Further thoughts - I really enjoyed that last night, almost like it was worth such a crappy season just to set up this finale
Josh - His speech was a mess as expected, which just made Paul's look that much more overrehearsed and calculating (plus he went so fast I bet much of it was lost on the jury anyway). However, I thought Josh absolutely
killed the QA. Many of the questions were harder than softballs of past years, and Josh was confident, genuine (came across that way, whether he was or not), articulate, and actually had a decent case to make. Paul crumbled.
Paul - Classic case of how much credit do you take for what you did vs not admitting how much manipulation you did. And he blew it. This was a bitter jury looking for honesty (esp Alex and likely Jason), so instead of denying the nastier parts of his game, he should have owned them. I'm not sure the jury will truly appreciate what he did (including things like lining himself up to be able to play in the crucial HOHs, and forcing others to make the deciding votes) until the dust settles.
Also, Derrick proved that you can lie and manipulate and strategize your way to the top without hatemongering and bullying. If Paul had taken a page from that playbook combined with his instant popularity in the house, he would have won IMO. His dirty gameplay turned Elena and Mark, and may be what also made Cody vote against him.
Cody - On that note, his vote. Could have been something virtuous like refusing to support dirty play (honour and all that), could have been something as simple as revenge for something he might have said to Jess. He did say something about being true to his word, whatever that was, when he voted. Another thought is that he might be very tired of Paul continually saying that he was never on the block, knowing full well that Cody would have put him there had it not been for the producer's gift, and that on top of that, Paul ad nauseum referred to himself as a vet, when of course Cody is a "real" vet.
Pre jury people - For once I was fine with not giving any airplay at all to Dom and especially Ramses and Jillian, who contributed zero to the season. I was glad they gave Cameron a voice - I feel like they truly regret what happened to him, and my bet is we won't see a first day vote out again. Survivor did it once (maybe twice?) and I think also regretted it. Also loved that he called out not just the sheep following Paul, but that nearly all of them were playing for their partners instead of half a million bucks. I think we will see him again in future in some capacity, either playing again or in some other Jeff/Will type role.
Also happy we've finally given up on the charade of jury members being instructed not to talk game. Does Survivor still pretend that?
Raven - Apparently Dr Will made a few snide jokes about her in the backyard, but not to her face, and BB pretty much danced around her many, many issues. I wonder if this was legal advice - be very careful about any hint of questioning her illnesses, and that includes not giving her a platform to talk about them, thus not spending more time calling out her gameplay. Maybe the montage editors, Julie and Dr Will were told just don't go there at all, it's not worth it.
But can we talk about her draping herself all over Paul at the end? WTF was that? Trying to be on camera when Julie announced AFP because she thought it would be her, and if not Paul? Trying to associate herself with Paul's carryover popularity? Did he promise that he's introduce her to people etc etc? Word is they had met at least once before the show, but I don't think there was an actual relationship there. Anyway, I found it hysterical
I wonder if Paul's girlfriend was in the audience. He was already shocked by a lot last night, and I imagine she's about to give him an earful as well.
And yes, we missed their faces when
AFP was announced. Josh thought it would be Christmas, Matt thought it would be Raven, and Paul, Christmas, Raven and Alex all thought they'd win it. But I think our payoff made up for it:
- We already had a ton of shocked Paul during jury questioning, both at their questions/accusations, and at Josh's revelations (and Paul didn't help his case by openly pointing to himself to take credit when Josh was talking - total lack of class and sportsmanship there), not to mention Paul so desperately trying to restate his case and get jury votes
after they were cast.
- And, for once I don't think there will be any calls about vote rigging by fans or producers, given that the top 3 was exactly what most BB sites were showing.
