Alliances are a funny thing. You sort of need them to get through the game, but ultimately, you can’t trust anyone in the house fully enough to create a true alliance. This is a debate that I’ve been having with someone since the season started. He insists that alliances are only needed because the house guests create the need for them, which is kind of true. Most decisions are made based on the alliances that exist in the house. If the house guests weren’t allowed to create alliances, this would be a very different game. Everyone would truly play for themselves, and the result at the end of the summer would be far different than the result of the end of the season in an alliance-filled house.

But that kind of speculation doesn’t really matter, because the fact is, alliances reign supreme in Big Brother. They’re made early on in the game, and sometimes they last right until the end of summer. More often than not though, they splinter and fall apart, because the house guests base their decisions about alliance members on first impressions, and first impressions often don’t reflect the true character of a person.

This is what is happening in the house right now. The 8Pack seemed to have it all, until Frank and Tiffany (I was going to say Vanessa) had a little spat. Now the members are at odds with each other and that does not bode well for any of them. They could have almost completely run the house until all of their opponents were gone; but instead, their infighting could be their downfall.

Part of the problem is that Frank rubs all the women the wrong way. He’s loud, he’s inappropriate, and he’s way too comfortable with himself and with the others in the house. This leads to an incident with Da’, in which he slaps her on the butt at one point and calls her a slut at another, after she calls him a douche. She laughs it all off, as do the other girls when he steps over the line, but make no mistake – she is more than angry. She feels violated because he slapped her ass, and she’s offended by all of his behaviour. So she breaks down in tears, garnering comfort from everyone who happens upon her. When Frank himself realizes that he’s upset her, he immediately apologizes to her and tells her that he’d never meant to upset her.

Now, there’s a big debate going on about this on the forums. Some people agree with Da’, that he was completely inappropriate, and that what he did was considered harassment. And some people side with Frank, saying what he did wasn’t great, but it wasn’t as big a deal as she made it out to be. These people think she’s overreacting and over-emoting in order to get attention and sympathy because she’s a drama queen. I think it’s a bit of both. I do think he stepped over the line, and he shouldn’t have smacked her ass, but I don’t think he did it in a malicious way. His apology was clearly genuine. When he realized he’d upset her, he was upset too. I’m not blaming the victim. I think she has every right to be upset and offended by his behaviour. But she also didn’t say anything when he did it. She just laughed it off. Yes, he should have known that he was crossing the line, but he didn’t, and she didn’t speak up about it and tell him it bothered her, and so the situation escalated, upsetting her more and more. If she’d spoken up immediately, things might not have gotten quite so out of hand, and there may be more peace in the house at the moment.

And the peace really seems to have flown the coop. With Bridget’s HoH win, no one really feels safe. Who gets nominated depends on who gets into her ear first. And who should that person be? Why Frank, of course! His target is Tiffany, and Bridgette follows along with his plan perfectly, like the little puppet she is. She nominates Tiff and Paul, who goes up as the pawn yet again. He’s ready to give Johnny Mac a run for his money! Tiffany, of course, breaks down in tears, just like Vanessa always did. Part of me is definitely on Team Frank here. I can’t wait until she’s gone.

The BB Roadkill challenge is called Horn Star, and it’s basically a big game of Simon, except it’s auditory instead of strictly visual. There are 8 steering wheels surrounding the house guests, and each one has a different-sounding horn. They have to listen to a sequence of horns and then have to use their memory to repeat that sequence on the steering wheels. The person with the lowest time wins! It’s pretty straightforward, and in the end, Frank wins, which isn’t good for half the alliance. He nominates Bronte for eviction.

