BB28 Roundtable Week 3

Summary

RHAP: We Know Big Brother – BB28 Roundtable Week 3 (July 28, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this week’s BB28 Roundtable, Taran Armstrong is joined by Melissa and Mary to break down the game after a pivotal week featuring the explosive “Tea Party” confrontation, the plans to potentially backdoor Jason, shifting alliances, live feed highlights, and their trademark in-depth player rating session. The panel covers strategy, house dynamics, and the subtle (and not-so-subtle) social undercurrents shaping the season. Survey results and audience sentiment are also discussed to illustrate player popularity and strategic standing.

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Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. House Events Recap & The "Tea Party" Showdown

[04:00 – 09:00]

• The biggest event this week was the so-called “Tea Party” – an actual tea party where Kamu rehearsed and delivered a public call-out of Jason, the week’s intended backdoor target. The confrontation, meant to “justify” Kamu’s planned nomination of Jason, created division, awkward silences, and set the narrative for the week.
• Taran: “They were having a tea party. This is not a turn of phrase. It was an actual genuine tea party… Kamu, though, had rehearsed a call out of Jason… It turned into a big blowout which lasted about an hour or so. That was mostly silence, mostly awkward silence as everybody was sitting there afterward.”

2. Social Fallout & Identity Dynamics

[12:00 – 16:20]

• The hosts analyze the social logic of isolating Jason, noting the standard “majority rule” playbook being executed to perfection—ostracizing the outcast, discouraging would-be allies from stepping up.
• Notably, the impact of identity is discussed: Jason, the lone LGBTQ+ houseguest, is ostracized by Kamu, whose outside social media activity and in-house commentary have raised concerns.
• Taran ([16:00]): “Jason is the only person in that house who is LGBTQ+ and, and he is experiencing ostracism from primarily a man who has displayed through his social media likes and through some of his, his comments in the house that he is, you know, kind of miss me with that… and he is experiencing ostracism…”

3. Strategic Analysis: Power, Perception, and Paranoia

[27:00 – 34:00]

• Focus on the shifting structure as players like Drew and Barrett are increasingly viewed with suspicion for having “options.” Devin’s new more controlled, measured approach as the game’s lynchpin is lauded.
• Devins, D, and Angela are seen as consolidating their grip, with Devins masterfully handling relationships.
• Taran ([29:45]): “Devins has now kind of taken over with what I would personally deem a more reasonable approach to the Drew and Barrett situation… We can continue to use Drew. But… we should be eroding his options while we lock in our own path forward…”

4. Power Shifts and Missed Opportunities

[35:08 – 38:00]

• The panel notes that Drew and some middle players should be acting more decisively, given how close they are to being cut.
• The current vote could, in theory, flip the game—yet most players are risk-averse or unaware they’re on the bottom.

5. House Meetings & "Gas Up" Strategies – Are They Good Gameplay?

[37:10 – 44:00]

• Debate on whether encouraging allies to stage explosive house meetings is strategically wise. Panelists generally agree: it rarely helps those in power, and Dee’s strategy of “gassing up” Kamu mostly served to paint him as sloppy or shortsighted.
• Taran ([40:50]): “Big house meetings or blow-ups… they’re usually bad for the people in power. If you are in power…the last thing you want is something chaotic that could potentially disrupt the normal flow of business…”

6. Audience Survey & Popularity Rankings

[45:24 – 55:00]

• They walk through the audience’s weekly player popularity poll, highlighting major rises (Jason, Devins) and falls (Kamu, Angela).
• Melissa ([47:15]): “I think people feel for [Jason]. That was this bad situation and I think people feel for him… so I could see Jason.”
• Jason becomes the first non-vet to crack the top five in popularity.
• Kamu and Angela post the week’s biggest popularity drops.

7. Ratings: Episode, Feeds, and Season

[55:56 – 61:00]

• Episodes: 6.4/10 for week three, feeds at 7.3 (down from 8.3 week prior), season drops to 6.3 reflecting some audience malaise after an exciting start.
• Camu’s HOH comes in low at 3.7—viewed as overplaying, displaying unnecessary dominance.
• Retrospective on Devins’ HOH goes up to 6.7 as Rome’s eviction is now seen as a beneficial move.

8. Time Capsule Voting & "Send a Message" to the House

[66:00 – 69:40]

• Most of the audience and panel are voting for Jason to receive the next “Time Capsule” power—as a symbolic rebuke of the “Tool Shed” alliance and a bid for a shakeup.
• Melissa ([67:19]): “If Jason wins this, we’re sending a message. It will show them that we are not on board… The people want something else and maybe that will cause them to change up their game.”
• Panel warns against voting for D, which would further cement the current power structure.

9. Player Ratings – In-Depth Stock Watch

[75:00 – End]

• The hosts rate every active houseguest from 1–10 on a mix of safety, position, and game acumen:
  • Highs: Devins (8), D (7-8), Lyric (5-6), Taylor (5)
  • Lows: Jason (2-3, but hope if he survives), Lala (1-3, seen as a non-threat or “dead money”), Chuck/Yash/Haley (3-4, sidelined)
  • Middle: Drew, Barrett, Angela (mostly 4–5, threatened for being “in the middle”)
• Particular praise for Jason’s calm and logical response at the Tea Party—contrasted to Kamu’s “cosplaying as Dan Gheesling” performance.
• There’s broad agreement that most of the cast currently hovers in the 4–6 range, reflecting the majority’s tight grip and the few looming as actual power players.

Notable Rating Quotes

• Taran (on Jason, [109:08]): “He’s in a very bad position…I think he has not done much to warrant this position… I genuinely think Jason has done some good work this week. For me, that puts him closer to a 3. Not to mention… there are potential flips in the work.”
• Melissa (on Lala, [121:02]): “Even if she does stay this week, it’s like, to what end? I just don’t feel like she has the game in her.”

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Melissa ([09:26]): “I thought he [Jason] kind of smoked Kamu in this fight… he totally called him out… made Kamu’s arguments just look totally dumb.”
• Mary ([22:21]): “There’s levels to the type of, like, I’m confronting someone house meeting, singling out… This is kind of the worst example where it’s both targeted at one person, doesn’t exactly affect the game… it’s supposed to convince Jason that this is the reason, but I don’t even think Jason really buys it.”
• Taran ([26:22]): “Why are you so soft that you can’t handle this even being talked about… that’s just, like, the gut reaction I have…”
• Melissa ([67:59]): “My favorite thing in Big Brother are power shifts. Constant power shifts… My second favorite thing is people who find out that America doesn’t like them.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:44 – Roundtable begins, host intros
• 04:00 – Week recap, Tea Party explained and dissected
• 12:00 – Social isolation, ostracization of Jason, identity discussion
• 27:00 – Structure analysis, Drew/Barrett’s danger, pivot to Devins’ plan
• 37:10 – House meetings: gameplay or spectacle?
• 45:24 – Audience popularity ranking segment
• 55:56 – Episode, feeds, and season ratings breakdown
• 66:00 – Time Capsule voting, America’s influences on BB
• 75:00 – Comprehensive player-by-player Stock Watch ratings
• 139:38 – Final reflections, player accolades

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Tone and Takeaways

The episode is a thoughtful, sometimes humorous but always deeply strategic breakdown of BB28’s third week, steeped in the original voices and real-time reactions of three longtime superfan analysts. They balance game mechanics with an understanding of social psychology (and, this week, issues of representation and lived experience in the BB house). This conversation is essential for anyone seeking a comprehensive, emotionally attuned, and strategically insightful understanding of the season’s current state.

If you missed the episode, this summary captures the Tea Party drama, shifting player perceptions, audience pulse, and why the house remains on the precipice of a huge shakeup—or another week of majority stasis.

Transcript

[Taran Armstrong]

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[Taran Armstrong]

And welcome to the Big Brother 28 roundtable podcast. This is of course, the podcast where we rate the players from 1 to 10 based on how well we think they're doing in the game. We talk about everything happening on the feeds this week. I'm your host Aaron Armstrong and I am here with Melissa.

[Melissa]

How you doing Melissa I'm doing great. What an exciting Sunday. I can't believe it. I feel like every time we come to the roundtable it's kind of like not that much is like recently happened and we're kind of rehashing stuff that happened like during the week or whatever. And this is, I mean this is obviously the first roundtable of this season that I'm like really excited to come on and talk because you know, as much as I love talking about it, it's it's kind of already been said, but I feel like there haven't been that many I mean, the only thing that has happened since the Tea Party has been the morning update. So I'm very excited to come on and talk about it.

[Taran Armstrong]

There's been very little going on today. A little bit. A little bit, but not. Not too much so far. But also joining us this week to talk through everything going on, it's Mary. How you doing, Mary?

[Mary]

I mean, big brother wise, fine. Personally. Terrible. Got stung by a yellow jacket 12 hours later, had a migraine. So it was a rough weekend. But if any. If there's any medical experts, please tell me if my. If a. If a yellow jacket sting should be turning into a giant purple bruise. Oh, my God.

[Taran Armstrong]

Are you allergic?

[Mary]

You know, people keep asking me that, and I'm confused. It's like, I'm not deathly allergic, but, like, isn't everybody allergic? Like, doesn't everyone get, like, a reaction?

[Taran Armstrong]

I just was always terrified of bee stings when. After we read that book in school where the kid died from a bee sting because he was allergic.

[Mary]

Yeah, I haven't died. It's been like 72 hours. Are you sure? I'm sure. I haven't died. All right. This pasty complexion is not ghostly. It's just pale.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, well, there's plenty to talk about this week. Basically, we will be discussing the events, of course, of the Tea Party. I talked about it this morning on the update. There was a big confrontation between Camus and Jason. We'll get into that. And. And what we do here. There's a survey that I send out every week. The audience answers questions like, who's your favorite player? Who are you voting for to get a time capsule? All kinds of fun stuff, including rating the players, as I said, based on their strategy in the game. So that's what we will get to. But first, let's give a little recap. How did we get here? Of course, the last time we talked, Devins was the hoh. He had just used the veto on Lyric, and we were like, what are you doing, bro? Turns out none of that really mattered because Rome ended up losing that blockbuster to Jason and was sent home nearly unanimously. Taylor does cast that rogue vote. Never admitted it, and. And nobody really cares. So with Rome gone, we saw Kamu last night in the episode Win the hoh. He nominated Lyric again, Mallory and Lala in an attempt to backdoor Jason. Since then, Lyric went on to win the veto. She plans to take herself off the block, and Jason is the intended back door. However, this is what we talked about this morning. This is what went down Last night at the tea party, they were having a tea party. This is not a turn of phrase. It was an actual genuine tea party. There were snacks, there was a tiny bit of drag, and. And there were condom balloons, which I assume are mainstays of most tea parties. I've only been to one.

[Mary]

Everyone I've been to condom balloons.

[Melissa]

That's a classic.

[Taran Armstrong]

Kamu, though, had rehearsed a call out of Jason. I'll go into much more detail into this whole situation in the update this morning if you want a lot of. A lot more detail on it. But the basics are he had made a deal in his mind with Jason that if he didn't nominate him initially, this was in the episode that if Jason won the veto, he would work with Kamu on, like, what to do with it. And. And then he finds out that Jason was telling people that he would, in fact use the veto if he wanted. This is because Jason knew he was the backdoor target. He didn't really care about whatever deal they made. Camus felt like this is a great opportunity to use this in information, use this fact that Jason was intending to go against his words to Kamu as the reason he is nominating him as the backdoor target, even though everybody in the house, including Jason, knew that he was already the backdoor target. So Kamu rehearsed his speech, he gave his speech, and it turned into a big blowout which lasted about an hour or so. That was mostly silence, mostly awkward silence as everybody was sitting there afterward. Jason has kind of become Persona non grata. He has since taken to the.

[Mary]

The.

[Taran Armstrong]

The always tried and true pots and pans to. To rattle some cages, and he has been doing that a bit throughout the day today. But the plan is still in place. Jason is the primary target. There is a little bit of intrigue in terms of what happens if Jason wins the blockbuster. In that instance, Jason comes off the block and Mallory is up against Lala. There are a lot of people that want to keep Mallory, including people like Barrett, of course, Drew, who wants to keep Mallory as a big threat. On the other side. Angela likes Mallory, but she's seemingly going a little back and forth. Haley just really wants Lala out. There are a bunch of people that want Mallory to stay, but primarily there are some people that don't want her to stay. Those people, of course, are Devins, D and Kamu. Kamu, who had initially wanted to target either Jason or Mallory, Devins and Dee, because she's been saying she's coming after them for a while. And right now, Devin's indeed, despite the vote going back and forth a little bit, have recommitted to the idea of sending Mallory out the door in the event that Jason wins the blockbuster. And they seemingly do have the influence in order to make that happen. And that's about where we are. Melissa,

[Melissa]

it was crazy yesterday. I mean, I. Yeah, that lasted for so long and it was just like at first when everyone was talking about the Tea Party, like you said, I was so confused that they were talking about because I didn't know about the planning of the Tea Party. And everyone just kept being like, whenever this tea party happens, like, I need to get back on the feed said it. And I was like, what tea party are they talking about? Anyway, that was wild. I mean, to be honest, I. I appreciated it because it was as much as people are saying that like Camus is a bully or whatever they are saying. I honestly thought it was pretty respectful on both ends and kind of stuck to mostly game and not personal attacks, which I appreciated. However, I felt so bad for Jason and I thought that Jason handled himself so well. First of all, I think he looked amazing. Not that this matters, but I thought he looked so cool. He had the glasses and the hair and the shirt and he just was like, he looks so hand resting on

[Taran Armstrong]

lyrics head most of the time. Which I found very funny personally because he had his like, arm around her. But then it just kind of got frozen.

