Big Brother All-Stars Recap Season 22, Episode 6: Worst HOH Reign Ever?

Dani had it right when she called out Head of Household Memphis for playing “Big Brother” like a rookie. We thought he was playing a terrible game after Sunday’s episode, but he was just getting started.

This dude is in the biggest power alliance currently established in the game. He put up two easy targets because it’s only Week 2, but then he was a real dick to them about why he put them up.

It all reeked of arrogance and cockiness that felt totally undeserved. We get that he’s excited to have won his first-ever Head of Household, but there are 15 people in the house and you can’t play in the HOH competition next week. Maybe slow your roll!

And he didn’t stop there, slowly alienating almost everyone in the house with his cocky behavior. Seriously, we can’t quite fathom what strategy he’s employing here that will help him in the weeks to come.

And he was sitting so pretty with The Commission. Cody was loyally by his side, they had four lieutenants working for them and with one conversation, they had two pretty clear targets.

And yet, Memphis — for all his arrogance this week — didn’t have the cajones to make a big move, afraid of rocking the boat this early in the game. But in this instance, a big move needed to be made. And it was still a safe move.

Look, since Day 1 Janelle and Kaysar have been huge targets in this game. They’ve played twice together already and Janelle is legitimately the queen of “Big Brother.” So when they came in and pointed out to Memphis that they knew four of his alliance members were working together, that was his chance to make a huge statement.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast to talk briefly about the Power of Veto competition. It was like the Fisher-Price version of a classic “Survivor” challenge: balance a ball on a round, flat surface extended by two poles.

This one proved an embarrassment for Nicole A, who lasted mere seconds into it (but c’mon, she was never good at strength-based comps). She was followed out by Nicole F and Ian, leaving David to fight for his life against Tyler and Memphis.

The latter two are in an alliance, right? That shoudl be a no-brainer, right? Especially when David faltered — BY LOOKING OVER TO SEE HOW MEMPHIS WAS DOING — right? Not so fast.

But seriously, David, that was a rookie mistake. Focus on your game or before you know it, it’ll be over. And in the end, Memphis secured the win, meaning his alliance had all the power.

Right?

It should have worked out that way, perhaps, but that’s not what held true. Rather than listen to his alliance members and consider their urging to backdoor Janelle or Kayser, he’s trying to play both sides of the house, not ready to show his hand.

Here’s the problem. He could come up with no legitimate reason not to target Janelle and Kaysar. They named four of their alliance members and think that’s the power alliance running the show, so they want to take off the head … which they think is Nicole F.

Add to this the fact that Janelle is a comp beast and they are two strong competitors and there is at least the chance they could win HOH next week and then start targeting The Commission. What reason does Memphis have for not breaking that duo up now that he has all the power?

What threat are Nicole A and David to his game? What threat are Janelle and Kaysar to it right now? This was his chance to use his HOH reign to make a huge statement and the statement he made was to be wishy-washy.

It could cost him The Commission, as even Cody was urging him to use the Veto. So by trying not to draw a line in the sand, he may have just done that. And he may have created five people who were working with him now as people targeting him. We’ll have to wait and see.

We are watching this power alliance collapse before our very eyes and it’s all thanks to Memphis playing a selfish, aggressive and cocky game way too soon. Cody already went against his wishes in telling the rest of the alliance that Janelle and Kaysar are onto them.

That was supposed to be the core alliance, the Final 2. Later, Cody couldn’t figure out why Memphis didn’t want to take a shot at Janelle or Kayser, and then he didn’t. There are some serious trust issues here.

Tyler thinks Memphis is playing a very sketchy game at this point and doesn’t believe he’s in with them. He played against Memphis in the POV in an effort to force a backdoor by pulling David off the block.

Dani even urged Memphis to consider it, and he basically slammed her right in her face about it — and then got even nastier about it in the diary room like how dare his alliance member share their thoughts and ideas about what he should do. How dare she!

Nicole F flat-out knows that Janelle’s ideal would be for her to be backdoored out of this game and yet Memphis has no interest in backdooring Janelle first to protect his alliance member. Yeah, the writing is on the wall here.

