At the End of the Day...
Another BB season starts, and instead of getting a completely new crop of houseguests to pass judgement on, we got 8 newbies and 6 re-runs. We thought we'd reached our final conclusions with the re-runs, but here they were again. At mybbpov, we tried to start everyone out with a clean slate. We stayed away from most of the pre-show press with the newbies and tried to leave first impressions for the house. And no matter what we thought of the re-runs the first time around, we wanted to give them a fresh look. Maybe our old favorites wouldn't be as great in Take 2, and maybe some we'd hated would have grown and changed. Or maybe not.
In any case, new or old, we still judge them. And we still look for what we want: drama, entertainment, gameplay/strategy and that intangible quality that just makes us like them. At the end of the day, here's what we got from BB13.
[Terminology clarifications: "nominated" covers both original and replacement nominees; "survived eviction" means being on the block at time votes were cast, but not being evicted.]
Jump to:
Dick
HOH: 0 |
POV: 0 |
Nominated: 0 |
Survived Eviction: 0 |
Dick wasn't even on the feeds, barely on the show, and if he weren't a re-run, I might not even bother with an EotD for him. But in addition to being a re-run, his short stay in the BB13 house did make an impression, and even had an effect on the game. Only Evel Dick could cause this much drama by not showing up. From what we saw on the first couple of shows, and the chatter we heard in the early days on the feeds, Dick was playing the game. He had every intention of winning again, and who knows, he might have been able to do it. He did pretty well for the "old guy" in his one HOH comp. appearance...no surprise there, this is the same guy who stayed on that carrot stump all night in season 8.
Dick's unexpected exit caused unintentional drama, both in the mystery it created in the house and out here, and by dropping the first GK on Daniele. And his departure sent the re-run alliance into a brief tailspin, gave the newbies a bigger "numbers" advantage in votes, and more so in comps by taking 2 big competitors out of HOH and POV equations for a while. The situation also forced Daniele to play a much different game than she had originally intended, having to focus on the social game. And we didn't have to (or get to) watch the Dick and Daniele relationship drama play out in front of millions of viewers.
In retrospect I really can't decide if he ever planned to stay in the game. On the one hand, Dick has always been a competitor and it's hard to imagine him voluntarily passing on the chance to bring his BB winnings to an even million. But we never heard anything concrete on this mysterious "friend" with the health emergency, and no matter how much Dick wanted to respect the person's privacy BB fans are tenacious and probably would have come up with something. Dick also got his own BB commentary business up and running awfully quickly for someone who intended to be away for the summer. On the other hand, if it was supposed to help Daniele, not only did it not really make sense, he wasn't terribly supportive from outside the house. And if it was 100% planned then CBS/the BB prods had to be in on it, and what would their motivation be? Surely having Dick in the house would be better than not for them. And if he was trying to pull one over on them, it was awfully well orchestrated to work so well. If they'd caught on to him, surely they would have taken some action against him. In the end, the story's a bit hard to believe, but then again, the truth is often stranger than fiction.
So ultimately, Dick gets points for gameplay and drama. He wasn't really in there this time to give us entertainment, but I'm pretty sure we would have gotten it if he'd stayed (I, for one, was really looking forward to the return of the Dick@Nite show and having it on his website just wasn't the same). As for the like-abilty factor, Dick has always been way too complicated and controversial in that area. At the end of the day, what can we say....he's Dick.
(all Dick screencaps are, of course, from BB8)
Keith
HOH: 0 |
POV: 0 |
Nominated: 1 |
Survived Eviction: 0 |
Keith came into the Big Brother game making the same mistake as many of the "SuperFans" we've seen in the past: having already decided exactly how he was going to play the game. Not only did he have a strategy and an alliance planned, he'd named the alliance. And chosen a rather self-aggrandizing name at that. Not to mention a little sexist. The Keith's Angels concept was doomed from the get-go for several reasons. True, the Twist twisted up his plans, but on top of that the plan of a 4 person alliance, each with a side alliance was hardly original...we just saw that last season in the Bro-gade. It worked for them, but the same plan will never work again because people will be looking out for it. And especially the very next year. As I always say, play your own game!
And Keith was not only twisted by the planned twists, but Dick's unexpected exit sent him into a weird sort of tailspin. He was rather convinced that Dick's disappearance was all part of the game. The more he thought about it, the more paranoid he became, to the point where everything that happened was further proof of a conspiracy. This paranoia actually made him unintentionally entertaining. He'd get on a roll trying to Explain it All and his explanations would get so convoluted all you could do was laugh. By the last few days of his stay in the BB house, I do believe he was contradicting himself even within single sentences.
A lot of Keith's strategy had to do with playing the girls in the house. Anyone who comes in thinking they're going to be The Man or the Hot Chick of the season usually ends up being seen as more of the creepy stalker type. It's the ones that just have charm and allure that end up being in the America's Sweetheart spots. But Keith jumped from girl to girl, alternately telling them he liked them and accusing them of backstabbing him.
And when it came to straight out gameplay, Keith violated another BB rule: don't ever throw the POV when you're on the block. Who does that? The GK did add a new dimension to the game, arguably nullifying that rule. And to be fair, Porsche did the same thing and it worked out, though not necessarily because it was a good strategy, just because she got lucky. Throwing comps at the wrong time can end a HG's game. In Keith's case, it was the combination of the thrown comp followed by some rather erratic behavior.
Keith's drama factor was pretty impressive. He had fights with his partner, blow-ups with his alliance and bizarre exchanges with his opponents. He threatened to drop a bomb, and never actually did it, but got everyone stirred up all the same. He had a weird lie about his profession. He told them all he ran an online dating service, when he in fact works in human resources. But when he did start talking about is real job he kept calling it "human services." And in a first show DR session he said the thing he was hiding was how active he was in his church, to avoid being seen as the "moral guy." He did talk about his religion a lot in what I saw of the pre-show stuff, but I never heard him mention it once after the feeds kicked in, even when he was running around telling every story he could think of to anyone who would listen. It was almost as if he'd picked out a character and was trying to remember his lines.
At the end of the day, I've got to give him points for drama and entertainment and even a few for gameplay. I didn't find him terribly likable myself, but I didn't hate him either. It was an interesting first eviction. The first one is pretty much always the one we don't really care about. That was the case this year, but instead of it being that neither nom was interesting enough for us to want to keep them around, the problem was that they were both interesting...just in very different ways.
Cassi
HOH: 0 |
POV: 0 |
Nominated: 1 |
Survived Eviction: 0 |
BB always likes to cast a few beautiful people, because, let's face it, that's something that a lot of people want to see. So they go out and recruit a couple of models and tell them all about the game. The problem is that this leads to an interesting understanding for the person as a player. On the one hand, they're usually not longtime viewers, so they don't understand BB at that level. On the other hand, they've just gone through a somewhat intensive study session, so in a way they understand how the game is supposed to work better than the SuperFans. The problem is that the reality of BB is neither what the SuperFans believe it to be, nor what the prods want it to be. It is what it is. And this tends to be the downfall of recruited HGs. BB also wants to see the catfights, and so they stick in a few sacrificial girls to be the victims of the clawing. And that was the role Cassi got cast in.