[Melissa]

It was. Honestly, it was so. He looked so good. And then I thought that he kind of smoked Camus in this fight because I felt like he totally called him out on all his stuff and made Kamu's arguments just look totally dumb. And the fact that Camus had no rebuttal, he said like, look, if. And Lala said this too. Like, if you're going to put that because comic books. And I just wanted to put it out here in the open and it's like, okay, well if you're going to do that, then name some names. Like, go ahead and name some names. And he wouldn't do it. And I get why he wouldn't do it, but like, you can't say I'm just bringing this up to clear the air and not actually name any names to clear the air. You obviously are not trying to actually clear the air. You're just trying to call someone out and create a big scene. That's obviously what you're doing. So I thought that Jason handled himself so well. I thought that his arguments were so coherent and cogent and I just Felt like he impressed me so much, I was worried it was going to turn into what the House or what the nomination ceremony was with, like, you know, people going back and forth and a whole drama thing. And it really didn't. He just said like, hey, I didn't say that stuff. And everybody, like, no one said, yes, you did. Which would have been the next logical step is whoever he said it to to be like, yeah, you said it to me. But they. Nobody said anything. And even Lala was like, oh, he didn't do that. He's never said that to me. Or whatever. He didn't say he was going to use the veto on me. So I feel like Jason came out of this looking excellent. Now, does this matter? I don't know, because there's still a huge possibility that Jason goes home. I think if I'm in the House, I would view this as an opportunity of like, okay, Jason's alone. He has nobody. I want to work with him. Maybe not like out in the open. We're all working together, but I would want to secretly work with him for sure, because that's a number that you can get. So I was waiting afterwards for people to talk and say, like, hey, let's pick up Jason. Let's. Let's do something here. And I didn't really get that. Which I was kind of surprised by. Maybe we just weren't seeing the right conversations, but there really was no conversation of like, I'm going to pick up Jason because he's all alone now. And like, yeah, I think people are still treating him as he's the house target, but I do think if he wins the blockbuster and stays this week, like, I think he could have a decent shot of getting back in the game. I don't necessarily think he's just next house target. Unless obviously, like, Haley wins or something like that next week.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah, it's. It's. I, I mean, I think primarily the thing with Jason right now is that because it's what I talked about this morning where, like, the call out was. Was fake and everyone kind of knows it, but there, there was some truth to it. The, the idea that he's gone back and forth, told two different people two different things, that kind of thing. There was some truth to that in their eyes. Jason admitted to many of the things that he did, and they do recognize that he did do the things that k. The thing that they're not really, like, actually taking in because it doesn't really benefit them to in their own mental state is that, is this idea that, like, Kamu's using this as an excuse, but they all knew it was happening anyway. And Kamu is outright saying that the purpose of this call out was to try to isolate Jason from any potential allies and relationships in the house that he could feasibly have moving forward if he goes on to win the blockbuster. And to that end, it's worked reasonably well, at least for now, in that nobody really feels comfortable attaching themselves to Jason lest they find themselves in a similar position. Especially because the part of the idea is that, like, Jason and Lala are on the block right now. They both were harmed in their association with Rome. And now if you're associated with Jason, the same is going to come to you. And this is a pretty standard playbook when it comes to, like, majority power, when the majority holds a lot of power and they're able to really just like, don't even, don't even pair up upons because if you do, it will be you next and if you don't, it will still be you next and will find something else to blame you for. And so I, like, that's the huge part of this. And I think another big part of this and part of the response and sort of discussion that this has caused does inevitably, inevitably come from the, the. The identity of both Jason and Kamu in that prior to the season, it was discovered that Kamu had been following some pretty egregious accounts of people who hold pretty egregious positions when it comes to the LGBTQ community. He had not only been following those accounts, but he had liked some very egregious posts that are just outright homophobia, outright hate. And then in the house has talked about, like, miss me with the drag stuff. I have a reputation to uphold. And, you know, shown that it's, you know, there's at least something there that combined with his presence and the way that he talks to Jason has really, I think for, especially for people in that community or who have experienced this kind of thing, really been triggering to them. Jason is the only person in that house who is LGBTQ plus and, and he is experiencing ostracism from primarily a man who has displayed through his social media likes and through some of his, his comments in the house that he is, you know, kind of miss me with that, right? Like, he's not really into what Jason, who Jason is. And so that is another aspect of it. And it's, it's an aspect that I think for most of the house, they're not seeing. That's Primarily because, like, yeah, I don't think they're very privy to the dynamics or to the kinds of opinions Camus may hold as. As directly. But it's definitely something that shouldn't go unnoticed because it's part of something that often happens in the house. I don't think it's a supreme coincidence that. That many of the people on the outs and many of the people that in the.

[Melissa]

In the.

[Taran Armstrong]

In particular, that Jason is here, that this is happening, and the way that Jason responds in, the way that people relate to Jason, it's all part of it. When Rome responds with, like, an Alpha talk with Kamu, that's what Kamu respects. That's what Kamu expects, it's what he respects, and it's what he relates to. When Jason responds with the way that he communicates, the way that he navigates through life, that's not something that Camus recognizes, respects, relates to, or understands. And so. And the same is true for a lot of the housemates, I think, there. And so it's a lot easier to be like, well, you see what he's doing over here, because it's different than them. And that. That matters when it comes to, like, how Jason is being judged in the house. So I think, you know, all of this is, you know, there's a lot of this conversation going around, and there are a lot of people that are like, like, I thought we want old school Big Brother. I thought we want call outs. I thought we want all this stuff. And I have a couple things to say to that. One is that, like, as somebody who has done deep research on old school Big Brother, like, these conversations have always been happening. They're just not as easy to ignore now as they maybe used to be. But they've always been happening. And there were always petitions and people were always losing their jobs, and it's always been this way. And another thing is that, like, this is kind of the point. Like, yeah, we can have drama, and when it's drama, it's fun. It's all that stuff. And when it's drama, that's not fun for some people, they should talk about it, and these should be conversations that are being had. They don't have to ruin anybody's experience just because people want to speak out about their own experience. So there's a lot of this going on. Um, the thing for me about Camus, too, is that, like, he's so clearly, as I talked about this morning, is like, somebody who. Who really, like, wants to be Dan Geesling. The way that he structures his speech the way that he sort of, like, is moving through the house and. And getting into duos, and he talks about Derek as well. But, like, the thing about Dan and the. Dan and Dan's speeches, way that Dan conducted his funeral, the way that Dan maneuvered through the game when he was there is that Dan was an underdog in those moments. Dan was like. And in Dan's funeral, he was escaping from the foot of, like, a crushing giant. The entire house had turned against him. And Kamu really, I think, loves that aesthetic. He. But. But he. He's ultimately cosplaying as, like. As, like the Dan Geesling. Like, he's a tourist in this. In this space of, like, oh, I'm gonna make this fun, crazy move. The reality is that he has all the power, and it's very easy and safe for him to kind of crush some ants beneath his feet in the. In the game right now. And that's also part of why I think it's not as fun for many of the viewers to see what he's doing, because that's not really daring. That's not really, like, doing much beyond just, like, playing with your food. And so I think that's another big part of this here as well. But I'll.

[Melissa]

I'll.

[Taran Armstrong]

I'll. I'll get down from my literal.

[Melissa]

I think, like, I. I think you're totally right. And I think that, like, when I say that I had fun, like, watching it, I think it was more like, I. It was exciting, and I wanted. I was hoping it would end up switching up the game. Like, I didn't have fun watching, like, the awkward silences and stuff, like, and how awkward the whole thing was. Like, I was excited because I was waiting for something to happen afterwards where people would come to Jason or whatever, go to each other and be like, look, let's switch this up. Didn't happen, but it's still exciting for the possibility. I don't think that. I don't. I personally don't like watching big, like, showy moments like that where it's like, I'm going to cause a stir. Like, unless your stir is to better your position in the game, and it's very strategic, like, Dan's funeral, like, that's one thing, but I think that somebody just being like, I'm going to cause a fight, like, I don't like that. I don't appreciate Camu doing this. I hate, hate, hate. And I get full secondhand embarrassment watching somebody practice a speech like Kamu was doing with D like that made me so uncomfortable and so I don't, and I don't like people amping them up being like, yeah, do it, do it. I to me, I hate that stuff. I just felt like I was worried for Jason in this confrontation but I thought he did such an excellent job and he handled himself so well and he just like knocked down one by one all of commerce points and I don't know if that helps Jason. And obviously like it still is probably like traumatic for Jason to have Kamu come after him in front of everyone and no one stand up for you. But I just like want to give Jason his props because I thought he handled himself so well.

[Mary]

You, you both bring up a lot of good points. And for me what's always fascinating because this happens fairly often in Big Brother, right? This dynamic, the punching down, the singling a person out and, and there's sort of two things happening in my brain. There's the. And really what I'm, I'm thinking about more here is for everyone else, not for Kamu but for everyone else in the situation because I don't personally feel like it's hard for me to relate with the idea of being the person to do the speech, to do the. And I'm not talking about in like the Rip Devin's way. I'm not even really talking about in the Angela Crazy Eyes way. Like I don't think I would do that either. But at least there was like some

[Taran Armstrong]

just like wild kind of person. I kind of. That was the vibe you give off.

[Mary]

Oh yeah. I feel like that's, there's, there's, there's levels to the type of like I'm confronting someone house meeting, singling out. Right. And this is kind of the worst example where it's both targeted at one person. Doesn't exactly affect the game because like Taran said, everybody already knew that Jason was going to be backdoored. This didn't change anything gameplay wise and it didn't even do a Vanessa and like hide the reasons and mask the reason that Kamu was putting Jason up because everybody already knew the reasons. It was a. It's like at most this is supposed to convince Jason that this is the reason, but I don't even think Jason really buys it. But so for everybody else who's in the scenario, it's fascinating to see how they react in the moment and after the fact to this type of pylon because from a strategic, purely gameplay perspective, if this is a one day event, you're playing Mafia in A house, right? Kind of thing. Like, this is the kind of thing where you go, it's smart of me to not, not stand up for Jason. It's smart of me to go along with Kamu. It's smart of me to whisper behind people's backs. It's smart of me to make sure that it's obvious what side I'm on so that I remain protected. Now there's obviously the, the like emotional social side or not even social gameplay wise, but I mean like real world social side where you want to believe that you'd be the kind of person who'd be like, hey, hey, hey, this is a game. Like, can we not like single a person out? Like, this is a little brutal. Like, or even the lala move of like, why are we acting like only certain people are allowed to play the game? Why are we acting like it's bad when certain people make the same moves other people are? Like, I would kind of love for me to see in instantly after this meeting, a lot of people go away and go, okay, like, that was brutal. And like, feel bad for Jason, but, like, can't say anything. At least saying that to kind of clue me into, like, you're doing something strategic, but you understand what was rough about that situation. So. And I wonder how much of this, the literal, like Cabin Fever, locked in a house ness of Big Brother puts people in such a perspective of being okay with these kind of things happening. Because, I mean, even you look at, you look at Taylor Hale season, yes, there was the Leftovers, sure. But lest we forget that a lot of those people who are in the Leftovers were happily, at the very least, kind of quietly being bystanders for the first half of the season. It's not like they were openly saying this was bad or, or protecting Taylor or doing anything else. Like, we eventually got to that point, but we weren't for quite a while. And I'm not, and I'm not even trying to say anything about people being like good people or bad people. I think this is fascinating watching this from like a social experiment perspective to see how being locked in a house and playing a game for money and being constantly aware that anything you say to anyone could get back to other people. And, and so you're always trying to make sure that you're sort of like on the right side of what the game is. It's fascinating to see how that works out because I feel like we, we don't see it happen exactly like this in other similar types of reality shows, in shows that either like Survivor move faster or shows like the Challenge where people come back season after season, you tend to see more people being okay standing up for other people and, and vouching for them because power structures shift quicker. And in something like this, where this big group could just each week pick the next person and the last thing you want is to be the person who's going to be picked next week and be the Jason next week. And so it's like, I can, I can understand it, but I would also hope that I would do something differently just from a human perspective.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah, 100%. And you know, and like, listen, I, I see, I see the occasional chat pop up like, like, you guys are so soft, you know, like, like, oh, like these people just too soft nowadays. They can't handle all this stuff. And, and like, genuinely, like, my response to that is like, like, I'm not trying to be snarky. I really am not. But like, why are you so soft that you can't handle this even being talked about without being like, like freaking out and be like, no, you. Why you shouldn't be talking about this. How dare you. That's, that's just like the, the gut reaction I have to that. But, but yes. So here we are on with the Tea Party. The situation is what it is. Jason is the primary target heading into Thursday night. And, and this Mallory Lala thing is, is interesting to me, but I do feel like it is, as I said, currently leaning toward the Lala of it all. Is there anything else, Mary, that you had from the week that you, that you thought was interesting?

[Mary]

I guess the, the main thing is just the, The continued, the continued scare. Not scared, scared, scaredness, hesitation I guess, that, that people are having with particularly Drew's, but even Barrett's, you know, relationship, like, side relationships with people of, of just. It's like this weird thing of thinking too far ahead and, and getting short sighted by people who are maybe not your ally but are allies with your ally instead of just like, let's concentrate on our enemies for a second here. And I just feel like that's kind of muddying things and it's playing a, it's playing a game where, you know, I think out of week one we're like, oh, look at, you know, Drew's positioned so well and it's like, but he's, he's so visible in his position that it's coming back to hurt him just because so happens that his allies are getting kind of bogged down and worrying about his position.

[Melissa]

Yeah, I Think, like, the game is so. Sorry, I just was saying, I think because the game is so slow that people start to be like, okay, well, let's think ahead. And then they start, like, thinking ahead too quickly when they shouldn't be thinking ahead that fast. Like, it's like, okay, they know that eventually they're going to have to get rid of Drew, but then they start being forgetting about the fact that. That there's so many other people that were supposed to be between now and Drew eventually, that then they just start being like, okay, well, let's, like, get rid of Drew now. Thinking that, like, forgetting completely that they have this whole line of people that they need to get rid of before they should be looking at Drew. And it's just like, the slowness of the game. I think people just start to, like, spin.

[Mary]

Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I didn't know I had that power.

[Taran Armstrong]

I didn't know you had that power either, to be honest.

[Melissa]

I didn't know I could do that.

[Taran Armstrong]

I just accidentally brought a comment on the screen.

[Mary]

Sorry, I didn't mean to do that.

[Melissa]

So we need to talk about this.

[Taran Armstrong]

Who's Mary?

[Melissa]

You've.

