Taking The Crown Off

This Week in Bold Strategy #10

Welcome back to This Week in BS, where I break down highlights of Bold Strategy from Survivor, Big Brother Canada, and whatever the hell I want.

I appreciate you all for coming along on the ride with me here every week.

Big Brother Canada 11

Bad Gameplay is More Entertaining

I feel for Claudia. I really do. When she made her noms I had a moment when I thought Daniel and Anika were the right choices. And then about 4 seconds later it occurred to me - Ty is the favourite in almost every comp he plays in. Renee was surely going to go home when he won and used the veto. And then after the inevitable happened Claudia put up Shanaya, her best friend. Now, while this is absolutely devastating for the Girlie Pops, it was entertaining as hell.

What an episode… Queen Kuzie campaigns and goes and Claudia pulls out a tight HOH win to absolutely tank 1/3 of her alliance. Bad gameplay is sometimes a lot more fun to watch than good gameplay. I don’t expect people to always make the right decisions - it’s damn hard, especially 55 days in.

I do expect players to play for what they think will get them the win. It appears Claudia had planned to turn on Shanaya soon, and while it’s seemingly not the right move her, I respect the gall to turn on her number one thinking that it would be good for her game. When you’re living in a social experiment 24/7 where secrecy is a central tenet of the game, it’s really really difficult to focus for one week, never mind eight weeks.

Claudia should have nominated Ty and all but guaranteed the Girlie Pops top five. She didn’t and she lost a close ally, however, there is lots of game left to played. These are the high stakes decisions and ______’s HOH this week will go a long way in deciding the winner.

Taking the Crown Off

They lost three members in a row and the final two remaining, Daniel and Anika, kind of made it there by turning on the the team and forming a group - albeit a short-lived one - with Claudia and Shanaya. Now if things had gone differently and The Crown had won power more frequently, we might be having a different conversation. But the great alliances can navigate those challenges. You need to make sure everyone is pushing for a similar thing while keeping your group shrouded in mystery and making sure two of you aren’t on the block together. Their other big error was ultimately choosing the Girlie Pops over Ty and Santina. They underestimated an alliance with a cheesy name they didn’t know about and three of their own are in the jury house now.

Online Opinions

Big Brother is a wild game. One week everyone hates you, the next they love you. On that note, I think playing television shows to be loved is stupid. Even with 24/7 feeds, people are only getting one slice of you and you can’t get validation from external sources, especially online.

I used to have this professor who would say that exams are just an evaluation of your performance over a period of time and I really like that way of looking at things. The person on Big Brother or Survivor who you are or who people think you are is one version of yourself on display at a certain period of time with extreme pressure and cameras on you. The camera itself is a thing that can change people’s personalities when they’re under its watchful eye. No seriously, there is a world of academic literature on behaviour under surveillance and that’s for another time.

Anyway, I’m saying this because as we get towards the end of the season, I’ve seen lots of rude comments directed at basically all of the houseguests.

Come for their game moves not their personalities please. It’s hard in there. -Dad

Survivor 44

🏈 Frannie’s Early Merge Domination

Frannie won immunity, for her and her entire tribe, Danny played an idol on her, and then she won another immunity. She has been visibly immune at every tribal since the merge started.

It seems like everyone likes her - we saw her connecting with Carolyn, her literal boyfriend is on the jury, and she’s charmingly nerdy and athletic. How the hell can she win the game now with that threat level?

If I’m Frannie, I’m using this juncture of the game to find some shields. Danny has won an immunity, played an idol successfully, and just came second to Frannie in another challenge. I’m planting seeds with the Tika folks - whose playing-the-middle game Frannie has clocked - that Danny is too big of a threat. I’m then planting seeds with Danny and Heidi that Tika are playing everyone and can flip on them at any time. Even if the seeds don’t spout for a round or two, she needs to find a place to hide because her threat level is getting too big. Another way to do it: throw the next immunity challenge or two. This is an underused strategy in Survivor and one that Frannie should be using soon if she doesn’t want to become the dragon that everyone is looking to slay in the mid-jury phase.

Targeting the Sit-outs

Carson, Heidi, and Jaime are all still in the game after sitting out for rice and if I’m there I’m using that move to plant a big fat target on their backs for feeling too comfortable. Carson knows he is in a great position and he actually only made it better by sitting out. Being sick is awesome for him, minus the pain and tears, because it makes him seem smaller to the other castaways.

I used to be with Danny that sitting out is stupid, however, if you’re doing it for strategic reasons, whatever they may be, I respect it. Only one person wins an immunity challenge; if you think it isn’t going to be you and you can advance your position by sitting or by falling early, it’s worth considering. The worst place to be in an individual immunity is 2nd. You ramp up your threat level and have no protection.

What To Do As A Ratu

Lauren and Jaime just had their two other merge Ratus, Brandon and Kane, taken out back to back. They need to play dumb and useless. Pretend like they’re desperate, at the bottom, and willing to do anything. Take advantage of Tika’s confidence right now and pretend like you’re easy to manipulate. This is, of course, easier said than done, because by all accounts the Tikas are doing a good job managing their own threat levels.

It’s actually a decent move for the Tikas to take one of them out in the next round because if they can continue to make the Sokas feel good about their place in the game, then I think Danny and Frannie will go after each other eventually anyway - not to mention post-merge Heidi kicking ass and finding idols and becoming a big threat herself.

While it’s a good move for the Tikas, it’s a boring move for me, so I’m hoping we can focus less on the long-gone tribes at this point and play some Survivor with even more fluid dynamics.

🕊 Tweet of the Week

Hell ya Frannie!

Shoutout Kane for being a fun character and one of very few Canadians who have gotten out to Fiji.

Happy birthday Mom,

Kevin 🐍

PS Share the link with anyone you think might enjoy this: https://thisweekinbs.beehiiv.com/