James: It doesn't make sense...
 

...That he would nominate Austin to gain votes. He's a smart guy, and he would know that nominating his best friend would lose him support and only make Austin fans vote even more to save him.
and why would he nom Austin, who was in the top four to be saved? It's so ridiculous his reasons have to be genuine...

If you look at what the others who nommed him said it shows how difficult Austin was being and how bad he was making people feel:

Bobby: he has an ugly side, a temper, refuses to accept people have a different opinion to him; no need for him to shout and scream and swear at people.
Natasha: he's carrying around a lot of hate and anger that explodes into the house several times a day and when he's unhappy the whole house hears about it.
Clovie: the way he addresses other HM's is unsettling, when he pops at Chloe (Stevie said) it gets his blood boiling
James: the way he treats people and goes off isn't acceptable, its hard for me because I have to make the right decision and as much as I love him how he's behaving is wrong.

James would also have known that Austin was going to get nommed and be up anyway, regardless of whether he nommed him or not.

Conclusion: James was genuine because otherwise it doesn't make any sense.

He had no choice. Austin was getting worse with his behaviour and was not listening to anyone. This way the only way to make him pay attention.

I agree with the OP. I do think James is genuine and he does have his own moral compass that he seems to stick to. I am pretty sure I get James. He reminds me a great deal of someone I know who also has very strong morals and is a lovely man and interestingly the person I know was also raised by his grandparents.

yes. I love his friendship with Austin and i'm glad they're back on track. I get the feeling they could be the final two.

Austin is another matter for me now. I will be appalled if he wins. He should be the first to leave the final.

I prefer him for nomming that ****, I'm sure others do too

I wouldnt call it genuine though, more self-righteous. He might aswell have said "look at me, im such a hero, im doing whats best for the group cos im SUCH a great guy. God im cool lemme take my top off and play wih my hair."

:laugh:
Yes well, but I think he's just like that, highly principled about things like horrible behaviour towards an elderly woman but a bit sanctimonious with it. All in all, I think he's fair and good hearted and I'm very impressed by his manners. . I think that comes from being brought up by grandparents from an era of old fashioned courtesy and respecting your elders. He does seem old fashioned to me in a lot of ways. I think it's nice.

it was strictly a strategy that blew up on his face. he was playing a smart and tactical game until then. sadly for him, he is now exposed.

when austin is wrong, he and admits and apologizes. when james is wrong, he gets defensive and angry, and storms off. he thinks of himself, a saint, so smug.

When Austin is wrong, he apologizes and then does the same again, only worse (His tirade at Janice).
James is consistent, he sticks to his guns and walks off when people won't listen and accept his opinion and keep harassing him.

Can you tell me what you think his strict strategy was?

They can't discuss nom are you suggesting he knew they would be aired?

I think Vanessa meant just being up for nomination might make him pay attention.

It was not strategy or betrayal on James part, it was egotism and self-righteousness. In his mind he believed he was doing the right thing.

James has a moral set of codes, which is fine for him...but he preaches too much and thinks he needs to teach Austin a lesson.

Personally, I think James went too far. As much as I dislike Austin's behaviour, it's not James' business to teach Austin a lesson. Honestly, he's only known the bloke for a few weeks...he's not his brother or his father and it's very egotistical for James to think he must 'punish' Austin.

Did James say he did it to 'teach him a lesson and punish him' though? I just heard him say he was nominating him because his "behaviour was wrong" which it was. Not any different from what the other 3 who nominated Austin said...
James and Austin are sort of seen as joined at the hip and a 'pair'. If one person of a pair behaves horrendously and the other says nothing, it looks as if they condone it and then it kind of reflects on them too. So they speak to the other person and hope they listen...but they ignore them...so they speak to them about it once more and are ignored again....and so on....really I think James was between a rock and a hard place. If he'd said nothing to Austin people would be saying he was a suck ass or not a good friend! :shrug: I agree with you that he goes on too much but I think he's stubborn and doesn't like his well meaning advice being ignored. ha!

Don't get me wrong. I actually like James and agree with his feelings about how Austin behaves...and loved when he took Austin up on his behaviour. That is what moved James up to my top 2 favs.

I'm just responding to the op's question of motive. I think he really thought he was teaching him a lesson rather than making a strategic move.

james could easily take austin aside and correct him, instead secretly in diary room, backstabbing his friend, which blew up in his face when exposed and he couldn't come up with any sensible excuses. teach him lesson by evicting? so much bullsh*t.

Yep! I can't see any 'strategy' in his actions that would make sense.

tactical move and he thought no one would know until show is over.. wrong.. lol

I think it was tactical. That, and he didn't think Austin would see it so he thought he was in the clear.

Well now that Janice has been evicted and Austin has been saved by the public, I think it'll become clear whether James was being genuine or not. Let's see if he starts to backtrack now he knows the majority of the public was on Austins side.

I don't know how James can really backtrack.

Janice & Jenna are gone...so Austin's irritant and encouragement are both gone. There won't be anymore outbursts from him. As a result James and Austin will have a lot of fun until the finale.

The public would see it and they are the ones that vote.
I've explained in the OP why I think it wasn't tactical and strategic, but no -one that thinks it was has actually set out their reasons why they think so.

This ^^^
The 2 of them having a good time together has been a series HL.

Austin was kept not because the public is on his side. Because the public likes his bromance with James. If you look at the polls they're both top three.

True, i'd forgotten that with Janice being evicted there wont be anymore altercations between Austin and her for James to get involved in :laugh: but I guess he could start bitching about Janice to Austin now that she's gone, which would sort of be backtracking, idk.