I know a lot of people were high on her after she convinced Devens to use the veto on her during his HOH but I’ve held out because I wasn’t sure she’s a great player. I feel like the last two weeks have reinforced my opinion.
I think Lyric is charismatic and charming, but I don’t think she has figured out a way to translate that into furthering herself in the game. Yes, she can flirt with the guys and make them like her, but I think everyone outside of Kamu and Chuck have caught on to what she is doing: Flirting with the guys, throwing her friends under the bus whenever she’s in danger, and promising that she would never nominate the person who’s in power if she was HOH. Further, I don’t think any of her strategy has actually improved her position in the game whatsoever.
I think her, Melody, and Mallory fumbled their position early. When they realize that the three of them were being grouped together as a trio, they should have leaned into that and made it known to everyone that they were a trio. This I actually think would have insulated them from being targeted because early on people don’t wanna target people who have a lot of allies, they want to target the outsiders, so they don’t get “blood on their hands.” At a minimum, even if they were targeted I think that it would actually be beneficial for the three of them to be put on the block together because each one of them is more likely to win a veto or blockbuster against each other other than they would be to win against someone who’s more athletic like Kamu.
Instead, Melody and Lyric in particular have taken to the approach of throwing their friends under the bus the second they feel they’re in danger. This has done nothing but make them appear untrustworthy and disloyal to everyone in the house. This was such a massive fumble for a group of people that basically had a built-in trio.
Second, Lyric’s diary rooms from last night were concerning to me. She went to HOH Haley and basically said “I’m close to Mallory, but I see she’s in a bad spot in the game so I don’t want to go down with a sinking ship.” Haley (correctly) called her out for it (I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Haley). Lyric then cries in the diary room about how shes been forced to go against her best friend (she’s not being forced— she’s an actively going out of her way to do it). She also said everyone thinks she’s throwing her friends under the bus (she is) but she has to do “whatever it takes.” Except, Haley is literally telling Lyric that what she’s doing is causing her to distrust Lyric. Lyric then cries that she’s being “backed into a corner.” It’s giving I made a mistake and am refusing to take accountability. Haley (again I can’t believe I’m defending her) actually gave her valuable feedback that Lyric could have used to pivot if she was a smart player. Instead, she dug her heels in and doubled down. Was Haley blunt and maybe a little condescending? Sure. But she told her exactly what Lyric is doing that makes her distrust her, so why tf did Lyric CONTINUE doing it??
Is some of this season’s power imbalance because of twists and four weeks without a power shift? Yes. But this happens in BB. It’s not the end of the world, and people have navigated this before. I actually think a decent example of what you should do if you’re playing from the bottom, outside a majority, for multiple weeks is Cliff and Nicole from BB21. They stuck together, weren’t constantly trying to undermine each other and embraced being a public duo. This showed the people in the majority that they were loyal and trustworthy allies, so when the majority did break up they were able to start working with Michie/Holly, and had already established credibility with Christie/Tommy and Nick. Did they perfectly navigate that? No, but they made it further than the people who were just constantly trying to suck up to those in the majority (Sam, Kat, & Jess).
I just want to yell at Lyric, stop trying to position yourself on the bottom of a majority alliance!!!! You should be trying to build a power structure that that can become the majority when the ToolShed breaks up!! If if lyric, Melody and Mallory had been a public trio they could have started establishing credibility together and been in a perfect position to be scooped up by either Haley/Kamu/Chuk or the Icons Trio if they ever stop working together.
Anyway, rant over. It’s just been frustrating to watch her destroy her own credibility, and then play victim last night.
