Andy DehnartOn Thursday, Mike “Boogie” Malin was revealed to be the winner of the coup d’etat power, which he declined to use both then and during the week’s second eviction. Also last night, he won HOH, and because the coup d’etat power was only good for three evictions, it is now useless, another Big Brother “twist” that dies a sad, lonely death underneath the front porch.
(Warning: the following contains information from the live feeds that hasn’t yet aired, and which may not air, but proceed with possible spoiler caution.) What the CBS show has yet to reveal is that Mike apparently lost the power because he blabbed about it to other houseguests.
Mike revealed that he had the coup d’etat to his hetero life partner, Dr. Will Kirby. Talking about strategy in the workout room, Mike excitedly insisted that neither of them would be nominated last week, saying, “You know why we’re not going up? I have the power.” Will started talking loudly at this point, essentially trying to cover up his friend’s mistake, and Boogie quickly said, “Either I, or you, or someone in the group has the power. We have the power.” Watch that classic, as-yet-unaired moment right now:
In a subsequent conversation with Will, Mike revealed that it had been taken away from him for talking about it, which was prohibited. “It’s null and void. But nobody else knows that except Danielle,” he said. Then Mike explained the coup d’etat to Will, although at least in this clip, he doesn’t explain why he lost it. Watch that conversation:
Boogie also had a similar conversation with Danielle. “What I’m about to tell you, in hindsight, hindsight is obviously 20/20, you may not be happy how I played it. But I can tell you about the power now,” he said. At that moment, the producers turned off the live feeds, which is generally a good indication that they’re trying to hide something in order to, you know, maintain the integrity of the game.
He also told her, according to one Jokers’ Updates poster, “I don’t know how I’m going to possibly play, deal with my alliance, and not say anything. … I slipped up.” (Watch their discussion.)
The curious thing about all of this is that Sunday’s episode proceeded as if nothing had happened regarding the coup d’etat power. Perhaps that’s just because there was too much stuff to include, and we’ll learn of Mike’s screw-up on Tuesday. Or perhaps the live show will just ignore this entirely. Julie Chen explicitly asked the power winner if they’d like to use it, even though it was then null and void.
More significant, however, was the moment when Boogie implied that he had the power to George in front of the entire house just before the veto ceremony, saying, “I’m not confirming or denying who would have the power, but there’s a general acceptance of who does. … Is that maybe something you want to go up against?”
That threat directly impacted George’s game play, and ultimately caused Howie to leave. Thus, having the stupid coup d’etat power be a secret may have completely altered the course of the game. Congratulations to whatever genius came up with that one.