Post by KC on Mar 13, 2010 8:45:04 GMT -5
Taking a Look Back: THE FINAL 5
The final five is one of the most crucial parts of the game. We're close to the end, but yet, we're so far. Anying can happen and alliances are almost to the point of moot. Of course we have the traditional Head of Household competition that has crowned six of the seven winners in URTV past. The week also contains a pivotal Power of Veto competition that makes it one of the most important competitions of the game right next to the Final HOH and Final 4 POV.
Here in URTV8, we have what is said to be one of the most unpredictable Final 5's in the history of the series. This is not only from who is actually in the final five, but also who is going to progress to the final two? When the hosts have no idea, it's safe to say we have an exciting final few weeks on our hand.
Let's take a look back at some of our previous final fives, what it taught us, and how it compares to our current five contestants.
URTV1
Houseguests: Michael, Jen, Eric, Holly, and Alison
At the final five in URTV1, things were not looking good for Michael and Alison. The four person Britney Alliance had only lost one member since the start of the game - their level headed leader, Will. The biggest threat and trouble maker in the game, Jase, had just left and things were looking to settle down. Fresh off her HOH reign, Jen sat out of HOH to watch, clinging onto the hope that Eric or Alison would win to guarentee the three of them in the final four and potentially get the threatening Michael or the jury threat Holly out the door once and for all. However, at the Head of Household competition, Michael would come up victorious. The LBA had another chance to save themselves with Jen & Alison on the block. Eric needed to win POV, but it was Alison who came up victorious. Saving herself from the block, Michael kept his final two ally safe and put up Eric. With Eric being weak in both challenges and social game at that point, Holly & Michael planned to take out Jen no matter what with Holly's vote guaranteeing at the very least a tie. With that, the favorite to win URTV1 walked out the door and left four very unlikely candidates in the running to win it all.
This week was truly an underdog story and helped solidify Michael & Holly to the breaches of the final two with the two weakest members of the Britney Alliance left standing. However you could say the result was also predictable as it was 3 vs. 2 and the alliance's intentions were quite obvious.
URTV2
Houseguests: Janelle, Amanda, Jacob, Ivette, and Dustin
At this point in the game, URTV2 was in shambles. The alliance from URTV1 carried into this game with new identities in Nick, Carol, Ivette, and Dustin. And the boot order from the first game was the same in this game with Nick & Carol leaving first, albeit much earlier than last time. Dustin had betrayed his long time friends in favor of his friend Janelle's well being.
This final five was definitly an odd bunch, but not an unpredictable one. Ivette was the last true "Britney Club" member left. In the flip side, Amanda, Jacob, Dustin, and Janelle had a "rebellion" alliance against the Britney Club formed by Alex, who had just returned to the game a few weeks earlier.
With Janelle in power and Ivette her target, she had to put up a pawn from her own side. Jacob knew he was likely on the outs of the alliance and with POV going in Ivette's hands, his fate was likely sealed. Jacob convinced Janelle of putting up Amanda as the pawn in the HOH Bedroom. Amanda agreed, although she was quite skeptical... and for good reason.
Meanwhile Jacob stayed in contact with Ivette and fed her every single post from the HOH Bedroom while campaigning for themselves to make a final two alliance. Ivette agreed, but wasn't sure how safe Jacob would be if she would come off the block.
At the POV Competition, Ivette won a huge clutch POV competition, taking herself off the block. It was almost inevitable at this point that Jacob would go up on the block and go home since Janelle had to choose to put up either Jacob or her final two alliance of Dustin.
However, Jacob & Ivette thought up an idea of Ivette randomly saying pieces of the HOH Bedroom to Janelle. Once Janelle confronted her with who told her it, she blamed it on Dustin. Janelle took the bait and decided to put up Dustin with the intention of sending him home. Jacob and Ivette both figured that their final two at that point was shattered and the two decided to send home Amanda, infuritating Janelle and making the final two that much more unpredictable.
This final five capped off with a very similar set-up to that of URTV1. We were left with two final two alliance of Dustin & Janelle and Jacob & Ivette, through much more deceit and backstabbing. This eviction reminded us all of totem pole positions. Where do you see yourself in the alliance that you're in? If you honestly can't see yourself being in the final two with any of them, then you better make a move like Jacob did.
URTV3
Houseguests: Roddy, Nakomis, Will, Chelsia, and Keesha
In the final five of URTV3, the four person Chilltown alliance got three of their members close to the prize. However, the alliance was in shambles with Keesha & Will both constantly arguing and disagreeing about their game moves.
