Big Brother Recap – 8/14/15

In what could only be described as Big Brother luck, Shelli did end up with her worst case scenario, pulling the Houseguest Choice chip and having to make the tough decision of whether to pick Vanessa and give her a chance at winning and screwing up the plan she agreed to with Becky or picking Johnny, who said he would do something or whatever. In the end, Shelli did the right thing, and that’s for two reasons. One, Vanessa would use the Veto on her and then they’d both be safe. And two, nobody else in this house even cares. They know the plan is to backdoor Vanessa, but even with Shelli seemingly going against that, nobody cares, they’ll just go on about their day like they’re on vacation and only remember they’re playing Big Brother when Julie comes on the screen to tell them they have to vote to evict someone.

At the Veto comp, the only two things worth mentioning are how hilarious “The Blanket” and “Trainiac” were and how some of the players would think that they had one picture wrong and would spend so much time trying to find the difference in the two, then go swing past it to see, then place the right one. I got an idea – how about you put one on the board, go hit the button, if it buzzes you know you’re wrong, then you go change it, and run back and hit the button again. Saves you a good minute or two there. Good thinking, guys.

In the end, Steve wins and Becky gets her wish that she’ll have the opportunity to replace one of the nominees with Vanessa.

The thing about Vanessa is that she’s smart, you can see that. She’s very perceptive and understands the game. I think that’s great. She’s just on the wrong season is all. Yes, she’s too damn paranoid and probably has the same conversations with the same people every single day, but that’s just because she’s playing the game. She’s actually in that house to win while everyone else is just happy they made it to jury and can continue their summer of partying! Nobody cares to hear strategy talk, so even though all of her strategy makes sense, it’s just too overwhelming for the folks who would just rather sit outside, bask in the sun, have a drink or two, and play in some cool competitions. If in the end, they win the $500,000, that would be great, but they already consider themselves winners for getting a free paid summer vacation. I feel she should be more frustrated than she already is. You can tell by how she looks that she’s stressed and agitated, always walking around like someone is hiding somewhere trying to kill her. I feel bad for her. I think she would do great if she was playing with others who were into the strategic side of Big Brother. This cast is terrible.

So, in the end, her paranoia rang true and she was blindsided by Becky, who put her on the block to replace Steve. You could tell Vanessa was completely caught off guard, but also that she still had that tiny bit of expectation it was going to happen. She definitely feels betrayed, which is how everyone feels this season that people aren’t keeping their word, but she also knows she still has a good chance of staying since Shelli is up next to her. She’s definitely not going to be one of the lame @sses who agrees not to campaign just because she’s aligned with someone, so it should be interesting to see how this one plays out. I have a feeling she’ll be the better “slick talker” with everyone in the house, and that Shelli will be the one walking out that door tomorrow. But we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?

And hey, would you look at that…we went an entire episode without Shelli crying. Perhaps she needs to check her statement from last week that she doesn’t cry over dudes and change it to she ONLY cries over dudes. But whatever it is, I’ll take it. Although I’d imagine we’ll see some more tears tomorrow night since it’ll either be evident that she’s going home or that she’ll be sad thinking that Vanessa will be the one walking out that door…

Ahhhhhh…what an episode, huh?!? Double evictions are always one of the better episodes of the season, so it’s not much of a surprise that it was a jam-packed, eventful episode, with a few plot twists nobody truly saw coming. I give this episode two snaps in a circle…

The episode starts off with a kiss of death DR quote from Shelli, with her “I feel ok in the moment.” Maybe Shelli hasn’t watched Big Brother enough or paid attention at all this season with the swaying of votes from one person on the block to the other, and the person who’s supposed to be safe ending up the one that goes home. Get with it, girl. Just because Clay is gone doesn’t mean the game ended, but I have a feeling that’s kind of how she feels and she’s just happy if she stays, but not really caring if she goes. And that’s a shame. I can’t fault her too much since I know she came into the house wanting to win, but her showmance partner leaving definitely deflated her will to continue playing…

