The Final 2

very strong trio** ugh lol. Sorry.

First of all congrats to you both for the final 2, regardless of what any of us or the viewers say or think about your games you did what we couldn’t do so be proud of that no matter the outcome. I hope you don’t mind I have a few things to ask to help me solidify my vote this evening

1. What way do you feel like you contributed the most to this season? How do you feel like your presence on this season has impacted the game?
2. What is your biggest weakness and how have you tried to make up for it/do you feel like you have made up for it?
3. What makes your game more desirable to be the winning game as opposed to your opponent?
4. Not to sound self centered but why do you think you should have MY vote specifically? Do you think that you deserve a vote from me and why or why not

This is specifically for ember - my hoh was literally the last chance to get Steve out of this game, which was why I did what I did. You are not solely responsible for him staying since 2 people also voted to keep him but with you having all the vote powers, you contributed greatly to him staying and winning out to the end. Sure you might need him to do take out people for you but you were never able to do the work yourself or get him out after. Do you regret that choice now and why or why not?

A lot of people on the jury came in saying they didn’t want to nominate you when they were hoh because they didn’t want to waste an hoh on you (myself included, let me explain, at that point you made an enemy out of multiple people and a lot of people weren’t happy with you and how you acted towards them so putting you up wasn’t, in my opinion, taking out a threat to win which was my ultimate goal and why steve was actually my 2nd target not really my 4th I just wanted to see if I could get that money but screw luck comps ). Do you have any regrets about the way you acted when things didn’t go your way? (I’m sorry if this sounds mean or harsh that’s not my intention)

(If you already answered the question I ask feel free not to repeat yourself I’m still reading)

Okay let's unpack things...

Steve: You cannot claim that you stayed unanimously when it is the result of using powers. It’s not an ACTUAL unanimous vote - it’s a result of a lot of powers being used. You have a lot of game moves to rely on, but this is not one of them. And Sandra did not go home because she nominated you. She went home because I discovered that I was her backdoor target.

Ember: You kept Steve around to go after me. Why? Did you really think that keeping Steve until this point in the game - the END - was what was best for you? You make out in your speech like you’re happy to sit next to Steve, but had you won that F3 HOH, can you really say you would be sat here next to him and not Max?

Steve: You say you staked a lot of your game on deals because you followed through on them. Despite this, you actually broke our deal of leaving one another alone until F4. You also tried to use me nominating you at 6 (after you nominated me at 7) as reasoning for you nominating me at 5. That felt a little bit like gaslighting to me. Why should I respect that move, rather than be pissed at it? You say that you would have considered keeping me safe at five if I hadn’t nominated you at 6? You nominated me at 7!

Ember: Why did you make me a huge promise that you could not keep at Final 6? You must have known when typing that entire plea out that you could not have come through on each of your promises to never nominate me, never vote to evict me and never come after me. You tricked me. I thought you were being genuine because someone who would want to win this game surely wouldn't have made such a big promise so late in the game, right? Wrong! You didn't vote to evict Jen. You didn't vote to evict Dorothy. You didn't vote to save me. Why should I give my vote to someone who lied through their teeth to me and used me time and again?

I might have more later.

Ember McLain wrote:

Morning <33

Okay, well first of all, Jerry, thank you so much for all that. That genuinely means a lot to me as someone who has so so much loves and respect for the game of Big Brother. I really strive to be a great player so thank you for saying all that  

So yes, I agree with you. This could possibly be the one major flaw in my game. However; I still do believe it was the right decision for myself. Let’s say I let Steve go at Final 9. The next HOH and who had enough money to buy drinks would have COMPLETELY been different. The reason certain people had enough to get themselves safe was because NTW knew she was leaving and sent them money. If she stayed, she would’ve saved it for herself. So 1. More people would’ve been competing in that HOH competition that I ended up being victorious in. That could’ve stolen a win away from me. Furthermore; whoever did win it could’ve taken out an ally that I still needed in the game. Someone like Dorothy, Max, or Sam. I think EVERYTHING in this game matters and it’s really like a butterfly effect. If one of them left that week instead of Sandra, I could’ve been the one that was most vulnerable at certain stages in the game instead of them later down the line. 2. Steve was THE target for the remainder of the weeks. I knew this would happen as well. Steve was not only the SWORD but he was also the SHIELD. I got a 2 for 1 by keeping Steve that week. Someone to do some heavy lift work for me but also someone that I know would take the fall had certain competitions like High Roller and Missy’s Counting Factory gone any different. He was the one that would always be a target before me moving forward. Would NTW of been this huge target moving forward? Possibly. But her game was also very social based. NTW knows how to talk to people and how to sway. Steve is a comp guy. I wasn’t worried about people wanting to be more loyal to Steve as opposed to me. But with NTW? Yeah, that made me nervous. I think if I kept the very strong duo of NTW, Kim, and Debbie i’m looking at 4th or 5th place. Not the Final 2. So for all those reasons, Jerry, I think I did make the right decision and why it shouldn’t ultimately cost me the game! <33

