The Rat Is Back

[becky]

Heeey lovelies xoxo

First of all I want to say congratulations to both of you. Even though neither of you cared about steve's angels as much as I did, and even though you both helped slit my throat, I'm happy that the F2 is represented by both the angels. <3

I'm sure you're both expecting me to write up a bitter pissy speech about how awful you both were to me and how you both treated me incredibly poorly and how neither of you deserve to win.

And you're half right!

Shelli:


I REALLY respect your game. At the time, I was pissed that you put me up but honestly -- I was planning on putting you up if I won HoH the round I left. So like, I cannot be mad at you in any way shape or form. And you obviously had a great game that I only saw a part of. During the live round I expected you to at least touch the block because like -- you had won alternating HoHs for the past couple rounds! It was a no brainer to me for you to go up.

My question to you is to go a little bit more in depth about your game. What did you do socially and strategically to ensure that you were never a final nominee on the block? Your opening was a bit lacking, and your physical game speaks or itself. But I want to see a bit more of the other aspects of your game, since I obviously did not see them.

Steve:

Steve steve steve..

Honestly Steve I have a LOT to say about you, but I'll give you the sparknotes. First of all, I want to say that I really do enjoy you on a personal level and I hope that we can be friends without you having the pressure of trying to simultaneously please an entire cast of people. First off, let's highlight a part of your opening statement.

The reason why I played it was because I was trying to do it differently. Be inconsiderate to the person leaving, tell everyone who’s left what happened and why they wouldn’t vote for me. (Becky. I called myself Steve the Bitch for about a week following your eviction). It’s not a clean strategy, but it enabled me to always look like someone who COULD go home, but why would I?

Do you remember when you told me that you random.org'd your nominations, and I told you that I've never seen someone who claimed they random.org a decision ACTUALLY random.org a decision?

Well, similarly, I have never seen someone who played the "hurr durr I was just ACTING like a dick so I'd stay in the game" card ACTUALLY act like a dick for strategy. It's a classic thing I see goats post in their opening statements all the time. Hell, I have posted things like that in opening statements in order to try to justify my actions. But they almost NEVER actually meant it.

Also, I don't want to steal Arlie's thunder too much, but your exchange with him in the eviction thread was classless man. Like, it was a very low thing to do, and I don't think any part of that was ~strategic~ although you can feel free to claim it was.

Steve Moses, I honestly think you were just too afraid to tell me I was leaving. And I mean you aren't alone, but it still honestly hurts that you didn't say a fucking word to me. You didn't even fucking message me after the fact either. Like what gives? You told me week 1 that you really liked me and I was your #1. And while yes, I know our relationship changed when sherlock blew up our alliance, but you were still someone I viewed as a friend in the house. And I expected some god damn courtesy from you.

I have a couple pointed questions for you

1) Were you EVER being honest with me when you told me I was your #1?
2) Be honest -- how did you feel about me being in a side alliance with Naeha/Kels/Nick. Because, Steve Moses, I told you because I 100% trusted you and I didn't want to keep any secrets from you. But how did you react? You made that big alliance with howard and arlie and just blatantly excluded me from it, then you kept on targeting people in the side alliance (sorry Nae). Did it make you uncomfortable that I was in a side alliance? Were you upset? Be honest with me Steve.

Also

I ask any of you upset with me this question, where in the rules does it say that the winner of the game needs to be polite and trustworthy? It doesn’t.

Where in the rules does it say I have to vote for you to win for playing a "strong game that subverts expectations." It doesn't. I acknowledge that you subverted expectations, but unfortunately you subverted them in a very negative way Steve.



That's about it. I have more I could write down, but I think i've said too much already Steve.

If it's not clear, my vote is definitely going in one direction. But Steve if you answer these questions honestly and whole heartedly, and show some class in your other answers then...who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind.  


That's it best of luck you two

[Steve]

Let me start off by saying I was dreading your question the most.

Before I go into everything you said, and honestly you raised a lot of good points. I would also like to say that our friendship was genuine. From the beginning, you were the first person who I felt I could just sit down and talk to, without having to worry about the game and we could just have fun. I wouldn’t say there were speed bumps for our friendship car, but moreso I created a wall that the car crashed into. 

