As the first official week of Big Brother 17 comes to a close, there’s been a lot of drama. A simple plan to backdoor Jace has escalated into all-out chaos in the house and a lot of people’s games have been blown up. Suspicion is falling on everyone, but there are a few HGs left who remain unscathed.
Getting out of week 1 without a target on you is important, but on Big Brother 17 it wasn’t easy. After seeing a week’s worth of game and live feeds, here are my picks for the five HGs who’ve played the best game so far.
Meg
Everybody loves Meg. No one really has a bad word to say about her and no one is thinking about targeting her or nominating her. That’s crucial in the first week, but even more impressive, she’s on the inside of the power base of the house. HoH James trusts her a lot (probably because she reminds him of Taylor Swift), Jeff may or may not have a bit of a crush on her and even Da’Vonne and Jason like her. Everyone seems to want her in the Final 4 or 5 with them. It’s kind of amazing how expertly she’s controlling herself and playing under the radar, but not too low.
John
Like Meg, everyone loves the rock star dentist Johnny Mac. He may have been a pawn in the first week, but he won the Battle of the Block and did so without appearing like a threat (Becky did better than he did). He’s in a perfect position to coast for a few weeks, which he’s doing as he spends a good portion of his time sleeping on the live feeds. That may not sound exciting, but sleeping for the first four or five weeks of the game is a surprisingly effective strategy, especially now that the game is longer than ever and there are so many big, loud personalities making themselves easy targets.
Jason
Jason has been getting a little heat for his close bond with Da’Vonne, but I think everyone would rather have her out than him. Even the people actively plotting against Da’Vonne say that like Jason and want to keep him around. He may have a loud, aggressive, sometimes annoying personality, but the house seems to genuinely like him anyway. Combine that with the fact that he knows this game incredibly well and he proved himself by winning the first HoH competition and he’s put himself in a good position for week 1.
Jackie
Sure, she’s nominated in the first week which is never a good sign (no one has ever won the game after being nominated in week 1), but she’s impressed me with how well she’s played from the block. She never lost her composure and never freaked out. She’s cool with it, she trusts that people won’t vote her out and she’s coming across as rather harmless. And since this first vote is a referendum on Jace and not her, she’s playing it safe. Even the people who might want to save Jace admit that there’s no real reason to vote out Jackie, so once she gets back into the mix, she could have smooth sailing for a while. Her other big asset is Jeff, who will definitely be a huge target before she is. He’s a perfect meat shield.
Austin
This may sound strange because Austin is in a very precarious position, but I actually like his prospects. He’s best friends with Jace and has been on the outside for most of the first week, but he’s calmed down as the eviction approaches. He knows that getting rid of Jace is good for his game because it will start to shrink the target on him. He’s working closely with Vanessa (a smart move) and Liz, plus he’s cozying up to Jeff. Audrey becoming everyone’s target helps Austin the most since he’s no longer Public Enemy #1, and he could very easily fall back into the mix and disappear as a threat.
Being on the wrong side of the house in week 1 isn’t always a bad thing. People like Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman turned it around for themselves in season 15 while Dan Gheesling lost his original partner-in-crime Brian Hart in the first week of season 10, then came back to win the game by playing weak. Austin has a chance to put himself in that position if he plays smart enough in week 2.
Putting yourself in a good position for week 1 is only part of the battle. With such a long season, anything can happen on Big Brother 17.
(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.