[Taran Armstrong]

You've broken your word. You're not allowed to have that kind of power here. The Drew thing I find very interesting, and I think that it has progressed in an interesting way. Obviously, we've been talking about it a lot as, like, Angela really being suspicious of Drew for no particular reason at first. Then over time, there started to be a reason, but they were still her and D kind of looking at the wrong things, like, oh, he's betraying us, when in reality, he wasn't. This finally kind of came to a head when Angela approached Devin's with the idea that they should leak the crossovers to the red corner and in preparation for the betrayal of Drew in, like, the coming weeks. And Devins was like, whoa, no, that's not what we should be doing. And seemingly has successfully talked Angela off of that ledge. And Devins has now kind of taken over with what I would personally deem a more reasonable approach to the Drew and Barrett situation. And D is fully on board with him now as well. And this approach is. Drew is in a really good position, or, I mean, the way Devin's described it, a really bad position because he's bound to be exposed sooner or later. But, like, basically, Drew has options, and that makes him dangerous. It doesn't mean I don't trust him. It doesn't mean I think he's actively running around Spilling our secrets. That doesn't mean that I think he's going to turn on us this like next week. It also doesn't mean that we should be alienating him and pushing him out because we need him to not turn on us yet. The, the actual way we should be approaching this is slowly eroding the options that he has while we lock in our own path forward and then continue to allow him to falsely believe that he has a nice cozy spot with us. And then by the time he realizes that he has no other options, then we can cut him. Which is, in my opinion, exactly the approach that they should be taking. And it's exactly the approach that, that Devins has now spearheaded. He has a converse. He had a conversation with Kamu today. Kamu being Drew's basically one final bastion in this tool shed alliance with, with at least the, sorry, the red corner perhaps is the better way to describe the, the group I'm talking about because he has that handyman alliance with Kamu now. D and Haley and even Chuck now and Angela have all kind of been poking and prodding at Kamu. Are you sure you trust Drew? Are you sure you trust Drew? Do you see what Drew's doing? And Kamu's been kind of like, where are the examples of what they're talking about? They kind of sound like nonsense. And so he's approaching. But, but there's one thing that it is doing which is showing Camus that Drew's not that popular, that Drew's kind of maybe a little bit of a liability. And so we approached Devins about it today and Devin's explained exactly basically what I just said, which is that the thing about Drew is that he's got options and, and that is potentially dangerous to us moving forward. And so we can, we can continue to use Drew. But I can see why they are concerned because if Mallory wins in hoh, Drew's not in trouble, we're in trouble. If Jason wins an hoh, Drew's not in trouble, we're in trouble. And he explained it in such a good matter of fact way and in the process really, in my opinion, has fully kind of shifted with the help of Dee and Angela and all the others who have already planted the seed with Kamu, shifted Kamu's focus from I've got red corner, I've got tool shed, I've got handyman to I've got red corner, I've got tool shed, I've got Devin's, I've got Devin's. And this Taylor alliance that I've been talking about the last couple of mornings. They've decided let's, let's just keep that a little trio with. Between us. Let's just keep it us basically with Taylor on the side just as a number. And so that shared secret is now, it's not really a secret because demons had told D about it, but that shared secret has now bonded them even further. And so what this is in reality doing is just kind of slowly setting Drew up for his fall without all of the unnecessary paranoia and, and other stuff. Devin's is still doing the work to make sure Drew doesn't see what's happening. And so this sort of like pushing out of, of Drew and, and to some degree Barrett, while getting closer to the red corner is the true sort of direction of the structure of the game here. And, and I, I, you know, I think that we are going to see the results of it for as much as Devin's is pushing it back probably relatively soon, in my opinion.

[Mary]

Yeah, I just feel like it's interesting that we see things like Taylor making moves over the last couple of days, kind of shoring up some relationships. And yet why are people not doing the same thing with Mallory then instead of being scared that, that, you know, Drew has a separate relationship with Melody, maybe befriend Melody, like you still have the ability to do that. It's still early in the game.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah. I mean, and this is the thing, right? Like there is a world where this vote, this very vote is the thing that breaks the whole structure. And Devins is. He's talking to Kamu about that in this conversation. Like technically, Drew and Barrett might be able to try to flip against us. They might blindside us and then we are on the wrong side of the numbers. But they don't think Drew and Barrett are there yet. And they're not from what we've seen, but they very clearly should be. And Kamu and Devin even say so basically, like, yeah, they are at the bottom, they probably should do something, but they are not. And so that is the main thing. If, if Drew and now Barrett might have a little bit more leeway because he might be able to slip through the crack. The cracks. But Drew is in really like the front lines here and he really does not see it. In my opinion. Drew really should take a stand. He really should try to flip the entire house and vote out Lala this week in any scenario, quite frankly, against Jason or Mallory, but certainly against Mallory. And so, but I don't think he's going to. And and it has already been sort of positioned as a declaration of war. If he does this, this whole thing with, like, the will they, won't they? On the Mallory vote, Devin's proposed to Camus that it was like, hey, this is a true test of where Drew and Barrett stand. If the vote comes down to Mallory or Lala, the other side will expect them to vote for Mallory to stay. We'll expect them to vote for Mallory to go. And so they'll be picking a side. And that's kind of good for us as long as we can make sure that our side wins that vote regardless. So that's kind of where Devin's and D stand on this whole vote situation and the whole, again, like, sort of direction of the game moving forward here. So. Interesting, interesting stuff.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

Any. Anything else to bring up before we get to the survey stuff?

[Melissa]

I was about to say, yes, I have something I would like to bring up, which is do we, like, as a general idea, do we think that it's a good idea to, I guess, rile someone up or gas them up to do a big house meeting like this generally, I mean, specifically, I guess more specifically this season related, D was gassing Kamu up and saying, like, yes. Oh, my God, that'd be so funny. That'd be so good. Like, oh, yeah, and you'll take a pause before you drink your tea or whatever. Like, it's. And just making him feel like this is such a smart idea. And then in her cam talk later, she was saying, yeah, I, I made him do it. I. I gassed him up to do it. And the reason why is because I want other people to be fighting that is not us. It takes the heat off the vets and it would be better if they fight each other and so then people will forget about us. But number one, I don't feel like they got the intended result because they got brought up the vets, that, that Jason's going to go after the vets and Jason's going to go after the Haley, Chuck and Kamu combo. And it singles out more that the vets are like a group number one. And number two, you know, if you're looking at someone like. And yes, I know this is, like, considered a boring game, but if you're looking at, like, Derek From Big Brother 16, I feel like part of the reason he was able to do such a dominating, successful game was his ability to kind of tamp down any sort of potential conflicts within prevented all the House. People hated the alliance. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the viewers Hated it. But it was really good for him because I feel like it, it kept away the drama of the house. It kept people from being like, okay, well now I'm going to go after people that you're aligned with. Because, yes, while it kind of de thought that it would get the heat off the vets, Kamu is someone that she's aligned with. And I feel like this whole thing just creates a target out of Kamu or makes him seem like he. He's a big threat and like, oh, we need to get this guy out eventually. And I just feel like it. I don't think it brought a good form of drama or removed any sort of heat from the vets or did anything that she said it was going to do. And so I guess my question is, do we think that this sort of like technique or, you know, strategy is good or do we think that it's better to pull a Derek and kind of keep the drama down in the house?

[Mary]

I think the technique can work. If your goal is to then follow this up by distancing yourself from Kamu and throwing Kamu under. Under the bus. Like that's a way. When it does work. Sure. Or if you're. If your goal is to isolate a player, you know, that's a way to make it work. But in general, and I'm trying to think, I think Taran was it. I mean, Vince definitely had this problem and I feel like we saw some of this in Chelsea season two of like, you want your allies to get along, so you don't want to encourage drama in a way that's going to separate your allies from each other in a way that doesn't benefit you, especially not this early in the game. But I don't know. I think there are times when this can work. I don't think that this particularly did anything for, for like d this this time around.

[Taran Armstrong]

The. The thing I often say is that big like house meetings or blow ups or confrontations, they're usually bad for the people in power. Like, if you are in power and you have a good structure set up, the last thing you want is something chaotic that could potentially disrupt the normal flow of business because the normal flow of business is going really great for you. So if you're in power, it's not great usually to encourage big blow ups because who knows what might come up in the shuffle. Who knows what kind of relationships will shift in the shuffle. And the relationships being the way they are is why you're in power right now. So you shouldn't Generally want that. In my opinion, if you're on the bottom and you've got nothing to lose, that's where like, maybe you can dredge something up. Maybe you can shake the structure a little bit with a little house meeting or whatever it is that you want to do. And so, so that's. Yeah, I, I do think generally if you are in a position of power, you don't want to do this. I think another thing Dee mentioned about this particular blow up that she really wanted was that she wanted specifically Kamu to look bad and for his game to be blown up a little bit more. And, and you know, you can sort of see that too. And I think that's often sort of like the idea behind like, oh, somebody's proposing that they do a big house meeting, go ahead, ruin yourself. And so there's like maybe some validity to that, but it's, it's not always so one to one. And again, if you're already in a good position, I don't think it's usually worth trying to risk something like that. Not to mention the implications again of like, if you are in power, encouraging blow ups. Encouraging or doing blow ups yourself, that's, I think, not a good look to both the audience and potentially the people inside the house. It makes you look like you are like looking upon them from on high. So, yeah, so, yeah, I mean, I think, to answer. I agree. I think that like, generally, and there are always going to be specifics to maybe point in another direction, but I think generally is not a good idea if you are in the power position to do a, do a confrontation or encourage a confrontation.

[Mary]

And like you said, such a misread of the, of the. Oh my gosh, how am I forgetting his name? Dan. Wow, that was, that was scary. For a second. My Drew just kept going through my name. It's like, not Drew. It's not true. Dan. It's a misreading of the Dan's funeral situation. Of like, like Dan did it as a Hail Mary move when he wasn't in power. He was the one to make the move. And so you might think of it like if you're just sort of very surface level thinking back to it. Like, oh yeah, he had the power and so he did. He made this big move. No, no, no, no. You're missing the point of why he felt like he should do this. And it's not because he's hoh. In power with everyone liking him.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Mary]

And he's trying to single out one person. That's not how that went down.

[Taran Armstrong]

I mean, even. Even nomination roulette, which is. I would say, in. In my opinion, probably the. Probably the more correct opinion is the dirtier move between, like, the stuff that he did because he was in power at that point. It was still in a position where there were relatively equal sides at that point. Like, it was a. It was a divided house, and his hope was to sort of, like, throw up a smoke screen and keep the eyes off of him as much as possible moving forward. And even that he had to, like, really explain away, because that was like, a sticking point for many of the jurors because it. It approached the line of, like, you were in power. You were playing with your food. So. All right, I'm expecting.

[Melissa]

And I just want to point out, though, one thing I want to point out is that, like, I can't think of a situation where someone was encouraging someone else to do a house meeting because they thought that it would be good for that person's game. Like, I literally can't think of a time where someone was like, yes, do it without an ulterior motive of, like, this person's going to look stupid, or, this is going to be better for my game because something will blow up.

[Taran Armstrong]

Probably, like, somebody on the bottom who has another friend that's on the bottom that's, like, might as well try.

[Melissa]

Yeah, like, we've seen that. But I just. Yeah, it's like, I can't even think of a scenario. Anyway, go ahead. Did you know Sam's Club isn't a store?

[Taran Armstrong]

It's actually a club with cool finds and, like, a whole community. It's a club.

[Melissa]

Of course, Jason.

[Mary]

It's in the name Sam's Club.

[Taran Armstrong]

Oh, yeah. Come join us, Sam's Club. All right. I'm expecting some shifts in the popularity rankings here. I don't know about you guys, but I think that we might see some movement. Of course, again, I send out a survey every week. If you want to fill it out. I posted on Blue sky and Twitter, and it gets posted elsewhere as well. You can rank players from your favorite to your least favorite. You can answer all kinds of other questions. But we will be doing some rankings here. Let me pull up the charts. This is. This is what we got. This is week two's rankings. And me just, like, bump up the size of the players a little bit here. Week two, Drew was the most popular player on the board. Do we think that Drew is still the most popular player on the board?

[Melissa]

I think so.

[Mary]

See, it's like, I feel like he's gone down, but I can't think of who would have gone up. Like, I don't know who would be number one. So I guess by default. Sure.

[Taran Armstrong]

He is in fact still number one.

[Mary]

Number one.

[Taran Armstrong]

Last week D was number two. Do we think D is still number two?

[Melissa]

I don't think so. I don't think so. I think I could see people rooting for, like, I could see Jason popping up, but I don't know if he pops up enough to be some of the people who are already up there. Like maybe Devin's or something. Yeah, maybe. Gosh. I don't know if Jason goes all the way up to number two. Maybe Devin.

[Mary]

I don't think. I don't think Jason goes to number two.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

Melissa says Devin's Mary.

[Mary]

I think D still number two.

[Taran Armstrong]

Evans up fourth place. Now into second place.

[Mary]

I think that also helps by the contingent of people who were happy that Rome left.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yes, yes. So big, big movement up from Devins. Who's number three? Is it D? Is it Angela? Who is the number three last week?

[Melissa]

Jason. I think people feel for him. I think that, yeah, that was this bad situation and I think people feel for him. So I could see Jason.

[Mary]

I'm gonna go on a limb and think it's Angela. Then I know I'm changing it up by thinking that D was still in second, but. Oh, well.

[Taran Armstrong]

Melissa. Three for three.

[Mary]

Oh, okay. I'm just gonna let Melissa say all of these. I'm so off and I didn't.

[Melissa]

My next spot is probably Kamu. I think Kamu's.

[Mary]

Yes. No, I'm just kidding. Can we skip down to the bottom? Because I don't know. I don't.

[Melissa]

Yeah, I feel like now it's getting kind of hard.

[Taran Armstrong]

Big spike from eighth place to third.

[Mary]

Yeah, that's pretty good. That's pretty good. I still feel like. I feel like Angela is going to be above D. I don't know why

[Melissa]

I think Angela is going to be above D2 because I think people are not pleased.

[Mary]

Yeah. I don't think people like these. Some of her other relations that she's.

