Big Brother 3: Why Danielle Lost

There has been quite a bit of debate on whether Danielle was the best player, the worst player, or somewhere in between – on message boards, in e-mails, and even among the RealityNewsOnline staff. Being the best player means different things to different people. Some say strategy alone makes the best player, while others go so far as to say that, by definition, the best player is the one who wins. Big Brother is not Survivor, and players do need to take into account that those they evict will get to see what they said “privately.” That is part of the game. And that leads us into looking at why Danielle lost – though it is by no means the whole story.

There are many reasons why Danielle lost – and many of these I could use to explain why Danielle should have won. She played a good game, but that same game play came back to haunt her when she faced those she had managed to evict previously. Should she have lost? I don’t think so. But she did, and so now we have to look at why it happened.

Danielle had a plan. When she had not been contacted about an alliance in the first week, she knew she would have to take it upon herself to act (unlike John from Survivor: Thailand, who just sat merrily and thought alliances would come to him). She created an ultra-secret alliance with Jason while everybody else in the house was being far too open and public about their various and changing alliances. She had a great strategy, and she generally stuck to it.

She picked up a third in the form of Marcellas, but realized he was unstable, so she dropped him for Lisa. Did she lie to him? Yes. Did she have good reason? Yes. Did he accept this? No.

And here we get to the crux of the issue. She played a strategic game worthy of Will from last year, but she did not have a psycho-Nicole to go up against. Indeed, it would have been better to take Mr. Unstable, Marcellas, into the finals with her if she wanted to be compared to somebody who might get her more votes. But she wanted Jason, who certainly would have beaten her at least as easily as Lisa did. She had made a true alliance with him, and she never broke that.

Danielle faced a bunch of sore losers as the voters, with Roddy leading the charge. He still can’t believe he lost. He still insists he was angelic. The others are no better. Josh was obviously convinced by peer pressure to change his vote. Lori may have fallen to the same fate. Gerry was shunned and insulted by Lisa, yet voted for Lisa anyway. Marcellas, who promised to align with Roddy and then went back on it, was so upset by Danielle’s lying that he had to move away from Jason – give me a break. Amy was another peer pressure vote.

Danielle did not take into account what kind of people she was playing the game with. Could she have? Some would argue yes – she knew them for long enough. But the thing is, many of them left wanting Danielle to win, so how could Danielle have known how they’d react when they got out? It seems she hoped they would appreciate her gameplay, but instead they were upset about it.

Yes, she should have been a bit more discreet in her Diary Room sessions. But I suspect it really wouldn’t have mattered. Lisa said some nasty things, and those were apparently all forgotten (such as her comments about Tonya – which she claims she doesn’t even remember – and her remarks about Gerry). Why? Because Danielle -- gasp -- lied as part of her game plan. Well, you know what – like she said to Gerry when he asked his question in the finale, if she had been totally honest, she wouldn’t have even made it to the final two.

Danielle lost through a combination of events. She played a game that might have succeeded in other seasons, with other groups. It was a good plan, and it got her to the final two, but because of the particular group of voters she faced, she didn’t have a chance. That is why Danielle lost.

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

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