Thank you again for everything you said. It really meant a lot

All love always for both of you haha

I understand that keeping Steve helped you mitigate risks, something so many people who play these games seem to overlook when they like to say people are up people’s asses or not playing their own games! I also agree that getting rid of NTW was important in that she was by far your biggest competition socially! I guess my follow up question would then be, now knowing what you know, that saving Steve at final 9 gets you to final 2 but with Steve as well, would you have made a different decision? Is this scenario playing out right now worth that vote?

Jerry The Mouse wrote:

Thank you both for the well written speeches and all the time you both put into this game. It was an epic one, with an epic post count, epic players, epic powers...I could keep listing things but we all just lived it the past month and change.

Steve! You played an incredible game...one of if not the best BBQ has ever seen! some of your stats were insane and something you should take pride in no matter how this vote goes! My vote is more likely going to you for now but it's not solid bc though you played a great social game, you brought the the person who played the best social game.

Hi Jerry <3 Thank you for acknowledging my stats! I actually did not mention my speech, but it was also intentional that I had 8 veto wins but only 5 hoh wins (3 of which were not until literally after day 36); I’d truly wanted to only leverage my power when necessary, and I felt it was easiest to minimize blood on my hands using vetoes, so I ONLY gunned for HOH’s with which I could accomplish something specific, such as flushing powers & pretending I was trying to flush the DPOV with my first HOH, having 4 solid options to go after upon my second HOH, and yet again having solid targets with my third and fourth, taking out Kim and Debbie, my biggest threats all season, and then of course the final HOH to land myself here. The Vetoes were my insurance, and using or not using a veto seldom landed me with any repercussions, but rather they kept me looking useful to my allies. I even leveraged my ability to win a veto as a reason my allies should not ever want to be put on the block with me, giving them more incentive to gun for an HOH instead, because renoms could always be less predictable for them.

I do believe I brought someone with a killer social game, but I do agree, too, that my social game was strong, particularly even WITH Ember, using HER sociability, sometimes, to further my own game, as she wanted me in alliances with her time and time again, so I kept her extremely close, letting her take the heat for MAKING these alliances, meanwhile I reaped many benefits from them all, bonding with the individuals in said alliances wherein she was the one coming off as shadier than me for it.

hi beautiful people! congratulations on making it to the end, i am so happy for y'all! it truly does pay off to not evict jennifer check right? as i said in my eviction speech i better be voting for someone from the seven stars in the finale, and y'all pulled it off! i'm so proud of you both <3

i feel like everyone has asked really great questions but i still want to make y'all address me smh.

ember, from the block first week to the top! congratulations love, i thought you were fucking weird day one no offense LMFAO then i ended up loving our little alliance, crazy how time changes things. my question for you is did you nominate steve on your HOH so he would 100% be able to play in the veto and his chance of staying would be better, or because you wanted to try and get him evicted?

steve, first of awl i was not THAT chaotic. i was actually very tame this season, smh. congratulations on getting here, you deserve it so much. what would you say was the most important move you made for your game? we all know you we're doing a ton of flashy shit but which move do you think was the most pivotal in getting you to where you are now?

thnx y'all <3

I don’t have much to say because you’ve all said a lot already and my mind was made up at the final 4 once Dorothy left …

I do want to point out… everyone who kept Steve against NTW went home <3 I hope everyone who did that regretted their dumb decision and I take this time to laugh at you. Yes.. I lost too.. but I was never going to win regardless of that vote or not… so I just wanted to again… laugh at you all one last time

Anyways… I’ve known since like day 5 that ember would find herself sitting here. The way she maneuvered through this game socially was insane .. she turned on people sure but I’m all for a sexy big brother villain. Unfortunately as someone with slow wifi I have little respect for a game of winning out from final 8 but I’m sure you’ll win anyways stave

Good luck to you both

Steve Harrington wrote:

Jerry The Mouse wrote:

Thank you both for the well written speeches and all the time you both put into this game. It was an epic one, with an epic post count, epic players, epic powers...I could keep listing things but we all just lived it the past month and change.

Steve! You played an incredible game...one of if not the best BBQ has ever seen! some of your stats were insane and something you should take pride in no matter how this vote goes! My vote is more likely going to you for now but it's not solid bc though you played a great social game, you brought the the person who played the best social game.

