Big Brother: Endgame

[gratuitous]

Disclaimer: "Big Brother" is right there in the subject line, so you don't need to impress us all with a post about how above watching the show you are. Mmmmkay?

So, it's down to the insufferable Rachel, Adam who I kinda like, and Porsche, who has played a very good game.

Minor spoiler: I understand Rachel won the first round of the three round HOH competition.

Anyway, how do you see it shaking out? The winner of the HOH competition chooses who he or she will sit next to for the jury and whoever gets the most votes wins the half million.

If Rachel wins HOH, I see her taking Adam to the final and winning the whole magilla. Until the recent rounds, Adam has been a complete non-entity, wholly incapable of winning anything. Suddenly, he came alive to win the veto competition in the Round of 5, and HOH at the Round of 4, when he almost certainly would have been voted out. Rachel can easily make the case that she played harder and won more than Adam. She will for sure get Brendon, Jeff and Jordan's votes no matter what happens, and I think she picks up Shelley's, and that's all she'll need.

If Adam wins HOH, I don't know that it matters who he takes to the final. He loses against Rachel, but I think he has a fighting chance against Porsche.

If Porsche wins HOH, she's at a decided vote disadvantage against Rachel, who will lock up three votes from the other veteran players, and would need only one more vote to win the big money. I think she goes to the final with Adam.

In the final analysis, I see the Adam going no matter what. He loses to Rachel, but he could make the case for winning against Porsche. My odds: Rachel has a 50% chance of winning. Adam gets about a 30% chance, and Porsche's chances are 20%. Adam and Porsche could enhance their odds considerably by winning the last HOH competition.

[dr.strangelove]

1. I predict

that Rachel wins against Porsche. I think you are right. If Porsche wins HOH, she will take Adam and she will win. If Rachel wins HOH, she will take Porsche and Rachel wins.

I disagree about your odds though. I see no chance for Porsche to lose against Adam. I think she has a fighting chance to beat Rachel. I think the hard votes to determine are Danielle and Adam. I think Brendon, Jeff and Jordan vote for Rachel and Kalia and Shelly vote for Porsche. Danielle was never loyal to anyone, she just was playing the hand dealt to her when Dick left. She will probably have a hard time deciding whether Rachel, who had a target on her back from day one, or Porsche, who was alone from the beginning and flipped alliances at the crucial time, played better. Adam will probably go with his gut, but I think he just does not like either of these women (frankly I can understand that).

I think in the end I think Porsche played the best game, but I think Rachel will win. I say Jeff or Jordan gets the bonus money from "America." "America" loves those two.

[gratuitous]

2. America's choice bonus will probably go to Jordan

Except for her one totally understandable blow up at Shelly in the immediate aftermath of Shelly's betrayal of Jeff, Jordan has been and is a sweetheart. I just didn't want to see her win again. I think Shelly will feel guilty enough about her choice to vote Jeff out that she would support Rachel if Rachel makes the final two, and that will be enough for Rachel to win. It is possible, however, that Jeff's vendetta against Shelly in the Jury House will make Shelly want to vote for anyone but Rachel.

Kalia for sure votes for Porsche, but if Porsche isn't in the final, her vote (I think) goes to Rachel in grudging respect for a player. Daniele is pretty loyal to herself, but she also recognizes who sided with her and who didn't. Her vote goes to Porsche for sure, but if Porsche isn't in the final, I think she votes for Adam just to tweak Rachel's nose one last time.

If Rachel isn't in the final, I'm not sure how the four veterans vote. If they truly are behind Jeff and Brendon's obsession with honoring a "player" (someone who competed hard and won) and hating "floaters," then they would vote for Porsche over Adam. But I think they're also real situational in their principles, and might vote for Adam simply because Adam was nominally in their alliance (but switched over to the newbies when it suited his game). I don't think those four vote in a bloc if it comes down to Porsche and Adam, and that will be enough votes for Porsche to beat Adam.

