Hello, Big Brother 21 fans! Are you enjoying the summer so far? We’re less than a week into our favorite summer addiction, and safe to say it’s been an action-packed first week of the show. For better or for worse, we’ve got our new Big Brother cast and they’re playing the game.
It’s time to start our annual tradition of ranking the houseguests based on their position in the game. I’m going to go through and rank the Big Brother 21 houseguests based on how I think they’re set up in the game. Being at the top doesn’t necessarily mean they have the most power, but that I think they’re in a good spot. People can drop to the bottom or rise to the top each week. Without further ado let’s get started, we’ll start from the very bottom and work our way up!
15. Kathryn Dunn
If she survives this week, it won’t have much to do with her own actions. She’s been very fortunate that she is friends with Holly Allen and is close to Jackson Michie. Without keeping her grounded, she might have left the house already with her various bouts of paranoia and frequent crying. Perhaps off the block she’ll be better at the Big Brother game, but I don’t have high hopes. She’s probably going to stick around at this point, but she’s fairly clueless and more or less a pawn in other people’s games, well at least until they decide that they’re no longer needing her.
14. Ovi Kabir
Poor Ovi Kabir. He’s a great guy, but he’s had some trouble fitting in. He was sort of collateral damage when Christie Murphy decided that she didn’t want to play Jack Matthew‘s game and backdoor Kemi Fakunle this week. I think if he finds out he’s in trouble, he could pull out all of the stops and reveal his power and survive. He certainly has been working harder than Kathryn Dunn to stick around, but right now it doesn’t look great for Ovi. But he might just get a chance to return if there’s some sort of a Battle Back like we’re expecting to find out on Wednesday’s eviction show.
13. Jack Matthews
While he’s in the majority alliance, Jack really could be out of this game sooner than later. He’s said some questionable things and has been on the hot seat for really overplaying his hand so far. Maybe he can cool his jets a bit and settle back in but everyone has him pegged. Almost all of the outsiders, including Kemi and Jessica Milagros have identified what a threat he is. Additionally his own allies including Christie, Isabella Wang, and Nick Maccarone have toyed with the possibility of targeting him. He’s lucky that Christie had Tommy Bracco in her ear or he easily could have been put up. Even his best relationships are being strained a bit at times. He can rebound but if the wrong person wins Head of Household, and he doesn’t get help from the Whacktivity power, he could be in trouble.
12. Kemi Fakunle
I think a lot of us are hoping that she or one of her allies wins Head of Household this week: she needs it. Kemi narrowly avoided being nominated this week, and she still has a lot of eyes on her next week. While some people, like Bella and Nick, would be happy to see her take a shot at Jack, there are still plenty of them, like Jackson, Jack and Analyse Talavera, that want her out. She’s been honest and real and perhaps played a little hard, but I do see her beginning to feel more comfortable in the house. That coupled with the development of the Black Widows (an alliance including Kemi, Jessica, Nicole Anthony, and Bella) could work out for her. I’ll still be nervous heading into week two about her chances of survival.
11. Jessica Milagros
Jessica has been pushing hard for the women to get together, and it’s got a lot of the fans excited, but I think she’s saying too much sometimes: it’s not been great for her chances. I think if Kemi ends up saving herself, then Jessica could be a victim of circumstance. While nobody really sees her as a big threat, she doesn’t really have many other allies. If the women took her more seriously, I’d feel better. Hopefully one of the women who actually wants to work with her can get power. Then they can take a big shot that blows the Gr8ful alliance to smithereens. That’s Jessica’s best hope for her long term game.
10. Cliff Hogg III
By far, Cliff Hogg is one of the most beloved houseguests inside and outside of the house. He’s just a nice older gentleman and he’s been fortunate enough to dodge the first couple of evictions. That said, with him being nominated this week, he could easily become a recurring pawn. Also, some of them like Christie and Nick have noted that he’s potentially dangerous. I think he’s most likely going to squirm along for a few weeks until the big alliance breaks up, and then he can collect some of the pieces. He’s just not in a position to make any moves right now and that’s unfortunate, but I’m going to give the guy a few weeks before writing off his chances, because he’s certainly a fan and might know the game better than anyone else in there.
9. Nicole Anthony
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Nicole. While she is not in the core group, everyone seems to like her and I haven’t heard her name mentioned as a serious target for the first few weeks. She’s easily going to be one of the people outside of the main group who latches onto some of them and goes deep in this game. As long as the big alliance turns on each other, I think she’s almost guaranteed to make jury. Being a part of the Black Widows is definitely good for her. If she can make some more solid connections with some of the “in” crowd, I think she could be in a decent spot by the middle of this game. She’s sweet, measured, and social enough to have a real shot if she and her allies can find ways to break up the dominant powers. It’s a long summer and I think she can stick it out longer than anyone is expecting.
