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Big Brother Canada Week 5 Recap: Hoping For Heartbreak

The first month ofhas been every bit as good as its American counterpart ... that is, up until this week. Don't get me wrong, there were a couple of high points, but when I'm watching three hours of any given television show, I expect something to actually happen.
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Contains spoilers. Please do not read on unless you've seen Big Brother Canada's week 5 episodes, or you don't mind spoilers.

The first month of Big Brother Canada has been thoroughly enjoyable and every bit as good as its American counterpart ... that is, up until this week. Don't get me wrong, there were a couple of high points, such as Alec and Peter in the Diary Room and the return of Marsha the Moose, but when I'm watching three hours of any given television show, I expect something to actually happen.

Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of the problems with this past week have to do with Suzette, though I don't fault her directly. In my opinion, Suzette was not somebody who belonged on reality television. She seems like a particularly fragile person with no drive, ambition or skill-set that would enable her to fare well on a mentally taxing show like Big Brother.

Dumb luck put her in a position of power in the first week when she was the first person to answer the phone. We should've known not to expect too much from her in terms of gameplay when her speech for the nominations involved pointing to Tom and Emmett and saying "I nominate you two guys."

By the third week, the house was planning to mercifully send Suzette home. Everybody was on board to take her out of the game and remove the person least capable of providing even a novice level of gameplay. Instead, the producers pulled out the Power Shift twist, which ended up saving Suzette and forcing Tom to nominate Aneal, who was then evicted from the house. Canada was just given the option to save either Suzette or A.J. Had there been a third option to leave the nominations alone, I suspect Suzette and A.J. would've both lost out to apathy.

As opposed to Suzette, Aneal actually was scheming and plotting and was a legitimate threat to go far in the game. His game came to an end well before its time because the show wanted to try and be more exciting. In place of Aneal, we the viewers were subjected to an additional two weeks of the kind of excitement provided by Suzette crying and complaining.

Filed under The Broken Wristwatch Being Right Twice a Day, Suzette did suspect the power of the Alec and Peter alliance. However, once Alec decided that Suzette was going to be the one to go home, it was a foregone conclusion that was exactly what would happen. Alec winning the HoH only made it a formality that Suzette would be walking out the door. With Gary not winning the veto and without a twist to save her, Suzette realized she was doomed and soon gave up.

This week of close to no drama came on the heels of show villains Tom and Liza getting taken out in one fell swoop. Without warring factions the game took a back seat to the houseguests pretending to work in a restaurant, having BBQs and removing unmentionable body hair.

While I'm done complaining about this week in the Big Brother house, I have a degree of cautious hope for the coming week. On Thursday's live show, Topaz became the latest HoH. To date, Topaz has been known as the girl in a showmance with Alec, or the girl who sleeps all the time ... but there may be trouble brewing in the HoH bedroom.

After tonight's IPod-gate, when Topaz refused to take off Alec's headphones to wake up when Big Brother rang an alarm, the Alec and Topaz relationship appears to be on thin ice. Over the last few weeks, Topaz has grown closer and closer to Alec's biggest rival, Gary. All the while, Alec has always admitted to being closer allies with his bromance (Peter) than with his showmance.

The decision to nominate two people this week will truly test the relationship of Alec and Topaz and could prove to be compelling television. Topaz admitted tonight that she sees Gary as a closer game ally than Alec. When it comes time to nominations, surely Topaz will be pulled in two different directions: What's good for Alec vs. What's good for Gary. Whatever direction she chooses will ultimately decide her game.

What I'm hoping for is this rift to tear the Alec and Topaz relationship apart, which could then split the house into one side led by Peter, Alec and Emmett and one side with Gary and Topaz. Sometimes it's fun to root for love and sometimes a week of Suzette's complaining can make you root against it.

Before you get all excited about the strategic and romantic intrigue ahead, be warned ... another twist is on the horizon. This week, the full effects of the last twist came home to roost forcing us to a week of watching Suzette feebly attempt to escape the block again (a fate worse than slop). There's no telling what Big Brother has in store so we should always expect the unexpected -- but after the last "power shift," you can't blame me if I just expect the worst.

Gary Levy

"Big Brother Canada" Season 1 Cast

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