When Big Brother gets down to five people, the Power of Veto is just as important as the HoH. It can change the game and decide who stays and who goes.

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains Big Brother 13 spoilers.

Rachel is the HoH and she nominated Porsche and Kalia.

Adam won the Power of Veto.

Wow, Adam won a competition? It sounds like it was the annual OTEV challenge where HGs need to run around and find answers to clues delivered by OTEV, who last season was a Broadway-singing clam. As per usual, Jordan was the first person out.

Adam winning is certainly the most interesting possible outcome, but sadly, I suspect he won’t use it and Kalia will be evicted. In fact, that’s what he’s saying behind closed doors while talking to himself.

However, that’s not the smartest decision. I’ve already written about how Adam has no shot at beating Rachel or Jordan in the finale, but now he has the chance to give himself a guaranteed spot in the final three if only he’d use the veto and evict Jordan this week. Why? Well, let’s look at the math to figure it out.

There are two basic scenarios. In the first, Adam does not use the PoV and Kalia gets evicted. Then next week there are 12 possible outcomes for the HoH and PoV winners. Here’s how I see each of them breaking down.

Final 4 Possibilities If Kalia is Evicted

HoH=Adam, PoV=Adam: He’s safe. Rachel or Porsche is evicted.
HoH=Adam, PoV=Rachel: He’s safe. Rachel evicts Porsche.
HoH=Adam, PoV=Porsche: He’s safe. Porsche evicts Rachel.
HoH=Adam, PoV=Jordan: He’s safe. Jordan evicts Porsche.
HoH=Porsche, PoV=Adam: He’s safe. Adam evicts Rachel.
HoH=Porsche, PoV=Rachel: Rachel evicts Adam.
HoH=Porsche, PoV=Porsche: Adam evicts Rachel.
HoH=Porsche, PoV=Jordan: Jordan evicts Adam.
HoH=Jordan, PoV=Adam: He’s safe. Adam evicts Rachel or Porsche.
HoH=Jordan, PoV=Rachel: Rachel evicts Porsche.
HoH=Jordan, PoV=Porsche: Porsche evicts Rachel.
HoH=Jordan, PoV=Jordan: Rachel evicts Porsche.

This assumes Rachel would evict Porsche over Adam and Porsche would evict Rachel over anyone. But as you can see, of the 12 possible outcomes, Adam gets evicted in two of them.

Now let’s look at what happens if Adam uses the Power of Veto and they evict Jordan this week. Again, there are 12 possible outcomes.

Final 4 Possibilities If Jordan is Evicted

HoH=Adam, PoV=Adam: He’s safe. Porsche evicts Rachel.
HoH=Adam, PoV=Rachel: He’s safe. Rachel evicts Kalia.
HoH=Adam, PoV=Porsche: He’s safe. Porsche evicts Rachel.
HoH=Adam, PoV=Kalia: He’s safe. Kalia evicts Rachel.
HoH=Porsche, PoV=Adam: He’s safe. Adam evicts Rachel.
HoH=Porsche, PoV=Rachel: Rachel evicts Kalia.
HoH=Porsche, PoV=Porsche: Kalia evicts Rachel.
HoH=Porsche, PoV=Kalia: Kalia evicts Rachel.
HoH=Kalia, PoV=Adam: He’s safe. Adam evicts Rachel.
HoH=Kalia, PoV=Rachel: Rachel evicts Porsche.
HoH=Kalia, PoV=Porsche: Porsche evicts Rachel.
HoH=Kalia, PoV=Kalia: Porsche evicts Rachel.

This assumes that Rachel would go after Kalia or Porsche before Adam and that Kalia and Porsche would always vote out Rachel.

Mathematically, it proves that if Adam uses the veto and gets rid of Jordan, he will be guaranteed a spot in the final three, but if he doesn’t use it, there’s a chance he could get evicted in fourth place.

Additionally, if he uses the veto, there’s a 75 percent chance Rachel gets evicted in fourth place. But even if he wants her out, there’s only a 50 percent chance of Rachel being evicted next week if he doesn’t use it.

In other words, logically speaking, if Adam wants the best possible chance at not only making it to the end, but also winning the game, he will use the Power of Veto to save Porsche and then those two will vote to evict Jordan. Sure, I’d personally like to see that happen, but I also think it is the best possible game move for Adam, so if/when he doesn’t do it, it will be yet another example of why he’s such a bad game player.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

John Kubicek

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire DiariesSupernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.