BBB 2: Episodes 13 & 14

The penultimate episode this season was so dull it's barely worth mentioning. All I will say is that listening to people discussing an old man's digestive system & enlarged prostate for 30 minutes does not make for good television.

On the other hand, the finale episode was rather entertaining. A fire challenge at tribal, a new challenge where someone got to remove a jury member, and a bitter bitter jury were all enjoyable. However, I think we all agree that the million dollars went to the wrong contestant: the sole survivor was clearly Mark the Chicken. His life was literally on the line & he's the only chicken who's ever lasted a whole season!

I want to quote the surprisingly insightful Moon, who noted after episode 6: "The "Screentime Theory" says that Neal, Julia, Joe, Aubry and Cydney can't win. The "Dickhead Theory" says that Nick, probably Jason and Scot and maybe Debbie can't win. That leaves Tai and Michele." In a season full of bold moves & dumb people, Moon called this one early... and rather often in the way he poo-pooed my power rankings. And rightly so.

I want to take a moment to complain about Neal & Joe being on the jury in the first place. As players who were medevacked, they don't have the chip on their shoulder that other players do. Aubry was in their alliance & didn't have to backstab them for them to make the jury. So she can easily win their vote without having to defend or justify any of her actions. Ultimately in this case the jury was so bitter that it didn't matter. But I still don't like the decision to let them stay on the jury. And I think that Bag should tweet as much to Probst!

Finally, a note about the scoring: because Neal was removed from the jury, we also removed the points he'd initially earned by making the jury. In the end, this may not have been a million-dollar play by Michele, but it did affect the outcome of the pool!


The Teams:

Bagdrea "Beautiful Mind" - 117 points

1. Caleb (6 pts)
2. Tai (55 pts)
3. Nick (38 pts)
4. Joe (18 pts)

Doug & Bri "She-Ra" - 114 points

1. Liz (-2 pts)
2. Jenny (-6 pts)
3. Michele (87 pts)
4. Cydney (35 pts)

MoonBee "Dairy Kings" - 111 points

1. Neal (13 pts)
2. Julia (40 pts)
3. Scot (14 pts)
4. Aubry (44 pts)

Michal & Ben "Cock of the Walk" - 88 points

1. Anna (9 pts)
2. Jason (38 pts)
3. Peter (14 pts)
4. Debbie (27 pts)

Dreg: Alecia - 0 points


Prop Bets:

Stakes for each bet = 1 drink

People involved	Castaways Involved	Method of measurement	And the winner is...
Ben v. Bag	Doug's team v. Moon's team	more points	Ben
Moon & Doug	1.5 line on medevacs	Over	Moon & Doug
Ben & Bag	1.5 line on medevacs	Under	X
Ben v. Bag	Anna v. Liz	Longevity	Ben
Ben v. Moon	Anna v. Liz	Longevity	Ben
Ben v. Bag	Anna v. Liz	Points	Ben
Ben v. Moon	Anna v. Liz	Points	Ben
Ben v. Bag	Caleb v. Aubry	getting medevacked	Ben
Ben v. Bag	Debbie v. Alecia	Longevity	Ben

Next Season:

20 castaways battle it out in Fiji. The theme is Millenials v. GenX which seems pretty boring to me. Hopefully they'll have some interesting & intelligent players. I'd also love to see the final challenge of choosing to remove a jury member come back again too!

BBB 2: Episodes 11 & 12

Time is flying by, and so is this Survivor season. With only 5 players left, it feels like the finale should be next week, but previews made it seem like there are a least 2 episodes left, which is surprising.

I've missed a couple of episodes, so feel free to vote DoW for both episodes 11& 12. Plus, with a very big wedding coming up, I doubt everyone will have time to read this blog, so you have next week to vote too. (Is that a great wedding gift or what?) :)

Quick recap: Episode 11 was when Julia got voted out. There was a brief attempt at voting out Tai or at least flushing his idol, but in the end no one went for it. Episode 12 was when Tai used his extra vote to try & vote out Michele, but the way in which he approached this was so off-putting to the other players that the plan backfired even though he used it advantage of an extra vote to try & pull it off.

