When we left things yesterday, Devin had just reversed himself, decided he had parental solidarity with Brittany and taken her off of the Block, even though she was his top target all week up to that point. He had put Zach up, breaking his word to never put up a Bomb Squad member, but also doing what Zach told him to do.
But then Brittany said she wanted to make an announcement or something and… CLIFFHANGER!
Let's get to Thursday's (July 10) “Big Brother” to find out what the heck went down after the Veto and what's going to happen with this week's vote.
6:01 p.m. “If you name your alliance The Bomb Squad, it's bound to blow up,” Julie Chen's crack staff of writers quip.
6:04 p.m. But what about that crazy cliffhanger? Pao-Pao and Zach appear to be on the Block still, which means that whatever happened with Brittany didn't impact things that much, even if it's “utter chaos.”
6:05 p.m. We return to the end of the POV. Brittany is claiming that she knew that she knew Pao-Pao was going to throw the competition. Brittany makes it clear that if she says, Pao-Pao is gonna be her target. And then Pao-Pao's New York starts coming out, whatever the heck that means. “We all know how he is,” Pao-Pao says of Devin, calling him “not a good person.” She claims, however, that she didn't throw the competition. “I'm so glad I have a front-row seat,” says Duck Donesty, “tickled to death” by this fight. Pao-Pao disagrees with Devin's version of events. And with everybody yelling at Zach, he takes his chance and goes “below the belt.” He starts by telling Pao-Pao that she “sucks at everything.” She agrees, “It's true!” He says there's no truth to Devin and that his personality changes with the wind. He mocks Devin's fake smile, calls him “a huge liar.” Devin smiles insincerely. “Best of luck to you, bud,” Devin says. Zach figures that if the House knows he's targeting Zach, they'll keep him, but he also points out various alliances, without fully outing them. That could cause problems. Or… not. Devin figures he was always a big target and he goes back to the HoH room and smiles at the cameras and watches things play out. He needs to grow a pointy beard so he can stroke it like an insane supervillain. Because Devin is the worst. Amber is worrying about the fate of the Bomb Squad. Frankie feels betrayed by Zach. Caleb is gonna gun for anybody who tries to throw him under the bus.
6:11 p.m. Uh-oh. Trouble in Zankie-Land. Zach tries reassuring Frankie that everybody still trusts him. But Frankie is sad and confused that he nows seems untrustworthy to the house. “Nothing changed,” Zach says. It looks like Zankie is breaking up. “I think I took it too far,” Zach admits. Outside, Zach and Pao-Pao start yelling at each other. Derrick ends up stuck in the middle awkwardly. Pao-Pao keeps swearing she didn't throw the competition. And… I don't care about this anymore.
6:13 p.m. Devin has evicted Zach from The Bomb Squad, which apparently has the power to do, unilaterally. He knows they need six votes to get Zach out and then he'll be the deciding vote. The key is to bring Hayden into the alliance. Devin tells Hayden the lay of the land and asks for him to be a part of things. “This is all so fast,” Hayden stutters, trying to be earnest. He accepts, but tells us that his goal will be to blow up The Bomb Squad. Devin promises, once again, that he'll never put up another member of his alliance.
6:19 p.m. Zach is in damage control mode, apologizing to Derrick, who is perfectly happy to have Zach and Devin attacking each other and taking any and all targets off of him and allowing him to enjoy the bald eagles and apple pie of Team America. And speaking of Team America, Donny, Derrick and Frankie are being brazen in their joint strategizing. Derrick is having to be Zach's advocate, telling Caleb that Pao-Pao will flop on them and that Zach has no issues with Caleb. It takes very little persuading for Caleb to decide that keeping Zach is their safest move. The votes have shifted and Frankie takes it upon himself to tell Devin that Zach is staying. “Why would Caleb do that?” Devin asks. “So now we are The Bomb Squad Plus One,” Frankie says. “I'm not in the Squad no more,” Devin says, vowing to play solo and force the house to stop “the love of a father for his daughter.” Ruh-Roh. This is gonna be some Mel Gibson/”Ransom” stuff going down.
