Charge of the Brigade-Light

Big Brother Canada's four-man Quattro alliance was clearly patterned after Big Brother US Season 12's Brigade, one of the most successful alliances in Big Brother history. Yet three weeks (four evictions) into the series, their so-called "leader" is posed to walk out the door in an exit orchestrated by his own team.

Why did Quattro fail at doing what The Brigade did so well? The easy answer to this is "Tom", but let's go a little deeper than that.

Big Brother 12's Brigade - note the hype man.

First, let's talk about what Quattro was missing from day one. This is the one time I'll give credit to Enzo, so pay attention. Yes, we all know, Enzo was a terrible player, who never conceived a single move other than (maybe) naming the alliance. Sure, Matt was the strategist, Hayden was the executioner, Lane was the silent but deadly ally. But Enzo, fame-hungry, overconfident Enzo, did do one thing very well: he was an effective hype man.

Enzo spent Season 12 hyping the Brigade, until all of them truly believed what he was selling. Matt got along better with his "side alliance" Ragan, but because of his strategic single-mindedness and his belief in Enzo's hype, he never allowed himself to consider breaking the alliance. Lane considered it, and wisely kept it silent. Hayden never wavered either, allowing Enzo to take his athlete's team pride and wrap it up in the banner of their alliance. All four genuinely believed in the alliance and what it stood for.

Which one is the hype man?

Quattro lacked hype from the beginning. They rarely had group meetings. They aped the Brigade's general strategy, roping in two pairs of men, with Peter playing the dorky strategist role (Matt), Alec as the shirtless thinker (Hayden), Emmett as the hunky farmboy (Lane), and Tom as the bully and hype man (Enzo).

Quattro also successfully copied the Brigade's strategy of branching out and forming side alliances, in Topaz (Alec), Jillian (Emmett), and Liza (Tom). Poor Peter tried and failed to develop an effective side partner, but hey, Enzo never really had a true side alliance, either. So far, so good.

Still, the alliance crashed and burned by week three. Why? For the same reasons any alliance fails. The men grew suspicious of each other and began to think about outplaying each other. Tom refused to listen to his teammates, and Peter and Alec increasingly disliked his arrogance.

Watch your back, Tom...

The classic Brigade strategy also contains a serious vulnerability in that side alliance concept: what happens when members spend more time with their side alliances and start to like them better? That's what sunk Matt in Season 12, the boys decided he was too close to Ragan and had to go.

Big Brother's Bit on the Side?

The remaining members of Quattro will be at risk of this. If Topaz ever really opens up to Alec, will he start to be more interested in her than in the boys? If Peter ever finds a side alliance, will he get over his Liza funk and finally master the art of a secret alliance? What happens if Liza survives the double eviction and becomes his side alliance, given her tension with Emmett and Alec? And Emmett is awfully close to Jillian, to the point that he wants her in Quattro to replace Tom. Can the Brigade strategy work with members getting swapped in and out?

Moral of the story: On Big Brother, the strategy matters less than the execution. The Brigade was a brilliant strategy, only because the players were able to play it well.

The best Big Brother players are the ones who can read their housemates and adapt their strategy based on what they have to work with. Alec, Peter and Emmett seem to be doing this by pulling the plug on Tom earlier than planned.

Will it work to their advantage in the long run, or will Quattro become just another forgettable Big Brother alliance?