Oh blindsides, you truly are a beautiful sight to see! Big Brother 24 bounced back in a big way to serve up not one but two delicious blindsides. The houseguests weren’t sitting around to let the game pass them by; they saw the opportunity ahead of them and they took it. More players should learn from this example for future seasons because failing to make a move or getting too comfortable could be what sends them out the door. And sometimes it’s just a big heaping pile of karma that does the trick too.
Week #2 was the blindside of the over-confident pawn. For any fan of Big Brother (casual or superfan), one of the clear common rules to live by is that players shouldn’t volunteer to go on the nomination block because “pawns go home.” It’s a tried and true rule since history has shown that the game can flip and pawns could easily become the next evictee. While it wasn’t the most shocking blindside, especially since the plan to blindside Pooch started the second he offered to go on the block, Week #2 kept the satisfying tension going to see if the Girls’ Girl plan would’ve worked out. Suffice it to say, it did.
Pooch’s big mistake was believing the urge to get Taylor out was greater than him being a strong threat. His ego clouded his judgment so much that he couldn’t see any other possible alternative than Taylor going home. Like, he barely campaigned to keep himself in the game before it was too late! Why wait so long to offer Michael a deal? Why not try to build and repair bridges with the girls? Pooch played it too low-key and didn’t view Taylor as a viable option, going so far as to double-down on the supported hate and isolation against Taylor. A more strategic player would’ve recognized that a person at the bottom of the house, like Taylor, could be a valuable asset for a large group. Also, they’d recognize their own place in the game and how much they’re a threat.
The new “Festie Bestie” twist is a bad twist. Big Brother 24 lucked out that the events of Week #3 worked out in the fans’ favor with the drama and blindsides (we’ll get into this shortly), but the twist only hurts more than it helps. The houseguests easily understood how to game the system and set them up in a good position. For anyone in a majority alliance, this twist essentially gave them a shield to have their partner get evicted before them if they were ever placed on the block. How did no one realize how bad this twist was? The players figured out this manipulation within minutes, which explained many of the pairs chosen after the Head of Household (HOH) competition. Not including the recent blindside and gameplay, this twist didn’t need to happen.
Week #3 was the blindside from the leftover uprising; the long-awaited moment when the outside players banded together to overthrow the majority alliance. We need to take a moment and just bask in the beauty of this move. We hardly ever witness a time where the outside players realize they’re on the outside and do something about it. Most times they’ll turn on each other to get favor from the majority alliance instead of taking a risk; think of the frustrating summers of Big Brother 22 and Big Brother 19. For the Leftovers to form, it was a satisfying series of events that turned the tide and gave Big Brother 24 a chance at redemption. A great move and a great upward shot of momentum for the season.
Before we get into the move, we need to discuss the many shifting alliances that led to the Leftovers. Back in Week #1, we had some alliances like Girls’ Girls, Mamba, and Oasis being formed, but many of those fell apart. Girls’ Girls is still floating around in a fractured form, but it’s the emergence of Po’s Pack, Old School, and the Pound that led to all this upheaval. Ever heard of some of these? Well, Big Brother 24 has a bit of an editing problem when it comes to the alliances. There have been a lot of shifts with alliances to the point that the edited show has stuck to a specific narrative when in actuality, some of the new alliances that haven’t been discussed made the most difference.
For example, Po’s Pack was the new formation of Mamba after Paloma left the game; many of its members kept the Taylor hate train going in honor of their fallen friend. But Old School was a new secret alliance formed with Nicole, Daniel, Terrance, Alyssa, Jasmine, and Ameerah (with Indy as an unofficial 7th) that became the next majority alliance, and yes, it was the main alliance driving the Taylor hate now. This alliance hasn’t been shown on the edited episodes yet, but if it weren’t for this alliance and Alyssa spilling the truth to Kyle, we wouldn’t have gotten the Pound (Monte, Kyle, Turner, and Joseph) thinking about backdooring Ameerah. It’s all a complex web of alliances; we understand why the TV show can’t show everything, but there was a clear storyline path here and some details were needed.
Speaking of the Taylor hate train, the houseguests had reached new levels of awful. Particularly, Nicole and Daniel openly showed the most direct hate, with Jasmine, Alyssa, and Ameerah dropping catty remarks behind closed doors. How could they not realize they’re the villains? This delusion is a case of a blinded ego. Every little thing Taylor did fueled their negative opinion of her, and they blamed her for every problem in their life when she did nothing. Nicole and Daniel spewing hatred to Taylor after she tried to comfort Nicole (she thought Nicole was crying due to Nicole’s mother’s ongoing health issues) was a new level of low. Not just from a social game level but from a basic human level; it’s not right to lash out at someone and put all the blame on them. And it wasn’t right for Daniel to blame Paloma’s mental health issues and her leaving the game on Taylor either. Players like Daniel and Nicole are in for a rude awakening once they leave the house as the reality of their time in the Big Brother house will be much different than the “reality” of what actually happened.
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The Leftovers alliance (Monte, Kyle, Turner, Joseph, Michael, Brittany, and Taylor) forming was some of the best must-watch 24/7 live feeds and episode footage we’ve had in a while. All the truths came to light, the other majority alliance was exposed, and Taylor learned the truth about some awful things the others had said about her. As mentioned above, this was the moment where the game shifted and the outsiders gained control. Players and fans wish for moments like this, so it was great that Big Brother 24 delivered something that rarely ever happens. Strong gameplay is always welcome.
Ameerah’s blindside, and subsequent eviction, was a beautiful sight to see. None of her alliance members saw it coming, and even after ending up on the block, they all still felt confident that Terrance would be voted out instead of her. The looks of shock and surprise on their faces capped off a great week of the Leftovers fooling them and lowering their guards. This is how a blindside should be done; no one knew where all the votes came from and no one was prepared for the news. The best way to keep a blindside going is not to tell anyone; just keep the news to yourself and focus on the next steps.
Ameerah becoming the target was a bit sad because she had been a strong player before her final week. Ameerah had all the skills to win Big Brother 24. However, the problem was that she was playing the game too hard. She was in almost every big alliance; people could spot her as the smart player who was leading and controlling the decisions of her group. And for the people she wasn’t working with, she kept too close of an eye on them by interrupting and joining their conversations, like Taylor and Joseph. Ameerah lead the charge against Pooch the week prior, but she fell victim to the same over-confidence to not expect that the others would consider her a big target to eliminate.
Week #2 and Week #3 kicked up the momentum. Without Paloma in the house, the players allowed themselves to turn their attentions to other targets, which led to some big blindsides. The new Festie Bestie twist was a bad idea and could’ve hindered the season for weeks to come. However, the recent blindsides and the Leftovers made the second and third weeks very interesting to follow. Now we can’t wait to see how everything turns out!
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Big Brother 24 airs on CBS on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8/7c.
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