The triple eviction didn’t live up to the hype on Big Brother: All-Stars. Even during a night where three houseguests would be evicted, the game stayed within its predictable bubble of expected events. The houseguests are playing it safe and it’s, well, boring. Between the competition wins following the same pattern or the houseguests continually going after the safe options, nothing new or unexpected is arriving to shake things up. This season of Big Brother: All-Stars is more like “Small Stars” and the triple eviction cemented that continued downward trajectory.
Overall, Week 8 of Big Brother: All-Stars was uneventful and sloppy. Once a Head of Household was picked, their two nominees were expected (i.e. Cody nominating Kevin/David, Memphis nominating David/Nicole, and Tyler nominating Daniele/Nicole) – there was no suspense or thrill to see if they would go after a bigger fish. And equally, the winners of the Power of Veto were never going to use it, so the eviction targets were set in stone days before. This “thrilling week” kept chipping away at the anticipation that fans built-up hoping that someone or something would add life back into the game. Suffice it to say, there were only a few moments of glimmer, but the fire was mostly washed away.
During the first round, David going for the prize money in the OTEV POV competition was an interesting move because it could’ve been the spark that led to his eviction. Granted, the other houseguests were mostly dead-set on evicting Kevin, but the conversations and animosity did form to question their motives. Should David have gone for the money? Absolutely. He’s at the bottom of the totem pole, and while Kevin was a sure-fire bet to leave, David’s days were numbered regardless. He owed nothing to the members of the majority alliance (and let’s not forget that both Tyler and Daniele went for money too during the HOH competition). David is going to walk away with more money than most of the houseguests, so he’s already a winner.
Kevin’s argument with Cody was a bad hiccup that cemented his nomination/eviction; if he had kept his cool, there was a slight chance he could’ve parlayed that into Cody backdooring Christmas. However, as mentioned above, this group of houseguests was never truly going to break away from their safety plans. Though, what has fully emerged is Cody’s egotistical and privileged narrative. Did you all see him during his HOH week and the triple eviction night? Cody’s ego has inflated himself to the point of being insufferable. He can’t dictate who can and can’t play Big Brother; everyone has a right to make a move and try to protect himself. That toxic attitude has spread to many of the others and it stems from their alliance being in power for too long. If we’re feeling it as viewers, there’s a chance it could affect his jury votes (both David and Kevin aren’t happy with Cody after this week, so anything is possible).
Kevin getting evicted was a long time coming. Every since Week 1, Kevin served as the “pawnstar” of the season (i.e. the person used as an easy nominee to be on the block) and he tempted fate five times now. Kevin never got a strong footing in the house, and even when others trusted him with information or looped him into plans, he either betrayed them or gave them bad reads that destroyed everything. It’s a shame to see this new version of Kevin because he had done so well as a gameplayer on Big Brother 11. However, sometimes a houseguest is dealt a bad hand – Kevin had a really unlucky season. There was nothing he could’ve done to save himself unless The Committee alliance turned on each other earlier and brought him into the new groups.
Why did production tease/spill the beans about the triple eviction? Let them all have that jaw-dropping moment of discovering the additional eviction for the first time on Thursday night. Instead, they had plenty of time to speculate and come up with plans to work around it. Sure, the logo got spoiled and they “discovered” the truth much earlier, but they were well-prepared for the possibilities due to the Dr. Will segment. The entire roll-out of this twist came across as sloppy and lackluster. (Side-note: Dr. Will was only used twice during this neighbor twist. Completely underwhelming use of an iconic player!)
The triple eviction served as a cut-and-paste template for the two-hour event. The challenges were the exact same, except with a few tiny tweaks. The houseguests made decisions that fit within their expected planning. On top of that, nothing delivered that jaw-dropping moment of seeing an unexpected player walking out the door – the line-up of Kevin, David, and then Daniele all seemed the top possibilities well before the players knew about the twist. There should’ve been four different types of games for the houseguests to play instead of the same games in a row; that tweak would’ve kept them on their toes.
The biggest shocker of the night was Enzo not voting out Nicole during the second round. Enzo has spent weeks campaigning that the winners needed to be evicted; how much of a threat Nicole was and that a previous winner shouldn’t win Big Brother: All-Stars. So, for him to betray Tyler and Christmas in favor of keeping Nicole, that move went against his narrative and made him seem even more of a coward. Since his HOH week during Week 4, Enzo is all talk and no action – he goes for the easiest decision because he’s afraid of making the move himself. Cody wouldn’t have gone against him if he had voted out Nicole; instead, Cody would’ve clung to Enzo as a stronger ally. Now, Enzo weakened himself by keeping in Cody’s closest friend. Bad move by Enzo and one that will come back to haunt him.
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David’s eviction, just like Kevin, was expected. Once Memphis won the HOH, David’s nomination and eviction were the next sure-fire plan for The Committee since Memphis had an (unearned) vendetta against the rookie player. If anyone else but Memphis had won HOH, David would’ve survived another round since he was low on everyone’s hit list. Memphis had it out for David and a grudge that made no sense – David did nothing wrong, except for being eliminated first on Big Brother 21 and being invited back for Big Brother: All-Stars. Between that, being the last outsider in the house, and his bad gameplay, David was an easy target that benefited no one but Memphis.
Daniele’s eviction, on the other hand, was an act of sweet poetry. Her road to eviction is one that had a full-blown narrative based on the decisions she made. Daniele made the sloppy gameplay of eliminating allies who would’ve never voted her out (i.e. Janelle, Kaysar, Da’Vonne, Ian) in favor of benefitting her alliance members. And, during Week 6, if she had stayed on the path to evict Tyler instead of Ian, Tyler never would’ve stayed in the game to win the HOH that got her evicted. Daniele’s gameplay during Big Brother All-Stars was a stark contrast to her previous seasons (Big Brother 8 and Big Brother 13); she landed herself in the majority alliance this time, but she made moves that benefited others instead of herself. If she had gone more aggressive like her Big Brother 13 performance, she would’ve struck first and brought herself into a better position.
Week 8 of Big Brother: All-Stars had all the anticipation and excitement we wanted for a game round. However, the eventual series of events reminded us how unfulfilling this season has been up to this point. The Committee + Enzo continued their dominant streak until there was physically no one else around for them to divert their attention. Hopefully, these houseguests can start playing a strategic game, but let’s face it: they’re probably going to keep handing this to an easy Cody win.
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