Big Brother 20 episode 3: Survivor fan recap – Do the twist
With no power of veto competition, Big Brother 20 episode 3 focuses on relationships forming and season-altering production twists.
In Survivor, making friends and building an alliance you can trust may be the key to winning the game in the long term. We’ve seen groups start up within the first few days and, for the most part, last through the entire season. Big Brother 20 is starting out as a different beast, but those smaller duos and trios working their way through competing alliances help establish a long-term game.
We begin this episode seconds after the last, with Sam and Steve keeping a stiff upper lip after being nominated for eviction. Both players sought to build numbers in different ways, with Steve big-upping himself to avoid looking sour. Sam had a very different strategy, however, bringing everyone into the pantry to talk one on one and see where their heads are at.
It’s funny to see the ways Survivor and Big Brother production edit their shows to make their controversial decisions look fair and balanced. After seeing a montage of people outright dehumanize Sam because she’s a god damn robot for the first few weeks in the house, we see Kaycee getting odd moments where she stays in a room for a while to make it seem like she has an equal punishment.
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She’s even able to group up with Brett, Tyler, Angela, Rachel and Winston to form an alliance called Level Six, as she’s there able to make the secret handshakes and form those tight bonds. The ability to make a Final Six deal and not have people overlook you due to your robotic nature is worth a trade in having to stay in a room for a while. Even if Survivor doubles down on its twists (like the Final Four), they don’t pretend it’s anything but an evolution in their viewpoint on the game.
For sure, Sam’s taking it super hard and making it harder to fight her way out of her corner by exacerbating her victimhood. At the same time, it’s hard for her to get any attention in the house when her human side is outcast and missing out on the weeks of bonds made by other players.
One thing that the two reality shows have in common (more so now with Big Brother) is that the contestants can’t help themselves when getting into showmances. Just like Cole and Jessica backed off in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, both Swaggy C and Baleigh struggle to contain their emotions for each other with half a million dollars as their main objective.
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To be honest, though, Swaggy’s all over the place. He’s trying to make deals left, right and center, including making a “strong dudes” alliance with Winston and Brett despite being on the opposite sides of the house. Between that and being part of an alliance of five called F.O.U.T.T.E, it’s all a giant mess.
Big Brother is all about making yourself look weak early in order to build strength for later, but the Have-Nots element of the game is such a debilitating factor. Kaitlyn, Brett, Winston and Scottie offer up themselves to only eat slop, take cold showers and sleep in three-foot pods in an uncomfortable have-not room.
It’s good for a player like Scottie, as he’s a week one floater with no set alliance to anyone. Sure, it may not help him trend and make splashy moves in Big Brother, but there’s a balance to every check; the B.B. App Store! The most trending player each week gets a power in the game, while the least marketable player gets a punishment. Once obtained, that player can’t get it again.
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This is where Big Brother’s pretending that they’re not influencing the game comes into play. Surveys were completed before Sam’s second episode aired, and she wasn’t even given the sad sap edit. Regardless, here she is as the week one most trending player, given the choice of one of several powers.
To balance out the innate terribleness of being the easiest target in the house, Sam had to choose either to get either a re-draw, bonus life, upgrade, the cloud or identity thief powers. Obviously, the bonus life was chosen, giving Sam the chance to save herself or someone else from eviction through the first four weeks, being forced on week four if not used by then.
Big Brother is nothing without its silliness, so this moment of game-altering dynamics is countered by Faysal getting a crap app punishment. Surprisingly, the player with a Muslim background opted to choose the Hamazon punishment to eat a bunch of ham, but he was given a vegan option to avoid the haram food choice. Still, why even risk it in the first place?
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All in all, Big Brother 20 episode 3 was a huge waste of time yet again. The entire crux of the episode was producers interfering with the natural gameplay of the players, and we didn’t even get a hint at what the power of veto competition will be. With Sam effectively safe for at least a week, Steve seems like a foregone week one boot. Perhaps the live eviction will help turn up the heat?
After this week, you can get your full Big Brother coverage on our sister site, Inside the BB House!