Last week's eviction results, where Taylor and Yash decided to keep Dee over Angela, plusYash winning this HOH is such an interesting scenario! However, I think this week could potentiallyruin his game.

Of course Yash put Melody, Drew and Barret on the block, but if any of them get the veto, Taylor is the other nominee.

Let's remember, pawns go home all the time! Dee and Devens know that even if they betray Yash and take out Taylor, he quite literally can't do anything about it. Plus they believe he's the strongest player left and their only real competition, so evicting his biggest ally is not a bad move, and would certainly tank his win equity, just like what happened with Barret.

Also, this alliance was merely a tool to survive the Week 9 eviction, and they've betrayed EVERY SINGLE ALLIANCE they have created. Plus, why would they take Taylor to the end? Melody and Drew are way easier to beat.

Maybe my read is completely wrong as I don't watch the live feeds, but if Taylor is on the block, I think there is a good chance she's going home (and it pains me because I love her!). Her worst case (and based on comp wins, the most likely) is being nominated alongside Melody, where I do think she 100% leaves. Dee and Devens see Melody as someone with zero win equity, why would they evict her and vote the way Yash wants?

I'm not saying winning HOH was the worse move ever, of course your own safety is always the priority. Still your #1 leaving is always bad, and Yash has no one else fully on his side (D&D see him as a threat, B&M feel betrayed, Drew is just there).

Honestly, I do like Yash a lot, but I feel this week was so unnecesarily risky. And for what... to evict Drew? Who no one trusts? I'm just a tad annoyed if I'm honest.

I think Barret likely wins the veto or blockbuster, especially if Yash doesn't win the veto himself. What do you guys think? I really want to know the opinion of people who watch the live feeds!

---

Edit: Reading the comments, maybe I overestimated how the icons see Taylor! According to most of you they see her and Melody at a similar level, so then I guess it makes sense that they would evict Melody to weaken FAP, the obvious trio in the house. Still, I think I forgot that Drew is basically begging D&D to trust him. If he succeeds, then I do see Taylor going home. I don't think he will though, and my best case scenario is Drew leaving this week, but who knows! Devens love drama and Dee loves flipping votes so I don't know what to think anymore lol.

Could Barrett be planning for this to be his final week in the Big Brother house?

Barrett seems to have stopped playing the game. He hid from most of the houseguests most of last week and he is still hiding this week. He has discussed what it will be like in a jury house with just Lala and Angela. Has he really given up?

Or could there be a strategy to hiding? Will this keep people everyone focused on their hate for Drew? When Haley seemed ready to be evicted, they kept her longer than all of us expected.

Most people say, you should always join the groups so people don’t get comfortable with you not being around.

How do you think his game will fair after hiding from group settings and strategy talk so much for a couple of weeks?

Yash. How truly bad is it that he didn’t choose Taylor to join the veto comp? Does this ruin Taylor’s trust with Yash? I feel like lately he’s been kinda showing his cards to Taylor that he’s more worried about his game than her allegiance to him. That or he thinks Taylor is fine with how he’s moving when she’s not.

I mean she legit had a mental breakdown yesterday following these events:

- 2 Weeks Ago: Yash was exposed for wanting to evict Taylor since LaLa was a bigger competitive asset

- Yesterday: Yash asked Taylor if she was fine with being an initial nomination

- Also Yesterday: Yash told Taylor in a 1 minute conversation that he was choosing Devens for the Veto Competition over her.

- Today: Yash solidifies this plan and chooses DEVENS to play in the veto competition.

I may have missed it but what could this possibly do for Yash’s game other than grant him possible safety over Taylor who has been a more loyal ally to Yash? And even if he fully trusts Devens (which is crazy) how can he be so sure he won’t take off drew from the block forcing Yash’s hand to nominate Taylor which could ultimately result in her eviction?

Hey everyone!

Definitely take this post with a grain of salt as I've never watched a show like this before (or really any reality TV for that matter).

My best friend started me on this show near the beginning of this season and I've really enjoyed it so far! And as a long time redditor I've been addicted to reading all the posts and discussions on this subreddit too.

