Warning! The following contains spoilers from the Big Brother Season 24 live feeds as of Tuesday, September 6th. Read at your own risk!
Blindsides and puke-inducing betrayals have been parts of Big Brother Season 24. Given that, I guess it should come as no surprise that yet another major shake-up could be happening in the coming weeks. On the heels of Michael Bruner solidifying himself as a record-setting houseguest in the game, it’s looking like he might now be interested in making yet another big move to help increase his odds of making it to the finale. Unfortunately, it’s going to come at a cost because, if he throws Brittany Hoopes under the bus, fans might see Season 24’s most dominant duo split.
CinemaBlend has been tracking the events of Big Brother Season 24 (which is streamable with a Paramount+ subscription), and it seems like Michael is quietly making moves for the future that don’t include his original Final Two partner. This only started in recent days, during which it seemed like Brittany was being a little too transparent about their deal. It even got to a point in which she alienated their Final Three partner, Taylor Hale, when she arrived to talk strategy. Michael later vented his frustration about the exact situation to two people that he typically wouldn’t discuss the game with otherwise, Monte Taylor and Matt Turner (via BB Updates):
Michael to Monte/Turner- Yesterday I did one on ones and we werent talking about anything substantial. Taylor comes in and she (Brittany) is like "can we have five more minutes?". I was like we are not talking about anything. It felt very weird #BB24September 5, 2022
Michael’s frustrations with Brittany were further exacerbated when Turner revealed that the latter tried to secure a Final Two deal with him. Furthermore, Turner shared that Brittany had a side alliance with Alyssa Snider and Taylor, which was also something she hadn’t shared with her OG Final Two partner. Michael didn’t like what he was hearing and began to think up some scenarios. While speaking with Turner and Monte, Michael pitched a scenario in which they could work to get Brittany out of the house via a Head of Household win on Alyssa's part.
Brittany and Michael are clearly preparing for a future without each other, which could create some more chaos in the coming week. Fans may want to know if these moves are petty or strategic, and I’m inclined to think it’s more of the latter for both parties.
Regardless of what people are saying now, I don’t think any Big Brother Houseguest believes that Michael isn’t the most important target to eliminate at this time. His attempt to throw Brittany under the bus could help strengthen his bonds with other players while also weakening his gameplay and making him less of a threat in the latter stages of the game. Michael has already done plenty to prove he should win the competition -- he just has to make it to the end by any means at this stage.
As for Brittany, she has to accept that her game is so intertwined with Michael that it’s impacting her in a negative way. It’s unlikely that anyone will vote for her to win over her estranged colleague if they make it to the finale and, in truth, it’s hard to say if she’d beat anyone in a vote at this stage (especially given the controversy surrounding her exposing Kyle Capener’s racial bias to stay in the game). Brittany needs to make some major moves in these final weeks to convince the jury that she deserves to win. Orchestrating Michael’s eviction would go a long way in doing that and, if she can secure another comp win or two, she’d be in the running with everyone else.
It remains to be seen whether or not Michael and Brittany will truly betray each other at some point, and I think it’ll ultimately come down to how things play out around them. I don’t see Brittany nominating Michael if she wins Head of Household, for example, and I don’t think Michael more or less has to keep the target off himself in whatever way he can at this stage. Of course, I’m sure there are many who would still sooner see him leave over Brittany, especially given his latest dominant week as HOH.
Big Brother airs on CBS on Sundays and Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET and on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. We’ll definitely want to be watching to see if Michael and Brittany stick together as a duo or if one betrays the other in an effort to save their game.
