Entertainment

The Kindest, Gentlest Threat on 'BB 16'

by Aly Semigran

Aw shucks, Donny. We sure are glad that Devin's widespread paranoia and crackpot theories about your secret (and incorrect) military past didn't come and haunt you like the ghost that's apparently living in Nicole's room.

Donny — the soft-spoken groundskeeper from North Carolina who spent the majority of Wednesday night's episode of Big Brother crying because of the love and kindness he felt from his younger housemates — was up on the block and suddenly became a target when Devin and Caleb became insanely convinced he wasn't revealing his true camouflage colors. While Donny wasn't the genius super spy a few of his housemates made him out to be, he did know how to spell. In fact, that handy and rare talent in the Big Brother house allowed Donny to take himself off the block when he proved that slow and steady does sometimes win the race when spelled the longest word in the Power of Veto competition with "splitters." (Then again, it's generous calling it a competition considering Zach was the only other player to come up with a correct word, while Cody spelled out "competively" and Paola turned calculator into "caltoru.")

It was all pretty A-W-E-S-O-M-E. We love Donny! How can you not? Oh right, you're Devin.

Now, there are plenty of ways to play your hand in Big Brother all wrong (Joey, what in the world were you thinking?!) but no one is playing their hand quite as badly as Devin is right now. Not only did he ruin his alliance with the universally-liked Donny by losing his trust after questioning his "real" past, but he can't read people at all. Yes, keeping your eye on your competitors and assuming not everyone is what they seem is imperative on Big Brother, but come on Devin, did you really think Donny — a guy who says things like "doggone scary" and "little footies"— is some trained killer? No sir, Donny is just a fella who had military dreams and still has one super sweet beard.

Donny may just be the sweetest guy to ever come through the Big Brother house (he was so touched that his fellow players wanted to hug him because he comes from place where you can't wear your emotion on your sleeve, a truly heartbreaking confession), which may or may not play to his advantage. His housemates could either exploit it, or he could be the emotional bedrock they all rely when they all inevitably turn on each other when Devin reveals they all might secretly be space aliens. You can never be too sure.

It's rare for nice guys to finish first in the often cutthroat and mean-spirited world of reality television, but it sure was nice to see Donny chalk up a victory for that side on, of all places, Big Brother.

Image: CBS