Wow.  Who would have guessed?  A unanimous vote?  Seriously?  I never would have guessed that April or Jerry would have voted for Dan.  Especially after Jerry's vote speech.  I thought his vote had gone to Memphis for sure.  And I even kind of hoped it had.  Not that it matters, but it would have been nice for Memphis to get one vote.

On the other hand, it was a season of unanimous votes.  How many evictions votes were N to zero? (7 of 11, for those keeping score.)  I think the jury questioning really helped Dan.  If what they showed on the show was a fair overview, Dan definitely came off better. Memphis really tripped up on Renny's question, and in his closing speech he actually suggested that the jurors might want to vote for Dan.  Father Dan's Replacement Nominee Roulette may have been a gamble, but it paid off big time.  And his power of persuasion helped him tremendously.

After a summer of kind edits, BB really threw Jerry under that fabled bus on the finale.  They didn't show the worst of his rants, but they can't....still, anything that has to be bleeped and blurred can't be good.   They let Brian and Steven have their say and tell the jurors they were all where they were for talking trash.  Jessie's either over what America did to him, or he was well prepped to be gracious.  But why didn't Angie get to say a word?

It's true that Dan and Memphis were the two that played the cleanest, but I'm not convinced that's what really got them to the end.  What got them there was luck, winning competitions when it mattered, and a great alliance.  Being decent didn't hurt, and it certainly made us out here love them more.  They were among the best final 2 in BB history for sure.  It was a season where the best player won, and that's always nice.

It was a great season.  We had drama, strategy, fights and game play, and more sex than we've ever seen on the livefeeds.  We had puppet shows, Jessie-gate, a brand new Tool, swim club, Super Bitch Barbie fights, Ollie's afraid of birds, Judas and the Womanizer (aka the Renegades), Monica's a plant, "I was HOH!" and stolen manhood.  And Waldo-watch.  We had interesting sartorial choices, from Renny's outrageous outfits, to Jerry's on-and-off Marine gear, and age-inappropriate tank tops.  And Mempis' hat, Dan's St. Mary's wear, including the controversial rain jacket.  And the 2 sets of rarely, if ever, washed Dr. Will-tribute swim trunks.  And, of course, the Renegade Red bandannas. 

There's more to come here at my-bigbrother-pov.  Look for an At the End of the Day wrap-up shortly.  I'm certainly hoping for another winter season.  But, if not, I'll be back next summer.  For now....

Congratulations Dan and Memphis

Good show!

P.S. Whether he still needs and/or wants his job, last I checked the signature count on www.SaveDansJob.com was up to almost 1500.  Just goes to show you how loved he was, and how crazy BB fans are. 

As things wind down for the Final 2, they're killing time by sleeping as much as possible.  Especially Dan, who is winning the marathon nap competition.  Around 3PM BBT on Sunday Memphis (who had only been up since about 12:30) turned to the camera and said to BB "would you play some music and wake Dan's ass up?" 

Everyone's so bored it's not funny.  The camera operators have resorted to trying to find more interesting angles to show the spider from.  Turns out there isn't an interesting angle on a spider.  Makes me really miss George and Skippy.

Anyway...when they finally do drag themselves out of bed, BB has actually given them more toys to amuse themselves with than the F2 usually get.  They've got cards (the oversize ones from earlier in the season were traded in for normal ones), remote control cars, bocce ball, and a few other things.  They made a football out of tin foil.  And they finally got the sushi dinner they've been asking for.  What more could a boy want?

Okay, so they want to see their girlfriends, family, and friends, and they're counting down the hours to freedom.  And they want to win that half million dollar prize. 

But meanwhile, they're having a bit of fun.  They decide to put on their own mini "Olympics" of a game pentathlon.  The events included everything from chess to card tossing.  Memphis won handily.  BB gave them their final ration of beer, which they set out for beer pong.  Memphis again won handily and managed to get Dan a little tipsy.

Julie went off for a solo appearance with Craig Ferguson.  She said she thinks Dan should win.  I was kind of surprised, I expected her not to take a side.  But then again, what does she care what anyone thinks?  She also said that the jury doesn't always vote for the best player.  This would be true, and we'll just have to wait and see what this jury does.  But whichever way it goes, I think they both played good games, and I hope each will be happy for the other if he wins.

