How Can Vanessa Sway The ‘BB17’ Jury?

For some reason I always think that the members of the Big Brother jury are going to hold honest game play above all else when deciding who should win. Maybe it’s because that is what would be the big deciding factor for me: Did you play an honest game the entire time you were in the house? Did you stab people in the back without just cause? Or were you up front in making big moves when you could? If I were part of the jury, the players would have to be able to answer those questions in the following order to get my vote: Yes, no, yes. Which means, for players like Vanessa, any chance that she has to convince the jury to vote for her would be null and void.

So it’s always surprising to me when the jury members talk about how they’re going to pick the top player and say something other than “Did they play an honest game?” Because, the truth is, most jury members don’t care about how honest the game was. I mean, they kinda care. If a houseguest stabbed them in the back in a big way, they might not think twice about voting for the other guy. But, for the most part, they’re more interested in how well the houseguests played the game. And playing the game well often involves dishonesty in the Big Brother house.

For that reason, it might not be that hard for Vanessa to convince a decent number of her jury members to vote for her if she makes it to the final two. They might take one look at how long she has lasted in the game, and how skillfully she has played every member of the Big Brother house, and decide that this girl, above everyone else, played the game the hardest. And it’s not hard to imagine. She really did play this season of Big Brother harder than anyone else.

But, in doing so, she pissed off a lot of the houseguests as well. In order for her to convince the jury that she should win the game, she’s going to have to convince them that, in spite of all the ways she stabbed them in the back — whoopsies! — she deserves to the win the game because of how well she played the game. And, if that’s not possible, because it might be a stretch for someone like Vanessa, it might come down to who is in the final two with her. If Vanessa turns out to be the lesser of two evils, then maybe she’ll win the vote. Although, at this point, I can’t think of any of the remaining houseguests who are as hated as she is. Maybe Austin?

So as much as it seems unlikely to me that Vanessa would be able to convince the jury to vote for her, it is definitely possible.

For more game talk, make sure to check out Bustle's Big Brother podcast, The Diary Room.

Image: CBS (2)