Big Brother 19 wrapped up on Wednesday, and while this wasn’t one of the best seasons (according to a lot of critics and fans) it was one of the most interesting as far as game play was concerned.  As the season progressed, it became apparent that Paul was playing the best game.  He came in with a plan and stuck with it all the way to the final 2.   He played brilliantly, manipulating people to vote out who he wanted when he wanted them to.  It looked like it was his game to win.   Except he made 2 miscalculations that mattered far more than all the good things he did.

The 1st was that he misused his goodby messages,  while the winner Josh used them strategically to influence the jury. Each time Paul successfully got who he wanted voted out, voted out, he continued his charade in his goodby messages.   But Josh used the goodbye messages to let the voted out person know what was really going on.   This made each jury member madder at Paul.   If Paul has simply stated that he was sorry, but he had other alliances that he felt would get him further,  he may have been able to make the person voted out feel better about their game and appreciate his game, rather than feel bitter toward him.

The 2nd thing Paul did wrong was to misread the jury.    I saw several articles about this and agree with them in that the jury was simply bitter against Paul, and were going to vote against him no matter what.  Paul was banking on the fact that the jury would rise above their feelings and simply see that he played the best game and vote for him.   But as been seen on several seasons of Survivor,  sometimes the jury members just get in there mind that they will not vote for somebody no matter what and that is what happened here.  The two couples (Mark and Elena, and Jason and Alex) were so stung by Paul and how he voted them off, that they voted for Josh just so they didn’t have to for him.   Had Paul won the final HoH challenge and taken Christmas to the finals, he still would’ve lost.   There were 5 votes (the couples plus Cody) who were never going to vote for Paul.

Fascinating stuff and something that should be studied to see why some people can put their feeling aside when making decisions,  while others hold grudges and make decisions strictly based on feelings.

I admit I was rooting for Paul once it became apparent that he was able to manipulate everybody and would most likely voted for him if I was one of the jury members, but I was not, and that’s what makes shows like Big Brother and Survivor so fascinating to watch.

More to come