Big Brother 9: Why Sharon Lost

Six times on the block, five times safe. That is quite an amazing feat, but if you do the math, you still come up one time short. What happened to finally cause Sharon’s eviction? Was Ryan in on it or was he as surprised as she was? Why did Sharon lose?

Sharon might have seemed to be in a pretty good position, but when we look through What Big Brother 9 Houseguests Should Have Learned, I think we’re going to find out that it wasn’t really quite the case. So let’s get to it.

Sharon might have been the most under-the-radar contestant of the season, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t involved in some serious scheming and plotting along the way. She followed the first rule by being involved in several alliances that helped her to get to this point in the game.

The most obvious, of course, was the James/Chelsia/Joshuah alliance. This happened almost by accident as a result of her being partnered with Joshuah after his original partner had to leave. They developed a bond and a friendship, and it was only natural that she would stay with that group even after the couples were broken up.

But unlike the others in her group, she actually was able to bridge the gap and reach out to those in the Team Christ (I hate that name, but it’s what they called themselves) group. While several people called her a “mole,” the fact was that she was playing it right. This rule notes, “those who have been most successful are those who don’t necessarily align themselves strictly with one group.” While Sharon was certainly a part of the other alliance, she made the best effort to distance herself.

Sharon did this by making a secret alliance with Ryan, and then another alliance with Sheila. Alas, she didn’t know that Ryan had made several such alliances, including one with Joshuah before her – if she had known that, she might not have been as willing to accept his word.

Speaking of making multiple alliances, how did she do in terms of the second rule, which says not to scheme and plot too much? Really, I don’t think it was much of a factor. Nobody seemed to put together that she was aligning herself with both Sheila and Ryan. She was not voted out for being a big schemer.

Nor was she voted out for reasons associated with the third rule. It says players need to pretend to be nice. Lord knows Sheila could have used some lessons in this area, but Sheila is still there. Sharon, on the other hand, was perhaps the nicest person in the house this entire season.

And Sharon didn’t fall prey to the fourth rule either, as she didn’t let her emotions control her. One by one, she saw her allies voted out of the house. But she didn’t vow revenge or allow that to interfere with her game. Even being nominated six times, Sharon didn’t go postal against her fellow housemates. She stayed out of the way and flew under the radar. Whenever there was drama in the house, Sharon stayed on the sidelines and let other people put targets on themselves.

However, the fifth rule has a great deal to do with Sharon’s eviction. It says players should not be too much of a threat. Sharon was a threat in two different ways, one of which she could sort of control and one she could not.

The one she could at least somewhat control was how she was perceived in comparison to Sheila when it came to the final challenges. As Adam told Ryan in Monday’s live feeds (the day on which Sharon was actually voted out), he felt Sharon was due to win and was certainly more of a threat to do so than Sheila, in both the physical and mental portions of the three-part final HOH challenge. While Sharon hasn’t exactly been the queen of challenges (to say the least), Sheila hasn’t either. I have to go along with Adam’s assessment of the situation there.

However, one part of Sharon’s threatening nature was out of her control. All three of her solid allies will be on the jury. She is just one vote away from a majority vote in her favor! And given the way Natalie was blindsided, she might be willing to vote for Sharon rather than one of her former allies.

Certainly, Ryan and Adam knew this. Indeed, Sharon herself even attempted to bring up this point so she could dismiss it as if it were meaningless. But I don’t think either of the guys fell for that. They might not always be the brightest bulbs, but they aren’t that stupid. They can do simple math and figure out that if either of them were to face Sharon in the final two, they would very likely lose.

The sixth rule tells players to be flexible. While Sharon tried to follow the portion of this rule that says you can’t tie yourself to one alliance and just hope that it survives, she also was unable to ever completely break into the Team Christ alliance. Yes, they booted Natalie instead of her last week, but that was more because of what Natalie had done than Sharon herself. Sharon was always associated with the other group, and that extended to the jury house.

Sharon did also follow the portion of this rule that says, “Sometimes, the best play is to not play.” That is, as mentioned earlier, she avoided the drama and let other people take the heat. That served her well to this point.

But the seventh rule says players should trust almost nobody. At this point in the game, I’m not sure she could have avoided it, but Sharon trusted in her secret alliance with Ryan. She really had to trust somebody, and it made sense to do so with the guy who had helped get her this far. But with everybody playing everybody else right now, something had to give.

Sharon did many things right – as would be expected of somebody who survived as many nominations as she did. She was the only member of her alliance to reach out to others, and it served her well for a while. But those alliance ties came back to haunt her. All three of her allies are the type who seem likely to vote based on emotion rather than logic or game play. Thus, if Sharon had made it to the finals, she would almost certainly have had their vote. Indeed, even somebody who did vote based on game play might have to hand it to her for overcoming the odds to get there!

None of the three remaining Team Christ players could have taken the chance of facing her in the end. Sharon was simply too big a threat to keep around when they were this close to the end. That is why Sharon lost.

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