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Big Brother Season 15 Episode 7 Recap: Helen's Campaign Trail

By Mark Drum
@whoismarkdrum

Such a great episode of Big Brother! The power once again has changed and in this episode there was some cheers, tears and some social justice. Julie Chen was on point tonight with the interviews with the houseguests and with the evicted houseguest. Then the battle for HOH was an epic battle for power. In the end Helen's Campaign to assure Elissa's safety worked and earned next week's HOH!

Working The Voting Numbers

With Helen's experience with politics, she knew Elissa would need to get six votes to get Nick evicted. So Helen went to work ensuring her Mom Squad member would be safe. I was really impressed with how Helen talked Jessie into switching. Helen brought up endgame and how it would be beneficial to vote Nick off now rather than later. This is important because this game isn't just about week to week but also how can you align yourself to get to jury or to the final two. Most houseguests want to make final two but most will be sent to jury and a few sent home. I really think it was also smart for Elissa to talk to Jessie too, to convince her that Jessie would have better safety with Elissa and Helen's numbers.

Racism Never Feels Good

I'm impressed that CBS continues to make a point to distance themselves from the houseguests. Even though they've selected these houseguests to play a game, CBS wasn't responsible for their actions. The actions of the houseguests are their own and those actions as well as words speak volumes. I was surprised Julie didn't do a one-to-one interview with the current HOH. I wanted to see Julie grill Aaryn about her remarks, but I was alright with Julie calling Aaryn out in front of the other houseguests, reminding Aaryn there are cameras always watching. Besides racism there are a lot of negative remarks being said in the house that have taken a toll on other houseguests. I'm surprised we haven't seen a confrontation yet. I did like how Amanda tried to give Aaryn a heads up about her unkind words. To be clear, it's not just Aaryn who's been saying unkind words. There have been other houseguests that have said some things that haven't aired but have been seen on the live feeds. Some viewers have even made a reel of all the unkind words that have been said this season so far. Remember this is a social experiment as much as this is a game to win money. So it's always interesting to see how words affect actions of the houseguests.

Nick's Unfortunate Exit

The last minute speeches were very eclectic. You had Elissa making a very good point in her speech, "Would you rather win Big Brother or vote to evict Rachel's sister." Dan (@Dangheesling) our Michigander Big Brother Season 10 winner and Season 14 Runner up, made a good point about with the last-minute speeches on his commentary of the season at watchwithdan.com. Dan said with last-minute speeches it's a great way to make your case to swing some votes. Elissa tried to do with her speech, while Nick babbled comments or remarks about the houseguests and Helen being the Political Consultant she was, kept it classy.

Julie had a great quote tonight, "GinaMarie is currently curled up in a ball right now crying," as Julie was interviewing Nick. Another would be, "Maybe you should have kissed Jessie," and I couldn't agree more. The supposed CEO of the Moving Company got the axe and was betrayed but two of the five members. Never a good sign but Big Brother is a game and as a player, getting the stronger players our first before they get rid of you. In Nick's case, he was unable to last.

Special Delivery for the HOH competition

GinaMarie looked like a hot mess in the diary room when talking about waking up to watch the clues for follow week's HOH competition. I would have to agree with GinaMarie in saying she isn't a morning person. I was impressed at how much these houseguest remembered. Most times the numbers dwindled, but there was a good group until the end. Julie even had to go to a second and final tie breaker question. Now I was surprised at how quick Jeremy was eliminated and how long Kaitlin lasted. It was Helen who overcame and conquered! Going from the chopping block to HOH. This week will be interesting. If you're subscribed to the feeds, I can only image how much drama has unfolded.

My Top Three Houseguests

1. Helen - Going from being possibly evicted to winning HOH, she's earned her spot as one of the top houseguests on my list! I'm looking forward to seeing how this week goes for this political consultant.
2. Elissa - How many lives will she get? Also how many more times will she win MVP? Time will tell and right now she's safe this week.
3. Candice & Judd - It's a tie between these two for two different reasons. Candice is in the top houseguests because she was the one figuring out about the Moving Company. Also she's wanting to get the girls to stick together and kick off the boys week after week. Judd is a top houseguest because he has yet to burn any bridges, make any big moves and isn't posing as a threat. This may seem to be a floater but Judd is playing this game.

My Bottom Three Houseguests

1. Aaryn - Lost David and now Nick. People on her side are starting to dwindle and it's not looking good for her safety either. So either she makes a deal with Helen or she can prepare to spend some times at the beach with David.
2. GinaMarie - Hot mess! All I can say about GinaMarie. She's playing too emotionally and not enough strategically. GM has been shocked two weeks in a row for the evictions that she for sure Elissa was going, but continuing to be blindsided. I'm hoping GM will get out of this crying fit she's in or she can expect herself on the block.
3. Howard - Going against the majority of the group. Will this information be found out in the house? I'm predicting it won't be long before he's caught and I can see Howard losing his cool from all the remarks being said. I don't think he'll argue with anyone but I can see Howard breaking down and crying. Right now, Howard has to make amends and admit his faults or he could see himself be nominated as well.

Prediction For HOH Nominees

I hope Helen nominates Aaryn and GinaMarie, both have yet to prove their competitiveness in my eyes. Aaryn only received this past weeks HOH with the help of Jeremy and Jeremy handing the key to her. So Aaryn has a lot of work, while GinaMarie is too emotional and is a good pawn to backdooring either Jeremy or Kaitlin.

My Pick For BBMVP

I would like to see Helen win this, so she'd have all option for the nominees this week. Plus she wouldn't even have to tell anyone, because then Elissa would freak out and suspect either Jeremy, Aaryn or Kaitlin may have gotten it. But knowing Helen's relationship with Elissa, she would probably tell her. I would personally like to see a mix up and see Jeremy get it or Judd. I'd like to see their perspective of the game in terms of who they would want to vote out. Also if Elissa were to be MVP, could she self nominate herself? Helen could nominate the ones I'm predicting and then Elissa go on the block by self nomination, then for POV that leaves little chance for Jeremy to have a chance to play and more opportunity to backdoor.

I'm just going over different situations, we'll just have to see what happens next on Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS 62!

Mark Drum is a Farmington Hills, MI native and Big Brother fan since 2000. He hopes to one day be on Big Brother and win. Mark is a graduate from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Theatre Arts. He's a member of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity and can be found popping up in movie production sets and theater stages around Detroit. Connect with Mark! Blogspot / Twitter /Facebook / Email

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