Originally posted Wednesday, August 8, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
We're just past the halfway point on CBS's "Big Brother 20" and Delta Air Lines flight attendant and Atlanta resident Bayleigh Dayton has managed to survive despite not being in the majority alliance.
But she remains in a precarious state and could very well be voted home Thursday as the sixth evicted house guest.
Her likely departure didn’t necessarily have to happen quite yet.
Bayleigh received a special "power app" last month that would have allowed her to secretly overthrow a Head of Household's nominations. (She won the app via popular vote after she lost her boyfriend Swaggy C, voted out second.)
Power is in keeping particular secrets on this show. But she stupidly told Rachel Swindler about her power. Rachel then told her supposed ally Angela Rummans, who proceeded to double-cross her.
Bayleigh, as previous Head of Household, had placed the devious, not-so-nice Brett Robinson on the block with Rachel as a pawn. She wanted Brett out badly.
But last week, Angela and surfer dude and surprisingly good BB player Tyler Crispen blindsided Rachel, a fellow Level 6 alliance member and voted her out. She was cut instead of Bayleigh's intended target Brett, who during his speech outed Bayleigh's power app to the world. (Rachel was so stunned by her ouster, she could barely make out a coherent sentence out with Julie Chen afterwards.)
Bayleigh, who has been vulnerable for awhile by not being part of the main alliance in the first place, became an even bigger target.
Angela won this past week Head of Household and placed Rockstar and Scottie Salton on the block. Bayleigh chose not to use her Identity Theft power at this time - another calculated error.
For a moment, Bayleigh received some good news. One of Bayleigh's few remaining allies, Haleigh Broucher, last week won special secret "hacker" power. She was able to replace Scottie with Tyler on the block. That was a major power move.
But Angela ended up winning the veto competition.
Angela, aware of Bayleigh’s power app, had said she would love to “backdoor” the flight attendant if given the chance. And she did.
Rockstar, who is still on the block, is not considered a long-term threat and it appears most of the house will vote for Bayleigh Thursday night.
Bottom line: if Bayleigh had kept her power a secret, Angela may have have placed her on the block. Bayleigh could have then used her power to save herself and picked two people of her own to be placed on the block.
But it appears she may end up having wasted her power app because she shared her secret.
For folks watching the live feeds, Bayleigh hasn’t gained a lot of fans recently with her attitude. Expect to see some of her ire on Thursday’s night episode before the vote.
"Bayleigh is a bully and thinks everyone should play by her rules only and she feels everybody should fear her," wrote one fan on a spoiler site.
TV PREVIEW
“Big Brother” returns tonight at 8 p.m. on CBS
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