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Will Shelli Have Another Showmance On 'BB17'?

by Kadeen Griffiths

While Shelli Poole continues to wander around the house crying like she's the only one in it, I know I can't be the only one who is already wondering if someone is going to fill that Clay-shaped hole in her heart. It seems to have escaped Shelli's notice that she and Clay are about to be apart for longer than they've been together, and who is to say that she won't find herself in another showmance before the competition is over? Now that James has gotten Clay Honeycutt evicted from the Big Brother house, all Shelli can talk about is how alone she feels in this game. (Thankfully, she does this in the diary room and not where her Sixth Sense alliance can hear her.) But what is the likelihood that Shelli will have another showmance on Big Brother 17? No offense, but that would be the worst idea for her game.

The whole reason that Shelli and Clay were targeted side by side was because of their showmance, and because they put their showmance above anything and everyone else — even the alliance that had been protecting them up to this point in the game. Her feelings for Clay weakened her position in the game (come on, Shelli, bargaining for Clay's safety in front of Vanessa was not the smartest thing you could have done), and the emotional whiplash she's going through right now is also clouding her ability to make any strategic game moves or win any competitions. To put it frankly, loving Clay f*cked her up, and also had a negative impact on her gameplay. If she gets that invested in every showmance she has, then she's going to end up in Jury House sooner than she thinks.

On top of that, her showmance options are really very limited here. The only men left in the house are James, Steve, Johnny Mac, and Austin. James is right up there with Jeff when it comes to a tendency to make sexist comments, Austin has basically exceeded Caleb in the game of an obsessive crush on another house guest (run, Liz, run), Steve is a little weird, and Johnny Mac is super into Becky. So, not only would a showmance be a bad idea for her game, but she would really have to scrape the bottom of the barrel in order to find another one in Clay's absence. She really only has a choice between Steve and James and... no, Shelli. Just no. Don't do it.

Of course, with the way Shelli is turning on the waterworks all over the house, it's clear that another showmance is the last thing on her mind. She seems to think that she'll still like Clay as much at the end of the competition as she does now, although her faith in Clay staying loyal to her when he probably has tons of girls hitting up his phone in the real world at least seems more realistic and grounded than any aspect of their relationship has been so far. It's unlikely that Shelli is going to end up in another showmance going forward, but, at the very least, her showmance with Clay might calm down into a regular old friendship by the time the two are reunited. As much as they might have tried to convince us otherwise, Jack and Rose they are not.

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Image: CBS; big-brother-2015/Tumblr