From the beginning Cassi had some interesting alliances. Her partnership with Shelly was one of the few (maybe the only of) the newbie pairs that was actually a 2-way deal. They legitimately liked each other, got along and wanted to play together. Cassi was, of course, part of the newbie alliance, and wasn't one to jump ship to join the re-runs and was up front about that. She also made an ill-advised early on 4 person deal with Keith, Lawon and Dom. "The Regulators" didn't even make it out of the first week. When it came to comps, she legitimately tried, but wasn't around long enough to prove herself. She was one of the few that actually wanted to win the golf comp, and practiced for hours, only to be disappointed. She never got to play in a POV, so who knows if she could have been a force there.
For the newbies early on, it was all about the social game and Cassi made a grave tactical error there: she was too honest. She refused to make deals she didn't want, she wouldn't suck up to the re-runs despite the fact that they had all the power. She was a huge anti-floater, making it ironic that Rachel targeted her. But Rachel's wrath wasn't about the game. It was about the cattiness that often keeps the women of BB from coming together the way the guys can. From our perspective that made Cassi all the more fun to have in there. She drove Rachel crazy, and irritated Daniele. Brendon went out of his way to repeatedly mention that he didn't find her all that pretty, which is just hysterical to anyone with eyes. She gets major drama points for the confrontation with Rachel, and for saying exactly the right things, calmly and eloquently, yet with enough force to send Rachel into a tailspin.
At the end of the day, Cassi gets points for drama and entertainment, big points for like-ability and though her gameplay wasn't the best, we've seen much worse. If we do get a re-run evictee this year, I'd love to see Cassi come back. In large part because she promised to walk in, come up to Rachel and say "I'm back. Bitch." Rachel might even appreciate the gesture. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
Dominic
HOH: 0 |
POV: 1 |
Nominated: 2 |
Survived Eviction: 0 |
Dominic will always be remember as the casualty of Daniele's failed Kill Jeff plan. Early in the game he was right there with Keith leading the fast forgotten first-week alliance of the Regulators. That, of course, fell apart, but Dom stayed in position as the leader of the Newbies. Because of this he was targeted by the re-runs, and when he got that POV, his teamie Cassi was sent packing. Cassi wasn't targeted because of Dom, but it still hurt his game to lose her. And then he made the fateful move of joining Team Dani, and it pretty much walked him out the door.
Drama surrounded Dominic but he wasn't really the cause of it. He did manage to stir things up a bit with his blunt answers. When Jeff and Brendon approached him about making a deal early on, Dom basically said "what's in it for me?" He probably really was just asking but it gave the re-runs the impression that he was super-cocky. And all the Dani Drama made things interesting, but again Dominic pretty much just let it happen. Even as things got down to the end and he could have made a last ditch effort to save himself by turning on Dani, he couldn't quite do it. She even told him to go up to Brenchel and make a deal, but without her to tell him exactly what to say, it went nowhere.
Dom tried to be entertaining, and though he wasn't dull as dirt, he wasn't what you'd call exciting. Like most of Daniele's buddies he learned her click-whisper technique which led to many livefeeders having to switch feeds whenever they got going. You just can't listen to it, because a.) you can't listen to it, and b.) what sounds you can hear just gives you a headache, or in my case, makes me nauseated.
At the end of the day, Dominic gets a few points for gameplay. He did fight in comps, coming close in the golf HOH and winning the veto when he had to. The POV he threw ended up being a mistake, but he did it for strategic reasons, which were valid at the time. His alliance attempts never quite worked out. Daniele's a great player, and I think if he had been a better strategic player that alliance could have been great. He didn't really bring the drama or the entertainment that we like to see here. So from my BB POV, he wasn't horrible, but he wasn't a favorite.
Lawon
HOH: 0 |
POV: 0 |
Nominated: 1 |
Survived Eviction: 0 |
Lawon will most certainly be remembered for making one of the stupidest moves in BB history. Volunteering to be a pawn is pretty much accepted as a dumb move, but people still do it. Volunteering to be evicted? Well, as Lawon would say, that CRA-AZY! Even knowing there was a twist that involved the evictee having a chance to come back into the game, anyone who has watch BB for more than about 30 seconds should know that can't expect anything...they tell you from jump street: expect the unexpected. And unfortunately for Lawon's gameplay score, this was the only game move he made. I mean, I guess technically he was a member of the Regulator alliance, but that hardly gives anyone game points. Pretty much most failed alliance ever as they basically got knocked out all in a row when you consider that Brendon came back. And they got knocked out without anyone even realizing they had an alliance, so it wasn't even the threat factor.
Lawon's major contribution to BB13 was the entertainment factor. He definitely had that larger than life personality, came in with all the wacky costumes and catch-phrases. He gave good DR and filled his role with doing things like officiating at the Brenchel Trashbag Wedding. He was instrumental in getting the rest of them to join in games and other summer camp activities and kept things rolling when they threatened to get dull. On the downside, he also seemed to have been part vampire...he was rarely awake in the daytime and didn't really get rolling until late, late at night BBT so a lot of his antics were missed by East Coasters like me, not to mention HGs who went to bed before 3AM. I'm not sure what to do with Lawon's drama score. On the one hand, by making himself the willing evictee he neutralized some of the drama. But at the same time his big, dumb move single-handedly kept Rachel in the house and brought Brendon back, and that's drama all around.
At the end of the day, I don't know quite what to make of Lawon. He did practically nothing in the game, but he was damn entertaining, both intentionally and unintentionally. He'll definitely be remembered and referenced for a long time to come. And his move led Julie to jokingly choke him in his eviction interview, providing another good laugh for us. I guess I'd have to say, his gameplay/strategy sucked, his drama was accidental, but his entertainment and like-ability were high, and in the end he was a positive part of BB13.
Brendon
HOH: 0 |
POV: 2 + 1 co-POV w/Rachel |
Nominated: 2 |
Survived Eviction: 0 |
>sigh< For the second year in a row I have to figure out what to say about Brendon. When he was evicted Week 4, I put off writing his End of the Day, and when it became clear that he was likely to come back I got a nice reprieve. But now he's gone again, so here goes.... I was not at all thrilled at the prospect of a re-run Brendon, but if we had to have a second season of Brenchel there was only one upside I could see. And that was that maybe we'd get to see Rachel play the game without Brendon. And with Brendon's repeated evictions, we did get that. Sort of. The problem was that Brendon has had a year to suck so much life out of Rachel that there's not enough of her left to play much without him.