6:26 p.m. Let's go to the living room. Julie asks Jocasta to describe the Veto Meeting in one word. “Crazy,” says Jocasta, who isn't even in this game anymore. “Insanity,” Frankie offers. Devin gives his HoH reign a 4.5 out of 10. Pao-Pao and Zach make statements. “I feel like a winner already,” Pao-Pao says, calling everybody in the House special, though she tells Devin, “You have five different personalities and they all suck.” I guess that's special. She argues that she and Zach suck equally, but she vows to walk out Like a Boss. Zach thanks his relatives for making him who he is today. Zach tells the hamsters that it's in their best interest to keep him, because he's only interested in taking Devin out.
6:30 p.m. The vote: Jocasta still gets a vote even though she's useless. She votes to evict Zach. Brittany, however, votes to evict Pao-Pao. Derrick also votes to evict Paola. Donny breaks ranks with Team America and votes to evict Zach.
6:35 p.m. Caleb votes to evict Pao-Pao, as does Amber. All smiles, Hayden votes to evict Paola. Cody keeps The Suite Life going by voting Pao-Pao out. Frankie keeps Zankie alive by voting Pao-Pao out, sealing her fate. Nicole and Christine vote Paola. Victoria, who has vanished this week, adds salt to Paola's wounds.
6:38 p.m. By a vote of 10-2, Pao-Pao is leaving Like a Boss. I wonder if these are the shortest shorts anybody has ever been evicted in. Pao-Pao blames Devin for her eviction. “His game sucks and he made a lot of deals with everybody,” she said. Julie reminds Pao-Pao that she confessed to throwing the competition in the Diary Room, so Pao-Pao says she had no idea what happened. She's rooting for Donny and Jocasta.
6:40 p.m. Messages from the House: Zach calls Pao-Pao a huge liar and says he isn't sad to see her go. Jocasta loves her and tells her to stay close to God. Devin apologizes for not keeping his word and says he didn't take anything personally. “You have been my best friend in the house,” Donny says, making Pao-Pao cry. “Who knew I would be best friends with the 42-year-old bearded man in the house?” she asks. Everybody should make friends with bearded men! I'm friendly!
6:47 p.m. Head of Household time. Devin just has to sit and smirk. The competition is called Underwater Polo. Contestants have to hit polo balls down into numbered slots. This is just a variation on a “Big Brother” favorite, with the embellishment of a Giant Squid head in the corner. Amber starts with 17 and Cody ties her. “Everyone, I need you to have your balls in hand,” Julie says. Tee-hee. Caleb gets 21 and takes the lead, only to have Frankie get a 24. Christine gets 4, which is lame. Nicole gets 29, which is unbeatable. Go Nicole! Victoria gets an irrelevant 12 and Brittany's 16 doesn't do anything either. Zach gets an eight and won't be HoH. Donny and Hayden also come in low. Jocasta prays and hits a 22. Only Derrick remains, nailing a 28 and joining Nicole as the new HoHs.
6:53 p.m. I'm comfortable with a Derrick & Nicole reign.
6:54 p.m. Hmmm… BBTracker sounds intrusive and not necessarily in an amusing way. It turns out that I don't really care how much the hamsters are moving around the House when I'm not watching.
6:57 p.m. So Julie asks Derrick what he's looking forward to getting in the HoH room. Nicole answers that she wants a letter from home and Julie has to tell her that she's sorry, but the question was for Derrick. Scandal. Derrick wants to see his wife and kid. OK. So what probing question was Julie saving for Nicole that she couldn't have asked Derrick? Oh. How is she feeling about this? Nicole is excited.
Are you happy with the new power couple? Are you glad that Zach survived to wreak havoc? Will you miss Pao-Pao?