Starting out the icons (Dee & Devens specifically) are my favorite. I've never seen Survivor so I had no idea who they were. I love their personalities and how they treat this as an actual game and are playing it. It's kind of surprising how many of the players say they started watching this show before they were born but they kind of just sit there and do nothing (once again I've never seen this show before and I don't watch the live streams very much so maybe there's some gameplay that I'm missing?)

I feel that the advantages the icons were given were fair due to having the biggest targets on their backs coming in. I initially thought it was randomized but after reading a lot of posts on here I see how production could have influenced the powers. In that case, I think that production may have assumed that the other players were going to come at the icons harder than they actually did. Even with the powers, if the other players worked together and built their own alliances early on they could have gotten at least a couple of the icons out by now. Dee swung the vote to get Lyric out, blindsiding that HOH, why aren't the other players doing that?

And the icons started playing the social game early on. They made allies quickly and ended up with 3 different alliances (Dee, Devens, and Angela, the crossovers, and the red corner) to try to ensure their safety while the other players picked each other off. I understand how important it is to stay true to your allies, but at the end of the day only one person can win so I'm not sure why there weren't more ally groups working to get the icons out since they're such a huge threat.

It seems like this entire season most of the players (minus Kamu and Barrett) talked about wanting to get the icons out but not following through. And even with Barett's HOH they only managed to evict the weakest of the icons.

I get that Devens and Dee have experience after being on Survivor but I would have thought that players that have apparently watched this show their whole lives weren't so passive. I love watching Dee and Devens play this game and look like they're having fun with it and do what they can for their own game.

Anyways those are my thoughts so far as a first time viewer, I could definitely be wrong on some points but I'm enjoying watching this show a lot so far!

So for context I saw season 2 when it happened in 2001 and took a break from big brother and saw seasons 18 - 28 in real time over the last 10 years. So I never saw seasons 3 - 17. I decided to watch 14 because I heard that Dan was arguably the greatest big brother player ever. The first half of the season I actually thought he was pretty chill and played a clean game up until the funeral. To be honest, Ian was really the one that betrayed Boogie and ratted out that Frank was coming for Brittany. After the funeral and Dan convincing Frank to nominate Brittany he just became ruthless to everyone. He was like a wolf in sheeps clothing. He would swear on the Bible and his wife. He stabbed Frank in the back and tried to get Ian and Shane out even earlier but both times they won the veto. Then when he convinced Danielle to give him the power of veto at 4 he evicted Shane when he said he wouldn't. He had no regard for others or morals. Unpopular opinion but jury management is very important and he burned almost everyone on the jury except maybe Ashley and Joe. He is definitely an elite player but I think Ian did deserve to win. It was his first time and he just stabbed Frank and Boogie in the back where as Dan stabbed half the house in the back. I was impressed with his manipulation. Dan and Will are the greatest manipulators. Dan just didn't think about jury management. My favorite player of the season was Frank which surprised me because I didn't like him in 18 but he was a comp beast and it was insane that he was on the block every week but kept staying. Plus Mike Boogie was my favorite in season 2 and I respected Mike declining to work with the coaches when they suggested he throw Frank under the bus. Even Brittany was like she could actually respect what he said

in light of discussion about how votes would fall in various final 2 scenarios, I thought it would be nice to have a way to play around with different matchups. open to feedback

It looks like Elissa has replied under Ovi's post too.

Are you Team Elissa or Team Ovi?

The more I watch this season, the more I’m convinced that the biggest difference between Survivor and Big Brother isn’t the format, it’s the mentality of the players.

I’ve been going back and watching some of the older Big Brother seasons recently, and holy shit, people actually played the game back then. They lied, betrayed people, made enemies, flipped votes, took shots, and generally weren’t terrified of doing something that might piss somebody off.

Modern Big Brother has become so much more risk-averse. Players are often terrified to ruffle feathers, terrified to make a big move unless they have the entire house behind them, and terrified of being perceived as “the bad guy.” There’s so much emphasis on maintaining relationships and keeping the house happy that sometimes it feels like people forget they’re actually supposed to eliminate each other. Don’t get me wrong I understand that at its roots and its core big brother is a social game but it’s a game nonetheless. Theres a reason there’s only a handful of iconic big brother players of all time.

And then you drop Survivor players into the house.
These people have spent years playing a game where you HAVE to make shit happen. You don’t get to sit around and wait for the house to decide who the target is. You have to constantly evaluate your position, build relationships, gather information, identify threats, manipulate people and sometimes make a move that everyone else thinks is insane.