When it came to gameplay, Brendon played much the same game he did last year. He went full out on every competition, winning if he could whether he needed to or not. In his mind this is the way to be a top competitor. The problem is that it put a huge target on him and at the first opportunity the rest of them were going to get him out. Easing off on a few comps early on might have helped him survive longer in the game. And when he didn't win, just like last year, he couldn't do it gracefully and complained endlessly that the comps were unfair, usually because they discriminated against he big feet. Brendon actually improved a bit on his social game from last year. Instead of just relying on the showmance-alliance he actually did try to work with other people. First with the entire re-run alliance, and then when Daniele came out with Kill Jeff, Brendon had a choice to make. And let's be honest, it was 100% Brendon's choice, not Brendon and Rachel's. Choosing to side with JeJo over Dani and the Newbies was probably the better choice. Though JeJo are only 2 people, it put Brenchel near the top of their trust list, and even later on when they were totally ready to shank Jeff and Jordan to save themselves, JeJo were still pretty loyal.
When considering BB13 Brendon, we have to look at the AC twist. Brendon won it, not so much because of who he was himself, but how he fit into the game. The anti-Dani/Kalia fans wanted to see them have to face Brenchel again, and the fact that they had nothing to show for back-to-back HOH wins. The JeJo fans wanted him back to stand both as an ally and a bigger target, keeping America's Sweethearts safer. But many of those same people were perfectly happy to see him bounce back out as quickly as he bounced back in. Brendon didn't get any of this, of course, thinking that he was brought back because people love him and love Brenchel. I guess he deserves some credit for winning the Battle to Return comp., but then again, he was battling Lawon. Not exactly BB13's biggest threat.
Once again the place where Brendon really loses major points is in his treatment of Rachel. His game related attitude towards her was insulting, telling her she wasn't "allowed" to talk game with anyone if he wasn't around. And then his personal treatment of her was just as bad, telling her how to talk, how to dress, even once how to sit on the sofa. Just like last year, he berated her pretty much constantly. But unlike last year, she rarely stood up to him, certainly never coming close to yelling back.
At the end of the day, I once again give Brendon game points for his comp skills and wins, but not so much for his social game. His social strategy was better than last year, but not enough to challenge the best social players of the season. Most of his drama came from his abuse of Rachel, and that's not the drama we want to see. He did make a good drama move by outing Dani's Kill Jeff plan and going against it. He gave us a few moments of entertainment, through things like his hunt for Franklin the Turtle, playing SuperHero with Dominic and the Brenchel wedding. But his like-ability score is about as low as it can go.
Daniele
HOH: 2 |
POV: 0 |
Nominated: 1 |
Survived Eviction: 0 |
BB8 was only my second season as a livefeeder and the first where I did this site from the beginning. It was also when I came up with these evaluation categories to rank my favorite (and least favorite) HGs. Back then I tried to do a weekly 1 through whatever list without detailed explanations. It wasn't until BB9 that I started waiting until the end to do an overall assessment. And looking back on my rankings from BB8 (yes, I still have them), Daniele was always near the top of my list. At the end, I was on the fence about who I thought should win between her and Dick, and even leaning toward her. So when they came back in the re-run twist I was thrilled. And when Dick was gone before it started, it was a chance to see Dani play on her own. I was never one that thought she rode Dick's coattails or hid behind him. I always said they played the game together, and neither would have gotten where they did without the other. But as BB13 began, most people thought Dani wasn't a contender in her own right, and she was definitely out to prove herself. Having her sidelined with the Golden Key early on didn't really help her game. She's always been more of a comp player than a social player. But the circumstances and the fact that she's had 4 years to mature gave her a shot at a social game this time around.
From the first few weeks, Daniele seemed to be in the best position ever. She was with the re-runs, being one of them, but since the GK had her out of comps she spent a lot of time with the people who were never in the HOH room, i.e. the newbies. She wasn't the one picking off the newbies early on, and since they couldn't even consider her a target until the GKs were done, they started to see her as one of them. But then she made her fatal mistake, trying to get Brenchel to backdoor Jeff. Some would say that if the Kill Jeff plan had gone through, it would have been seen as a brilliant move, but I don't buy it. It still would have made her look untrustworthy for turning on her own alliance. It would have meant keeping an ally in Dom, and maybe that would have made a difference. But a much better move would have been to pull Dom on to her side, get the re-runs to kick Adam, and therefore gained a partner without losing her alliance. It also would have kept her off their hit list later on. But as it was, she was stuck with what she did. And even with that not so great move, Dani managed to recover fairly well. As long as BB wasn't throwing cold water on them, she was going to win just about any endurance comp they could come up with. We didn't quite see the energizer competitor from BB8, but she definitely held her own.
Daniele also made a valiant effort to mend fences with JeJo at the last minute to stay out of the back-doorway, and it even had a chance of working. Once she was nom'ed I figured she was a goner for sure, but the fact that she almost managed to flip the vote and stay either says something about her social game or about how much the prods were willing to interfere to help her. Not only did she get Shelly away from JeJo, she almost got Rachel, who was practically out for her blood after she was responsible for kicking Brendon twice. And there's the other great thing about Daniele. Whether it was intentional or not, she brought the drama. The Kill Jeff plan certainly stirred things up, and the vote flipping saga was the most dramatic week of the season. Especially the final 18 hours where more happened in the course of one day than usually happens all week.
The big controversy about Daniele has always been, is she really likeable? I've actually always liked her. Unlike a lot of people, I believe the relationship drama with her father is real, even if it maybe does get exaggerated for TV, and I've always felt for her because of that. And BB13 Dani was even more likeable than BB8 Dani. Four years will do wonders for anyone, and especially 4 years between the ages of 21 and 25. We rarely heard whining and complaining from Daniele this time around and she also had a clear understanding of the game that even the other re-runs didn't have. She knew from personal experience that people who treat you horribly in the house could end up being among your best friends outside of it. And on that subject, I am highly impressed with her ability to forgive Eric for some of the truly horrible things he said about her during season 8, and credit to him for apologizing for it. In addition Dani recognized that BB is an experience most people don't get at all, and very few get twice, and she did try to appreciate it, and advise others to do the same. Her entertaining moments weren't deliberate like some of them. She didn't try to lead the house in camp games, or time things for ShowtimeTime. But yet she had some great moments, mostly late at night with the Pajama-Jammers and things like the Guess the Price game.
At the end of the day, I give Daniele high scores in gameplay for comps and social game, but deduct a few for the strategic error of turning on Jeff to early. She gets points for drama, though not as many as she probably would have gotten with Dick in the house. And while not everyone would agree, this is after all my BB POV, I give her points for like-ability and entertainment. I had fun watching her, and anytime I was avoiding the feeds she was on, it was because of who she with, never because of her. She was great the second time around, and I would have liked to have seen her go even further.