After being the renom, Vanessa is visibly shook and doesn’t quite understand the speech part of Becky’s Veto ceremony. Quite honestly, I thought her speech was a little harsh, as well, and I don’t blame Vanessa for confronting her, but Vanessa needs to borrow Trainiac’s train whistle and slow down before she pulls into Confrontation Station. Don’t make things awkward, Vanessa. You should already know that Becky’s not into the game talk with you, so she’s obviously not going to react well to being asked for an explanation as to why she went back on her word in the game and to explain why she said what she said. #BasicBecky lays the smack down and tells Vanessa she wants no part of this discussion and basically just gets up and leaves. And, in my eyes, that’s the right move to make. Of course, Vanessa isn’t happy because she doesn’t get her explanation, but she also has to realize that she probably wasn’t going to be happy with the words she used to explain herself, so take it for what it is and let it be. She may have been a tad cold-hearted just walking away like that, but also know that she spared you some additional hurt by nipping a fight in the bud. Less bad would happen in the world if one person would walk away from a confrontation before things got really escalated. Word to the Basic god on this one. Props and kudos and those same two snaps and a twist this time!!

After that display, she’s just proving me right with the way she handled the conversation with Steve. Steve was being honest with her, laying out his position in the game and how he had to keep his options open and not wanting to ruffle feathers. He wasn’t promising Shelli he was voting to keep her, but he also couldn’t promise Vanessa the same. Vanessa’s response is to spite him, basically. Shoo him out of the room so she can sulk a little longer and move on to the next conversation. If you all take one thing away from reading my blogs and watching this show, please let it be this and excuse the ALL CAPS, but I need this to ring through your head and stay there a while – EVERYONE SAYS THEY WANT THE TRUTH….UNTIL THEY HEAR WHAT THAT TRUTH IS. Nobody ever wants to hear the truth. It’s why you ask leading questions to your significant other or why when a manager leaves at your company, only then does everyone start talking about how horrible they were at their job. Nobody tells the truth anymore because when you do, you’re made out to be an @sshole. Trust me, I know this. I don’t shy away from being honest at times. I’m not honest all the time (although I wish I could be), but I am enough to the point where people end up not liking me. But, in the end, I’m ok with it because I know that they don’t like me because they know what I’m saying is true and they just can’t handle the truth about themselves and the type of person they are and/or how they treat others. I’m not saying Vanessa is a bad person, just saying she’s like everyone else in the world. She’ll spit out that she has an open door policy for everyone, but God forbid anyone actually steps foot through that door…

After she got done sulking for a bit, she went and made herself look terrible by taking off all her makeup and scared James into having a conversation with her and basically scared him into believing everything she said. She mentioned how she was in an unfair position (you know, because she’s actually on the block for once and not in control of the house vote, that’s basically meaning it’s unfair) and goes on to tell him that Becky was against James all throughout the last week when he was HoH, saying she wanted to target him and how she was running to Clay and Shelli telling them everything they were planning. I respect this from Vanessa because it’s the right move to make, but again just find it funny that this is a reason for someone to begin targeting someone else, that they’re supposedly working with and someone who’s keeping them and everyone in their alliance safe that week. It’s not like James wouldn’t do the same thing if he was pulled into a conversation where something was said about Meg or Jackie. And it’s not like Vanessa wouldn’t do it for Austin. It’s a fickle world inside the Big Brother house and one little story can change the entire outlook of your game.

And all because of that conversation, James now wants to get Shelli out of the house, mostly because if Vanessa wins HoH, she would target Becky and not any of them. But if Shelli wins, she’ll most likely go after a James or maybe Jackie. Who knows, but it would appear that Vanessa’s plan worked…

…and it did, because Shelli was voted out in a shutout vote! And, let me give a quick shoutout to the Chenbot for FINALLY giving us an eviction night fake out! She used to do it every so often, but I feel she hasn’t done it in the past few seasons, so I was happy to hear her when she said Vanessa’s name, but then told her she was safe!