Originally posted Friday, February 8, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Kandi Burruss has landed in the final five of "Celebrity Big Brother," which ends in five days with a $250,000 winner.
She has been on the block three times, including tonight, more than any other contestant to date.
But the Atlanta musician, entrepreneur and reality star, has never received a vote. (Fellow musician/reality star Tamar Braxton nine days earlier helped her out by convincing Olympic player Lolo Jones, WWE player Natalie Eva Marie and NFL player Ricky Williams to vote for Joey Lawrence instead.)
She joins survivors super fan Toni, Lolo, Ricky and reality personality Dina Lohan.
Kandi has been a much stronger player than I expected. She has been able to keep secrets and maintain her cool. She laid low the first two weeks, allowing other more prominent players to take each other out.
She was able to patch things up with Tamar after Tamar went after her over non-game related stuff. Now they are in a final two alliance that is still very much in play.
Kandi has yet to win a Head of Household or Power of Veto competition, which has kept her from being seen as a real target as opposed to a pawn.
Her strategic moves only began popping up the past week or so. She wisely cozied up with Tom when he was in power to take out Kato Kaelin, then Natalie.
Natalie had a tight bond with Lolo from early on in the game. She was never Head of Household and only won won veto competition. Yet she was perceived a bigger threat than the more volatile Lolo. So when Tom placed the two of them on the block, Natalie was the one who went home tonight.
The show jumped quickly into a second elimination sequence. Lolo won Head of Household and placed Kandi and Tom on the block. After Tamar won the Power of Veto, she didn’t change anything to keep blood off her hands, confident Tom was a goner.
Tom played hard, won a couple of Head of Household competitions and veto power challenges. He tended to over-think and over-analyze and blew up the “fun” alliance (Lolo, Tamar, Natalie, Ricky) by trying to back-door Ricky.
That’s why Tom’s departure surprised nobody.
Based on game play to date, Tamar and Lolo have been the most outwardly aggressive, which may (or may not) serve them well with jury members. Ricky has been stealthier and could be a dark horse to win. Kandi has taken a similar strategy to Ricky and could also win votes on the jury.
Dina, while super nice, hasn’t made a lot of big strategic moves but her fundamental likability might sway a jury if she’s up against Tamar or Lolo.
There will be one more standard elimination by Wednesday. Then the final Head of Household among the top four will be able to take out two others and decide who they get to compete against.
We’ll find out who the final two are Wednesday.
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