Jeff
HOH: 1 |
POV: 2 |
Nominated: 2 |
Survived Eviction: 0 |
Of all the returning duos, the one I was happiest to see was without a doubt JeJo. Jeff came into the house with a mission, and a lot to prove. He made a grave, tactical error in his season by falling for the True Lie and evicting Russell when he did. He wasn't about to make the same mistake again of turning on an ally, and it may have cost him the game this time around. Jeff always knew he had one true ally in Jordan. They were 100% together in BB11 when they were strangers, and now they were so much more. On top of that, Jordan, having won before, came back to support him and if she could have she would have fallen on the sword to get him further in the game. They thought they had a good deal with the Re-Run Alliance, and perhaps if Dick had stayed around that wouldn't have fallen apart when it did. I mean, sure, Dick would have been all about getting rid of the rest of them to get himself and Dani to the end, but without him there she got bored and tried the Kill Jeff plan too soon. So that lost JeJo the Re-Runs, but in a way strengthened their bond with Brenchel, since it seemed that Brenchel chose them over Daniele.
And then there was the alliance with Shelly and Adam. Jeff always admitted he was building and army, and Shelly and Adam were his foot soldiers. He knew in the end he couldn't really trust Brendon and Rachel. When Daniele told him they were trying to sell him out to save themselves you could hardly say that he was surprised. But, he learned his lesson in BB11 and he wasn't going to directly backstab an ally. Fortunately for Jeff, when it came to choosing between Brendon and Shelly, he had Adam standing in front him saying he was kicking Brendon, giving JeJo the out that it just didn't matter how they voted. And by voting for Shelly, not to mention Jordan giving up the phone call home, it would seem that JeJo had proven their allegiance and they would have a loyal friend in Shelly. So, imagine Jeff's shock when Shelly turned around and shanked him.
It's hard to say that Jeff went wrong anywhere in his gameplay. He came in with the strategy of winning comps when he needed to, building strong alliances, and staying loyal to them. And he pretty much stuck to that. He won the crucial POV when Kalia put him on the block. He won the HOH he really needed, and used it to get his biggest (known) threat, Daniele, out. Sure, he threw the POV to Adam, but that was a strategic move to help his ally, Adam. And he even managed to throw it "strategically" and put himself in a position where he could argue that he tried. He obviously threw the HOH to Jordan, but so did his other allies, and a win for Jordan is a win for Jeff. The comp that got him out probably would have been his if he hadn't flung the shoe outside of the field of play. It was rotten luck, but not really a gameplay error. And, if Shelly had stayed true to the alliance, he still would have been safe.
Jeff managed to bring us drama through his conflicts with various people, but in most cases the credit has to go to the other person. Jeff played his part by getting riled up all the same. His biggest drama wasn't game related, but rather once again making comments that got him in trouble in the real world. Dumbledore-gate lasted about 10 minutes in the house, but kept going much longer outside. As far as entertainment value, Jeff is hard to beat. His dry sense of humour and witty one-liners are fantastic. And the adorable JeJo relationship is incredibly fun to watch. To all those who say they weren't affectionate enough I say, ppshah! I said it last time, and I'll say it again--their innocent, family-friendly, relationship is exactly what makes them fun to watch. There's nothing inappropriate at all about a daily dose of JeJo cuteness.
At the end of the day, I give Jeff major points for gameplay. He had a great strategy and top comp skills. He gets big points for entertainment, and some for drama. When it comes to like-ability, personally, I give him high scores. Big Jeff's no angel, but the offensive things he says come from a place of ignorance, not malice. And bottom line, he comes across as a basically nice guy who loves his family, loves Jordan, and treats people decently. In the game of BB he plays hard, stays true to his alliances, and is about as honest as one can be in BB. I really would have like to have seen Jeff go further in the game this time, and he really wanted to win (but, then again, who doesn't?). On the other hand, even though he actually went out earlier in the game, it wasn't on a strategic error like last time.
Shelly
HOH: 0 |
POV: 0 |
Nominated: 3 |
Survived Eviction: 2 |
BB frequently casts an "older" woman, usually a mom, to fill a certain role. They're generally the ones who don't win comps, clean the house and sort of float through the game. Shelly came in proclaiming that she was not going to fall into that stereotype. She didn't want to be "this year's Kathy" and be taken as a joke in comps, and she swore she wouldn't cook and clean for everyone. She also said she wanted to prove that one could go in and just play the game like a normal person and still do well. We heard a lot about integrity and how she had to set a good example for her daughter, and protect her professional reputation in her real job. And for the first few weeks, she was pretty much as advertised. She did do a lot of cleaning, but I actually do believe that was as much because she was bored as anything. And as for cooking, I think Jeff, Brendon and Porsche were all better cooks that she was anyway. She didn't win comps early on, but she didn't need to, and she wasn't necessarily atrocious in them. On top of that, she got a golden key week 2 and didn't play in any. And she actually performed quite respectably in her first HOH back in the game, the ski endurance. Whether she threw comps later on is debatable. It got to the point where she needed to win things and she still didn't.
So when it comes to gameplay, Shelly was all about strategy and social game, not comps. And she she had a stellar strategy: make friends with everyone, get them all talking and trusting. For the first few weeks everyone thought they had her. The newbies believed she was with them, but the re-runs knew she would vote their way from week 1. Early on Shelly joined up with JeJo, and from what we saw in the DR, she was 100% true to them. When Dani won her first HOH, Shelly seemingly jumped on that bandwagon, but from her DRs and her ultimate actions, it was clear that she really was filling the spy role as she was telling JeJo. Ditto during Kalia's HOH when Shelly worked like it was her job to get Porsche nom'ed and save Rachel. Even when the Porsche plan didn't work and the crazy Lawon thing happened, Shelly legitimately felt like she had a major role in keeping Rachel in the game. Then when Brendon bounced back in, Shelly was in great shape. Or so she thought. Even being nom'ed the following week wasn't really a problem. Dani really was using Shelly/Adam as pawns to get to Brendon, and she was still near the top of the JeJo army.
Shelly's grave, tactical error was turning on JeJo without being sure she could pull it off. If she had subtly approached Adam and/or Rachel and found that they were open to keeping Dani, they could have flipped the vote, Dani would have stayed and then they all could have gone after Jeff. But since Adam and Rachel weren't on board, Dani was going, and Shelly was going to be left holding a bag full of betrayal. Even though Jeff went out the door on Dani's heels, the backstabbing is what sent Shelly out next. Jordan/Rachel/Adam had been betrayed by her, and even though she'd thrown in with Porsche and Kalia, it hadn't really gotten them anything. Plus, the last into an alliance will always be the first out. Not to mention the fact that she'd shown herself to be a dedicated liar.
