Big Brother Blowout: 'Dumbasses' Screw Up Iconic OTEV Competition -- Plus, Angela's Biggest Move Yet

Love her or hate her, Angela is playing the game of Big Brother, and based on what went down ahead of this week's Power of Veto meeting, she's playing it very well -- but will it be enough?

There isn't just one path to victory when it comes to competition shows like Big Brother. The only goal is to make it to the end and then convince people to give you money. How you get there is up to you. Love her or hate her, Angela is doing what she's gotta do.

A target since Week 1 due to her own inability to keep her paranoia in check, Angela made up a story in her own head that she was being played, when she was actually being invited into an alliance. That started the feud between her and Quinn, and led to Matt's ouster.

She's been one of the most influential players in the game, and possible of all time, even if not all of it is necessarily happening on purpose or according to any master plan. She seems to be playing by gut instinct, erratic emotions, and rampant paranoia.

Somehow, at least to this point, that's working for her.

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Sitting on the Block again, for the fifth time in eight weeks, Angela allowed her paranoia to once again get to her, sneaking around and trying to listen in on conversations. To her credit, she's actually had some success at hearing things, though she doesn't always interpret what she's hearing right.

She also has been playing a very strategic social game, knowing she's not going to be a big, physical threat in competitions. Yes, there's a lot of psychological manipulation tactics and weaponizing of emotions (and tears) happening, but with younger players, it's proving effective.

This episode opened with a scene of her working her social magic on Makensy, talking about how much she adores her and the like. There might be some sincerity in how she feels, but she admitted in a confessional that it's also a whole lot of strategy. Makensy is a comp beast, so why not ingratiate yourself to her?

We're as begrudgingly admitting this as anyone would be because Angela is a difficult player to root for. She has been mean, bullying, and cruel with her words on more than one occasion.

And yet, somehow she's not only getting away with it, she's getting her way. She bullied Matt about his eyes and everything in Week 1, and successfully got him evicted. She bullied Lisa in Week 2 and Lisa went. There were other reasons, but there is a pattern here.

Angela's pretty powerful with the tools she has and uses. If they're not more careful about it, she could wind up slipping all the way to the end. But first (of course), she has to survive this week. By the end of the hour, that was looking more and more possible.

OTEV Disaster

There's been a lot of criticism about this season's cast of Houseguests -- many of whom were likely recruited by producers -- not being all that good at the game. They continued the trend of weak Wall performances by dropping in 30 minutes or so. Long gone are the days when players had the strength, will, and fortitude to fight for hours.

Now, they took on one of the biggest and most iconic competitions of all time in OTEV. Slide down a ramp and dig through pits of goo and crap to find the right name to a question and bring it back up the ramp to OTEV (this time, a "trash-talking trash panda"). Last one up, or anyone wrong, is eliminated.

Can you guess where this is going?

The first round seemingly took forever, though it's possible that was the edit and these rounds normally take forever. Regardless, it looked like the cast was struggling way more than usual after asked which evicted Houseguest didn't play in the first HOH competition.

Finally, everyone arrived at the top with their answers ... and found out that almost all of them were wrong. In fact, only one of them was right.

The Houseguests were misremembering how that game played out. In the first round, they were told it was a social round and they had to find groups of three. Tucker and Makensy were unable to find a group, so they were eliminated.

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But that means they played, even if only in a round where they were supposed to find a team. You know who didn't play? The two Houseguests who got "Downgraded" on Night 1 and became Mascots for the week: Chelsie and Cedric.

Only Makensy brought back the answer Cedric -- even Chelsie got it wrong! -- which meant the competition was entirely over after just one round.

You know, one reason it could have taken them so long to find Tucker pieces, with Quinn lamenting how many Cedrics he threw to the side, is because maybe Tucker either wasn't the answer to any questions, or he was set for much later. There may not have been as many out there.

At this rate, we're expecting the Houseguests to all fall off the ropes as they're lifting into the air for the spinning competition, and time out or give up trying to solve BB Comics. Granted, there are some caveats to this gripe.

For one, this season's Houseguests have been very effectively eliminating competition threats. That means people they feel are physical and mental threats. Perhaps this is just the result of that.

Makensy's competition did include Chelsie and Quinn, who are considered comp threats, as well as Angela, Rubina, and Kimo. So it could also just be a fluke.

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Angela's Big Move

We're still on the fence as to just how much of Angela is real. She overreacts to everything like she's starring (badly) in an elementary school production of Annie and she appears to be emotionally unhinged more often than not. Then there's the dry-eyes crying.

But we nevertheless have to give credit where it's due. Whether intentional or not, she absolutely blew up the game this week, and may save her skin in the process.

The social work she did on Makensy might not matter much in the end, but Angela's paranoid suspicions just might. Everyone's a little paranoid, but Angela took five people hanging out in the yard late at night as five people forming a tight alliance.

Those five included the established trio of T'kor, Kimo, and Rubina, as well as the duo-esque Quinn and Leah. Are they working together? Not at all. Do they enjoy hanging out? Sure.

Nevertheless, Angela presented it as fact to Chelsie that they were an alliance. Chelsie then took this to Makensy to discuss what to do about it. If that five is a block, they have controlling power with the vote.