With Will in power, he decided he had enough and finally put Keesha up on the block next to Nakomis with the intention of getting Nakomis out. Despite the betrayal, Keesha & Chelsia both were in Will's ear to backdoor Roddy, who was getting better at competitions and sneaking further and further into the game.
At the Power of Veto competition, Roddy & Will once again were neck and neck. Will came out on top by a few seconds. After the veto talk, Will & Roddy strategized, but Roddy blew up on Will and berated him for not throwing veto in his direction. Will, absolutely livid of the confrontation, went back on his plan and saved Keesha. Roddy went up and he went out.
This was seen as a mistake on Will's part and nearly got him evicted the very next week. He was able to avoid another bullet though in typical, suave Will fashion and eventually got himself to the final two to win the whole thing. However, this a lesson to not let personal get in the way of strategical or else it could cost you in the end.
URTV4
Houseguests: Dan, Daniele, David, Angie, and Jun
The final four of URTV4 was without a doubt one of the most unpredictably predictable final fours in history. It was unpredictable in the sense that the three outcasts that started a teeny alliance to rebel a seven person powerhouse made themselves all the way down to the final five. A pawn in Jun also found themselves in the mix after being one of the lowest people in the seven's totem pole. Angie, a power player and a master of playing both sides and playing safe made it down there as well. But it was obvious now that it was 4-1 that Angie was in some big trouble, much like in URTV2. With David, Angie's friend, in power - it looked like a potential URTV2 could get mucked up. David put up Jun, but also put up Dan as a pawn with the plan having Daniele win veto, saving Dan, and David being "forced" to put up Angie. The veto went as planned with Daniele winning, Dan was saved, Angie was put up, and Angie went home.
Angie, the final true member of the "S Club 7" was gone and the alliance Scott formed during his HOH was officially dead. What did this final five teach us? Big alliances never prosper. Yet, people never seem to learn this lesson as we've seen many big alliances form and fall since then in URTV. Three is a good number to be a strong, cohesive unit. Triple D will always go down in history for that.
URTV5
Houseguests: Will, Chelsia, Nakomis, Dan and Alison
The All-Star season had a severely split house with five strong players, but very unpredictable players as well. It's quite rare to see bitter rivals all make it to the end, but somehow it happened here. Alison & Dan and Will & Cheslia along with unpredictable Nakomis were in this rowdy final five.
Will won yet another Head of Household this week and nominations were quite obvious - Dan & Alison. The target was Alison and the only goal in the competition was to ensure that Alison would not win. Thankfully for Will, Alison choked and was out of the competition quite early. Chelsia chose to keep nominations the same and Dan & Alison now found themselves to be soon broken up. The vote tied with Nakomis voting Dan out and Chelsia voting out Alison, Will chose to stick to his plan and take out Alison.
The lesson here would be to take out your enemies when you have the chance. Alison & Dan both had ample opportunities to take out both Will & Chelsia, but often times they went back on it. When your gut sees an obvious alliance constantly avoiding bullets, keep on swinging because if you let them get to the end, you're the one who's going to get klunked. Sure enough, Will & Chelsia earned themselves a final two spot yet again and stumped the URTV world.
URTV6
Houseguests: Ryan, Allison, Alex, Sheila and Natalie
In URTV6, we came off the heels of a very stressful week for Alex. Two weeks prior to this, he made a deal with Allison & Ryan that if he saved Ryan from the block that they would take out Sheila the very next week. In Alex's HOH run, Sheila found herself up on the block against Sharon and Allison & Ryan betrayed Alex by taking Sharon out.
Into this week, Allison won a huge HOH for herself, but nominations were tough. Allison felt bad about backstabbing Alex the prior week. She knew she wanted Natalie up, but had to choose between Sheila & Alex to put up as a pawn. Alex swore up and down that he would not use the veto on Natalie if he won, but Allison did not believe him. She decided to throw him up as a pawn after much convincing from Ryan. Alex told Allison she made a mistake and warned her Sheila was going to be playing for herself in this stage of the game. However, the power duo were quite confident in their nominations.
Come veto time, Sheila came up victrous and just as Alex warned, she used the veto to save Natalie and stirred the house up. Allison was forced to put up her final two partner in Ryan. Alex campaigned hard for Sheila to keep him, but Sheila felt that Alex was a much bigger threat and left the vote tied 1-1. Allison easily evicted Alex from the game, the culmination of a long downward spiral of events.
