Big Brother Shenanigans: BB16: Team America

Monday, July 7, 2014

BB16: Team America - Team Production

It's 6:41 am BBT, Cody, Brittany and Zach are still up brewing yet another mutiny against Devin and Caleb. Their plan is to send the dufus duo's pet, Pao, home. Brittany is planning on outing Pao for throwing the BotB competition during her PoV ceremony speech. If everything goes down as planned, this is bound to be one explosive PoV episode.

In unrelated news, Team America has been revealed. Interesting that no women have made the final cut other than Joey whose placement in the TA was most puzzling. Anyway, these three already were given a mission to get people to talk about bald eagles. Umm, okay, Having completed it last night, they also decided to form the America Alliance. The best quote of the night goes to Donny: "If we need a brain we have a brain. (Derrick) If we need a performance, we have a performer. (Frankie) If we need a beard, we got a beard." lol gotta love Donny.

Later in the night, Derrick and Frankie solidify their bond within the alliance, doing a little bit of revisionist history to aid their cause. Frankie tells Derrick that he hasn't chosen a closer alliance within the BS. BS. He brings up that Zach told him that Derrick called Frankie a flip flopper. Derrick says that Cody was worried about Frankie being trustworthy because he talks to Devin too much. One under the bus. Derrick continues to say that he didn't call Frankie a flip flopper, but that he was playing an "Andy game" (BLECH). Derrick of course left huge portions of that conversation out. They agree that this is now their core alliance, and will use their influence in the house, without giving Donny any credit. You watch and see boys.

Since Frankie turned his back on Zach, a huge portion of BB fans (not including the Grande worshipers) have spewed their rage against him over the internet. This might spell doom to Team America since fans will be voting on their tasks which may or may not include game-related ones, like voting or nominations. Or it could just be tasks involving bald eagles and unicorns. Who knows? It's production's game.

This new alliance joins the other many alliances and "understandings" in this revved up house. So the established alliances are: The Bomb Squad, now mostly defunct, The Cornhole Alliance, consisting of Christine, Nicole and Hayden, America Alliance aka Production Alliance. There are other unofficial and unnamed alliances - The Deluded Alliance between Devin and the voices in his head. The Muscle Heads between Devin and Caleb, and The Mutiny Alliance between Cody, Zach, Derrick and now Brittany. (I named them for clarity)

This leaves a few people in the wind, namely, Victoria, Jacosta, Pao and for the most part, Amber who is in an alliance who underestimates her, treats her like Caleb's chattel and calls her game concerns "emotional". My hope is that she will wake up and gather an army to lead the charge against these ridiculous boys.

The question remains, which of these alliances are real and will withstand the test of time or the end of this week? It's anyone's guess!

p.s. In unrelated news, Devin has declared his crush on Brittany which was brought on by their tearful conversation the other night. (I called it in my preseason assessment BTW) He went from gunning for her to planning their wedding. Okay. Creepy. Caleb, on the other hand is starting to question whether Amber is into him. Welcome to reality, Caleb! Will it be a permanent stay or are you just visiting??

Stay tuned! :)

Big Brother Lexicon

There are certain terms that have been used in the course of this show that should be clarified. Here is a list:

Team America: Yet Another tool for production to manipulate the game. Three players will be placed in alliance by "America" and will be given tasks that apparently will change the game. So far, it didn't change Joey's game, first member of Team America slated to be evicted first.

Battle of the Block: The 2 nominees of each of the 2 HoHs will battle each other. The winner duo save themselves and dethrone the HoH who nominated them, throwing them back out of power at risk of being a renom.

AGP: Allison Grodner of Fly on the Wall Productions which is the company that has been hired by CBS to produce the show.

PoV: Power of Veto. This allows the holder to save one of the nominations for eviction. The last PoV of the game is the most powerful, as it determines who will be evicted.

HoH: Head of Household. Along with getting a primo suite, a letter from home, pictures and treats, this person decides who will be nominated and renominated should the veto be used.

Floater: This term is often misused. A "floaters" strategy is legitimate way to get through and win the game. A prime example of this is Jun Song (BB4). This strategy allows the player to switch alliances when necessary, win when necessary, but always work under the wire. It doesn't mean just going with the power in the house (let's call those floppers). It means manipulating the house, ergo having the power. In later years, the term has been misused for players who do not make any moves in the game but work for whoever has the power.

Backdoor: This strategy is used when the true target for eviction is not initially nominated, does not get a chance to play PoV, is subsequently nominated and evicted.

Blindside: When a player is evicted without even suspecting that he/she is the target.

Pawn: This is a person who is nominated but is part of the HoH's alliance and is used as a decoy, to ensure that the other person nominated gets evicted. It has often happened that the pawn has been blindsided.

America's Player: This is a player in the game, chosen by the viewing public, who is told how to act and vote in the house. They do this for a separate monetary reward.

Fast Forward: When there are two evictions in one week. Typically they tape an eviction on Tuesday followed by a quickie HoH. They have nominations later that night, followed by a PoV competition and PoV ceremony the next day. The second eviction and HoH comp for that week happens live on Thursday.

Double Eviction: On the live show on Thursday, there is an eviction (sometimes pre-taped), followed by a quick HoH comp, immediate nominations, a PoV competition, PoV Ceremony, followed by another Eviction, culminating in the second HoH comp which is usually a physical skill or Endurance.