Well, folks, it’s that time of year! Time for us to spend three hours a week in front of the TV (and for some of us, even more time in front of the computer … and three more hours a night in front of the TV) to catch up on all the latest shenanigans on our favorite summer guiltiest pleasure … Big Brother! Season 14 kicked off with 12 new House Guests getting to know each other, and perennial host Julie Chen (“But first …”) dropping a bombshell on them: four of the most popular players in Big Brother history are also coming back into the house! Luckily for the newbies, though, the returnees will actually be acting as coaches to their own hand-picked teams, and the coach with the season’s winner will also win $100,000. The returnees are BB10 winner Dan, BB6/All-Stars favorite Janelle, BB12’s Britney, and BB2 player/All-Stars winner Mike “Boogie.” And for those of you playing along at home, the team breakdowns are as follows:
Of course, at this stage of the game it’s really hard to get to know all of the personalities and there is one in particular that stands out. But more about him in a minute. Who stands out to me, so far, in a good way is Wil (with one “L”). When I first saw his head shot and got a look at his interview video, I just took him for an annoying flake. But digging around online, I discovered his YouTube channel and have found him to be quite clever and funny. He also came across that way on the show, so I hope he can bring some fun to the house.
Who worries me? Why, Willie Hantz, of course. Poor Willie thinks he’s fooling everyone in the house by using his nephew Bradon’s Survivor tactic of not revealing his last name … except, unlike Brandon, Willie looks and sounds almost exactly like his brother Russell, and it didn’t take long for newbie Ian and coaches Dan, Janelle and Boogie to pin the Hantz name to him (at least in private). The only one who seems to be clueless about his kin is Britney … and she went and handed him the very first HOH of the season! I’m curious to know if she had him pegged too, and we just didn’t see that in the edit.
The HGs didn’t have much time to relax as the HOH competition got under way, and also gave us another surprise: the losing team’s coach had to choose one person to send home immediately! It was a tough competition that looked deceptively easy at the start, involving spinning, gyrating beds and teddy bears, and it came down to a three-way tie for second place after Britney’s team won. Unfortunately, Dan’s team lost (and for a professional coach, he really didn’t pick the best players, avoiding Willie because of his presumed Hantz connection) and he chose to send Jodi home after talking with both her and Danielle.
I think he made the wrong decision because Jodi busted her ass in the competition, and she seemed to have been a much stronger player than Danielle (Kara was never a question for him). But Danielle used the old “she looks like she’ll cause drama” ploy and that seemed to have sold Dan into shipping Jodi back from whence she came. Jodi is a more mature person in the house, a wife and mother who seems pretty grounded. Dealing with five kids of her own makes me think she’s the one who will stop the drama, not cause it. Meanwhile, Danielle has already lied to the house about her occupation, telling them she’s a kindergarten teacher instead of a nurse! She thinks they’ll find a nurse threatening? Ian’s an engineering student at Tulane University, and no one seems to be threatened by his charming nerdiness! Danielle better watch the lies, because they have a way of catching up with you on a show like this (look at Holly on ABC’s The Glass House who, when quizzed to name one psychologist — psychology being her supposed field of study — she chose Dr. Phil).
So with four familiar faces, a Hantz in the HOH room, and one player already eliminated, what can happen next? Who does Willie have his sights set on? The power has already gone to his head (“This is my game!”), so it will be interesting to see if he falls back on the usual Hantz strategy (and outcome), or if his infamous name will find him walking out the door sooner than he expected. If you were HOH, would would you nominate at this point? And who should be the next to go home? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Jul 12, 2012 @ 23:22 EST5EDT
This should be an interesting year, strategically. If I’m HOH at this point, I’m definitely nominating two people from different teams to set them at each other’s throats, and it’d be two of the first people picked and strong competitors – e.g., Wil and Frank. My guess is that Willie will do something like that, because I get the sense that he isn’t going to be too bogged down by social connections. More fool he, since it’ll lead to a mid-game exit. But it was smart for Britney to make him HOH, since he’s going to be the one with the biggest target on his back anyway. No sense in alienating your other team members. An alternate strategy would be to nominate Kara and Danielle, because that way you make the fewest enemies. But I doubt that’d be Hantz’s play.
For some reason, Danielle is my early pick to win it all.
*POST AUTHOR*
Well, I know who has been nominated, so I can say with all of your picks for nominees
Show Spoiler »
you’ve actually picked the right names … but not necessarily in the correct grouping!
Russell, I mean Willie should be ashamed of his bad behavior, owes the women an apology for being a pig, and ashamed for carrying on with his blathering nonsensical reasoning and self indulgent ego.
I hope he not only gets nominated for the boot, but ends up eating slop and sleep on those horrid beds, only to leave the house once an for all. Good riddance.