Vanessa's Job Is A 'Big Brother' Red Flag

Big Brother being in its seventeenth season means that many of the current players have been watching the show for years and have come up with pretty detailed strategies as a result. When you're in the house, even if you are not actually talking about the game, you are playing the game. This includes the houseguests' time spent socializing and talk about their personal lives outside of the show. Many of them have lied or hidden information that could give them a perceived advantage in the house. Which makes me wonder, is Vanessa lying about her job to the Big Brother 17 houseguests? She certainly wouldn't be the first person to do so.

For instance, Big Brother 16 winner Derrick purposely did not reveal that he was an undercover police officer. Yes, this is deceitful, but also an excellent strategy. Telling people that Derrick was an undercover cop would put a giant target on his back and signal that he is excellent at reading people and manipulating situations. And obviously this proved to be true, given that he won the season and was never on the block once.

This season, Vanessa is taking a page from Derrick's playbook. She is a poker player and a DJ. Almost everyone and their grandmother claims to be a DJ these days, so it's the poker player part that stood out to me, and is very reminiscent of the Derrick situation. Being a successful poker player means that you have to possess some game playing skills like manipulation, reading people, and bluffing — all of which are also essential to excel on Big Brother. So what has Vanessa told the cast about her life outside of the Big Brother house? Do they know what she does for a living?

Vanessa technically isn't lying. She is just omitting some of the truth. She has been telling her castmates that she is a DJ, which is true, but she's not mentioning the part about also being a poker player for obvious reasons.

It's also worth nothing that former houseguest Da'Vonne is a professional poker dealer. I'm not sure how close their respective poker circles are, but I could not help but wonder if she knew Vanessa or was at least was familiar with her. According to her CBS bio, Vanessa has won an estimated $4.5 million from poker tournaments, which is a pretty big deal, so I would not be surprised if Day knew who she was.

This was not shown on a televised episode of Big Brother, but in the live feeds, Da'Vonne told Megan and Jason about Vanessa's job. It's unclear how exactly Day found out. There doesn't to have been any further discussion of Vanessa's profession, but she's doing a great job playing the game. It's safe to bet that if Vanessa does reveal she is a professional poker player to the other houseguests, it'll all be part of her plan.

Image: Sonja Flemming/CBS