I do remember your statement about that, and I remember thinking. “Yeah. You’re right”. What I did wasn’t some huge mastermind move where I played the entire house and got what I wanted all “muwahaha” style. That didn’t happen, It did put me a good position though. With the exception of Naeha or Kathy if they would’ve won the next hoh, I wasn’t a direct threat who would be sent home. It was not a good move, what I did. I whole heartedly believe that. But there was a loose plan to it. I expected it to go way better, and I think after 15 minutes the plan went to the gutter. and then Kathy/Libra lost botb and it went into a deeper, second gutter. and then kathy (who I wanted out) won pov, which took it and went all the way down to the sewers and it got eaten by sewer rats. That week couldn’t have gone worse for me. I did take it though, marked down the little tiny victory that i had as a victory nonetheless and I spent the next two weeks embracing my issues and mistakes for that week, and apologizing profusely for it. Making the entire thing to be a joke via random.org punchlines and living room threads. Mostly because it was laughably bad. 

I wouldn’t say being a dick was my /strategy/, and if I said that, I most likely misspoke and I apologize. I was a dick, and after awhile I started to use that. i figured no one in the house would be willing to actively be a wildcard, and I noticed that people would say mean things about other players, but never to them. I wanted to eliminate the middle man and be sarcastic to them, figuring the obvious enemy of many isn’t the one who goes first. Was it classless, tasteless, and did I go too far a lot? Yes, and something in future games I do have to watch out for. I played this game all over the map, and I don’t feel anybody could really pinpoint where I was at any given time. 

In regards to Arlie’s eviction, it was classless. I agree. I hope that’s not coming across as bragging, because I’m not. At the time, I was very annoyed with him (I think both of us had our faults in the situation, but I definitely was the one who took it to a meaner level than I should have), and I would say I took extra measures in responding to him during the eviction, more than I needed. When I go off on rants, I say it in the moment, so I do understand the gravity of what I’ve said to him, and I agree that I really did take it quite a few steps too far. 

Was there an underlying thread of I would be a fantastic person to take to the final two? (Something I feel your question kind of proves lol. Even though that’s not really something in my favor). Yes, but that wasn’t something I needed, I think I already had it at that point, me vs. arlie was just a culmination of unjustified anger and misplaced annoyance that if anything, I definitely shouldn’t have gotten into it with him in public.

Regarding your eviction. I was afraid. I wasn’t around, and I sincerely thought we would have time later, but there’s no point in lying, I absolutely did not want to have the conversation, and I was dreading it. I had no idea what I was going to say. Same with Howard. When I saw the eviction posted, that was when you messaged me, angrily, rightfully so. I didn’t do well with people leaving the game, I am aware of that. It was something I knew I was doing, and I knew it would get me here. But looking back, I’m surprised I wasn’t arrested for arson because of the amount of bridges I’ve burned.

I’ll stop ranting though, I kinda feel like I do nothing but annoy you right now, so I’ll just go to the questions lol.

1. Yes. In the beginning of the game. I had the closest connection to you, I feel. As weeks went on, I felt it slip. Like I wasn’t your only number one. Then I started hearing about alliances with you and other people like liz and cass and kathy and naeha, and something Liz told me, was that you specifically asked her not to tell me about an alliance with you her cass and naeha. (the names could be wrong, but it was in that core group of people, I remember. If I recall, she was annoyed because there was a second group of pretty much the same people, just excluding her?). So after that I was weary, and then I heard from the same side of people that there was an alliance of you liz and shelli. So honestly, you were my number one. I would love to pander to you and say you were my number one until the week you left, but the truth is, after things kept coming back to me, my trust started to drop. Which isn’t an attack on you, because I was doing things that probably made you lose your trust in me as well. 

2. I was nervous about it. The attempt to target your side of the house was not on me. Again, it’s a game move i would love to take credit for. That was on Howard. He was very perceptive and knew there was an all girls thing going on. he named out kelsey and kathy and naeha. and me and him talked about it. For weeks, I kept leaving your name out of the equation. He would bring it up and I’d go “oh i don’t know, man. i feel like she’d be honest with me about that”. So to recap, in the beginning, I definitely had your back, and had my trust in you, but after everything I heard, and then Kelsey’s hoh where everything got blown up, I became really hesitant. I started to heavily question your motives, which from what you’re telling me, was unfounded. Which in that case, I apologize. When you’re in the house, all you see is tunnel vision though. Which isn’t an excuse, or an explanation, but for that one particular instance of your week, and everything surrounding, I had tunnel vision and could only see what was in front of me. 

