Once again, full disclosure: I’m watching this so you don’t have to!
After one of the more skillful methods of plot building I’ve seen, poker professional Vanessa Rousso – who became the overall Head of Household over the past week – sent one of her fellow houseguests out of the house on the CBS reality show Big Brother In doing so, Rousso was able to offend as few people as possible and, after an interesting week shown through the CBS cameras, demonstrated an entirely new side than she had in the first two weeks of action.
Leave it to CBS to build up the full disclosure of Rousso and her part in the show. As stated previously, the first two weeks didn’t include much camera time for her but, once she won one of the two slots for Head of Household, it became a situation that was bound to change. What might not have been expected was the full extent of Rousso’s blossoming on the show.
Once ensconced in the Head of Household bedroom (the two potential Heads of Households receive a special room and amenities that aren’t available to the other houseguests), Rousso revealed that she and the other winner in the HOH battle, the wrestler Austin, were actually in a secret alliance with each other. Along with three other houseguests, they were slowly building a coalition that would look to get one member of the alliance as far as possible. The duo not only held council with other members of the coalition, they also decided who would be the eventual overall HOH, with Austin throwing the “Battle of the Block” competition to allow for Rousso to take the overall responsibility.
Not only was the disclosure of the alliance between Rousso and the wrestler a bit of a surprise, the revelation that Rousso was actually the ringleader of the group was intriguing. Even with the power of controlling a rapidly growing faction, Rousso was still concerned with the long game rather than the short. “I want to get out of this with the least blood on my hands,” Rousso stated during Sunday evening’s episode.
After initially eying the transgender Audrey (who has a list of enemies in the house already and has dodged the elimination gun earlier), Rousso would instead move her target to another member of the house, Jeff. After he had infiltrated a few different factions (or so he thought), Jeff committed (or may not) the ultimate sin of going behind the back and speaking badly of Rousso, who immediately informed him on Wednesday’s broadcast that he would be one of the two houseguests up for elimination due to his transgressions (the other was the very popular James). Although he would campaign heavily to remain in the house, Jeff would be voted out rather handily and give Rousso the “bloodless” eviction that she hoped for.
The entire week was an excellent demonstration by Rousso in controlling the game and getting her faction in the best spot to go deep in the show. While she heads the Rousso Alliance (why does that sound like something the USS Enterprise would encounter in deep space?), she has her former HOH Austin, the couple Shelli and Clay and Liz – who has swapped in and out the entirety of the game with her twin sister, Julia, who will be added to the houseguests if they are able to make it to the jury segment of the game (the point where further eliminations will be part of a jury to determine the eventual winner) – in agreement as to the direction the faction will go. With only 13 members left in the house, the five members – six if you count Liz’s twin if and when she joins the game for real – are in position to be able to dictate how the remainder of the game will be played should they garner more than 50% of the household.
Of course, because Rousso was Head of Household for the past week, she was not eligible for a return trip to the HOH room. Two members of the Rousso Alliance, Liz and Shelli, were able to win the HOH competition, however, keeping the power in the game squarely in the group’s hands. After finally coming to light on “Big Brother,” can Rousso now sink back into the shadows and use her Machiavellian-like control on her alliance to direct the game? Or will she now start to take a more forceful approach in the household in an attempt to drive out the opposition?