Perhaps the lesson here is obvious - be careful of who you trust. Go with your gut because if you do what someone else wants, 9/10 they aren't going to return the favor when it's your ass on the block. But perhaps with the next chain of events... that is Allison & Ryan being the next two boots back to back... maybe we just saw a lesson in karma to the backstabbers of URTV as well?
URTV7
Houseguests: Carol, Joe, Mike, Nick, and Jessica
URTV7 started up almost immediately as a rehash of URTV4. A big, huge alliance kicked the game off consisting of Daniele, Mike, and Eric along with backing from Dick, Jameka, Carol, Dustin and Kail. Many people were left on the outs and one by one, most of them began to be picked off.
But through a series of clutch victories including Jen's legendary endurance victory, the "Rebellion" alliance were able to get three of their four members down to the final five with Joe, Nick, and Jessica all staying strong. Carol was still considered a floater at this point, but was certainly on the outside of the three rebels. And Mike stuck around as the last true member of the "Soda" alliance that kicked the game off.
At the final five HOH, Nick came up victorious and his nominations were obvious - Carol & Mike, the only two people left not from the rebellion. However, Joe began to feel uneasy about his current position in the game. Joe wasn't exactly known for beasting competitions and knew with Jessica & Nick's power, he'd be in a lot of trouble. He couldn't see himself beating either in the end and wanted them broken up. With Carol on her on and Mike on his own, Joe wanted Nick on his own.
In the POV competition, it came down between Mike and Joe. Both men were in frequent contact during this competition and both realized that if Joe won and saved Mike, Jessica could go up and out which would have been seen as shades of URTV2, executed even more smoothly and more effectively. However, the two men caved in, Mike won the POV, saved himself, and Joe went up. Though he was safe and Carol left, he wouldn't be for long.
Mike left in the final four leaving Joe in the final three, where he came up short. This week reminded us of lost opportunity. When a brilliant opportunity arises to not only take out someone huge but better your position in the game, you better take it. If you don't, you may just end up like our friends Joe and Mike here.
URTV8
Houseguests: Nathan, Jee, Nakomis, Amy, and James
We got the master strategist in Nathan. We have the golden boy who stands up for truth in James. We have the sweet girl who always has a knife held behind her back in Amy. We have the bad-ass chick who isn't afraid to speak her mind in Nakomis. We have the dark horse who everyone underrated in Jee.
This certainly is one of the most unpredictable final fives we've had in the games history and every single one of them has the potential to win this whole thing.
The final five is one of the most crucial parts of the game. We're close to the end, but yet, we're so far. Anying can happen and alliances are almost to the point of moot. Of course we have the traditional Head of Household competition that has crowned six of the seven winners in URTV past. The week also contains a pivotal Power of Veto competition that makes it one of the most important competitions of the game right next to the Final HOH and Final 4 POV.
Here in URTV8, we have what is said to be one of the most unpredictable Final 5's in the history of the series. This is not only from who is actually in the final five, but also who is going to progress to the final two? When the hosts have no idea, it's safe to say we have an exciting final few weeks on our hand.
Let's take a look back at some of our previous final fives, what it taught us, and how it compares to our current five contestants.
URTV1
Houseguests: Michael, Jen, Eric, Holly, and Alison
At the final five in URTV1, things were not looking good for Michael and Alison. The four person Britney Alliance had only lost one member since the start of the game - their level headed leader, Will. The biggest threat and trouble maker in the game, Jase, had just left and things were looking to settle down. Fresh off her HOH reign, Jen sat out of HOH to watch, clinging onto the hope that Eric or Alison would win to guarentee the three of them in the final four and potentially get the threatening Michael or the jury threat Holly out the door once and for all. However, at the Head of Household competition, Michael would come up victorious. The LBA had another chance to save themselves with Jen & Alison on the block. Eric needed to win POV, but it was Alison who came up victorious. Saving herself from the block, Michael kept his final two ally safe and put up Eric. With Eric being weak in both challenges and social game at that point, Holly & Michael planned to take out Jen no matter what with Holly's vote guaranteeing at the very least a tie. With that, the favorite to win URTV1 walked out the door and left four very unlikely candidates in the running to win it all.
This week was truly an underdog story and helped solidify Michael & Holly to the breaches of the final two with the two weakest members of the Britney Alliance left standing. However you could say the result was also predictable as it was 3 vs. 2 and the alliance's intentions were quite obvious.
URTV2
Houseguests: Janelle, Amanda, Jacob, Ivette, and Dustin
At this point in the game, URTV2 was in shambles. The alliance from URTV1 carried into this game with new identities in Nick, Carol, Ivette, and Dustin. And the boot order from the first game was the same in this game with Nick & Carol leaving first, albeit much earlier than last time. Dustin had betrayed his long time friends in favor of his friend Janelle's well being.
