Yeah I've always been fascinated by how Survivor and Big Brother to some extent kicked off the birth of the reality wave but they went in completely different directions. In Survivor, not playing the game is the fastest way to get booted out because you're seen as not deserving, there's this underlying theme that the person who wins must do so via effort and tactics. In BB on the other hand it's almost like WarGames, you know, the only winning move is not to play.
I suppose the focus is different though. In Survivor you win by manipulating other players, I think in BB you win by manipulating the audience*. It's a lot like politics in that sense - not interpersonal politics but actual politics - where you're trying to represent yourself as the right choice while also tearing your opponent's image down (or giving them enough rope to do it themselves). In that way, even though I'm a bigger Survivor fan, I think Big Brother is actually harder to win. There are no confessionals in BB really, when you're in the diary room you're still playing because your voters are watching.
*When I say manipulating the audience, not even necessarily in a villainous or sneaky way, that could just mean playing to your strengths and downplaying or managing your flaws, which we all do on a day to day basis anyway. I think someone could fall ass-backwards into winning just by being themselves, but there is no "be yourself" really, we make little decisions every second of every day about what to do and say.
The Tim situation really plays this out for me. On Survivor it'd be clear, you get him out by forming a voting block to get rid of him, (something I'm pretty sure, as Gemini said, they could just manage to do, depending on how Drew swings). But how do you get rid of him on something like Big Brother? His persona thrives on pot-stirring (extra effective in Australia I think), on being the villain, so going head to head against him is just going to keep him around longer. It becomes us vs him, and we don't want that because Australians love an underdog. Turn him into the outcast, or throw his jacket over the fence (heh), and you risk the same problem.
I'm not even sure what the answer is. Maybe - maybe - you wind him up enough that he starts cutting cords on appliances some more, because I think he's easily frustrated, he's not so good at managing his temper in the heat of the moment. Maybe focus on his support network, play the long game, take out those people first, then rub him the wrong way and let him hang himself.
I don't even mind Tim, just thinking out loud. Survivor is very clear, while the question of how to actually play BB is kind of murky. I think that's what I find so interesting. That's why a "mutiny" just doesn't work on this show, you're not swaying the other housemates, you're swaying the public. If they're not on your side, you can put Tim up every week until the final and he'll still win.
