What a difference a few weeks make. In Week 1, Big Brother 20’s Sam was the country girl we all felt sorry for in robot form, and by Week 4, she’s turned into a powerhouse.
Love her.
This blog post does not contain spoilers past the eviction of July 26, which means I and many readers have no idea who won the Head of Household. Let’s not spoil it for each other, pretty please. And if you’re not caught up through Thursday, July 26, stop reading now!
Kristi and I fell way behind because of vacations and work and, well, just life. My ideal Big Brother viewing experience is to be caught up with the HOH proceedings on Thursday night and then start in with the live feeds on Friday. I wouldn’t watch all the time; I’d just pop in from home while cleaning house or catching up on bills.
When I used to blog about Big Brother more regularly, I’d be up at 2 or 3 in the morning watching the feeds, and I quickly realized that it wasn’t a habit compatible with professional goals and my old-man lifestyle. I’m definitely an early-to-bed, early-to-rise sort of dude.
Alas, there are no feeds for me as of the moment. Just can’t find the time and the right spot in the show’s proceedings to do it.
Have I rambled enough to keep the spoilers away?
Good.
It was truly a cringe-inducing moment to watch Kaitlyn struggle with the challenge Thursday night. She had 2.5 minutes to put the puzzle back together after her eviction, an insta-opportunity to return to the house. However, I think she went way too quickly. She should have slowed down and paid more attention to how the pieces fit together.
It was for the “highest good.” Hehe.
In my opinion, #BB20 Tyler has played the best pure Big Brother game so far, by a mile. #BB20 Sam has come on strong after a near-miss Week 1, but she ruffled feathers with her speech directed toward Kaitlyn and Haleigh, and by putting up Rockstar. It pained me to see Sam attempt to put up #BB20 J.C. Thursday night. I was like, “What are you thinking?”
But back to Sam’s nomination speech. Here it is, below, as part of a compilation video that also shows Kaitlyn’s and Haleigh’s reactions:
I think America and especially red-state middle America probably loves the welder from Virginia. In her nomination speech, she railed against Kaitlyn and Haleigh and how they treat the “young men” of the house. She also spoke of true female empowerment and how neither one of them symbolized it.
And then 15 minutes later, we see Sam with Faysal all over her in the HOH room.
Is Sam’s nomination speech one of the best ever? Here’s another compilation clip from YouTube showing some of the best Big Brother speeches ever. Will Kirby’s is one of my all-time favorites from #BB7.
Oh, and don’t forget Andrew’s speech from #BB12. I had forgotten that one.
Back to Big Brother 20:
Sam is playing the game, and she’s doing it with a personality I can’t remember in the Big Brother house — a fiercely independent conservative woman. I just presume the conservative part because of her proclamations of being old-fashioned and that thick Appalachian accent.
And make no mistake: I love her as a player. She’s refreshing.
Tyler has played more of the classic social-game-first strategy. Kristi put it best last night when she said Tyler’s genius is that his attempts to play dumb genuinely come off as an ability to listen well.
She nailed it.
There’s a third player who I think is doing really well and has a chance to win the whole enchilada: Scottie. Having grown up as a nerd, I can attest to being underrated over the years athletically and socially. I’m old now, so I’m merely slow and stubborn. And I doubt I was ever nearly as athletic as Scottie, who has proven himself to be fleet of foot and able to endure.
Quick side note: Sam’s HOH win after the Week 3 eviction reminded me a ton of Evel Dick’s Final 3 win in the rain. His victory in #BB8 was the most powerful competition win in the show’s history, in my opinion. Such grit. However, Sam’s win atop the logs last week impressed me greatly.
Except that Evel Dick *didn’t* win that endurance competition! I had forgotten that. I thought he had. He won the whole of the multi-part competition that netted him the victory. Anyway, the Big Brother endurance competitions are no joke.
Here’s Evel Dick from a few years back in that Final 3 HOH competition:
I digress. Back to Big Brother 20:
Maybe Sam is onto something in her proclamations about female empowerment because, at a brand level, I’m perceiving her to be very empowered, very independent and powerful — and as a viewer, it’s fun to watch.
If I were predicting the future right this second, which might not be so much a prediction as intution (h/t, Kaitlyn), I’d predict that Sam, J.C. and Tyler make it to the Final 3 and that Sam wins the last HOH and takes J.C. to the Final 2. That’s just playing out in my head.
#BB20 J.C. is not a strong player, in my opinion. He’s floating around on charisma and cuteness, although those could be strategies, too. His conversation with Baylee was painful to watch, not just because of what he said but because he’s not very good with language. Heck, I don’t even mean the English part of it, although the whole ‘yatus’ thing was a hoot.
And yet he’s still very likable.
We’ll see. I think this is Sam and Tyler’s game to lose. And I have to think there is no way Swaggy C isn’t coming back to Big Brother, some how some way. He might have annoyed you, but he was pretty good television.
