Big Brother 6: Why Eric Lost

Eric went from the seat of power to the seat next to Julie Chen in just one week. What caused such a dramatic turnaround? Was there anything he could have done to prevent it? Why did Eric lose?

These are the questions that haunt our nights. Well, okay, not really. But they are the questions we will answer here, by looking back at What Big Brother 6 Houseguests Should Have Learned to see what Eric did right and where he went so wrong.

The first rule says to scheme and plot, and this Eric did. When the other team won the first competition (the surfboards), he figured they might well stick together, so he created a counter-alliance of himself, Kaysar, James, and Michael. This was both a smart move and a dumb one. The smart portion was that he followed the part of the rule that said, “The key is to find some way to create alliances that will keep you around until you can figure out your full strategy later.” Similarly, Eric made a pact with Ivette. And of course, he also had a pact with secret partner Maggie.

The dumb portion of what he did takes us into the second rule, scheming and plotting too much and backstabbing too soon. The surfboard alliance was smart – they made an agreement to keep themselves together for a week or two. When you’ve just met people, it’s hard to get a good read on them. But Eric jumped right in and made a final four alliance with the guys mentioned above, plus a hardcore alliance with Ivette, plus the partnership with Maggie. Obviously, he couldn’t hold to all of these as they were mutually exclusive. If his game plan was to make and break alliances as convenient, it would have been fine. But his plan was to crow about his honor and how nobody had better break a deal with him, etc.

Some of the other players bought it, some found his behavior hypocritical, especially after he backstabbed too soon by nominating Michael – one of his alleged final four allies – and getting him evicted. Mind you, Eric doesn’t see it this way. He has made excuses for every one of his broken pledges and screamed at other people who broke promises to him. Even after he was evicted and when he was on The Early Show, he still didn’t seem to get it.

Another point mentioned in this rule notes, “if any alliances do get out in the open, do not let it be known that you are the decision-maker.” Everybody in the house knew that Eric was the leader of his alliance, which made him a good target.

As a final point for the second rule, we have the couples situation. It didn’t take long for the secret partners to be outed, which made Eric and Maggie a perfect target. Duos should always be broken up in Big Brother, so putting them both up created a win-win situation for Kaysar’s Krew.

The third rule says to pretend to be nice and act like an adult, among other things. Eric had some problems here as well. He seemed to know what he needed to do, and he even told his allies how to behave, but he didn’t follow his own advice. He made the same mistake Michael did by ignoring this line from the rule: “you will almost certainly be nominated – deal with it.” Eric didn’t deal with it, he exploded. In fact, while it wasn’t shown on the air, Eric started doing many of the things that he complained about Michael doing. For example, in the July 27 Live Feeds, we saw Eric practically stalking the other alliance, following them around and staring at them, apparently trying to intimidate them. It was like he was channeling Michael! If anybody in Kaysar’s Krew had the thought of jumping sides to save Eric (unlikely, but still a possibility), that behavior was not going to entice them.

Another item that is tangentially addressed in the third rule is how players should mold their own behavior to that of others in the game. The examples given aim more towards politics, but in Eric’s case he needed to recognize that many of the players in the house were younger than him and wanted to stay up late, party, whatever. When Howie was casting his vote, he complained about Eric’s behavior in that regard. It probably wasn’t the biggest factor, but it could certainly have helped push Howie (and therefore Rachel) into Kaysar’s Krew.