When it came to the other aspects of the game, you sure can't say Shelly didn't bring the drama. Her vote flipping efforts week 5 and week 7 were fantastic. And turning on JeJo was pure drama. Jordan vs. Shelly the night of the double-eviction is without a doubt one of the dramatic highlights of BB13. Her entertainment value was minimal, though she did have her moments. In like-ability, Shelly did one of the most impressive 180s in BB history. Early on, she was as like-able as a hamster can be. She filled the mom role in the house, and her real life mom stories were just adorable. And the week that Shelly got the call home, and we got to see her cute-as-a-button daughter on the show, Shelly's like-ability was at an all time high. So when she seemed to have turned on JeJo the following week, at first a lot of us thought it must be a ploy. Surely she wouldn't starting lying like that and backstabbing the person who had just given her the call home. But no, that's exactly what she was doing. And, for me, she really went into unredeemable territory when she not only stole Rachel's stuffed puppy, but was talking about cutting off its ears and paws and leaving them like ransom demands on Rachel's bed. Are you kidding me? What kind of example is that to set for your eight year old child?
At the end of the day, Shelly ended up pretty low on our scale here at mybbpov. She started out fantastically with amazing gameplay that had me saying she was owning them all for weeks on end. She was having the success of Dr. Will without the unending lies. But then she turned to lies and backstabbing, and the switch-up didn't work. Not only was she not doing it with the charm that Will had, she wasn't getting away with it. And by turning on 2 of our favorite people in a really nasty way, she lost any like-ability points she might have had. Besides, anyone who can be so mean that they make people feel sorry for Rachel is obviously pretty low on the like-able scale. Bottom line, Shelly gets huge points for drama, and big for gameplay. Even though her gameplay didn't really work out in the end, it wasn't a bad strategy. But I can't really give her many points for entertainment, and even have to deduct some for her ultimate lack of like-ability.
Kalia
HOH: 2 |
POV: 0 |
Nominated: 2 |
Survived Eviction: 1 |
At first glance, Kalia seemed like a HG I would like. She initially came across to me as smart and interesting, and I liked the fact that she fall into a typical BB stereotype. She was a little bit older (30, though she lied and told them all she was 27), she wasn't there to jumpstart a career in acting/modeling (she'd already had an acting career and left it for writing), and she wasn't ridiculously thin. She got a lot of flak for her weight, or more specifically her eating. I don't care what she weighs, or how she eats--the problem I had with her constant snacking had to do with the fact that there's a microphone 6 inches from her mouth. I know they have to eat, and I generally just mute the feeds when the chewing gets to be too much for me. But with Kalia she was always chomping away, even when talking game, when I sort of had to listen to her. And speaking of having to listen to her, the girl never stopped talking. (Well, unless she was sleeping.) We don't want them to sit there in silence and be boring or keep their gameplay to themselves, but wow, Kalia could go on. And on top of that she learned the amazing stealth-whisper/click-talk technique from Daniele. We just couldn't win. Either she was repeating things we'd already heard 50 times at full volume, or she was inaudibly saying something that was possibly interesting or at least relevant to the game.
But that's all just stuff that personally irritated me about Kalia as a HG. When it came to actual gameplay, she did pretty well. She started out as the ultimate floater. She joined the newbie alliance, then immediately flipped over to the re-runs when they had the power week 1. She became Jordan's BFF during her HOH. Week 3, she was attempting to continue to play all sides when she got caught, and then got lucky when her new BFF Dani won the next HOH. Forced to stop floating, Kalia joined up with Dani, which was the smartest move for her. The other side of the house had the "numbers" but with Dani Kalia was in the #2 spot on the team, instead of being lost somewhere in the ranks. Even though being TeamDani got her nom'ed as soon as the other side was back in power, Dani was always going to be the true target. And things really picked up for Kalia when she won her own HOH with the knockout comp. Sure, Dani had coached her on the tricks of winning HOH question comps, but that's what allies are for. And sure, Rachel screwed up, but Kalia still earned the win. But then there was Shelly. For someone who claims to be so persuasive herself, Kalia let herself be taken in by Shelly rather easily. Kalia was all ready to go and get Porsche kicked just because Shelly talked her into it. Daniele did manage to talk her out of that particular fatal error, but having the plan in her head was a big part of the Pawn Lawon plan going through. And Kalia's game was on the decline after that particular move.
Once Daniele was gone, Kalia was forced to play her own game, but that was actually where the fatal flaw in her strategy came in: she didn't play her own game. She kept trying to play for Dani, or at least play like her, and that rarely works out well. Imagine if Kalia had broken the tie in the FastForward to keep Jeff and then joined up with JeJo to go after Shelly and Porsche. That probably would have gotten her at least one step further in the game, to F4. And fore me it would have bumped up her drama score. I do have to give Kalia decent marks for drama. All of her floating and lying the first couple weeks kept things a bit interesting. She was at the core of the house meeting, and on the inside of all the mini-conspiracies like the missing chess pieces and the dognapping of Rachel's puppy. And though Kalia wasn't one to scream and carry on, she could certainly hold her own in a fight. A lot of times her points were the most rational around, though that rarely gets through to hamster-brains. And despite the fact that Pawn Lawon was one of the dumbest moves ever in BB history, it certainly gave us some drama. And that's always good times.
Kalia did fail for me in the entertainment category, as I covered at the beginning. Most livefeeders were just trying to avoid her when they were looking for fun. She mostly stayed in bed for the optional activities, though I do have to give her credit for helping out with the trashbag wedding. She put her artistic skills to use in making the veil, and she was a good sport about the whole thing despite the fact that Brendon and Rachel were about her least favorite people in the house at that time. As far as like-ability, Kalia was doing okay until she started telling stories about throwing her dog into walls and such. I'd like to think she was exaggerating...why would you own a dog if you were going to treat it like that?...but who knows. She also lost a lot of fans when she turned on JeJo. Even though Shelly took the brunt of the hate over that, in reality Kalia was a lot more, or at least as much, to blame. She was the one to nom Jeff twice, and broke the tie to kick him. All while proclaiming her loyalty to Jordan.
At the end of the day, I do give Kalia high marks for gameplay. She made a few mistakes, which probably cost her getting further in the game, but she had a decent strategy. She balanced social game with comp game and did decently at both, though she excelled at neither. Though her campaigning got tiresome, especially when we knew it wasn't going to get her anywhere, I do give her credit for trying. She was never going to roll over and die. I think she was genuinely confused at the end, really thinking that Adam was in the Newbie Alliance, and didn't realize his moves were his game. Kalia had deals or alliances with just about everyone, and it almost worked for her. But eventually they all realized she was claiming to be with everyone, so no one could trust her. Kalia gets some points for drama, both for things she did and things she got caught up in. Her decision to nominate Jeff the first time gave us yelling from Jordan of all people, a great speech from Jeff ("see you at the POV" will be a Line of the Season for me), and did make him fight like hell for that win. On the downside, Kalia gets almost no points for entertainment or like-ability. In the end it's kind of a wash. She did well in some ways and not great in others. But it was a season where no one was truly awful, so at the end of the day she wasn't one of our favorites.