[Melissa]

And I think I think someone else who has a good chance of moving up is Lyric because I think people have been into her this week. And then also she came to comfort Jason, which I definitely appreciated. I thought that, you know, Devin's came to comfort him. Not really comfort him, but he did say, like, this isn't personal. Which I did appreciate. I don't know if Jason appreciated it. Kind of looked like he rolled his eyes But I couldn't tell because he was kind of just looking up, and so I couldn't. I'm not gonna put any judgment on that. I'm gonna see that he took it in a genuine way, let's just say. But then also, Lyric came to him and was like, you know, I love you. Um, and I could see people appreciating that, honestly. I think.

[Mary]

I think Melody is also potentially moving up, like, one or two spots here.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, well, I can't tell you. Jason is the first person to crack the crossovers top five in the history of the season. First two weeks, the crossovers were 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, both times. Jason now the first person cracking into that. Do we have a guess on number four?

[Melissa]

Oh, it's so hard.

[Taran Armstrong]

We can just.

[Melissa]

We can. Yeah. I. I'll just say Lyric just for fun, but I don't know Lyric or Melody.

[Mary]

I'm gonna say Angela. I don't know.

[Taran Armstrong]

Barrett.

[Mary]

Barrett. Now, that's surprising to me.

[Taran Armstrong]

Barrett, number four, moving up from his fifth spot last week.

[Mary]

Wow.

[Melissa]

Okay, then this means that D is D and Angela are dropping.

[Mary]

Yes. Yes.

[Taran Armstrong]

Angela continuing to drop.

[Mary]

I still think that Lyric and Melody are going to move up.

[Melissa]

I think so too.

[Taran Armstrong]

Well, next is D. There it is. From second to fifth is D. Angela not above D here, then.

[Melissa]

Well, then probably Angela then. Right?

[Mary]

Yeah. Because I was thinking that D would either stay exactly where she was, just basically staying steady, or drop, like, a lot more than this. So she actually didn't drop as much as I thought it would be.

[Melissa]

Yeah. I feel like people. So if people aren't that mad at D, then they probably aren't that mad at Angela. Although, like, it was kind of disheartening afterwards for Angela to be all like, that was amazing. You did great. Common or whatever. And then, you know, the fact that Angela, like, got into the confrontation too, probably. People don't love. Yeah, yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

Next is Melody.

[Mary]

Yeah, yeah, I saw that one. Moving up. I think Melody's at least, like, one of the few people while she's been messy, she is, like, trying different things, popping around. So I. I appreciate that.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

Holding strong. In sixth place, Melody. After Melody, Mallory, Angela.

[Melissa]

Whoa.

[Mary]

Okay.

[Melissa]

I was not expecting that this far. Oof.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah. Still no Angela after Mallory. In eighth place, Taylor.

[Mary]

Yeah. Oh, wow. I see that jump from 12th to 8th

[Taran Armstrong]

after Taylor.

[Mary]

I think the problem is. Let me see. Is this the lyric spot or is lyrics still lower?

[Taran Armstrong]

It's the lyric spot. It's lyrics.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

From 11th to 9th.

[Melissa]

Moving up, I guess.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

Then we have Angela.

[Mary]

Wow.

[Taran Armstrong]

Who fell from third.

[Melissa]

Oh, man.

[Taran Armstrong]

Tenth.

[Mary]

Big drop.

[Melissa]

Big drop.

[Taran Armstrong]

Big drop indeed. After Angela, Lala small drop from 10th to 11th.

[Mary]

And I think that that's probably less Lala dropping and more other people rising. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

After Lala, Chuck from 14th to 12th, Chuck on the move up. Look at Chuck. And then we have our boss, these other three.

[Mary]

I feel like it's a. Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

So far, Yash has been 16th and 16th, Haley has been 17th and 15th and Kamu has been 15th and 9th.

[Melissa]

I. Yeah, I could see a situation where Yash moves up, but only because other people move down.

[Mary]

Yeah. I think this is. I think personally I'm just gonna say this now. I think Kamu is going to be last.

[Melissa]

I think so.

[Mary]

So I think this is Yash or Haley. I'm not sure the order.

[Taran Armstrong]

It's Haley.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

15th to 13th.

[Mary]

Yeah. I don't know whether or not Yash was so sort of forgotten here that he just remained in last, but I feel like Kamu probably did enough to move him down. Depends how many people were submitting. Yeah, yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yash, 14th.

[Mary]

Yeah, there you go.

[Taran Armstrong]

Big drop from Kamu.

[Melissa]

Oh, man.

[Taran Armstrong]

Ninth to 15th.

[Mary]

So Kamu. Kamu indeed. And Angela, the three big drops.

[Taran Armstrong]

Angela, the biggest drop. She fell seven spots. Kamu fell six spots. He just had less room to go. Ultimately. I think he probably would have fallen further. Barrett continuing to hold relatively consistently and Jason with a massive rise, five spots this week. I can also show you the chart here of the actual placements in terms of their score. Drew pretty far out in the lead, followed by Devin's there in second. Big grouping of Jason, Barrett and D. Then a bit of a group of the women here. Mallory, Melody, Taylor, lyric Angela. Then Lala fully just like out on her own in no man's land. And then the bottom grouping of Chuck, Haley, Yash and Kamu down in there at the bottom.

[Mary]

What I see just instantly from looking at this view is that from the audience who's doing these votes, prioritizing, like gamer action, strategic action first, and then a combination of fun TV and underdogs. And that's the sort of like D, Devins, Jason contingent. And then you've got. It just so happens to be women, but people who are starting to kind of play and like trying different things. And then you've got like, I don't. I will still never understand because Kamu or. Yeah, Kamu, Chuck and Haley. This happens every season in like every show is that you get an alliance like this who for whatever reason thinks they're like America's favorite and just don't have any understanding of the audience. And when I say America, I mean, like, I don't know that the, the nerds who are watching, you know, podcasts about this show. Like, I don't know what the general public thinks. Maybe they love them, but like, it's just always so fascinating to me that, like, they're. They're the ones who are probably the most in the game being like, oh, everybody loves us. Look at us. Our strong, our strong alliance. It's just so funny.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah. All right, so that is the audience favorite rankings. We also asked some questions to the audience. We asked to rate some things. I do have some new graphics for the questions. Hopefully works properly here. This is the episode ranking chart. All of the past seasons for the episodes and the ways that they have been ranked across the seasons we've been doing this. So ask the audience to rank the. Rate the episodes this week. And you can see that this week, week three, the average is a 5.3. Not. Not great. It's pretty bad this season so far. The Average is a 6.9. So what do we got this week? A 6.4. Not bad. Bit of a drop from last week, but better than the average for a week three. In fact, it's one of the best week threes of episodes in the history of. Since we've been doing this since BB21. Only beaten by Big Brother 23's week three.

[Melissa]

I wonder what that was. Got a pretty good score.

[Taran Armstrong]

Let's see, it was after. Was a DX's HOH perhaps or no. Was it? It must have been. No, it was.

[Melissa]

I don't even know one. Big brother.

[Mary]

Yeah, big brother 23. I'm like, which one was that?

[Melissa]

I really don't know.

[Taran Armstrong]

I think it was.

[Melissa]

I know nothing.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, next we have the feeds. Rating feeds rating for week three. Last week, feeds were super high. It was an 8.3. It was the highest rated week two in. Since Big Brother 21. This week, week three, the average is a 6.8. We got a 7.3. Not bad. Same as week one. Not, not quite as high as the high highs of like BB 26, 25, 24. About matching 23 for the feeds. Here it is a drop. But like, that was probably gonna happen after the excitement of like the tool shed and all of the call outs and stuff. And then sort of like, you know, the tea party was interesting but not entirely enjoyable. So yeah, 7.3 here makes a Little bit of sense. Then we have the season as a whole. This one is really, I think, the one that, like, really tracks the general sentiment. Again, average for a week three is a 6.4. Last week we had a 7.3. This week, a 6.3. Big drop. Big drop fully. Now it just matches the average of a week three sentiment.

[Melissa]

I mean, I could see that. Like, I get it. When Camu won, I was like, oh, boy. Like, you know, you always want to shake up. And I feel like it's like, ugh. We just know what's gonna happen this week. Great. So I get why it dropped for sure.

[Taran Armstrong]

Interestingly enough, last season, Big Brother 27 also had a big drop from week two to week three. Sim, very similar one. And it never fully recovered from that drop.

[Melissa]

Does not recover. That's not a good sign.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah, the list, it's.

[Mary]

It's hard to recover. I mean, Big Brother 24 certainly got better, but it's.

[Melissa]

It.

[Taran Armstrong]

The season ranking as a whole does not move very quickly generally. So, like, a. A full point drop like that is a big drop, especially because it drops easy, more easily than it rises. So. All right. I asked the audience to rate the HOH reign of Camus 1 to 10. How is Kamu doing as an HOH? Last week they gave Devin's a 5.1. They gave D an 8.4. And the average for a week three HOH is a 4.8. Kamu got a 3.7.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Mary]

Is it naive of me to just be thinking like that, that Kamu and the other members of the. Whatever their trio is called, if they have a name that they should be like. I was gonna say their biggest targets should be more like D and Devin's, but I don't know. They need. They need some allies at this point. They're not getting them in a whole lot of other places. So it's. I. I hate to say that you can't bounce back, but it's almost like they've set themselves in, like, such a bad spot with being just numbers for the people who actually hold, like, a lot of power. I mean, given that Kamu and Chuck and Haley can probably win a decent number of challenges, so they have the ability to sort of gain the power. But,

[Taran Armstrong]

yeah, I mean, I. I actually. I don't think this was a devastating HOH for Comma, by any means. I think, like, at work, doesn't it

[Mary]

feel like he's just targeting the people that other people are telling him to like?

[Taran Armstrong]

Right. But, like, there's kind of Nobody targeting Kamu at the moment. It's like it's kind of. It might have been Jason, he was kind of going after the vets. It might have been Mallory, she was kind of going after the vets, but there was nobody else really targeting him. He's. What he's really doing is taking out one of the biggest comp threats on the other side. If it's Mallory, if it's Jason, those are two people he wasn't working with that could win competitions. It weakens players that could maybe take his spot in the game. It's, it's. I don't think it's a bad HOH in that sense. I do think he kind of like, you know, showed his ass a little bit, but. But most of the people in that house don't really care all that much.

[Mary]

Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. I think it really just comes down to, for me, like, is the. Is the person that's going to leave the person who. Or, you know, an option of a person who would be good for. For him to get out so.

[Taran Armstrong]

Well, we also have a. A Previously on rating. In retrospect, what did we think Devin's HOH was? He got a 5.1 in the moment. In hindsight, do you think this is higher? I think it's higher.

[Melissa]

Yeah, probably.

[Mary]

Really?

[Melissa]

Which I feel like is.

[Mary]

Yeah, I feel like it goes up because Rome left, but I feel like, I mean, I don't know, a few days removed. It doesn't look like it's really hurt him, some of the moves that he made in it, but I still think he made some messy decisions throughout the course of the HOH.

[Taran Armstrong]

6.7.

[Melissa]

Okay, what was it before?

[Taran Armstrong]

5.1?

[Mary]

5.1.

[Melissa]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Mary]

Definitely went up.

[Taran Armstrong]

So it did go up. I can also. We can also look at the. The average.

[Mary]

It would have. It would have plummeted had Melody gone home.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah, I mean, it's still. I mean, for what it's worth, we haven't asked many of the retrospective HOA train questions, so you can see there's not many here. But of the ones that we have asked Rachel, BB27 is the highest, followed by D, followed by Devin's. All right, then we finally have rate production, which started for a very specific reason. As you can see back In Big Brother 27, the audience has been pretty high in production so far. 6.7, 6.1 this week, 5.1, honestly, still higher than I would have expected given this diamond power of veto nonsense.

[Mary]

I mean, are we including some of the wonderful choices they made on Unlocked.

[Taran Armstrong]

That's fair. I mean, if you want to count Unlocked, they've made some good decisions with Unlocked and the episodes haven't been. Haven't been that bad. But in terms of, you know, setting the time limit on Diamond Power, Veto, definitely not happy about that.

[Mary]

I don't know if this was mentioned last night. Haven't listened to the podcast yet, but I got like, I like Mandela affected myself but like in over the course of an hour by thinking that the. That production was literally doing a like Big Brother Canada Pretty Boys reference. And. And I like, was staring at the other wrestlers being like, wait, who are they? Who are they in the Pretty Boys? They don't look like any of them. And I was. I. When I saw the clip on Unlocked versus when I saw the episode yesterday, I was confused. I thought that they were pretty boys.

[Taran Armstrong]

And you know, there's people in the chat saying they literally shouted you out. How are we not happy with production right now? And you know what? Fair enough. They did. They didn't cut the shout out. That was nice.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

Yeah. But like, I didn't get a named shout out, so I give production a zero.

[Taran Armstrong]

That's true.

[Melissa]

You just gotta do.

[Mary]

You gotta do a tick tock, Melissa.

[Melissa]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I should have done Big Brother Drunk History.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

Maybe it gets on Unlocked. Who knows?

[Mary]

Yeah, just like re. Upload it. It'll get. It'll get on there.

[Melissa]

Yeah. I'll be like, this is new. This is new, guys.

[Taran Armstrong]

You have to do it for the current season, I think.

[Mary]

But yeah, I think so Do a Tea Party one. Oh, we also.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah. What if I told you you only have 12 hours to legally have sex?

[Mary]

To Finding True Love or just like a Good Guy from the director of

[Taran Armstrong]

Easy A and Anyone but you.

[Mary]

This whole thing is nuts.

[Taran Armstrong]

There's nothing traditional about this.

[Melissa]

Lane.

[Taran Armstrong]

On August 7th, the clock starts on the summer's biggest rom com.

[Melissa]

I'm Owen. Ally.

[Taran Armstrong]

What about you and me? Monica Barbaro. Callum Turner. I've been told I'm a seven.

[Mary]

By who?

[Melissa]

Your mom?

[Mary]

No, she thinks I'm a ten.