This final five was definitly an odd bunch, but not an unpredictable one. Ivette was the last true "Britney Club" member left. In the flip side, Amanda, Jacob, Dustin, and Janelle had a "rebellion" alliance against the Britney Club formed by Alex, who had just returned to the game a few weeks earlier.
With Janelle in power and Ivette her target, she had to put up a pawn from her own side. Jacob knew he was likely on the outs of the alliance and with POV going in Ivette's hands, his fate was likely sealed. Jacob convinced Janelle of putting up Amanda as the pawn in the HOH Bedroom. Amanda agreed, although she was quite skeptical... and for good reason.
Meanwhile Jacob stayed in contact with Ivette and fed her every single post from the HOH Bedroom while campaigning for themselves to make a final two alliance. Ivette agreed, but wasn't sure how safe Jacob would be if she would come off the block.
At the POV Competition, Ivette won a huge clutch POV competition, taking herself off the block. It was almost inevitable at this point that Jacob would go up on the block and go home since Janelle had to choose to put up either Jacob or her final two alliance of Dustin.
However, Jacob & Ivette thought up an idea of Ivette randomly saying pieces of the HOH Bedroom to Janelle. Once Janelle confronted her with who told her it, she blamed it on Dustin. Janelle took the bait and decided to put up Dustin with the intention of sending him home. Jacob and Ivette both figured that their final two at that point was shattered and the two decided to send home Amanda, infuritating Janelle and making the final two that much more unpredictable.
This final five capped off with a very similar set-up to that of URTV1. We were left with two final two alliance of Dustin & Janelle and Jacob & Ivette, through much more deceit and backstabbing. This eviction reminded us all of totem pole positions. Where do you see yourself in the alliance that you're in? If you honestly can't see yourself being in the final two with any of them, then you better make a move like Jacob did.
URTV3
Houseguests: Roddy, Nakomis, Will, Chelsia, and Keesha
In the final five of URTV3, the four person Chilltown alliance got three of their members close to the prize. However, the alliance was in shambles with Keesha & Will both constantly arguing and disagreeing about their game moves.
With Will in power, he decided he had enough and finally put Keesha up on the block next to Nakomis with the intention of getting Nakomis out. Despite the betrayal, Keesha & Chelsia both were in Will's ear to backdoor Roddy, who was getting better at competitions and sneaking further and further into the game.
At the Power of Veto competition, Roddy & Will once again were neck and neck. Will came out on top by a few seconds. After the veto talk, Will & Roddy strategized, but Roddy blew up on Will and berated him for not throwing veto in his direction. Will, absolutely livid of the confrontation, went back on his plan and saved Keesha. Roddy went up and he went out.
This was seen as a mistake on Will's part and nearly got him evicted the very next week. He was able to avoid another bullet though in typical, suave Will fashion and eventually got himself to the final two to win the whole thing. However, this a lesson to not let personal get in the way of strategical or else it could cost you in the end.
URTV4
Houseguests: Dan, Daniele, David, Angie, and Jun
The final four of URTV4 was without a doubt one of the most unpredictably predictable final fours in history. It was unpredictable in the sense that the three outcasts that started a teeny alliance to rebel a seven person powerhouse made themselves all the way down to the final five. A pawn in Jun also found themselves in the mix after being one of the lowest people in the seven's totem pole. Angie, a power player and a master of playing both sides and playing safe made it down there as well. But it was obvious now that it was 4-1 that Angie was in some big trouble, much like in URTV2. With David, Angie's friend, in power - it looked like a potential URTV2 could get mucked up. David put up Jun, but also put up Dan as a pawn with the plan having Daniele win veto, saving Dan, and David being "forced" to put up Angie. The veto went as planned with Daniele winning, Dan was saved, Angie was put up, and Angie went home.
Angie, the final true member of the "S Club 7" was gone and the alliance Scott formed during his HOH was officially dead. What did this final five teach us? Big alliances never prosper. Yet, people never seem to learn this lesson as we've seen many big alliances form and fall since then in URTV. Three is a good number to be a strong, cohesive unit. Triple D will always go down in history for that.
URTV5
Houseguests: Will, Chelsia, Nakomis, Dan and Alison
The All-Star season had a severely split house with five strong players, but very unpredictable players as well. It's quite rare to see bitter rivals all make it to the end, but somehow it happened here. Alison & Dan and Will & Cheslia along with unpredictable Nakomis were in this rowdy final five.