Jordan
HOH: 1 |
POV: 0 |
Nominated: 3 |
Survived Eviction: 1 |
Oh, sweet Jordan, what can we say about you? Truly America's BB sweetheart, Jordan came back to the game for one reason: to help Jeff. A lot of her BB11 win was luck, though there was some strategy involved. She did play a great social game, and she won comps when she had to, at the end. There's no doubt that Jordan would have never agreed to play BB again if it hadn't been for Jeff, and that came through in her attitude and her gameplay. The re-runs handed Jordan the Week 2 HOH as a strategy to keep the better competitors in the next week's comp, and stay on in permanent power. Despite Jeff and Brendon quite obviously throwing that comp, Jordan did play well and arguably could have won regardless. She had to do well enough to beat the rest of them. But the real weakness in Jordan's competitive gameplay this time around was that she couldn't win even when she needed to. She and Jeff desperately needed her to win the FastForward HOH, and though she came in second, that's just not good enough. And after Jeff's departure, she again needed to win the snake HOH comp. She had done very well in practice, and it's quite possible if she hadn't been upset about Jeff's leaving she would have done better. But the fact that she was really only there for Jeff made it impossible for her to suck it up the way she did in BB11 and start pulling out wins without her b/f.
On the other hand, Jordan's social gameplay was quite possibly even better the second time around. The first time I think she just came into the house and was herself and it just worked out that she's got the personality of a perfect social player. But now she knew what she was doing and stepped it up a notch. She was nice to everyone and made friends with whomever she could. She also knew how to take advantage of the way she knew she was perceived. The early claims that JeJo were only hoping to make it jury were ridiculous. But they both knew that if the came in and made clear they intended to win all the marbles, people naturally would have targeted them early on. Teaming up with Brenchel was another great deflector. Two are always a bigger threat than one, but since Jordan was dismissed in comps, Brenchel would always be the bigger threat. And once Brendon was gone and Jordan put all her efforts into being Rachel's BFF she had 2 strong competitors in Jeff and Rachel on her side. This also meant that when Jeff was kicked, Jordan wasn't alone.
The other great aspect of Jordan's social game was her loyalty. She had her deal with Kalia, which she maybe would have broken if she'd had the chance, but the fact that she didn't, put her in a great position. And then she had her relationships with Shelly, Adam and Rachel. She was allies with all of them and never turned on anyone without reason. Jordan's one shortfall in her social gameplay was her inability to be fake. When she actually didn't like someone she couldn't quite bring herself to be nice to them anyway. After Shelly's betrayal, even though Jordan forgave her and apologized for her outburst, they were never going to be friends again. And for whatever reason Jordan and Porsche just never got along. It didn't help that Jeff had always seen Porsche as a waste of space in the BB house, but Porsche also just rubbed Jordan the wrong way all on her own. Some say it was jealousy on Porsche's part, but I think it was just a total divergence in personalities. Jordan is one of the most open, honest, bubbly people in the world. Porsche's just a little more guarded and reserved in many ways. When she does let go she does it a very different way than Jordan. As Jordan herself said, she just couldn't get a read on Porsche. And it might have cost Jordan a spot in the Final 3. If Porsche had been close with both Rachel and Jordan, she might have evicted Rachel as the bigger threat.
When it came to drama, again Jordan stirred up a bit more than she did in BB11. She was all about the house meeting and trying to bring out people's lies. She instigated both that happened, the first causing some direct drama, and the second, indirect. The second house meeting to try to ferret out the liar between Shelly and Porsche didn't go anywhere immediately, but it led to confrontations between Kalia and Shelly and Porsche and Shelly. Of course Jordan's big drama moments were those when she herself got worked up. Her rant at Kalia over nominating Jeff was fantastic. That entire day showed that Jordan is a much stronger and opinionated person than most gave her credit for. And the entire sequence of Jordan vs. Shelly after Jeff's eviction will always be one of the top moments of BB13 for me. Jordan said exactly what she needed to, and exactly what she should have. And it was made the perfect moment by the irony of Rachel having to be the one to drag Jordan away and calm things down.
Jordan's entertainment value and like-ability scores are off the charts. She was beyond adorable in her tutu, dunce cap and humilitard. Not only was just naturally cute, but she never complained and instead just had fun with it. Her silly faces and toot-tooting as the human trombone were too funny for words. And once again, she told so many stories and showed so much naivete in her conversations and answers that we got another season of "oh Jordan" moments. And even being a former winner didn't hurt her like-ability, simply because of who she is and what she did with her money. Who else would win half a million dollars, buy their mom a house, put most of what's left away and just go back to their life? She still has the same job, same plans for school and the future, and still buys her clothes at Target. She's a genuine person and almost everyone can't help but love her.
And speaking of love, the Best Showmance ever came back as True Romance. Though some people criticized Jeff and Jordan or even doubted if they were in a real relationship because of their lack of PDA, I never had a question. They're just not PDA people. It always seemed to me that they just had a genuine relationship. They're quick goodnight kisses and simple, easy "I love you"s just came across to me as very real. I thought their affection for each other was real the first time around, and I am glad they're still at item 2 years later, proving that it wasn't just a showmance. And as to those who say Jeff was mean to Jordan and she shouldn't put up with it, I again say they just don't get it. Sure, Jeff has a big, boisterous personality, and no one understands that more than Jordan. She said more than once that she understands when he's yelling that he's not trying to be mean, he's just worked up. And his teasing was done with true affection. It's just his way of saying "oh, Jordan, love, you're just too cute."
At the end of the day, Jordan's a true winner in my book. Having JeJo around for a second time is a big part of what made BB13 fun. It's hard to imagine one without the other, and we've never had a chance to see Jeff on his own. But we've seen Jordan solo, and it's clear that a big part of what makes us love Jeff and Jordan is pure Jordan. Her competitive gameplay was never the best, and it definitely fell short in her re-run BB appearance. But her strategy was all about Jeff, not about her, and she did pretty well in that regard. If they had managed to get to the end together there's no doubt that he would have won over her, unlike with Will and Boogie where if they'd been F2, Will would have won again. It's interesting to try to evaluate a strategy when in a way, the strategy was to play poorly. If Jordan was going to help Jeff win she had to play well enough to stay around, but not so well she overshadowed him. And with the way BB works, that means playing a good social game while and a not so good competitive game. And that's exactly what Jordan did, giving her points for gameplay in the end. She gets drama points for the big fights, entertainment points for her adorable personality, and like-ability points for just being Jordan. From my BB POV Jordan's the winner for the second time.
