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The Obsession is nearly over and this week saw such monumental moves that I have to discuss it again. But first! A photo to keep the hordes who are unaccountably not glued to the TV at Big Brother All-Stars time – if you only knew what you’re missing – from banding together and doing an intervention. Yes, I have A Problem, but I don’t want to be cured:

I call this Storm Coming:

And speaking of approaching storms… Coming into this week, things were looking dire for my Janey. Will was brilliant at manipulation – he made this season – and I think I figured out how he does it. I noticed how Janelle would every now and again frown when he said something that set far-away alarm bells ringing and every single time, he’d speed up the talking, give her a twirl and a compliment. I saw how he did the same with other players (sans twirl) and realized that he drowns them in words. He notices a crack in the spell and before it has time to widen, he talks and talks and talks, obfuscating, distracting until the other person forgets about the brief moment of clarity. Masterful! Chilltown had successfully convinced both Janelle and Erika they were the Chosen One and kept them separated and distrustful of each other. Until Janelle won veto and Erika started campaigning to stay. And that’s when they slowly started realizing they’d both been played. If a woman scorned is something to fear, imagine two! Boogie’s face when Will got kicked out was the defining image of the season. And later, for the second season in a row, Janelle coined the catchphrase of the year when she mentioned how Will would say that he was the fox and she was the bunny, then continued “who’s the bunny now, bitch?”. Awesome!! I think she might win this after all…

To step back a moment, I have to mention something that’s been bugging me. All over the internet, people have been screaming about Erika and Janelle’s willingness to be played, calling them all the lovely names people call women who are making unwise decisions. Here’s the thing: they are living in a bubble, completed isolated from the outside world, their family, their friends, spending every day, all day with the men who are manipulating them. Men who don’t give them any space to think, to step back to see the big picture, but keep inundating them with lovely words at a vulnerable time. You try going without your loved ones for 3 months – how much would you be able to keep a distance from someone bound and determined to romance you? How can you not fall for it in that situation? And let’s not forget, everyone else believed Will, too, despite being aware of his nickname (the Puppetmaster) and knowing that he’s probably lying at all times.

That said, I’m much relieved that they finally came to their senses and I hope they kick Boogie out, despite both having a better chance to win against him. I’d love to see this pact of empowered women go to the end, principles intact, having played the men who played them.

Who do you want to win?