GreatSaltLuke

How exactly did Donny figure he was going to get far in the game sleeping completely different hours than everyone else and not making any alliances? No amount of heart or endearing qualities will make up for that.

Not surprising really. Two apples from the same tree usually don't fall that far apart...

Producer/Grodner manipulation is talked about constantly on this board and it really comes down to what Linda said. It is well known that the popular HGs are given advantages in the game in the form of favorable comps and twists and even diary room persuasion. Some make their outrage known every time it happens. Some outright threaten to quit watching (but never really do). Some, myself included, accept it as part of the game and even get a little satisfaction watching the most unpopular HGs get screwed by production. What boggles my mind is that so many HGs seem so confident that their alliance has the game in the bag and are completely oblivious to the fact that production is always going to try to shake things up by throwing in the perfect comps for that underdog with their back to the wall. Yeah, I really liked season 14. It was definitely better than last season and the current season. The insane Willie gave that season such a great start and it had so many other great characters: the master manipulator (Dan), the underdog that won't quit (Frank), the crazy stalker girl (Danielle), the hilarious trash-talker (Britney), the scheming villain (Boogie), the loveable oddball (Ian), the over the hill diva (Janelle). I have fond memories of that season. Season 10 and 11 were also entertaining and season 12 wasn't quite as eventful but had the most effective group alliance ever and I kind of liked it for that. Season 8 and 9 were both very trashy compared to all other seasons but 8 was decent enough and 9 was crappy and unmemorable with the worst twist ever that tried to turn BB into a dating show and failed miserably.

Christine is like Shelly Moore except half the age and half the brains. And double the sliminess!

How come you don't like her? She has to be my favorite female in several seasons of BB! Love her!

I wish that would happen just once. Everyone in the house thinking they are on the outside of some huge alliance would be hilarious!

I'll make a bet with you. You choose any HG you want and I'll take Derrick and whoever's pick is evicted sooner has to come to this thread and post "I MADE A BET WITH ___ AND LOST BECAUSE ___ WAS RIGHT AND I WAS WRONG"

1. Devin will talk about how he is honorable and how he has inegrity and how he is going out with class and how his daughter is going to be so proud of his honor and his integrity and how classy he is and how he has no hard feelings because he has so much class and honor and integrated integrity. 2. Devin... EVERYONE will be happy he is gone... except for me who enjoyed watching the train wreck. 3. I'd like to see Caleb get HOH so I could watch all the cockroaches scramble. The smart viewer always roots for the biggest target to be HOH

But all these things he is doing are smart from a gameplay perspective even if you don't like that he is going after players you like. Getting Caleb to volunteer to go up not only took all the heat for the nomination off his back, it gave the house the 2nd biggest target for eviction if Devin won veto and allows Derrick to guarantee his 2nd nomination safety, keeping his hands clean no matter what going into the next week. Also, Derrick has a good reason for getting someone else to take out Donny for him. Donny is the sentimental favorite in the house and is very likely to win the money if he makes it to the end. However, he is also in Team America, meaning Derrick can't go after him himself without a lot of fan hate coming his way. Subtley trying to persuade someone else to take him out is best for Derrick's game.

He's campaigning hard today. He keeps saying all he needs is 6 votes which shouldn't be hard to get but that just shows how little he knows about the game. He needs 11 votes because the house almost always votes together and even the ones that don't vote with the house usually make sure it's okay with the others first.

I have to strongly disagree with comparing Devin's behavior with Derrick's. I feel like these two are on opposite ends on the spectrum on how to be an HOH. Devin played his HOH extremely erratically and wrecklessly. His paranoid delusions and making decisions on a whim based purely on emotions dug maybe the quickest grave I've ever seen dug in this game. Derrick, on the other hand, is playing it perfectly. Caleb didn't just volunteer out of the blue to go on the block. Derrick masterfully persuaded him to volunteer, using his feelings for Amber as a tool. He was able to turn his nomination into what feels to Caleb like a favor, which is about the best outcome you can hope for as an HOH. He's definitely playing a sneaky game but he's doing it in a very smart way that I've had fun watching. I think a good indication of who is playing the best game is listening for who's name is being mentioned the least as a target and I don't think I've heard a single person mention his name. I remember thinking the same thing about Andy last season and that turned out pretty well for him.

