BB 15 day 20 Wednesday

'Big Brother 15' Spoilers: How the Moving Company Stays a Secret
Wednesday, July 10, 2013

John Kubicek
Senior Writer, BuddyTV

On Big Brother 15, the Moving Company's game is a bit like an M.C. Escher paining. It goes all over the place and is sometimes impossible to follow, and just when you think you've figured it out, it all goes haywire. It's what makes them so effective, because even though others in the house are starting to figure out bits and pieces, they turn it all upside-down.

Tuesday was an exciting day of campaigning in the house as crazy new fake alliances were suggested and the subject of a possible all-guys alliance in the house was raised multiple times. But no one thinks it could possibly be true.

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains Big Brother 15 spoilers.

Elissa, Helen and Nick are the nominees.

There Is No All-Guys Alliance

While some people in the house have connected Nick, Jeremy and Spencer together, no one in the house has any clue about the Moving Company, the all-guys alliance comprised of Nick, Jeremy, Spencer, Howard and McCrae.

On Tuesday, some of the members of the Moving Company actually raised the idea of an all-guys alliance in order to preemptively block people from discovering them. Jeremy told Amanda, in front of Aaryn and Judd, that there's no all-guys alliance because he wasn't asked to be a part of it.

Later, Howard, in a meeting with Amanda and Helen, also mentioned rumors of an all-guys alliance, basically saying the same thing Jeremy did. While this might seem suspicious, Amanda actually agreed that no such thing exists because McCrae wasn't approached about one, and since she's in a showmance with him, she believes he would tell her. "Trust me, I would know if McCrae was in an alliance," Amdna said to Helen and Howard, "And he is NOT in an alliance."

That was backed up later when McCrae and Amanda were by themselves and he swore on his life, her life, and the life of the baby they will have one day after they leave the house that there is no all-guys alliance........    

The Moving Company's secret is staying safe because of McCrae and Howard. Amanda thinks she and McCrae are a real showmance, even though it's more like Mike "Boogie" Malin and Erika from Big Brother: All-Stars. And Helen has said that Howard is the person she trusts the most in the house. Jeremy may be cocky, Nick may be shady, and Spencer may be untrustworthy, but McCrae and Howard seem so sweet and innocent.

Now the Moving Company is getting cocky, talking in private about hopefully making it to the final five and becoming the greatest alliance in Big Brother history. Nick is even being bold enough to try and talk about it in public, using the alias "Megan Conrad," the same initials as Moving Company. He talks to Howard in front of others about dreams he has about Megan Conrad, a girl back home that he loves.

The Plan to Evict Elissa

To understand why Elissa is definitely going to be evicted, you need to understand about five different alliances in the house. There are three primary alliances:

The Moving Company: Nick, Jeremy, McCrae, Spencer and Howard (aka the only REAL alliance)

The Blonde-tourage: Nick, Jeremy, Aaryn, Kaitlin and GinaMarie (with Jessie as a groupie)

Mega Alliance: McCrae, Amanda, Spencer, Howard, Andy, Judd, Helen (using Elissa and with Candice as a groupie)

Then there are some new alliances being considered for the future (they don't have actual names, so I'm making them up):

Power Couples: Jeremy, Aaryn, McCrae and Amanda

The Hybrid: Jeremy, Aaryn, Kaitlin, Spencer and Howard

It's all very confusing, especially when you add in the fact that Judd and Jessie have come together as the least powerful duo in Big Brother history. And Elissa is working overtime to brainwash Jessie against the Blonde-tourage, but since Jessie is like a goldfish in this game, it's hard to figure out if it's effective.

Obviously the Blonde-tourage wants Elissa gone and the Mega Alliance wants Nick gone (to secure Elissa as their weaponized MVP). But since three members of the Mega Alliance are in the Moving Company with Nick, that skews the votes to the other side.

A massive game of wits has ensued where the Moving Company has tried to convince the Mega Alliance to vote out Elissa (against their own best interests) to protect the secrecy of the Moving Company. This hasn't quite worked.

Instead, Spencer has become an outcast from the Mega Alliance because he told Helen that Amanda should be the MVP nominee this week instead of Nick to get her away from McCrae. Helen told this to Amanda, and now Amanda and Spencer hate each other.

Even so, Helen, who has taken a leadership role in the Mega Alliance despite being on the block, believes they can still vote Nick out with the votes of McCrae, Amanda, Andy, Judd, Candice and Howard. The fact that Helen trusts McCrae and Howard is her fatal flaw and error, and a testament to how well they're playing the game.

Amanda has also become suspicious because Howard defended Spencer, making her believe they're together and have both turned to vote Elissa out (which is true). As such, she believes Elissa is definitely going home, so she and McCrae have decided to vote with the house to avoid being outcasts next week (little does she know McCrae wanted this all along). Even Andy is on board with this plan to vote out Elissa, but he really hates it because he thinks it's a terrible idea. He's right, but he also realizes there's nothing he can do about it.

