‘Big Brother 17’ review: James makes a move on Shelli and Clay

We’re not going to say that there was much on Sunday night’s new episode of “Big Brother” was a surprise, mostly because of the fact that we got to watch the Head of Household Competition on the feeds, and (thankfully) there was no Battle of the Block this time to have to endure.

What we did have here was a chance to witness one of the biggest strategic plays from the season, ironically from a guy in James who describes himself a “hillbilly” and isn’t someone who you typically think of as a go-to guy when it comes to big moves. He went back on his word to nominate Shelli and Clay after making a deal with them. Why do that? It’s because they effectively lied to James, and really opened up the floodgates for this gameplay. We’re not sure we see James doing that had the whole James debacle not went down the way that it did.

We do think that James has earned some respect from viewers for this, but at the same time he’s going to be in a tough spot after this week. If he doesn’t win any competitions, there’s a good chance he could be following one of them out the door.

We’re going to say that ultimately, the real MVP of this episode is Vanessa. We thought that the moment that James called her a “straight shooter” in the DR (what?). She forged a deal with James that we’re not sure she will keep, and while we’ve thought at times that she was trying way too hard, this may be the most impressed we’ve been with her after an episode of the show. Episode Grade: B+

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