Is being in the bottom 3 actually helpful?

[StellarWind]

One thing I read over-and-over on this board is that if you finish in the bottom three it will help you the next week. People even claim AI rigs the bottom three to exploit this effect.

This idea is counterintuitive to me. Fashion, peer pressure, fads, group thinking, conformism, the madness of crowds--we have a thousands names for it but they all amount to the same thing. It's hard to hold fast to an idea or a preference in the face of evidence that no one else agrees with you. Sometimes I wish my eldest would shut up at dinner time because he spreads his dislike of certain foods to his little brothers. The power of suggestion is strongest with subjective subjects such as food or music.

Did Chris Richardson's supporters really get a wake-up call last night? Or just a huge dose of negative peer pressure?

Why do we believe the bottom-three boost theory? Is there evidence for it?