HoH 11; Nomination 11
Geez, you go away for one week and all hell breaks loose! There is so much to talk about tonight,
but first I'd like to send along my thanks to Nina for doing such a great job during my vacation. Thanks to her fantastic recaps, I was able to catch up on all the action. And boy was there a lot of action since last I blogged! And tonight, I am so excited by what went down, I don't even know where to begin! So here goes....
Jessica and Eric are gone and Dick, Daniele, Jameka, and Zach are in the final four. And how
about Zach? If you told me back at the beginning of the game that he would make it this far, I would have laughed. Guffawed even. This was a guy who rubbed people the wrong way just by being in the room (unlike, say, Dick who put a lot of effort into rubbing people the wrong way). Throughout the course of the game, numerous HouseGuests have mentioned Zach's weirdness. Daniele summed it up tonight, saying that Zach is the friend who calls your cell phone and you ignore the call. Ouch. Well, Dani, it looks like this time, while you were ignoring his call, Zach was busy winning HoH (again!) and aligning with Jameka to toss you and your dad out of the house. As Jessica would say, Booyah!
Listen, don't get me wrong, Dick and Daniele have certainly played this game and I give them a lot of credit for making it through, especially given the fact that they came into this game with their relationship in tatters, with all the
Big Brother viewing audience witnessing the airing of their dirty laundy. For Carol and Joe, the pressure of dealing with their "enemies" led to early ousters. But Daniele and Dick made a decision early on to put their differences aside and work together. And work together they did. Brilliantly, I might add.
Daniele was a consistent winner in the various competitions and as a result, held the power often enough to really make an impact. Dick's strategy was less straightforward but equally effective. He simply tormented, manipulated and bullied people (including, at times, Daniele) into making things happen the way he wanted. So together, they have been an unstoppable force. But as individual players, could either have made it this far without the other? At this point, that is really what I'm looking at and it is also what makes this final four so interesting. You have two players who piggybacked their way through this game and two people who played, for the most part, very independent games. Yes, Jameka had her friendships and alliances, but this girl, who was unable to compete for the HoH
five weeks straight and who didn't do very well in any of the competitions, has still managed to survive week after week. I don't know if it was all the prayers or some reward for listening to Amber's nonsense for so long, but the girl has shown remarkable staying power.
I was waiting for that moment when Zach and Jameka were going to figure out (or at least say out loud) that they need to put a stop to the Donato steamroller, so I was relieved to see them talk. I know these two have had issues along the way, but at this stage of the game, you need to look for the person who gives you your best shot. It didn't take long for Jameka and Zach to figure out who that person would be.
The best part of tonight's episode was the conversation that Zach had with Daniele in the HoH room. It was strange that Zach showed his hand at that particular moment, but I loved that he just laid it all out there. Basically, he's playing for himself - screw the rest of them. I actually teared up when he talked about playing chess and eating by himself all those weeks because suddenly it became clear that this guy has not been completely oblivious to what people thought of him. That revelation hit me like a ton of bricks (forgive me if I am late to the table on this one). And as he gave his speech during the nomination ceremony, talking about Jameka showing him true faith and it being only fair that he give her a fighting chance, I started smiling to myself as Zach continued to outwit and outsmart everyone. Let's say Dick or Daniele win the PoV and Zach is forced to nominate Jameka. She goes out the door for sure, but she takes with her to the jury house a ton of goodwill for Zach. His move tonight was a brilliant strategy and certainly puts him in a stronger position against Dick or Daniele in the final two.
So can Daniele or Dick save themselves from the block? And if one of them does win, what is their best strategy? I am really anxious to hear what everyone else thinks, so please keep sharing your thoughts in these final weeks.
Damn, it's good to be back.
