Win, Place, or Showmance?

Eric's downward spiral began last week when he made the colossal error not to exercise the power of veto, which would have given Jessica the opportunity to take Zach's advice and backdoor either Daniele or Dick. Eric's pathetic inaction led to this week's very predictable ousting of Jessica — an arguably smart choice for eviction by the Donatos because Jessica was a far bigger threat than Jameka (though I think Jameka can just as easily beat those two in the finale, but more on that later). Many of you have argued that Eric's hands were tied because he's America's Player — but I beg to differ. Think about it: Eric did what America told him by pushing for Amber's nomination. He then won the POV before ''we'' told him to vote for Amber's eviction, so he could have easily exercised it to save Zach and backdoor a Donato. Sure, Eric might have been thinking that America wanted Amber out all along, so he didn't want to make waves. But Eric was never in danger of reneging on his deal (even CBS has told me the nomination task is separate from the eviction task). If Jessica had backdoored Daniele, Eric could have still voted for Amber while Jameka and Zach could have voted to evict Daniele. Jessica would have broken the tie to oust Daniele, one half of that interminable Donato duo would be gone today, and Eric would probably still be in the house. It's all so meaningless now; Jessica's gone, and Eric was the obvious choice to follow her out the door during this nail-biting double-eviction night.

Speaking of which, poor, pitiful Jameka: It's not enough that she couldn't participate in five HOH competitions (her choice, I know). She got all flustered in that goofy POV competition that was won by Zach. I checked late last night with a network spokesperson; a blue ball did accidentally bounce into Jameka's tube, leading to her inexplicable disqualification. (I'm going to have to believe this rule was explained to her during the commercial break.) To her credit, Jameka kept on playing, though she was already behind by two balls. It didn't matter in the long run anyway. Zach didn't exercise the POV and Eric got the boot. Really, Donatos — Eric? You think he would have been a bigger threat to you than Jameka? I'm not entirely sure those two are really considering the jury of enemies they've created.

I've spent a lot of time this summer bagging on Dick and Daniele — and I have no intention of changing my tune now! Despite the flashes of charm those two have displayed in the last few weeks (yep, even I enjoyed how much Dick was digging on Janelle, and I also think some of his more recent goodbye videos have been truly heartfelt), I still find the Donatos patently unlikable — a feeling, I believe, that is shared by Dustin, Jen, Amber, Jessica, and now Eric. Jameka and Zach could certainly beat Dick in the final two, and maybe even Daniele, which is why it's vital for the Donatos to win HOH this week so they can get rid of the nice guys. Ugh, this one's gonna be close. Either way, we should meet back here on Monday for an updated TV Watch.

So what do you think? Could Jameka and Zach beat Dick and Daniele in the final two? Would Dick and Daniele have had a better chance against Eric? And did Jameka get screwed in that POV competition?