Revenge of Slop Brain

When feeds finally came back on at around 1:30 AM early Saturday morning, we found our Peter-evicting, HOH-throwing Alec holding court from the Head of Household bed and picking through his HOH crate. (In Canada, they are crates, not baskets.)

Freshly fed on a diet of trail mix and muffins (as shown on After Dark) Alec began contemplating his options, and promptly revealed himself to have a case of the famous HOH-itis. 

As the room cleared out, he and Peter reviewed their options, and things started off just fine. Using another classic Brigade gameplay strategy, they ran through the house, both allies and potential enemies, trying to ascertain who would target others on their behalf. Alec even happily speculated about Topaz's eviction, showing once again that the lack of trust in the cuddlemance is mutual. (Or was it for Peter's benefit? Probably not - Alec seems to be more honest with Peter than with Topaz, and honesty is always the best way to suss out true alliances.)

Unknown to Alec, however, a storm was growing downstairs. After Alec's blatant HOH throw during the Double Eviction, Andrew held Head of Household for one night, and didn't get a basket (crate). Alec then proceeded to win basically his second competition in a row, securing food and power for a full week, along with a bonus $10,000 prize. Despite his attempts to befriend Andrew and rope him in as a side ally, Andrew wasn't having any of that from Alec, and vented throughout the night to his own allies, AJ and Talla.

A la volonté du peuple

Later in the night, having settled on his nominations of Suzette as target and AJ as pawn, Alec decided to execute a strategy to make AJ feel comfortable with going up as a pawn. Despite the fact that no one should feel comfortable as a pawn in the wake of Danielle's eviction, he still thought he could pull it off with some social validation, and a dance ensued to get the right people in the room before assuring AJ that he had the votes.

Not use the veto? Yeah, right! 

Alec's strategy was risky to begin with, and riskier when he asked AJ for permission and got a flat no. But he went off the rails when he tried to persuade AJ to consider not using the veto on himself if he won. Too much, too soon, and Alec also had no idea that AJ's ear was already filled with anti-Alec whispers from Andrew. This went over like a lead balloon.

Alec's real strategy at this point is to nominate AJ and Suzette, and the replacement nominee will be Talla, who will go home if Suzette is off the block. However, Alec and Peter suspect (rightly so) that Talla would flip if she knew this, so they're telling AJ and the others that Gary would be the backdoor option. As of right now, this would not actually happen.

Private pawn

I wouldn't say it's a given that Suzette is out the door Thursday, but I'm okay if she is. The game is finally starting to shape up for the critical mid-stretch, and an easy week with fermenting tension is not a bad thing at this stage. There may not be much drama in the eviction, but the next weeks will depend heavily on the suspicions that are stoked from this week.

Alec and Peter have some elements of a good strategy, but their ability to read people is failing this week. Will they pick up on the dissension in the ranks and adjust their strategy accordingly, or will Alec's ego start to send him in the direction he sent Tom just this past week?

Alec and Peter are also playing a critical piece of Brigade strategy entirely wrong. Alec seems to be expecting the house to put him on the block with his public cuddlemance Topaz, and knows that he has the alliances to stay over her. But Topaz wasn't the one holding court all night with Alec last night, and everyone in the house is aware of Alec's close relationship with Peter, mentioning them in the same breath. If Alec goes up as a target, it will very likely be Pete on the block next to him, yet neither one of the superfans seems to have grasped this obvious concept in their scenarios.

The eviction may not contain much drama this week, but that doesn't mean it's going to be a quiet week.

Slop Brain

Alec seemed to be having a rough time on the live show, even if the results worked out well for him.

First, he accidentally voted to evict his Shield alliance-mate, Peter:

Not sure if voting for alliance, or eviction

Then, after positively killing the HOH comp, he had the opportunity to either win or throw it, and chose to throw it - in the most obvious, no-questions-asked way possible:

Hint... hint... hint...  

Hint to Alec: Next time, just hit the wrong button, buddy.

Whatever. (Feed Alec.) It was still a good night for every Quattro member not named Tom. Peter even got about thirty minutes to lord over being in the house with Liza and no Tom.

