Another Head of Household tenure will end for Aaryn on Thursday (August 1) night.
Will the end of her reign see the departure of Amanda, Candice or Howard? Well, yes. Obviously. But which one?
Let’s find out, after the break…
9:00 p.m. ET. It’s been a long day at the TCA Press Tour, so apologies if I’m a bit loopy…
9:01 p.m. Disclaimer! Racists! Everywhere racists!
9:01 p.m. “There’s telling who’s going home tonight,” Julie Chen tells us.
9:02 p.m. “The battle for Head of Household begins…” Does Voice-over man always say that? Or is it a hint that it’ll be a multi-hour HoH competition and we won’t know who’s in charge after this episode?
9:04 p.m. We’re nearly half-way through the game… Yay!
9:04 p.m. We pick up in the aftermath of Candice taking her place on the block. Spencer vows to save Howard and send Amanda packing. Candice attributes her place on the block to Aaryn’s redneck tendencies. Oddly, it actually isn’t true. It’s a total “coincidence” that Aaryn has both of the African-Americans on the block, since we know she’s Helen’s puppet. “I feel a lot better about it being next to Howard,” Amanda says of her place on the block. “Someone has to have some guts to go against the grain,” Howard says. “She should have just said, ‘Grab your rebel flag,'” Candice tells Howard of Aaryn’s decision, but Howard doesn’t want Candice’s negativity infecting his gameplay.
9:07 p.m. Howard and Spencer is trying to lobby Andy and Judd that if they don’t rock the boat now, it’ll be the same game next week and the people in the middle will be in trouble. “We’re all goin’ home unless somebody change’s something. That’s ‘Big Brother’ to me,” Howard pitches. Spencer then goes to Candice and tries to make it clear that they’re on the same side.
9:09 p.m. “Don’t freak out,” Andy tells Amanda, before telling her that he and Judd made a deal to flip on her, vowing that they’re still good. “Don’t freak out,” he says, as Amanda freaks out. Outside, Amanda is downing caffeine and she confronts Spencer. They’re both wearing shades and it’s some sort of lame-ass CIA conversation. “I’ve got to maintain plausible deniability,” Spencer tells us, explaining why he lies to Spencer’s face. The music pulses as the intrigue builds. Amanda warns Spencer that if he changes course and targets Candice instead, it might benefit him. He’s not hearing it and threats escalate. “I’m not some punk-bitch that’s gonna kiss your a**,” he tells her, eventually telling her to shut up. “Who tells a woman to shut up?” she says. “I do. When you need to listen,” Spencer replies.
9:09 p.m. Helen tells Candice that Spencer has been putting the target on her, which isn’t true of course, but it works temporarily perfectly. Candice calls a Come to Candy meeting in the backyard. “I wasn’t campaigning against you,” Spencer protests. Candice references some conversation about wanting Amanda to choke on her spit and for her boob to pop out. I don’t understand why Spencer is playing it this way. Rather than telling the truth or anything resembling it, Spencer picks a fight with Candice, who vows that he’s going home next week if she has anything to do with it. That was so weird. And that was also a total reverse of the edit that CBS has been giving Spencer all season.
9:15 p.m. Jessie is worried that Candice’s social game might be dangerous to her and suddenly everybody is turning on Candice, or at least the remaining Mean Girls are. Amazing how Candice has moved the target off of Howard right onto her. I’m not sure if this was her plan, but… brilliant! Or brilliantly bad! “This is my HoH and I’ve been coerced into putting certain people up, but Candice is up on the block and I really want to evict Candice,” Aaryn says.
9:19 p.m. We’re live! Julie Chen congratulates the hamsters on 42 days in the House. She tells them that “a lot of babies have been born.” Oh. Britney had a baby girl. Her daughter’s name is Tilly. Well, OK. “Which direction do you think they went with her name?” Julie teasingly asks about Kanye and Kim’s baby. Seriously? Why are we wasting time on this crap? The hamsters are really excited that Kate and Will had a boy. That’s a much better than updating then on which of them have been fired for being bigots on network TV (and the Internet).
9:22 p.m. Jessie misses her dog the most. Judd misses his dog as well, plus his family and friends.
