Alliances have been built and alliances have crumbled in the 20 days the houseguests have been sequested inside the "Celebrity Big Brother" house. The power has shifted so many times, it's hard to tell who's on top at any given moment. And after the VIP Veto gave one celeb the ability to cancel TWO nominations, it's all in flux again.
With eight people remaining in the house and Omarosa Manigault in power, she started doing what Omarosas do best. "I am planting seeds of doubt," she said as she poked and prodded at the existing alliances. It helped that Brandi Glanville was in one of them, because she's not the most subtle person in the house.
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View StoryAs Omarosa probed around the edges of Ross Matthews' alliance to try and verify its existence, Brandi blurted out. "How did you know about _this _Final Four?"
You ... Just now... That's how she found out about it, ding-dong! Oh Brandi, sometimes you look so in over your head it's like your drowning in wine.
We're going to run this season like you'd run a department store. Each product, or celebrity, may have come in with equal value, but pretty quickly you start to see that certain ones aren't working. First, you try discounting them to see if they can turn things around and become solid performers again. But if that doesn't work, it's time to put them on clearance so you can sell them out (the door). With that said, let's take a look at our inventory, ranked from our strongest performer to our weakest ... after we spotlight some wonderful items in stock.
WINE AISLE
Here you'll find Brandi Glanville, sipping from a glass and sounding off about her housemates, her life, whatever she wants. Tonight, she wanted to talk game. The problem is she's about as subtle as a Real Housewife telling you what she thinks about another Real Housewife.
When her alliance decided they need to figure out if Head of Household Omarosa had struck a deal with Mark McGrath and James Maslow, Brandi decided she'd ask super clever-like during a "Twitter Game" they made up to pass the time. In the game, they ask one another inane questions as if they're coming from random fans on Twitter. Now check out her technique here:
After calling out a madeup name and saying she has a question for James, Brandi said, "She wants to know if you made a deal with Omarosa and Mark." Ooooh, very subtle. I'm sure no one picked up on that.
She also put Mark on the spot later, but for an entirely different reason. "Is there a problem in there?" she asked him, pointing to the toilet room he had just vacated. "Why don't you find out," he replied with a smirk. Even up for eviction, Brandi remains gold. No filter, no cares. Don't ever change!
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James Maslow ("Big Time Rush") and Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) find themselves in a surprisingly strong position with seven players left. There is the issue of that Big Four alliance, but they've been exposed publicly now, and trust is fraying. Meanwhile, James and Mark seem to have solidified a duos bond, and they have no strong alliances with anyone in the house, which sets them up as powerful free agents. With the house in absolute flux following tonight's no-impact eviction, anyone could take power. But no matter who does, these two might just be sitting pretty for the moment.
Ariadna Gutierrez (almost Miss Universe) and Marissa Jaret Winokur ("Hairspray") have become an unexpected duo as well, with Ross proving he's willing to sacrifice Ari to secure his own safety while Marissa was more determined to stay true to her. Still, with Ross, they're an almost rock-solid threesome, which is about as powerful an alliance as you can get, and also gives them a decent chance at power.
Ross Matthews ("Chelsea Lately") has seen the target on his back growing, and now that he's proven willing to turn on Ariadna, James and Mark and even Marissa have some information on him that could hurt his overall trustworthiness in the house. And as we've already seen, it doesn't take much for trust to erode. He's a quick and clever player, though, so we're not quite ready to discount him just yet, but he is so close.
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View StoryDISCOUNT PRICE
Brandi Glanville ("The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills") has slipped from the good graces of her Final Four alliance with Ariadna, Marissa and Ross because she first cast a stray vote at Shannon Elizabeth's eviction, and tonight she exposed their alliance to Omarosa and basically the whole house. She's not malicious, but maybe just a little too clueless to keep closely aligned with.
Omarosa Manigault ("The Apprentice") is out of power and unable to compete in the next challenge. All those who agreed to work with her started having second thoughts tonight, so it's safe to say that she is probably incredibly vulnerable going into the next eviction. Her gameplay strategy is to sow discord and mistrust, but it's not working as effectively as she'd like as everyone seems to mistrust her even more.
SOLD OUT
Metta World Peace (NBA), we thought a competitive fire had been lit up under you and we were rooting for Metta World Beast to emerge and slay everyone and everything in his path. Alas, his desire to go home resurface, and when Ross used the Power of Veto to save himself, Omarosa granted his wish by putting him on the block The only decent choice was to evict him, making this week a non-factor in the progression of the game, as Metta had no real ties to anyone. It's not great for Omarosa's game, but her game has been on the ropes for weeks now. At least we can smile knowing how happy Metta is to be reunited with his family.
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View StoryOVERHEARD IN THE CHECKOUT LANE
- "It's pretty cool that I just got nominated by Omarosa on a reality show. I mean, that's gonna be the best dinner party story ever!" Ross (after his nomination)
- "Thanks for letting me know about that alliance I wasn't in." Mark (after Brandi asked James about an alliance between Omarosa, James and Mark)
- "My man Metta tends to blow in the wind like Bob Dylan." Mark (waxing philosophical)
- "I'm gonna pet this owl in a weird way if you don't make a decision. I'm gonna be weird." James (trying to urge Marissa to decide if she'll work with James and Mark and abandon Ariadna)
- "If you win the Veto, can you put yourself up?" Metta (still wanting to go home)
- "I'm not gonna use it. Like, I really appreciate the option, America, but I'm not gonna do it." Ross (opting out of using the second veto power "America's Vote" gave him after he saved himself with the first)
- "I just wanna say thank you, Metta, for wanting to go home." Brandi (the entirety of her save-me speech)
- "I have ten new brothers and sisters." Metta (after his eviction, talking about his fellow Houseguests)
- "When I go into an arena to compete, when I was in my competitive days, I literally hate everyone in the arena." Metta (discussing his competitive side)
- "Shannon." Metta (when asked who he wanted to see win now; never mind that she's already been eliminated, that's his girl!)
We're in the homestretch now, with the next live episode on Friday a "Double Eviction." "Celebrity Big Brother" wraps its first season with new episodes on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.