With the Veto coming up, James is a little nervous about Natalie’s fate in the game, since the two of them have a bit of a flirtmance going on. Good for him! He never made it anywhere with Meg last year, so hopefully he’ll have better luck with Nat this year! Anyway, he knows that if Bronte wins the veto, Natalie will be the to go up as the RK replacement, so he warns her by giving her a few hints as to who won the RK challenge, but asks her not to tell the girls what he’s told her. Meanwhile, up in the HoH room, Frank assures Bronte and Bridgette that Bronte will be safe this week. All they have to do is choose him to play in the veto if they get the option. What he says sounds good to Bridgette, but Bronte doesn’t fully trust him, and now, neither does Nat. So when Bronte gets to choose who plays in the Veto challenge, she chooses Natalie instead.

It doesn’t really matter anyway, since Bridgette wins the veto, a repeat challenge where the house guests have a bunch of ‘flavours’ for a recipe, and after the monitor flashes through a bunch of them, they have to pour the correct one into their measuring cup. Getting it wrong equals KABOOM! in their face. Knowing that taking down Bronte will prompt the Roadkill winner to put Natalie up on the block, she decides not to use the veto on anyone. I’m a tiny bit surprised by this, because both she and Bronte are starting to question their trust in Natalie, since she’s clearly hiding something from them. But they’re still loyal to her, if frustrated by her actions.

Later, as they’re lying in bed together, Frank admits to Bridgette that he was the one who won the Roadkill challenge. Now, if I were Bridgette, I’d be angry, not only because she put so much trust into Frank, and he clearly doesn’t return the sentiment, but also because he put one of her best friends up on the block. But does she get angry? Does she question her trust in him? Nope. She just accepts his admission and goes on trusting him. If he lied to you that easily, Bridgette, what’s to stop him from doing it again? How do you know he’s not lying to you about other stuff too? And not only that, but by nominating your alliance member, he’s hurting your game.

So now there’s a real divide in the alliance. Most of the boys seem to be on Frank’s side, whereas the girls seem to be on Tiffany’s side. Or rather, Da’s side, as she’s the self-appointed leader of the We Hate Frank club. They have a big decision to make now, since voting out the wrong person can really screw up their game plan for the summer. No matter whom they choose, they’ll be angering one of their alliance members. At the eviction ceremony, it’s very close, a 5-4 vote to send Bronte packing. I’m sure the impact of this decision will send ripples throughout the house almost immediately, and I can’t wait to see how the house guests deal with it all.

I, personally, think they made the right move. Tiffany is definitely a loose cannon, and she’s so paranoid that they probably should get rid of her at some point soon, but I think Bronte was actually the bigger threat this time around, simply because of her connection to Bridgette and, therefore, her connection to Frank. It would be so easy for Frank to flip to team Spy Girls. If they got rid of Tiffany, and the four of them pulled Paul into their corner, it would be a 6-5 split, which would not be good for the former 8Pack. Suddenly they’d be on a much more even playing field. By getting rid of Bronte, they cut down a possible number in Frank’s court. Plus, let’s be honest, who would you rather have turn against you? Frank or Da’? I debated this decision with someone for a good twenty minutes – long enough to pretty much miss the entire rest of the show, including Bronte’s exit interview and the HoH competition. He thinks the biggest threat would have been Paul, because he’s a free agent, and no one knows who he’ll side with. It’s a valid point, but I think at this point in the game, someone already in an alliance is a bigger threat than a floater.

Speaking of the HoH competition, it was one of those “study the pictures and then we’ll ask you questions about them” types. I was worried that Frank would win, but Paulie pulled it off, which isn’t much better, since Frank is on his team, so therefore, he’s safe too. And because Bridgette is also safe, Paulie will pretty much have to put up Natalie and Paul this week, or else he’ll be cutting into alliance members. I really, really hate this team thing. I think it’s so stupid. I understand what they were going for when they created it – the fact that the house guests would have to think twice when it came to competing in challenges when they have a specific person in mind for eviction. But except for James throwing the challenge last week, we haven’t really seen a lot of this forethought anyway. They need to just do away with the stupid idea.

Do you agree with me? How do you think Paulie will run his HoH? Let me know in the comments, and we’ll see you next week!

– This article and other Big Brother-related stuff by the estimable Rebecca Griffin