Big Brother 8: Why Eric Lost

Many of the reasons for Eric’s loss may seem like they would be similar to the reasons his girlfriend Jessica left the house just a few minutes prior to him. But they are not identical, as we will see. So why did Eric lose?

Eric presents a special case, since he was America’s Player and had less freedom than other players normally would have. On the flip side, he received insight on who the American public liked and disliked, and could use that information to help him make moves in the game. Let’s see how the rules from What Big Brother 8 Houseguests Should Have Learned applied to America’s Player.

Eric is a big reality TV fan, so he undoubtedly knew that the most important factor in the game was to scheme and plot. Indeed, most of the other houseguests fairly quickly realized that Eric was a definite player. He was a part of the majority alliance, one way or the other, all the way until his final week. Beyond that, he was usually the person who pointed that alliance in the direction he (we) wanted it to go.

Eric wasn’t afraid to rework alliances as the game went on. Dustin saved him one week, but the very next, Eric engineered Dustin’s ouster. Indeed, he teamed up with Dick and Daniele – the very people who had made his previous week miserable. Many people in games like this cannot put aside personal issues, but Eric knew he had to play from a strategic standpoint.

Eric had the additional task of having to justify selections that were not his own. Sure, viewers frequently agreed with Eric, but it was obvious that the popularity of Dick and Daniele directed the voting. Eric quickly picked up on this and knew how he had to move in the game to make things work out – specifically, by aligning with the Donatos. He was smart enough to know they couldn’t really be trusted, but there was very little he could do about it, short of violating his America’s Player agreement. Instead, he made the best of it and used his head to figure out his best path. In general, it worked well. But still, I wish we could have seen what Eric would have done on his own.

The second rule tells players to avoid scheming and plotting too much. Eric’s circumstances meant he really couldn’t fail in this rule – he had to scheme and plot as much as America told him to! But he did an excellent job of keeping his scheming secret – it seems nobody outside of the four allies knew of the Dick/Daniele/Eric/Jessica alliance. And of course he had to keep the biggest secret of the game!

An additional point within this rule says that if any alliances do get out in the open, do not let it be known that you are the decision-maker. Earlier I mentioned that Eric was often the one directing the votes of his alliance. Yet in most cases, people didn’t really realize it until they were looking back at past actions. Now that Eric and Jessica are gone, the final four are talking about how Eric was the power behind Jessica’s HOH throne. Some of them thought that as well while he was there, but it wasn’t enough of a factor for them to target him first.

Indeed, Eric did a good job of “suggesting” new ways of looking at the votes, as he often had to bring things up after being directed to do so by America. He did this without seeming to be directing the vote, but rather just talking about all possibilities. This led to people coming to conclusions that seemed to be their own.

Of course, there is one part of this rule where Eric messed up – the portion that says players should not form open couples. I addressed this in detail in Why Jessica Lost, but to recap briefly, it was a strategic mistake. Eric may have claimed to Julie Chen that it didn’t affect his game, but by its very nature, it had to. The final four alliance he worked out with Dick and Daniele could have ended up much different if it had been Dick and Daniele as a duo, Eric as a single, and somebody else as a single. But because Eric and Jessica were also a duo, it made sense for the Donatos to remove them before it got down to four players.

For Eric, there was even more danger. What would have happened if America had told him to target Jessica?! Or what if it had made strategic sense to go after Jessica and instead America wanted to keep them together? It may be that this is a true romance that holds together after the show (I hope it is, for their sake, but I have my doubts). If it is, then perhaps it was worth this mistake. But this article is about game play, not romance. Eric knew going in that having a showmance would be a mistake, and he was right.

The third rule tells players to pretend to be nice, and Eric followed it pretty well. The only real fight he had in the house was when he relayed information about Amber to Dick, who then relayed it back to Amber. It was a mistake to trust Dick, but Eric managed to rectify the situation.

Although it didn’t end up mattering, Eric definitely knew how to properly create goodbye videos. He was nasty to Jen as she left the house, but his video was sweet as pie. Same with his video for Amber. I don’t know that it would have helped him in a final vote, but it sure couldn’t have hurt.