JANKIE World Doubles Veto, Power Trio Fights to Survive

That was the argument Kimo tried to float as he talked with Head of Household Leah now that he and Rubina are on the Block. The third part of their trio, T’kor, remained a backdoor option, but Kimo wanted everyone looking another way.

He pointed out that Chelsie, Cam, and Makensy are a pretty strong trio, too … and if you consider competition wins, they’re even stronger. That trio has eight comp wins under their belts. His trio has three. As arguments go, it’s not terrible.

Both trios would be problematic — if that second one is solid — but it might make sense to target the other trio first. At the same time, Kimo trying to minimize the threat level of any voting bloc like his trio is some pretty powerful mental manipulation … that no one is falling for.

With the JANKIE World twist trapping the Houseguests in the backyard for a carnival from hell all week long, everyone is definitely struggling.

But JANKIE is offering something else that could really shake things up. This week’s Veto Competition offered not one, but two chances to claim power.

That means that under the right circumstances, the entire block could be reset with two brand new nominees sitting there come eviction night. It could be a double backdoor. Leah considered that she could maybe even target both trios at once!

But first, she had to control (as much as possible) both Vetoes so she could have some say in who goes, who stays, and who gets targeted. The nice thing is that if her goal is to weaken a trio, there’s no way all six people can save themselves all at once, so it can be done.

It should be done, too. That way, the duo left behind from the shattered remnant of one of those trios will suddenly have to consider working with Leah and Angela, despite Leah just breaking up their core trio, in order to have the numbers over the other trio 4-3.

This was a challenging puzzle competition, with six players vying for either the regular Power of Veto or the JANKIE Power of Veto. How the latter worked was not explained prior to the competition, but everyone wanted it anyway.

It was good news for the trio on the block when it came time to draw players, as Kimo pulled T’kor’s chips, increasing the chance at least one of them could come down. And if T’kor won, she would be ineligible as a replacement. But that might be okay, too, with Leah’s latest thinking.

The other two players picked to compete were Chelsie and Angela. Leah’s best-case scenario would be for Angela or herself to win (or both) to keep power out of the hands of either possible trio in the House.

The puzzle itself was various-sized pieces of circular “candy” that all had to fit side-by-side on a circular “jar.” In other words, it’s a mental puzzle, but not even one that allows you to fit pieces together. It was a matter of proper arrangement.

Ultimately, Angela pulled off a surprise win (to herself, most of all), securing the Golden Power of Veto and momentarily making Chelsie forget there was another Veto still in play for the second-place finisher. As the battle continued, it was Leah who scored that.

This created a best-case scenario for the JANKIE HOH — who declared herself the JANKIE Queen after she’d also won the JANKIE Veto. Who are we to argue?

Now she had all the power, as she was fairly confident Angela would do what she wanted. Angela, though, had some thoughts of her own. She was wanting to make Leah happy, and do some damage control after voting to evict Kimo two weeks in a row.

So she decided she would use her Veto on Kimo, creating an opening for Leah to target T’kor and still break up the trio. But Leah was already thinking two steps ahead of that. T’kor and Chelsie have been the two heads of these sides basically all season (and playing fantastic games). If she could have both Vetoes used, she would wind up with two heads on the chopping block.

But, as it turned out, the only way to activate the JANKIE Veto was for Leah to first win a JANKIE carnival game at the start of the Veto meeting. It was to knock down five bottles with three baseball throws. You know, a classic carnival game that’s been sitting there all week.

We’re pretty sure Leah had not played that game — or possibly even ever thrown a ball. Her performance wasn’t just bad, it was so bad the rest of the House laughed harder than they did when she and Angela stepped out of port-a-potties to announce the start of the Veto Meeting.

With the madness of JANKIE World, we’re not sure if we should be laughing with them, or concerned for their mental states in these moments.

After that disastrous performance, the JANKIE Veto was rendered null and void, as was Leah’s thoughts about putting T’kor and Chelsie side-by-side on the block. But still, she could make a big move regardless.

Her ultimate decision was one of self preservation as much as strategy. As Kimo noted, the other trio of Chelsie, Cam, and Makensy are far more likely to win competitions, and Leah will be vulnerable next week as she can’t play in the HOH competition.

Better to take out the smaller trio (which is a more definite voting bloc) and have less chance of facing repercussions if one of the remaining two win HOH than risk enraging a trio that has more comp wins under their belts.

And so, T’kor was slotted next to Rubina, with the BFFs set to face the House vote and get broken up during tonight’s live eviction episode. Will the House do the smart thing and get rid of the bigger threat in T’kor? She is beloved … but the House has successfully booted one threat after the other.

