Big Brother 4: Why Erika Lost

Although this column was delayed from last week due to circumstances beyond my control, it’s better late than never, right? So before we say goodbye to somebody else, let’s look back and see why Erika was given the boot.

It would be all too easy to say that Erika was voted out because she actually tried to calculate the proper number of hours in the house for the tie-breaking HOH question. In doing so, she was extremely close, but ran afoul of the stupid “no going over” Price Is Right type of rule. So if she had won that, she obviously would not have been the one voted out. However, we have to deal with what the challenges bring us. Frankly, had Erika won that HOH competition, she still would have needed to win the final one, or else her ouster would merely have come a week later.

The three finalists that Erika was competing against consist of perhaps the three least-liked people in the entire game. None of them will win any “Miss Congeniality” type awards. All have been nasty and hypocritical. How many people wanted to simply smack both Jun and Alison for all their whining about Rob having called them names on Tuesday night’s episode? These two called Erika “bitch” more times than I can count, not to mention the various incredibly mean things they’ve said about the others and even Robert himself.

But then there was Erika. Some might say she skated to her position in the final four. She allowed others around her to take the fall as being more dangerous (such as Jack) while she tried to stay mostly in the background. But still, she was definitely active. She made up with Rob to the point that he changed his opinion of her from “enemy” to “friend” and possibly even “dating prospect”! She joined up with Alison and Jun to form an alleged female alliance, though it’s unclear if either Alison or Jun ever really intended to honor it. She played the game but did so while still being a pretty nice and decent person – unlike the other three.

It may seem that Alison voted to get rid of Erika because of the alliance between Erika and Rob, mentioned above. Indeed, it did seem that Rob would have preferred Erika in the final two, so that was certainly part of the reason.

But it wasn’t the main reason.

In fact, I’ve already mentioned the main reason. The other three besides Erika were among the least-liked of the entire house. If any of those other three had gone up against Erika in the finals, odds are good that they would have lost. The only one who might have had a chance of winning was Rob, and that was due to several other members of his alliance being in the jury plus a likely vindictive streak in Alison and Jun.

But both Alison and Jun know that they have their best chance against each other. Both of them similarly know that they had no chance against Erika. Let’s break down the voting.

Rob promised to rally his troops to Erika’s cause if he were voted off and she were in the final two. Jun and Alison might not have known this, but Alison at least know that Dana would not be voting for her no matter what, and could possibly have convinced Justin to go the same way. In any case, up against Alison, I think Erika would have gotten votes to win from Rob, Jee, Dana, and Jack. She would have had possible votes from Justin and Nathan. Jun is, frankly, too up in the air and it might have depended on who ended up being the one to vote her off. If it had been Alison, Jun likely would have turned on her. So Erika would have won at least by one, possibly in a landslide.

Going up against Jun, Erika would still have gotten the votes from Jack and Rob, and probably votes from Dana, Justin, and Nathan as well. If Jun had been the one to boot Alison, her vindictive nature would probably have caused Alison to vote for Erika too. Jee would be up in the air on this one, as he is still somewhat tied to Jun but also was stabbed in the back by her at the end. In any case, Erika once again wins, possibly by a landslide.

Say what you will about them, Alison and Jun are smart enough to look ahead and see how the voting will come out. They both were floaters, thus angering both sides at various points. So it makes sense for them to want to go up against one another, rather than somebody who has a ready-made alliance on his or her side.

That meant Erika had to go. There was nobody else to shield her. Alison had to choose between keeping Jun around or keeping Erika. She knew she had a chance against Jun. She also knew she had no chance against Erika.

And that is why Erika lost.

Want to keep up with important events in the house? Check out our Big Brother 4 Spoiler Page for news on who wins contests and other ongoing info.

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

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! And take a look at the rest of the site. You can find all of our recent Big Brother articles at the Big Brother 4 page and take a look at our sections on Amazing Race 4 and The Osbournes. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For more news about Big Brother, be sure to check out SirLinksALot!