Originally posted Wednesday, January 23, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Tamar Braxton keeps saying she wants to win "Celebrity Big Brother."
But her hypersensitivity makes her the type of person other housemates might like to see go home sooner rather than later.
Case in point is someone who could be an obvious ally: Kandi Burruss. They're of similar age and both are R&B stars with reality show bonafides. They toured together a year earlier. And they joined an alliance during the second episode of the game Tuesday night.
But Tamar is the Queen of Paranoia, thinking everyone is whispering crap about her behind her back. She thought Kandi and the other members of Xscape were mocking her and trying to throw her off her game.
“Tamar and I have a rocky past,” Kandi said Tuesday. “But honestly, I’m just trying to be safe the first week. If this will help me get through the first eviction, let’s align.”
During a segment CBS released before tonight’s third episode, the pair tried to clear the air but it got muddied quickly, all because of Tamar.
Kandi couldn’t recall why they had tensions and figured they were all good. Tamar accused Kandi of had spouting negative opinions about Tamar that she knew nothing about. She still harbored issues.
Tamar said the tour was rough on her. “I was having trouble with my marriage,” she said. “I was having issues with my career. things were like all over the place. You personally interjected yourself in the situation by talking crazy about me when you should have just said nothing.”
“Okay,” Kandi said. “On the tour, I wasn’t thinking about that stuff. I thought we had moved on.”
“I thought it was totally ugly disrespectful and unprofessional,” Tamara retorted.
Kand snorted in disbelief.
“I had to endure being uncomfortable at work,” she said. She said she had heard Xscape members were “purposely being mean to her and mess up her set,” Kandi said later super confused.
“We would not do that on purpose,” Kandi insisted later in the confession room. (Xscape had its own internal tensions as it was.) “We were happy she was there. Whatever she is thinking is clearly a misunderstanding.”
Kandi’s nervous laughter did not make Tamar feel heard.
“I’m not taking all that cackling,” she said. “For you to laugh...”
“I wasn’t trying to attack you,” Kandi said.
“The fact she’s trying to make me this villain in her life is totally ridiculous,” Kandi later said.
In the confession room, Tamar collapsed in tears.
Kandi the next day asked Tamar if they could table this discussion for after the show was over. But nope. Tamar can’t do that. She picks at Kandi who then calls Tamar’s concerns “petty.” Uh oh. wrong word.
“I don’t even know what I can say to make her feel better,” Kandi later said.
Finally, as other game-related drama is happening, Tamar agrees to postpone this issue for another day and focus on what’s happening.
Earlier, Tamar over-reacted after she found out Jonathan Bennett was manipulating Ryan Lochte and not consulting with the rest of alliance when he told Ryan to place Tom Green on the block instead of Dina Lohan.
Although they had just created an alliance, Tamar wanted him out because she felt like he was “playing” the women. That may be true but why blow up an alliance so quickly? She thinks this is a good time to just get rid of him and notes that the women often get tricked by the dudes on the show.
I thought Jonathan, based on day one, would be a savvy player who could win it all. But he clearly made a mistake not consulting the ladies on the HoH picks. At this point, that’s a rookie error and clearly, he does not know the game well. And the women find his “checking” in and out of rooms a little too obvious. Plus, he is hanging out with Ryan too much. “They have a final two,” Tamar said.
Now Ryan gets suspicious because the ladies stop talking when they enter the room.
Later, Natalie Eva Marie accidentally asked Lolo Jones for a "final two" name, not noticing that Tamar was in the room. Natalie quickly tried to backtrack and say it was an accident. Tamar isn't one to act cool and pretend all is nice. That's not her style. 'Busted!" Tamar said. Awkward! Then Lolo got angry at Tamar for threatening violence. Tamar said it was just a jokey expression, not literal. And then she tries to play nice and said she isn't offended they have a final two deal.
Also:
--I thought Joey Lawrence could do well in this game but the fact he is philosophically against alliances runs counter to basic “Big Brother” game strategy. You cannot be an island for long in this game. So I have to say his chances of winning have dropped to nil unless he shifts quickly.
-- And Lolo has a temper! She got super mad at Tamar for a moment. Then she got jealous of Ryan’s alliance with Jonathan and flicked him off. That is a terrible trait in this game as well. After Ricky Williams won the Power of Veto, Ryan told him he should put Lolo up on the block. Ricky proceeded to tell Lolo, that Ryan thinks there’s an all-girl alliance.
- As expected, Ryan’s unsubtle game play is generating enemies - and fast.
- Ricky is smart. You rarely want to use the Power of Veto at this stage. Why place blood on his hands? Plus, he has no strong ties to the three on the block: Anthony Scaramuzzo, Tom and Jonathan.
- Plus, everything up to this point has been pre-taped. Friday will show the live eviction and Scaramucci is already gone. In fact, he showed up publicly today at the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland. Why is he gone? We’ll find out Friday.