[Taran Armstrong]

One night only. Rated R only in theaters August 7th. All right, next. Who are you voting for to receive this week's Time Capsule Power? I have not been asking this question because I am stupid and I forgot. And this week I remembered. And so now I am asking on the survey, who are you voting for to receive this week's Time Capsule Power? Melissa, do you have an official endorsement?

[Melissa]

Yeah, I voted for the first time for Jason.

[Taran Armstrong]

Mary.

[Mary]

I have been voting for Mallory. I want chaos.

[Taran Armstrong]

Oh, okay. Well, the audience says Jason 43%, drew 33%. It's a bit of a split there. And then D in third place with 11%. I, I, I don't do really endorsements generally. I don't, I don't vote in these things. But, but I will do an anti endorsement. Please, for the love of everything holy and big brother, do not vote for D. Yes.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

She doesn't need it. We don't need it. It's fine. She doesn't need.

[Melissa]

I feel like giving her the voting for her and then that having it be Angela Devin's deed just gives them all the confidence in the world that like, oh, my God, America's on our side. We're doing everything right. We should keep working with Kamu and Haley and Jack and da da da. It's like we, I would like a shake up. I would like to send a message and I think if Jason wins this, we're sending a message because it will show them that we are not on board with that big giant tool shed alliance or whatever. Like, we don't want that. The people want something else and maybe that will cause them to change up their game.

[Mary]

My favorite thing in Big Brother are power shifts. Constant power shifts. Great. And my second favorite thing is people who find out that America doesn't like them. That's my, that's my favorite thing.

[Melissa]

Yeah, it is great.

[Mary]

Humbling. Yes. That's a nicer way of saying that.

[Melissa]

Yes. Humbling them. Yes.

[Taran Armstrong]

Imagine the world where Dee receives the coin flip of Destiny power next week. That's just, that's just done. Like the rest. Like the next, the following five weeks are just over. Like, it's just, it's just, we can just like, we can take a nap and wake up at jury and see where we're at. You know what I mean? Like, no, nobody could possibly do anything against them. So, you know, we'll see. Listen, the thing is, though, of course they, you know, it's not like she's guaranteed to get that. It's not like it's not a punishment that could be doled out. The thing is, I mean, here's the thing. Ultimately, there's been a huge push I've seen for Jason. I actually do think there's a world where that makes sense. I think that there's definitely a world where this edit is very favorable for Jason. This edit will come on a Wednesday night which will be the biggest night for casual voting and So I do think that underdog Jason will probably have a huge swell of casual support. I think there's a very good chance that Jason does actually win this vote, depending on how the edit of goes, of course. Problem of course is what happens if. If Jason gets voted out, he doesn't win the blockbuster.

[Mary]

Doesn't just go to the second place person.

[Taran Armstrong]

Probably goes to second place person. Not entirely sure who that would be. Might be Drew, might be d. But like, I just want to, like, you know, there are so many things that have to go right for us here.

[Mary]

I'm just mad that one of the powers is not the halting hex.

[Taran Armstrong]

Like, I'm just like, Jason has to survive.

[Melissa]

Yes.

[Taran Armstrong]

To win the blockbuster. Theoretically, that's a 33 chance. I think he's got a greater than 33 chance. Then he has to get the vote. He has to actually win the vote. Then he has to go into the room and theoretically it's a 50, 50 chance if he doesn't see the pattern like Devin's did of getting a punishment or a power. And then within that 50 chance, he also has to get one that actually matters and not like the never not pass.

[Melissa]

I feel like even if he gets a pass that even if he gets that or if he gets a power, that doesn't really matter. I think the fact that he got chosen.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yes.

[Melissa]

Will give him something because I feel like there are people in the house who would care if America likes them or not. And I think if they get the vibe that America likes Jason and is on his side and then in turn is not on common side, I think that would be meaningful to people and I think that might help Jason. Even if he gets a bad power or doesn't get a power, gets a punishment, like, I think that would help his game.

[Taran Armstrong]

I would rather him get a punishment than get a never not pass because I would rather everybody know for a fact. I guess if he got a never not pass, they would also know. Never mind. I'd take that back.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

I would rather them. I just, I'm just. I would. I'm. I feel like I'm already prepping. This is, this is what I'm doing. I'm prepping myself to be really annoyed when he gets the never not pass.

[Melissa]

But couldn't he. Okay, so wait, you make a good

[Taran Armstrong]

point, which is that at least if he gets the never not pass, it shows the entire house that Jason is now the fan favorite.

[Melissa]

Yeah, but could it. Okay, so is there in the people, like if he doesn't get. If he gets a power, he can't say it, or can he tell people outright like, I got a power?

[Taran Armstrong]

Because 100% he can.

[Melissa]

Like, I think that, like, if he's in a position where people are, like, thinking that he's the house pariah or whatever and he's all on his own, he could use that to his advantage to tell certain people or whatever, America is on my side, like, join me. I got the power. They voted for me. And maybe in a normal situation we'd be like, don't tell people you have the power. But maybe in this particular situation, it would actually benefit him because then they would know that America is on his side. And that would be very interesting.

[Taran Armstrong]

I agree. I think is a good launching point to get socially reintegrated.

[Mary]

We have to see what happens between now and then, though. And also with the order of when he would win the power versus who would already be hoh and stuff, it's like, I would like to think that some people would say, oh, cool, like, but if people have already kind of publicly gone against him, they're just going to be mad and they're going to be like, no, I refuse to.

[Taran Armstrong]

Somebody like Kamu, like, will probably double down. But all. But I think a decent amount of the bystanders will be in the diary room. Like, you know, I really feel like Kamu didn't give Jason enough of a chance, you know, like, yeah, I feel like it does tend to shift the. Those kinds of players in that. So I. I do think it'd be quite interesting if. If Jason won the power.

[Mary]

Yeah, it would be.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yes. All right, Looks like they are. They're doing. There's. There's some more campaigning going on at the moment. I'm curious to see where it goes. But let's continue with the questions. Is Kamu choosing the right replacement nominee? Of course. I mean, this, like, for his game, you know, not, like, yeah, you know,

[Mary]

I mean, I guess so.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yes is kind of an uninteresting question because it's pretty easy answer. Yes, it's pretty easy answer for that one.

[Mary]

I don't think he went about it the right way, but sure.

[Taran Armstrong]

Exactly. Finally, last question. Who do you want to be evicted this week? Who do we think is the most popular choice?

[Melissa]

Lala. Not because I want her to be evicted, necessarily. I just feel like she doesn't really have a chance and she doesn't really know what she's doing. And so it's kind of like out of all those, the most interesting option is to Keep Jason and Mallory for sure. But I did appreciate Lala in the meeting. I like that she, I mean, to be fair, she was called out so obviously she's going to stick up for herself and Jason like and say something. But I thought that she very smartly called out the fact that number one, Commie wasn't actually getting anything out in the open and number two, that only Jason was being called out for lying when everybody else is doing the same thing. So I appreciated her in the meeting, but in terms of game, I don't know if she really has it.

[Taran Armstrong]

That's exactly where I'm at and seems to be exactly where the audience is at as well. 75% say Lala, 13 and 12% say Jason and Mallory respectively. I don't think anybody's anti Lala in the same way that I don't think her position on the ranking chart was like particularly pointed. I think that it's just like for the same reasons the people in power want to keep her. Same reasons we kind of like between her, Mallory and Jason, it's like it's kind of the least likely to be able to rise against here. So that's it, that's the questions. Let's get to the stock watch. Let's get to the stock watch for the week. Here we go. This is the stock watch portion of the podcast. This is where we rate the players from 1 to 10 based on how well we think they're doing in the game. I'll make it as big as you want here in the stock watch. What we do here, we, we give them a rating from 1 to 10. Higher the better, lower the worse. And it's, it's sort of like how they're doing right now. Do we agree with the decisions they're making? What is their long term pros, what are their long term prospects, what is their short term safety? All kinds of factors that might be included. Just because someone gets a higher rating than another person doesn't mean that like they're more likely to win the game necessarily. It might just be that we think they're being little dumb dumbs in the moment and so we're punishing them for it. So let's start.

[Melissa]

Can I, can I point something out? Yes, I would like to point something out because I was getting a lot of comments about can you make Melissa go first? Because all she does is just agree with everyone. We rotate every person. I go first on a third of the people. So it's, I can't. How can I just say, yeah, I agree. When no one has rated anyone yet.

[Taran Armstrong]

Also, and I will completely defend Melissa here, because, like, we have made a point of, like, if we're giving the same rating and we don't have a lot more to add, like, we try to not repeat the same things over and over. Like, there's three people all giving a rating. If we're all giving a lukewarm 5 rating on a person, we don't all need to give a soliloquy. And so.

[Mary]

So, like, you know, start this podcast

[Melissa]

saying, we're gonna try and keep it to two hours. So if, like, literally we do a pep talk before and we say we're gonna try and keep it to two hours. If you don't. If you, like, are rating the same thing, just say, yep, agreed, same, and move on so we can talk about something more interesting. Okay.

[Taran Armstrong]

And Melissa is the best at that. I need to keep my own trap shot more often.

[Melissa]

Yeah. I'm literally just like, okay, yeah, same. Because I know we're trying to move on. Like, what. What do I have to add? Nothing. When somebody is saying something and I want to say the same thing, like, I absolutely am more than willing to repeat them and say something very similar or just a different way, but I try not to do that because then I get reamed for doing that. So whatever.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

And people will say, like, oh, they want us to disagree. But then the second you have an opinion that's even remotely hot, that's like, how dare you.

[Melissa]

You wrong.

[Taran Armstrong]

Which is, I think, why they want you to disagree, because they want to be mad at you.

[Melissa]

It's like, come on. I can please nobody. Either I agree with Taryn and I'm too agreeable, or I don't agree with Taryn and I'm very, very wrong because Darren's right. Like, I don't even know what I. I don't know.

[Mary]

All right, anyway, throw that out there.

[Taran Armstrong]

Throw. Thrown out there. Fun stuff this time around. I don't know the audience ratings, so. So we all get surprised by them. I'm really enjoying that as we do. I was also realizing by the way, in the moment, as I was going through the audience ranking for the favorites, I was like, oh, why don't I do this for this, too? So I don't even know. So I'm also guessing that would be so fun. I get to guess. Anyway, let's talk about Angela. Angela, of course, is still well positioned. In fact, I would say this week is, like, doing better than before in the sense that she's kind of like taken a more appropriate approach to, to the Drew situation. We also, by the way, got a little Angela chart. She started at a seven, went down to a six last week. That'll be more interesting as more weeks go by. But, but this week I feel, I feel like she's still in a decent place. I do think that the new direction for the vets is a very good one. I think the fact that Devins has this diamond power veto, despite the fact that he did not tell her about it, is still incredibly good for her. He is willing to use it to keep her safe. He said so to D. He's just not going to tell her about it. And, and, and people do still look at her as a player in this game, frustrated though they may be. And I don't think that she'll be like, necessarily amongst this whole group of people as well. Last week I gave her a six. I'm honestly inclined to, to give her another one. I'm. I think I'm gonna give her six.

[Melissa]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I feel like I, I'm disappointed with Angela this week. I think I'm worried about her because I feel like obviously D and Devins are closer with each other than they are with Angela. They tell each other things that they don't tell Angela. They are obviously each other's final two. And I don't feel like Angela has someone like that for herself. She's in a decent spot right now, but I'm worried about her long term prospects. And I also think that her getting involved, like, as much as we want to say, like, oh, you know, someone's got to say something when there's a confrontation like this. Everyone was just silent. But Angela getting involved in a way that kind of made it feel like it was like, about her. Like she's like, why are you, like, you're, you're saying that. I said that it's like he wasn't trying to bring you into this. Like, let's just leave you out of this right now. And I feel like that was not a very good look for her. I think I, at this point, like, because she's positioned well, even though she doesn't have like a final two situation, I still think she has a decent shot. So I'm just gonna keep her at a five. But it's like a low five and I'm kind of disappointed.

[Mary]

I've been going back and forth between two numbers this time.

[Taran Armstrong]

What are the numbers?

[Mary]

Well, the numbers are 5 and 6. So I've got to decide who I'm agreeing with. And I. But I feel like I have. I don't necessarily 100% agree with both with either of you exactly. On what you're saying. Like, I agree with more of what Melissa said, but I initially was thinking that was a six. I'm just trying to think of, do I really feel like, you know, next week, the week after, is Angela going to.

[Melissa]

Is she.

[Mary]

Has she actually positioned herself somewhere right now where she is going to be able to, like, steer out of this curve? Like, best Angela is when Angela is kind of fun and entertaining and making, you know, connections with people. And I just worry that she can so easily fall into, like, making it worse for herself. I think I'm gonna go with a five. I think I'm just gonna commit to that one.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right. The audience says, this is. This is my best. My nominee is. The audience says, whoa,

[Mary]

wow.

[Taran Armstrong]

Another five

[Melissa]

that has gotten so much use. It's such a good sound bite.

[Taran Armstrong]

It's so good.

[Melissa]

Thank you. With, like, the weird, like. Like, country music in the background or something like hoedown music.

[Taran Armstrong]

Wow.

[Mary]

And the swoop.

[Melissa]

So funny.

[Taran Armstrong]

Audience says a five. They agree with you. Angela lands out of five. Mary or. Sorry, Melissa. What are your thoughts on Barrett's.

[Melissa]

Oh, I'll just wait till someone else says something so I can just agree with them. No, I. Yeah, yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

But audience just always agreeing with Melissa and having nothing else to say, say,

[Melissa]

yeah, God, come on. The audience. You know, the audience never gives their. Their explanation. It's like, okay, they're disagreeing.

[Taran Armstrong]

I tell that to the chat.

[Melissa]

Yeah, right. Okay. Barrett, I think, is honestly, like, in a similar position that he was last week. I want something more to happen with him. I. I feel like there is something there, but I feel like he's playing really a little scared maybe, and. And maybe it's because he feels in sort of like he doesn't want to put himself out there and go against, quote, unquote, this big alliance that he's in. But I hope that he starts to get a little nervous and really get a fire in him to figure something else out. And just, like, having conversations with people like Mallory or whoever, like, it's not enough. I feel like he needs to do something else to improve his position. Because, like we were saying earlier, the tool shed have all basically said, like, Derek and Drew are kind of at the bottom. And not only that, he's also known to the rest of the house as, like, the middlemen now. And that's not a Good position. It makes you feel like he's a flip flopper or a floater or whatever you want to call it, and people don't really like that at. So at this point, I'm going to stick with my five, but I just feel like I need something for Barrett's position to improve and move up. Like, I just need to see something there.

