Big Brother – Live eviction, and the most volatile week in BB history

Now this is what makes Big Brother such a guilty pleasure (and what The Glass House should aspire to). It’s the first live show of the season, the first real eviction and the second HOH competition. But, while all of that stuff is important, the real drama happened earlier in the week and there was no way for the producers to avoid keeping it from the viewers.

Julie Chen called this week “one of the most volatile week’s in Big Brother history,” and for once she wasn’t just blowing smoke. I conveyed what happened on the live feeds as it was transpiring, and we got to see pretty much all of it on tonight’s episode. Everything seemed cool after the nominations with Willie telling Frank he was safe, and his alliance was on board as well. Britney’s reasoning was that they take out Kara, that leaves Dan with one player, Danielle goes out and takes Dan with her. But it’s become quite clear to Britney that the “Blonde Ambition” alliance may not be as aligned as she thought. What’s up with Janelle running to Dan to tell him what’s going on with her alliance? Obviously she wants to keep her team safe, but if she starts screwing around and making deals right in front of Britney, she’s going to find her own people being picked off sooner rather than later.

But Britney set the wheels in motion by wondering why the coaches’ pictures had key holes next to them. Could the coaches be coming into the game at some point? Britney fueled the fire when she did the math and deduced that there would only be nine player in the house after the next eviction … meaning seven of them would be on the jury. Isn’t it too soon to start sending House Guests to the Jury House for a show that runs until mid-September? Does that mean there won’t be any double evictions this season? Hard to say, but it just feels way to early for people to go to jury, so Britney may be right. But her questions lit the fuse for the explosion that came afterwards.

I want to side with Britney in her feelings about Willie. I don’t think he’s a bad person (I never expected to say that, but the season is young), and I don’t think he was intentionally mocking Wil at all.  He was just quoting him and doing it in Wil’s voice … everybody does that, but I don’t think it was meant to mock or degrade Wil. But doing that in front of Frank while Frank was still upset about being put on the block gave him the chance to tell Joe who then went to Wil … and if Willie’s nomination of Frank didn’t do it, all that talk has almost certainly sealed his fate, or at least will guarantee him a nomination next week. Who was going home was really up in the air after all the fighting, but I loved Frank’s speech (after Kara’s “I just give up” speech) before the vote imploring the HGs not to be bullied into voting by their coaches … but doing what their coaches say if they tell them to keep Frank. It was a powerful speech that ended on the right tone of humor so no one felt alienated. In the end, though, it was Kara who was shown the door with a 6-3 vote, leaving Dan with only one player left in the game.

The HOH competition followed, and we got to see the HGs awakened every hour with a special TV bulletin showing a cat burglar’s activities in the house … which of course they needed to really pay attention to for the competition which asked questions based on what they saw in the videos. Poor Shane was the first man out on the second question, and then everyone but Wil and Frank went out on the next question! It took a couple of questions, but this week’s Dead Man Walking is now the new HOH! Oh, Willie, you’d better play for your life in the veto competition if you want to stay in the game, especially after storming back into the house after handing Frank the HOH room key. Not a sign of good sportsmanship.

And before the night ended, Julie had another curve ball to throw at the coaches … the winner of this week’s Coaches Competition will have the opportunity to save one of their players from nominations, or swap one of their players for another team’s player. If Britney wins, she has two choices: protect Willie from nominations if she really values him, or trade him for Danielle if she really wants to get Dan out of the game. Would Boogie insist that Frank keep Willie in the game to keep Dan in the game, or would getting rid of Dan just be one less obstacle for him? I think he needs Dan because Janelle still has her alliance with Britney, and not having Dan in the house would force her to stick with the original group.  Lots of possibilities to ponder, and it’s telling that on the live feeds after the show when everyone is usually having food and drinks and relaxing a bit … everyone is still in full game mode. It’s going to be an interesting week!

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Jul 20, 2012 @ 01:56 EST5EDT