Michael WON The VETO! Pooch “just keep the noms the same I’m not asking you to use it on me.”

Remember when I asked if Bleep would look to fill the void left by Paloma leaving?

I went through the logistics of who the alliance would consider suggesting Ameerah/Alyssa (& Michael) would want it to be a female & listed the reasons why it wasn’t an easy assignment.

Much of my hesitation centered around the fact I simply couldn’t see Monte/Kyle being cool to add Nicole. I was surprised when she was the replacement but SHOCKED it was Monte who pushed for it to happen.

Anyone that saw the exchange in the SR & how aggressive Nicole got with Monte (aggressive in that she didn’t back down from her opinion & wasn’t bowing to HIS WILL) can see why her being added to Bleep seemed like the farthest possibility.

I assumed Monte would recognize Nic isn’t that far removed from Taylor’s mindset about alpha males in the house. In fact, Tay was more open to working with them until the top dog screwed her over.

With Michael winning POV it’s likely noms stay depending on how pissed off Ameerah/Nicole were from that SR convo or if Monte gets more aggressive prior to Monday’s ceremony. If that happens I could see TPTB pushing Jas/Michael for a renom & Turner going OTB to ensure one of them leave.

Monte is no mastermind:

Monte may still get his way this week but moving forward he is no longer safely hidden away nor will it be as easy to maintain his position as house voice/director/decision maker.

And he has no one to blame but himself because he made a series of poor decisions. He preaches when he should listen, views every situation ONLY for his personal gain, makes decisions without consulting his allies & is demonstratively throwing comps while simultaneously trying to push the agenda as if he is the HOH (hence Ameerah’s comment to him)

As for him becoming Taylor’s target – it’s his own fault.

The move to paint Taylor out to be a liar in order to set the target on her was his first huge mistake. Spineless Daniel already wanted to go in that direction & a far less aggressive campaign would’ve netted the same result (but he wanted to push this isn’t Cookout 2.0).

With his oversell, it led to Daniel’s gaslight speech essentially telling Tay she is rude & needed to apologize to everyone. Post Tay nom Monte did nothing to patch up the situation (forgetting the cardinal rule of expect the unexpected) taking the lazy route by blaming it all on Tay for not being more specific & on Paloma for blowing it up. B/c he didn’t try to help smooth over the ‘misunderstanding’ with the other hamsters Taylor knew he was punking her & became her enemy.

It’s humorous that the house has pegged him as this year’s Xavier. Granted, he shares the commonality of his Godfather position in the house, being in multiple alliances & throwing comps. However, the more vital parts of X’s game he doesn’t have. X didn’t even get out of bed barely until after they got to jury & he certainly wasn’t orchestrating anyone’s eviction – he made sure he/his alliance were safe & otherwise laid low. He also was MUCH better at masking the fact he was throwing comps.

Monte had full control of the house & could’ve maintained it if he wasn’t in such a hurry to play 10 weeks at once or driven to become BB24’s dictator. The extra to get Taylor re-nomed (paint her as a liar), not consulting everyone in Bleep about adding Nicole to the alliance, the heated SR convo today etc, etc.

Why didn’t he just wait to see who won POV before trying to switch the target? ‘

He jeopardized pushing Ameerah/Nicole so hard they still might try to get Michael to use it on Taylor to ensure her safety. (Note: I doubt Michael uses it – but let’s see what TPTB pushes for).

Monte could also switch things up by blowing up Mamba/Bleep but that’s asking for trouble b/c any hint of that happening will lead to the men learning Monte outed Oasis, that he set up Taylor, & is pretending to work with people while selling them out behind their backs.

If Monte wanted to replicate X’s game then once he chose Bleep over Oasis he needed to FULLY commit. It’s what’s best for the SIX not just him that is causing him issues atm & he’s caught between a rock & a hard place.

Post POV early stages have him “directing” Pooch on what to do – who to speak to. So at least in the immediate aftermath it appears he’s going to coach him behind the scenes to try to ensure he stays. We’ll see what he says to Michael and/or Jasmine.

Gender rules:

Ultimately, we’ll learn a lot this week in terms of who is more tightly aligned & has the most control. And by that, I mean the men or the women.

It was clear early TPTB were hoping for a long Paloma run based on her edits in the opening few episodes. It got me thinking perhaps the plot line this season IS men vs. women & Grod (maybe) wants a primarily all-female end group. Consider both Daniel & Michael stated desire early was to go deep into the game with the women.

I had high hopes for Nicole on night one but then she let Daniel essentially toss aside anything she said. Now we’re getting to see the opposite end of that spectrum when she’s saying too much with force.

We can’t forget her strong house read was bolstered by the fact her F2 partner was just HOH plus Ameerah also got tight with her early, kept her in the loop & my guess was the voice that got Monte thinking so highly of her.

Similarly, I tapped Ameerah as having the best house read of the women & most complete game (social/comps/strategy). She’s been far too successful in the comps though, which put a spotlight on her (and was another reason why I loved her calling out Monte for throwing).

Overall this cast is still meh – but today I’m smiling just for that SR convo and the fact Pooch didn’t win POV.