[Taran Armstrong]

I think, mary,

[Mary]

Gosh, based on my own logic, it's like, I feel like. I feel like he. I believe that he has more of an ability to improve and put himself in a better spot than Angela does. But at the same time, I've seen him to directly not do that. So I think I. I think I'm actually just going to drop him to a four, which is. Is sad, but I think that's where we're at. I already feel like this season is another one of these where, like, everybody's hovering in this, like, 4 to 6 range for so much of it, but we'll see. Yeah, I think that it's just that right now he's. He's very visible in that middle spot and is. Is not vouching for his allies enough. And if he's vouching for his side. Side pieces and his quote unquote, main allies aren't listening to it, then you're not in a good spot. You're not doing either thing well.

[Taran Armstrong]

So, yeah, I. I plan to move down for Barrett. It's a bad week for him. If Mallory goes, it's bad. If this. That side gets deteriorated, it's bad. It's. He's in a bad position. But then, you know, D kind of came back around on him. And I do feel like Drew is the flashier target if you're going to take a shot at the middlemen. And I do feel like there is a world where, like, because it even D and Devin's talked about this, like, and hey, who knows, down the line, if we do go to final, say six with the red corner, or maybe we do take somebody like a Barrett, and if he's just in that spot enough, I feel like he. Like there's. He has a backup plan, I guess, is what I'm saying. He's got a plan that, like, takes control, saves Mallory and Jason, flips the house and then gets. Then they get screwed over by the time anyway. Or there's the plan where him and Drew get exposed and targeted and Drew goes, and Melody goes. And then they start thinking, actually maybe we should use Barrett and flip on the red corner and. And he's like in an okay spot there, maybe. Is it enough to keep him at a 5? It's just barely enough to keep him at a 5. That's how I feel. What does the audience think? The audience says a five. There you go. There you go. Wow. Another five.

[Mary]

Personally, I love it. Never gets old, honestly, if you.

[Taran Armstrong]

I love it.

[Melissa]

I love it.

[Mary]

Oh, so funny.

[Taran Armstrong]

Mary just like, oh, how do you feel about Chuck?

[Mary]

Oh, gosh, I feel like Chuck is. I feel like I asked this every season is my problem is that I keep looking too long term. Like I'm just supposed to be writing them on the week, on the week, but that their week sets up the future. And if I don't like the future, what am I doing? Okay, Chuck was a four before. Do I feel like he's gone up or down? I feel like his position has more or less stayed the same, but he's not gaining any love and he's. Yeah, no, I'm gonna keep him at a 4 because I just. I don't think that he. It's really moved a whole lot. He's surrounding himself by people who I think are going to end up not being super. Like, I don't liked. I don't think he can particularly win the game where he's at right now, but I can't look past the fact that I think the people he's allied with are going to remain in power for a while. So that's where I'm putting him. I'm going to keep metaphor.

[Taran Armstrong]

That's pretty much exactly how I feel. I mean, he's just. He's moving nowhere. His position, I would say is. Is better this week, but he's not doing anything outside of his position. I just don't see a win for him in the few. I mean, it's a long game. It's a long game, but, like, he's not

[Mary]

where he. He's ended up. We're in the final five and he's still there. And other people have done enough chaotic things to where he's like, the least objectionable person. Like, there's a way he can win. I don't think he's completely unwinnable, but I don't think he's not doing anything to make himself win at this point.

[Melissa]

Yeah, yeah. Four for me as well. I think, wow.

[Mary]

How dare you be different?

[Melissa]

Geez. Yeah. I think because he's got, like. Even though. Yes, it's bad that he's aligning himself with Kamu and Haley because, you know, they're not super liked or whatever you want to say. At the same time, they're out there in front of him, and people aren't really looking at Chuck when you've got Kamu and Haley out there in front. So I do feel like as much as I don't love his position or what he's been doing or not doing, the fact that he has these kind of shields in front of him could be good. Now, at the same time, the reverse could be true in that it's like, well, we need to weaken Kamu and Haley, so let's just get out, hit their, like, little minion Chuck. I could see that happening. So I don't know, but it's not great for him. So four.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right. The audience says four as well. Straight fours for Chuck. All right, let's talk about D. I mean, D has been consistently one of the highest rated players on the board, if not the highest rated player on the board. A nine to a seven last week. And, you know, there's a reason for it. I think that there was this sense of like, she was catching the. The. The paranoia parasite from. From Angela, perhaps via the lettuce, and. And that was maybe causing her game to deteriorate a little bit. But when she talks to Devin's, she seems to have a whole different head on her shoulders. And I do. I really like. I really like her position still. I really do. She is in prime position to do very, very well. I think Devins is fully dedicated to her, and he has a diamond power of veto. She does not have much of a target. The Angela doctor running the house thing is starting to die down, and I guess to kind of counteract the argument we were making before, I do think that Kamu has sucked up a little bit of that attention, and Dee has been able to fall into the shadows just a little bit. Now, will that really matter? That's another question. But. But, man, yeah, I. I do. I do still really like her positioning and, and ultimately, like, I cannot ig just how massive an advantage the. The diamond power veto is and the knowledge that of where it sits. I gave her seven last week. I. I gotta give her an eight.

[Melissa]

I honestly, I want to give her a six because like I said earlier, I don't like it when people gas someone up to do a big confrontation in this sort of way. I don't like that. And I don't think that that was game because I think it just brought a big target onto commu and Kamu is supposedly an ally of hers, and I think that she should have been trying to keep targets off of all of her allies rather than, oh, I'm just going to make a big target on my allies. That way. I don't have a big target. I think it's like, no, let's keep everyone's targets pretty low. Should be the goal in an alliance. So I don't love what she was doing. I'm, I'm tempted to give her a six. However, she's got Devin's. The power. I think that, you know, ultimately, after hearing the conversations with other people, after this whole confrontation, she comes across looking pretty good because, you know, she was crying and saying, you know, I feel bad for Jason and things like that. And not really coming across as like, oh, I kind of, I kind of pushed for this to happen. So I don't think she comes out in a bad way after this. So I'm going to give D a 7.

[Mary]

Does D have any personal relationship with Jason? Like, they have a connection?

[Taran Armstrong]

I mean, she's, he, he's the one that told her or she's the one who had the information from him that he was. Said he was going to go after the red corner. That's primarily because he was trying to play her. They have a relationship. I wouldn't say it's a very great one, though.

[Mary]

Yeah, I feel like someone mentioned in the chat like that people are taking their anger out of the season on D. And I, I, you know, it's, it's hard to continue to like people when they just remain in power, especially in a circumstance where it's uneven. But looking at her positioning, looking at her allies, looking at my faith in her to be able to steer out of a skid if that happens. I think for me, I, I, I would, I would want to be seeing her do, like, things that are actively only helping her. So I, I'm going to keep her at a seven. I don't think she's moved up that much.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right. The audience, I'm going to assume, either agrees with you or is even lower. A six. Indeed. From the audience. Lower on D. Oh, they were a

[Melissa]

six last week, too.

[Taran Armstrong]

So it's true.

[Mary]

Yeah, it's true.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, then, let's talk about Devin's. Melissa, what are your thoughts on Devin's?

[Melissa]

I. Well, Devin's got the power, so obviously I'm feeling pretty good about his position or at least a lot better about his position. And I think, honestly, I think he handled himself really well in the Tea Party in the aftermath. I appreciated that he said that he. It's purely game, and he likes everyone on a personal level and things like that. And then afterwards, going up to Jason and saying, you know, this is this on a personal side, I really like you. So I do appreciate that. I. I personally like it when people keep it to game and. And keep it away from personal attacks or anything like that. So I appreciate that about Devins also. Yeah, obviously, the power is good. He got. He just doesn't have any heat on him seemingly this week, which is good. So I really do need to increase his rating, I think, because he's got this power and because he basically comes out pretty unscathed from his previous week. You know, I'm just gonna. I'm gonna give him an eight. I'm just gonna do it.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, Mary.

[Mary]

I hate to be that person, but I'm just gonna say ditto. Yeah. Kind of echo everything Melissa just said.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah. Wow.

[Mary]

Do I wish I had bought some Devin stock.

[Taran Armstrong]

Right?

[Melissa]

I know that's.

[Mary]

And if anyone ever wonders if people fudge this who are on this podcast. I went all in on Angel. I rated her a five. So you know what? I'm being fair. I respect the stock watch.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yes, I agree. I mean, I genuinely. I did consider a 9 here just because of how massively overpowered the diamond power veto is on top of, I think, the fact that he's doing a very good job in the house. But. But ultimately, I am not fully there yet. I think that I'm really impressed with the direction that Devin's is going in the game. But. But I. There's a big mess coming, and. And he's embroiled in a lot of it. So I'm very curious to see how he navigates his way out of that mess when it comes to everything he's involved in. Because right now, he is essentially the new Drew. Devin's is the thing holding everything together, and what does that mean for him in the coming weeks is what I'm interested in, obviously, knowing that he has the diamond power veto to bail himself out as kind of moot. But. But I'm not gonna, like, extra reward him just because he got that incredible power. So I'm gonna give him an 8 as well. Also, I want to make one thing very clear in case it's not clear. I think the distinct difference between Devin's plan for Drew and the original kind of approach that Angela and D, in particular Angela had with Drew, is that Angela and D, as I was talking about throughout the first couple of weeks, were often just like, not talking to Drew. Kind of like, pushing him to the side and. And. And, you know, planting seeds and sort of, like, indicating to people that they didn't trust him in many in ways that were potentially alienating to Drew. Pretend trying to, like, potentially go after him, in my opinion, too early. Whereas Devin's approach is much more so. Like, who cares whether or not we can trust him? Just his position is something to look out for. And in the meantime, while we sort of figure out how to strike, we need to make sure we're keeping him close. And Devins is very, very effective at that. Drew really, really trusts Devens because Devins has been putting in the work. That is the main difference. And it's the one thing that I really was wanting to see from Angela and D. In all of that time was for them to. If you don't trust him, go to him and make him feel good, not the other way around. And that's what Devin has been able to do so far. We'll see if he's able to continue. But does the audience agree? I'm gonna guess it's a seven.

[Melissa]

Yeah. That's still an eight. A five to an eight. That's pretty good.

[Taran Armstrong]

Five to an eight. Big money making on Devin's. All right, Mary, how do you feel about Drew?

[Mary]

You know, how do I feel on Drew? I feel like Drew is active, but being clocked for doing stuff, he's. I think if he can win a power, that'll help. But I just. I feel nervous about. You know, I'm looking at this, and I'm thinking, look at most of the people in the house. Who's putting Drew up? That's the real question. And I do feel, yeah, well, Chuck. Well, Chuck could win, but if it's just Chuck, is it mostly Chuck at this point?

[Taran Armstrong]

I think Haley. Haley might. I think if Haley or Chuck wins, Angela's pushing, and I. I don't know if Devin's gonna care all that much because he can ride the middle. Angela herself might just go ahead and do it, but who knows?

[Mary]

Yeah, I think the thing is that he just. He's not safe. He. He does come across kind of sloppy in a lot of the play that he's doing. And last week, he averaged a six. I want to be like. I want to make sure I'm doing these, like, with respect to each other. Like, I think he's better than Chuck. Is he better than Angela? Is he about where Angela's at? And I would say that I feel like he's actually pretty close to Angela, so I'M gonna go with a five. I feel like they're around the same and him and Barrett, it's all around the same and I gave what I get there to four. Yeah, I respect this. I'm going with the five.

[Taran Armstrong]

There you go. Five from Mary for Drew. I can't do that, though. I just can't. I can't give him a five. I think he is a four. I think that not only is there just such a large amount of impending doom, but, you know, Devins is now fully on board with the doom that is supposed to be brought to Drew. He's losing his tether, so to speak, to Kamu, which has been incredibly important, an important connection to him. And this. The. The whole house is really gearing up for the Drew eviction and he has absolutely no clue that it's happening. He is full fully trusting of Devin's. He fully believes that he's in a fantastic spot and he's just not. He's gonna have very little defense to. To survive, I think an attack. And on top of all of that, he's facing a very tricky situation this very week where he might need to again navigate through a spot where he needs to, like, tell Melody and Mal, like, sorry, I can't vote for Mallory to stay or in my opinion, the right thing and fully declare war on the other side, which is for the record also probably a death sentence because of the diamond power veto. But, like, the best he can probably do at this point. So you can see how doomed I think he seems to be at the moment in terms of his position. And that's why, listen, there's always ways out and I do think he is a clearly, like a decent player, but. But, man, he is in the dark. What do you think, Melissa?

[Melissa]

Oh, I'm between a 4 and a 5 and I want to give him a 5 because I really am hopeful and so I think I will. I have hope that Drew can, if he gets wind of this, can figure it out. And I feel like I don't see him being. And watch me eat my words on this, but I don't really see him being in danger like this week. And so I think he still has time to turn it around so I'm going to get.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right. The audience, I'm gonna guess is with the two of you. I think they gave him a five. They did, yeah. Look at that. Five for Drew.

[Mary]

Ouch. This knee is killing me, but I can't stop training. The marathon is in two weeks.

[Melissa]

Let's get on Zoc. Dock and find a doctor to take a look at that for you. Okay, Here's a review. Dr. Crick really takes his time.

[Mary]

No, I don't have time.

[Melissa]

What about Dr. Charles?

[Mary]

His patients say he can help find a quick fix.

[Melissa]

And he's in network. Great. Now we're talking.

[Mary]

Ah, book it. Booked.

[Melissa]

One mile down, 19 to go.

[Mary]

Bring it on.