In regards to Jason's attempt at getting at Tai: I don't see why they didn't all go for it. Cydney & Michele had no need to "go against" their alliance on this. They could have all been on the same page & split votes. It seemed like Cydney was very open & forthcoming about this, but maybe Aubry's loyalty to Tai prevented it from happening. If so I think that was a big mistake because Tai is a huge threat to win this game. If it hadn't worked & he'd played his idol, no biggie. He'd be mad & probably wouldn't be a part of that alliance anymore, but the only person he'd have to turn to would be Jason & I don't think they'd work together.

Episode 12 was interesting because I feel like it showed Tai's character a bit more. Several people have been saying on this blog that he no longer seems like the sweet & innocent guy that he portrayed himself as at the beginning of the show. I think that proved true in this episode & probably will continue next episode. He came off pretty self-entitled at tribal council. Perhaps it's unfair to Tai, but I think he started the season as the hero & is now the villain, either in reality, in my own mind, or through careful manipulation of the footage by the producers.

I'm now cheering for Cydney to win the whole thing. I think she's got a fun & interesting personality for this game. She's not afraid to mix things up & run with her emotions, which I usually think is a bad thing. But somehow it really works for her & she always feels like she's in control of her own destiny.


The Teams:

MoonBee "Dairy Kings" - 86 points

1. Neal (23 pts)
2. Julia (40 pts)
3. Scot (14 pts)
4. Aubry (9 pts)

Michal & Ben "Cock of the Walk" - 83 points

1. Anna (9 pts)
2. Jason (38 pts)
3. Peter (9 pts)
4. Debbie (27 pts)

Bagdrea "Beautiful Mind" - 82 points

1. Caleb (6 pts)
2. Tai (35 pts)
3. Nick (38 pts)
4. Joe (3 pts)

Doug & Bri "She-Ra" - 40 points

1. Liz (-2 pts)
2. Jenny (-6 pts)
3. Michele (32 pts)
4. Cydney (16 pts)

Dreg: Alecia - 0 points


Power Rankings:

1. Beautiful Mind - With two players left & one of them being Tai, Bagdrea are the favorites to win this season. It's pretty close though & it really could (should?) come down to which team's player wins the season. It clearly won't be Joe - does this guy ever think beyond "what does Aubry want me to do?" So frustrating to see him do nothing all season! But even though he loses Beautiful Mind 1-2 points each episode due to challenge dreckitude, he's going to rake in a sizable pouch of jury points.

2. Dairy Kings - Aubry kind of annoys me. It feels like she has everything going for her - she's smart, competitive at challenges, and basically gets 2 votes at every tribal because of Joe - but she's not living up to her potential. Of course I'll be eating these words if she ends up winning, but I feel like getting rid of Jason, not going after Tai when they had the opportunity, and the Tai v. Cydney situation were all mishandled & opportunities lost. Still, this is not an intelligent group of players this season & it seems as though Aubry can afford to make a few mistakes & make final tribal.

3. She-Ra - Can it be? She-Ra, who lost their top 2 player in the 1st 3 episodes is suddenly contending! I'm a Cydney fan, but Michele is also starting to prove herself late in the game. They have a huge deficit to make up, but both women are capable of winning challenges, making final tribal, and ultimately winning. It's definitely closer than the score makes it appear.

4. Cock of the Walk - We are the first team to have lost all our players & despite our 40 point lead over She-Ra, they will make up at least 30 points even if their players only make the jury. Our team lived up to its name, and definitely proved to be far more cocky than strategic. Now it's just a question of if we're making the next level of the trophy, which I'm starting to hope we do. We've come up with some good ideas over here in Casa Greenberg....

Player Rankings:

1. Tai
2. Cydney
3. Aubry
4. Michele
5. Joe

Douche of the Week:

I'm going to vote for Tai as DoW for both episodes. First for the weird half apology he gave Jason, and then for his off-putting attitude at the last tribal council.

BBB 2: Episode 10

This was the most satisfying episode so far for the strategy & game-play. There have been a lot of bold plays lately which is nice to see. A lot of them made absolutely no sense (like getting rid of Debbie, dousing the fire with water, etc.) which diminished them somewhat. This last episode though showed bold moves that made sense - finally!!