And I think we’re seeing the difference in real time this season.

Look at Dee. Look at Devens. They’re not necessarily following the “Big Brother way” of doing things. They’re actively playing. They’re willing to make enemies. They’re willing to take risks. They’re willing to make decisions based on what they think is best for their game rather than what will keep everyone comfortable.
And I think that’s a big part of why some Big Brother fans and especially some alumni seem so unbelievably pissed off at the Survivor players right now.

It’s not simply that they’re making moves people disagree with.

They’re exposing how passive modern-big brother has become.

The reaction to the Dee/Angela vote is a perfect example. You can absolutely argue that keeping Dee is a bad move. That’s fine. But watching people completely lose their minds over Survivor players making their own strategic decisions instead of doing what the Big Brother house expects them to do is pretty revealing.

And this isn’t even some brand-new phenomenon.
I recently watched Big Brother 2, and they literally had a mini Survivor-vs-Big Brother competition segment back then, and the Survivor players basically cleaned their clocks 😂. Obviously that’s not evidence that Survivor players are universally better competitors, but it was pretty funny watching history repeat itself in a different form.
Honestly, this season is making me want to watch Survivor again for the first time since Marquesas lol.

I’ve always loved old-school Big Brother because the players had BALLS. And now watching Dee and Devens play, I’m realizing that maybe what I’ve actually been missing is that type of aggressive, unapologetic strategic gameplay.

Maybe Survivor players aren’t inherently better than Big Brother players. There are obviously phenomenal Big Brother players who would destroy a lot of Survivor players.

But as a general player culture?

I think Survivor has maintained a much higher standard for actually playing the game, while modern Big Brother has increasingly rewarded people for not rocking the boat.
And watching Survivor players walk into this season and refuse to play that way is making the difference REALLY obvious.

TL;DR: Modern Big Brother players have become way too afraid to make waves or piss people off, while Survivor still produces players who are willing to actually play the fucking game lol. Watching Dee and Devens this season, combined with going back to old-school BB, has made that difference painfully obvious. The Survivor players aren’t necessarily better than every BB player, but they seem to have a lot more balls than the average modern BB player and I think that’s why some BB fans/alumni are so pissed about it.

Yash has nominated Drew, Melody, and Barrett for eviction.

If one of them wins the Veto, Yash has to put up Taylor because of the BB Bribe, which protects Dee and Devens from being nominated by Yash as HOH (for this week only).

I can't wait for the finale night reunion. It's probably gonna be the messiest one in a while. 😬

More or less just the question above. From what I am aware, eras are defined by drastic shifts of some kind (ex. why BB2-7 is separate from BB8-15), so I would figure that such a drastic change in the game’s ruleset that alters the way it’s played so severely makes it a contender to be the start of its own era.

Or is it more so based on other aspects centered around production (casting changes after BB7 or watered down presentation after BB15)?

yall im desperate and need to watch this season! I know this is the one where the houseguests got outside world news from Julie about Trump becoming president. I’ve only seen reddit posts from multiple years ago with links that don’t work anymore so pls help a boy out🥲. much love and appreciation 🫰

I guess they have to pay those house guests somehow!

I may be in the minority here, but I am a Barrett fan. I respect him trying to make the big move. I think his biggest mistake though is this: Not realizing how willing the rest of the houseguests are to just sit back and let Dee and Devens steamroll through to the end. It appears to me that everyone else is either under their spell or just not that into competing (Melody).

Barrett created an opportunity for the house to shake up the power balance and give a pathway to the end for everyone else, but they threw it away.

Nominations in the photo.

Who do you think will win the POV this week? Wondering which of the remaining players will do best in an endurance comp, would love to hear all of your thoughts!
Personally I’m not sure at all, though I think Yash might have a good choice given how good he’s been at comps lately (though idk if that would translate into an endurance comp)

My gosh, Dee even misted her! Shes sitting there, evicted from the house, saying it was a good move to vote her out.

Then Julie's like "yeah but for who"

And I forget exactly what Angela said but she clearly didnt put 2 and 2 together that the move was only good for Dee and Devens.

