"Fast Track to Finale" - Special Eviction!

    In a surprise eviction episode of Big Brother Canada, house guests begin to panic as Arisa appears on screen announcing another member will be joining jury within the hour. With the season finale just two days away, we're on a time crunch which means special evictions are bound to happen. Still, this rattled the house guests and caused everyone to begin campaigning to stay in the house. No one campaigned as much as Godfrey, as he continued to play both sides of the house, talking to all three girls about why they should keep him in the house if they were to win the Power of Veto.

    In the final POV competition of the season, “Fast Track to Finale”, house guests competed alone in the back yard to try to have the fastest time. They were challenged to match events in the house, to the proper day those events happened. After figuring out which event belonged to which day, they then had to find the correct number on one of two trains, and rebuild a city with the blocks based on the position of the number on the train. Most house guests had issues remembering certain events, which is bound to happen after spending so many days in the Big Brother house. However, no one struggled as much as “Queen B”, Brittnee Blair. After an hour and a half in the competition, struggling to match these days and events, Brittnee made the decision to quit and forfeit her chance at the POV.

     Despite people giving Pilar hell for quitting competitions, fans do not seem to be giving B the same judgement that was given to her. In fact, it almost seems people are finally cutting Pilar some slack. We later see B and Sarah in the HOH room, where B confesses she is disappointed in herself for dropping out of the POV competition, but realized she'd been out there far longer than every body else, and knew she had no shot at winning. Perhaps people are beginning to realize Pilar felt the same way. When you're waiting in the HOH room for the others to finish before your turn, you have a pretty good idea at how long they've taken, therefore know if your time is significantly longer.

    After lots of frustration, Ashleigh won the Power of Veto, gaining the ability to pull herself off the block for the third time in a row. All house guests knew Ashleigh was going to use the veto on herself, so it became a battle between Godfrey and Brittnee trying to get her on their side, so she would keep them in the house. B even went as far as to tell Ash that if she were to win the final HOH, she would take her to the final two over Sarah. Despite their efforts, Ash did what everyone figured she would by removing herself from the block and choosing to evict Brittnee from the house. This move leaves some fans to question her game play, considering Zach told her she needed to get B out before he left the house.

     Fans still seem to be focused on Ash playing Zach's game, but the truth of the matter is Ashleigh has been playing her own game since he left. She's not the only person in history to shelter behind a showmance in order to further herself in the game. The week Zach was evicted, and the two weeks since, Ashleigh has won 3 consecutive POV's, removing herself from the block three weeks in a row. In my opinion, that's extremely impressive and Ashleigh 100% deserves to be in the final three. Honestly? I'm routing for her to win at this point in the game.

    Before the episode ends, Arisa appeared on screen once again, sending more panic through the house. She announced one final surprise before the finale, stating that if the houseguests have been doing the math, they'll realize their are ten jury members this season. Since the final vote can not end in a tie, it is now up to the three remaining house guests to choose one member to evict from the jury house, meaning they will not have a chance to vote for the winner of BBCAN3. The house guests were then sent to the vault and told they were to remain there until they came to a unanimous decision.

    As the episode ended, we see the three of them arguing over who to evict. They each chose two they did not want evicted, which upset Godfrey as he realized he did not have any votes guaranteed. Ashleigh and Sarah began to gang up on him saying it is not their fault he did not make any alliances this season. If this continues, Ash and Sarah may just team up against Godfrey and take each other final two. All of this is just speculation based on what has been happening, but we will all find out for sure what will happen Wednesday night at the two hour season finale!  

S&B - Final 3?

    The 27^th episode of Big Brother Canada Season 3 begins after both Pilar and Zach have been evicted in last weeks double eviction. After losing her two best friends and alliance members, this leaves Ashleigh completely alone in the Big Brother house. Will her wits and beauty be enough to save her this week? Only time will tell. Despite Ashleigh being all alone, Godfrey seems to still have a few options available. Although Brittnee has gone out of her way to save him on more than one occasion this season, Godfrey does not seem to feel as though he owes her anything, as he continues to work with both sides of the house.

    Going into the Head of Household competition, everyone knows it's crucial this week. Even Godfrey admits that he needs to win, and that he's finally done throwing competitions. The competition consisted of a series of quotes being played to the house guests. Each quote had been voice altered, so you could not tell who was speaking solely on their voice. The objective of the competition was to correctly match as many quotes as possible with the correct house quest who said those words. Ashleigh began to get frustrated as she slowly fell out of the competition, trailing 3 points behind as it became a fight between Sarah and Godfrey for the win. In the end, after correctly matching each quote thrown their way, Sarah pulled out on top, securing her spot in final three.