Hi Jerry <3 Thank you for acknowledging my stats! I actually did not mention my speech, but it was also intentional that I had 8 veto wins but only 5 hoh wins (3 of which were not until literally after day 36); I’d truly wanted to only leverage my power when necessary, and I felt it was easiest to minimize blood on my hands using vetoes, so I ONLY gunned for HOH’s with which I could accomplish something specific, such as flushing powers & pretending I was trying to flush the DPOV with my first HOH, having 4 solid options to go after upon my second HOH, and yet again having solid targets with my third and fourth, taking out Kim and Debbie, my biggest threats all season, and then of course the final HOH to land myself here. The Vetoes were my insurance, and using or not using a veto seldom landed me with any repercussions, but rather they kept me looking useful to my allies. I even leveraged my ability to win a veto as a reason my allies should not ever want to be put on the block with me, giving them more incentive to gun for an HOH instead, because renoms could always be less predictable for them.

I do believe I brought someone with a killer social game, but I do agree, too, that my social game was strong, particularly even WITH Ember, using HER sociability, sometimes, to further my own game, as she wanted me in alliances with her time and time again, so I kept her extremely close, letting her take the heat for MAKING these alliances, meanwhile I reaped many benefits from them all, bonding with the individuals in said alliances wherein she was the one coming off as shadier than me for it.

See and I think some of the other jury members may be shorting you by seeing you as a one dimensional comp beast (granted I haven’t been in jury house in a while, idk what there people are thinking, I’m gonna read this room instead of the 400 pages over in jury house lol) but you were much much more than that, as evidenced by our conversations! I think if I would’ve survived Ember our deal would’ve actually held up, like it made a ton of sense and we would’ve gone far together, so I need you to speak more on your social game! What are some specific social game moves that you feel like you can own over Ember? How did you overcome certain obstacles that I happened to lay in your way, which i didn’t even realize I was doing lol, in the evictions of Jules and Squirt?

Pssstt Jerry stop neglecting us

1. What way do you feel like you contributed the most to this season? How do you feel like your presence on this season has impacted the game?

I feel like I contributed a type of game that rarely works out for other people, not only in BBQ but also in BB as a whole. I was aligned with basically the whole house for most of the season. Whether people say they knew I was or not…no one did anything about it. Except Cruella with the DPOV and Jerry on his last HOH reign. Both times I still managed to get the votes to stay WITHOUT powers. A power was used on me the first time but even if it wasn’t I still would’ve had the votes. As compared to my opponent who did need the powers. My presence in this game, I believe, was very prominent. Max even said in his speech last night that without me here he would’ve played totally different. I think that goes for a lot of other people as well. People made mistakes in this game and didn’t always necessarily do what was best for them because of my input and my 2 cents I would casually throw around during the duration of the season. So I feel like not just my game but I acted as a huge moving force in other peoples games as well. Just not from a comp stand point.

2. What is your biggest weakness and how have you tried to make up for it/do you feel like you have made up for it?

This one is tricky. I can easily say competitions. However; I mentioned throwing A LOT of them. So I don’t know if that truly was my WEAKNESS. So I think I will go with the money aspect of BBQ. Powers and such come into play in BBQ, we all know that. You need money for powers. How do you get lots and lots of money? Winning competitions, writing DRs, voting early, etc. Having to throw a lot for my game to remain successful didn’t help. Being extremely busy IRL and so much change going on also prohibited me from writing in my DR as much as I would’ve liked, that didn’t help. And I always tried to vote closer to the deadline to ensure I was making the BEST decision for myself, so that didn’t help grow my bank either. Did I make up for it? Yes! I never needed a power. The only time I had to use a power was that Final 9 vote without Steve VS NTW and I know some people think that was a mistake for myself, but i’m in the Final 2. I also made up for it by securing myself safety at Final 8 when legit, HALF the cast used a power to gain immunity. So I would say my weakness is that, the money and purchase of powers but I did hold my own and combated them instead of needing to have them.


3. What makes your game more desirable to be the winning game as opposed to your opponent?

I believe my game should be the more desirable one because I played a game that I think most true BB fans appreciate more than a game like Steve. With ALL the respect in the world to Steve, I see you discrediting my game a bit. So i’m gonna use this lovely question to do it back a tad. Steve had to win out. Steve would not be here if it wasn’t for competitions. This is a fact. Sure, it’s iconic that he can win like that, he’s not from this dimension. However; if this was real BB I feel like he’s the Kevin Martin but I’m the Ika Wong. I lied when I had to, told the truth when I had to, worked SO SO hard behind the scenes with people to grow my relationships. Kevin had to win out or go home, Ika never won anything but pulled so many strings and worked from the shadows despite not really being liked by the jury had she made Final 2. I think my game encapsulates everything Big Brother is. It’s a social experiment. It’s a strategic chess match. This isn’t The Challenge or American Ninja Warrior.


