It's been an emotional week for Shelli in the Big Brother 17 house. She was nominated for eviction with her showmance partner and was then forced to watch Clay walk out with the knowledge that she won't be able to see him for at least two more months. After that terrible ordeal, her alliance is ready to break down at any time, her closest ally in the house has been evicted, and nobody in the house trusts her. While this week has been rough, Shelli losing Clay may be the motivation she needs to get to the end of the season.
Clay and Shelli proved to be very loyal to each other, which also proved to be their demise. Their coupling made them a big target for the rest of the house, and many people assumed that anything Clay said went double for Shelli. While one of the best game moves you can do in Big Brother is to find one person you trust more than anyone else and work with them, there are also disadvantages to being coupled with another player. While Shelli may miss Clay as a person, her gameplay will now be entirely hers, and not shared with another houseguest. For more on this separated showmance, check out Bustle's BB17 podcast, The Diary Room.
Here are a few reasons why Shelli is better off without Clay.
Clay Is Hot-Headed
During his final week, Clay was getting into a bad habit of being overly confrontational, especially towards James. Big Brother is a game all about making deals and getting others to want to work with you. Clay's strategy of "Let me get louder until I get what I want" didn't keep him from going home, so it's good that Shelli doesn't have to worry about managing him.
She Can Focus On Houseguests Other Than Clay
Now that Shelli is her own person instead of "Half of Clelli," she has an opportunity to reset her status in the house. Instead of holing up in the HOH room or spending all day in Clay's arms, she can try to get in good with the other houseguests and disassociate from the showmance.
Clay Needed A Lot Of Direction
During their showmance, Shelli was the driving force behind all of the decisions made by Clelli. While it's nice to have a puppet in the house, it's better if that puppet is able to exist as their own person without needing someone telling them what to do constantly. Clay seemed unable to do that.
She's Less Threatening When She's Alone
When James nominated houseguests for eviction, he deliberately put Clay and Shelli against each other. This is because Clay was not a big target, and neither was Shelli. Clelli was a massive target, however. Now that Shelli is working as an independent player, she may be able to lay low and get that target off of her back.
She Can Form A Better Partnership
Now that Shelli no longer has a partnership as close as what she had with Clay, she has the chance to make a new partnership that could be more beneficial to her long-term game. She could get closer with her fellow Sixth Sense member Vanessa, or get close with Becky whose allegiance is still up for grabs. There's a selection of great partners available in the house, many of whom are better than Clay was.
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