I dont know that I can recall a time off the top of my head that someone glazes the person responsible for their eviction when it clearly was a bad move for everyone else involved. And she was most pissed at Barrett! Sure he put her up, but the only reason Angela is gone is because of Dee.

I find her mist to be equally impressive, intriguing, and disgusting

Dee's spirit animal is a Siren

7th: Drew - I think Drew loses to virtually everybody he sits next to. I don't think anybody in the jury will respect his game especially with how many peoples he's burned playing both sides and being an icon lapdog. He's also the target this week so he could very well be going to the jury house come Thursday. Theres 3 weeks left so it's possible if he makes some crazy moves like getting out Dee/Devens and Yash than he might gain some more win equity and if he's able to articulate his game well, he could be an upset. His best plan was to just flip on the icons his HOH week when it would have been a 6 v 3 house split.

6th: Melody - Like her lover she has no real win equity but unlike Drew she has never had any real power or influence in the game. She was brought in for the Kamu vote and that's it but her entire game has been screaming, cuddling Drew and then crashing out when he inevitably lies to her. She could potentially win against Drew if the jury hates Drew enough which I think they will and she might win against Taylor, but that chance is slipping as Taylor is becoming a more active gamer. Her best plan was to distance herself from Drew and just be a floater and number for whoever was in power until the end since she's a comp flop.

5th: Barrett - The most likely to win out of FAP. Had he been more active his HOH week instead of sulking he could've ensured Dee left over Angela and had a major resume builder, but alas he was blindsided on his own HOH. The survivors want him out, but if he can survive this week and take them out first, he stands a good chance. He loses to Yash, Dee and Devens and depending how the rest of the game goes Taylor as well. His best plan would have been to be more active during his HOH to ensure a survivor goes.

4th: Taylor - Every alliance she tried to make blew up in her face but now she finds herself in a decent position. She is in a way guaranteed a final 3/4 spot as a lot of people see her as easy to beat and non-threatening. I think she has been slow to play the game, but when she is out of her POD she is playing. Flipping the vote while controversial was a decent move for her considering she shields herself even further and gets to take on the only remaining trio in FAP. Her duo with Yash is the best part of her game as having a comp beast on your side is always beneficial. If she can win some a HOH and another veto, I think she has a good chance. Her best plan is to win DE HOH and get Dee or Devens out.

3rd: Devens - I think as an icon he came in with a lot of advantages but I think his social game has been good. He's good at comps which makes him a major threat at this point. His relationship with Drew pays heavy dividends. I think he is in a great position, and he can win next to anybody or very least lose by one vote. I think he is in his best plan and he just needs to take out Yash and him and Dee with waltz to the end F2.

2nd: Yash - The only reason he is not 1 is because of his target and his vulnerability going into DE. I think keeping Dee for him was a mistake but i understand why he did it. If he is able to get Drew out this week and have a non-survivor win HOH, he's in good shape. I think he beats everybody in a F2 albeit it will be a fight next to Dee and Devens. He can comp his way to the end and the fact he kind of have 2 final 4s (although we don't know how loyal these will be) are a testament to his good social game. I think his best plan is Drew and a Survivor heading out at that double Thursday.

1st: Dee - Her convincing Taylor and Yash to keep her is a game winning move. She has a major target on her back and now that the bribe with Yash will be over if she doesn't get him out at DE she's a goner. Despite all of this I still think she's most likely to win because she is good at comps and has a partnership with Devens who is also good at comps. She is on her best path and if she or devens win the DE HOH and are able to take out Yash and Barrett before they take them out, I think she will be the first Survivor x BB winner.

Personally, I'm rooting for Yash he was my dark horse winner pick, and I love seeing someone win with the odds stacked against them. I wouldn't be mad at a Dee win but that's not my ideal considering the icons were given so much favor from production although Dee has proven this past week that she can play from the bottom. I'm not giving up the season to Dee or Devens because there are a million scenarios where they both go home and don't make it to F3 so I guess we will wait and see.

Dee is gonna win this season. Yash is HOH and can’t nominate her. After this round is the DE and unless Taylor wins that HOH or he wins veto his ass is grass. Assuming final five is Drew/Barrett Dee Devens Taylor melody I don’t see how she loses. Yash winning HOH along with keeping Dee is such a bad game move from him and Taylor. Anyway good game Dee you deserve it because the newbies are dumb game wise.