Adam
HOH: 1 |
POV: 2 |
Nominated: 4 |
Survived Eviction: 2 |
Adam was the regular guy that people always claim they want to see on BB. But he was far from ordinary. He was the perfect person to have on BB for entertainment purposes; the heavy metal teddy-bear, with a bizarre love for bacon, apple-tinis and an obsession with Tori Spelling that defies explanation. At the same time, he really was just a real person who loved his girlfriend and his family, had a job back in NJ that he had every intention of going back to and no aspirations to turn his stint on a reality show into an acting career. On top of that he was a true fan of the show, and we could all love him for that. No matter how much the rest of them teased him, we loved him for his camera-talking, his attempts to keep them all interesting, and his continued shout-outs to hamsterwatch.com. Adam came into the game expecting to be the expert, never guessing that the old-timers would be there to show him up. He was a huge fan of Evel Dick, saying that Dick had shown him that you didn't have to be one of the "beautiful people" to win BB (Dick might take a bit of issue with that comment, but who knows). He also admitted to having a huge crush on Rachel during BB12. But you have to give Adam credit for not letting himself get all starry-eyed when the re-runs walked in, and actually turning down their offer to team up week 1. And, it can't go unacknowledged that he was disciplined enough to lose over 100 lbs before BB.
Adam certainly thought he had a great strategy. He admits throwing comps early on, knowing from his years as a fan that you don't want to be the guy who plays too hard, too soon. And it worked out for him with the twist, when his partner threw in with Dani, who was doing just that, meaning that Adam coasted by when they were on the block. Adam had come into the house with the intention to "lie, cheat, and steal" to win BB, but that just didn't fit into the game this year. And honestly I don't think he would have been able to pull it off anyway. Adam is truly a good guy, and would never be able to be the one banging pots and making girls cry. Instead, he played a pretty smart social game. He made friends with everyone, but at the same time stayed off the radar never appearing to be the big threat. He was completely onboard with the alliance with JeJo, and his fatal mistake there was not letting them know sooner that Shelly was about to shank them. If he'd brought that out a day or so before the eviction, they might have had time to regroup, but by keeping the secret Adam set himself up to look shady, leading to Jeff's doubt in him as he walked out the door. When it came to comps, I think Adam really did do the best that he could. He won a few vetoes when it really mattered, and an important HOH at Final 4. But in the end he just didn't have the competitive strength to pull off enough wins to truly be a contender.
Adam was off the charts in like-ability and entertainment value. Who will ever forget Cruddy the Elf? And to make it even more priceless, he played the stripper elf at the Trashbag Bachelor party. And then there was Phillip, Adam's clean-shaven alter-ego. And of course, there was just Adam. He was always ready for fun and games, whether it was formal hot-dog eating contests, games of 20 questions, or just a hand of cards. He told great stories about real life and was just a fun guy to have around. Then there was his sheer joy at having Tori Spelling visit the house. His reaction was not only perfect for TV, it was totally sincere. Imagine meeting your all-time favorite actor/actress. And not only meeting them, but having them actually know who you are, and how much you love them. "Tori Spelling kissed my duck" will go down as a line of the season for BB13 for sure.
When I think of Adam, I don't necessarily think of drama. He certainly didn't bring drama in the traditional ways. But the fact is that he managed to bring some drama to BB13 in some unconventional, and oddly game-related, ways. He was often the swing vote when it came to evictions. Even if it didn't come down to a 1 vote difference, the fact is that if Adam had gone a different way the game would have been pushed in a different direction. Most notably, if he'd decided to keep Brendon over Shelly, it would have forced Jeff and Jordan to go the same way, and would have changed the entire course of the game. And, as I've already mentioned, Adam's decision on when to reveal Shelly's duplicity was key. If he'd done it too soon it could have blown back on him and totally destroyed his game. But by holding out as long as he did, he postponed the confrontation, and possibly affected the outcome. When it came down to the F3, Adam was stuck between two sides he'd floated back and forth from for so many weeks. He had the chance to really make things interesting, but he either just didn't get it, or again held off too long. If he'd started pushing the points he made in his final speech earlier, maybe he would have pulled Rachel to his side. Would have won the game, as he believes? I really don't think so. I think he was putting too much stock in social game with 4 jury members being re-run BB players who appreciate the game as a whole, and 3 newbies who would have faulted him for betraying them. But who knows? IT would have been interesting, to say the least.
At the end of the day, I give Adam some points for gameplay. He wasn't the best at either social or competitive gameplay, but he certainly wasn't the worst. He gets huge points for like-ability and entertainment, and a few for drama. When we reached the end, I would have far preferred to see him in the money over Porsche, but that's the way BB goes. You either have to win it all or you go home early. And I think I have to deduct a point or two from Adam's overall score for his final vote. I'm not sure how he decided on Porsche, but I can't believe it was based on who played the best game of BB. It's hard being the last out and having no time to reflect. I'd like to think that if Adam had taken a few minutes he would have realized that Rachel played the superior game, and as a BB fan would have voted for her to win. Bottom line, while Adam might not have been the best gameplayer, he was fun to have around and from my BB POV, he's a winner.
Porsche
HOH: 1 + Part II of the Final HOH |
POV: 2 |
Nominated: 4 |
Survived Eviction: 2 |
Porsche drew an interesting lot in BB13. She had the distinction of being the survivor of the first eviction, but that put her in an arguably disadvantaged position when the GK then kept her from competing in anything (including food comps!) for 3 weeks. She still had a vote, so the HGs still needed to care about her a tiny bit, but the TV viewers pretty much completely forgot who she was. And even for the livefeeders, she was pretty much the barely there HG for the early weeks. She stayed pretty quiet, basically got along with everyone and just spent her time cooking and hanging out by the pool. It really was just a nice summer vacay for her for a while. And she got to coast for a little longer after the GK banishment was over since the re-runs were so busy with their in-fighting. She used that time to make the pretty wise move of getting in good with Kalia and Dani. Sure, she was third in that alliance, but that's way better than being about 8th with the rest of them. And by not being at the top, she wasn't the target. Many people saw Porsche's comp wins as coming on late in the game, but the fact is that due to the twist, they really weren't late. Since she was out of the game for the first few weeks, the next few weeks were really the early weeks for her, when it's generally not all that wise to win. Had she come out of the Golden Key gate winning everything in sight she would have suddenly jumped back on everyone's radar and been a huge target. And she certainly didn't wait to win comps until she "needed to." Her first POV win wasn't completely necessary, though it certainly didn't hurt her. And then with her HOH win, Porsche became again the victim of the BB13 twist. The re-coupling out of Pandora's box put her in a position where she was pretty much forced to evict an ally. But even though it might not have been what she'd wanted out of her HOH, the fact is the outcome didn't hurt her. The end of the game was where we really saw Porsche's strategy come together. She played the classic floater role all the way through, staying in good with just about everyone. When it came down to the final 3 the fact is that Porsche was pretty much guaranteed F2. If Adam had ended up as the Final HOH he probably would have taken Porsche to the end. As sure as he was that he would have won the whole game no matter what, he must have realized Rachel was tougher competition for him.