CBS did their retrospective show, so I'll do my retrospective blog entry.  I'll say first that the show was just a little too staged and saccharine sweet for my tastes.  But they did hit the highlights of the season.  The puppet show, Keesha's birthday, Ollie and the birds, swim club, and Renny's impersonations.  They continue to give Jerry a far kinder edit than he deserves.  I really think the PTB want Jer-bear to get the jury prize.  And if the TVOVs have enough influence (or if it's all a farce) he just might get it.  But enough about the show...back to the game.

I've already gone through my jury analysis, and whatever the outcome, I say Dan should win.  To me he played the better game.  Week 1 when Brian walked out and said he thought Memphis had this game wrapped, I was skeptical.  But as I watched overthe early weeks, I started to agree.  He was in pretty good with almost everyone.  But then, right after Nomination Roulette, I started to think Dan could actually win this game.

In looking back, I think Dan made all the right moves.  First, the Brian alliance.  Had it worked out, they would have been great together.  They both know their big mistake there was bringing in (or trying to bring in) Ollie.  Second, when the house turned on Brian, Dan stayed loyal.  This might seem like a bad move, but what it did was convince the rest of them that he was true to his word, and maybe not so bright.  His week 2 play of "I'm so weak" worked out perfectly.   And then with Jessie-gate...it wasn't really his move, but he played his part well.  He was the decider, and would have voted as he did even if he hadn't been the Tool that week.  He stayed out of The Fight for the most part, just letting Jerry call him Judas...and again looking like a bit of a doormat.  This all set him up nicely for his big week.  He'd made himself look like a slightly stupid player, and a bit of a pushover, which was part of the reason Ollie would believe he would actually go along with the Dumbest Deal Ever.  And then by sticking to the early parts of the deal, Dan cemented Ollie's trust, convinced people he wasn't with Memphis, and won a bit of Keesha's trust.  His reasoning behind nominating Michelle as opposed to Ollie when it came time to betray actually made sense (though I'm not sure any of them followed it).  He won comps when he needed to, threw them when he needed to, and got most people out with little blood on his own hands.  He made the best choice with the luxury comp. win, and revealed his choice in just the right way.

Don't get me wrong, Memphis played a great game.  And if he walks away with the big prize, I won't call it a total scandal.  Memphis turned down the Brian deal, which worked out great.  It set Brian on him, which the rest of the house then flipped, keeping Memphis off the radar for weeks.  When he finally was nominated, again, the others saved him--keeping him in the game but not making him the bad guy.  He made alliances with everyone and was true to the ones that served him best.  He won the key vetoes, and though some were thrown to him, that's not a huge strike against him. When one wins a thrown comp. it shows that the others trust him enough to throw it to him, and at least he can "catch" it.  Sure, he never won an HOH, but he never needed to.

Whoever wins, we don't need to feel bad for either of these guys.  Memphis got the car (and when has the one who won the car in week 1 on any show ever made it to the end before?), and Dan got his $20K for Tooling (we're assuming). 

As I always say....we'll know when we know...and no one deserves to win a reality show. 

P.S. Even BB has clearly given up on the livefeeds...Dan hasn't been wearing his microphone for at least 30 minutes, and they've yet to yell at him.  He also mentioned the name of one of his football players, which should have been fishied out.  But, he's not wearing his microphone, so who cares?  On the other hand, when Memphis started talking about Keesha's mystery celebrity hook-up (apparently it was Cuba Gooding, Jr.), we did get fishies...so BB is awake, just can't be bothered to tell Dan to please put on his microphone.  So, I say again, if you want good drama, check out the refeeds.  And, in other news, there is a strong possibility of another Winter BB.  BB11 is listed as a midseason replacement on CBS' schedule.  This could just be a reprint from last year, or it could mean something....we'll know when we know.

P.P.S.  Turns out I was wrong--Dan did have his mic on.  It just really wasn't working.  It got fixed after quite a few hours, but just in time for ShowtimeTime.  That's alright--the, oh say, 3 of us actually watching the feeds know where we stand.... 

After a long, hard day of basically doing nothing, the boys went off to feed their cases to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury.  We, of course, never get to hear the full questioning, and since for once BB decided to do production during ShowtimeTime (probably to avoid having to keep Jerry up past his bedtime), by the time they came back the questioning was well over and done with, as was most of the discussion of "what did so-and-so mean by that?"

