Hey gang. It’s Dan. It’s Elimination Thursday and the people who monitor the feeds swear that there’s excitement ahead.
I hope so!
If Elissa goes home tonight on “Big Brother” it’ll be one of the worst pieces of gameplay in “Big Brother” history. Perhaps even in reality TV history.
With the MVP, the producers have given her more power than any “BB” houseguest has ever had, since apparently Elissa’s sister’s fans are so insane that they’re willing to vote for Elissa despite getting no indication that she has any kind of strategic acumen at all. Elissa’s being targeted because she’s a threat, but how is she not using this MVP nonsense to her advantage?
If I’m her, I’m going at least seven or eight of the remaining hamsters and saying, “Look, I’ve been MVP two straight weeks and you’re viewing that as bad. You think you can vote me out and maybe you’ll get to be MVP. Guess what? That’s true. But chances are, you won’t be. Chances are good that whoever is MVP will be someone who doesn’t like you, somebody who will put you up. So here’s my deal: Keep me here and I won’t put you up and I won’t backdoor you. That’s a guarantee. You won’t get a better offer. Keeping me, means you don’t have to worry about the MVP and you can just play the game.” I don’t know if that’ll work late in the game, but it sure as heck should work this early.
We’ll see how things go down after the break…
9:01 p.m. ET. It’s a teal pantsuit for Julie Chen tonight. Shoulders exposed. Of course.
9:04 p.m. Or is it a jumper? I shouldn’t write about fashions. “Just when you think you have this game figured out, think again,” Julie warns us, before we flash back to The MVP putting Nick up as her replacement for Jeremy.
9:05 p.m. Jeremy remains confident that Elissa is going home. “Hopefully people will recognize that Nick is a big threat and it’ll take the target off of me,” Elissa says. “This is a good spot to be in,” Nick insists. Helen knows she’s the pawn, but her mission is to send Nick packing.
9:06 p.m. Candice may have found a receptive ear in Amanda as they agree that keeping the men from running the House is a good idea. Candice shares her plan with Elissa and Helen. They don’t think they can count on Jessie and they’re becoming increasingly unsure they can count on Spencer. “I go so back and forth on it,” Andy tells Helen. Andy seems unsure that voting Nick out is the right thing, because he doesn’t want the cool kids to get restless and come after them. “I’m not afraid to make that move,” Andy insists in the Diary Room, though he tells Helen that he’s bracing for upheaval.
9:09 p.m. Elissa believes that Jessie is swayable. Perhaps she figures that after all the times Nick spurned her, Jessie’s wounded pride might convince her to vote for her former Sweet Babboo? Unclear. In the short term, it seems to at least confuse Jessie, who even goes and listens to Helen’s counsel. “You are like someone who I like look up to and respect,” Jessie tells Helen, who makes a poker analogy that may or may not have meaning to Jessie.
9:11 p.m. Howard is worried about McCrae, particularly with Pizza Boy in league with Amanda. “Women know stuff and they figure stuff out,” Howard says wisely. “Amanda is smart,” Spencer notes, joining Howard in diagnosing that Amanda’s the biggest threat to The Moving Company. Will McCrae be able to cut Amanda loose when the time is right? He insists that he is, vowing to cut her if he gets a whiff of trouble. One scene later, though, Amanda is telling McCrae that she doesn’t trust Nick. “I don’t know what to do,” McCrae whines. “My vote this week comes down to picking a side — Either I lose The Moving Company, or I lose Amanda,” says McCrae, whose math skills may be faulty.
9:15 p.m. Oh goodie! We’re confronting Aaryn on her racism. After the break!
9:17 p.m. Don’t get me wrong: It’s nice that “Big Brother” is taking Aaryn out at the knees for her racism and that they even poked GinaMarie a tiny bit. I hope they don’t think that’s enough, though, given exactly how widespread the ickiness has been.
9:19 p.m. We’re live and starting with Jeremy. Why wasn’t he worried about being nominated before he won the Veto? “I love to compete,” Jeremy says. Julie Chen brings up all of the showmances this season, starting with Jessie. “I think when you’re in this kind of enviromment, it really helps to have a companion,” Jessie says. “But you can be a companion without a romance,” Julie tries pointing out.
9:20 p.m. Julie asks the hamsters about being on camera 24-7 and if you ever forget. Amanda says she often forgets. “I don’t forget. I just am an open person,” Aaryn says, adding that everybody in the House and in America knows a lot about her now. “Yes, we all do,” Julie says. It seems like she’s letting Aaryn off the hook, but it’s a set-up to another racism-tinged clip package.
