Big Brother Blowout: Frenchie Starts Blowing Up His Own Alliances Ahead of Veto Competition

At this point, this season of "Big Brother" is turning into the Frenchie show, and the show is an absolute mess. Don't get us wrong, it's incredibly entertaining ... unless you're a fan of the farmer.

With the Power of Veto competition looming, he continued to do absolutely nothing to help himself in the house. The problem is that Frenchie seems to react almost completely from his gut, so his decisions are almost all emotional. And yet, he thinks it's all strategy.

We'd call it scrambling to get out of the way of collapsing buildings that he was blowing up. It's one thing to deftly dodge someone else's fire, but when you're the one causing the same problems you're running from, you're basically playing a game by yourself ... and playing yourself.

This week's scrambles included insisting to Britini that he would give her the Veto should he win it, blowing up alliances he'd created himself and even, at one point, giving up altogether. This is not a master strategist.

We'll give Frenchie credit for one thing, though. When he decided to blow up The Slaughterhouse by exposing its membership, he did opt to keep two of its members off of his tongue: Derek F and Xavier.

The first one makes sense, as he and Derek F have a Final 2 (and Derek F definitely is fighting to keep him in the house this week). The second seems to be more a hope and a prayer that he and Xavier can work together somehow.

On the other side of things, Britini had absolutely no strategy whatsoever. If Frenchie wears his heart on his sleeve, Britini wears it as full-body armor. She was pure emotion after getting nominated, seeming to not understand that her blind loyalty to Frenchie is a detriment to Kyland's plan to out the farmer.

Britini plays with her heart and with her body, but she doesn't seem to have an inkling of the mental component of this game. She is in absolutely no danger of going home (99.9 percent, as Derek X put it, because it is "Big Brother") opposite Frenchie.

Was she being punished for blind loyalty? Absolutely. But is that a bad strategy? Absolutely not. Her loyalty is commendable, but her honesty about it could be used against her. Honesty is definitely not the best strategy in this house all the time.

Every season, we have competition beasts who emerge and become a huge target simply because of how incredible they are at them. The most important competition each week is the Power of Veto, because that is the last bastion of safety. In some ways, it's a bigger victory than Head of Household.

In this week's competition, Alyssa, Claire and Derek X were chosen to play. That meant we had two Team Captains (Frenchie and Claire) in the competition, as well as last week's savvy Veto winner in Derek X.

This time it was a slippery, sliding rush to fill a bucket with "suntan oil" blasting from giant bottles to fill a tube to raise a key in the fastest time. For the second week in a row, using strategy and physical prowess, Derek X pulled off a decisive victory, edging Kyland by nearly 15 seconds.

Frenchie and Christian have also won two competitions, but those Team Captain comps were against only three other people. As important as they were to setting up the game, we have to give the comp beast edge to Derek X for winning to major comps in a row, giving him a position of power in both HOH reigns thus far in the game.

What's even more impressive is that thus far, no one has recognized his feats as any sort of threat for them to be concerned about yet. Instead, he's able to make subtle marks in the game, put himself in the good graces of HOH's (people who can win comps), and he's building an early-game resume.

Tiffany Mitchell (40) was playing the sweet motherly mastermind beautifully with Kyland (don't get us wrong, we think she's sincere but we respect her game) this week. She knows he made the right move as she nudged him to do it and helped him navigate a near-perfect week. Grade: A+

Kyland Young (30) executed a nearly flawless HOH reign. He got his target on the Block, his biggest threat to derail things next to him (also someone who absolutely should be safe). The only thing that could mess things up now is if Frenchie can pull off a miracle and paint Britini as a better target to go. Grade: A+

Claire Renfuss (25) revealed her "lay low" strategy (we could see it), and continues to play a top-notch social game. She's definitely enjoying her safety this week with Kyland in power, and certainly appeared to have a little more in the tank in that competition, meaning she could be a dark horse beast in hiding. Grade: A

Xavier Prather (27) continues to lay low, aligned all over the place and even has Frenchie thinking he can work with him. He's ready to pivot in any direction no matter what happens, and all of them lead to his continued safety. Grade: A-

Derek Xiao (24) is building an impressive resume socially and physically with his second POV win of the season. He's proving a quick thinker, smart strategist, strong athlete. In other words, he's a huge threat, but everyone loves him right now. He's positioning himself very well for the early game (he just needs to make some sort of alliance -- he's in none!) Grade: B+