We did learn a few things from the post-questioning chatter. First, the jurors will be separately sequestered from now until the finale.  I'm not sure if that's to keep them safe from each other, or to force them to make their own decisions.  It does seem to give Memphis a bit more of a chance, since Dan had 2 people, Keesha and Michelle, who could possibly campaign for him, where the only one likely to try to campaign for Memphis was Jerry.  And, I have to say, I loved the pink and blue shirts.... 

   

Let's "poll" the jury.  And for those keeping score at home, the screencaps are all from week 1.

The Final 2: Dan and Memphis

Juror #1, Libra

She's been gone so long, it's hard to guess how she feels and what she'll do.  She didn't have real animosity toward either Dan or Memphis; the HGs she really hated are all out there with her.  Aprollie's had to the most time to get to her in the JH, but she doesn't really like them, and probably won't be swayed by them.  She's a real fan of the show, and probably respects gameplay and strategy more than any thing else.  I didn't hear anything from D/M about her questions, and they agreed she's a real toss-up.

Likely Vote: Up in the air    My guess: Dan

Hardly worth talking about.  She was targeting Memphis during the game, mostly "because of the car." But after Jessie-gate, she truly hated Dan.  She's not one to respect smart game moves necessarily.

Likely Vote: Memphis

Juror #3, Michelle

She did feel totally betrayed by Dan.  She had an early alliance with Memphis, and didn't blame him for Jessie.  If she votes emotionally, she'll surely go for Memphis.  But, like Libra, she's a fan of the show and might sit back and realize that Dan did play a better game.  It's not clear if the trip helped.  I think there's a good chance it did.  And even more, I think it helped when Keesha walked in to the JH knowing about it.  The fact that Dan told her, even at the last minute, makes him seem a little less snake-like.  Both Keesha and Michelle recognize that Dan is working for their votes...but why not?  Michelle also respects competition winning, and Dan wins on that score.

Likely Vote: Dan

Juror#4, Ollie

After 6 weeks of barely playing the game, he sure went out with a bang.  The big question is will he be April's lapdog, or will he vote for himself.  For the sake of argument, let's assume he'll vote for himself.  Neither Dan nor Memphis could remember Ollie's questions.  And Dan mumbled to the memory wall "I have to get one of you (Aprollie) and I never spoke to you."  That makes it sound like he's not sure he's lost both, and he thinks they might split.  For my part, I think it all depends on what Ollie meant with the line about "the biggest mistake I made was letting my heart get into the game."  If he was talking about April, he could mean that he's now realized she's a big 'ho and was just using him.  But, Michelle told Dan that Aprollie are still as close as ever in the JH.  It's also possible that Ollie meant his mistake was expecting people to behave as they do in the real world, and not be playing a game.  Each time Ollie got blindsided it was because he seemed to forget that at the end of the day everyone was playing for half a million dollars and they were going to do whatever it took to get themselves closer.

Likely Vote: Up in the air    My guess: Memphis

 

She never quite trusted either Dan or Memphis, but she had more against Memphis.  He was also the one that really orchestrated her exit.  That plus any influence from Keesha, I think equals Dan.  The boys said her question was something about what they had done for her in the game.  I didn't hear how either answered, and neither really has a good answer. 

Likely Vote: Dan

Juror #6, Keesha

She had an alliance with both boys, and feels more betrayed by Memphis.  She probably suspects Dan was in on the KickKeesha plan, but even so, Memphis had the most to gain from it.  And assuming Jerry told them all about his deal with Memphis, that ought to really cement her feelings.  It sounds like her questioning did nothing to reveal Dan's full involvement in the KickKeesha plan, but she might have asked if he threw the F4 POV.  He admitted he did, which on the one hand shows his alliance with Memphis, but on the other hand, takes a bit away from Memphis' 3 POV wins.

Likely Vote: Dan

 Juror #7, Jerry

For a 75 year old man, he's proving just a bit naive.  He totally bought all the Renegade-antics, from the 2 Memphis nom'ings to his own deal with Memphis and Memphis' claim that he was vetoing Dan only to ensure that Renny was kicked.  And no matter what he says, he never got over Judas.  And even though he suspects or knows they had planned to kick him at the end, he blames Dan more.

Likely Vote: Memphis  

So, if my guesses are right or close, Dan wins 4-3.  I'm the least confident in my guess on Michelle.  Even the boys said they think she's the swing vote.  Dan said he needs Renny or he's done, and as I mentioned, he said he needs one of Aprollie.  To me that says he's not counting on at least one of Michelle/Libra.