That said, the threats they’ve been loving to backdoor have been competition threats. Neither nominee is that. But one of them is a huge strategic and social threat. The other is just not.

Will they get it right, or will T’kor’s social game prove Teflon and give her more time to work her magic in the House? Whoever stays will have to scramble to realign, along with Kimo, even if only temporarily. Three of seven is powerful … two, not so much.

Makensy Manbeck (22, construction pm) is still in one of the best spots in the game, thanks to her own competition prowess and her alignments with Chelsie and Cam, as well as a friendly relationship with Leah and Angela. If she’s careful enough to manage this and read the House to shift with the power, she could continue to ride on. [Grade: B-]

Chelsie Baham (27, nonprofit dir) was happy for Leah to get the blood on her hands with the trio breakup, but that also puts it on Leah’s resume. That’s not good for endgame, which means Chelsie might have to take a shot at her, and might do so. We’d like to think she’s smart enough to know you have to get bloody at some point in this game … and that point is now. [Grade: C+]

Cam Sullivan-Brown (25, physical therapist) continues to be completely ineffective. Depending on whether the House wants to carry someone to the end, he might be a better option than Angela at this point, especially if it’s someone who can argue it’s loyalty. No one is going to award Cam the money over anyone else at this point, including Angela (she’s at least playing the game). [Grade: C]

Angela Murray (50, real estate agent) is playing a pretty effective game, insofar as she is the cockroach she declared herself to be. The problem, though, is that she appears to be more annoying than liked by many of the players in the House with her relentless talking and expressing her feelings. If she can annoy them enough, they might take her to the end where she could actually present a pretty compelling case to win. But we have a hard time seeing it happen. And yet… [Grade: C]

Kimo Apaka (35, mattress sales) has been a very devious and manipulative player, to great effect. If anyone can bounce back from losing one of the trio, it’ll be him. He’ll continue to work on Angela’s guilt for trying to vote him out, and would probably even try to align with either the other trio, or rope Leah in to have the numbers to combat them. He’s a savvy player in an interesting position right now. [Grade: C-]

Leah Peters (26, VIP cocktail) is the first one to finally break up the trio that has been subtly dominating the direction of the game behind the scenes for a long time. Picking off strong competition threats only helps that trio. Her next move will be key, though, as she’s so incredibly vulnerable after this, and not strongly aligned on either said (both would target her). [Grade: C-]

T’kor Clottey (23, crochet business) should be in danger of going home, and she may yet be. The House has gotten it mostly right all season when it comes to their evictions. It would be foolish to pick off the low hanging fruit in Rubina when you have an actual threat on the block. But if anyone can savvy their way off, we believe it would be T’kor. [Grade: D+]

Rubina Bernabe (35, event bartender) could fall victim to T’kor’s game, and latent feelings in the House from her ties to Tucker. She’s not a very effective player, or a threat by herself, but it’s the fact she bolsters the game of either T’kor or Kimo in staying that makes her a threat. That said, we’d rather keep someone who’s fairly ineffective on their own than someone who’s extremely effective in the game. [Grade: D]

(asides and comments — not necessarily strategic, but entertaining and sometimes revealing)

• “T’kor has a very, very strong social game. I truly believe that if she stands next to anyone in the Final 2 that she will win this entire game.” –Leah
• “I’m so glad I didn’t have to get that blood on my hands. She did.” –Chelsie (about nominations)
• “They still have a chance in that A.I. Arena.” –Angela (um, except that’s over)
• “When my ex would tell me he was losing weight, I would get sick to my stomach. I would make him a feast.” –Leah
• “These guys are working out in the back yard, I’m like, ‘Gentlemen! Mashed potatoes!” –Leah (self-declared “chubby chaser”)
• “So great. So great. I love it here.” –Makensy (expressing anything but in JANKIE World)
• “All three of us were playing in this Veto, and two Vetoes up for grabs, and zero of us won them. And people still think that we’re a threat in this game. Hello? Am I missing something?” –Kimo (the voting bloc power)
• “Usually when people win, I’m happy for them. But when Angela won, it was the biggest disappointment I’ve felt in this game.” –T’kor (to Rubina)
• “If you look at our stats, we don’t really win.” –Kimo (to Leah)
• “Chelsie loves T’kor because T’kor works both sides.” –Angela (to Leah)
• “I did try. That’s the worst part.” –Leah (after JANKIE Veto bottle competition)
• “Why did my first time on the block have to be next to my best friend in the house.” –T’kor (about sitting next to Rubina)

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