Big Brother 8: Why Nick Lost

Like Mike, Nick was part of the Mrs. Robinson alliance from the beginning, so he did at least one thing right in Big Brother. But things just went downhill from there. He wasn’t even supposed to be a target this week, but ended up going home. Why did Nick lose?

As usual, we will answer these questions by looking back at What Big Brother 8 Houseguests Should Have Learned and seeing where he went wrong, and what he did right. So let’s get started.

The first rule tells players that they need to scheme and plot – and fast: “From the very beginning, you have to start making alliances and cementing relationships.” Nick was approached to join the Mrs. Robinson alliance and he wisely agreed.

You may be thinking that, in fact, he was not wise to go along with that alliance. After all, that alliance is being picked apart one by one right now, with the only thing holding the Late Night Crew (LNC) alliance together being their anti-Mrs. Robinson position. But we have to look at it from Nick’s point of view at the time.

In the movie, Ghostbusters, Bill Murray’s character castigates another: When somebody asks you if you’re a god, you say yes! Similarly, in Big Brother, when you are approached to join an alliance in the first day or two, you say yes! To do otherwise is certain doom. You would become an instant target because the other alliance members have to assume if you’re not with them, you’re against them – and you know about their secret alliance!

So Nick had no choice but to agree and join the Mrs. Robinson alliance, and was smart to do so. But it all went downhill from there.

If Nick had stayed solid with that alliance, at least for a little while, he and the alliance might have had a chance. But instead, he divulged his secret to Daniele, who told Dick, who told, well, everybody. We’ll deal with the whole Nick/Daniele issue later, but Nick was the key to the failure of the Mrs. Robinson alliance, and it wasn’t because he had some great backup plan. He didn’t. He abandoned an alliance and moved into… nothing. Sure, he thought he could join forces with Dick and Daniele, but he should have picked up on enough clues to know that wasn’t happening.

As I just mentioned, Nick’s failure at scheming and plotting was in part due to spilling the secret to Daniele. That goes directly against the second rule, which says to keep your scheming secret. But Nick did more than that. He also was viewed as having failed at the main point of the second rule, because the others thought he schemed and plotted too much.

Part of what the LNC believed was true, part was not. They thought he was trying to play both sides by being in the Mrs. Robinson alliance and also plotting with Dick and Daniele. That was indeed correct. They thought he had spilled the beans to Jen about how the house was voting in Kail vs. Mike last week. That was also true.

But they believed as well that Nick was the second vote against Kail last week. That, of course, was not true – it was America’s Player, Eric. But Nick had put himself in a position where he was not believable anymore, and where he was suspected of playing both sides. That made him very vulnerable.

The third rule tells players to pretend to be nice. In general, Nick accomplished this and it was not a cause for his eviction. He seems to be a genuinely nice guy who indeed had planned to be buddies with the guys and flirt with the ladies. Nobody was happy to see Nick go, in particular. Indeed, he had Daniele and Amber (at least) virtually eating out of his hand – though at least they were smart enough to pick the game over their friendship with him.

Contrast this with how Nick himself behaved, though, and we see that he miserably failed in terms of the fourth rule, “Don’t let your emotions control you.” Nick came into the game saying he was going to flirt. Then, suddenly, he found himself falling for Daniele, who was in many ways unattainable for him because she has a serious boyfriend out of the house and her father inside the house. Nevertheless, Nick pursued Daniele to his game’s detriment. As already discussed, he spilled secrets he shouldn’t have. He left his alliance to be with her. He threw his entire game away because of his infatuation with a woman he really couldn’t have. Not smart.

Nick also had problems with the fifth rule. Ironically, Nick was viewed as a threat. I say “ironically” because, well, Nick never actually won anything! He is a strong guy who looks like he would rock in physical challenges, but this is Big Brother, not Survivor or Pirate Master. Physical prowess is not the key to winning – that much should be obvious just by looking at past champions!