Big Brother 10: Why Libra Lost

Sometimes Big Brother is played strategically, sometimes it’s played emotionally. Libra was booted in response to her helping vote out Jessie the week before. But was it strategy or emotion, or some combination of both? And what could Libra have done differently? Why did Libra lose?

We will follow our usual path to answer those questions. In other words, a trip through What Big Brother 10 Houseguests Should Have Learned is in order. Let’s take a look.

The first rule, of course, says players need to scheme and plot. Libra certainly did this. Until her eviction, she had been part of the majority alliance throughout her time in the house. Indeed, it could be argued she was still part of the majority alliance when she was voted out, but the structure of Big Brother is such that being in the majority doesn’t necessarily save you, because if the minority holds HOH and nominates two of the majority, one of ‘em is toast. Libra was toast.

This, of course, raises the question of why Libra was the one voted out unanimously rather than Keesha. Part of it is personal, part strategy. Keesha has a tight bond with Renny, so there was no way Renny would vote her out. Keesha also, I think, deserved more of the credit for keeping Memphis, and he knew it. Ironically, Libra got the blame for keeping Memphis, which is why HOH Michelle wanted her gone. I think, in general, people felt they could work with Keesha more readily than with Libra. We’ll get to the personal reasons later.

The second rule, which says not to scheme and plot too much, provides one reason people thought they could work with Keesha but not Libra. I think there was a general feeling that Libra was simply not trustworthy. She talked smack about other players (not that she was exactly unique in that regard, but she was probably the loudest) and that made others feel she couldn’t be trusted if she was saying nasty things about people.

But did she go against another part of this rule and backstab too soon? Should she have stuck with April’s wish to vote out Memphis instead of Jessie? I don’t think so. As was described to me by both Steven and Angie, the house had a “mob mentality” where the HOH or somebody else would decree a certain result and everybody would go with it. That would seem to be fine as long as you aren’t the outlier being targeted.

The problem, though, is that eventually, the likelihood of being targeted increases. Sooner or later, a few people had to break the binds and go their own way. Libra helped do that, sending the game in a new direction and removing a big threat at the same time.

Certainly in Big Brother, there is always the risk of retaliation. But I’m not sure anybody could have foreseen the way alliances formed and reformed in days this season. Keesha nominated Jessie but wanted him safe; then April nominated Jessie and wanted him safe; then Keesha turned on April to target Jessie! To follow that up, April aligned with Jessie’s best friend in the house even though April was the one who made him vulnerable to begin with!

Now we get to the item I mentioned a few paragraphs ago – the personal reasons Libra was targeted. It goes along with the third rule, which says players need to pretend to be nice. When I interviewed Libra, I asked about something she said (on the live feeds, not shown on TV) indicating her strategy coming into the house was to be quiet and observe. She indicated that she didn’t follow that strategy because she “had to change it up after discovering the dynamics of the other houseguests.” I’m not really sure that answered the implication of my question, as my point was kind of that Libra was anything but quiet, and I don’t think she acted that way because of any dynamics of the others. I think that’s simply the way she was and she couldn’t or wouldn’t tone it down.

But that’s a problem. Libra was loud and said what was on her mind. I sympathize with that, because I have been told I can sometimes act in a similar way. But people like that need to know when to ratchet down. When you are in a game for $500,000, that would be a time to do it! Libra didn’t.

Like Jessie before her, Libra’s problems with the third rule were directly related to issues with the fourth, which says not to let your emotions control you. Libra’s emotions were often on full display. We saw her anger at being bossed around or ignored by April. We saw her hurt feelings at being called various names by Ollie and a bad mother by Michelle. Libra couldn’t contain those emotions well enough to disguise her real thoughts most of the time.

Somehow along the way, some people in the house also got it into their heads that Libra was a threat, in violation of the fifth rule. I’m not quite sure how that happened, though. Indeed, I saw Libra as one of the least threatening people in the house, precisely because she was not good at some of the other things we’ve discussed. Since she was not very well-liked, she would have been good to go up against at the very end. Leading up to that point, she was not exactly a master strategist.

But that was me looking in from the outside. Apparently, there was a different picture on the inside, with some houseguests convinced she was the one who flipped the Memphis/Jessie vote and who controlled other votes in the house. I don’t think that was the case at all, but in Big Brother, perception can overwhelm reality.

One thing she did do right, as we’ve discussed, was help break the hold of April the HOH in the Memphis/Jessie vote. She was flexible enough, in keeping with the sixth rule, to recognize that some things in the house had to change. She followed the rule by making sure she was part of the majority, and they went with it.

She also was smart enough not to be too trusting, thus following the seventh rule. She sensed that April would be a problem, and sure enough that was true. She and Keesha certainly pulled a fast one on April, turning on her before she could turn on them.

Unfortunately for Libra, April managed to deftly switch sides and Michelle – Jessie’s closest ally in the house – won HOH. That meant somebody who was responsible for Jessie’s departure was going to pay. When it came to the decision between Keesha and Libra, they were equal in many regards, as far as the voters were concerned. However, Libra was certainly the more emotional of the two, the loudest of the two, and the bluntest of the two. She also was determined to be the main decision-maker, which wasn’t really true, but sometimes appearances are everything.

So when it came down to it, the decision between the two of them wasn’t really a difficult one. From a strategy standpoint, Libra seemed like the best target. From an emotional standpoint, Libra seemed like the best target. Combine the two, and that is why Libra lost.

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

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