Thank you for making this list and for your determination in defending your opinions. It's always a fun part of the day when I have to address your points.

As for my list, I'll go with what I think got these players to the end:

The Strategist - Paul It was ugly at times and he completely lost his cool when talking to Michelle. That may cost him the game but his maneuvering to get to Final 3 showed his great social skills. To bad that he has so many similarities with Russell Hantz such as his complete lack of class (You don't drink from the champagne bottle, idiot!). He was able to get people on his side but he disregarded them when he didn't need them any more. It wasn't always like that because he started out well, schmoozing those about to depart but 92 days got to him and he provoked some quite unnecessary disputes.

Now, I don't think he could beat James who would clean up on the female votes. His best chance is against the snake Nicole but even in that match-up, I have him as the underdog.

The Skater - Nicole: She let Corey go much further than first base in the HoH bedroom and, like Michelle said, part of the reason she is there is that she went to bed with someone who became a strong competitor at just the right time. Friday's episode reminded us how close those two were with Paulie, clearly the vilest person we had this season. In fact, the guy who was afraid of butterflies was probably the vilest person we've seen in BB since we had a Hantz brother yet Nicole and Corey were not only unwavering in their support of the bully but laughing, even applauding along with him. I used to like Nicole because she is a beautiful woman but I didn't like what she showed us this season as far as her personality. Her game wasn't strong either because she kept spilling the beans to the wrong person at the wrong time. If Frank and Da hadn't been so much opposed to each other, they would have realized that Nicole was clumsily sitting on the fence between them and they would have united to get the snake out. When James gave her HoH, he probably gave her the win because she is likely to beat Paul. She may be Derrick's pick but that just shows that Derrick is a better player than juror!

And how can you even give credit to Nicole for that first HoH win . The only reason she won that HoH was because her team had lost the first THREE challenges. And then, she only got that key because the other two didn't want it! What a competitor!

The Lucky Guy - James: Not only did this guy land the liveliest of the pretty girls this season but he managed to get to the end despite all his "wrong guesses", bad decisions, and total lack of preparation. A veteran had to know that there would be an important competition about the days but he had no idea about any of the answers. Once more, that shows his intellectual limitations but I'm sure there will be spin to deflect this constatation. The last few votes showed that the players have no fear about James' challenge skills and he's shown us that he's only good when the challenges clearly favor a small man. I have to admit that he is a likable guy and these games often reward nice people over the strategists. But even if he wins, it won't mean that James played smartly, just that he had the winning lottery ticket.

Evicted - Corey: Despite my earlier disbelief and Aruba's refusal to recognize it to this day, we have to admit that Corey's record shows that he may very well have been sandbagging the early competitions. Paul had a tough choice to make: Corey was probably the easiest one to beat in front of the jury but he would have been the hardest to beat in competition. If I had been in Paul's situation, I would have used the veto to take Corey off the block and sent James to jury. Part 3 of the final HoH is always an mental challenge so I would have trusted my abilities to win it. Corey would definitely have gotten votes by Nicole and Paulie. He may have gotten James and Michelle's votes but that would have been it.