Over the past few days, it’s become clear in the Big Brother 13 house that Shelly Moore, the nice older lady of the season, is the most deceitful and manipulative houseguest. She has shown a pattern of underhanded behavior, but I’m sure she’d claim that she never lied. That’s because she’s playing the Bill Clinton card.
Surely you remember how the 42nd president of the United States vowed that he “did not have sexual relations with that woman,” only to be exposed as a liar to the world. Only he didn’t think he was a liar, because it depended on what your definition of the word “is” is. That’s the same game Shelly plays.
SPOILER WARNING: This article contains information from the Big Brother 13 live feeds not shown on TV.
Shelly chooses her words very carefully so that no one can ever accuse her of outright lying, but that doesn’t change the fact that many of her promises and conversations have been full of half-truths and intentional misleading.
Look at the first week, when she sided with the veterans to evict Keith. She never actually said that she voted to evict Porsche, but she certainly encouraged people to believe it and carefully danced around any actual confrontations. She let all of the newbies think she was still working with them and even led them on, but she’d claim that wasn’t a real lie.
Look at week 3, when Dominic told her about his plans to try and get rid of the veterans. Shelly ran straight to Jordan to spill the beans. Now did Dominic specifically tell Shelly not to say anything to the veterans? No, so in Shelly’s mind, she didn’t lie since she never swore to keep it a secret. But there was an obvious implied bond of trust, and Shelly broke it.
Now look at this week, where Shelly has scurried over to Kalia and Daniele and agreed to be in a final three deal with them. She then tried to get Kalia to nominate Porsche, allegedly to win back Jeff and Jordan, but secretly, Shelly was trying to manipulate her into doing something so Shelly and Adam could vote with Jeff and Jordan to keep Rachel this week. Did Shelly ever specifically lie? That depends on what your definition of the word “lie” is.
But the fact that, after she put her plan in motion, she ran into the storage room with Jordan and jumped around for joy, giddy that her trickery was working, is proof that she knows she’s being deceitful. She knows she’s being manipulative. However, I think, in her mind, she’s still not lying. That’s the part that annoys me. I love deceitful and manipulative game players on Big Brother, but I can’t stand the ones who cloak what they do in a self-righteous, morally superior attitude.
That’s what I think Shelly is doing. You can’t be sneaky and underhanded and still drive on the moral high road, but that’s exactly what Shelly is doing.
On the live feeds Monday night, Kalia and Daniele stumbled onto the right idea, but they didn’t grasp onto it. While chatting in the HoH room, they surmised that Shelly has made deals with everyone in the house promising that she won’t ever put them up if they never put her up. The trick is, if Shelly never wins HoH, then she’s always safe and she never has to break her word. It’s a gloriously devious strategy and it’s exactly what she’s doing, but Shelly is too morally superior to fully embrace the villainous way she’s playing the game.
If Shelly would just admit that she’s being deceitful and dishonest, if she would just acknowledge that she knows she’s not being a “straight-shooter,” I could forgive her and love her. Instead, she’s pulling a Bill Clinton and maintaining her innocence, when it’s clear to everyone that she did have sexual relations with that woman, because this week, Shelly screwed over Kalia in a big way.
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
