By Matthew Lutey
From the boss to the block.
That’s what happened to Boca Raton resident Joe “Pooch” Pucciarelli on Sunday’s episode of the CBS reality show Big Brother.
The assistant football coach was nominated for eviction along with personal stylist Taylor Hale. The nominations were made by new Head of Household Jasmine Davis, who won a competition combining pie eating and true/false questions at the start of the episode.
The objective of Big Brother is to be the last houseguest remaining, which results in a $750,000 prize. Houseguests are cut off from the outside world, followed by cameras and vie for power to be the Head of Household and nominate two players they would like to see eliminated. A weekly vote is conducted – usually on Thursdays – to evict one of the nominated houseguests.
Pooch actually volunteered to be nominated as a pawn, with the idea that Taylor would be the target for eviction. But there’s a common phrase in Big Brother lore that pawns go home, and it seems like that could happen to him.
“Being a super fan of Big Brother, the number one rule is never volunteer as a pawn,” houseguest Alyssa Snider said in a diary room session after Pooch told her his idea. “Pooch, are you talking about putting yourself on the block this week? How are you going to make this dumb of a move, this early in the game?”
Pooch didn’t want Taylor nominated initially, because that would decrease her chances to play in the Power of Veto competition. That competition is held on Wednesday’s episodes and can allow one of the two nominated houseguests to be removed from the block.
Taylor then could be named the replacement nominee without having the chance to compete for the veto, which in Big Brother is known as a backdoor plan.
However, houseguest Ameerah Jones had other plans. She suggested targeting Pooch for eviction this week, since she is not aligned with him and he is seen as a strong player.
“If Pooch is going to go ahead and volunteer to put himself on the block, we may not have that many opportunities in the future, so I think we may need to strike now,” Ameerah said.
Taylor was ostracized by most of the house during the first week of the game, which likely went into Pooch’s willingness to be a pawn.
“Taylor losing the HOH is good because she is still enemy No.1 in the house,” Pooch said in a diary room session after Taylor was eliminated from the Head of Household competition. “We were all on board, the entire house, to vote her out week one. It was something where she was able to get a second life, and I’m glad she got to enjoy another week in the house because I personally like her, but it’s time to send her packing now.”
Pooch is also unaware of the “girls’ girls” alliance, an all-female alliance, which Jasmine and Ameerah are members of. Since Pooch has mainly made connections with the guys in the house, that made him vulnerable.
“I think that he thinks that because he is well-liked, people are going to keep him around, which is not the case, we’re all here to win money. So we’re going to get him out,” Ameerah said in the diary room.
Pooch was randomly chosen as the “backstage boss” on the premiere episode, meaning he was safe from the first eviction. This week is an entirely different story, but Pooch still has a few outlets to save himself.
The veto competition takes place on Wednesday’s episode. If Pooch wins he can remove himself from the block. If someone else wins they can choose to use it on either nominee. There’s also the chance he can get the votes to stay over Taylor if the nominees stay the same.