I don’t think I have a shot at your vote. I wish I did lol. But, I completely understand where you’re coming from. I do appreciate your questions and thank you for reading this lol

[becky]

Yeah when I said you were being a dick for strategy I was mostly just paraphrasing the bit of your opening I quoted but I c what u mean there. And I mean, after you put Nae up as a replacement you were totally right to question my motives. After that I began to question your motives a lot, and realized I had to branch out away from you. But before then I told you literally EVERYTHING that went on in my game and I was with you 100%, haha.

Anyway thank you for your honesty Steve, I really appreciate it. And like I said before, you're an awesome guy and I enjoyed getting to know you, and I'd love to keep in touch once the game's over because you're a hoot

[Shelli Poole]

Hey Becky! Thanks very much for the kind words! I just wanted to let you know I'm already up wayyy past my bedtime but I'll answer your question tomorrow evening after work.

[Shelli Poole]

Aug 8, 2016 4:53:48 GMT becky said:

Shelli:


I REALLY respect your game. At the time, I was pissed that you put me up but honestly -- I was planning on putting you up if I won HoH the round I left. So like, I cannot be mad at you in any way shape or form. And you obviously had a great game that I only saw a part of. During the live round I expected you to at least touch the block because like -- you had won alternating HoHs for the past couple rounds! It was a no brainer to me for you to go up.

My question to you is to go a little bit more in depth about your game. What did you do socially and strategically to ensure that you were never a final nominee on the block? Your opening was a bit lacking, and your physical game speaks or itself. But I want to see a bit more of the other aspects of your game, since I obviously did not see them.

Hey again Becky! Okay, so this is super long and I hope I don't put anyone to sleep but this is also the reason I didn't want to add it to my opening. I know I am directly answering you here, but just to be consistent and clear I'm calling you "Becky" instead of "You" as I write, lol.

So, here we go:

PRE-GAME THROUGH WEEK 2

I want to start with my initial impressions and connections in the game because it kind of sets the stage. The very first person I talked in the game was Libra and I thought she was really nice and sweet. She liked to talk about music a lot, which I can be very lame about, but I definitely thought we'd end up being close and working together in the game. 

My First Alliance - The Blonde Windows:
Next came Liz and - it was kind of love at first talk lol. We hit it off immediately from night 1 and began assessing the rest of the cast together by day 2. I mentioned we were "blonde widows" because we were both estranged from our exes (Clay/Austin) but typo'd and it came out "blonde windows" instead, and Liz loved it so, that was our name! She also made an amazing pic for us and it was actually one of the scenes in the Week 11 Visual Memory POV, where Liz & Shelli both won HOH together, which thrilled me btw! 

In the meantime, I had gotten a chance to talk to everyone by the time the first HOH was up and Liz and I shared some favorites. There were a couple of people who she may have liked more than me and vice versa. But we had pretty similar opinions...which brings me to...

My Second Alliance - Steve's Angels:
I'll just take a moment to talk about how this was formed, although I know you know, Becky. So, Becky was one of the people both Liz and I had said we really liked. She was funny and personable. We also both said we liked Steve a lot. A lot of my first chats with Becky consisted of: "hey Basic Becky!" "Hi Shelli <3" "Hi Trainiac" etc, etc. So, Day 2 I approached her about working together. She agreed! We screamed & hugged, etc. Shortly after, we started discussing BB17 and then joked about an alliance and adding Steve & Liz since we both liked them anyway. Then I went to Steve and brought up working together and possibly adding someone else to make it like 3 or 4 and he agrees. He asked me who, I brought up Liz & Becky, and then more BB17 jokes, and he agrees to approach Becky. I tell Becky she's being approached, and then I told Liz about it all the next day while waiting for HOH 1 results. A new chat was made Day 4 and the alliance was born. 

