Big Brother 9 Houseguest Joshuah Should Have Been Loyal

Welcome to the first installment of Reality Review, the series that puts you, the viewer, at a safe distance while observing human nature at its finest. On April 2, 2008, Joshuah Welch was evicted from the Big Brother house. He left after more than seven weeks of seriously campaigning the other primates in the Big Brother habitat to forge alliances and pick off the other houseguests like fleas off a monkey's heinie.

It was a big week for Joshuah, the Big Brother 9 houseguest whose name became synonymous with the word "antics." From going on wild dusting sprees to dancing to turning on fellow guests like a rabid poodle, determining what he was going to do next could keep a reality show player up all night.

But no one seemed to have any sleepless nights in the wilderness where Joshuah was concerned.

The only people who seemed to have much to say about Joshuah were the two girls he snarled and snapped at for no apparent reason. He was not put up on the block until Week 8, at which time he was released back into the wild with only one vote in his favor.

Let's take a look at Joshuah's strategy, of which the unprovoked attacks did seem to play a part, or so his mother Darlene hopes. These Big Brother strategies did seem to work, if only because they forced the other Big Brother houseguests to take sides in the issue, making the girls he targeted vulnerable.

But why did no one put Joshuah on the block for being such a mad, bad guy? There are three reasons:

One, he probably scared people. When he attacked, he went all-out, and was through with his victim socially from that point on. He had alliances in the house, and was not afraid to use them, so his victims were at least partially ostracized at that point.

Two, he was a fun guy around the habitat when he wasn't gnawing someone's head off. He was a ray of light in a house where so many other people spent so much time complaining. (Can we say Sheila, boys and girls?) It wouldn't be surprising if everyone secretly wanted to be his friend, even if he was a Big Brother houseguest to approach with caution.

Three, everyone who lives in the Big Brother House for any length of time is going to feel misused by someone, and Big Brother houseguests really like to wield that power against their enemies once it falls into their hands. Most houseguests are more likely to bypass a real threat to go after someone they feel snubbed them in some personal way.

Other aspects of Josh's strategy included exploiting the affections of Sharon, the girl with whom he was paired during the partnering phase of Big Brother Season 9. Even as late as a week before Joshuah's eviction, Sharon could be observed affectionately grooming her partner in their nest.

Sharon was always willing to take the fall for him, even offering herself up to Adam during his time as Head of House to go on the block because Josh was worried he may be a target. That may not have been a bad play on Josh's part, since it worked. The sudden outbursts seemed to have worked in his favor as well, since they helped get rid of his targets, with no apparent - at least no immediate - repercussions.

Upon landing on the block, Joshuah began showing his vulnerabilities in calculated ways to win the compassion of others in the Big Brother House. Believe it or not, this included crying into his pizza on cue, which he did very well.

However, the ploy to use tears to win Adam's favor didn't work at all. Maybe it was too little too late. Or maybe people, even the ones like Adam who seem compassionate by nature, simply know when they are being played.

"Something's fishy with the dude," was Adam's comment in the Diary Room.

It may have ultimately been Joshuah's disloyalty to his closest Big Brother House friend that came back to bite him. He campaigned Head of House (HoH) Natalie to put his partner Sharon on the block instead of him, but the partners wound up on the block together when James won the mighty Power of Veto for the third time. If Sharon hadn't been sitting next to Joshuah, she would certainly have voted to keep him, which would have given him a fighting chance.

Here is how the voting actually went down: Sheila, Ryan and Adam voted to evict Joshua, while James voted to evict Sharon.

If Sheila had gone up instead of Sharon, the votes would have tied 2-2 in Joshuah's favor. He could have used his campaign time to turn HoH Natalie against Sheila on the basis of Sheila's own status as a loose cannon and willingness to snarl at allies the moment she feels the slightest bit slighted.

The verdict? Joshuah, the man with two H's, did a lot of things right, but just a little loyalty toward Sharon could have saved him his Week 8 eviction from the Big Brother House.

It's a jungle in there.