[Bucky]

3. I am above watching the show

[gratuitous]

4. I am soooo impressed!

[blue_onyx]

5. I hope Rachel wins.

I like her. She is ridiculous sometimes but so are most of the people on the show. After Brendon left the second time, I feel she finally calmed down and showed the real her. For example, the scenes with Jessie in pandora's box were really cute/funny. I feel Rachel's the only one that deserves to win. Porsche basically did nothing until the last 3 weeks. Adam did nothing but buddy up with Jeff/Jordan and do/say whatever the HoH that week wanted.

I'm not sure if everyone watches or reads about the feeds online so I'll try not to give anything away. It might be good for Rachel and Porsche to take each other to the end because no woman has ever won unless they were in the final 2 with another woman. I don't think Porsche can win. Adam isn't seen as a great player but he's well liked so he has a small chance. I think Rachel wins the last HoH and takes Porsche. This is how I see the vote break down going.

Rachel: Brendon, Jordan, Jeff, Adam
Porche: Daniele, Kalia, Shelly

Porche: Daniele, Kalia
Adam: Jeff, Jordan, Shelly, Brendon, Rachel

Rachel: Brendon, Jeff, Jordan
Adam: Daniele, Kalia, Shelly, Porsche

[dr.strangelove]

6. Good ending

Glad to see Danielle and dick still have that awkward relationship. Any other way would be a let down. I hope for their sake they one-day find peace with each other. Rachel wins because of Shelly. I did not see that coming. Well, Rachel chose wisely and wins. Good season. I hope they never bring any of these people back again.

[gratuitous]

7. I was rooting for Porsche

I thought she had been dealt a crummy hand from the start, saving herself while sacrificing her "partner" Keith in the first round. She sort of had to align herself with the veterans, but then made a big move to join with Kalia and Daniele somewhere about the time Brendon got voted out for the second time. Rachel made a big deal (as she should have) about how hard she had to fight, but the perceived target on her was mostly of her own making. Jordan, who arguably could have been as big a target as Rachel, never did put herself in the line of fire, and it was finally up to Porsche to kick the puppy and vote her out in fourth place. I thought Porsche played a better social and strategic game than Rachel did.

If they bring anyone from this season back, I'd like to see Cassie or Dominic have another chance. I thought both of them got short shrift, and never had a chance to play the game.

As to the ebbs and flows of the game itself, the couples twist was okay, but I think it would have been more interesting to have the veterans be paired with rookies. As it was, the Jeff-Jordan Rachel-Brendon couples were unassailable, and to get one of those power couples out was doubly hard. The rookie teams couldn't hope to compete with the power couples' cohesiveness. As for the development of the game, it seemed that each twist was designed to help the veterans or at least not hurt them: The boomerang that brought Brendon back in for a physical competition against Lawon, made even more hopeless for Lawon because Brendon had four spotters helping him locate the balls he needed. The first Pandora's Box twist (initiated by Porsche) that linked Rachel and Jordan and allowed them to get off the block for eviction together and survive past the Round of Six (notice the second Pandora's Box twist - initiated by Rachel - had no effect on the game). Two crucial competitions were purely verbal, the fortune teller veto competition and the third-round final HOH competition. Porsche clearly has a learning disability that prevents her from processing verbal cues very well, and she couldn't hope to win either of those competitions. When the competition involved visual processing of information (the jukebox veto and the second-round final HOH competition), Porsche smoked it. I won't go so far as to cry "Fix!", just an observation.

[blue_onyx]

8. I disagree

I don't think Porsche had a better social and strategic game. She didn't have a social or strategic game at all. For example, Jeff pointed out that she never even talked to him until he was HoH. As far as strategy, she followed Daniele's lead. When she won veto during the double eviction, she even said "This is what Dani would've wanted."

I don't think Jordan was a target at all. Nobody even mentioned putting her up. She wasn't a good competitor as far as competitions went which is why people were more concerned about getting Rachel out.

