It’s down to the wire on “Big Brother,” with last week’s “Big Brother Rewind” packing two live evictions into the proceedings this week. The action started Tuesday night with Frankie’s back against the wall. His fellow Detonators tried to put him at ease, but he was wary.
Frankie has consistently been one of the smartest players in the game. He and Derrick have been running the house all summer long, while allowing Caleb to think it’s been him the whole time. It was a pretty effective strategy that could have taken both men to the end, except that after the “Rewind,” Caleb won Head of Household.
Suddenly he really was running the house, and it came down to who was smoother and smarter. Caleb is impulsive and doesn’t think things all the way through, but Derrick was there sweet-talking in his ear about what a threat Frankie is in competitions, and the real risk of Frankie sending someone home before Victoria.
See video: CBS Local Newscaster With Brain Cancer Tells Viewers He Has Just Months to Live
Poor Victoria has been the useless pawn in this game for so long now, it’s easy to forget she’s even there. You can definitely stop paying attention when she’s competing in a challenge, because she’s an absolute disaster in them. How hilarious would it be if she actually pulled off a win at the end of the game to put herself in the finals?
Of course, she might get drug there anyway, considering there’s absolutely no way she would win. At this point, she’s come this far so why not take her all the way? It’s a matter of strategy toward individual victory or remaining loyalty to the Detonators.
This week, loyalty lost out, and it was Frankie who paid the price. He did stay loyal to the Detonators during his reign as HOH, but after it was rewound and undone, he found himself vulnerable with a huge target on his back. The first time through this week of challenges, Frankie won both the HOH competition and the Power of Veto.
This time around, Caleb won HOH and Cody pulled off a very impressive POV victory. He left Frankie and Victoria on the block, sealing Ariana Grande’s brother’s fate. In other words, the “Big Brother Rewind” totally screwed up his game.
See photos: 21 Outrageous Moments From the Career of Toronto’s Crack-Smoking, Boozing Mayor Rob Ford
Frankie couldn’t even really be mad, though, and he was’t. As a student of the game, he got it completely. He knew what a huge threat he was, and he could only preach loyalty so long. Frankie had, after all, tried to betray his own alliance about halfway through the game, something he called his lowest point in the house while talking to Julie Chen.
Frankie made a huge exit, though, complete with glitter and farewell speeches for each of the remaining houseguests. The highlights were when he told Victoria to “win something,” and dismissed Cody with an, “I’ve had better.”
With Frankie gone, Derrick is sitting pretty in the house, having still never been on the block. It’s a monumental achievement he’s hoping to ride to the finale, and he took another step in that direction by turning around and winning HOH.
Also read: ‘Big Brother’ Live Double Eviction: Detonators Finally Blow-Up Each Other
It’s going to be a short reign, though, as the next live eviction is Wednesday night, determining the Final 3. Can Victoria sneak through again? Will Derrick simply eliminate Caleb? Caleb has an argument for winning, and he may stand the second-best chance of nabbing the $500,000 prize, but if Derrick gets to the end, Derrick wins.
The jury house may be bitter, as proven when they trashed the “Big Brother” house this week, but they’ve all acknowledged already on camera what an impressive game Derrick is playing. He’s already poised to go down in “BB” history as one of the greatest stealth players of all time. He’s so close to finishing his masterpiece.
“Big Brother” continues on CBS Wednesday and Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Then it all wraps up with the 90-minute finale at 9:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.