5 alternate choices that could have saved the gameplay on Big Brother: All-Stars
By Reed Gaudens
Could Big Brother All-Stars have been saved by these choices?
Let’s be honest: The gameplay on Big Brother 22: All-Stars hasn’t been exactly what we have all been waiting for from the show’s second all-stars season. From a majority alliance plowing through the house to a few votes that had the power to change the course of the season, there’s been a large lack of strategy and tact that’s generally synonymous with the game of Big Brother.
But what if a few things had happened differently? If the targets hadn’t been so safe and if an old school player hadn’t turned on her fellow old school alum, maybe Big Brother All-Stars wouldn’t have been the predictable mess it’s become. Now, we’re not blaming those who didn’t make the decisions we wanted (or weren’t in the position to do so), but we’re taking a sharper look at five alternate choices that could have saved the season’s gameplay.
1. What if Dani aligned with Janelle and Kaysar?
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Naturally, you would have expected Dani to link up with fellow old school legends Janelle and Kaysar. Well, we should have expected the unexpected. Rather than forming what surely would have been a fan-favorite alliance, Dani opted to join The Committee, which grew into one of the most successful dominant alliances in BB history. (As much as we don’t want to admit that, it’s true.)
It’s tough to say if Dani had formed a group with Janelle, Kaysar, Da’Vonne, Bayleigh, and any others that they would have been able to take on the majority. Ultimately, Dani sought protection from the alliance that was winning and, until her eviction, that decision worked out for her game.
Who’s to say the reverse would have been true? Regardless of their success as an alliance, they would have been much more fun to watch than The Committee.
2. What if Janelle had saved her Safety Suite pass?
From day one, Janelle and Kaysar were targets. They walked in with targets on their backs, for their mere history as a power duo in BB6 and BB7. Because of their rocky positioning in the house, Kaysar chose to use his Safety Suite pass in the first week… but so did Janelle. Kaysar won and used his plus one on Janelle, which saved them both from the block but rendered Janelle’s pass useless.
Looking back, Janelle could have saved hers for Week 3, smoked them all, and avoided she and Kaysar riding the block together for another week. Yes, she would have had more competition since more houseguests would have for sure used their passes to play the odds (and it was the last week of the Safety Suite twist), but when has Janelle ever backed down from a challenge? Winning that power could have shaken up the game and sent Janelle and Kaysar down a different path.
3. What if they targeted physical threats earlier?
It seems like a given, but it’s somehow hard for certain players to figure out that they need to cut the strong competitors sooner rather than later. As always, all the strong men banded together and dominated the competitions. But strong competitors can only ensure your safety for so long until they become your direct opposition.
By the final five, it’s no longer a numbers game. Why keep around players that are harder to beat when winning matters most?
Christmas should have been a target the second she won a monetary prize in the first few days. Enzo should have been a target when he won Safety Suite. Memphis should have been a target after he monopolized power in Week 2. And the list goes on and on and on.
The big moves aren’t Keesha, Nicole A., and Janelle at the beginning of the game. It’s Cody, Tyler, and the aforementioned three with a history of winning comps and skating to final three.
4. What if Dani got Tyler out instead of Ian?
First things first, we have to give credit to Dani for learning from her past mistakes. In BB13, she aligned with the rest of the returning vets: Jeff, Jordan, Brendon, and Rachel. But sensing she was low on the ranks of that alliance and due to wanting to shake things up, she defected and joined The Regulators (“She married into the worst alliance ever!”), a mistake that caught her in the crosshairs of the dominant veteran’s alliance.
Dani’s love for the game gives her the instinct to make the moves she knows she needs to make. But sometimes, she’s a little quick to pull the trigger. This time around, she backed down from her instincts.
When her messy HOH found her nominating four people, she turned the target from Tyler to Ian in an effort to stay in good with The Committee. She did what she felt had to be done to protect her game, but we’ll never know if it was really too soon to blindside a huge target.
5. What if Enzo had voted out Nicole Franzel?
During the triple eviction, Memphis nominated David and Nicole F. for eviction, hoping to bring his weird obsession with getting David out of the house to a conclusion. Christmas and Tyler decided to try to pull Enzo in on their plot to flip the vote, which he decided against when it came time to vote. Instead, Christmas and Tyler’s flipped votes painted a big ‘ol target on their backs. However, following through with voting out Nicole would have been a major blindside.
Considering how often Enzo has talked about wanting to get out the winners, he sure missed his opportunity to seal the fate of the last remaining winner in the house. At the end of the day, Nicole has very little chance of securing the jury votes to pull out a second game win.
Still, that makes her dangerous to keep around. She could be the one people carry to final two to ensure the grand prize. Being the deciding vote on a key blindside could have been the edge Enzo needed for a final two pitch.
Which choices made by the houseguests do you think altered the course of the game? There are plenty of other ways the gameplay could have gone down differently with just a couple different choices. Share your thoughts and predictions in the comments!
Big Brother 22: All-Stars airs Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS.