Entertainment

Is Frankie the Showmance Type?

by Kadeen Griffiths

Frankie Grande from Big Brother may not have said that he's not here to make friends, but he didn't have to say it to be living it. Ever since he entered the Big Brother house, Frankie has been proudly playing a neutral game, one that mainly involves agreeing with whoever happens to be speaking to him at the time and generally remaining on good terms with just about everyone in the house. Those good terms don't actually stop him from betraying them, though, like he did when he almost ruined Zankie by stabbing Zach Rance in the back. Even now, if there's one thing that seems clear about Frankie, it's that anyone who thinks they can claim to be his best friend in the house will probably be proven wrong one of these days.

With Caleb busy stalking Amber and Hayden and Nicole getting closer every day, I can't help but start to wonder if Frankie is actually the showmance type. His entire game plan to this point has been to stay as neutral as possible, which has earned him a lot of friends thanks to his natural charm but it hasn't earned him a lot of best friends. Frankie is more of an alliance person than he is a friendship person, as far as the Big Brother household is concerned. Outside of the house, we know that Frankie Grande has a lot of famous friends (up to and including his famous sister Ariana Grande), but inside of the house Frankie is only your friend when it's convenient for him.

That might work well for his game now when it's just a matter of letting people destroy themselves warring for dominance, but is it going to put him in jeopardy later down the line? Frankie is sitting pretty in the Team America alliance of himself, Derrick and Donny, but both Derrick and Donny have other close friends in the house. In fact, Derrick and Donny are only as close to Frankie as the Team America alliance requires them to be and hardly seek him out aside from it. Frankie's closest friend is Zach, but that could go south so quickly if Zach ever found out that Frankie was trying to help convince people to vote to evict him over Paola.

Even if Zach never finds out, he might still later realize that it might not be in his best interest to be close with Frankie. After all, Frankie and Victoria were fast friends on the first day of Big Brother only for Frankie to make HoH and immediately nominate her for eviction. People that Frankie gets close to tend to find a wrench suddenly thrown into their game and there are already people in the house who don't trust him or who consider him part of the Bomb Squad problem with Caleb and Devin.

At this point, those hoping to see Frankie end up in a true showmance would probably be better off giving up. His friendships and alliances are always going to be cute while they last, and he's always going to be one of the funniest and most charming people in the house, but his game is definitely coming before making any lasting friendships in the Big Brother house. It's understandable, considering getting close to people is practically a guarantee that you'll get hurt when they inevitably stab you in the back or go home, but it's actually kind of sad.

Later in the game, maybe Frankie will see some wisdom in throwing his lot in with just one person for better or for worse, but at the end of the day this is a competition. Showmances are fun distractions, but Frankie has to keep his eyes on the prize to avoid going home. How long it will take for everyone to start thinking that his neutral game makes him the biggest threat in the house is unknown. So far, Frankie has yet to be nominated for eviction despite his under-the-radar loyalty hopping, so we can't say that it's not working for him.

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