9:23 p.m. Is there more to Judd than meets the eye? The hamsters all suspect that he isn’t really a humble small-town boy. So let’s head to his small town! Parents Andy and Tana agree that this is a very big thing for his small town. “Judd is a small-town guy and he loves being a small-town guy,” Tana says. I’m confused. Is the point of this package that Judd is actually exactly what he says he is? Apparently. He’s been on the front page of their local paper. Jordan, Judd’s hot hometown friend is wearing a a bear shirt to support Judd. The mayor is a fan. All sorts of local characters are fans. And… that was the least informative clip package ever. “You think you know the truth about Judd, but… Well, you actually do.”
9:30 p.m. Amanda is not ready to go home yet and she’s grateful that she’s gotten to play with McCrae. She thanks GinaMarie for calming her nerves. She wants to stay, because she wants to have a Jewish wedding. She and McCrae are “Big Brother” engaged! Mazel tov. Candice gives a shout-out to her besty-boos and her moms. She says she wouldn’t have changed anything or have it any other way. Howard thanks God and tells his castmates that he loves them. Howard asks the hamsters to vote with their hearts, their minds and their guts.
9:32 p.m. Let’s vote: Helen votes to evict Howard. Elissa votes to evict Howard. Spencer votes to evict his “besty-boo” Candice. McCrae votes to evict Howard. Andy votes to evict Howard. Small-town boy Judd votes to evict Howard. So much for all of that editing misdirection, eh? GinaMarie votes to evict Howard. Jessie votes to evict Howard. All of the votes are in and Howard is heading home… After the break!
9:38 p.m. Julie Chen checks in with the hamsters. Amanda had zero votes and she looks relieved. By a vote of 7-1, Howard is done. He nods. Unlike Kaitlin last week, Howard has hugs galore. Good for Howard. I think I’m gonna miss him and I’m sure things will be ickier in the House in his absence.
9:40 p.m. We’ll see if he can give a coherent interview, since his threatening House meeting on last night’s episode was a masterpiece of muddled thinking.
9:41 p.m. Why did they see him as such a huge threat? “I don’t know if it’s the physical nature in this house this season, I think it’s more mental,” Howard says. Why didn’t Howard align with the power group? He says that it was his mistake to be with the Moving Company early. Julie asks why Howard lied to Helen when she initially confronted him about the Moving Company. He says it was all about his strategy going into the House, being loyal. How hard was it for him to hold his tongue amidst the racism? “It’s terribly hard, but I thank God that Candice was there,” he says. Howard explains that he has a temper and he didn’t want anybody to see it, so he decided to “take the high road.”
9:43 p.m. “I hate to see you walking out the door,” Spencer says. “Getting you out of this House has been exhausting,” Amanda says, calling him manipulative. “I’m so sorry I had a heavy-hand in evicting you tonight,” Helen says, hoping Howard finds a wife. Candice says that Howard may not be perfect, but he was a perfect friend for her when she needed it. Julie wants more detail on Howard-Candice. “There’s a bond there. No showmance or anything like that,” Howard tells Julie. “It came down between stay in the house and look at myself in the mirror and I’d rather look at myself in the mirror on this side and she stay in and fight,” Howard says. Before he leaves, Julie tells Howard that the MVP was America. He seems weirdly unsurprised and uninterested. But guess what? America is the MVP again this week, too.
9:49 p.m. I’ve got a FOX party to go to, so let’s get to the start of HoH so I can leave!
9:51 p.m. Head of Household time!
9:51 p.m. It’s called “Bull in a China Shop.” The goal is to stand on a barrel holding a bull. When they fall off, their china is shattered or something. The barrel is really more of a rotating log, so this is more of a lumberjack competition. It’s a relatively forgiving challenge, as Elissa is able to go on her knees and then shuffle back to her feet. “This is like second nature for some of you and others are really having a tough time,” Julie says. She improves the mood by announcing that this week, nobody will be a Have-Not. Why the heck not? Candice and Judd and Andy are very pleased and Candice vows to eat a lot of bacon.
9:54 p.m. Julie has a proposition. The first three hamsters to go out will get to open a box and one of the three boxes contains $5000. Nobody takes her up on the offer immediately.
9:58 p.m. The hamsters are still walking. Julie teases that next Thursday is the always-fun Double Eviction episode, with the reliable Week of “Big Brother” in One Hour momentum-shifter. I always enjoy that show.
9:59 p.m. The log starts going faster as we leave our hamsters. Surely somebody will fall before we leave? Nope.
That’s all… You surprised by tonight’s results? You gonna miss Howard?