Shocker? Elissa's MVP Twist

So this week's MVP nominee was just revealed to the houseguests on the live feeds, and it's:

MVP!

So now America is all:

Could you repeat those instructions?

Congrats, Topaz - it's not just you anymore!

...Just kidding. The internet is starting to speculate that fans mistakenly voted their favorite for MVP, but I don't think that's the case at all (despite an earnest effort from some fans to ensure that it happened - *cough*, BBGossip, *cough*). On further reflection, I don't think it's a surprise that Elissa scored this week's MVP nomination from America, and I don't think America Topazed us, either. 

Think about it for a second. Elissa, to borrow a phrase from BBUK, is the Marmite houseguest. She's loved by a passionate brigade of Rachel fans, marching alongside people who flocked to her due to her early victimization in the house, but she's similarly loathed by Rachel haters and those who feel she's taking away from the show and the game by being a waste of space.

Did Elissa come in first in nomination voting? Of course she did not. Aaryn is the season's villain, heck, she's probably one of the most hated villains ever on the show, and the Elissa fans and others no doubt teamed up to vote their keyboards off for her. (I may have thrown a few votes her way myself, hoping for a Nerd Herd-style meltdown from Aaryn.) Kaitlin may have beaten Elissa, too - we'll never know, since Judd nominated the both of them, eliminating them from eligibility for America's vote. 

About that.

But not everyone voted for Kaitlin or Aaryn. It's quite possible that Elissa is the second or third most hated houseguest, in addition to being the most popular. BBUK fans have been dealing with this dynamic for years, with the constant tug-of-war between Vote-to-Save and Vote-to-Evict. A traditional BBUK Vote-to-Evict eliminates the controversial Marmite houseguests from contention, while the newer Channel 5 Vote-to-Save propels great characters to the end, like the Shannon twins, Spencer and Heidi, or Aaron. (They're back to a Vote-to-Evict this year, if you're counting.) 

What we're looking at here is a mid-game switcheroo, from a "Vote To Save" to a "Vote to Evict". It's very possible that Elissa scores highly in both without any fan interference. 

Her brother-in-law Brendon certainly did in season 13, where despite being widely despised by the audience, he still managed to win a vote to return to the house, when a dominant Dom-and-Cassi-loving voting audience split the vote and Brendon crept in from behind with the half-hearted support of Jeff/Jordan fans:

Brendon-39.5%

Dom-31%

Cassi-28.5%

Keith-1%

Marmite, folks. There's no production interference here, there's no manipulation, it's pure and simple voting theory. 

Elissa is loved and Elissa is hated, and with Aaryn and Kaitlin out of contention, the Elissa nomination makes perfect sense. 

So voting aside, the paranoia is already running amok in the house, and the game's about to get fun. The houseguests are scattering like mice (hamsters?) and whispering wildly about who could be the new MVP, and who to save, and how to strategize the veto competition.

I have to tip my hat to Production on this one, it's already far more fun than a fourth dreary week of Elissa as MVP. 

The Beginning Of The End

You know it's the beginning of the end of a season of Big Brother when you check your feeds and all you see is:

 Needless to say, not a lot happened today.  The veto ceremony went on as planned and Talla was put on the block. At one point I was going to start counting how many times Andrew complained about thinking the veto comp was rigged, but I lost count after 5 times.  The one thing remotely game related that has gone on today has been Andrews completely not subtle by any means campaigning.  All of his work is falling on deaf ears though.  Emmett and Gary are both in favor of Andrew being the one out and Talla is even in the know about it.  The slightly amusing thing I learned today? Talla can't multiply by 10.  Not that I should be shocked by that one, but, okay I'm a little shocked.  She joined Emmett and Andrew at the hot tub for a while earlier and started babbling nonsensical things as usual which somehow landed her on doing math problems.  She then started trying to figure out things like what's 500 x 10..and drew a blank until Andrew told her the answer.  Oh the stabbing pains I feel when I think about the idea of this blubbering, screeching idiot somehow slipping her way into the final 2.  *slaps forehead*

Anyway, that's your update for the day via Ash.  I'll be back tomorrow with hopefully some more interesting game play to report.

This is our house. They are just guests here.

Hi again! Ash here. I was asked by Karen to guest her blog for a few days while she lets real life get in the way of her BB viewing.  I shall try to keep you all at least semi informed.  Now that introductions are done, let's just get right down to it.

Since the exit of Dan today, not a lot of gaming has really gone on, so I think I will just give you guys a quick rundown of the house as I see it right now and the things I want vs what I am currently hating.  You all are of course welcomed and encouraged to leave your own opinions .

As of now Andrew is currently the target and will likely be voted out on Thursday.  Jillian doesn't want to see him go because she has a final 2 deal with him..but since Gary now holds the veto and Talla will be the replacement nominee, I am sure she would rather take her chances with Talla than to try and go up against Andrew in the end.  Unfortunately, to the dismay of all of our eardrums, it's looking more and more like Talla will definitely make the final 3 with a strong possibility of even being dragged to the final 2 where she will lose to whoever takes her...but still take second place prize.  Please BB gods..don't let that happen?! I wouldn't "love it".

I won't lie to you friends I am extremely disappointed that the final 5 have come down to people who all have deals with each other and were once all one big alliance.  I was really hoping the inaugural season of BB Canada would bring more drama in the end with one side of the house being against the other etc..  Sadly, this is not the case.  The only person that wants Jill or Emmett out of the house (maybe) is Gary, and I'm not even sure after tonight's episode whether he is trying to get rid of Jill or not.  At first I thought he was, but then in his DR he revealed that he wants to take her to the end since everyone in jury is bitter and won't vote for her. Damn that Jillian..she is a strong enough player to keep herself in the game and annoying enough to where people still want to take her to the end because she may not win.

From a personal standpoint, the only final 2 I would really like to see happen would be Emmett and Gary.  Emmett may not be the most entertaining, but I feel like he has played a relatively smart game compared to the others and he has had quite a few wins despite his frequent DQs.  I would also like to see Gary pull it out just because it's unexpected and because Gary himself is unexpectedly a relatively good player.  He wins comps when he needs to most of the time and he is actually pretty perceptive of other players and their intentions.  I do realize that taking all personal like and dislike out of it that Jill and Emmett would be the best/strongest players for the final 2.  I was not as appalled as I normally would be or should have been to hear Emmett say "This is our house and they are just guests in it" during tonight's episode, because let's face it, with the recent HOHs being Jillian, Emmett, Jillian, Emmett, and some veto wins thrown in between...he is kind of right.

The one thing we can probably be almost sure of at this point is that Andrew is going to walk out the door on Thursday.  I'm not sad or happy either way about this.  I don't particularly like Andrew.  I find him funny and more entertaining than Talla any day, but I'm not getting my hopes high for her walking, so for now I will just say bye bye Andrew!

What do you all think?  Have any favorites? Who do you want to see make it to the end? Who do you hope walks on Thursday?  Hopefully more gaming will happen in the next few days so I will have more to inform you all on.