4. Not to sound self centered but why do you think you should have MY vote specifically? Do you think that you deserve a vote from me and why or why not

Sandra, I believe I deserve your vote specifically because had it been you in this seat tonight I think you would have a VERY similar case to plead. You also didn’t have to rely on comps to stay around and go not nominated for as long as you did. It was your social prowess and your strategic mind that would have taken you here. I think you of all people should look at how I played and see it as relatable and dominant. Your game truly was FIERCE af before you won HOH. That was your downfall sadly, but you and I play very similar games and I think if it was you VS Steve you would believe in your heart that YOU played better despite Steve’s in your face game. People called you out and dragged you when they went home as well but you know how great you were doing in your heart. I think I played the best too. So, Sandra, that’s why I think I deserve your vote.


*This is specifically for ember - my hoh was literally the last chance to get Steve out of this game, which was why I did what I did. You are not solely responsible for him staying since 2 people also voted to keep him but with you having all the vote powers, you contributed greatly to him staying and winning out to the end. Sure you might need him to do take out people for you but you were never able to do the work yourself or get him out after. Do you regret that choice now and why or why not?*

So yeah, I don’t wanna sound like a broken record but it’s really a “we will never know” type of situation. Do I regret it? No. I’m here in the Final 2 because of all the decisions I made. I really did think at one point we would be able to pull out a win and take Steve down. I really did. Did it work that way? Clearly not. But if Steve did leave, who’s to say NTW or Debbie don’t win every comp at that point? They could’ve and then took me out at Final 4 or 5. We really will never know so because i’m sitting in these 2 chairs and able to plead my case to you guys I don’t regret the decision. I do regret not beating him in a competition but that’s out of my control with so many variables in comps.

*A lot of people on the jury came in saying they didn’t want to nominate you when they were hoh because they didn’t want to waste an hoh on you (myself included, let me explain, at that point you made an enemy out of multiple people and a lot of people weren’t happy with you and how you acted towards them so putting you up wasn’t, in my opinion, taking out a threat to win which was my ultimate goal and why steve was actually my 2nd target not really my 4th I just wanted to see if I could get that money but screw luck comps). Do you have any regrets about the way you acted when things didn’t go your way? (I’m sorry if this sounds mean or harsh that’s not my intention)*

So I have 2 answers for this. The first being, people not wanting to waste an HOH on me because I was disliked was all pure strategy on my end. I used the hate and dislikes from people to my FULL advantage. Whenever possible I played the “wah wah” card about getting dislikes and how I will never win a jury vote. So that people wouldn’t wanna nominate me or put me up and if people went into the jury saying that, then looks like it worked! haha. My 2nd answer to this is, I don’t believe I treated anybody with disrespect or malice in this game when things didn’t go my way. There are 2 instances where a vote didn’t go my way and i’ll explain why I acted the way I did with certain individuals. The Jules vote- Tony lied about his vote to me at a point in the game where I actually trusted Tony. It was very early on. I played the sympathy card with him about how “boo hoo, it sucks so bad, I trusted you with that vote, blah blah blah” But I followed it up with “I still have your back in this game, I still wanna trust you, let’s move forward.” Coming off as disappointed in another persons actions rather than angry and then telling them you still want to be loyal to them can go a LONG way in my opinion which is why I did that there. Next, the only other time I acted some type of way was the jury vote when Kim, Max and NTW all voted to evict you after telling me they would not (NTW never promised me anything, I will say that) With Kim, all I did was ask her if she did it. She can attest to this, she sent me 2 emoji’s. Which keep in mind me and Kim were actually kinda close so this took me by surprise. I still was never rude back to her. We talked a day or 2 later and talked about it and we moved on from it. With Max, I did the same card I did with Tony. Acted disappointed, but still remained loyal. This was just to ensure that he would never do it again if I needed his loyalty in the future. Now with NTW this is a different story. This is the ONLY time in this game where emotions took over for me. We had a little fight because I felt like NTW was being rude to me and I didn’t wanna just take it. NTW and me had a bond in that game that was really complex. She just knows how to get to me more than anyone else did in that house. She brings out my passion, whether that be positive or negative. I was also just having the worst day ever irl. I try to never bring that to the forum though. I snapped a little and I regret it to this day. But that wasn’t me acting bratty because something didn’t go my way, that was me being reactive to what I thought was abrasive behavior from NTW. That’s all.

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to explain myself Sandra <3

Sandra Bullock wrote:

Pssstt Jerry stop neglecting us

Hi sandy did u miss me I missed u 🥲

Sandra Bullock wrote:

Pssstt Jerry stop neglecting us

Ive had a long week

Jerry The Mouse wrote:

Sandra Bullock wrote:

Pssstt Jerry stop neglecting us

Ive had a long week

You missed the section when Tony was thirsting over you