Sarah Beth Steagall (27) made her statement with that Wild Card win last week, and then stepped back to let everyone else battle it out. She's in such a great position right now in the game, beloved by all, she should be good. Grade: B

Azah Awasum (30) is playing both sides of the house right now (not the only one), with her loyalty to Frenchie and her Team and still being positioned in the Cookout alliance (with neither side aware of it). That alliance, though, is definitely not working tightly, so it's more like a loose confederation. We'll see what that means going forward. Grade: B

Brent Champagne (28), Christian Birkenberger (23), Hannah Chaddha (21), and Whitney Williams (30) are all still laying low and out of the line of fire. There's no reason to change that strategy until they see who the next HOH is and which way the wind will blow. Grade: B

Alyssa Lopez (25) definitely endeared herself to the house with her birthday shenanigans and sweet disposition, as they found it adorable how deplorable her POV last-place finish was (more than 1:20 behind the next best score). The detriment to her game, though, is that we think this might really be her best, so she might struggle in these physical comps, making her an easy target to pick off later. Luckily, her social game is strong right now. Grade: B-

Derek Frazier (29) is in dangerous territory right now, declaring privately his strong allegiance to Frenchie and his determination to do whatever he can to keep his ally in the house. That means trying to get Britini out and more importantly, going against the will of the house, including the HOH and his Cookout ally, Kyland. If he's subtle enough about it, he could get away with it. If he abandons it as fruitless when it becomes clear, that could be enough. But if he persists too overtly, it could paint a target on his back. This is a precarious perch he's decided to land on. Grade: C+

Britini D'Angelo (24) is on the Block, but should be safe. That said, pawns go home and Frenchie could convince people he's a bigger target than them and should be kept in the house ... you know, the strategy that failed Travis last week. Honestly, she should be good here, so she just needs to stay quiet and let Frenchie seal his fate. Grade: C

Brandon "Frenchie" French (34) dug his own grave here, and we're just not seeing a way out of it. He came in and played way too hard and way too "erotically" (you'll get it in the "Chatter" section) during his HOH. He's betrayed almost everyone, spilled most of the secrets he had. He can't be trusted any more than [insert terrible farming comparison here]. This should be the end of his journey as one of the worst "BB" players ever. Grade: D-

• "Honestly, I would have been disappointed had I not been on the Block this week because then that would have told me that Week 1 I wasn't making waves. Y'all are scared because I am this house." --Frenchie (after getting nominated)
• "Kyland should have gave me a heads-up because we're working together in two alliances." --Derek F (about nominees)
• "One of us has [go home] to and it ain't you. 'Cause I'm telling you right now, if I win the veto I'm using it on you. You're not going home." --Frenchie (to Britini)
• "The way you handled these last two days? Like a boss." --Tiffany (to Kyland)
• "The CEO." --Claire
• "I know I'm the target this week. I just ask that you at least call Britini up here and tell her she's not going anywhere. She's heartbroken." --Frenchie (to Kyland)
• "He's too erotic." --Brent (trying to say 'erratic')
• "I'm gonna move to the East Coast. I love the dialect too much." --Hannah (to Brent)
• "It really is repulsive." --Brent
• "Every year, it's the same thing. Jocks always team up, and I'm sick of it!" --Frenchie (to Derek F)
• "I can tell you, there's an alliance here. They're running this house. I was part of that." -- Frenchie (to Derek F and Britini)
• "Then how are you on the Block right now?" --Britini
• "Frenchie is telling me all about this Slaughterhouse alliance, like he didn't make it up." --Tiffany
• "What if we have to poo?" --Alyssa (as Christian and Xavier wrap her in toilet paper for her birthday)
• "I've been trying to lay low. I don't want to stand out right now. I'm 6' tall, I already stand out enough as it is." --Claire (not trying to win POV)
• "I'm done with this. As a person, it's just not who I am. I don't do the backstabbing. I've tried to sacrifice myself and my morals for something that I"m not and it's literally eating me up inside. It is what it is. I'm going out. I'm okay with it, seriously." --Frenchie (to Azah)
• "Frenchie, this was your doing. And you want to give up now?" --Azah