Saturday, July 2, 2016

#BB18 Power Rankings(Week of July 1st)

While generally this blog is dedicated to discussing the happenings in the world of sports, a little diversity never hurt anyone and I felt it was appropriate to divulge into another strong passion of mine, that being the world of reality television, particularly Big Brother(Canada and U.S.A). With Big Brother 18 well into the swing of things, I've surmised that it would be enjoyable to dedicate a weekly posting to my thoughts on the game itself and how I would rank the positioning of each player in the house. These weekly rankings won't necessarily be notated based on who I like the most, but largely based who I think is in the best spot at the current time. With CBS going public pertaining to this summer's twist classified as the "Battleback", which who are kidding, it's code for "Redemption Island", I won't include the already evicted houseguests on full disclosure that one could conceivably come back after the special July 22nd episode. How I usually like to organize these lists are in descending order from least likely to win to which houseguest is controlling the dynamics presently.

Enjoy!


14.James-James, at least from my vantage point isn't here for the right reasons. As has been discussed plentiful times on RHAP, James' sole motivations for entering the house a second time is to acquire more television time, which honestly is nearly impossible to get behind. Let's analyze his game from Big Brother 17 for a moment.....he made the jury which has to be commended but how he did it could be greatly scrutinized. In BB17, James was the benefactor of a house split in which his own alliance was targeted early and the "stronger" player from said alliance(Jason Roy) was the one who was forced to bite the bullet and once his numbers disintegrated he was perceived as fodder and was given a three week reprieve until alliances had reconfigured once again. His strategical competence could be compared to that of the English soccer team in the most recent Euro 2016 tournament(hey, I had to include a sports reference sooner rather than later) as the English team sat back and let the inferior Icelandic squad push the  pace of play. Fast forward to this summer as he was given the undeserved honor of playing second time(paging Johnny Mac) and it's as if he's following the same script. He's conveniently weezled himself into the eight pack alliance, and before I continue on my tangent can we just give a shout out to the castmates for not resorting to ridiculous, obscure alliance names such as the "Moving Company", or "Chop Shop", as I'm kind of digging these number themed alliance monikers. In my viewings of James, he's more content of flirting with the likes of Natalie and Nicole and has no interest of making a bold move in order to better position his house standing. Mr.Huling strikes me as the kind of individual who'd rather sacrifice his own game if it meant siding with the cool kids, and the cool kids he sided with alright and the reason for the dead last ranking is because he's the only returnee and one of the few who I give a 0% chance of taking the championship belt this season.


13.Victor- I am indeed aware that Victor has won the week two edition of the Roadkill twist and has been giving the luxury of secretly nominating a houseguest for eviction but that doesn't rescind the angst I have regarding Victor's game.  If I were to offer up a comparable in Big Brother circles to Victor's game I would conjur up the name of Jeremy McGuire from the infamous Big Brother 15. Somebody who believes that with his beach body physique and athleticism that his housemates will naturally want to be on his team the entire summer as if to say he's caught a glimpse of the unfortunate Jozea syndrome. Victor's lack of self awareness in this game is pitiful as anyone who doesn't pick up on the notion that the returnees would inevitably side with the siblings and form the seasons first major alliance is perplexing. I'd love the opportunity to interview Victor and inquire what his thoughts were when a large group of eight houseguests would huddle up sans himself and yet still opine he's in the numbers. His trajectory in this game is not a good one and even with the Roadkill victory, there's still a strong chance he could be walking out the door next Thursday if his name isn't pulled in the Veto draw. I'd normally rank James ahead of Victor in this spot but I can't get past my disdain for James as no excuses for a returning player to fall in the same trap in back to back seasons even though it's obvious James will find a way to outlast Victor.


