I am a huge Natalie fan, and I thought her and James were cute together, and would make an adorable real life couple. That said, I do need to vent about something. There's this idea online, and in the game that Nat used James, and James carried Natalie. That simply isn't true. While I don't think either James or Natalie ever intentionally hurt the other's games, James DID on several times cause Natalie to be in MORE danger in the game.
More so, during their final fight James' words "I sheltered you from this game" betrays his patronizing attitude, and is actually another way of saying "I lied and kept secrets from you in this game."
I'm not saying James never helped Natalie in the game, both strategically and personally, but below is a list of ways James "sheltered Natalie from the game". (or in other words, hurt her game.)
For starters the 8-Pack initially set up a hit list with Natalie as the #6 target, as she was seen as the most harmless, so I'm not giving James credit for her not being targeted, but what I can give him credit for is...
In Week 1, James intended to blindside Natalie with the Jozea vote, until Frank spilled the beans.
In Week 2, James threw the HOH, meaning Natalie wasn't safe the week Paulie (who hated her) was HOH. Again the 8 Pack wanted Nat to be the #6 target, and the girls had a hate on for Bronte, and Paul pretty much volunteered to go up, but Nat's name was tossed around, and it wouldn't have been if James didn't throw the competition.
In Week 3: James told Nat and Bronte to not worry about campaigning, meanwhile he encouraged Da to keep Tiffany (not realizing that Paul wasn't the backup target.) Nat lost her best friend while James at best did nothing to stop it, and at worst participated in Bronte's downfall.
In Week 4: Nat was nominated by James' alliance member Paulie. Instead of campaigning to keep her, James actually complained to other hgs about their relationship problems, creating more fuel for their anti-Nat fire. Nat easily could have been Bronte'd if it weren't for the Tiffany/Da/Frank drama.
In Week 5: After winning James' HOH, James ignored what Nat wanted to do and instead went with what the House (Paulie) wanted, nominating Nat's only other ally Bridgette, and creating a pretty deep rift between the two.
In Week 6: Nat stayed off the block because she did NOT volunteer to be a pawn. I'll give James a tiny bit of credit, but Paul really just wanted a volunteer. Also, James "sheltered" Nat from the knowledge that there was an all guys' alliance that spent a large amount of their time making fun of Natalie behind her back.
In week 7: Despite days of campaigning and rallying votes to get out Paulie, James was STILL on the fence, despite it being OBVIOUS that if he didn't make the move to flip the house, Natalie was in great danger. Nat had to tell him about Paulie flirting with her (I'm a Nat fan, but I agree that she was being strategic about this even if she will never admit it.) BUT, despite Natalie telling him repeatedly not to tell Paulie because it would put a HUGE target on her, James immediately ran and told Paulie. James did end up sticking by Nat, but it was like pulling teeth, and while James tried to paint the image of him being the white Knight, he barely spoke up to defend Natalie.
During the DE, James basically told Corey "do whatever" and made no effort at all to keep Nat's friend Bridgette.
After Nat was HOH: I actually agree with James' pushing for them to work with Nicole and Corey and target Victor (although he did go against her with the actual vote, and he did NOTHING to manage that relationship) However he threw Meech under the bus intentionally, which indirectly pushed Nat under the Bus as well. Then he told Victor IN FRONT OF COREY, that Nat wanted him to stay.. While CBS took Nat's accidental blaming of James that had zero impact on the game and made her look like a traitor, this ACTUALLY damaged Natalie's game.
James then threw HOH to a pissed off Nicole, and didn't bother to campaign at all that week, while Nicole and Corey screwed them over and took out Meech.
Now in their last week, Natalie was very pissy, and she blamed James a lot. I can sympathize with James here to some degree, but he did not handle it well, instead acting confused by her being upset, and annoyed that she would dare to be upset instead of just trying to be a good girlfriend during her last week. The last straw was when he decided to yell at her, unleashing insecurities he should have talked with her about weeks before, two nights before her eviction, all because she didn't want to sleep with him.
He justified his anger by saying "I sheltered you from this game." But honestly, the only thing James sheltered Nat from was all the stupid things he did to HURT Nat's game.
No comments:
Post a Comment