The Teams:

Bagdrea "Beautiful Mind" - 81 points

1. Caleb (6 pts)
2. Tai (33 pts)
3. Nick (38 pts)
4. Joe (4 pts)

MoonBee "Dairy Kings" - 72 points

1. Neal (23 pts)
2. Julia (26 pts)
3. Scot (14 pts)
4. Aubry (9 pts)

Michal & Ben "Cock of the Walk" - 67 points

1. Anna (9 pts)
2. Jason (22 pts)
3. Peter (9 pts)
4. Debbie (27 pts)

Doug & Bri "She-Ra" - 22 points

1. Liz (-2 pts)
2. Jenny (-6 pts)
3. Michele (22 pts)
4. Cydney (8 pts)

Dreg: Alecia - 0 points


Power Rankings:

1. Beautiful Mind - Good job, Tai! Love the backstabbing & in particular the extremely awkward not-giving-Scot-the-idol stare-down between Jason, Tai & Scot. This team would benefit from losing Joe soon, though. He's slowly draining points from this team.

2. Dairy Kings - Scot's douchey self is gone, but Julia & Aubry are both capable of making final tribal. This is still a strong team.

3. Cock of the Walk - All we've got is Jason, but I hopefully his immunity win this last episode was enough to lock up not-last. We shall see!!

4. She-Ra - Cydney is this team's best hope, though Michele may end up coattail riding it to final tribal as well. I doubt it though...

Player Rankings:

1. Tai
2. Jason
3. Aubry
4. Cydney
5. Julia
6. Joe
7. Michele

Douche of the Week:

Scot again - he was so pandering to Aubry at the beginning of the episode. So glad he got hosed in the end.

BBB 2: Episode 9

This was an insanely frustrating episode, and it's only in part because we lost one of our players. I think it just proves that this really is one of the dumbest casts ever on Survivor. We start with Scot, Jason & Tai thinking that sabotaging the camp is a winning strategy. And we finish with a female alliance that immediately cannibalizes itself even though the larger threat is clearly Scot/Jason/Tai with 2 idols rather than loony Debbie. Sigh. I just hope they have another all-star season soon.


The Teams:

Bagdrea "Beautiful Mind" - 79 points

1. Caleb (6 pts)
2. Tai (29 pts)
3. Nick (38 pts)
4. Joe (6 pts)

MoonBee "Dairy Kings" - 63 points

1. Neal (23 pts)
2. Julia (22 pts)
3. Scot (9 pts)
4. Aubry (9 pts)

Michal & Ben "Cock of the Walk" - 61 points

1. Anna (9 pts)
2. Jason (16 pts)
3. Peter (9 pts)
4. Debbie (27 pts)

Doug & Bri "She-Ra" - 19 points

1. Liz (-2 pts)
2. Jenny (-6 pts)
3. Michele (18 pts)
4. Cydney (9 pts)

Dreg: Alecia - 0 points


Power Rankings:

1. Beautiful Mind - If Tai sticks with his alliance & they are foolish enough to go to final tribal with him he has a phenomenal chance of winning this season. Joe is baggage, but he's baggage who poses no threat & will get a decent amount of jury points in the end.

2. Dairy Kings - they have 3 players left, none of them awesome, but none of them are super crappy either.... Yes, I said that last week. It's the same story this week, though & I honestly have nothing to add.

3. Cock of the Walk - Honestly, Jason could win this whole thing. I think his alliance will make it to the end because the others will be too dumb & gutless to take them out. And if it's Jason, Scot & Julia in the finale, then I think most votes will go to Jason.

4. She-Ra - Moon is right, I have no respect for Michelle. If anyone can salvage the disaster that was this last episode, it's going to be Cydney, but I think it's a long shot considering the dregs she has to work with.


Player Rankings:

1. Tai
2. Jason
3. Cydney
4. Julia
5. Aubry
6. Scot
7. Joe
8. Michele

Douche of the Week:

Definitely Scot. It's like he knows about Douche of the Week and did everything in his power to win it this week.

BBB 2: Episodes 7 & 8

Sorry for the super late blog, but we were travelling & there was no time. Quick synopsis of the two episodes:

Episode 7: the merge! Everyone is making alliances with each other but it looks like Brawn & Beauty will gang up on Brains in the end. Then Probst arrives & gets everyone's infections looked at by a doctor & Neal gets medevacked but will still serve on the jury. The castaways & the viewers of the show all feel like this was quite an anticlimactic way to end the episode.