12.Bronte-It's reassuring to see CBS has stunt casted from their own hit sitcom the Big Bang Theory, Bernadette Rostenkowski. Wait, are you now telling me this is not Bernadette but an actual human being going by the name of Bronte, well I'll be damned. In all seriousness, Bronte is going to exit the house eventually and be embarrassed at the fact that her reads on her fellow competitors was nearly Jozea-esque. You're adament that you desire an all girls alliance but yet in a meeting that the now evicted Jozea had organized you sell out one of your own core alliance members in Bridgette for "spying" at the other side? Not an ideal way to ingratiate yourself to your fledgling aliance. This aspiring mathematician can surely figure out that 5>8 when  computing that her numbers are in the minority and in order to reach longevity in this game, I'd strongly recommend that the "Spy Girls" try to swoon Da'Vonne and Zakiyah into their core group as in my opinion Da'Vonne's standing isn't actually that great as I will attempt to eloquently explain shortly and it would behoove the aforementioned two to latch on to this all girls bond as if Bronte can convince these two of this, then sincere apologies for ranking her this low and she may have an arm and a leg in this game after al.


11.Tiffany-Once again, keep in mind this isn't a ranking based on where I project someone to finish, as if it was Tiffany would jump much higher on this list but this ranking is meant to rank players on their chances to win which sadly I don't give much hope for Ms.Tiffany Rousso. Her sister Vanessa didn't sit still last season, she consistently jumped from one group to the next and I'm just not seeing that capability out of Tiffany, Her content-isms if you will with this eight pack and fatal five alliances is concerning to me because on both fronts it's apparant she's at the bottom of the totem pole and her progression screams of being dumped at final seven, final eight. There will come a time, and it remains to be seen on when that time is, the individuals that she has put her trust into will view her as expendable when the numbers allow them to do so. The one thing Id like to comment on is why Tiffany, if she learned anything from her sister isn't grasping at the opportunity to reel in Victor and Bronte because that's what the Senior Rousso did so masterfully, latch on to the underdogs and let it ride. The  lack of adaptability has led me to this particular ranking.

10.Da'Vonne-There are select things to like about Da'Vonnes game but conversely there are things to shutter about. We'll start with the things I'm liking, I'm liking that Da'Vonne isn't satisfied with status quo and is already looking ahead to future weeks and is starting to shake down with players who share similar agendas have the ideology to target some of the power players sooner than most. This subject matter was brought up on one of the more recent RHAP episodes in which one or more of the live feed correspondents were in agreeance that Da'Vonne is starting to replicate some of her mistakes of playing too strong, too fast which I vehemently disagree with. Da'Vonne's issue last summer was the confrontations not necessarily her strategical aggressiveness. This season, Da'Vonne is showcasing a more reserved demeanor and isn't being construed as the vocal leader but yet is involved in making a plethora of under the table deals which is okay in my books, the reason for such a disappointing ranking is that in making these deals she's not being covert enough and some of her dealings are being relayed to the wrong ears.  So in summary with Mamma Day as she's affectionately known by, it's not how many deals she's making that has me at a cause for concern, it's her carelessness in keeping the pertinent conversations private that will prove to be her downfall.

9.Paul-Similarly to James, the motives for being in the house are being questioned by me. His style of play, personality, way of conversing with others is so over the top that his rambunctious way of doing things have no  place in the Big Brother house figuratively speaking of course in the sense anyway that the way he conducts himself gives him little traction to make a deep run in this game.  He was definitely considered for the #13 slot ahead of James but then I got thinking, is it possible that what Paul is preaching could be an evolutionary way of scheming and plotting in this house and could we see someone that is so open and so care free skate all the way to the end. After the first two episodes and due to my Canadian citizenship that's all I can go by as my access to the feeds is limited, I thought Paul was a disaster but am slowly turning in a more positive direction. This current week will go a long way in grading how legitimate Paul's outlook is. He may not know it yet, but the exit of Victor this week would be a tremendous blessing for his game as if this happens he'll fall into a similar spot as Ashleigh Wood was in Big Brother Canada 3 as with his alliance diminished, he becomes  a valuable number and when the absurd eight person alliance splits, depending who he makes nice with could become a power player. The more I talk myself into this, perhaps the ranking is too low????  Would love to hear your thoughts. 