My Third Alliance - SLASH:
Also around this time, I had talked to Arlie about working together and he brought up forming a group. He initially mentioned Liz and Becky, which I was good with. I think I may have told him I liked Liz at one point so I'm not sure if he brought her up for that reason. This alliance was not easy to form lol. Arlie also mentioned Howard which I was also good with and I mentioned Steve which Arlie didn't seem too thrilled about. So, in the interest of keeping this brief, over the span of the next few days, SLASH was finally formed when I finally told Steve about it. He talked to Howard apparently and it was decreed by Howard I guess that Becky was out so Steve made the chat (I think not until around Day 8) and thought of some silly name lol. Meanwhile, Becky knew all about it the whole time and so it was a bit awkward. 

My Fourth Alliance - ESPN:
This alliance was actually finalized prior to SLASH being finalized (because SLASH took sooo long lol) but was formed after the "idea of SLASH." So, Liz happened to mention to me one day that Kelsey wanted to form a potential group and had brought up my name and also Becky and Naeha. Liz didn't want to include Becky because then she'd know about "all" our groups, and I suggested Kathy over Naeha and said maybe she could sell it as a blonde alliance. I'm not sure of all the back-story between Liz and Kelsey because I know they were very close and had a F2 at this time, also, but eventually ESPN was formed and it was really a fun group. We watched a movie together (Legally Blonde, of course), and I just felt really comfortable with it. 

I also learned from Liz that Kelsey had made an alliance with Naeha, Becky & Nick. 

June 12th - Becky teaches me about "ghosting"
haha just threw that in - I think Becky was telling me about Arlie ghosting her so I asked what that was and she explained. 

So, those were my major/early alliances but I also felt I had a pretty good connection from the first night with Crazy James. I thought he was funny and sweet. I spent a lot of time trying to talk with each person about something, anything. With Sam, he was pretty hard to get to talk at first. Eventually we hit on the topic of Survivor and he opened right up! So, I was thrilled and just talked Survivor to him every time we chatted. Since Sam and James won the first HOH, I was pretty sure I wasn't going up, which I didn't. Needless to say, I didn't go on the block during Week 2 when Liz and Howard were co-HOH's, either. 

WEEK 3 THROUGH WEEK 5

Week 3 - Naeha and Kathy HOH
Kathy being HOH was obviously great for me, but Naeha was a bit of a question mark. Before this week, though, I had written in my DR that Naeha winning HOH was one of my biggest fears. By the time she did win, I felt okay enough with her that she wouldn't put me up. I also felt there were enough other people she would choose over me. 

Week 4 - James and Naeha HOH
This week was a little bit crazy lol. When James won, he was insistent on putting Liz on the block. It was kind of a no-brainer and I wasn't going to try to talk him out of it, but he also told me Nick was going up and that he had agreed to throw the BotB. I didn't buy that Nick would intentionally throw a comp and tried to tell James that Liz would probably win and get off, since she was so strong.

I had a bit of a crazy plan which I proposed to Liz and told Becky and Steve about. I was convinced Liz would win BotB, and I thought I might go up on Naeha's side, so I offered to try to get put up next to Liz lol. It sounds a bit crazy now but at the time I was positive we would win the BotB together. I did propose it to James, basically telling him he would make one less person mad if I was offering...but he said he didn't want to risk me. I may have been a little relieved lol. 

Anyway, James told me that he would backdoor Naeha if he had the chance. So... I may have told Liz, Steve and Becky about this which made Naeha determined to backdoor James if she stayed HOH. Becky had Naeha's ear so, she proposed Libra going up with Arlie (so it wouldn't be me) and she passed the info to Naeha about James's BD intentions toward her. 

Week 5 - Cass & Steve HOH
Well, this week I was not successful in staying off the block. My only week to ever go up. I think I was seen at this point as an easy target or an easy pawn, etc. I was very annoyed that Cass put me up but tbh, I would've put her up if I had won. I just didn't tell her that. Basically my job for the week was to get off the block. So, Kelsey and I thought of every possible clue for the passwords - since we had been given a brief summary of what the BotB would be. She and I spent time compiling information from past seasons, I updated all my info from this season, we shared everything, and I also shared how to move the pics around fast (which Liz had shared with me <3 ). We set a time to be ready to do it and....I think I got 3 out of 10 pwds and Kelsey got the rest and put the puzzle together. She killed it! lol And luckily for us, Kathy and Libra lost. So, we got off the block, but I guess this story was also important because I think we also really bonded during this week, which definitely helped me in future weeks.