Episode 8: the alpha males get more alpha male-y and belittle the women while congratulating themselves on being kings of the world. Cydney shows her true potential by rallying everyone against them & blindsiding Nick. G'night, Robot.


The Teams:

Bagdrea "Beautiful Mind" - 78 points

1. Caleb (6 pts)
2. Tai (27 pts)
3. Nick (38 pts)
4. Joe (7 pts)

MoonBee "Dairy Kings" - 53 points

1. Neal (23 pts)
2. Julia (14 pts)
3. Scot (7 pts)
4. Aubry (9 pts)

Michal & Ben "Cock of the Walk" - 45 points

1. Anna (9 pts)
2. Jason (14 pts)
3. Peter (9 pts)
4. Debbie (13 pts)

Doug & Bri "She-Ra" - 19 points

1. Liz (-2 pts)
2. Jenny (-6 pts)
3. Michele (18 pts)
4. Cydney (9 pts)

Dreg: Alecia - 0 points


Power Rankings:

I have no idea, and pretty much haven't had a clue this entire season! It's not like these players are strategic geniuses or anything, and in fact it's probably because so many of these players are pretty dumb that it's hard to predict. That and the medevacs I suppose. So, I'm not going to do an in-depth analysis, but if forced to choose, I'd rank our teams like this:

1. Beautiful Mind - they have the point lead & Tai who I still think is favored to win the whole thing.
2. Dairy Kings - they have 3 players left, none of them awesome, but none of them are super crappy either
3. She-Ra - they have Cydney who is proving to be a real contender. If she takes out the rest of Brawn she could win quite a few challenges on the way to final tribal
4. Cock of the Walk - Jason's in trouble & Debbie's game lacks subtlety.


Player Rankings:

1. Tai
2. Cydney
3. Scot
4. Aubry
5. Jason
6. Debbie
7. Julia
8. Joe
9. Michele

Douche of the Week:
Please feel free to vote for DoWs for episodes 7, 8, and 9 through next week in either this post or the next one. I'm going to vote for Nick for episode 8, and abstain from voting on episode 7.

BBB 2: Episode 6

Did Aubry make the right move in switching her vote at the last second? I'm not sure, and I suppose we'll never really know since the merge changes things up so much. Let's look forward though to consider it for a moment. Here's the break-down of who made it based on original tribes:

Brains = 4 (Joe, Debbie, Neal, Aubry)
Brawn = 3 (Jason, Scot, Cydney)
Beauty = 4 (Tai, Nick, Julia, Michele)

If Aubry had stuck with Julia & then Julia ended up going home in the tiebreak (not sure how this really would have gone down, but let's just assume this in my hypothetical), then Brains would have entered the merge 5 strong with the other tribes only having 3 each. This probably would have been problematic as Brawn & Beauty could have paired up (with that great Tai/Scot bond bringing them all together) and taken out Brains one-by-one. Plus, Peter very well could betray them at any moment.

So it probably is good that Aubry changed her mind at the last moment. Not sure what her chances are now, but I'm guessing they'll be better than if she'd gone the other way.

How will things play out in the merge? I have no idea! I'm always surprised, though, at how much the new alliances formed during the tribe switch-up often take precedence over the much longer-standing original tribal alliances. The only thing I'm feeling pretty certain about is that Scot, Jason, Tai & Cydney will probably be a force to be reckoned with.


The Teams:

Bagdrea "Beautiful Mind" - 52 points

1. Caleb (6 pts)
2. Tai (19 pts)
3. Nick (19 pts)
4. Joe (8 pts)

Michal & Ben "Cock of the Walk" - 45 points

1. Anna (9 pts)
2. Jason (14 pts)
3. Peter (9 pts)
4. Debbie (13 pts)

MoonBee "Dairy Kings" - 45 points

1. Neal (18 pts)
2. Julia (13 pts)
3. Scot (5 pts)
4. Aubry (9 pts)

Doug & Bri "She-Ra" - 19 points

1. Liz (-2 pts)
2. Jenny (-6 pts)
3. Michele (18 pts)
4. Cydney (9 pts)

Dreg: Alecia - 0 points


Power Rankings:

1. Dairy Kings: All of MoonBee's players made the merge which is huge. With the merge taking place next week & Peter being gone from the game, I have no idea who might be on the chopping block next week. Based on where things stand at this moment, though, these players all seem like they'll be safe though. I think Scot is capable of going all the way to final tribal, but I'm not really seeing this for any of the others (except maybe Julia as a coattail rider). Still, it's a strong supporting cast that will likely bring in points in challenges.

