How Rock, Paper, Scissors Could Ruin 'BB17'

Sometimes I wonder if the houseguests understand what they're signing up for when they choose to play Big Brother. This season has been through its high and low points, but definitely reached a new low this week as Steve and John sit on the block and everyone in the house is worried about getting blood on their hands. With an evicted jury member re-entering the game during Thursday's live eviction episode, the houseguests are even more paranoid and blood-averse than usual. After Vanessa won the POV competition and decided to keep the nominations the same, an odd plan started circulating: Steve and John could play a game of rock, paper, scissors on Big Brother 17 and the loser would be evicted.

This is Big Brother! Blood is everywhere, and certainly some will end up on your hands. Everything about this rock, paper, scissors idea is all sorts of wrong.

For starters, this is just plain mean. Steve has been watching Big Brother since he was a child and has been dreaming of being on the show for most of his life. Now he's on the block, which is bad enough already, and his fate might be decided because rock crushes scissors? And John might not be as much of a superfan, but he has been playing a strong game this season and should be evicted on those merits, not on scissors cutting paper.

Secondly, the rock, paper, scissors idea takes additional power away from the houseguests. It's bad enough that Season 17 has followed the recent trend of "voting with the house," where everyone or almost everyone votes to evict the same person so as to avoid an unnecessary target on their back. Obviously, if you vote to evict somebody and then they stay, he or she might come after you, but so could that person's alliance members. A few seasons back, this fear made the house minority start voting with the majority to avoid that situation. It has been frustrating to watch as a BB fan but OK, fine, many of us have come to accept it. This game, however is just ridiculous! If there is no compelling majority, then at least have each houseguest vote for who they personally would like to see go.

Also, this idea would make for boring TV. Can you imagine that happening on live television? What's the point of voting at all? Just refuse to cast any votes and let production come up with a new plan. It'd be Big Brother anarchy, and they wouldn't all be expelled if everyone went along with it. That seems like a more exciting television moment!

For more on this season of Big Brother, check out Bustle's podcast The Diary Room.

Image: CBS