When we left things on Thursday, Nicole and Derrick had just won Head of Household, which made me somewhat happy, because I like Nicole and I'm fine with Derrick and I was honestly going to be satisfied with ANYBODY being HoH, since Devin couldn't win and everybody is planning to target Devin, at least until they abandon that plan in a moment of suspicious or just-plain-silly strategy.
But who's going up on the Block tonight? And then who's going OFF the Block tonight?
Follow along…
8:04 p.m. “This one's for Team America, for my family and for my boys in blue,” Derrick says of his key. He's excited. His new roomie? Not-so-excited. “I did not want to be HoH this week. I did not feel that I was on anyone's radar,” Nicole laments, sighing, “Sucks.”
8:04 p.m. Zach is giddy, saying there's a 150 percent chance that Devin is the next one out the door. This is why Zach is an unemployed recent college graduate. He doesn't know that purveyor of Radical Honesty Devin had planted a few bombs about the Bomb Squad. Starting 17 hours before the eviction, he was telling Brittany and Jocasta about the alliance that he bailed on. Then, one hour later, he told Duck Donesty, who describes himself as “flabbergasted.” Devin is hoping that his “good faith” betrayal of his alliance will help him somehow. This isn't all that smart, but there really isn't much else that Devin has going for him. Devin tells Derrick that he has to put him up, because otherwise he'll get backdoored. Well, Derrick wants to backdoor Devin, but he nods politely. Derrick and Caleb agree that getting Devin out will mean nobody gets blood on their hands.
8:08 p.m. Christine decides that she wants to stick with the Weirdo Trio, telling Nicole all about The Bomb Squad. The name makes Nicole giggle. “This is so crazy,” Nicole sighs. “That's a stupid name,” Nicole adds. In the Diary Room, though, Nicole admits to being offended that she's only hearing about this now.
8:09 p.m. Who wants to see Derrick & Nicole's HoH Room? I DO! Nicole was like a Homecoming Queen (or just went to prom with somebody shorter) and a former basketball star. “I'm just saying, you can dunk on me any time you want,” says Hayden, unclear on the fundamentals of women's basketball, at least at the high school or junior high level. Derrick is sad to see that his daughter's feet have grown while he was aware. Nicole's letter is from her mom, written to “My Little CoCo Bear.” When everybody is gone, Derrick and Nicole chat together for the first time. Nicole admits to being scared to talk game with Derrick and he diagnoses her uncertainty. They agree on a list of people they don't want to put on the Block, which is basically everybody. Nicole can put Amber up, because Amber put her up. Derrick can put Caleb up and tell him to take Amber off if he wants to. Jocasta is the other logical target because… Who cares about Jocasta? But who's the fourth nominee? There aren't many alternatives.
8:16 p.m. Awww. Hayden and Nicole are having a hammock date. She's talking about her awkwardness. He's talking about her cuteness. “When are we going to make this offish,” he asks. She's confused and amused. “Can we make out?” he asks. “That definitely does not work ever,” she says. He protests. They don't make out.
8:17 p.m. Derrick needs his two nominees, so he attempts to manipulate Caleb. He tells Caleb that Nicole is putting Amber up. This is brilliant because he's going to get Caleb to put himself up, which he does. But, in addition, this will make Caleb eye Nicole as a target later and since Derrick and Nicole aren't aligned, there's no risk there for him. “She always told me that words are easy to say but actions, of course, speak much louder,” Caleb says, assuming that he'll look like a stud. After calling it a cowboy move, Derrick has Caleb convinced to be Amber's white knight. Caleb tells Amber that he'll go up and he'll throw the challenge, which will save Amber and dethrone Nicole. “I don't want you to do that, though,” Amber says, worrying about what her sister will think watching. Caleb suggests Amber's sister is thinking that Amber has found a new husband.
8:21 p.m. Nicole wants to consult with super-wise Donny. “I trust you and want to work with you,” Nicole tells Donny, starting with her desire to put Amber up. Donny suggests Nicole might want to put Christine up and makes sure that she knows Christine was in the eight-person alliance. “I didn't vote my little buddy out. You shouldn't have to vote your buddy out. But is your buddy your buddy,” Donny tells Nicole. And just minutes later, though, Donny goes to Brittany and Jocasta and tells them what he was told in confidence. Uh-oh! Bad Donny. “He's the one who's stirring everything up,” Nicole realizes. “He can't be running his mouth down there,” she worries to Christine. Oh, Donny.