If Judd joins them, which I assume he will, it could be a 10-1 vote, with Candice as the sole vote to keep Elissa (ironic, since she voted to evict her last week).

This change explains the formation of the two new alliances. McCrae and Amanda are trying to secure their position with Aaryn's side of the house by growing closer to her and Jeremy (Amanda really trusts Aaryn but not Jeremy). And Spencer and Howard concocted the idea to flip to the Blonde-tourage so they can be safe with that side too. Meanwhile, Nick is making pseudo-deals with everyone to try and stay, which he knows is unnecessary but which he's doing to gain trust for the future.

The whole situation is positively chaotic and maddening, because the Moving Company keeps switching up their fake side alliances like staircases at Hogwarts. But it is genius, because it makes it so no one can ever put all of the pieces of their alliance together. Helen trusts Howard and McCrae, as does Andy. Judd is in good with Howard and Spencer. Andy feels comfortable with GinaMarie and Nick, even if he still thinks Nick is shady. There's so much confusion.

The game of Big Brother 15 is definitely getting interesting. Could Elissa miraculously stay (a feat that can only be achieved by getting Candice, Andy, Amanda, McCrae, Jessie and Kaitlin to vote for her, since GinaMarie and the Moving Company are 100 percent saving Nick)? Will Helen ever doubt Howard and put the pieces together about the all-guys alliance? Is Amanda doomed to be the new Erika, a girl who gets played by a guy?

Find out when the second Big Brother 15 live eviction goes down Thursday at 9pm on CBS.


'Big Brother 15' Spoilers: Aaryn Tries to Defend Her Comments


John Kubicek
Senior Writer, BuddyTV

When the Big Brother 15 producers came up with the new twists, I'm sure they expected the MVP, the three nominees and Rachel Reilly's sister to be the big stories. They never could've imagined that a near nonstop cavalcade of racist remarks would hijack the conversation. Now the issue is finally being brought up by the HGs, and if you think that it all ends with everyone eating cookies after learning a valuable lesson of tolerance, you'd be wrong.

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains Big Brother 15 spoilers.

The HGs aren't allowed to discuss their diary room sessions, but they occasionally do, and it's obvious from what's being said that they know all of Aaryn's racist "jokes" and comments are becoming a storyline on the show. Normally you'd think that would make her re-evaluate what she's done and try to make amends with the people who have been offended. But not Aaryn Gries.

Tuesday on the live feeds, Amanda sat down with Aaryn and explained to her that, while she doesn't think Aaryn is actually a racist and that some of her comments are intended as jokes (like the ones about her HoH fish tank, where the white fish and black fish segregate themselves), other people don't see it that way and may take offense. She suggested that Aaryn should apologize to people like Candice, Howard and Helen.

Aaryn, however, decided to double down on herself. She complained that being blue-eyed and blonde-haired makes her an easy target for racism allegations and said that people comparing her to Barbie is on par with the things she's said. In other words, she thinks she's the one being discriminated against.

She proceeded to explain that she's "never made a joke in front of anyone" and thinks that Candice is only taking it the wrong way because she knows she's going home next week and is insecure. She's basically equating blonde jokes with black jokes, upset that it's OK to make one but not the other. You can't make this crap up.

Tuesday night Aaryn actually sat down with Howard to talk a little bit about it, explaining that she never intended to be derogatory. He basically gave her a pass that she is not a racist and he doesn't believe she has bad intentions with the things she's said. He quickly tried to pivot it back into a conversation about the game and this week's vote. It's not exactly the great race summit producers were probably hoping for, but it's probably the best they're gonna get.

I suspect the producers are trying desperately to guide the HGs into a storyline where Aaryn realizes her mistakes, apologizes and has a "Come to Jesus" moment to provide at least a tiny glimmer of redemption for her. But as powerful as they are, the Big Brother 15 producers can't actually script reality TV.

The whole thing is just making me uneasy. While I still maintain that Aaryn shouldn't be expelled from the house for the things she's said (and continues to say), it's shocking to me that she doesn't even try to change her image, despite now knowing how she's being portrayed. She may not understand the full scope (the countless articles written about her racism, petitions to get her expelled, being fired from her modeling agency), but she has to know that she's not coming across as America's sweetheart.

Part of me does feel bad for her, simply because she has no idea of the hole she's digging for herself and how hard her life is going to be when she gets out of the house. I know she's brought it upon herself, but it's going to be rough. The hardest part is when she talks about her modeling career or how she wants to be a hostess on TV when she leaves the house. Perhaps my favorite exchange was this one from Monday.

Nick: "Where do you work?"
Aaryn: "I have an agency."

No, sweetie, you don't.

I suppose the only saving grace for her is that, unlike fellow HG GinaMarie, I don't think Aaryn has actually used the "n" word (though I'm not positive).

Big Brother 15 should be a lot more interesting next week. Once Aaryn is out of power (and assuming none of her close allies win HoH), will the others still be relatively silent when it comes to her remarks, or will they finally go off on her? There could certainly be fireworks, because right now, being in charge of the game is the only thing keeping her safe.