He remains far and away the best player in the game IMO.Usually an accidental HOH early on is disastrous but he's doing a great job of avoiding any feather ruffling.

He is one smart dude with the right skillset for this game. I can't think of a profession to come from that could be better suited to playing this game than an undercover cop. How perfect is that?

I don't think it's uncommon for a guy to have an ego as big as his but it's a lot more rare to find someone so oblivious to the fact that constantly bragging about themselves on national television makes them look pathetic to viewers. Yet somehow casting keeps finding these types.

Thank goodness this sibling of a famous person actually has a personality and seems to know how to play this game unlike that black hole of all common sense Elisa.

I hardly notice this guy most of the time but his heavy metal song about Pao's veto attempt cracked me up pretty good.

He's too nice for this game but he may be the most humble, sympathetic person to ever play. He's one of those rare players that I wouldn't mind seeing win just for being such a good dude who's had a rough life rather than any strategic reasons. When he was crying tears of joy because he's not used to anyone caring about him I was ready for them to give him the money and call it a season.

Seems like a douchier version of Shane to me.

I've never heard any of these songs. I feel old... Though I'm the same age as some guy who looks like he uses cotton candy for mousse (which he probably can't spell) so it's not so bad... 11 year difference between Frankie and Ariana? How many kids did these Grandes crap out anyways?

I've been reading similar stuff Moxie and the new rumor seems to be that this will be an All-Star season. One hint of this is that they just happened to make the first All-Stars season available on the CBS website recently. Also some past popular HGs have been posting some wierd stuff on Twitter lately. Matt Hoffman is suddenly off to Uganda? Ian Terry is suddenly packing up and moving to Houston along with some fake images that were quickly removed after being discovered? Robyn Kass, the BB casting director, posting various cast pictures, with the picture of the first all-star cast as her finale? HMMM...

Let's get this straight... There is no proof that any BB winner has ever been rigged as in the 1950s gameshow scandals. To rig a BB win, they would actually have to coerce the jury and keep them all silent about it. That would be very difficult and there is no proof that has ever happened. But BB is not a fair game. There is gonna be favoritism towards the popular players. There are going to be comps and twists that favor the players that are boosting the ratings to try to keep the show more entertaining. If the show is in danger of taking a major nosedive in viewership because the popular players (Jordan/Rachel) are on their way out the door, they might give them a twist and comp that favors them. That's not the same as secretly forcing their competitors to throw the challenge, which would be illegal under current gameshow regulations. I watch sports when I want to see fair competition. I watch BB just for the drama and entertaining characters and often I even find myself appreciating it when they give the entertaining personalities a helping hand. If you can't stand contestant favoritism I would not watch this show or any other competitive reality tv shows out there because almost all of them do this to some extent. Here's the way I rationalize it: In addition to playing the social game to win allies and the physical game to win comps, they are also playing the unspoken popularity game to get viewers excited about them. Instead of allies and comp prizes, their reward for excelling at this is a little help now and then from "Big Brother". I think if they are receiving that help than they earned it by entertaining us or even being someone we love to hate. Just my perspective.

That may be true although there is always plenty of manipulation going on every season. The Rachel/Jordan double veto was pretty ridiculous but I'm sure CBS was terrified of a Porsche/Khalia/Shelly/Adam final 4. Despite Rachel's helping hands from behind the scenes, I found that season way more entertaining than BB12 or BB15.

I chose 9/cast. I'm a live feed junkie so I'm always getting really excited on the eve of a new season and it usually increases to 10 the week before when we've learned all the details. And the cast is everything for this show so that really was the only pick for me.

We are in the minority here but that's what I was thinking. Every season everyone on the board shouts ALL NEW CAST, ALL NEW CAST, but let's take a look at the last 4 seasons, two of which were all new and two of which had some returning players. BB12 was all new and is widely considered one of the most boring seasons. BB13 had some returning players and it was good. BB14 had some returning players and it was very good. BB15 was all new again and it SUCKED. Are you seeing a pattern here that maybe explains why CBS loves to go with the safe option of bringing people back?

But didn't you LOVE to HATE them? I think their seasons would have been way more boring without them. Shelly's web of lies kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see when it would all unravel. Frank was the target of the whole house for several weeks and he just kept pulling out those comp wins. It was fun to watch how long he could last. They were also both always working the social game which spiced up the feeds.