8. Sam Smith
He’s outside of the majority alliance also but he’s in with a lot of the key players, most notably Nick. Most of them do like him and find him to be non-threatening, despite the fact that he was the Power of Veto holder this week. With Sam Smith, it’s sort of a wait and see, because I think he could flame out and tank his game if he keeps too high of a profile, instead of fading into the background and letting the power players take each other out. I also wish he knew he wasn’t really in the main group but maybe he’ll pick up on it.
7. Isabella Wang
I go back and forth with Isabella about whether I like where she is or not. She started off looking so strong, but she and Nick kind of messed up this week by sticking up for Kemi too outwardly. She has also pulled back from the core alliance quite a bit. It’s good that she has some other options like the Black Widows but she’s not in as good of a spot as she used to be with Holly, Jackson, and Analyse. Luckily Tommy really likes her and his opinion means a lot. Her sort-of showmance with Nick isn’t great either, so I hope she keeps that at bay. I really think she has the chops to kick butt in this game, and I love that she makes the rounds with everyone, but she just needs to make sure she’s not getting on anyone’s bad sides because she has a tendency to do that. I feel best about her when she stays out of the limelight.
6. Nick Maccarone
Much of what I said about Bella can be said for Nick. I think he’s a bit more socially integrated with Gr8ful but he also is someone that is always on. I feel like he could (and has already) been mentioned as a target if he doesn’t chill a bit. He talks a big, big game and if he plans to execute that, I worry for his chances. If he’s all talk maybe that’s a better sign for him long term, but either way after seeing him in action for a week, I’m not feeling as good as I did after the first night or two of feeds.
5. Jackson Michie
His biggest issue is being tied so closely to Jack. If it wasn’t for Jack, I think he’d slide through for a bit despite being a strong male competitor. But it’s likely that if an outsider gets Head of Household that Jackson would get nominated alongside Jack. He won’t be the target but if Jack gets off the block, that could be it for Jackson depending on who he goes up against. It’s tricky because Jack can serve as a shield but also can get him in trouble. He’s got decent relationships outside of that and most people think he’s a decent guy, so I do think he’ll most likely be fine for some time so long as the worst case scenario doesn’t unfold for him.
4. Analyse Talavera
Sis is doing just fine by not doing much. She’s getting slightly for attention for flirting with Jack, but nobody is really going to target her at this point, besides as maybe a pawn to take out someone bigger. I think she’ll be around for a while and hopefully she’ll show some more fight and passion for the game. Right now being low-key and just a number is fine, but eventually she’s going to need to show that she’s there to win, especially if she wants a shot to take this all the way. Otherwise she’s just kind of doing to be viewed as someone that was along for the ride. But it’s so early and I think I see some fight in her, it just may take her being in danger to bring it out.
3. Christie Murphy
She had an insane first week as Head of Household but believe it or not, I don’t think she’s in a bad spot. She gets around socially. She also doesn’t really have anyone seriously targeting her after a messy reign. Even Cliff and Kathryn probably wouldn’t target her as their primary target. She did talk a lot this week and those words could come to bite her, but I think she’s very much entrenched in her alliance, and she even has pretty good relationships with those outside of the core like Sam, Nicole and Jessica. What she really needs is a quiet week two of just staying out of the major decisions. She just needs to be agreeable and easy going. I feel like she was involved in so many of the major strategic conversations this week and that maybe she’ll continue to be, but not being the one in power is only going to do good things for her if she let’s herself be out of the driver’s seat for a while. She has Tommy to thank for her not going off the rails this week.
2. Holly Allen
Honestly, Holly has been one of the biggest surprises for me. I wasn’t sure what to expect but she’s been very mature and a voice of reason at times within a troublesome majority alliance. She’s had her moments of saying silly things or stirring the pot, but she carries herself much differently than the houseguests she’s aligned with. As far as I can tell she’s got a decent relationship with the outsiders, and isn’t attracting any attention to herself by showmancing with any of the guys. She’s got very good individual relationships with Analyse, Kathryn, and Jackson, and nobody really has any disdain for her. I would honestly be pretty shocked to see a scenario where she gets nominated anytime soon, unless a Whactivity twist lands her there, and even then I think the other person will likely be a bigger fish.
1. Tommy Bracco
While I think Holly is doing well, Tommy is probably playing the best game right now and it’s not that close. He’s got good relationships inside and outside of Gr8ful, and nobody has a bad word to say about him. Most of the time he’s been avoiding talking game too much, and is always pleasant to be around. But when he’s involved in strategic chats, he’s been careful with his words and very thoughtful. I wish he wasn’t so tied to the alliance of eight but for now it probably is smart for him to keep it from blowing up this early. Of course, I want to see how he plays it when it does hopefully implode, but I’ve been very impressed with him so far and I expect to continue to see that moving forward.
That’s all for the first week of the season. What do you think of our power rankings? Agree or disagree? Share your thoughts with us about who is playing the best and who is playing the worst. We want to hear it all!
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