When it came to drama in BB13, Porsche is not the first name that comes to mind. There was lots going on around her the first week, but it was really all Keith, not her. And even when drama was thrown in her face in the form of confrontations from Shelly or Jordan, she never took the bait. She just quietly took what they were saying and barely even defended herself, much less throw any fuel on the drama fires. You do have to give Porsche some credit for entertainment. When it came to the planned antics, she was always ready to join in. Whether it was dancing for the trashy bachelor party, or playing the role of Adam's naïve blind date Porsche was ready to perform. The problem was, it really was just a performance. She saw BB as one giant audition for her future in television and wanted to get whatever she could out of it. But she wasn't particularly entertaining when she was just being herself.
Porsche's like-ability factor also bounced all over the place. She started out just fine, but then seemed to join into a mean-girls club with Kalia and Dani. She really hit a low point with Benefiber/Muscle Milk tampering incident. Messing with the food is just not okay on any level, but when it seemed that she was targeting Jordan, Porsche lost major points with JeJo fans. I never thought the Benefiber was particularly meant for Jordan, but that's how a lot of people took it. And of course Porsche then ended up being a big factor in both Jeff and Jordan's evictions. In the end, the problem with Porsche wasn't that she was un-likeable, just that she was in a lot of ways unknown. Staying off the radar might be good gameplay, but it doesn't draw in the fans. And on a personal level, Porsche was pretty guarded. And while that's a very understandable human attribute, it doesn't get BB fans to love you.
At the end of the day,we have to give Porsche a lot of credit for her gameplay and strategy. It may have been partly luck and twists, but in large part she got to the end of the game because she played a strong but subtle game both in terms of competitive and social game. But it was that subtlety that costs her in the other areas we look at here at myBBPOV. She didn't bring much drama, she wasn't a big entertainer, and she was never someone we were just rooting for because we liked her so much. For most of the game she was just there. The way she played may very well have won her $50K, but it was never going to win her a spot as a memorable BB HG. What she will be remembered for is the Benefiber, and the fact that she appeared to wear the same 3 sweatsuits for 13 weeks straight.
Rachel
HOH: 3 + Parts I & III of the Final HOH |
POV: 1 + 1 co-POV w/Brendon |
Nominated: 5 |
Survived Eviction: 3 |
As I said several times in the last weeks of the season, if you'd told me at the beginning that I'd ever be rooting for Rachel I would have asked what kind of crack you'd been smoking. From the beginning of last season, I said she was one I'd either end up loving or hating, and in a way I did both. Turns out the main thing I can't stand about her is that NeanderTAL she comes attached to. But even in the early weeks of the game I liked her better than last year. She seemed to have toned down her cattiness a bit, though we did get glimpses of it, like when she went after Cassi. Rachel came into BB13 determined to change our perception of her. I think that last year she tried to play a character by taking her Vegas party-girl side to an extreme. Then this year she tried to simply play a different character and go in the opposite direction. But when she really won us over was when she stopped trying to be a character and was just herself. Last year she was trying to be the "new Janelle" and this year she started out hoping to turn Brenchel in the "new JeJo" and neither worked. But in the end I think this year's girl was just the real Rachel Reilly. And she's pretty awesome.
Rachel's gameplay has always been quite strong. She's a great competitor in both the physical and mental comps. She won more HOHs than anyone, and only Brendon beat her in the POV department. She also lead the season in nominations, and made it to the end through POV wins and great alliance positioning. Her point at the end that she was either in power or in the nomination chairs nearly every week is well taken. The only weeks she wasn't either nom'ed or HOH were Jeff and Jordan's HOHs. And, let's face it. Since BB bizarrely let the outgoing HOH pick the playing order for the Week 2 HOH comp, Rachel got to orchestrate Jordan's win. Rachel's alliances helped her not just in the fact that she had strong people fighting for her, but also in that she had huge targets standing in front of her. She was saved from eviction during the FastForward by an errant clown shoe and the fact that her ally had just taken out her biggest threat and therefore made himself a major target. And in the end game the groundwork Rachel had laid in the first couple weeks of "giving" Porsche the GK and keeping her close when no one else was paying any attention meant that she was kept in the game over Jordan of all people. A lot of what got Rachel to the end was luck and the twists. The duos were a huge advantage to the re-runs in the beginning, and of course, the re-do duos were a gift to Rachel/Jordan. Getting Brendon back in the game, and more importantly on the jury was also a big part of Rachel's win. But without her own gameplay the twists alone wouldn't have carried her to the end.
We didn't get quite the level of drama out of Rachel this year as last. No ooey-gooey cookie fights or tequila induced parties and other alcohol related fallout. But we did get some great confrontations with Cassi, Shelly, Dani, and Kalia. The on-again, off-again loyalty to Jeff and Jordan sparked a bit of drama, as did things like puppy-gate. And the possibility of a BB-baby certainly caused a lot of buzz both out here and in the house. When it came to straight-out entertainment, Rachel was always one you could count on. There was a part of her that knew she was on TV and made sure to play to the audience, yet somehow she managed to do it without being obvious. Things like the TrashBag Wedding, which was 100% made-for-TV and timed perfectly for Showtime, but also came off as just for fun. And the other thing about Rachel was that she was just simply trying to keep herself entertained by doing things like making cards out of teabags and getting the rest of them into playing charades, having hotdog eating contests or even trying to eat a tablespoon of cinnamon herself. That's one thing about Rachel, she was never boring.
Rachel's like-ability factor is almost as complicated as Dick's. Though where Dick was someone that you felt like you shouldn't like, but just couldn't help it, Rachel was almost the exact opposite. There was no particular reason not to like her. Sure, she could sometimes be a little bitchy, whiney, etc. but that's true of almost anyone. Even without a clear reason not to like her, it was hard to root for her in the beginning. And once again, I think it really came down to Brendon. Her way of clinging to him just seemed pathetic, especially when he didn't really treat her all that well. But once he was out of the picture, even with her fairly frequent exclamations of "I miss Brendon!" we were able to see who she is on her own.
At the end of the day, Rachel comes out a winner in more ways than one. She won the comps, she won the game, and she won over a lot of the fans. On my scale, she gets huge points for gameplay and for entertainment, more than most for drama, and this year even managed to rate among the top in like-ability. She made BB13 a great season, and ended up with a well deserved win.
And that's the end of the days of BB13. So long, and thanks for all the fish!
We'll be back for BB14....