8.Michelle-Seemingly Michelle is in a spectacular spot right about now as she's comfortably negotiated her way into the veterans' circle. Amongst the veterans, she's viewed as non threatening which virtually guarantees her a top four position as I fail to recognize one player that will soon target her with the exception of maybe Bridgette but the likelihood of this happening is very slim. The reasoning for the low ranking is her potential to win. If I recall correctly, we had someone in Big Brother 13 by the name of Adam Poch who was portrayed as a super fan but yet in reality all he was really accomplishing was aiding the returning players to victory and I can't help but ponder if all Michelle will get out of this experience is unknowingly assist either Nicole Franzel or Frank Eudy to Big Brother supremacy.

7.Zakiyah-The gossip queen of the house will find herself in hot water if she doesn't adjust her sharp tongue because right now in my eyes she's too much of an open book. Her edit on the television show has been a rather odd one as she went from being chummy with Jozea and Paul to all of a sudden transitioning to the veterans and siblings. I'll preface this by saying that I understand CBS does what it can to produce an entertaining television show but it would've been honourable had they showcased what led to those three's falling out. Zakiyah has reportedly entered a showmance with Paulie which historically seems to always favour the female in these type of games as Paulie will predominantly be viewed as the bigger threat. Why have Zakiyah at seven then and not higher? Well, for two reasons primarly, one being the aforementioned showmance with Paulie which generally translates into the female being perceived as the Goat, and not the type of goat that Corey chooses to torture and secondly from my two eyes I'm not seeing a clear, laid out strategy that has her identifying a ride and die option? Is it Da'vonne,  and if so, I'm questioning if that's very wise as would you really want to head into a jury battle with someone like that who has been blessed with the gift of gab? If I was playing, and trust me I will when Big Brother Canada 5 premiers, that's not my ideal final two landing spot.

6.Natalie-Natalie mistakenly found her way to a minority alliance after, along with Bronte, advocating so strongly for an all female alliance, There are as many flaws in this plan as there are in Montreal Canadiens General Manager Marc Bergevin building his hockey club.  For starters, if you crave an all female alliance early on, newsflash Natalie,,,,,try to recruit more than two girls as a three person alliance does nothing in the pre jury segments of this game. I  can't wrap my head around the logic for why Natalie didn't or hasn't(and if she has I apologize for this rant) tried to work her way into the good graces of Zakiyah and Michelle, two players who are apparently content sitting pretty in large numbers to decimate some of the stronger males and for the first time since Suvivor:Fans v Favourites, allow the girls to roll to the end. Those reading this will surmise that in order for that to happen, an Erik Reichenbach is needed and unless CBS has plans to fly in Erik mid game, a new and improved Erik may in fact already be in the house in Victor Arroyo. Victor personifies someone that would clamor at the idea of riding shot gun with the ladies as purportedly when he got cast on this show he thought he was being cast on the Bachelorette. Back to Natalie, her persistence has impressed whether or not she's making the appropriate reads on her fellow house mates and I can see somebody like this who's physically fit being a challenge beast when the time calls and all of this has led to the number six ranking.

5.Nicole-On premier night, she eluded to the fact that she learned from her mistakes about not engaging in showmances any longer, as most will remember the courtship between her and fellow Big Brother 16 contestant Hayden Voss. Did you really learn anything Nicole as she very quickly became flirty with Corey. If it's strategy, then bravo to you Ms.Franzel but as someone who has astute knowledge of this game I can't help but remember that in Big Brother 16 she would constantly go in the Diary Room in the first few weeks and reiterate that her friendship with Hayden was pure strategy and nothing more. Case closed. Nicole is obviously one of the front runners this season, and it's for that reason that I only gave her the number five slot. Will she be seen as too big of a threat?? I'm thinking so, and if the game plays out the way I think it will, the actual frontunner Frank Eudy(hmm, who did I rank number one?) will realize that triumphing over Nicole will be a difficult task and she could be prone to a blindside in the near future. Even though she has the resume to win a game such as this, it's for that reason that I speculate she'll barely reach jury and if somehow she can surpass and conquer the great Frank Eudy, a path to the final two is well in sight.