    As the show continues, Godfrey and Ashleigh pull together to try to convince Sarah to nominate her best friend, and closest ally, Brittnee for eviction. They make good points, stating that “Queen B” has made several power moves while being in the Big Brother house, and none of them will win against her. Kudos to them for trying, but despite their efforts, Sarah was not about to turn her back on her best friend.

    Excited for a little bit of a break from the game, house guests freak out as Gary Levy entered the house for the Big Brother awards, joined by Ika from season 2. Gary and Ika gave the house guests complete make overs, including fancy evening wear, new hair styling for the ladies, and even a shaving for Godfrey. Big Brother played clips of each nominee in four separate categories before announcing the winner of each award. Up for Best BBTV Skills were Sarah's stand up comedy act, and “Tres B's” Brittnee, Bruno, and Bobby's dance routine. House guests loved each clip, but Canada voted Sarah's stand up the winner. Canada also voted for Godfrey telling Zach during his POV ceremony “I want your blood on these hands” as their favourite “Godfrey Speech”, and Sarah and Bruno's epic fight the night of the triple eviction as their favourite “Battle of the Words”. Which leaves the last award of the evening for “Best Make-Out Session” up for grabs between Kevin and Pilar's kissing in the rain, and Sarah and Willow's kissing in the pantry. House guests were in awe of the romantic moment Kevin and Pilar shared outside in the rain, and were shocked at the passionate moment between Sarah and Willow. Canada voted, and Kevin and Pilar took the win. Really, how could they not? I think all of Canada is routing for those two to continue their romance outside the house. After all, Kevin did state “this started out as a crush, but now it's becoming more”, and now that the two are reunited in jury, who knows where their relationship will head?

    Desperate to stay in the house, Ashleigh goes to Brittnee to try to convince her to save her this week. She states that the jury likely credits all the power moves to Sarah, thinking she is the mastermind this season, and that B will not win against her in final two. I have to give props to Ashleigh, she's fighting hard to stay in this house. During their talk, Sarah, Brittnee, and Ashleigh all come to a shocking realization. While each of them have at least one enemy in jury who is guaranteed not to vote for them to win this game, Godfrey does not have a single enemy. The girls begin to worry over this sudden realization, stressing over the fact that Godfrey has had an incredible social game, and could very well win over every jury member if he makes final two.

    Despite their efforts, Sarah refused to turn her back on B, as she nominates Ashleigh and Godfrey for eviction this week. She ended the nomination ceremony by using Godfrey's own words against him, stating “you never put your closest ally on the block.”

    Now that nominations have been made, and her ally is in power, Brittnee seems to think she has it made for final two. But as we all know, this week is crucial and it all comes down to the final power of veto competition. Whomever wins the final POV, becomes the sole decider on who is evicted from the house this week, and who they will be battling it out with in the final three for the final HOH and a spot in final two. It all comes down to this, Canada! Who wants it more?  

Will Zach Survive?

    After Sarah won “Head of Household”, and nominated the house's last showmance of the season, Zach and Ashleigh for eviction, it was a battle for POV on Monday night's episode of Big Brother Canada. The ideal scenario for the “Diaper Alliance” seemed to be for Pilar to win POV and remove Ashleigh, forcing Sarah to nominate Godfrey in her place. As Pilar began to stress about their sticky situation, Ashleigh tried to comfort her by insisting no matter what happens, Pilar was not going home this week.

    Two months into the game of Big Brother, Pilar finally made the decision to talk some game when she met up with Sarah in the HOH room. It's about time, Pilar! We were starting to wonder if you realized you were in the Big Brother house, or if you thought you were just away at camp. Although it seemed to be Pilar in appearance, the only thing we heard out of her mouth was Zach. Zach took the initiative to try to come up with a plan to keep the 3 members of his alliance all in the house together. This plan involved Ashleigh and Pilar trying to create a final four, “all girls” deal with Brittnee and Sarah.

    I have to admit, I'm amazed by Pilar's game play. She's consistent, if nothing else. Meaning, her game play is always terrible. Despite arguing that she is “not a quitter”, she gave up and quit the POV competition for the second time this season. Although, Pilar definitely was not the only one to have trouble with this Power of Veto competition. Zach majorly struggled trying to put the puzzle together in the right order. I guess “Captain Canada” is only good at things that do not involve memory. Godfrey finally decided to actually compete, for what seems to be the first time this season. Although his efforts went unnoticed, as Ashleigh pulled out on top, winning the POV just in time to save herself.