The next 20 minutes are mine... mine!

And it was a great night for Gary.

Mission accomplished

Let's talk about Gary for a second. He didn't play a perfect HOH, but for a twenty-one year old kid, he didn't do a terrible job gathering information and holding his cards close to his chest. 

Gary was not happy with the way Tom treated him during last week's HOH reign, and played this week masterfully to get him out. He was lucky, Quattro was just as ready to pitch Tom overboard as he was. The way he managed his manipulations this week was terribly risky, but he pulled it off successfully. 

The question is, how many people are once again being rubbed the wrong way by Gary and his flamboyant ways? 

HOH will be played tomorrow, so Andrew gets to enjoy his reign for a few more hours. 

FEED ALEC

Tonight, Gary invited everyone up to the HOH room for a party, first implying and then flat-out stating it was a task.

(It wasn't.)

Who wants to see my HOH room again?

Everyone played along, some more grudgingly than others, until Gary finally acknowledged that he had probably failed the (fake) task by stating it was a task. 

Take me to funky town

Talla erupted into the fourth of four enormous Have Not breakdowns of the week. Emmett had a meltdown over lacking his preferred protein powder, Jillian threw one over the pedicure task, Alec broke down over the shower incident last night, and now it was Talla's turn.

Does anyone know American Sign Language? Interpret please?

Oh, well, I know what that means, in the UK, anyway.

Alec is on week three of this clearly inadequate slop regime. Talla, Emmett and Jillian can make it a few more days, but Big Brother Canada needs to get with the program and get some food in that boy before he has another breakdown. 

What Happened To Alec?

Last night was an interesting one in Big Brother Canada land, as fans tried to piece together the full sequence of events, first from what we did see on the live feeds, and later from After Dark, which airs, bizarrely, hours after the fact. 

Most of the drama was actually between Topaz and Liza, which has been brewing for awhile anyway. Alec kept trying to play down the incident and bury his emotions, making amends with Tom (though later insisting he wants Tom out), and being distant with Peter and Topaz, his closest friends in the game.

Why?

Alec is in an interesting position in the house. The PhD student in Social Psychology understands what makes people tick, and he's been very clear from the start that he doesn't want to be the ticker. He keeps his emotions in check and tries to play dispassionately, making alliances based on logic rather than based on how much he likes people. He seems to like Topaz and strongly dislikes Tom, but you wouldn't know it from where his alliances stand.

We know Alec has emotions, but he'd prefer we didn't. The guy wants to be the Spock of the house, but he's unfortunately lacking in Vulcan parentage.

Additionally, Alec's now on his third week of slop. Last week was a bit of a break, with beaver tails and poutine to snack on, but this week's punished Have-Nots are getting nothing but slop. They haven't even had any prize meals. Emmett and Jillian have been breaking down left and right, too, Emmett over the lack of his preferred protein supplement, and Jillian over being required to service feet for two and a half hours. (Okay, most people would have broken down about that even without the slop, but still.)

All of this culminated last night in Alec's embarrassment over being exposed. Would he have been as upset if he'd had a real meal in the past week? Probably not. Would he have been as upset if he'd had a chance to vent in the past few days? Probably not. He's been controlling his emotions with everything he had left, and last night, he ran out of resources to cover it.

Who's he taking it out on? The people who he's closest to - Peter and Topaz, whose sympathy and attention ultimately broke him down. 

Some have speculated that he's faking his reaction for sympathy or game reasons, but that doesn't seem like Alec's style. Sure, he's a manipulator, but last night he was genuinely mortified by his uncontrolled display of emotion. He's not that good an actor, and don't expect to see Diary Rooms from him downplaying his reaction, unless, of course, he wants to cover up to us too, which is entirely possible. 

Alec has been a pot waiting to boil over all week, and it will be interesting to see if he's able to continue to suppress his emotions, or if the effects of his stoic slop performance continue to boil over in awkward ways.

In other news: Big thanks to ChitownBB for the new background! Check out his Twitter, where he's also got a lot to say about Big Brother Canada.