Big Brother 17 House of Mirrors: Sneaky Steve!

Sneaky Steve!

“The Boy, Steve, put me up on the block with my girlfriend. If I win that veto, the Boy is gonna have to become a man real quick, because your mommy’s not here—only Judas is.”     —Austin

I am a huge proponent of the innocent kid strategy. The beauty lies in its three-pronged plan of action: (1) It provides a rock-solid opportunity to lay low, (2) it harnesses your perceived guilelessness as a weapon, and (3) it sets up a personal growth arc. The personal growth arc is key here. If done successfully, like John Cochran’s second season of Survivor, your fellow competitors will actually become emotionally invested in seeing you succeed.

This is why I initially picked Steve Moses to win Big Brother 17.

But Steve blundered into a common pitfall of the innocent kid strategy: His failure to relate to other people made him an early target. Consequently, I expressed regret for picking Steve. He could never acquire his fallen comrades’ votes if he were to make to Final Two, I said.

I don’t think that’s true anymore. I’m not sure when it happened—perhaps it followed his double eviction HoH reign[1]—but something changed. The house stopped rejecting his idiosyncrasies as grating and embraced them as endearing. He went from being the creep to Oscar Boy Garfunkel MacDonald III, Austin and Liz’s make-believe son, Grandma Meg’s grandson. The twins adored Boy. James adored pranking Boy.

Now, Boy still has lessons to learn. He occasionally lacks warmth in social situations. At his worst, he malfunctions and spits out recursive functions[2], sometimes manifesting in a skewed attempt at humor, other times in apologetic spiels regarding his social ineptitude. I have witnessed him derail otherwise pleasant conversations on these tangents. It typically plays as follows:

Steve: Can I ask you a question?

Person: Yes.

Steve: I’m not pressuring you right now, right?

Person: No, not at all.

Steve: Because if I am, I have no right to do so.

Person: You’re not, Steve

Steve: I just want to make sure I’m not pressuring you. I don’t understand social cues. I cross lines without realizing it.

Person: Honestly, Steve, we’re fine here.

Steve: My worst fear is hurting or offending someone and not being cognizant of it. Please, I implore you to point it out to me should I ever cross any boundaries.

Person: Right. You’re still not, Steve.

But ultimately, it’s hard to find fault with Boy’s current position in the house. By winning HoH, he guaranteed himself a spot in the final five. And even though he is nominally responsible for splintering Austwins, Vanessa remains the biggest threat in the house.[3]  So allow me to backtrack and say that Steve could easily receive a majority of jury votes in Final Two.

He’s sneaky, this one—very sneaky. He grew into a Boy right before my eyes, and it was beautiful. Now if this Boy can grow into a man, he could very well win Big Brother 17.

But it’s far from over, Boy. And you’ve just unleashed Judas.