On Thursday’s episode of Big Brother, Hisam’s plan to evict Reilly came to fruition. By unanimous vote, Reilly was evicted from the Big Brother house. In typical fashion, the broadcast led the audience to believe that the houseguests were actually putting a plan together to save Reilly and then backdoor Hisam. Hisam’s teammates, the Professors, were all talking behind his back about potentially saving Reilly. Reilly’s team was feverishly working to gather votes from the other side to save her.

In the end, it was the same old Big Brother mis-direct. After all the hub-bub, the houseguest’s chose to follow the HOH’s lead and vote out his target. This technique is becoming tired and makes the eventuality all that much more obvious to the viewer. Big Brother may need to find more ways of inserting drama, because “this ain’t it!”

Having not watched the live feeds, this season comes off as a bit of a snooze-fest. There are really only two groups at work here, and those groups are not vehemently opposed to the other side. The house is divided straight down the middle, with only two interesting story lines at work: Evicting Hisam and the cross-house partnership between mother and son.

Hisam has already painted a huge target on his back in two ways in this short season. First, he continues to dominate competitions. Bringing that kind of attention early can be a bad thing when half of the house notices and has a 50/50 chance of being in power the following week. Secondly, his antics and control issues have soured him within his own alliance. He blatantly throws his power around and dictates how the group should move forward. During one meeting, he asked questions of the group and then answered his own questions, shutting them down as the attempted to speak. It is likely that, regardless of who is in power, he will be the target next week.

To this point, Jared and Cirie’s relationship seems to be working fine. However, as the two are working together on opposite sides of the house, that will come into conflict sooner rather than later. Cirie is smart and should be able to manage for a while, but protecting Jared may eventually be her undoing. He does appear to be a decent competitor in comps, so gaining power once in a while should help them along.

Power Rankings– Who’s Safe Who’s Not

(Steve: Based on watching televised broadcasts only)

In trouble:

Steve: Hisam is in real trouble. He not only angered the other side of the house targeting Reilly, but he has also alienated his own side. Not only was he condescending, but he also went behind their backs trying to build relationships with the other side. If they decide to backdoor and he isn’t picked for Veto, he will be gone.

Cory- potentially. America shared some info with him and he immediately ran to the other side of the house after she told him not to. Not sure how this will play out. Could be nothing.

Ray: Hisam – it’s hard to overstate just how bad his position is right now. Not only has he alienated the entire house with his bullying, domineering manner, but he’s a massive challenge threat and his own side knows he’s dangerous and could turn on them. It’s basically 13-1 against him right now, and they’ll do everything they can to make sure he goes.

Cameron – There’s always got to be a backup, and this weird, intense cowboy doesn’t seem to have any allies in the house save fellow misfit Red. Unlike Red, though, he doesn’t have a good social game. No one actually wants to see him gone this week as their #1 pick, but he could be an easy throwaway vote if Hisam manages to survive.

Safe:

Steve: Everyone else- seriously, this cast is boring to this point. They all seem to get along and no one is really ruffling feathers. I would imagine that the posturing that will take place over the next two weeks will shake up the house with new alliances being formed. Once Hisam is gone, it will be a new game.

Ray: With a backdoor in play, anything can happen, but one thing is for sure – Cirie, Jared, Bowie Jean, Red, and Mecole are 100% safe this week. The new HOH will not put any of them on the block either as a pawn or replacement when there are so many other choices.

Come back next week to find out if Felicia can shake up the house….C’mon Big Brother, times a ticking……

It’s been an interesting season of Big Brother to put it lightly, with many people ready to give up on the season after the first two weeks. They were, to put it lightly, a trainwreck. The first week was dominated by the irksome Paloma, an egomaniac who talked a big game and then walked right out of the house in a quit. The second week saw the straight-out-of-central casting Joe “Pooch” Poocharelli ask to be nominated as a pawn, and then be voted out unanimously.