8:28 p.m. Nomination time. I don't love the dual Heads of Household, but I like how action-packed these episodes end up having to be. Sunday used to be a sluggish episode, but with both Nominations *and* Battle of the Block, it's non-stop fun. Nicole is so nervous she's on the verge of puking, but keys are turned and dies are cast. Nicole's nominees are Amber and… Donny. She says that Amber nominated her and she tells Donny that this was a last-minute decision based on last-second information. Derrick nominated Jocasta and Caleb. He says that some people says Jocasta is a floater, but he knows she isn't, while he tells the House that Caleb volunteered. “Sometimes the backdoor is the only door,” Devin grumbles. Donny is surprised. “I surely didn't think it was gonna be me,” he says.
8:32 p.m. “Can I self-evict,” Nicole asks Hayden. She's lamenting nominating Donny, feeling like her hands could have been bloody, but now they're at least a smidge sanguine. Hayden tells Nicole that as great as Donny is, his head isn't in the game. “You definitely make me feel better,” Nicole reassures Hayden.
8:34 p.m. “You already know I already know what's up,” Devin tells Derrick. Everybody's talking in circles this week. He's trying to show his “class” in the hopes that Derrick will show some “grace.” Devin does a lot of fake-smiling and Derrick tells Devin that he's a beast and if Devin sticks around, he'll understand if he comes after him.
8:39 p.m. “Frankie, do you have siblings?” Victoria asks. Frankie says that he does indeed, have a brother and a younger sister. Frankie wants to talk about his family, but he doesn't want to go into detail. Frankie isn't lying, but Victoria has lots and lots of questions. “What's your sister's name,” she asks point-blank. “Ari,” Frankie replies, squirming. Victoria seems to know something, but is her knowledge limited to the proper full-length Kiddush blessing?
8:41 p.m. Team America has been assigned its first mission: They have to spread a rumor that someone in the House is related to a former “Big Brother” contestant and convince three people to spread that rumor. That was the least interesting of the two choices, eh? Derrick breaks things down for Frankie and Donny. Frankie loves spreading rumors and his idea is to say that PaoPao told him that Zach is related to Amanda. They're both loudmouths from Florida, so this should be easy. “We may not be geniuses, but hopefully we can pull this one off for you,” Donny says. I didn't think this was a great challenge for Team America, but I like that they've put together a viable conspiracy.
8:44 p.m. Nicole is freaking out about putting Donny up and he's freaking out reassuring her. Because Nicole is emotional, Donny is crying as well. “I don't hold it against you,” he says. “Why, Donny?” she asks. Nicole at least explains to Donny why she was frustrated. Donny, however, insists that she didn't tell him not to tell anybody. Now, my Slingbox isn't on a TV with a DVR, so I don't remember if it's true, but why would Donny go and tell Jocasta and Brittany anything anyway? In fact, under what circumstances would anybody have a game-based conversion with Jocasta? She's not really playing “Big Brother.” She's just having a really awful multi-week vacation in a CBS hamster-cage. Nicole wants Donny to win Battle of the Block so that she doesn't have to feel guilty.
8:50 p.m. Battle of the Block time! They're off to Hogwarts! Wait. Frogwarts. There are caldrons, hedges, stuffed owls and they're all wearing pointy magic hats. “I'm a groundskeeper. I enjoyed seeing the hedges,” Donny says. It's called Abra-Bob-Bra and it's pretty much a lawsuit waiting to happen. The challenge involves people on wires making puzzles. Jocasta is up on the wire and since Caleb is throwing the challenge, she's just dangling. Amber hates puzzles. Donny loves Sudoku. Despite that mixture of puzzle-loving, Donny and Amber are dominating. Duck Donesty is the last one to see that the puzzle is the “Big Brother” Duck with a wizard's hat. I really can't tell who's trying, who's sucking intentionally or what. Donny and Amber win. “Caleb, you're crazy,” Amber says, giving Caleb a kiss on the cheek. Caleb is determined to return to Beast Mode for PoV so that Devin goes up. If Devin somehow gets chosen to play in the PoV and wins, of course, Jocasta is screwed. Expecto the Unexpected indeed.
8:57 p.m. With that, Nicole's HoH run is over and… NICOLE VANISHES. The voiceover inquires, “Where did Nicole disappear to? And will she ever be the same again?” Everybody wanders around and nobody knows what happened to Nicole. It's hilarious. Nicole was raptured!
Do you like Nicole/Derrick nomination plan? Did Donny betray Nicole? And will we ever see Nicole again?