On the the other side of the block... lol. Was Steve and his whole "I'm randomizing noms" week. Steve didn't tell me what was going on until I heard it from Liz. I found out he was okay with me going up next to Kelsey because at least I wasn't going up next to Becky. It still didn't sit right and I still didn't know if he could've kept me off the block or not. The fact he didn't want to stay HOH after going for over 14 hours drove me insane!!! Anyway, his re-nom was Naeha and it's probably obvious that my alliances had differing opinions of who they wanted out between Naeha and Libra. SLASH pushed for Naeha but I had already told ESPN I wanted to vote Libra. By this time I knew about an alliance with Liz/Howard/Libra, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to vote Libra out. We had also really not been talking very much at all. I could at least talk to Naeha. So, I stood my ground even though on the side Liz and I were talking about who to vote out - I told her I would vote with her because I wanted to make sure she was also making the decision and not just throwing it out to the guys as - Well, Shelli is voting Libra so I have no choice. I also had a little bit of a talk with Howard over Steve lying to me about his re-noms (he told me he randomized it like he told everyone else except Liz, Arlie, Howard). This helped my case that I wasn't happy with Steve that week, I think. At least Howard thought that was my main reason for the way I was voting - but it had nothing to do with it.

WEEK 6 THROUGH 10

Week 6 - Shelli HOH
So, obviously I won HOH and was thrilled and danced and was safe...etc etc. Liz had been talking about wanting to backdoor Kathy before HOH results and I didn't really commit either way to her but I did not want to do that. Not this week. I did think the girls should be weakened but I didn't want to lose Kathy. Ironically, Kathy also had her suspicions about Liz but I never told Liz that because I didn't want to give her more reason to try to push a Kathy eviction on my HOH.

Obviously, I put up James and Cass. It wasn't really easy explaining it to James and I felt bad about it, but my only other option without putting up an alliance member was Naeha, and I didn't want to take a shot at her and give her the chance to win POV. Cass ended up picking her for POV but Liz won and saved James. I was pretty much putting up Naeha from that point on because my other choice would've probably been Howard and, while he was a big threat, that would really make the "sides" unbalanced and I did not want Kathy/Naeha/Kelsey mowing us all over. I was also not sure where Becky stood but I knew she had options to go with that side if she chose. 

My justification to Kathy and Kelsey was that Cass had picked Naeha for POV so she must be close - so I put her next to Cass. Kathy was very comforting and reassuring but Kelsey...well tune in to week 7 lol. Anyway, I did talk to Naeha for a long time that night. In my head, I was still contemplating Howard as a nom and I just never wanted to close off any options. So, the chat was great, but it was pretty clear that we liked each other but never had anything official. I was told after we talked that I had to do my noms by noon eastern the next morning, which was 9am for me. I overslept and woke up about 5 minutes before and just decided just to go through with my original plan. The reason I didn't bring it up to Naeha that night was because I was not 100% certain of my decision and thought I had more time. Looking back, I probably was always going to nominate her but I'm such an over-thinker, I just wait til the last minute on every decision. 

Week 7 - Kelsey HOH
This week was so terrible! I hated all of it. Everyone knows that Kelsey discovered the BB17 alliance and blew it up. By the time I knew she knew, I had no choice but to admit it. I also told her about SLASH when it was clear she knew about it.

This is where it got really sad and selfish for me. I spent a lot of time talking with Kelsey about how close I felt to her, why it didn't mean I wasn't with her, etc, etc. She also had her own side alliance but I was really loyal to Kelsey - and to Kathy at that time. I just also loved Liz and was with her. So, I just had to walk a tightrope between knowing Liz was leaving and not wanting it to happen and saving myself. I think I managed to repair things with Kelsey but I was devastated to lose Liz.

