Big Brother 3: Why Gerry Lost

Gerry went from being in a position with potential power in the form of selling his vote each week to having no vote at all. Actually, his story is even more complicated than that, as he went from being part of the original Group of Six alliance to being shunned by most of the house and then gradually back up to the position described above. Just when you thought he was safe, he was evicted.

So what happened? Well, a variety of things, some of which, frankly, I don't think anybody completely understands.

Early on, though he thought he was hitting it off with Danielle, she kept telling the world privately that she wanted him out! Why? I'm not really sure. It may have had to do with the time (or times) he tried to tell her that the original Group of Six targeted Marcellas because of racism. It is fairly likely that a young black woman didn't want to be told about racism by a middle-aged white man. But it may also have had to do with not knowing where he stood, and thus not being able to predict how he was playing the game.

Overall, others took a dislike to Gerry for a variety of reasons. Marcellas abhorred his (lack of) hygiene. Several commented on how they would have to take turns on Gerry duty whenever he felt the need to tell a story or make some comment that had nothing to do with anything. Frankly, I understand all of this because I work with somebody who could be Gerry's twin, behavior-wise. He, too, will stop in your office to regale you with stupid stories for no particular reason. He, too, will jump into your conversations with a quote that he thinks is hysterical, but, well, isn't. He, too, has hygiene habits that make you cringe (such as when he recently took out a nail clipper and started working on his fingernails in the middle of a meeting). He, too, is oblivious to the thoughts and feelings of others - though not in any nasty way, just in a perpetually confused way. If I were locked in a house with this guy, I'd be scrambling to vote him out, strategy be damned!

But he had managed to get along for quite a while even with everybody sick and tired of him. What changed was that his vote-selling strategy finally caught up with him. While it was not a bad strategy by any means, as the numbers dwindled, the Danielle-Jason-Lisa alliance had less use for him. Since there was no guarantee he would vote for them, he needed to go.

Sure, Roddy should have been the one to go, but Jason made his stupid promise to keep him safe that week. So it only made sense to put up Gerry instead. It was a safe option since he knew other people were tired of Gerry, and it had at least a little strategic impact.

But why did the rest vote out Gerry instead of Amy? Well, Marcellas' vote was a no-brainer (though with his nomination of Amy this week, maybe it wasn't quite the given we all thought it was). Roddy could have gone either way - with Amy, he has somebody who is pretty well under his control; with Gerry, he might have been able to use his favor as leverage. But, frankly, it's better to stick with the person you know you control rather than one you think you might be able to. Danielle and Lisa should probably have voted against Amy, since she was being controlled by both Roddy and Marcellas - both of whom have worked against their alliance. The problem is that Jason had already said he would vote out Gerry if there was a tie, so Danielle may have wanted to spare Jason of that task.

Plus, as already discussed, Gerry just plain annoyed them. This is not to say that Amy has been an angel when it comes to annoyances - because we know she has been right up there. But when you combine his behavior and his strategy, they made the decision to get rid of Gerry rather than Amy. That is why Gerry lost.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline, and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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