Nick is single 15 minutes after the finale.

Hayden's best move is to throw the final comp and let Lane take him to the finale. That way Enzo stays loyal to Hayden in the jury house and tosses him a vote. Hayden would need to trust that Lane would take him, and I think he can do that.

not even close to worth it for 1 vote -- a vote that he could still get anyway. even without enzo's vote, hayden is a big favorite to win. considering the reality is that lane has a way better chance to beat enzo than hayden, it's not out of the question that lane could realize that and screw hayden over if given the chance

i think hayden throwing the final HoH would be a pretty atrocious move frankly. no worries though 'cause hell will freeze over before he does it

Really disagree with this: (1) there's a decent chance that Enzo votes for Hayden anyway and (2) even if he loses Enzo's vote, I think there's a solid possibility that would be offset by gaining at least one extra vote based on his ability to argue that he earned the win by dominating all the endgame competitions. The risk of Lane doing something screwy outweighs the gain of that move

Good points. Okay Hayden should try to win, then. But I'll be very surprised either way if Enzo is in the finals.

yeah if im lane or hayden this week then im trying to lock up a final 2 as well as i can. i would gurantee 100 percent that id take hayden if i was lane. if i was hayden id take lane. just try and lock enzo out before the final comp

Agreed, but Lane should probably take Enzo if he wins. He's in a bad spot either way, but we already knew that.

Hayden and Lane talking about how Matt is a lock to win the 25K because of his wife. Yeah right.

whichever of the final 3 bubbles the money will be eligible for the 25k america's vote, right? just wondering how that works since the vote will take place before we find out who the final 2 are

i would think lane or enzo would have a good shot. kathy for cancer sympathy maybe? i mean she's a nice woman, just was boring on the show. probably not britney. even though she's a fan favorite in this thread, i think there's a widely held consensus from the more "mature" (see: humorless) viewers that she's a bitch or something. not enough people appreciate the difference between insulting people behind their backs in a way that is just catty and empty (i.e. "____ is such a slut!") and doing so in a way that is actually clever and entertaining (i.e. most of the things brit says in the DR)

edit: i hope not brendon but... ugh... seems possible at least

Seems like it almost has to be Enzo. He came in second in the Saboteur vote, and Ragan was whiny and unlikable from that point forward.

From what everyone is saying, Britney is a lock to win it. We'll see.

everyone where? i'd like her to win but i'm not optimistic

Love you too, Kos. And I don't think my argument is as bad as it seems on the surface. Enzo did not build an alliance by himself and keep it a secret by himself. Those guys chose each other and worked really well together. Now, I don't have feeds, so maybe I missed something. But my impression was that the guys got together and formed the alliance. And they were committed to it because they genuinely liked each other and it was in all of their best interests to work together and move forward in the game. Much as Matt was the self proclaimed super genius, I felt Enzo was the self proclaimed Godfather of the Brigade. He promoted himself as such, but I felt like the guys were working together for their own mutual benefit, not because they loved Enzo. Maybe my flippant treatment of the naming of the alliance and the members is too dismissive and it was precisely this 'elite membership in the secret club' that held them all together. {shrug}

As to some other points you bring up. Why does being HOH mean you get credit for booting someone? Whether it 'should' or not is irrelevant if it does. And it kind of does. Maybe not for you, but every year you can tell that the houseguests seem to think it matters and they are the ones playing the game, so... Also, I was sort of skirting the issue of whether it matters or not with the comment I made about being HOH. The HOH has to NOMINATE two people for eviction and sometimes a third. So the HOH is directly putting people in harms way and that can cause hard feelings. So being in the position of having to do that, and being able to pull it off without garnering too much illwill...well, you get BB points my mind if you perform well with this responsibility. If you never have to do this, you can't earn these points (of course, you also don't have to worry about getting mental demerits if you suck at it, is the positive flipside, I guess). As far as being a single vote in the majority in the eviction of houseguests. I guess I give a little credit there, but it's credit shared among the majority.

Oh, and how can I say Enzo didn't sway Britney to put up Matt? I'll reiterate. Because Lane was number one there with Hayden for the assist. I think Lane was primarily responsible. But I do think Hayden could have gotten the job done himself if he needed to. Enzo I'm not so sure. He WAS the other guy on the block with Brendon that week before Matt was replacement nominated. If Enzo was the one who had Britney's ear, sitting on the block was a strange place for him to be.

Good post, Kos. I'm enjoying this discussion, but I'll have to pick this back up a little later.

I'd bet against Britney. She's only likable to men and I'm willing to bet more women actually go through the process of voting for something like this than men do. Then again, that same argument could work for Britney (i.e.-it would split the womens votes among other housemates, while all the men would vote Britney). Still, I think Enzo will win vote.

I guess the main reason I'm giving Enzo more credit for creating the alliance is that he put all of his eggs in that basket. He didn't have a Ragan, a Britney, or a Kristen on the side if the Brigade fell apart, so he was obviously the most loyal to the alliance. Maybe I'm wrong to give him credit for that, but I think it's important.

