Saturday found the house guests largely just lying around waiting for the POV comp. Natalie and Bridgette had a long chat in the bathroom early in the day where Bridgette downloaded pretty much everything she knew about the house to Natalie who quietly absorbed it all. James came in a few minutes later and apologized to Bridgette for putting her up. Bridgette and Frank were largely glued together all day. Frank campaigned to various people to be nice to Bridgette if he leaves and not leave her isolated.
Much of the rest of the house was involved in the "Who should go?" game between Frank and Bridgette. The girls all pretty much want Bridgette gone while the guys want Frank gone. Frank and Bridgette both would prefer to be voted out this week than next. Neither is thrilled with spending six or seven weeks in the jury house and would rather go back home. Bridgette doesn't want to be trapped there with the mean catty girls and Frank would far rather go home than to the jury house.
The house guests are thinking there will be a Pandora's Box this week as they've heard BB working in the hidden room, so they know something's up, and Frank has talked about getting a Diamond Power of Veto or something, but no one seems to be actively searching for clues. I think they're all expecting BB to just drop something on them rather than have them search for the answer. It's been years since BB last made the house guests search for something like a hidden room and I think only Michelle watched those earlier seasons. BB will want someone to find the hidden room, so they'll start dropping more and more hints in the DR if the house guests don't start looking on their own. (It's not like the room itself is hard to find. It's right adjacent to the HOH room and at least Michelle and the vets should all know that.
The house guests got around to picking the POV players and Michelle, Nicole and Davonne were drawn which looked like a really good draw for Frank and Bridgette. The long delayed POV comp finally started around 11:30 (ET) last night and was the OTEV comp where the house guests start at the top of a hill, get given a clue, slide down the hill into the yard and search for the plaque containing the correct house guest's name then climb back up the hill. The last one to arrive with the correct answer each round gets eliminated. James apparently threw it quickly. He didn't want to win it. Oddly, Michelle excelled and won the game. Michelle, Davonne, Nicole, and Zakiyah, the four remaining members of the Fatal Five then celebrated wildly in private. (Maybe the Fatal Five is still alive? This is the first real sign of life I've seen from that alliance in a while. If they are still alive they're going to have to step up their game and win a few HOH's in the very near future.)
Michelle likely won't use the POV and the nominations will remain the same. All week we'll have the back and forth as to who should go with both nominees more or less wanting to go. I expect Frank to be given a clue or two about the hidden room. He's always been a favorite of the producer's so I don't see them letting him wander off without giving him another chance to save himself. Michelle, who had been floating along under the covers is now a target of Paulie's since she's now shown she can win a comp. Paulie's moved Michelle way, way up the target list now. Paulie really wants all of the girls gone and all guys at the end. I believe his plan is to get rid of Frank this week, Bridgette next week, then Michelle the next week, though all of that is subject to change. Paulie's got a nice little army of followers he's built with Paul, Victor, Corey and James all more or less at his command and doing his bidding. With Zakiyah and Nicole also more or less following his lead, he's got control of the house unless someone knocks him down.
Frank just told James he's not doing any more DR's for the rest of the week. That's going to complicate BB's attempts to give him clues as to the hidden room and the power hidden within it. And now BB just called Frank to the DR and he said, "Nope. I'm not doing it." They called him again and now he's agreed to go. He gave in pretty easy.
Things should stay pretty quiet in the house today. The backyard should get reopened sometime later today. I expect Bridgette to go off on the house sometime this week. She's not a happy camper and I suspect she'll blow at some point. That's likely to be part strategic (vote me out so Frank gets to stay) and part venting. She's been building up venom for a while now and there's only so much she can hold in before she explodes.
I'm mostly watching BB now to witness the collapse of the Paulie Empire. Until that happens the game will be pretty tedious. He's learned from Derrick's season and is attempting to pull off the same result. Pick off your enemies one by one while keeping a solid core of supporters under you. I'm hoping the sheep they recruited this year aren't as blind as they were in Derrick's season and Paulie gets toppled soon. Watching him on the block and scrambling will be a fun week. Once Paulie gets toppled his minions should go out in short order with Paul being among the first to go. His nonstop shouting gets more than a little tedious. I suspect the BB sound people would love to see him evicted. His shouts fill the house and he's always shouting.
Who will topple the Paulie Empire? My money would be on Natalie, Michelle, Davonne, or maybe James. The guys (Paul, Corey, Victor and even Frank) all seem to be too far up Paulie's tail side to take a shot at him. They have no problem cruising with Paulie to the final four/five and then worrying about things. Whoever takes a shot at him will need to know they've got the votes to evict him.
If the Fatal Five (now Four) wanted to, and Michelle was game, she could use the POV to save Frank or Bridgette, get them solidly on their side (Frank's been in favor of eliminating the guys most of the season) and if Michelle could get James on board (the really tricky part) then Michelle could use the POV on Frank/Bridgette, have James put up Paulie, get the Fatal Four (Michelle, Zakiyah, Nicole, and Davonne) along with whoever they saved from the block to evict Paulie. If they saved Bridgette she'd vote out anyone opposite Frank. Natalie would also likely vote to evict Paulie. The odds of that happening are less than one percent, but if Michelle hears that Paulie wants her gone soon, she could opt to make the big move.
In the last few years we've seen far too few big moves made in the game. Everyone plays safe until they're picked off and then they lament not making the big move earlier. We saw this trend start with Helen "It's too soon to make a move" back in BB 15, and it's continued on to today. Everyone's trying to play safe and instead they get picked off one by one. There are times in Big Brother where you've got to identify the Alpha and take a shot at them. The person in charge doesn't generally get weaker as the season goes on and if you let them stay unmolested, your side just gets picked off one by one. Right now Paulie has the numbers more or less on his side and is the Alpha. He's picking off the opposition one by one. Dethrone Paulie and the loyalties of the house get scrambled which isn't a bad thing if you're not on Paulie's good side.
Will we see Paulie get toppled soon? Probably not. As the evicted house guests will say as they leave one by one, "It was just too soon to make a big move." If they look ahead to next week they'll realize there's only one big target left in the house after either Frank or Bridgette goes and that will be whichever one stays. Who goes up opposite them? Davonne? Michelle? Nicole? I'm pretty sure it won't be Paulie or one of his guys if he has any say over it and up to now he's had nearly total say. There's a chance to take out Paulie now if James and Michelle get together. They could get the votes necessary and take out the guy who looks like he's got an easy stroll to the top spot. Unfortunately, "it's too soon" and the chance will slip away and we'll likely continue to see the reign of Emperor Paulie for the rest of the season. Maybe, just maybe Michelle is a strategic enough player to opt to make the big move and can pull together enough of the house to get it done. I'm thinking there's less than a one percent chance of that though.
The best hope for drama this week is someone (Frank) finding the hidden room and getting a special power. Will it happen? We'll have to wait and see.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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