It's certainly been a tumultuous couple of weeks in the inaugural Big Brother Canada season. One by one, all of the pairs in the house have been targeted and broken up with two notable exceptions. Save for the long and boring week of Suzette's eviction, we've seen the elimination of the Liza and Tom shomance, a split-up in the Andrew and A.J. bromance and now tonight, the end of the Glitter-mance between Topaz and Gary.
Along the way, Topaz and Alec ended their showmance (sorta), leaving only two sets of paired players in the house -- Emmett and Jillian on one side and Alec and Peter on the other. In the week following the "instant elimination" it became more and more obvious that the house was now dividing into two separate factions.
The faction led by Emmett and Jillian has recruited the suddenly surging Andrew. Was Andrew's uselessness in the first half of the game a by-product of spending too much time fooling around with A.J.? Regardless, Andrew has bolstered his position by becoming the third wheel of the Emmett and Jillian bicycle built-for-two (East Coasters, unite!).
On the other side of the house, it appears that Alec and Peter could be in trouble for the first time in the game. Locked at the hip from the start of the game, Alec and Peter have been extremely effective as a pair. Losing Andrew to the Emmett and Jillian faction is a big blow to their games, since only seven people are left in the house after the departure of Gary Glitter.
Interestingly, these alliances appear to have some geographical affiliation. With Emmett, Jillian and Andrew representing Eastern Canada and The Shield representing Western Canada, we may be on the precipice of a Canadian Civil War. Hopefully, the respective fan bases of both factions can remain calm and not divide the country apart. I also sincerely hope this ends better than the East vs. West battle that pitted Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur against one another.
Interestingly, there are two women in the middle, who will probably get to become the ultimate deciders of what happens next. Talla and Topaz are the women without a country currently in the house. If they could work together on something (besides giving Topaz a bikini wax) this pair could give the majority to either side of the house.
The complications lie in the recently ended showmance between Alec and Topaz; Alec talked a big game at the beginning of this week about how he was over Topaz, but will Alec come crawling back when he realizes that he or Peter could be going home? As for Talla, she is truly the biggest wildcard in the game. With both sides of the house courting her vote, she is in an amazing position right now.
We left off on a cliffhanger at the end of this week's latest episode of Big Brother Canada. An endurance challenge would settle who's the next HoH in what should be the most important week yet. Don't expect either side to target the floaters in the middle (Topaz and Talla), leaving the other five players vulnerable. We could easily see the end of The Shield this week or the end of Jillian and Emmett.
On the surface, things are looking especially bad for The Shield. The whole house seems wise to their game. Emmett already told Gary that he is targeting Alec for eviction this week. In hindsight, I think it may have been a mistake for Alec to waste his HoH week on getting Suzette out of the house. While Suzette had gotten wise to Alec and Peter's battle, she was never going to be a strategic threat capable of ending Alec and Peter's games. If the pair is nominated, they have to rely on winning a veto challenge and taking one of them off of the block. If the nominated pair can't escape the block, they're doomed. Even if Talla and Topaz voted as a unit, the best they could do would be to tie two of the members of the East Coast alliance -- forcing a tie that the HoH will need to break.
If Peter or Alec can win this week's HoH, they'll have to choose between Jillian, Emmett and Andrew. It would be a nice luxury to have, though I suspect that Peter or Alec would put up Emmett and Andrew. Breaking up the East Coast alliance is going to be crucial going forward for The Shield.
It looks like we've gotten back on track with Big Brother this week after a very spotty start to the week with the "instant eviction." As a fan, I'm really looking forward to watching how the divide in the house is going to play out. We'll find out on Sunday who won this week's HoH challenge, but if The Shield doesn't win it, they will soon have plenty of time to make crossed forearms in the jury house with Gary.