But that wasn’t the dominant force of the first few weeks of Big Brother 24 – that was the cast’s bizarre obsession with pageant veteran Taylor Hale, who somehow became the most hated person in the house among 75% of the cast. The determined, likable Black woman seemed like she couldn’t do anything right – earning scorn and sniping from many of the women in the house, and intense hatred from a few like Daniel, Nicole, and Terrence.

The season seemed to be headed down a bad path, maybe as an overcorrection to last season’s dominant Cookout alliance. Then everything changed with the introduction of the horribly-named “Festie Besties” twist, forcing the contestants to play in pairs – being nominated together, competing for veto together, and winning safety if your partner won a challenge. This also saw the laid-back thrift-store owner Turner take power – and he managed to cobble together an oddball alliance of the house’s outsiders, called the Leftovers. Despite being out of the main alliance, most of the power players were in this group – and they successfully took out the other side’s three biggest threats, challenge threat Ameerah and the villainous Nicole and Daniel.

The “Besties” twist is over as we get to the jury twist, and the season is looking up – the popular Leftovers completely dominate now, not having given up power since then. Taylor won Head of Household in a tough endurance competition, to the applause of her many fans, but one more twist was revealed – after this eviction, the Big Brother house will be split in two, with two groups of five each playing an individual game of Big Brother for a week and each evicting someone. Depending on the way the groups are divided, this could either mean taking out some fodder – or sniping a major threat while they still can.

The game of Big Brother shifts fast and furious, but below Ray and Steve are going to look at who’s in pole position going into the jury phase – and who has one foot in the jury house.

Below, the jury phase power rankings for the jury phase of Big Brother 24, from least likely to win to most likely.

11. Terrence – Someone’s gotta be last, and “DJ Showtime” has done basically nothing to justify his slot in the game. He’s surly, picks the wrong alliance almost every time, and has offended contestants several times with his comments. As the one vote to keep Daniel, he’s out of the loop, and it’s just a question of when they decide to pick him off.

Terrence clearly overstates his prowess in the house and understanding of the game. Just when he thinks he has a nominee right where he wants them, his hopes are dashed and he’s right back at the bottom. He is on an island and likely to be out of the house tout suite.

10. Jasmine – After Paloma’s departure, this southern belle had a moment as the leader of the “Girl’s Girls” alliance despite her sprained ankle keeping her out of many challenges. Since then, it’s all been downhill. She’s mostly seen as a joke now, with everyone snarking about her behind her back and plotting when it’s time to pick her off – much like she did to Taylor.

Jasmine is likely to go shortly, but could last a little longer, possibly going after Indy and Alyssa, simply because she isn’t a threat at all. She is clearly not a physical threat and hasn’t shown to be mental challenge either. She could float due to this.

9. Indy – Does Indy even know what game she’s playing? There may be a bit of a language barrier, but she mostly seems to wait around to be pulled into alliances. While she’s better at challenges than the two people ahead of her, she may be even more out of the loop. Much like the rest of the non-Leftovers, it’s largely just a question of when she’s the target.

Exactly Ray. I almost feel sorry for her. The annoying thing about Indy is that she seems put out anytime she is mentioned as a pawn, even though she hasn’t earned anything in the game.

8. Alyssa – Unlike the rest of the outsiders, Alyssa has a close alliance – Kyle, who wants to protect her and may even choose her over the Leftovers. But despite her athleticism, she hasn’t proven to be a challenge threat and the two of them can’t even seem to figure out how serious they are. She could go deep if the Leftovers fragment, but I doubt she has the momentum to make a run at the crown.

Not only is she not a threat, Ray, but I’m not sure her showmance is much of a help. The rest of the leftovers are aware of the couple and not completely sold on Kyle’s allegiance to the over her. She will likely have to win something to make it much further.

7. Kyle – It can be challenging to wait things out until it’s time for an alliance to turn on itself like the Cookout did, but Kyle has taken paranoia and impatience to a new level. Between his transparent showmance with Alyssa and his suggestions of an all-white alliance to prevent another Cookout – which wasn’t happening – Kyle has lost most of his goodwill and could be an easy first boot for the Leftovers.

