The Superfan Shootout

“I try to joke around with people and I always fail. I don’t know why.”—Steve

I feel foolish for picking Steve as my predictive winner of Big Brother 17. That outcome seems extremely unlikely at this juncture. If he somehow manages to make Final Two, I feel confident saying that Steve will not receive a majority of the votes. He roams around the house like an airborne virus, his reputation much the same. Even his closest allies have no compunctions using his name as a source.

However, Steve’s stock has been rising this week. It’s clear that among his alliance (Steve, Vanessa, Shelli Clay, Liz, Austin), he is respected as a strategist. Shelli berated Clay for interrupting Steve in the replacement nominee discussions. Even Austin seems appreciative to Steve for his support.

Steve is good at interpreting data, but not so good at collecting it. He has one method of collecting information and one method only: Steve is our Big Brother 16 creeper. He furtively scurries through the house, entering conversations with an almost insectile presence. He stands and observes, not adding much.[1]

It’s all cool. Steve has made peace with his standing in the house. Oh yeah, he is aware of his reputation. How does he know? Well, he overheard people talking about it of course. And most fascinating of all, Steve—and his alliance—have sort of embraced his creeper role in the house. Vanessa encourages him to keep his ear to ground.

“It’s OK. I knew I was going to have to fight every week I was in here, and it was the first week I didn’t have to fight, and it felt nice. I didn’t wanna play in the comps. I wanted to just hang out and relax. That’s not what this game is. Oh well.”—Jason

Our other superfan, Jason, who I’m pretty sure is one of the Goth kids from South Park [2], is missing in action. He got backdoored Monday and will be evicted on Thursday. Jason may have deceived you that he has a good social game, but really he’s just social. There was no game in his social game. He just socialized with the people he liked personally, and we all know that that is a novice move.

Season after season, you’ll notice that the houseguests who align themselves on the side of the twist are paid in dividends. In Big Brother 15, the smart houseguests teamed up with Elissa early on because they knew she would be voted MVP every week. The result: Even when Aaryn’s side won HOH, they lost numbers.

Granted, the twin twist is not as exploitable as MVP, but Jason and Da’Vonne were in the perfect position to benefit from this. Da’Vonne had the Last Laugh and had already established a bond with Liz by granting her immunity during the first week. But instead of working with the twist, they tried to topple it on a week where Liz wasn’t even on the block. Da’Vonne told Jason, and Jason thoughtlessly vomited it all over the house. Whoops.

I've been giving the Happy Campers too much credit. Two weeks ago, I wrote about Vanessa’s previous HOH and how her orchestrated fight with Jeff was plainly obvious to the rest of the house. I thought this because Jeff articulated this to them, and they all nodded their heads. Turns out, they either forgot about that or were just humoring Jeff, because they checked out early this week, placing an inordinate amount of trust in someone who evicted one of their numbers the last time she was in a position of power.

We all knew Jeff was the brains of that operation, but his troupe is scarcely making an effort without him. Jackie was the only one to touch base with Vanessa and break up HOH powwows. Jason did nothing but goof around with Meg.

He should’ve known better. In fact, he admits it: “It’s my own fault,” he says.

 

Now That’s What I Call Out of Context Quotes Volume 1

Jace: “I feel like a used condom. I was fun for the moment, and then I was tossed aside and forgotten about.”

Austin: “No, I don’t like shirts. Fuck that shit.”

Johnny Mac: “I think a bayou would be a cool place to live.”

Julie Chen: “As everyone knows, Gronk loves a good party.”

Steve: "Yeah, I'd love to see how my bathing suit pictures look."

Jace: “When you’re surfing, you have to relinquish control to the wave. And Big Brother is very similar to the wave.”

Becky: “I had an invisible pet llama as a kid ‘cause that’s normal.”

Shelli: “I like big trucks, and I cannot lie.”


[1] Currently, Jason, Jeff, Vanessa, Austin, Audrey, Shelli, Becky, and Jackie have all earnestly offered Steve advice on how to improve his social graces. He’s learning. We hope being in the Big Brother house helps him continue to progress.

[2] I’m not 100% certain about this, but it may have been Vanessa’s stated rationale for backdooring him.