Austin kept her safe when he and Liz were HOH at the critical times when everyone else was coming to them and saying she had to go. He didn't react emotionally to what Becky, John, etc. were telling him and instead kept his cool and realized he needed her to stay in the game at that point. Unlike Vanessa who was ready to join with the other side of the house and evict him over something stupid, which would have been terrible for her game.

eta: I'll give her though that she's done very well at comps, particularly at crucial times down the stretch, whereas Austin has pretty much sucked at them the whole game. That's been the difference.

vanessa saved herself a couple times by winning the veto. we still don't know what austin would've done had anyone else won veto when he was hoh with 8 people left and steve/john were up. theres still a very good chance she woulda been backdoored

i mean she's won 4 HOH and 3 POV, and none were in the same week. so thats 7 weeks that she's been safe just from winning a comp. its hard to tell what would've happened if she wasn't in power or safe so often

these are not things you can say as fact. its very hard to predict what will happen especially when the finale is only a week away. but you talk about it as if theres never been a bitter juror before. i don't think we've ever seen a more bitter exit than we did from austin last night, so based off that alone i think there's a very good chance he votes against vanessa

Yeah, Vanessa is basically a bat**** crazy version of Janelle

With the exception that Vanessa is light years ahead of Janelle strategically.

If you listen to her re-telling of events in the DR she's the greatest strategic mind ever

Are you saying she isn't good strategically? I don't understand

For several week they were talking bad about Vanessa to everyone for the hope someone else would target Vanessa. Once Liz won HOH Vanessa was not even an option. The week Austin won he considered Vanessa but let her change his mind.

Being "strategically good" basically means have common sense right? We over-analyze these stupid shows but being strategic pretty much comes down to thinking at least a couple moves ahead and being able to adapt. It really isn't that hard especially for a poker player.

Yes. For example I'd say using the twins to her advantage to get the numbers while no one else did was common sense for anyone that didn't have the numbers at that point.

Liz was one of her closest allies and she confessed to her before anyone else that she has a twin. Why wouldn't you get the extra vote and have a layer of protection? But it's not like you can magically align with someone who you have no relationship in the house just because you found out they had a twin. I'm sure even if Dayvonne or Jason tried to align with Liz to get with the numbers it would not have worked. It just happened to be her best friend who had a twin and she went with it. Pretty sure if it was Jmac or Meg playing with a twin she would be gunning for them immediately.

Austin and twins did emotionally react to what Becky, john, etc were saying. Julia was always on vanessa's side but then said she was done with her after Becky's skittles maps. Austin never kept her safe. At the very best after she hashed things out with austin they deicded she wasn't on their radar for awhile/ok for now. But they didn't protect her telling anyone she was with us again/off limits. When she was on their radar they just didn't do the eviction because... 1. she was a shield/bigger target for them from the other side of the house and 2. when they were ready to take her out she won veto's or hoh's. That's what's so amazing what she's done in this game. She not only had the whole other side of the house wanting her out so bad they could taste it but so did her own people. But somehow worked her way out of it into a position of power again and a favorite to win the game. Might be the best gameplay ever to come back from where she was.

Legit feel sorry for Austin and jmac past two nights they just couldn't win when they really needed it

serious lol and face palm to the people itt arguing vanessa isnt a good player.

They still think Johnny was a twist lol. I wonder if Vanessa's going to bring up her clown theory again.

Is there a chance they would show the 1st leg of the comps on live feeds if it''s tonight? I'm guessing no?

Yes, the first leg is an endurance comp and they're going to show it on the feeds tonight. That's what the screen crawl says anyway.

Awesome. Thanks.

I loved John doing the Arbiter quote and everyone having no idea wtf it was.

and so it begins

Going into wall seems to hurt Liz.

I was getting worried when we kept seeing jeff highlights.

Just watched the last tv episode. Jury was the best part. I knew Shelli would come back to vanessa. Other jury members weren't making the "i hate vanessa faces" which bodes well for her. jackie was laughing at how vanessa manipulated julia into picking austin in veto. It's obvious Austin will do everything he can to bury her in jury. He's being a baby. He knows she deserves it and gonna try to f her out of spite because she got him before he got her.

I don't like Steve's chances. I think you want to be light and compact for this comp.

One thing he has going for him is the banging into the wall. It's fairly hardcore smash into the wall which i think favors a guy to hold on after a big blow. His hope has to be they fall after they hit the wall. Otherwise i don't seeing him have the willpower of vanessa or even liz for this comp. He is looking fine right now though.

Steve already playing the psychological warfare saying it's gonna be an all nighter, much better than his all nighter's at cornell.