Posted Monday, February 12, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Can Black Girl Magic save Atlanta's Keshia Knight Pulliam on "Celebrity Big Brother"?

With ten celebrities still around, Keshia is currently on the block, meaning she is up for potential elimination tonight with her closest ally Omarosa.

Yes, the former "Cosby Show" gal decided to align with the most notorious reality show villain of all time. That was mistake No. 1. And thanks to some mystifying strategic blunders, she is now on the outs with most everyone else.

Last week, the early seven-person alliance of six ladies and Ross Mathews, the TV host and "Big Brother" super fan, crumbled quickly. At the time, the target to go home was full-of-himself actor/singer James Maslow, with MMA fighter Chuck Liddell as the second option.

Although Omarosa on day one had made a secret two-person alliance with actress Shannon Elizabeth, she later created a side alliance with Keshia, dubbing it "Black Girl Magic."

Keshia fished around for intel and discovered Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) would save James if he had Power of Veto. She posed the idea that if she got Power of Veto, she'd remove Chuck and replace him with Mark to "punish" him. Ross thought this was a bad idea because it would mean Shannon would peeve three people instead of just two. (Indeed, from a strategic standpoint, it seemed totally pointless.)

Shannon thought removing Chuck would help her mend fences with him, but then Omarosa threw out that it sounded like Shannon was being selfish and not looking out for the alliance as a whole. Shannon quickly backtracked. (Omarosa is always manipulating.)

Keshia said that they should just let the best girl win, which upset Ross, who despite being gay, is still a dude. Another blunder.

So collectively, she and Omarosa were suddenly objects of suspicions. Shannon chose to keep things as is and not use her Power of Veto. Mark was safe. Chuck and James remained on the block.

Keshia wrongfully thought this is all about Shannon when in fact, the alliance had begun to turn against her. It didn't help that Ross innately did trust Omarosa. (Why should anyone?) That tarred Keshia, too.

Before the first celebrity elimination, Shannon convinced the others to flip the vote and go for Chuck instead of James, saying that Keshia had a side deal with Chuck to save her and Omarosa. (Not true but hey, whatever works. Shannon clearly preferred keeping James around and got her way.)

So in the end, everyone but Omarosa votes out Chuck. (Keshia isn't part of the vote.)

On Sunday night's episode, Keshia as previous Head of Household couldn't compete in the ballerina bowling competition. Her only hope of avoiding being on the block was for Omarosa to win. She didn't. Instead, she had an asthma attack and landed in the hospital before returning for the vote.

Keshia could not figure out a way to avoid being targeted. Either she or Omarosa are going to have to win Power to Veto to avoid getting voted off tonight.

Keshia's chances of winning the $250,000 are not good the way things are looking.

Based on the early episodes, it's clear that Shannon, James, Ross, Keshia and Omarosa are playing this game aggressively. Mark and Brandi Glanville are in between. Marissa Jaret Winokur and Ariadna Guitierrez are laying low strategically, just going along with things. Metta World Peace is in his own little world, having zero clue how this game works. In fact, he voted for Chuck in the first eviction round thinking he was saving him.

It's too early to say who might win but I can't imagine Omarosa lasting to the finals. Metta will stick around for awhile simply because he is a non target. Same with Marissa and Ariadna. But I can't see any of those three getting enough votes on the jury to win the entire game.

Brandi seems like the type to alienate enough people that she will get voted out at some point. Mark, who is fundamentally likable, could certainly sneak in for the win if the more vocal players knock each other out. I'm rooting for Ross simply because he's fun on camera and he knows the game incredibly well.