One thing that bugged me was how some on the jury kept talking about how Rachel treated people so badly. Really? Yeah, she was too competitive sometimes and a bad sport when she lost but she wasn't that bad. The things that were said about her were far worse than anything she said. Daniele, Kalia, Porsche, and Shelly would just sit up in the HoH trashing Rachel endlessly. Shelly stole Rachel's stuffed dog and hide it until the week she left. Porsche poured Benefiber into the milk which forced the producers to make her throw it out. Look at Daniele's nasty comment toward Rachel during the voting. One second people talk about how horrible Rachel's behavior is but then they turn around and exhibit behavior that's just as bad (if not worse).

Rachel deserved to win. I believe Kalia, Daniele, and Adam voted based on personal feelings, not who played the best.

[gratuitous]

9. As far as talking to Jeff goes

Jeff is certainly outspoken about how he feels the game "should" be played, and no surprise, he feels that it should come down to alliances and ability to win competitions. Jeff's strengths are . . . his alliances and his ability to win competitions. While Porsche didn't approach His Jeffness to talk game, Jeff likewise didn't go to Porsche. I got the feeling that Porsche didn't think chatting with Jeff would be very worthwhile. As I recall, Porsche did make a tentative alliance with the veterans early on when she was up for eviction with her partner Keith. She fell out of favor, as many do when Jeff is in the picture, because he perceived some disloyalty from her, real or imagined. Jeff never went to Porsche to tell her that she was on the outs with the veterans, she just suddenly was. From there, she had to forge her own way, and I thought did a pretty good job both strategically and competitively.

Rachel won, and probably deserved it, but I think a case could be made for Porsche as well. That's certainly reflected in the 4-3 vote. I did rather resent Jordan parroting the "you gotta be a player" line that Jeff harped on, when she won exactly one competition (the second HOH), and that was handed to her. Jordan, a sweetie and a superb social player, had virtually no competitive game and absolutely no strategic game. When she was talking about who "deserved" to be in the house after Jeff's ouster, I thought she should have been looking in a mirror. Porsche's mistake at the round of 4 was voting out Jordan when she probably should have voted out Rachel.

[NoGOPZone]

10. Congrats to Rachel.

I was also pulling for Porsche, in the final at least before that Adam, but she couldn't swing Shelly's vote. The other votes was fairly obvious.

I've got nothing against Jordan, but her comments on game play are hilarious considering she won half a million without any. I'm not sure why Porsche voted her out, but maybe it was because she thought Jordan would be tougher than Rachel to beat if a final vote came down to the two of them.

[mvd]

11. I'm glad Rachel won because..

of all her comp wins and hard gameplay. Daniele is super bitter. Adam says he voted for Porsche because he saw Shelly had voted for Rachel, but that seems like a lame excuse. Adam made it too much about himself at the end.

I'll be happy to see all new players next year, and I hope they get better new contestants. Ratings were up this year, but I thought the year was awkward.

[blue_onyx]

12. So, so bitter

Daniele was being ridiculous. Rachel may be annoying but never did anything that bad. Dani made so many mistakes this season. She just can't stand knowing Rachel played better than her.

Yeah, this season was lame because all the new contestants didn't come to play. Adam is the perfect example of the problem with this season. He never wanted to make a decision. I don't think he even tried to win most of the competitions. Too many people wanted to be followers.

Adam said something different about his vote for Porsche in an interview I read earlier today. He said he wanted a newbie to win. He also said some nonsense about getting offended by Rachel talking about the things she gave up to come back. Apparently he felt he sacrificed more to come on the show and didn't feel Rachel had a right to talk about her sacrifices. Lame.

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/09/big-brother-13s-adam-i-lost-a-little-respect-for-rachels-game.html


I have a feeling next season may be All-Stars 2. The first All Stars was season 7 and next season will be #14. The last really good season was 10. There weren't an big twists and the contestants were all new that year. So maybe a season of all new contestant would be a good thing.

[mvd]

13. Hi again!

I think it may be a regular season because they were promoting the application process. Hope so - I'll see you for BB 14. :hi:

[dr.strangelove]

14. Survivor South Pacific

With the end of Big brother comes the start of Survivor. If anyone is interested, a group of us DUers have a weekly discussion on the TV Chat Group. Good luck to all the big brother houseguests as they move back into the real world.