4.Corey-Unbeknownst by some, Corey's perception inside the confines of the Big Brother house differs greatly from the perception from the casual fan. Inside the house, Corey is considered endearing, incredibly loyal and someone that people want to keep around a long time. This my friends is a recipe for success. In my mind, Corey's mimicking a style that was proven successful by Hayden Moss. On the exterior, the belief is that he's the favourite to win each and every competition as Hayden was in Big Brother twelve but the truth is they don't win a lot, because in Big Brother the majority of the competitions are carnival based and require little skill. This idea that the physical threat has to go early is faulty logic as the referendum should truly be that the scheming, nerdy types that win and each every year(Steve Moses, Ian Terry etc etc) are the ones that need to be kept a close eye on. Corey has a quiet charisma that will carry him deep and once they reach jury, if he can acquire the understanding that the time is now to go after the veterans, Corey Brooks the Big Brother 18 champion becomes more plausible.

3.Paulie-The best way to describe Paulie Calafiore is very aware socially. This repeated talk of the "Calafiore way" holds some merit as on the surface it's clear that they're in it to win it, but conversely carry a presence of being a total softy, social butterfly type. I know there are superfans out there that don't appreciate that their spot was taken in favour of a sibling of a former houseguest but reality is the Calafiore's actually play the game. Sure, was the decision to take Derrick to the final two idiotic? Yes, unless you're RHAP live feed correspondent Taran Armstrong but people must remember with how much affection Cody was getting from exiting jury members, he had the internal belief that he could beat anyone, including Derrick. In his post game interviews, Cody used the excuse of unreversible loyalty which I saw right through as code for "the game's over and I still want Derrick to be my buddy". You can be assured that Paulie won't make the same mistake as if I'm correct and Paulie and Frank make a deep run, while Frank will be looking to chop Paulie, it wouldn't surprise me if Paulie elects to do the same,

2.Bridgette-Is it too early to coin her "Basic Bridgette"? This travelling nurse shouldn't pack her bags just yet because her stay projects to  be a very long one. In reading social media, she's receiving very little credit thusfar which I can't fathom because I ask this, is it a sin to be soft spoken in the early stages? Not at all! She's in good with everyone not named Michelle and judging off of her occupation, she's a smart cookie who'll contend in the mental based competitions, if she wants to win those that is. Bridgette has an understanding of the strategy and the reason for adamency for the all girls alliance in the very few diary room sessions of her we've seen is that she knows her best line to the final two is taking as many players that have a less understanding of the game including Bronte or Natalie, her core alliance to boot. Although quieter, she signifies someone who is a smooth speaker that can give crisp, concise answers when the time is needed.

1.Frank-At this point, I expect Frank to win. Why you ask, well I should clarify he's not exactly who I WANT to win((that mantra belongs to Michelle), but the fear I have is that this "Battleback"twist was inputed to assist Frank's journey. Many have compared this premise to that of Redemption Island and while it's been announced that all battleback competitions will commence on July 22, nothing has been stipiulated that the Battle Back won't continue throughout the duration of the season, very much like the Ozzy Lusth rigged season of Survivor:South Pacific(the fact that he didn't win is a complete indictment on his terrible survivor social game) If my premonition is correct and the Battle back lasts the entire campaign you can bet that Mr.Eudy has a guaranteed spot paved in the final three. Without the anticipated twist aiding his game, he's actually playing a very sound game. Natalie and Bridgette adore him which you can count he'll exploit that loyalty later on and the fact that he's the leader of a couple different alliances correlates to longevity. I'll put it this way, I'll be more surprised if Frank doesn't win then if he were to win.




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