Cody Calafiore continues to rule the roost in the house, and with Memphis going rogue and blowing his own game up, Cody is poised to pick up the pieces of their alliance and reshape it to suit his needs. Grade: A

Nicole Franzel is still in good with Cody as a Final 2 and despite some in the house targeting her, she has what’s left of her alliance and is building relationships in the house that should help her for the time being. Grade: A-

Tyler Crispen is rising quickly in this game, laying low and seeing everything. He’s still a competition beast and is already looking beyond The Commission for how best to serve his own game, without making enemies along the way. Grade: A-

Daniele Briones is building the right relationships with the new-school players and playing a very sharp social game in the house right now. She’s not ruffling feathers and is positioning herself as a power member of whatever survives The Commission. Grade: B+

Christmas Abbot is still in the right alliance, but she’s not doing much beyond that. As the house looks to reshuffle things, we suspect, she should be positioned well to land nicely among a new alliance makeup. Grade: B

Da’Vonne Rogers, Bayleigh Dayton and Enzo Palumbo are playing very quiet, don’t rock the boat games. This positions them very well to strike while alliances are shifting to surround themselves with help — if they make the right moves. Grade: B-

Ian Terry isn’t building anything beyond his tenuous bond with Nicole F, but she’s not going to stop an alliance train from running him down if it’ll save her bacon. He needs to put something together and fast. Grade: C+

We did, however, absolutely adore every second of Ian’s punishment after being selected as Christmas’ Safety Suite Plus One this week. “Big Brother” is at its best when it embraces the camp and what’s more campy than having Ian audition day and night for a role in a terrible sci-fi movie.

Memphis Garrett has all the power this week and we’ve never seen such a spectacularly bad HOH and POV reign in our lives. It would take a miracle to right his game quickly after this power trip. Does he have it in him? Grade: C+

Kevin Campbell is slowly making inroads socially, but his bonds are all personal and small. It could keep him off the radar for awhile, but he’s going to have to start making game moves at some point as no on likes a floater who floats too long. Grade: C+

Kaysar Ridha and Janelle Pierzina seem to have just accepted that they’re an alliance of two. But they’re also the two biggest targets in the game right now and no one trusts them. Sooner or later, someone is going to take the shot. Can they change their fate and get some allies? Grade: C-

David Alexander might just survive this week because no one sees him as a threat or takes him seriously even as a player in this house. Plus, in a house very conscious of racial issues and BLM, we can imagine at least a few of them don’t want to send a Black man out second. Grade: D

Nicole Anthony has not had a good read on the house at all this season. Last year, she struggled early on, but her alliance with Cliff Hogg made a huge difference, and there were bigger targets. She can be a great player in this game when she relaxes a bit, but she’s all over the place this season and we fear her time is up (though it could be a close vote). Grade: D-

• “I want him to prove to me that he deserves to be in this All-Star cast.” –Memphis (on targeting David)
• “That nomination speech was so extra. Just because I’m in an alliance with Memphis doesn’t mean I agree with the way he’s acting as a human being. He has a huge head and honestly he’s belittling a lot of people in this house and I don’t respect his game.” –Dani
• “It sucks to be seen as expendable. Do I seriously suck this bad at this game? That’s what concerns me.” –Nicole A
• “Memphis is in my alliance, but Memphis is lame, bro I don’t like how he’s slapping them around. That might be how they played back in 1943 on ‘Big Brother 10′ but this is 2020.” –Tyler (after Memphis’ nominations speech)
• “It might have been a little harsh.” –Memphis (laughing about his speech to David)
• “I don’t want to play against you.” –Nicole A (to David prior to Veto competition)
• “It’s a punishment — for everyone.” –Janelle (struggling through Ian’s punishment)
• “Of course he would win it. ‘Cause his head’s not big enough.” –Nicole A (after Memphis wins Veto)
• “I think on Week 2 for someone to come up to my HOH and try to tell me what they think is a good idea for me to do doesn’t really work for me. I’m gonna play my own game and I definitely don’t need Dani’s advice.” –Memphis