I most definitely think he will be the first targeted, if they don’t target him early given the chance. He is in a weird spot not knowing exactly what to do with Alyssa and making his alliance wonder about him. If he doesn’t make a sneaky deal, he is done.

6. Taylor – Taylor’s early-game struggles made her a popular underdog, and she has a lot of goodwill with most of her fellow contestants. That being said, they know she has the biggest underdog story in Big Brother history, and they’re likely to make sure she doesn’t get to plead her case. She has to go up against a trio of powerhouses to get to the end, and I see her underdog story ending before finale night. Her messy early HOH run hasn’t helped her case.

I have been a big fan of Taylor’s since her early struggles with the house. I think she has also endeared herself to America and could very well win America’s Choice. However, she has seemed clueless since winning HOH. It seems as if she doesn’t really understand how it works. Hopefully it’s just a hick-up.

5. Brittany – Has any contestant ever outperformed their bio more than Brittany? The psychic who boasted of wanting to eliminate all the smart and strong people has turned out to have a surprisingly savvy social game and an F2 deal with the game’s best challenge threat. That being said, her resume isn’t where it needs to be yet to win this game – her best hope is an extremely bitter jury.

The best thing Brittany has done in this game is align herself with Michael. His unbelievable prowess in competitions has kept her safe to this point. She has done well socially, but will need more than Michael once the Leftovers turn on each other.

4. Joseph – The young lawyer has played a key role in the forming of the Leftovers, but he’s overall maintained a more laid-back vibe than the other ringleaders. This could benefit him – if he gets there. But he hasn’t shown much challenge skill yet, and Big Brother becomes incredibly comps-based in the engame.

Yeah, Joseph has done well connecting with the house, but you are right, Ray, he will need to win something to make it far. At this point, he hasn’t battled very well and looks like he is riding coat tails.

3. Michael – Targeted right out of the gate for being a nerdy superfan, Michael answered the challenge – and is on his way to becoming one of the biggest challenge threats in Big Brother history. That also means his target gets bigger and bigger every week, and it’s likely his own side will try to snipe him at some point. That being said, could he win one challenge every week? It no longer looks that unrealistic – and if he gets to the end, no one could stop him.

If a player wants to make a big move and add to their resume, making a plan to backdoor Michael and get him out of the game would go a long way. Waiting too long could spell doom for the others.

2. Monte – There’s a type that does really well on Big Brother – Derrick, Cody, Xavier – and Monte fits that model to a T. Charming, physically dominant, good social game, and at the center of a key alliance. Monte is considered a threat and has been floated as a backdoor target multiple times, but as long as Michael is in the house he’ll never be the biggest target. And by the time they get to him, it might be too late.

Monte’s run could end early if Michael takes control again. He knows that Monte is a huge threat; making the move too early could have been a mistake. Not that jury has started a big move would make sense. If he can avoid Michael, he could find himself in final two.

#1. Turner – Speaking of outperforming the bio! This shaggy hipster looked like the season’s comic relief at first – and his deadpan reads of Jasmine and Kyle have been a season highlight. But he had the most defining Head of Household of the season – and no one seems to remember he’s a threat, despite him being a contender in almost every challenge. His short stature hides his strength, he’s a savvy student of the game, and he’s completely underestimated. As Michael, Monte, and Kyle go to war, he’s in the perfect position to emerge from the flaming wreckage of the Leftovers and win Big Brother 24.

You are right on, Ray. And might I add that he is one heckuva guy. He was the one to stand up for Taylor when she needed it most. Kudos to him! He is certainly clever and is liked by everyone. Even with a lesser resume, he could compete in the finals.

If there’s one thing we learned from the first cycle of Celebrity Big Brother 3, it’s that these celebrities are here to play just as hard as the regular houseguests. Well, most of them. After a chaotic first episode that saw Meisha
Tate being crowned the first Head of Household, we knew things were going to get crazy – but we didn’t know how crazy.