[Taran Armstrong]

You've got options. Download the Zoc dock app today. All right, let's then move on to Haley. Let's talk about Haley. Let's see. Haley is. What is there really more to say? She's in the same exact sort of position she was in before. It's. She's in the red corner. The. Angela D have committed again to the red corner. She's still a big target from the outside. People don't like her. Angela and D occasionally suspect her of things. Anyway, Is she likely to win this game at this point? Not very. So am I willing to give her a four because her position has improved enough? Honestly, yes. I think enough targets have come up that she's probably slightly improved her lot here, but not really due to anything she's in particular. I mean, listen, she's active. She's relatively insulated. Yeah, I think a four makes sense for me.

[Melissa]

Yeah, four makes sense for me as well. Although I don't like the idea that I'm going up from last week, I feel like a four. I feel like she seems the same, but when looking at the other ratings I've given the other players, I feel like a 4 makes sense to her. And then I didn't like how she got kind of embroiled in the tea party drama as well. So, you know, that's not great for her. But at the same time, you know, she has allies, etc. So, yeah, for.

[Mary]

I actually am gonna go with a three, mostly because I just don't see a scenario where she wins. I don't see her getting lik. Likability enough for that. And I think that she is in a decent spot to be a third nominee for a lot of people, and very few people I could think of would save her from the veto. And I think there's a lot of people she could go against in a blockbuster where she wouldn't win. So I just don't find her to be particularly safe.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right. Last week, the audience gave her a four. I'm inclined to believe they did the same this week. And in fact, they did. 4. 4. Haley, Melissa, what are your thoughts on Jason?

[Melissa]

I want to give Jason a good rating because I feel like he handled himself so well in the confrontation. He had very cogent arguments, and I feel like if I was in the house, I'd be like, that's a smart guy. I want to work with him. But I know that, you know, he also came across bad because people knew that he was lying. He was called out on things, and previously he had already been called out on things for lying. And there's only so many times you can be like, I'm a messy player. Like, that's just the way it is, because you're not going to want to work with a messy player. It's like, yes, it's. It's not like an unforgivable offense or something, but it's not really something that you would want to willingly bring into your game. So the fact also that he's a big target this week. He was the renown. He has a huge possibility for going home, you know, right now, obviously, like, we're not watching it, but I'm hearing that there is a. Is talk on the feeds that. That people might want him to stay and Mallory to stay and get Lala out in all situations. So they should be. That would be amazing. But, you know, who knows? So at this point, I don't feel like. I don't feel like I can rate him a better rating than last week because last week I came from a 2, and this week he had this big confrontation and, you know, I. He's kind of Persona non grata. Obviously, it'd be awesome if something flips and something happens, but at this point, I do feel like I still have to give him a two.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, Mary.

[Mary]

Yeah. I think the tricky part is, and this has to do a lot with his personality and. And everything in other games that he's been on, but it's just like in. He strikes me as the kind of person who, when you're in a position where you're at the bottom and you're also someone who. Who, you know, enjoys getting attention and having fun with it, unfortunately, that doesn't make you improve your position. Most of the time. You need to actually, like, it almost needs to counteract, like, his natural inclination. It's like the thing you need to do now is, like, kind of quietly be genuine with people and. And make good relationships and then see if that can help you come back. But it does appear to be that that's somewhat working for him at this moment. So. But it's so much easier when you're at the bottom to just be like, all right, I'm at the bottom. Screw it. Let's blow things up. So I think I'm also going to put him at a two. However, if he stays, I think we have a decent shot for him moving up a bit because I think it really. It doesn't. Unless you're working really directly with Kamu, it doesn't behoove you to get rid of him.

[Melissa]

It.

[Mary]

It's great to have someone else be against the people that you're also against. So.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yes. All right, I think I have a slightly hot take here then, which is that last week I did give him a two. That's because he was on the block. And, you know, I was kind of like, he didn't really do a lot in week two to deserve that position, but I was like, he put himself in this position in week one with telling everybody all of his information it getting back. I'm not gonna repunish him again for his week one sins. And so in terms of this week, I really feel like he has not done much to. To warrant this position. He's really done, actually, I think, a pretty decent job. I think that the way that he responded to Kamu telling him he wasn't gonna go on the block was actually very good. It did put Kamu in a position where, like, he was like, oh, man, like, like, I want to. I don't feel justified targeting him anymore, which, you know, caused a whole other thing. But, like, it was good. It was a good job. He did a lot of great work with Drew in particular, which is basically the vote, and he recognized it, the vote he needs this week to stay, and he put that early. I think that he did a great job. He got Drew wanting him to win the veto, wanting him to. Not to pull off Mallory. I think he's actually done a lot of good work. He's obviously in a very bad position. I don't think that positionally he's above a 2, but I do think that, like, I, I genuinely. And I felt this way even before the Tea Party. I was, I was giving him his props for the good work he did with Drew, and I want to give him a little. A little extra, a little bonus on top for that work. And, and again, I, this is you, this is me. I, I, this is not like, like, I'm very, very willing to, to be the Simon Cowell who gives, like, the realistic rating in, in fa.

[Mary]

In.

[Taran Armstrong]

In the face of like, like popular on spot of whatever. But I genuinely think Jason has done some good work this week. And for me, that that puts him closer to a 3. Not to mention the fact that. That there are potential flips in the work. I don't think will probably work, but, like. And the fact that I think he has got a great shot to win this blockbuster, I think it's a great shot to win a power. So I do think there's power.

[Mary]

I do think that is a massive.

[Taran Armstrong]

There's some upside here. Yeah. All right. The audience, are they with me? It's tough to get a 2, especially for a fan favorite at the moment. I'm guessing it's a three. It is indeed.

[Melissa]

Yep.

[Taran Armstrong]

Audience so predictable. Audience never has any hot takes. All right, let's talk about Kamu. Mary, how do you feel about Kamu?

[Mary]

I mean, not great. Like, let's see. Kamu, ooh, comma, was a six. Fascinating. Kamu has some allies, clearly has the ability to win challenges. However, will not be eligible for HOH next time. I think if. Especially if this flip happens or whatever, this movement to keep Jason, that's gonna be not good for Camu. And I think that if Lala goes home, that's not like, that big of a move for Kamu, so that's not great. So I'm definitely dropping him. I'm just trying to decide how far down to go. He does still have people who like him. There's been the various flirting things, and he's still in a decent position in the house. So I think. I think gameplay wise. Let me just look at the other people I've rated. You know, I'm kind of between a 4 and a 5, but I actually think gameplay wise, he's probably out of five here. I think he's still got room to maneuver.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right. Okay. We're talking about a potential flip here. I want to maybe. And this is definitely not great for hitting two hours, but I do want to maybe like, briefly talk about this potential idea of a flip. Obviously, we can't really watch what's happening. I think the. The gist of this is that Mallory and Melody, or maybe Melody is pitching something. Yash is involved. We know that Yash has. Has considered this idea before, especially with Drew. The main thing is there are going to be 12 votes this week, I believe. I. I don't think Drew will commit to a flip if it's. If it's, like, fully him against Camus and Devins and the entire rest of the other side of the house. I don't think Drew commits to that unless he gets some serious information about his actual position. I think the Only way Drew flips is if the numbers are already there and he's got the positioning to be like, the votes are already on this side. I'm voting with the house. You guys should jump on board. We can make the most of this. So if that's the case, Drew could. I think Drew could even get away with, hey, Barrett's going rogue. Like, Barrett's not willing to vote against Mallory. So if you say, okay, Barrett, you have Melody, you. If you got Lyric, you've got. If you can get Jason and or Mallory on. On board, that's four. And I should have had faces up when I was doing this because I've already forgotten who I've included. If you can get Taylor, Taylor was a key vote here that they think they will have to keep Lala. If you can get Taylor to be on board, that's tough because she's trying to get into a lot in alliance with Devins and Camus. If you can get Yash to be on board with you with Drew and Barrett, now all of a sudden you've gotten to six. You could say Drew gets on board. It's still tough. It's still tough. Like, you're still only at around six or so votes, which is still a tie, which Kamu breaks. You could hope that you could still have Haley who wants Lala out. You could hope that you could maybe pull Angela. I think that's still the key. But this flip alone does require a lot of pieces to really lock in and for Drew to be that seventh vote. So it's. It's still not looking great to me right now. There's plenty of time. I, I still think this is more likely going to be a vote of positioning of, like, who has more, who has the votes. The other side will need to back down. And right now the red corner has the positioning on lock. But. But that doesn't mean that they will continue to have it unlock, especially if Taylor in particular vocally agrees with them. I think that could be another thing if. If Kamu and Devin's feel like, oh, Taylor actually does want Lala gone. She really wants Jason or Mallory to stay. Now we're pissing off her and Barrett and Drew, maybe we back down, but I think that requires again, a lot. All right. But my thoughts on Kamu, I agree. I think he's still in a good position. I do think that the call out of Jason was not the best for his game. I think that it's put a much bigger spotlight on him in general. And for as much as he gets away with the fact that it's basically a blatant lie that this is the reason he's targeting Jason. I think that still sits with people. And, and I think Devin's pulling him away from Drew is actually very bad for Kamu. I think the Kamu had better options when he was with Drew. If he gets sucked into Devin's orbit, I think that's. That's a bit of a black hole. That's not good for him. So I am gonna go down on Kamu this week. I'm getting game five.

[Melissa]

Yeah. I'm gonna give Kamu a four. I don't think that he came out looking good in this confrontation. I think people are. Are not going to view him as trustworthy. I think that, like, people view him as maybe a liability. And also the fact that, like, you know, afterwards D and Devins were talking and they were like, he looked really dumb. Like, he, he didn't. I mean, first of all, I actually don't think he came across looking that dumb in the, in the confrontation, but I don't think it was a good idea. Like, I think overall the idea of doing this whole confrontation was pretty dumb, but I didn't think that he sounded that dumb in the confrontation. But they were saying he sounded dumb in the confrontation and that they egged him on to do it or that D egged him on to do it. And it just kind of is like he's playing into their hand and just like their little puppet. And to me, that doesn't make me think that somebody is in a good spot. If somebody is being manipulated to do dumb things for their game, I don't feel like that ultimately will be someone who wins the game. So, yeah, for me, he's a four. This week especially. I mean, especially if this boat flip happens and Jason ends up staying, I mean, that's not going to be good for him because you know what he got out Lala, that's like not that big of a deal. So I think that this is. I think ultimately it puts a big target on his back and I don't think that's good for him. When I do think that last week he was playing pretty well and under the radar are a bit. Even though he is such a competitor and all that, I felt like he was pretty insulated and was honestly making relations with people outside of the group and was doing a pretty good job. I don't see that this week. I feel worried about him and I know people are like, talking with him and da, da, da, but he's the hoh, so they're obviously going to suck up with him or suck up to him. And I feel like that's going to change when he's out of power.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, what does the audience think? Last week they gave him a six. I think they went down to a four. I think he was at the bottom of the favorites ranking. I think he's down to a four.

[Melissa]

Boom.

[Taran Armstrong]

You can't stop me.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, let's then talk about Lala. Lala on the block definitely could still leave, but. But honestly, like, either way, it's just like not looking great for her in the the game. It's like the reason people want to keep her is because they think she's basically a non player. I, I think that, like, I mean, it's just, it's just rough out here in these streets for Lala. Is she likely to go home? She really might. But yeah, I'm gonna give her three. I think that she's got a chance to go home. I don't think she's doing anything in particular that's wrong this week. She's less likely to go home than obviously somebody like Jason. If she doesn't go home this week, there is a very good chance that she lasts for a little while. It's just like, is she gonna like make an end game run? Probably not, but it's a long game. So three.

[Melissa]

Yeah, I'm gonna give her a two. I feel like, I just feel like even if she does stay this week, it's like, to what end? Like, then what? I just don't feel like she has the game in her, which is unfortunate because, you know, we were all really excited about her coming into the house and you know, it's just some people just don't like have the game in them and they don't really know what to do or how to make moves or who to talk to or like what it's about. And that's kind of what I feel like is going on here. So yeah, it's a two.

[Mary]

I know that the like the typical option for a one is someone who's like out the door, can't win, has actively made decisions to hurt their game. I don't think she's that. But I literally don't see how she's ever winning this game. I don't see how she's winning this game at this point. She would have to drastically, drastically change her gameplay or I mean, Big Brother is not typically the kind of game where someone like Lala ends up in a final two, three scenario and wins because the other people are so, so hated. Like she'd still have to do something.

[Taran Armstrong]

She need to win a couple comps in the end is my opinion.

[Mary]

She need to win a couple comps and, and I, and this isn't like, I mean I'm, I'm like trying to think of comparisons because it's not even like a oldest person in the house exact situation. Like you can do that and, and still be, you know, have agency, be, be in alliances. But it's like she's not actively trying to build coalitions. She's not even doing the, like I'm slowly going around to every single person getting really, really tight with them. She's going to be an option to be in, in a three person block situation. She's going to be doing that. But like, I feel like if I can see by week three that I'm having a hard time figuring out how she's even going to put herself in a position of power. Like best case scenario for Lala here is that a new alliance forms and gets power and she's a part of it and that's best case scenario and that she's a part of it and it could happen, she could be a part of it and then somehow start to really actively game, but she just can't keep just kind of being chill and nice and magically win the game that way. So. Yeah, I don't know, I'm probably gonna get some flack and I think this is a hot take, but I am gonna give her one because I just don't. And I think that she has a high likelihood of going home this week, extremely high likelihood of getting back on the block over and over. And I just don't see a situation where she's winning power or doing anything with it. So I'm gonna. She's winning.

[Taran Armstrong]

Sorry, A one. The first one of the season for Lala. I do, I do disagree with the one. I, I think the one is unwarranted.

[Mary]

I wanted one hot take. Let me have it. This.

[Melissa]

Let her have one hot take.

[Mary]

Let her have one hot take.

[Taran Armstrong]

There you go. Listen, you can complain about the hot take or complain about the not hot take, but there's certainly a hot take here. The audience I think is gonna go three on this. Two. No, no, sorry. The average is two. They went three. They went three. Oh man. All right, so it's gonna average out to a two there for Lala as we get our first one of the season. Let's then move on to Lyric. Melissa, what are your thoughts on Lyric?

[Melissa]

Oh, gosh. You see, now, I don't know. Did I give any other sixes? No, I don't think. I don't think I gave any sixes.

