The only person who should have won Celebrity Big Brother was already evicted

Shannon Elizabeth had the knowledge and skill to be the winner of Celebrity Big Brother, but the power and spectacle of Omarosa knocked her out.

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Going into any season of Big Brother, it’s tough to peg a player to win. You never know which “comp beasts” will transform into floaters and which floaters will wind up with a strong social game. But within minutes of Celebrity Big Brother, actress and activist Shannon Elizabeth was a clear favorite to bring home the win, and that combined with her unparalleled prowess ultimately sank any hopes of her going down in BB history.

In an expedited season of Big Brother designed to play hard and fast, it’s a cop out to call Shannon Elizabeth’s game a victim of overplaying, that she played the game too quickly. When you’re in the house for a mere month (compared to the almost 100 days of the summer competitors), you have to enter the house with blazing saddles, ready to make the moves that only the best players can pull off. Sure, Shannon was too good at the game, but controversial figure Omarosa pulls too much focus from Celebrity Big Brother.

It’s too easy, and also unfair, to blame Shannon Elizabeth’s eviction on Omarosa. Although she was an architect of the admitted superfan’s demise, Omarosa wasn’t responsible for taking out Shannon Elizabeth because she wasn’t HOH. However, if there’s anything the former White House Director of Communication could be held guilty for, it’s injecting Celebrity Big Brother and its gameplay with headline-grabbing he-said she-said.

Previous seasons of Big Brother have never had to contend with a problematic public figure to this degree as a houseguest. Never has a season meshed entertainment and politics so awkwardly (or even at all), and it’s casting a large shadow over Celebrity Big Brother. Rather than showcasing the other personalities in the house, production has dedicated more time than necessary on Omarosa’s opinions on impeachment and denials of sleeping with the president. Yikes.

Watch one episode and you can tell that CBS loves the eyeballs Omarosa brings to the show. She has even called herself “ratings gold” during a candid conversation. Even so, it’s left little room for the celebrities who signed onto the show with good intentions to shine or much less have a fair shot at game unmarred by Omarosa’s manipulation. Shannon Elizabeth was one of the few celebrities who actually watched Big Brother and were self-professed superfans. She knew the game inside and out, which set her leagues above her competitors — and alliance.

For that reason, winning the first Head of Household competition and the first Power of Veto competition (with the 16-letter word “responsibilities”) issued a warning to the rest of the house that she wasn’t here to mess around. She knew her stuff, and she had her sights set on the grand prize. But what’s more admirable: Shannon’s commitment to playing her game despite the strange and arguably unjust conditions or her fellow houseguests’ awareness that she will pose an enormous threat to their chances of winning?

Next: Why Celebrity Big Brother might actually be worth checking out for BB superfans

Like all seasons of Big Brother, Shannon Elizabeth’s recognition as a formidable obstacle to the rest of the house forced her into alienation. It’s one of the worst aspects of the game: Once you’re marked as a target, everyone cuts ties with you immediately. Whether it’s celebrities or otherwise, it’s not thrilling to watch another person torn down by friends and allies. Shannon didn’t deserve to be evicted before, say, Omarosa, and she could have — and should have — won it all.

Still, she was given a sizable platform to promote her Animal Avengers nonprofit, and that’s surely more important than taking the title of Celebrity Big Brother champion. Unfortunately, we won’t be watching who was probably the only star worthy of the win in the end, but we shouldn’t count out Ross Mathews and Marissa Jaret Winokur, also known as the two celebrities as skilled in the art of this wild social experiment as Shannon Elizabeth.

Celebrity Big Brother airs Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 8/7c on CBS.