If Makensy were to take Kimo down and replace him with Quinn or Leah, they'd still have that voting power. Suddenly, despite earlier saying she'd never do it, Makensy was looking at taking Angela down and replacing her with Quinn or Leah.

After talking to Quinn about it, Makensy proved her own strategic prowess by kind of throwing Chelsie under the bus by pretending she had no idea who a replacement nominee might be, but sharing that she was likely going to save Angela. This was 30 minutes before the Veto meeting. That's some solid Jury management, y'all!

Quinn tried to plead his case, and his loyalty to the five, with Chelsie, but she was still uncertain. Granted, he's been a sloppy player, but it still makes little sense to target your own ally over an existing trio. If you want to break up that group, throw T'kor up there next to Kimo.

No matter what, one of the trio goes home -- and if that five Angela was worried about was real, you weakened them just as much. Plus, you didn't damage trust in you within your own alliance by blowing it up unnecessarily.

The hour ended on a cliffhanger as to whether Makensy would make it eight for eight in Vetoes being used this season, but it certainly looks like it. The willingness to turn on Quinn also highlights a fundamental shift this season.

There are no alliances beyond duos that have had any staying power. People are instead making arrangements from one week to the next. This has seemingly become the norm on Survivor, so it remains to be seen if the shift is happening on Big Brother, or this cast is just that paranoid.

Houseguest Report Cards

Makensy Manbeck (22, construction pm) rises to the top with a solid game of jury management, competition prowess, and strategic thinking. She and Chelsie really pondered how to take Angela's notes. Even if it proves misguided, Makensy is proving how hard and well she's navigating the game, making moves and doing damage control at all once -- and probably securing a Jury vote in Angela if she save her, and then boots her out later. [Grade: B-]

T'kor Clottey (23, crochet business) is in a vulnerable position only because she's part of a clearly visible trio the House will want to weaken. But, she's also the quiet mastermind of it, with very few people fully grasping her pulse of the game and her place in it. Still, she hasn't kept her alliances quiet enough, making her a target for weakening or elimination. [Grade: C+]

Chelsie Baham (27, nonprofit dir) could be about to weaken her own position in the game if she targets Quinn or Leah instead of the trio she's sure exists. But it looks like that might be exactly what she's about to do. Chelsie has been playing one of the strongest games in the House, and she's still in a great position, but this move could be the start of the end of the next HOH doesn't turn her way. She's a legitimate threat and the House is starting to see it. [Grade: C+]

Cam Sullivan-Brown (25, physical therapist) is somehow skating through, despite being a huge threat. Probably because he hardly ever talks at all. He's practically invisible, but loyal. The House just keeps thinking there are bigger fish to fry, and in many ways there are. But if they're not careful, when they pick each other off, there he'll be, ready to dominate. But could he win in the end? [Grade: C+]

Angela Murray (50, real estate agent) is becoming more and more of a threat in this game. She's sly and undermining in a way the younger players just aren't seeing. They see her as expendable, but she plays on their paranoias to buy one more week, one more week, and look at her now. We still think she'll get booted closer to the end, but if she could win her way to the end, she's building a strong case. [Grade: C-]

Rubina Bernabe (35, event bartender) is vulnerable as a member of the trio everybody knows about. The House appears over the Tucker connection, but she's more vulnerable without it. She's also all in with Kimo and T'kor, which is a huge risk at this stage. But this House has flipped more times than Simone Biles, so anything could still happen. [Grade: C-]

Leah Peters (26, VIP cocktail) is sneaky and manipulative, but losing Joseph hurt her game. If Quinn were to go this week, her game would be devastated as who else is wrapped around her fingers like that? Cam flirts with her, but we're not sold on if she could turn that into working for her. [Grade: C-]

Kimo Apaka (35, mattress sales) should be the one to go home this week, if the House were to keep up its tradition of taking out the biggest threat. The advantage he has is that he's not perceived as the biggest threat. He orchestrated the House flip a few weeks back, but most don't know it was him. He also should go home because of the trio thing of it all, but the House keeps letting that slide, too. [Grade: D+]

Quinn Martin (25, nurse recruiter) might just be in trouble, and become another conquest notch for Angela's growing belt of kills in this game. He's a messy player, and his Leah bias is impacting otherwise clear thinking. He wants to be a better player than he is. The problem is the House also thinks he's a better and smarter player than he is, and they love taking out huge threats. [Grade: C-]

House Chatter

• "Angela. Her and I, I would say, are … fine." --Makensy
• "We're gonna do a shot together." --Kimo (to Angela about finale night)
• "Hell, yeah I am. And if you guys have a pot, I'm gonna have a pot, too." --Angela (about … marijuana?)
• "It almost brought her to tears to see you picked." --Chelsie (to Makensy about Angela)
• "Obviously, I'm not gonna f--king use it on her." --Makensy
• "He literally looks just like my ex, I'm shooketh." --Leah (about OTEV)
• "I think we can all agree there's nothing better than a big dump." --OTEV
• "Angela's just stomping up there like the piece of trash she's looking for is out of stock and she demands to speak to OTEV's manager." --Leah
• "I threw like 30 Cedrics to the side in the search for Tucker. This is a cast full of idiots." --Quinn
• "OTEV was right. We are a bunch of dumbasses." --Chelsie
• "I've been around these people long enough to know their mann-urisms." --Angela

Big Brother airs Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays on CBS.