We’re down to final day of our look back at the game of the final three houseguests. We’ve already discussed Holly Allen and Nicole Anthony‘s game strengths and weaknesses, now it’s time to focus on Jackson Michie, this seasons most divisive and controversial player. We’re not going to focus on the controversy surrounding Jackson, but feel free to discuss that in the comment section. Instead, we’re keeping it strictly game move based, where his moves, strategies, and style excelled and faltered.
Hands down, Jackson wore the competition beast sash of Big Brother 21. Once he got a rhythm going, he just kept winning competition after competition. Tonight, Jackson faces Holly in the final round of the Head of Household competition. Holly has won her fair share of competitions, but it’s hard to imagine that she’ll slay the competition beast and win this final Head of Household title.
In Big Brother‘s glory days, competition wins weren’t that big of a factor. It was all about social and manipulative skills. Many of the players who we consider Big Brother legends didn’t need a ton of competition wins to advance and earn their spots in the winner’s circle, but modern Big Brother places heavy emphasis on competition wins. If you haven’t won at least one competition by the end of the season, then it’s likely that the jury won’t even really consider you a player in the game. Jackson started the season by winning the Big Brother Camp Counselor vote, which set the tone for the season. It was this win that helped the Gr8ful alliance form. Jack Matthews and Nick Maccarone consider themselves the founders of Gr8ful, but it was Jackson showing his skills early on that made them, and other players, see him as a very vital asset to their games.
Jackson kept tight relationships with players like Jack, and eventually Nick, and Cliff Hogg III. His relationship with Cliff would end up being very vital to his and Holly’s game survival. Jackson made sure to nourish and grow this relationship all season. Even after Jackson voted Cliff out, he made sure he was one of the first players to speak to Cliff and bring him back to his side after his Camp Comeback return.
Jackson also made sure to grow his relationship with Nicole, even after being part of the big anti-Nicole meeting with Gr8ful (and after trying to plant a rogue vote on her). He was able to win back her trust by revealing that he helped manipulate the vote that kept her in the game over Cliff. These two relationships would become the most important to Jackson and Holly’s end game. Because he was able to plant seeds with them early on, he was able to officially make a final four with them later in the game. This final four became the biggest force in the game from final seven until the end. After Jackson made his final four deals with Cliff and Nicole, he made sure that Cliff and Nicole knew that thy could trust him by going out of his way to protect them with competition wins.
Jackson wore what he perceived as integrity as a badge of honor, but he acted in ways that was very hypocritical to that label. Going as far back as week one, he treated Kathryn Dunn less like a human and more like a game piece by cutting off a relationship with her, just because he saw more value in being allies and lovers with Holly. He didn’t gently distance himself from Kat, but basically pushed her as far away as possible. This move made Kat resent and want revenge on him almost all season. Then Christie Murphy and Jackson worked together almost all season, but only because of Gr8ful.
Jackson spared Christie from eviction a few times, but there was always a little bad blood between them. There were a few reasons why Tommy Bracco was evicted over Holly, but one of the key reasons was because Jackson fabricated a complete lie about Tommy’s game. Tommy seems like a forgiving person, so he’s likely to forgive Jackson for the lie, but Christie might not. In the end, we think Tommy will vote more on whose game he sees as a better representation of Big Brother 21, so it’ll depend on if he thinks Jackson’s lying, ruthless game play was a bit too much, or just fair enough.
During Cliff’s final days in the house, Jackson completely broke his word to him. Then he constantly tried to lecture Cliff and Nicole about why he betrayed them. Instead of owning up to his dirty game play, Jackson tried to wear the mask of an honorable, Southern gentlemen. All these burned bridges could very well come into play during the final vote. We have seen it happen enough seasons to know how important jury management is, and Jackson is not doing a good job of it.
Compared to Holly and Nicole, Jackson took more of a defensive approach to the game. He navigated the game by reacting to opposition, instead of smoothly working ten steps ahead. Jackson seemed to think on a week to week basis. This is what led to Jessica Milagros and Analyse Talavera being evicted during his first two Head of Household reigns, instead of (arguably) stronger players. Nicole and Holly both took out stronger, more game-threatening players during their Head of Household reigns. A bunch of comp wins are great, but it also depends on what exactly you do with them.
Jackson played down and dirt to ensure that Holly and him were the two players sitting at the end. He was a man on a mission, and he completed it, but did he burn a few too many bridges along the way? Jackson also doesn’t want to embrace his villainous ways, but instead he wants to be the Big Brother hero, a label that many of the jurors might not want to give him.
Will the jurors see Jackson’s game play as having grit, passion, and a pure love for the game, or will they see it as being blinded by self-righteousness?
What did you think of Jackson’s Big Brother 21 game?
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