By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Thursday, September 3, 2015
The weakest link and the funnest guy in the "Big Brother" house were both cut tonight. Six remain, 78 days in and 20 days left.
James Huling and Meg Maley were not a showmance (though James had a serious crush on her.) But they had an alliance that was ripe to be broken.
Meg's been a sweetheart from day one but possibly one of the worst players ever. She won all of zero challenges and didn't play a sharp strategic game. The other players nicknamed her "grandma" for a reason.
"I feel like I was a 'whoops!' this week and here I am," Meg said after getting cut early Thursday evening. Her only hope had been that as a weak player, she could have gotten to the finals as a player who would have had a hard time garnering votes. But the stronger players decided this wasn't enough justification to keep her around.
James, the Southern practical joker, was a much more formidable competitor, especially in challenges. He lost his allies week in and week out but chose not to play too many strategic games. And while he criticized Vanessa Rousso for overplaying the game, it has served her well.
Last week, Vanessa, as head of household, placed Meg and James on the eviction block, deciding that was a less damaging to her game than putting Steve Moses and Johnny Mac MacGuire on the hot seat again. And she had no desire to take down the Austwins -at least at the time.
Vanessa in fact had two alliances going: the Austwins and Steve and Johnny Mac.
But much to her chagrin, James won the Power of Veto. And in a surprise move, she placed one of the twins Julia Nolan on the block as a possible pawn.
The Austwins should be alarmed she didn't place either Johnny Mac or Steven on the block. Vanessa tried to justify it by saying Julia had not been exposed and needed to show her "loyalty" by being a pawn.
Ultimately, everyone opted to take down Meg - except poor James, of course.
Julie Chen then told the remaining seven contestants there would be a double eviction with an immediate Head of Household competition. James needed to win to survive.
He didn't. Liz Nolan won. She, not surprisingly, nominated James and John up on the block.
Again, James had a shot to escape eviction by winning the Power of Veto. Again, he failed. Julia, the twin, kept the Power of Veto and naturally kept Liz's names as is.
So at this point, there was no tension. James was out for sure.
"I knew I was a huge threat in this game," said James to Julie, so he wasn't surprised he was cut.
He also realized he was stuck forever in the friend zone with meg.
Ultimately, we now have two alliances remaining: the Austwins and Vanessa and Vanessa with Steve and Johnny Mac.
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