Big Brother 10: Why April Lost

OK, so I’m running a bit behind on our weekly discussion of the most recent evictee – and now with the double-eviction, I’m even further behind. Let’s not worry about what happened then, though. We need to go back a week so we can take a look at why April lost.

Even behind schedule, we will follow our usual path to answer that all-important question – we’ll go through the pages of What Big Brother 10 Houseguests Should Have Learned to see where April went wrong and if she did anything right.

As always, the first rule says April should have been scheming and plotting. I will grant her that she knew of the necessity to have an alliance. Beyond that, I’ll also give her points for somehow managing to find new allies when her original group crumbled. Indeed, she was the one who nominated Jessie, and yet somehow she aligned herself with Jessie’s best friend in the house, Michelle, upon his eviction! I still haven’t wrapped my head around that, and by now the entire alliance is gone.

But as much as I have to give April credit for that, it was clear that she was never the most strategic of players. As but one example, we only have to look at the answer she gave to my first question when I interviewed her. I asked her what her strategy was coming into the house and how it changed. Her response? “I planned on just staying true to myself and having fun. I accomplished both.”

It’s hard to know where to begin with an answer like that. It didn’t even come close to addressing the question. And I think that’s the problem – she didn’t even come close to having a strategy! And this from a woman who said she watched all the previous seasons! Indeed, I even asked her how that affected her play, and she again gave an answer that surprised me: “I realized that every season is different, especially when you are taking part in the game itself. You are unable to predict anything in the house.”

So she had no strategy and determined she would be unable to predict anything. I’m sorry, but she was wrong. Indeed, these columns are all about playing the game with strategy and figuring out what players should and should not do! It’s obvious she should have read an earlier version of What Big Brother 10 Houseguests Should Have Learned before being picked – perhaps she would have done better.

For example, April might have realized that being the HOH doesn’t mean you can boss everybody around. She should have seen that her alliance was collapsing under its own weight. Indeed, she might have, as she and Ollie had conversations that indicated they might turn on the others. But she waited too long and pushed too hard. She nominated Jessie and then pressured her alliance to vote out Memphis – all while Jessie was making the case against keeping himself around! (See Why Jessie Lost for more discussion of that issue.)

Again, if April had paid attention during the previous seasons, she would have known what part of the first rule says, “Anybody who has been watching the show should know by now that the ‘decoy’ strategy all too often does not work.” So if she didn’t want Jessie leaving, she never should have nominated him.

Once she did put him on the block, she needed to follow the sixth rule, so we’ll jump ahead now. That rule says to be flexible. One very important feature of it notes, “If you see that the majority … is leaning another way, by all means make sure you’re part of that majority. You need to have your finger on the pulse of every member of the house.”

April thought she had her hands wrapped around the necks of every member of the house, putting them in a stranglehold. But she seemed to forget that once the nominations were done, the HOH’s power was gone. It was in the hands of her allies. She tried to bully them into going against their wishes, and it didn’t work. Instead, she needed to just swallow her pride and recognize that Jessie would be leaving, then plan for her next move.

Getting back to the second rule, part of April’s problem was that she appeared to be scheming and plotting too much. She was in an alliance facing off against the likes of Jessie, Michelle, and Memphis. But by having her chats with Jessie and then acting on information he gave to her – accusing her own allies of various things, for example – April’s allegiance was rightfully questioned. She even admitted, in talking to me, that her alliance probably turned on her because, “I believe it had to do with the fact that [my] alliance [was] starting to see the close relationship that myself and Ollie had with Jessie and Michelle.” Her actions not only managed to turn herself into an enemy, but also turned Memphis into her opposition’s ally!

Of course, from the very beginning of the game, April broke a major part of this rule by coupling up with Ollie. While Renny didn’t nominate both April and Ollie, as she should have, it didn’t matter – April was targeted and sent packing, in large part to break up the duo who never parted from one another.