The first week of Celebrity Big Brother was defined by shifting alliances and targets, in a way we haven’t seen since the madness of Big Brother 19. Teddi Mellencamp was the early target, having tried and failed to secure safety for herself before dropping out of the challenge. Two core alliances formed quickly – Formation, which was led by Carson, Cynthia, Toddrick, and Shanna and later expanded to include Teddi and Mirai. But at the same time, Meisha was forming her own alliance of more athletic contestants – including Toddrick and Mirai, who were quickly double-dealing.

And that was one of the key things that set things in motion this week – people gaming too hard, too fast. After Mirai was caught shuffling information back and forth between the two sides and got caught by Toddrick, Meisha shifted the target from Teddi to her – and needed a pawn. That was chosen to be Carson, who everyone thought was too likable to be voted out. Except that Toddrick knew that, and was quickly talking to people about whether it might be an opportunity to snipe him early.

But it wouldn’t be Celebrity Big Brother – or any Big Brother – without a twist throwing the game for a loop. It turned out to be the bizarre hat/purse that Todd “won” by sitting out the HOH competition, and it led to a safety-chain competition where one by one the contestants passed the hat to each other. The last person to receive the hat would win safety for the week – and it turned out to be Cynthia, who was in no danger anyway. But the houseguests were warned that there would be a second, darker twist to the hat later in the week.

The veto gave me good vibes for this season, as it was a challenging puzzle involving solving a text puzzle around scheduling and placing flags in the right order. While Lamar timed out and Toddrick and Mirai struggled, Carson ran away with the challenge, winning it in less than half Meisha’s time. He was safe for this week – but had become the biggest target in the house.

With things in flux, Meisha cut a deal with Mirai and shifted the target back to Teddi, who wound up on the block and campaigned hard to stay. But it was all going to be irrelevant shortly, as the contestants were told live that they had to play another safety chain game with the hat – this time, with the last person to receive the hat being put on the block automatically and having to remove one of the two nominees. This is a ridiculous twist and puts a lot of the game out of the hands of the HOH – but it certainly was entertaining to watch.

It was Todd who wound up on the block, capping a week where he voluntarily gave up the chance at power, and he barely seemed to be even campaigning to stay. But in the end, the alliance lines were set and Teddi was sent home in a 5-3 vote, seemingly firmly putting Meisha’s block in control of the game.

But it would all depend on who took control of the game next.

Spoilers for Sunday’s Episode of Celebrity Big Brother 3 Below

Celebrity Big Brother Round Two Head of Household – Chris Kirkpatrick

So the N’Sync veteran has taken control of the game, and Meisha’s group maintains control. Who’s in danger this week?

Below, the Celebrity Big Brother 3 round two power rankings.

1. Meisha – Not only is she safe this week, but Chris will likely be heavily relying on her to help determine his moves.
2. Lamar – He’s a messy player, but as one of the game’s athletes, there’s no reason for Chris to target her now.
3. Shanna – She flipped towards the athletes in the vote, despite not really being in their alliance. I don’t think anyone sees her as a threat right now.
4. Todd – After having the week from hell last time, I expect he’ll slip under the radar.
5. Toddrick – Toddrick played harder than anyone else last week, and is still juggling two alliances. He should be safe – if he can keep it together.
6. Cynthia – As a member of the alliance on the outs, she could easily be on the block – but I think there are bigger fish to fry.
7. Carson – Hands down the biggest target in the game, but I don’t think Chris K wants him out as much as his alliance-mates do.
8. Chris Kattan – He continues to play under the radar and doesn’t seem to have any alliances. He makes for an inviting pawn, and pawns can go home very easily.
9. Mirai – I’m not sure exactly what happened here, but apparently she and Kirkpatrick had an ugly fight early in the game that nearly made him quit the show. While she briefly had an alliance with Meisha, I don’t think it’ll be enough to save her from being target #1 this week.