1. This is the best season of Big Brother that I have seen in a long time. I think it is because the cast is much more willing to backstab than the first round of Canadian houseguests. While this doesn’t generally translate into a good season, I generally feel like the cast this season is a lot more layered and this has resulted in a season that is completely addicting.
2. I honestly believe that the two best players this season are Sabrina and Arlie. Both are completely shocking to me and for entirely different reasons. While I initially thought that Arlie would end up talking a better game than he actually played, I am surprised at how different he is from his pre-show interviews. I thought his dorky personality and over-the-top nature would make him overplay, but it is his level of restraint that I have been most impressed with so far. Sabrina has also been playing a masterful game. While she still isn’t one of my favourite people in the house, she has done an excellent job at basically aligning herself with every houseguest except Adel. Her gameplay resembles Andy’s from Big Brother 15 and he went on to win the game. One of her best moves was telling her First Five Alliance that she would vote for Heather to go to “keep up appearances” with the girls while continuing to use them for information that she would filter back to Kenny and Andrew. This covers her from all sides. Her grating personality also would make her a great choice to take in front of a jury and I don’t think there is any doubt that she has the most power in the house (without even winning a single competition).
3. I loved the alcohol ‘secret’ task on Sunday’s episode. It was hilarious to see Jon and Allison pretend to act sober in front of the other houseguests and props to the producers for having the guts to include a drinking challenge on the episode. I don’t think we would see something like that on the U.S. show. Ah, the benefits of cable versus network…
4. I am pretty excited about the return of Marsha The Moose!
5. I initially predicted that Jon would be a lock to go deep into the game and I think this is almost guaranteed at this point. I just wish he had a little more game as I actually think he could win if he did.
6. It’s fascinating that people are still willing to align with Adel. He has been like the Midas Opposite. Instead of turning everything he touches into gold, he somehow manages to turn it into coal. He is like the black widow of alliances. His alliance with Kyle sent the Nova Scotian musclehead home. His alliance with Paul sent the motivational speaker home. Now it appears that his alliance with Ika will send her packing. He would be the last person I would want to align with, simply based on history.
7. While I know most of you like the way that Adel has used his special veto power, giving him two weeks of safety and making something out of nothing (since the power is basically useless), it frustrates me to no end that the other players believe he is untouchable for two weeks. At this rate, he could have probably told them that he could use the power for the rest of the game and they would have believed him. Ugh.
8. While we all agree that Neda is one of the better players this season, it is getting to the point where it won’t matter as she won’t have the numbers to make a move (even if she wants to). At this point, her only play is to basically go with the guys as well and somehow try and infiltrate from within. The Girls Alliance that she wanted to create so badly has clearly gone nowhere fast and it is time for Neda to reevaluate and readapt.
9. If for no other reason, Arlie deserves to win because he was the ONLY player that reached out to Heather and saw her as a free vote that he could use to his advantage. While Adel also eventually recognized Heather’s potential to serve his own game, Arlie gets props for being the first to see the most obvious move of the season.
10. I can’t wait for Ika to leave. She drives me bananas!