I will say, though, that I can respect the belief that competitions are important in Big Brother (as opposed to Survivor, where I think they should be literally meaningless when determining who played the best game). For me, it's still a social game, but competitions are obviously more important in BB than they are in Survivor. Hayden played well enough without them that I have absolutely no problem with that being a "tie-breaker" if he's up against Enzo. Gun to my head, I'd probably vote for Enzo, but both guys are deserving imo.

just caught up on eps. man they are really boring nowadays imo. the best part of the last 3 i watched was the scavenger hunt and britney finding the other dudes's coins. also major LOL at enzo and lane strategy of checking where they hid theres to throw others off.

i think CBS needs to start casting mentally unstable ppl again

I think Enzo deserves plenty of credit for this despite being on the block. I could be wrong but I think he was the squeaky wheel within the tri-gade for dumping Matt even for a week or two prior. Sure Hayden and Lane were on board, but without Enzo constantly pushing for it I don't know if they execute it as well or even necessarily attempt it at all, maybe they stick to the "safe" play and push for Ragan. And even if Lane and Hayden did the most direct convincing with Britney, Enzo played his part in that too, always reminding Britney she promised him he's only a pawn and she needs to put up who the others want to vote out.

best twist evar.

I think it was a +ev move for enzo to tell brit.

Although, he should have made it more obvious that he got the guys together.

Brit will walk into the joury house, and if she reveals the brigade, she would have revealed it was enzos creation. The houseguests would def respect that

i'm not sure how Enzo will answer the question, "why should i vote for you if you only won one competition?" it's going to be a tough question to answer. is part 2 of the competition tonight?

they already did part 2 on thursday. i think tonight will be a clip show where they just run through stuff that happened during the season (supposedly with some "never before seen!" footage). part 3 of the competition + the finale is wednesday

Manson family reunion theme for season 13!

Was hoping they'd have lots of new footage tonight but pretty 95% is old. Just boring recap episode.

See, there's another demerit for Enzo. I think having the side alliances are a good thing. More options available. It's okay to choose the Brigade, but having a back up friendship is a good thing, I think. Take Lane. He was very close with Brittney. But also very close with Hayden. And a solid Brigade member. I think having those bonds that are real give you some edge as long as you don't make a mistake over it. The people you are bonded too may very well make a mistake in your favor. (Like Britney flushing her game down the toilet.) Or simply give you another source of information. And the bond he has with Hayden could cause Hayden to take him to the end over Enzo. I'm not sure if that's a mistake in the eyes of the contestants (because maybe they think Enzo played a fabulous game), but I think it's a mistake. If for no other reason than Britney is probably a lock to vote for Hayden UNLESS he is against Lane. (Aside: Was she trying to protect Lane when she suggested to Hayden that she'd be happy voting for him over Lane because Lane 'doesn't need it'? I'm still puzzled over her motivation for that converstation.) Side alliance might = lobbyist in the jury house.

The side alliance gives you another player who has your back ,but the side alliance can certainly be a bad thing as well. Hayden's and Matt's showmances put them in harm's way and cast shadows of doubt about their ultimate allegiance to the brigade. However, all three guys were willing to cut their side alliance loose if need be. And the faux alliances helped camouflauge the Brigade. Gave them extra leverage in the house. Overall, I think the more amicable bonds you have with other people, the better you are playing the game. Especially when you consider those people are going to have to select the winner.

Matt and Hayden both showed profeciency at the comps early, right along with Brendon. Brendon was targeted largely because he was part of a two headed monster. Matt was targeted largely because he acted so shadey--and forced Hayden and Enzo to reveal his standing in the Brigade. Hayden was a challenge threat, yet skated through on his charm and good looks. Points for Hayden. He even had to survive having his secret showmance outed against his will. Rose like a phoenix. Points for Hayden.

I massively disagree with this. Ragan was a pretty big threat and no ally to Lane. Throwing HOH to him does not sound like a good idea to me. You would be ensuring that a worthy competitor who you have no real bond with stays in the game, while one of the two other guys you DO have bonds with goes home. Also, Britney was correctly sizing up Ragan as someone against whom she might be able to swing Brenchel votes her way. So, to re-tally the situation: Worthy competitor stays. An ally goes home. Another ally now has reasons to be less married to you and more inclined towards the person you just threw HOH to. All this sounds really bad to me. And it is discounting the possibility that YOU yourself are on the block and having to fight for your own life. Say Hayden and Enzo are nominated. Enzo wins veto and takes himself off. Now you are sitting next to Hayden on the block and maybe Ragan decides he can have Britney's allegiance all to himself if he tie break votes you out, willing to go two on two vs Hayden and Enzo. Yuck. Throwing HOH to Ragan sounds like a play Matt might have attempted. I don't like it.