Foreword: Big Brother Season 8 is now in full swing. So to avoid missing any current details you’ll want to check out the online, uncensored live feeds (14 day free trial) and see what is going on right now.

It’s just a few more weeks until Big Brother 8 gets started all over for another great summer of house guest fun. Over the past seasons it’s been fun to watch which house guests’ strategies work and which don’t. Best of all, it changes each season, so no plan of attack is a sure thing. So what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t? Let’s take a look at Big Brother Game Play Styles.

“The Under the Radar“ player will make sure he or she does not become a target for eviction by staying out of the way. UtR will intentionally fold a winning hand in the competitions, especially the HoH. UtR believes that the best way to make enemies is to make nominations. You can expect to find this player whispering decisions into the ear of his or her frontman/woman who actually does win the HoH. UtR is actually a pretty successful approach to the Big Brother game. Notable winners in past seasons who applied this method to some degree: Lisa from Season 2 and Jun from Season 4. After winning HoH the first week Lisa laid back and let the rest of the guests box it out until the very end when she stepped up and beat out her competition, Danielle, in a 9-1 vote. Jun was just as wise a player in Season 4 when she aligned herself with the fire breathing Alison. When you’re standing next to a floodlight like Alison no one is going to see you. Jun cashed in on her game play in the finale when she beat out her partner, Alison, in a 6-1 vote.

“The Flirt“ player will sit on your lap, give you hugs, and even jump into bed with you given the chance. The Flirt wants what is his/hers and what is yours and he/she is sure going to get it. Butterflies in the stomach and stars in the eyes have lead to far too many early evictions in the name of “love”. This is where married guests have a great advantage as they’re much less likely to be distracted by this tactic. The best examples of this style of play can be traced back to Will in Season 2 and Alison in Season 4. Will lead poor little Shannon around on a leash until the time came for her to be sacrificed to his benefit. Good for Will, bad for Shannon.

Season 4 had the biggest of all The Flirts with Alison as she worked over all the boys in the house, especially Nathan. Poor, poor Nathan. This guy was a sucker to the very end when he was the one and only person to vote in favor of Alison despite what she had obviously done to him and his chances of success. Most surprising was the fact that Alison had a boyfriend back home watching her kiss and more above and below the sheets! While this tactic alone can’t win you the game, it can set a house guest up in a great position.

“The Mob“ players feel safety in numbers. A bad decision on its own has got to get better if you can get three other people to agree with you, right? Best example of The Mob was the Four Horsemen from Season 5 which consisted of Jase, Scott, Drew, and (ah-yuk yuk) Cowboy. The tough part of this strategy is the most obvious: there can be only one winner. Eventually these players are forced to turn on themselves and it ain’t gonna be pretty. The smartest of this bunch was clearly Drew and he swiftly struck at Jase by eliminating his exit strategy, Holly. By eliminating Holly he weakened his Mob-mate and forced a wedge between them giving him the perfect opportunity to get out while he still could. Ultimately The Mob proved to be a well crafted method as half of The Mob made it to the end, though I never expected Cowboy to be one of them. Drew went on to win Season 5 and I was surprised to find myself agreeing that he should.

Another very successful version of “The Mob” was Chilltown from Seasons 2 and 7 starring Will as the kingpin and Boogie as his right hand man. Will was able to build up his fortress around him using the previously mentioned method of “The Flirt” and here with “The Mob”. Mob-mates were cut down one by one, but Will made to the end to win and I couldn’t have agreed with that more. When Chilltown resurfaced in Season 7 I was amazed to see house guests clamoring to climb aboard the Chill-train. Again “The Mob” served Will and Boogie well as Will was able to fall on his sword and hand the crown to Boogie.

“The Two-Face“ player is devilish and sneaky by design. You’ll confess your secret plans in apparent confidence only to have them reported back to the other side only moments later. Two-Face has the distinct advantage of having a foot on both sides of the fence, so when things go sour on one side he/she is ready to jump to the other. I think this is the most dangerous style of Big Brother game play as you can quickly find yourself caught in a lie or outright exposed by a jilted house guest. We’ve seen this player each season to some extent, but only the masters are able to carry it all the way through. James, originally from Season 6 and again in Season 7, quickly became a Two-Facer after feeling betrayed by his own team early in Season 7. He worked to bring the house down around him by pitting side against side, all the while dodging the fireworks he had set off. Unfortunately it didn’t last him long enough and he was evicted on Day 53 of Season 7.

My favorite Two-Face player is undoubtedly Will from Season 2 and again in Season 7. That guy could look you straight in the face and convince you he was actually Barbara Walters sent here from Mars and you’d walk away believing him. Will’s smooth operator approach made him the perfect Two-Face as he worked over all angles of the house. Each time he had to put a piece in motion (usually a motion of heading towards the exit door) he’d convince the other guests that this wasn’t what he wanted to do, but the rest of the house was making him do it. Will also spent most of his time leaning between groups acting as a floater and would form a new alliance each week as the power shifted. This guy clearly knew how to play the game as he was the only one there in Season 7 that was a previous winner. Although he didn’t win this past season I honestly believe he willfully took himself out of the game, clearing the way for his buddy and partner in crime, Boogie, to take the big prize himself. Considering these two are business partners Will would have plenty to benefit from by having Boogie win all that prize money.

I’m sure I’ve missed several game play styles as it’s difficult to cover them all without rambling on for even longer than I already did. I imagine we’ll see a mix of these styles this season as well as possibly finding a new approach or two from the contestants on their way in. We’re just days away from the next batch of guests heading towards sequester and then a little more than a week after that the game will begin all over. Everyone here at Wild Bluff Media is ramped up and ready. Are you? Check out our Big Brother 8 Preview and our look at the Big Brother Characters we expect to see each season, like “The Flirt” and “The Two-Face“.

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