Week 8 - Shelli HOH 
I put up the same noms and when James got off the block again ... lol. I nominated Becky for a couple of reasons. I still didn't want to go after SLASH at that point and I wasn't going after ESPN either. I was still definitely playing the middle. So, I really suspected Becky was the rat lol and even though she denied it and had chats, I just couldn't see how this came out of thin air into Kelsey's head so...I actually had told Becky I might put her up initially and then didn't. Bad idea lol! But, since I already did that I just decided to go through with it. Also, I think Becky was close to Arlie and I really wanted Arlie to myself.

Week 9 - Kathy HOH
This was the Fast Forward round. Before HOH, Howard came to me and asked if I said I would put him up if I won HOH. Well, I knew that I had only said that to Kathy the round before. And it was almost just in passing - I had been talking about re-noms and telling her I was probably putting Becky up and then said at one point "maybe Howard" which was really more because I wanted her to think I would go after the boys, but also because I did consider it. Anyway, Howard and I talked and I told him I was never going to put him and up and we also talked about talking more, making more plans together. So, I didn't tell Kathy about this before HOH and she didn't put me up, obviously. I think she still really trusted me. 

Week 10 - Shelli HOH

So, this week James was gone and I really wanted to put up Cass with a guy but I also thought Kathy would save Cass if I did that. Also, there were 3 of them on the guys side - Steve, Howard and Arlie - and taking a shot at one - I may as well just put two of them up. But, ultimately I saw Kathy/Kelsey as the bigger threat down the line. I knew they would protect each other and so I thought either Kathy leaves or, she gets off and I put Howard up and he leaves. It was really just an excuse to say I wasn't sure if I could trust her because of her telling Howard I would have put him up. I know she was just saving herself and was probably not going after me right away...but then again I think she would've gone after me and we were getting closer and closer to the end. So, that was my plan...we all know what happened. 

WEEK 11 THROUGH PRESENT

Week 11 - Sherlock HOH
We all know Howard left this week but this was also the week another alliance was formed. 

The Thirsty Threesome
When Kelsey won HOH Howard told her he would have nominated Steve and Cass - I think he might have actually nominated me but I'm not really sure. It was pretty obvious he was trying to stay off the block. I talked to Steve and Kelsey separately about making a F3 to ensure that Steve didn't go back with/save Howard if he won POV (which was likely), and just to ensure a little more trust with Steve since we had been struggling a lot. Especially after his HOH week - I didn't trust him anymore but didn't think he was coming after me immediately or anything. So, I just tried to tell him what he wanted to hear but this was basically a new opportunity to build some trust back. Steve passed the test, didn't save Howard, moving on.

Week 12 - Steve HOH

Steve and I had talked the round before about Cass leaving because we knew she'd put us both up if she won HOH. I also had no interest in a F3 situation with Cass. I knew she'd stay up for days doing endurance and could very possibly win the Final Comp. She was not taking me over anyone. I also really wanted Arlie to stay. I never felt I was in any danger of leaving this week. 

Week 13 - Shelli HOH
I won F4 HOH which I was thrilled about! I would have rather won F4 Veto because I would've taken Steve out this week. I knew he was going to be good at the comps near the end, which he was. But, I won HOH and he won POV so he was safe. He asked me what I thought he should do regarding his decision to evict Arlie or Kelsey and I danced around it a little but then when he kept asking me, I just told him to keep Kelsey. The reason I said this was because I thought he was asking me so he could show her I told him to vote her out. If he was smart, he would've kept Arlie, but I thought if he couldn't figure that out on his own, I wasn't going to give him ammunition to use against me. 

F3
I probably don't have to explain this one but, I won two comps and took Steve over Kelsey, and now I'm here lol. 


I hope this answers your question, Becky. Please feel free to ask for any more detail or any clarification. I just didn't want to bore people too much! 

[Arlie Shaban]

Thanks Shelli for making me Google/Wikipedia "ghosting" and wonder WTF Becky was going on with it.

[becky]

LOL THE GHOSTING EXPLANATION <3

Love you shell that was a great answer! Lots of things I didn't know in there

Btw I hope you don't still think I ratted our group because I didn't

[Shelli Poole]

Oh wow okay! I am really truly sorry then. I think we all should've shut our mouths and not admitted it.

[becky]

I AGREE *looks at steve*

[Steve]

Oh- Yeah. I admitted it. My bad lol.

[kelsey]

Whoops 🙊