America is tailor-made to root for the underdog, which makes this an exciting and frustrating season of "Big Brother." The same people have been underdogs since Day 1, and they seem determined to stay there.
The problem is that the Level 6 alliance has been doing a masterful job of hiding their existence throughout this game. Haleigh started to put the dots together, and Rockstar exposed most of of this week. Their extremely confident vote to evict Rockstar by such a large margin may have exposed them fully, but the former F.O.U.T.T.E. hasn't picked up on the clues yet, so maybe they'll miss this huge one as well.
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View StoryAfter her eviction, it's down to Faysal and Haleigh in the underdog alliance once known as F.O.U.T.T.E. They desperately need an HOH win in the endurance comp that started during the live show, or they just might find themselves side by side up on the block.
We're going to run this season like you'd run a department store. Each product, or Houseguest, 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 check out a new spotlight item in stock.
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View StorySPOTLIGHT ITEM: Vote Management
If Level 6 wants to remain secret, they should have managed their votes better. But they've been dominant so long, they're getting cocky. But is it too soon? With Sam in Tyler's pocket, and JC consistently voting with them, they might be fine to flex their muscles, but they'll need to win HOH every week.
By voting Rockstar out 5-1, Brett revealed that he was lying to Rockstar about an alliance, so Haley and Faysal may now figure he's working with the trio Rockstar exposed (Tyler, Angela and Kaycee). Or they'll keep being clueless. At this point, Haleigh and Faysal need to control everything. Win HOH to ensure the other side is on the block, and then win Veto to ensure they stay there. Otherwise, they'll get picked off next as they can't control the votes.
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View StorySPOTLIGHT ITEM: Jury Management
Brett has been incredibly cocky and confident in the house, and he's been successful thus far, as well. At this point, though, it's about jury management. After tricking Rockstar into thinking they were in a secret alliance, all he had to do was play that off in his jury video, and he might have kept her bamboozled.
Instead, he went off on her, laughed at her and basically called her stupid on television. That's not good jury management. Not only is Brett guaranteed not to get Rockstar's vote should he make the end, he might have cost himself the votes of her allies. And if Level 6 can maintain their stranglehold on the game, that's going to be a lot of jurors not on his side.
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With the HOH comp incomplete (unless you follow the Live Feeds), it's hard to properly rank the remaining Houseguests, so we're going to consider overall performance in the game to this point, and rank them by their likelihood of winning. These rankings will likely dramatically change once the HOH comes into power.
Tyler (even) revealed a Day 4 Final 2 alliance with Sam, and he has been loyal to most of his alliances thus far, at least as far as Level 6 and Sam go. When it comes down to it, would he pick her over them? If not, she will go on a tear in the jury, which could destroy his chances of winning. But for the time being, he's managed everything well.
JC (up 1) has been voting with the power bloc each week, and he's ruffling no feathers (despite what antics the Live Feeds are revealing, no one seems to mind them). His social game is masterful. The only risk he faces is being on the outside of Level 6, but if he gets to the end, he stands a real shot at winning.
Scottie (up 4) has played a solid strategic game. He's a longshot to make it to the end, and he's currently aligned on the wrong side of the house, but his non-aligned status has kept him moving forward. A competition beast, if he can surge to the end, his clever gameplay might earn respect, unless the jury is bitter over his lack of trustworthiness early on.
Haleigh (up 4) got screwed hard this week by the Hacker twist, but if she can somehow worm her way into the finals, she will have a strong case with any jury. She's not been nasty in the house, she's played a smart game and at least tried to make big moves so far. And, she'll likely outlast her entire alliance, as Faysal will always be seen as a bigger threat than her.
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Angela (down 1) and Kaycee (up 3) are playing the same game, and they've been showing some "mean girl" tendencies along the way. Plus, no one sees them as leading anything. Instead, Tyler will get all the credit for Level 6, making them floaters who aligned right, and that's rarely rewarded in the end.
Brett (down 4) drops in the rankings because of his poor jury management. If this is how he's going to talk to his jurors, being a "mean girl" himself, he really needs to hope he outlasts his entire alliance and they're all in the jury house to vote for him. Otherwise, the other side of the house is going to hate his guts.
Sam (down 3) is an absolute wildcard. She played mean early on by personally attacking her nominations, but has mostly laid low since. Her Final 2 with Tyler is tenuous at best, so if she does get here, she's going to have to rely on her likability, as no one really sees her talking strategy or doing much of anything in the game.
Faysal (down 3) is the biggest physical threat on the former F.O.U.T.T.E. and he has been a non-entity. He needs a late-game surge competitively, and he needs to start figuring out what's going on in the house. He has been clueless since the beginning, and always on the wrong side of the numbers. If he stumble to the end this way, no one is going to respect that game.
SOLD OUT
Rockstar (even) has no one to blame but herself. Her insecurity got the best of her, keeping Tyler in the veto comp he ultimately won. One dumb move cost her her game, and may have doomed her alliance. This next HOH and Veto are so pivotal!
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"I've always found Angela really entitled and I feel like she gets whatever she wants. She was who we were trying to send out of here, and you were not supposed to go home." --Rockstar (to Kaycee, but maybe a little premature)
- "My prediction is going to be 5-1." --Kaycee
"Blindsided again." --Angela
"You're right. I do get what I want. And what I want is another beautiful blindside." --Angela (responding to what Rockstar said about her)
- "You haven't replaced with me Angela. When it comes down to it, you're not going to keep her over me?" --Sam (to Tyler)
"Absolutely not." --Tyler (lying)
- "If I really had a secret thing going on, everyone would be flabbergasted." --Brett (he totally does)
"Yo, wouldn't they?" --Rockstar (you certainly were)
"I've got Rockstar eating out of my hand with a spoon. I'm gonna build up all her hopes and dreams and take them away from her. Rockstar we certainly don't have that Brangelina charm, and just like all other Hollywood marriages, this is going to end in a messy divorce. --Brett
"Kaycee has voted with Angela this entire game. Do you want to empower her, or do you want to empower yourself." --Brett (helping Rockstar with her save-me speech; he is in so deep now)
- "We've got Sammy, JC, Scottie and Brett." --Rockstar
- "You're unevictable." --Faysal (setting himself up for another blindside shock)
"Big Brother" airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET, Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET and Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.