BB18 Recap "Here's Why Playing for America's Favorite Doesn't Work"

  This episode of Big Brother could be summed up in just 3 sentences. Paulie was insulted by the jury house girls. Victor was evicted. The competition for HOH and the jurors coming back was started. That’s it. So while I will touch on these aspects, I won’t really go much in depth. Instead, I’m going to spend more time explaining why the game play of a James or a Natalie will never win the game of Big Brother. 

    So we start off our quick recap of this episode with the end of the veto meeting. Corey has been put beside Victor, and almost everyone accepts that Victor will be evicted. However, never one to lay down and die, Paul and Victor conspire to try to save their alliance. They decide to have Paul buddy up to Nicole and Corey in the hopes of making the house paranoid enough about Paul, that they see Victor as necessary to help get him out. It’s a good idea in theory, it just is hurt by the fact that the two boys have been allied for so long. Who would believe that they wouldn’t just ally again?

    After we see this minimal game talk, we get a segment at the jury house. In perhaps the most deserved moment of the season, Paulie is eviscerated by the girls already in the jury house. They all point blank tell him that even if he had made it to the end; they would have never voted for him. This hurts Paulie’s ego to the point where all he can say is that they are catty women. And while I won’t disagree with him when it comes to Da and Zakiyah, I will disagree when he says that about Bridgette. She was nothing but nice to everyone over the summer, so if she really dislikes you, you probably are a douche. Watching the girls lay into Paulie was incredibly entertaining and it almost made putting up with his misogynistic remarks worth it. 

   After this segment, Victor is predictably eliminated. But, he gets another shot to come back into the game and will compete against the other jurors in an endurance competition. 

      Now that I’ve done that recap, I want to talk about a specific topic. That topic is playing for America. You mainly see this strategy with James and Natalie. Every move they make, every word they say is calculated to make America like them. They have no real gameplay because they don’t want to make America mad. They try to be “honest” so America likes them. Everything they do revolves around America. But here’s the thing that never works. Not even for winning America’s Favorite Player. James won last year because he was a breath of fresh air compared to the lowlifes he was in the house with, not his pranks. Natalie was very popular at the start of this season, but now looking at rankings, she is listed even below Frank in popular. Yes, a person evicted weeks ago is more popular than her and James. So, what does this say? It says that America can tell when they are being fed B.S.

    The people who watch this show want to see the game. If we wanted to watch pranks and niceties, there are other reality shows for that. If we want to watch a fake showmance, we have The Bachelor. None of that matters to most Big Brother viewers. We want to see you play the game, and play it well. This includes making big moves, but more often than that it means just not being stupid. However, because Natalie and James are explicitly playing for “America” they have ended up making moves that America hates. They think America likes Nicorey so they save them. Newsflash, America actually hates them. So not only are Natalie and James not accomplishing their goal, they are also screwing up any chances they have of winning the money. Spoiler alert here, Nicole and Corey have already turned on them in favor of a better alliance. 

    There has never been a winner of this show that has played the game how they think America wants them to. Every move they make was not dictated by America. In fact, some of the best Big Brother players' personalities aren't liked by America. For example, one of the best winners of this show ever was Maggie of Big Brother 6. She was incredibly disliked by many Americans for her attitude, but most fans can admit that she deserved the money hands down for her game play. And when it comes down to it, that’s what this show should be about. Not pandering. So James and Natalie enjoy your little excerpt in the Big Brother fan books, it won’t last long. I hope the semi popularity is worth losing out on 500,000 dollars.