want to explore after he resolves his girlfriend situation? I doubt it but that’s also possible. If you follow the players after the show ends, you’ll have the answer to that soon enough.
Personally, I think it’s several things all at once. I think they both used each other in the game. I think they became very close on a personal level. I think those feelings may or may not be romantic. I also think one or both of them could have those feelings simply because they’ve been locked away together for 3 months and they could end once they get back to real life.
As for Ashley, she’ll compete against Vince in part 2 of the hoh comp. Although Vince could win the last hoh and cut Morgan or she could do it to him, I think the best shot for excitement would be if Ashley won the final hoh. I definitely think she’d cut Morgan and take Vince. I think that’s the most likely scenario for an upset. I think the second most likely would be Vince winning it and cutting Morgan to give himself a chance to win the game. Finally, I think the least likely would be Morgan cutting Vince and taking Ashley. At least it’s not a given at this point. We could still end the season being a little surprised.
In the past, I’ve done a lengthy breakdown of the games of the final three, but I don’t think that’s needed or wanted this year. Instead here’s a much more condensed version of my thoughts on the remaining players. I want to preface this by saying none of them played great and whoever wins, will be a bottom tier winner in my opinion.
Ashley could read the house but she wasn’t always great at reading the room. She’s very blunt and annoyed alot of the cast at different times. I actually think Ashley played a better game that she’s gotten credit for at times. She had a better read than anyone to know what was happening in the game during any given week. Without the ability to do well in comps, she did the next best thing. She wanted Rachel there as a target in front of her which saved her a few times. After Rachel left, she glued herself to Morgan, who was starting to win a lot of comps. By making Morgan her BFF, Morgan saved Ashley during Vince’s 4 hoh’s too. You have to remember, Ashley was Vince’s main target for most of the season but Morgan stopped him from going after her.
She and Will came up with the plan to form the Judges and bring Vince into it, in order to get him to vote out Rylie. I don’t think it’s going to happen but if Morgan wins this last comp and cuts Vince, I believe it will happen solely based on the work Ashley’s put in with her this week. I don’t think she beats Morgan but against Vince, she has a chance. The conversations and honesty she had with Keanu before he left, even had him turning around on her game. He said in his exit interviews, Ashley was a lot smarter than any of them thought.
I don’t think Vince can win the game. That’s kind of sad because I think he wanted to play it more than anyone there, except for maybe Rachel and Keanu. He knows he screwed up, but I still don’t think he gets HOW he screwed up. He blames it on “needing” to lie to people so much through the game. He’s still doesn’t understand a lot of the times he lied weren’t necessary. Sure, sometimes he had to tell a lie and get someone evicted before they could out another lie he may have told. However, most of the time, he lied simply because he couldn’t deal with the confrontation. He over promised to everyone and did it all the time.
For example, Vince didn’t tell Ava he was evicting her until a few hours before the live show last night. Morgan encouraged him to go ahead and tell her the day before. She told him if he was evicting her, there wasn’t a reason to keep dragging it out.
Although he was trying to use Morgan, he got stuck having to play her game. She manipulated every one of his hoh’s and practically forced him into the Judges alliance. If he’d have kept Rylie the week the Judges formed and evicted Morgan, his game may have gone differently. First Rylie left and Katherine right after, which left him with no one but Lauren. Katherine left on a Vince hoh which hurt his relationship with Lauren. It was still hanging on but he let Morgan ruin that too. He also misjudged wanting to take Lauren to the end because by the end of the game, I think she’d have beat him too.
Morgans ran circles around him and done everything he’d planned to do in the game. I can’t feel sorry for him though because he allowed most of it to happen. If he wouldn’t have entertained all the convos about doing something he never planned on doing, I think the jurors would’ve respected him more. For example, the week Morgan wanted him to put Lauren on the block, he should’ve simply said “no, it’s not an option. You can do it next week.” (Boom, convo over)
I don’t know if he whines and cries over everything in his real life, if it’s a strategy, or if it’s a combination. I know at least some of it is on purpose and you can tell. I’m sure he was sincerely bummed out he didn’t win part 1 last night. I also think he was, at least in part, beating himself up in order to guilt Morgan into taking him to the final 2. (Truthfully, she deserves to win the game if for no other reason, having the endurance to listen to his bullshit for the past few weeks)
Morgan hasn’t been the most strategic player this year but she wasn’t the worst either. She struggled with winning any comps the first part of the season but made up for it with a strong social game. I also think she was the hardest working player thru the entire game. She definitely strategized too much, when her doing it could’ve backfired at times. She and those M&M’s never took a day off so I’ll give her that much.
Once she started winning comps, she knew who was in her way and needed to leave. Most players wouldn’t even have attempted to talk Vince into putting Lauren on the block. She was determined and it took days but she got it done. Once she realized Vince may be lying about wanting Lauren with him in the final 2, she took the option away from him.
She also made the game harder on herself by openly telling everyone who she was working with and saying Vince was her #1. I still don’t think she realizes why that’s a bad idea. Like I said, she made alot of things happen but there’s big flaws in her game. I think she’s done the most to win the season and not just with comp wins. As far as the comp wins go, Morgan’s not been available for anyone to evict her since the jury phase of the game began.
I’ll credit her a good social game and some strategic moves early in the season. She convinced Mickey to take out Jimmy over Vince during Mickeys hoh. She convinced Vince to join the Judges and take out Rylie and Katherine. This was also part of her getting him to keep Rachel instead. She got Rachel to work with her again after Rachel put her up during her hoh and I’ve already covered her taking out Lauren.
She’s a flawed player who is somewhat strategic and does well in comps. If she wins, I’d place her a little above Jag and I see him as a lower tier winner. They both comped their way to the end from jury but she had a better social and strategic game than Jag did throughout the season. (Jag was also evicted and came back into the game so that drops him below her too)
Like it or not, this is our final 3. Even without the strategists, its not been a bad season. The feeds were good, production continues making an effort to at least make some of the comps more equitable and we saw a couple of new comps this season too.
I still think the elimination thing was stupid and hope they never do it again. Their ‘month of mayhem’ was basically just taking out a player from a hamster wheel comp and that was it. Yes, I know Keanu’s voodoo doll got stabbed but it was otherwise, a normal week. He got to compete in a veto and campaign all before he was evicted.
They’ve announced Cody will be doing the round table talk this year and said they’re going to rotate different players each season. That could be fun as long as they don’t just pick whoever is the easiest to get. I can’t see someone like Jag doing it since he still barely understands the game.
That’s it for me but I’ll be back on here Sunday chatting it up with all of you. Lets all have a good time with it since we’ll be missing it when it’s gone. Even through all our bitching and complaining, we come back wanting more every year. As I say at the end of every season, have a great Fall, Winter and Spring and I’ll see you back here next summer!
Mel
wpDiscuz