[Taran Armstrong]

You have given zero sixes so far.

[Melissa]

It's tough. I mean, I kind of think maybe I'll stick with my six from last week. I know that, like, Rome left, and it's not. It's like, it's what? It's not great for her game on one hand. On the other hand, it is good for her game because I feel like she's able to make connections with people. And, you know, I don't necessarily see people, like, trying to target her or anything like that, but I don't see her really having a great position right now. I feel like I'm like, I would like to see something from her, but right now, I mean, I gave her the six last week because she was removed from the block and did all that this week. She won the veto when it was removed from the block. I don't know. I'm. I'm like, I feel in my heart, and it's like, a five, but I'd like to think it's a six. And I feel like because she last week, like, was able to save herself this. Was able to save herself. Like, that's great. But at the same time, it's like, okay, but you shouldn't have to keep saving yourself. You know, you should have some allies. You should have, like, a spot in the game. Oh, my God. I don't know. I feel like I. You know what? I'm just gonna give her six.

[Mary]

Whatever.

[Taran Armstrong]

A six from Melissa.

[Melissa]

Look, I'm like. I'm torn. It's a very low six.

[Mary]

Let's just say, yeah, I am between a five and a six with her. I think that it's relatively hot, and I was gonna say it's relatively transparent what she's doing, but she managed to snow a lot of people last week. I think Lyric is in this position where she has an ability to make people want to believe her because they want to work with her, and they want to like her, and they want to believe that she wants to work with them, which is a powerful position to be in. But there's only so long. You can kind of play that before people go, wait, she's saying these things but not following through with them. But also, she can do that, and if she doesn't ever have to win power to back it up so she can kind of talk. The talk. I feel like at this point, I think there are still several people who would put her on the block and go after her. I definitely think it was a relatively okay thing for her game for Rome to go, because otherwise she would have just kept being such an obvious target. So I think at this point. Yeah, between five and six. Oh, but you know what? I've got to stay consistent. Right? And did I give a D, a six?

[Taran Armstrong]

Did I give a D, a seven?

[Mary]

Okay, where's the six coming from? Oh, is that the audience? There's no way. I was like. That didn't seem right. Oh, but you know what? I give Kamu a five. Yeah, you know what? I'll give her a six. I'll give her a six.

[Taran Armstrong]

There you go. I did think about the six. I'm gonna give her a five. I think that she is. Her and Taylor are the two best positioned players who are not in the main power structure, in my opinion. However, unlike Taylor, who is being talked about as a threat, Lyric is just straight up, like, not being talked about, like, at all. And. And for that reason, I do think she is well positioned to navigate some kind of, like, deterioration of the structure. The power structure problem is that is gonna have to happen in order for her to navigate that. But she has won a competition now, which I like. It's shown that she can win competitions, and it's proven that she's got some value to her in the game.

[Melissa]

So.

[Taran Armstrong]

So I do. I like. I like Lyric. I just think that she, you know, things are going to. Things need to happen. Things are required to happen in order for her position to improve dramatically. She got a bit of a bump last week because I really was impressed by what she did to get herself off the block and her position. Unfortunately, this week has gone down slightly for me because Kamu won this hoh. Put her on the block and she's gonna lose another ally. If her or Mallory had won this week, this guy would have been the limit. But unfortunately for her, and perhaps the rest of us, didn't quite work out that way. The audience, I think, is gonna be with me again on this. I think they're a five. I don't think they're gonna go down to a four. I certainly don't think they're gonna go up to a six. Where are they at? Oh, they do go up to a six. Look at me. I'm wrong from last week is interesting, but, hey, what are you gonna do? All right, let's then talk about Mallory. Mary, how do you feel about Mallory.

[Mary]

Mallory's. Oh, my gosh. Okay. I was picturing melody. Let me recalibrate Mallory. Mallory. Mallory is interesting because I, unlike a lot of the other people we've talked about, like, Mallory's not in a great spot. She's been put up on the block. She's in an alliance that hasn't won power yet. People are coming after her. But unlike people like Lala, I. I can see a world where she does stuff like she is still actively trying in a way that I feel like I can picture the end of the game where she's there and does have, you know, does win some things and does give a speech and everything. I don't think that she's in a particularly great position yet, but I think that she. I would not say that she has gone down from last week just based on, like, my perception of how actively she is trying,

[Melissa]

but she did get

[Mary]

put on the block. She's strong, though. No, I think. I think I'm gonna have to keep her at a 4 based on position, but I think she could move up to a five soon.

[Taran Armstrong]

I mean, for me, it's. She's just. She's so likely to. To be evicted this week that I. I can't. I can't go as high as a four. I, in fact, would consider the two again here for Mallory. I do think that she's probably the most at fault for her current position given that she is consistently saying that she's targeting the vets. Now. She doesn't realize that that's a big problem for her because she doesn't realize that they're running the game in the way that they are. But it is still a big problem and she needs to stop doing that. It's still a. It's got her nominated. It's. It remains a problem because it's one of the main talking points to keep her from getting the votes to survive. And so it's. It's just a problem. I do think that she's, you know, unfortunately, also just, like, going to continue to be a target because the vets are running the house and they know that she's going to put them up. So even if she survives the week, she's just not in the best of spots, but she can turn it around with some wins, you know, like, except for the damn power veto, but that's all. But. But that's also fine. It's a three. It's three for me.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

Yeah, three for me as well. I mean, she's potentially gonna be Gone. I do hope that she can turn it around, but I feel like she is sharing information with people that she shouldn't necessarily trust, and she needs to find some, like, good, solid allies. So we'll see.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right. What does the audience think? It's a four. It's a four from the audience. Okay, let's then move on to Melody. Melody, who has, I would say, like, a meaningful improvement to her position in the game in the sense that she is no longer going to be, like, the default target for her connection to. To Drew, at least, seemingly not as much. She's certainly not on the block this week, which is nice for her, but I wouldn't say that her position is really meaningfully improved in any significant way. I think that. Yeah, I mean, she's just. Honestly, I think she's so likely to be put on the block next week unless somebody from her quote unquote side wins. I think that she is almost assuredly on the block next week, and that's not going to be great for her. If her side does win, there's still a chance she gets put up on the block via diamond power veto. I don't love it. I don't love the diamond power of veto. I'm for.

[Melissa]

Yeah, four for me as well. I do really like her in the game, and so I do hope she sticks around. I feel like she's very interesting character, but. And I like that she is really playing, but, you know, she just doesn't have a good position yet, so. Yeah. Or.

[Mary]

Yep. I think her and Mallory are relatively similar. Mallory's on the block, but I think that Melody has the ability to. No, that's not what I'm gonna say. I think Mallory is on the block, but Mallory has better ability to win competitions. Therefore Melody is essentially the same so far.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, the audience a little higher on Melody. The audience gave Melody five, but what about Taylor? Melissa, what are your thoughts on Taylor?

[Melissa]

Taylor's interesting. I. I like her. I feel like she has a good head on her shoulders, but I just feel like she doesn't have any real true allies yet. She's got, you know, these minor things, but I don't feel like they're true groups for her. At the same time, I don't really feel like people are really coming after her, and I kind of feel like she's kind of in, like, fading into the background a bit, which is good for her at this point. Although I'd much prefer for her to have some solid allies. But. Yeah, so I guess. I guess I would give her a five.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right. Mary.

[Mary]

Yeah. Pretty much agree with the five there. I think she's a little feel safer than Mallory and Melody and I do think that unlike some other people that she, I could see her getting picked up and, and, and if she's in a firm alliance that gets any power I could see her actually doing some things.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right, my thoughts.

[Mary]

Wow.

[Taran Armstrong]

Another five.

[Mary]

Oh, look at that.

[Taran Armstrong]

Similar. Yeah, I, I, I like where Taylor's at. I think obviously people have talked about her as a potential threat but, but I do think that she is, I think she's played this week very well for the position that she's in which is that she's managed to make an alliance with one of the key players in the game, Devins and, and the hoh on a week where both of her closest allies are being targeted. That's impressive work. It's a, it's about as much as you could ask of a person in her position. So know good stuff. Is it like gonna significantly change the course of her game? I guess we'll find out. The audience agrees. It's straight five. Wow. A five. Taylor, finally let's talk about Yash. Mary.

[Mary]

I mean. He's another one where I, I am having a hard time at the moment picturing how he's going to win the game. I just feel like a lot of people are not the biggest fans. Kind of mid middling bad. So I'm gonna put him at a three. I mean it's like a three maybe to four just because he's kind of not doing much but I just feel like he's not, he's having a hard time connecting with people.

[Taran Armstrong]

I did give him a three last week. I'm actually gonna bump him to a four this week. I think his stock is currently on the rise. He's got the Dapper Dan's running well there. In many ways people are looking at like Drew as a bigger target than him. He very much is somebody that I think they're just like is going to be overlooked for a long time. Him. And we also know that he's at least somewhat capable of winning a competition. I thought it was pretty impressive that he managed to nail the exact right answer in that blockbuster. So definitely like look out for Yash. He's liked in the house for what it's worth. You know they do talk about how he doesn't work with women but like it's not like he's like that's like super disparaging. It's more jokey than than serious at this point. People do tend to like him, and he is pretty decently insulated at this point. Not a lot of people would be willing to put him up, but. But he still has a long way to go before he really cracks into really, like, winter potential territory, in my opinion. What do you think, Melissa?

[Melissa]

Yeah, three. From my perspective, I just feel like I don't really know if there's anyone who's like, truly, truly working with him, and I feel like he doesn't just. He needs to find a person, and I feel like I don't know if I see him doing that. So. Yeah. Three.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right. And the audience says a three as well. They agreed with you guys. And that's the stock watch for the week. That's what we have. Our season average, I think, has lowered from this week down to 4.58 overall. And. And that's what we got. That's it. That's the stock watch. We did it. Long, long roundtable. This week. We're a little over.

[Melissa]

I mean, to be fair, we had the tea party to talk about, so there was a lot going on.

[Mary]

Social dynamics. It is interesting to look at Devin's score going up the way it did in the same way that his. The. The. The rating of looking back at his HOH. Right. Wasn't it like. Like, yeah, 5ish. That went to like a 6.7. Yeah. So it's. It. It's very interesting to kind of see how that tracked. But. But that's not how the stock watch works. You can't. Can't bank on how you're gonna feel about it after the fact.

[Taran Armstrong]

So when you get overpowered advantage in the history of the show, it's bound to work out pretty well for you. And on top of that, I do think he played pretty well this week. So it was. It was quite a. Quite a bump here.

[Mary]

And you know what? I don't even care if it's a good game or not. I'm going to appreciate both Taylor and Devin's for at least attempting to leave the tea party.

[Melissa]

Yes, of course. I'm seeing that Barrett has already ratted out the potential save Jason Plan 2D. And people are very, very mad about that.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah, I mean, this is one of those things where it's like, I'm just gonna have to watch myself. Obviously, Barrett would never vote and blindside, but without. Yeah, like I said, this is a vote about positioning. So if Barrett is able to position himself or the vote in a way that's like. Like all these People want to go this way. Actually, the votes are here. You should get on board. That's one thing. If he's saying, yeah, they're trying to do this and I'm not going to keep Mallory, that would be another thing. I don't know which is which.

[Melissa]

Right now it sounds like it's the former. Like, it sounds like he's saying, this is what happened and De is telling him to do whatever he wants. Okay, but I don't know. But I don't know. I don't know. Because she asked him, I guess, what do you want? Or are you going, what are you going to do? And he said he doesn't know. So it wasn't like, oh, these people are stupid. Like, you know, whatever. It was kind of like, hey, I don't know.

[Taran Armstrong]

Interesting. Interesting. Well, that's what we have for you on this week's Round Table podcast. I'll, of course, be live tomorrow morning, 11am Eastern to update and everything that happens today, including what's happening right now with this vote. With everything else on tomorrow's live feed update, I'll also be doing the the Mailbag with Rob, the patrons of Rob as a podcast. You're not a patron of the podcast already do it. It patron. It's a good time. And speaking of patrons, become a patron of mine as well. Spread the love. Patreon's a great place to be. I'm doing live feed streams. I was live during the Tea Party. It was a good time to. To. To sort of like be with other people. And you can still check out that. That VOD as well over on my Patreon. You can also find me on Twitch and YouTube, streaming the episodes. We got all kinds of podcasts coming your way in general, Mary. What do you got going on?

[Mary]

You can follow me everywhere, frail Mary. And if you want to hear more podcasting from me, check out the Free Agents Podcast, Millennial tv, where I'm talking with Matt Liguori about the Suite Life of Zach and Cody. It's exactly the same as Big Brother. Don't worry, you'll love it.

[Taran Armstrong]

Yes, and of course you can find Melissa. It's Melissa 3 8.

[Melissa]

I'm gonna try and start twitching. Whatever. Live streaming, watching feed soon. That one's. It's Melissa with three A's. Duh, duh. Like, it's Melissa. Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh.

[Taran Armstrong]

Do you have a schedule time yet or is it still just kind of?

[Melissa]

No, but. Well, I'm wondering, like, do people like. I don't know when people like to watch? Do they like to watch like. Like on the weekend, randomly, like, during the day, or do they like to watch at night? When's the most popular time?

[Taran Armstrong]

Yeah, this is. This is what I've learned. We're turning the end of this podcast into streaming advice that you need to stream at the time that makes the sense. The most sense for you. If you. It doesn't really make sense to try to chase the timing of the audience. I mean, don't stream in the middle of the night, probably, but, like, you know, yeah, you might find more people at a certain time, but, like, do what feels like. Like something that you can do consistently. Because if you're like, I gotta go at exactly this time because I'll get, like, 10 or, like, 50 more viewers, then you'll get stuck there, and, like, you're just not sustainable. And then you go to a different time. It's like, oh, we can't go to that time because really is this time. It's just, do the time that makes sense for you, and people will come.

[Melissa]

Okay, okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm really gonna do it.

[Taran Armstrong]

All right.

[Melissa]

I just want to figure it out.

[Taran Armstrong]

Make sure you check that out when it happens. And that is what we have for you. Thank you all so much for joining us here tonight on the Roundtable podcast, and we will see all of you next time.