2. Beautiful Mind: I think Tai is the favorite to win at this point, but I don't much care for the rest of this team. How much longer can Crusty Joe make it? I expect he'll have a lot of trouble adapting to the new dynamics that the merge brings. Nick is a jackass, and that's pretty much all I'll say about him. He might be able to bring in some big points in challenges though before getting voted out. Not sure it'll be enough though, even if Tai wins.

3. Cock of the Walk: Turns out Peter was most useful to our team for his DOW run, but now it looks like he didn't get even get that right! Dr. Douche needed to stick around for another 1-2 episodes in order to lock that up. I think Debbie & Jason are both canny players, but they are also both very capable of rubbing people the wrong way. They could go far or get voted out next episode - both are very realistic options. This team is on thin ice.

4. She-Ra: I hope Michele gets back at Nick's chauvinist douchery with a good ole fashioned backstabbing. As Doug noted in comments, Cydney is doing pretty well for herself. Still, this team is down a lot of points & Cydney on her own won't be enough to get this team the win. She might be enough to keep them from making the trophy next season though!


Player Rankings:

1. Tai
2. Scot
3. Debbie
4. Aubry
5. Jason
6. Neal
7. Cydney
8. Julia
9. Joe
10. Nick
11. Michele

Douche of the Week:
Peter, sadly for the last time! Voting him DOW each week is the only thing I'll miss about Peter. Looks like Nick may pick up this fallen DOW crown moving forward...

BBB 2: Episode 5

After the drama of last week this episode felt mundane. The tribal switch-up was fairly balanced between the tribes & no one bothered to think any further than "I'm sticking with my initial group, who else can we bring on board?" How about some back-stabbing people!?! Especially against Peter, can't believe that both he & Aubry/Joe are okay staying aligned. If I was Aubry/Joe I wouldn't trust Peter one bit & would have targeted him first. And if I was Peter I would have been so thrilled to be able to jump ship & join up with some other castaways.


The Teams:

Bagdrea "Beautiful Mind" - 45 points

1. Caleb (6 pts)
2. Tai (17 pts)
3. Nick (16 pts)
4. Joe (6 pts)

Michal & Ben "Cock of the Walk" - 38 points

1. Anna (9 pts)
2. Jason (11 pts)
3. Peter (8 pts)
4. Debbie (10 pts)

MoonBee "Dairy Kings" - 36 points

1. Neal (15 pts)
2. Julia (11 pts)
3. Scot (3 pts)
4. Aubry (7 pts)

Doug & Bri "She-Ra" - 13 points

1. Liz (-2 pts)
2. Jenny (-6 pts)
3. Michele (15 pts)
4. Cydney (6 pts)

Dreg: Alecia - 0 points


Power Rankings:

1. Dairy Kings: MoonBee is the only team left with their first pick still in the game AND he just found an idol. The bad news is that Julia is probably next on the chopping block. The good news is that Scot is looking like he's in it for the long haul & Aubry is safe for now.

2. Cock of the Walk: Peter continues to anti-impress, but Jason & Debbie both seem like players. Losing Anna rather than Peter was a big hit.  And while I get that Tai decided to hold on to the idol in order save it to save himself, I'm not sure it was the right move. He & Scot are now playing in survival mode instead of being in a dominating position in their new tribe.

3. Beautiful Mind: I don't think that either Joe or Nick are strong players, but Tai is doing great! His heartbreak over losing Caleb is quickly fading as he rebounds with his new bromance partner, Scot. He was obviously the bigger threat over Anna because he works harder around camp & is so damn likable - the fact that the other players can't see that only proves how much of a threat he is. I'm cheering for him for sure!

4. She-Ra: Cydney's position in this game seems to have improved with the tribal switch-up, but Michele is in trouble. Her primary alliance is now with The Robot, which doesn't bode well for her. Hopefully Cyd & Debbie stay strong together though, that could be a powerful odd couple.


Douche of the Week:
As Gordon Ramsey would say, "Peter all day!"