Showmance: [n.] a romance that develops between two reality show participants. A lovely Hollywood term for "onscreen fling." On Big Brother 17 , Clay and Shelli have begun a showmance to put all showmances to shame, mostly because Clay is involved. The two of them have been gracefully flirting with each other for the two weeks they've been in the house. They've both acknowledged attraction to each other on night one, so now it's just a matter of time before something happens between these two beautiful people, right?
Not so fast. Shelli and Clay, while I think you two totally work together (they both have heart murmurs... It's kismet), I worry that love will eventually be your failure. At the risk of sounding dramatic, Clay is Romeo, Shelli is Juliet, and Big Brother is the friar that gave Juliet the sleep potion to fake die (meaning, Big Brother is trying to make this relationship work), and all of the houseguests are the feuding Capulet and Montague family members who will not let this love flourish like it is meant to. The TL;DR version of that: Clay and Shelli as a couple are doomed.
Shelli and Clay put themselves at major risk starting a showmance in the Big Brother house, and I'm not just saying that because I wish I was Shelli and had Clay for myself. I say it because showmances put targets on peoples' backs for no reason. (Unless you're Jeff and Jordan, or Brendon and Rachel, then I guess eternal love might be worth it.) But Clay and Shelli, beware, because your little showmance could send you packing soon.
Why would this happen? Showmances bond two people. Other houseguests tend to be cautious of aligning with showmance people because they now come as a packaged deal. Hypothetically, if Austin were to want to align with Clay, Austin might feel he also needs to extend the invitation to Shelli. Or Austin might feel he can't ever nominate Shelli. Plus, no one wants to take a showmancer to the end, because that person has a guaranteed vote (if their better half made it to jury). Either way, it gets really messy for all parties involved.
If Clay and Shelli are able to separate their game talk from pillow talk, than more power to them. Maybe they'll redefine showmance from a "haha, yeah that will last," reaction to a "#RelationshipGoals" reaction. But at this point, it seems like some houseguests are already considering separating these two love birds.
It would be a real shame to get evicted from the house because of a showmance. While I totally support these two for following their ~murmuring hearts~, I think it would behoove them to make sure their game isn't at risk because of their showmance.
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Images: Sonja Flemming/CBS
