Why Andrew Lost

A couple weeks ago, I had Andrew pegged to win the game. What went wrong? 

Andrew will tell you it's Dan's fault. According to his exit interview, Dan got in Emmett's ear, and that was that. It's a narrative that works for Andrew and the way he defined himself in this game, which has a lot to do with why he's now chilling in a lodge somewhere this morning taunting Peter about Dan's visit. 

But it's just not the case.

The truth is, Andrew, as well as he disguised it, had one of the worse egos in this game, and it got in his way. Alec and Peter were stupid to align with Jillian and Emmett, he told himself, but it made sense for him, because he was honest, or something. 

Andrew refused to acknowledge the truth Dan was trying to help him see: that his allies had not only betrayed ally after ally of their own, but put him on the block two weeks running. Despite that, by the fact Dan got into the game, Andrew's moose was already cooked. 

Andrew was a target long before Dan entered the house, and his game may have been over the moment he aligned with Jillian and Emmett and decided that he would protect both. It got him further than he would have gotten on his own, as he was at the bottom of the pecking order at one point, but to proceed to the end, he would have had to win more competitions and also strengthen, rather than weaken, his connections to Gary and Talla. Still, the showmance held all the power at the end, and without being able to shift them (as no one really has throughout the game, they waver but never shift with campaigning), he was screwed.

Like so many others before him, Andrew's ego proved to be his undoing, leaving him in exactly the same position as Alec, ironically - $10,000 richer and off to the jury house.

So now there are four - Jillian, Emmett, Talla, and Gary. The game is practically Emmett's for the taking unless Talla or Gary manage to squeak out a veto win tomorrow. He's played a classically good game and probably deserves the win (she says grudgingly), but it would be fun to see the underdogs take him out and leave the outcome in doubt this close to the end.

I don't really expect that to happen, but at least it gives us all some minor reason to keep watching.

By the way, if you missed it, Dan has a great rundown of the houseguests left in the game, and singles out pride as the reason for Andrew's downfall.