Will won yet another Head of Household this week and nominations were quite obvious - Dan & Alison. The target was Alison and the only goal in the competition was to ensure that Alison would not win. Thankfully for Will, Alison choked and was out of the competition quite early. Chelsia chose to keep nominations the same and Dan & Alison now found themselves to be soon broken up. The vote tied with Nakomis voting Dan out and Chelsia voting out Alison, Will chose to stick to his plan and take out Alison.
The lesson here would be to take out your enemies when you have the chance. Alison & Dan both had ample opportunities to take out both Will & Chelsia, but often times they went back on it. When your gut sees an obvious alliance constantly avoiding bullets, keep on swinging because if you let them get to the end, you're the one who's going to get klunked. Sure enough, Will & Chelsia earned themselves a final two spot yet again and stumped the URTV world.
URTV6
Houseguests: Ryan, Allison, Alex, Sheila and Natalie
In URTV6, we came off the heels of a very stressful week for Alex. Two weeks prior to this, he made a deal with Allison & Ryan that if he saved Ryan from the block that they would take out Sheila the very next week. In Alex's HOH run, Sheila found herself up on the block against Sharon and Allison & Ryan betrayed Alex by taking Sharon out.
Into this week, Allison won a huge HOH for herself, but nominations were tough. Allison felt bad about backstabbing Alex the prior week. She knew she wanted Natalie up, but had to choose between Sheila & Alex to put up as a pawn. Alex swore up and down that he would not use the veto on Natalie if he won, but Allison did not believe him. She decided to throw him up as a pawn after much convincing from Ryan. Alex told Allison she made a mistake and warned her Sheila was going to be playing for herself in this stage of the game. However, the power duo were quite confident in their nominations.
Come veto time, Sheila came up victrous and just as Alex warned, she used the veto to save Natalie and stirred the house up. Allison was forced to put up her final two partner in Ryan. Alex campaigned hard for Sheila to keep him, but Sheila felt that Alex was a much bigger threat and left the vote tied 1-1. Allison easily evicted Alex from the game, the culmination of a long downward spiral of events.
Perhaps the lesson here is obvious - be careful of who you trust. Go with your gut because if you do what someone else wants, 9/10 they aren't going to return the favor when it's your ass on the block. But perhaps with the next chain of events... that is Allison & Ryan being the next two boots back to back... maybe we just saw a lesson in karma to the backstabbers of URTV as well?
URTV7
Houseguests: Carol, Joe, Mike, Nick, and Jessica
URTV7 started up almost immediately as a rehash of URTV4. A big, huge alliance kicked the game off consisting of Daniele, Mike, and Eric along with backing from Dick, Jameka, Carol, Dustin and Kail. Many people were left on the outs and one by one, most of them began to be picked off.
But through a series of clutch victories including Jen's legendary endurance victory, the "Rebellion" alliance were able to get three of their four members down to the final five with Joe, Nick, and Jessica all staying strong. Carol was still considered a floater at this point, but was certainly on the outside of the three rebels. And Mike stuck around as the last true member of the "Soda" alliance that kicked the game off.
At the final five HOH, Nick came up victorious and his nominations were obvious - Carol & Mike, the only two people left not from the rebellion. However, Joe began to feel uneasy about his current position in the game. Joe wasn't exactly known for beasting competitions and knew with Jessica & Nick's power, he'd be in a lot of trouble. He couldn't see himself beating either in the end and wanted them broken up. With Carol on her on and Mike on his own, Joe wanted Nick on his own.
In the POV competition, it came down between Mike and Joe. Both men were in frequent contact during this competition and both realized that if Joe won and saved Mike, Jessica could go up and out which would have been seen as shades of URTV2, executed even more smoothly and more effectively. However, the two men caved in, Mike won the POV, saved himself, and Joe went up. Though he was safe and Carol left, he wouldn't be for long.
Mike left in the final four leaving Joe in the final three, where he came up short. This week reminded us of lost opportunity. When a brilliant opportunity arises to not only take out someone huge but better your position in the game, you better take it. If you don't, you may just end up like our friends Joe and Mike here.
URTV8
Houseguests: Nathan, Jee, Nakomis, Amy, and James
We got the master strategist in Nathan. We have the golden boy who stands up for truth in James. We have the sweet girl who always has a knife held behind her back in Amy. We have the bad-ass chick who isn't afraid to speak her mind in Nakomis. We have the dark horse who everyone underrated in Jee.
This certainly is one of the most unpredictable final fives we've had in the games history and every single one of them has the potential to win this whole thing.