Brace yourselves, hamsters: Josh is the Head of Household (HOH) for the sixth week of Big Brother 19. Expect lots of banging pots, bro-isms, and an easy week for Paul to get his way…again. Why do I even expect anything different this summer? Josh seemed hotheaded enough that he may do something reckless and go his own way, but something like that doesn’t happen here on Big Brother 19. In fact, we haven’t seen a move like that since the first week. That’s not to say he didn’t initially try.
While Josh is one of my least favorite house guests this year, I was impressed that he stood by his gut intuition to target Elena. He has no personal ties to her and they clearly aren’t working together; she’s a number who would never vote for him to win. And there’s no benefit for him to keep her around in the short term, especially since she did vote him out during week #4. The same goes for Mark. The couple isn’t #TeamJosh and with their past arguments, it doesn’t look like it will ever change. It was a smart move for him to nominate them.
Week #6 is the first time people within the house have openly started questioning their blind loyalty to Paul. Josh was dead set on getting his target out (Elena), but Paul was the one who kept diverting attention back to Cody and Jessica since this helped his game. Even Christmas warned Josh to not do everything Paul has been preaching. It’s great to see people start having these discussions; the sooner they realize they’re giving up their shot at a half million dollars, the sooner they’ll notice Paul is the biggest threat. Though, I don’t believe anyone will follow this tactic as they will eventually follow his lead and do whatever he says.
Speaking of game, is anyone else playing one? The majority of the house is looking to “get famous” and make it to jury, but no one is doing the big or subtle moves to actually secure the title. Paul is playing the puppet master while Cody and Jessica are stuck in an isolated defensive mode. Everyone else, on the other hand, is a mix of floater, non-entity or Paul’s minion.
Let’s break down these strategies based on week #6: Alex and Jason are in a strong duo, but they’re diehard to Paul as part of the outsiders with Kevin. Elena and Mark are playing both sides of the house, but they’re still super loyal to Paul, even though he’s positioned them as the bottom of the totem pole and next to go. Josh is Paul’s hotheaded bodyguard and Christmas is a challenge non-entity. Matt and Raven…decorative furniture.
I know, I’m being harsh here, but Big Brother is (sometimes) a once in a lifetime opportunity to play a game for the chance at half a million dollars. There are thousands (if not millions around the world) of fans who would love the chance to take part in this experience. Why are these house guests willing to give it up like it doesn’t matter?!
Kevin taking the time to explore other options and utilize a house guest is a smart strategy. Big Brother is a game of numbers. With Jessica’s impending eviction, Cody will be left without any allies. Control him, bring him on board and use his competition strength/vote to get out an enemy. Paul, Jason and Alex immediately scoffing at the idea was a bad decision – if this were any other season, that vote could be the difference between eviction and the prize. Their personal preference against Cody clouded their judgment from looking at the game objectively. However, Kevin was still in the wrong, too. He shouldn’t be making deals for his alliance without his alliance’s backing.
I loved the challenges this week. Not only did we get to see OTEV again, but the Temptation challenge had a spooky element to it! (If you’ve read my past video game work on TYF, you’ll know I love horror movies, Halloween and spooky games.) Jessica throwing the competition was a stupid decision! The twist with the Temptation challenge is that the lowest performing players get automatically placed on the block. Why would she give this up? Cody could still perform well in the challenge without her throwing her chances away to end up on the bottom. It only sealed her fate sooner.
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Christmas should’ve held onto the Ring of Replacement for a few more weeks. Everyone in the house wanted Cody and Jessica gone, but they were also fine with Elena or Mark going. That’s four potential options with three of them already on the block. Sure, Christmas is pretty safe being a non-threat due to the injury, but she will be a target later on. She should’ve used it during a week when she absolutely needed it.
Jessica walked out of the house this week and a lot of it was due to ego. Don’t get me wrong, Paul wanted her gone and it was a done deal regardless; however, for a time, Josh was set to get Elena out first. It wasn’t until all the fights, cold shoulders and drama started happening that there was no going back. Based on all the past history, Jessica and Cody had a chip on their shoulder against everyone else in the house. An olive branch was even thrown their way a few times, but they turned it down due to pride.
Jessica should have used the opening to build bridges with Josh and the other side. The deepest wounds are hard to forget and it wasn’t easy for her to forgive and forget. Too much had already been done to her and Cody that she couldn’t accept their help, whether real or not. In fact, she threw in the towel. The pair didn’t fight for her safety and they isolated themselves from the others. Jessica didn’t give up her chance at the prize because of Cody – she lost this game by cutting ties and secluding herself from everyone else. It’s sad to see a long-time fan give up.
The sixth week of Big Brother 19 gave us a glimmer of hope. With one half of “Jody” gone, people are starting to turn their attention elsewhere and notice people they haven’t focused on before. House guests are thinking about their own games and the decisions they’re making. While Paul still has a firm grasp, cracks are forming with players getting comfortable to question and pitch their moves. It’s a spark; a tiny one but it’s there. Let’s cross our fingers it develops into a roaring fire.
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