9:22 p.m. Aaryn’s even making racist jokes involving the fish. And Howard’s getting fed up and several people sitting outside agree with him, including one or two people who have made racist or homophobic comments that CBS hasn’t bothered to show on-air. “I don’t think it’s said intentionally to be mean. I think it’s not being educated,” Amanda tries telling them, before heading up to the the HoH room and to inform Aaryn about the scuttlebutt. Amanda’s very diplomatic and says she knows that Aaryn is joking, but she adds, “I think the people who are, like, a different race are taking it offensively,” Amanda says, telling her to cool it with the jokes. Aaryn rolls her eyes and says, “That’s the most obnoxious, annoying thing I’ve ever heard,” She adds that because they call her “Barbie” and joke about being blonde it’s the same. “I wish I cared more about this, but I don’t,” says the monstrous model.
9:27 p.m. I think it’s time for Julie Chen to cut a b****. Right? Nope. Final statements. Elissa says she came into the game not wanting to be judged and she praises America for having “the discernment” whatever the heck means. Babble. Babble. Babble. Finally she gets to the point. “I am a target, but Nick’s the biggest threat. I mean, do you want to win ‘Big Brother’ or do you want Rachel’s sister out of the house?” Elissa says. Nick kisses everybody’s butt, mentioning things about them he knows. Helen says she can’t campaign against Nick and Elissa and says she’s honored to be seen as a threat.
9:29 p.m. Voting time! Jeremy votes to evict Elissa. Kaitlin follows and votes to evict Elissa. Andy votes to evict Nick. GinaMarie votes to evict Elissa. Judd votes to evict Nick, staying true to the women, apparently. Is Judd even on this show anymore? Spencer turns on his Moving Company chum and votes to evict Nick. Interesting. I love it when stuff goes down and they don’t feel like showing us. Jessie votes to evict Nick. Howard votes to evict Elissa. McCrae also turns on Nick and it’s no surprise that Amanda votes that way as well. Candice, of course, votes to evict Nick. Farewell to Nick. This should be fun.
9:33 p.m. Definite credit to Candice and Helen and Elissa for making this happen. Granted that it was common sense to turn on Nick, getting these hamsters to understand common sense isn’t always easy.
9:36 p.m. OK. Everybody watch Nick’s face!
9:37 p.m. Julie Chen tells Helen that she’s safe. “By a vote of 7-to-4, Nick, you are evicted from the ‘Big Brother’ House…” Nick’s eyes go wide. GinaMarie starts bawling. Jeremy looks pissed. Howard looks a bit confused. Nick’s got an OK poker face, but he’s got awful poker shoulders. He’s crestfallen. But not as crestfallen as GinaMarie, whose sobbing is a little hilarious.
9:39 p.m. “What is going through your brain right now?” Julie asked. Nick immediately knows that Spencer was the one with all the power and the one most likely to have turned on him. Nick’s analysis of the situation and the power dynamic is actually really, really smart. “You’re super-right,” Julie tells him, since he isn’t going to the Jury. “We had created such a fake game so fast,” Nick laments. “Give it another couple weeks and I probably would have just been hanging out with GinaMarie,” Nick says, also giving Amanda a lot of credit for sussing out the Moving Company.
9:42 p.m. “I just really had to do this for my own game,” McCrae says. “I’m super-upset that I have to live here for another week with this fem-bot,” Jeremy says. Both Elissa and Helen are somewhat respectful in their gloating. “You’re my buddy. I truly care so much about you,” GinaMarie says. “I think you should have kissed Jessie. Maybe she would have given you a vote,” Julie tells Nick as a final send-off.
9:50 p.m. Everybody was waken up multiple times last night and made to stand in front of a conveyor belt. They’re presumably going to have to memorize something about the various boxes that passed by them.
9:51 p.m. This competition is called Overnight Delivery. Julie will read statements about the boxes that were delivered and they have to answer True or False. Judd and Jeremy are eliminated first, followed by GinaMarie, Andy, Spencer, Elissa and Amanda on the second question. Candice goes next. After a few rounds with all-correct answers, we have to go to a tiebreaker. Each BB Cola box was labeled with a quantity of cans. How many cans were delivered? Wow. A lot of people give the correct answer of 168, so we need a second tiebreaker. Only McCrae is eliminated. The second tiebreaker has nothing to do with the late-night deliveries. It has to do with how long it took Jeremy to win the Veto.
9:56 p.m. And… Helen wins HoH and the power in the House has completely shifted.
9:56 p.m. Things change fast on “Big Brother,” eh? Will Helen stick with her plan to be in a stealth alliance with America’s Favorite Racist? If nothing else, I think Aaryn can count on eating slop this week.
9:59 p.m. We end with Helen consoling GinaMarie and Aaryn and Kailin saying what I can only assume are racist things.
Thoughts on tonight’s turn of events?