Big Brother 9: Down to a Dirty Dozen

Posted by I.A.

I thought they had been talking about live voting for this first live eviction of the year--with only 4 voting units it would have been less problematic than if it had been the normal first eviction--but they decided to hold the vote off-camera and have Julie announce the 3-1 vote to evict Parker and Jen. My guess is that the producers changed their minds in order to fit in the big fight and its fallout, since that's the sort of non-game related piece you rarely see on an eviction night. I thought the genesis of the fight was about as murky on the show as it was on the feeds--the role of the gossiping about Natalie seemed to get short shrift--but the bit did set up viewers for the idea that Amanda isn't very popular in that house, which is going to be a key feature of the next three shows, in all likelihood, since she seems almost guaranteed to be nominated now.

It was more predictable that BB would run a "Jen and Ryan turn on each other" segment, though the segment they picked, the argument a few nights ago over whether Jen called Ryan a racist, was not really very representative of their time in the house (for the record, I think Jen may have honestly believed that she never called Ryan a racist, although what she admitted to was damaging enough to him). I don't see Jen and Ryan in their relationship for the long term, and while Big Brother probably isn't to blame for that it certainly didn't help.

Parker was something of a bystander tonight, as he proved to be in his last few days in the house. He had nothing of significance to say to Julie Chen and seemed to have quickly passed through the stages of grief to acceptance. Nobody really seemed to affirmatively want him gone, and this might stand him in good stead if players are allowed back in at some point, as I expect they will be.

So now Chelsia and James are co-HoHs, and while there was no optimum pair to win from the standpoint of Amanda and Alex, this duo is probably worse than most. Chelsia may be passed out drunk as I type this, but eventually she'll sober up and it's likely she'll do what Amanda has assumed she would do since that fight. As of a couple of days ago it seemed as though the house would be united behind an Amanda/Alex eviction, but complications can arise and typically do. For starters, the HoHs will have to nominate someone else as well, and you can never predict how alleged pawns will act on the block. And for reasons I can't really understand, Sharon, who ought to sit back and stop playing the game for at least 5 minutes a day, seemed to be scheming with Amanda about how to get Sheila out of there.

I still think that if we had 12 people playing as individuals instead of this team format, we'd have some really fascinating gameplay right now. But it's like a game of 6 right now, only 2 weeks in. And now with Jen gone, there's not going to be any more sex to distract us. We need strategy!

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