    Ashleigh winning the Power of Veto, may seem to have sealed Zach's faith in this game, but Zach would argue that he has both her and Pilar wrapped around his finger. Not having any other options, Ashleigh decided to approach Sarah about the final four deal that Zach came up with, in order to try to save her alliance. However, Sarah saw right through her lies. Let's just say if Canada was voting for “worst liars” rather than “best make out scene”, Ashleigh and Pilar would win for sure. In the words of Sarah, “these girls are playing for second place, and will not go against Zach”, and we couldn't agree with her more.

    Being the manipulative guy he is, Zach tried one last time to save himself, trying to use his emotions and connection with Ashleigh to convince her to use the veto to save him, rather than herself. Despite considering his side purely out of loyalty to him, Ashleigh finally decided to play the game for herself, rather than for Zach and used the POV for her own game, instead of his, removing herself from the block. 

    Although Zach says he wants Godfrey to be put on the block next to him, his speech during the veto ceremony seems to say otherwise. Threatening the head of household, telling her to be careful who she puts on the block by your side, and making a point that you are targeting her next, definitely is not a way to get what you want. Zach's efforts aside, Sarah choose to put Pilar on the block next to him. In Sarah's speech, she made a point to make sure everyone knows who her target is. She told Pilar she is on the block because she knows she will be safe this week, but how true is that really?
    Is Zach a siting duck, waiting to be evicted, or does he still stand a chance in this game? Will The Godfather Godfrey flip once again, and decide to keep Zach to benefit his game? Will Queen B decide to keep her not so secret crush in order to try to start that spark one final time? And who will Ashleigh show her loyalty too? Her no-mance showmance Zach, who only seems interested in her when beneficial to him, or her best friend in the house Pilar? Will Captain Canada be the one to join jury, or will Pilar be reunited with her showmance Kevin? Zach insists he isn't giving up, so I guess we'll all find out Wednesday night. Of course with this week being a double eviction, no body is safe.  

Doubt and Debt

    The average Canadian works 40 hours a week, trying to get ahead in today's society. Most of us, working for a minimal $10.30/hour. It may not seem like a big deal to some, but to put that into perspective, to take your average pay of $600 biweekly, and factor that into a yearly income, it averages out to be approximately 15 grand per year. For those of us who have the ordinary bills of every day life, matched with an incredible student loan debt, it seems absurd.

    According to Statcan, the average Canadian in 2014, spent roughly $65000. That number is factored solely from monthly expenses. Those being groceries, power bills, rent, travel expenses... Things that most people in our society take for granted every single day. How are we to come out on top, if every dime we make goes directly back to the government in bills that we can not escape? Combine that $65000 with the average student loan debt of $28000 (according to CFS), we're left to ask ourselves “what's the point?” We go to work every day, to try to pull ourselves ahead, but when we have to start grocery shopping at the dollar store, just to keep on top of bills... That's when we have to reevaluate our life, and try to pull it together.

    So what are we supposed to do? Sure, you can apply for a credit card to have that little bit of extra cash, but does it really do any good? Having yet another bill to try to balance, another payment to try to work your life around. Unfortunately, there is not anything we can do about the amount of bills we are expected to pay on a monthly basis, aside from cutting back on things. We have to live, and we can't fight the government on the matter. However, there are a few things we can do to help us manage.

    Coupons work wonders when on a budget. People may look at you strange when you pull out a handful of coupons when in line at Walmart, but if it helps you keep on top of bills, it's no ones business but your own. If used at the right time, coupons can make an extraordinary difference in your spending totals each month. Catch something on sale, use the right coupon, you may end up spending practically nothing on the product you wish to have.

    On top of coupons, there are also several apps available for free which may help anyone on a budget. Depending on your phone type, there are apps that take your income, subtract bill amounts, and help you realize what you can and can not spend each month. There are also apps which can help earn you cash back. “Snapsaves” for example, gets you to send in a photo of your grocery receipt, and gives you money back based on purchases. Types of butter, shampoo, milk, even cleaning supplies can all offer cash back through this app. Each week, new offers are released through the creators for new opportunities to earn back. After you reach $20 back, you can cash out to receive a check in the mail for the total amount. Do the research, there are several apps like this one out there which can benefit you.

    One thing I personally do to keep on track of bills, is planning. The calendar in my kitchen marks each pay week, and what bills need to be payed out of that pay check to help keep everything balanced. Each bill is also kept on my fridge by magnets, to lay out what I have to pay and when. If you find yourself struggling, do the research and find an option that benefits you. Find what works for you, and go with it. It's stressful, but when you find what works, everything will be okay. And don't forget, you're not alone. Everyone in this world has been where you are right now. Stressed over bills, not knowing where your next meal might come from. Things will get better, you will figure things out. It comes with age, and everything will be okay. Relax, don't be so hard on yourself. You'll get there, just like the rest of us.