Well, it looks like we’ve got another player in the Big Brother house. Last week when Michele won the Veto, using it on herself wasn’t all that surprising but this week she had some big decisions to make and as she’s been kind of a fence-rider thus far, the houseguests weren’t sure what she was going to do with her power.
Russell has made it clear that he wants Ronnie out. Whatever side-deal they might have had dissolved after Russell overheard Ronnie talking smack about him with some of the other houseguests. Trusting Ronnie was always a risk, to be sure. The guy has a reputation for sneakiness and now that Russell’s got an alliance with Jeff and the teams are broken up, it’s understandable that he might want to eliminate one of the sneakier houseguests. So while it’s safe to say that Ronnie’s got one foot out the door, fellow nominee Lydia isn’t entirely safe either. She has the support of Kevin, along with Jordan and Jeff, who would be happy to see Ronnie go but Natalie, Jessie and Chima are all for seeing Lydia sent packing. Natalie’s at the head of the boot-Lydia march, admitting to Jessie that she thinks Lydia’s trying to break them up. While Lydia’s a floater with a tendency to lie and she does seem to want to get in between Jessie and Natalie, is she really more of a threat to them than Ronnie? Right now, maybe. Ronnie has sworn his allegiance to Natalie, Jessie and Chima but promises made by someone on the chopping block aren’t necessarily worth all that much.
Michele knew going into the Veto competition that she was the swing vote. I don’t think she’s exactly BFFs with Lydia but she doesn’t trust Ronnie so I’m thinking she probably wasn’t all that disappointed to see him nominated. She, Kevin and Jessie were the three extra players chosen to participate in the Veto competition with Russell, Lydia and Ronnie. The competition had them wandering around the backyard looking at various Roman-themed setups. Arrows, a feathered helmet and rats were among the props set up outside. When the competition started, they had to guess the quantity of things. How many arrows in the shield? How many rats in the tank? Etc. The object of the game was not only to guess the closest but to decide whether to stay or fold when everyone’s answers were revealed. If the contestant thought they were close to the right answer, they’d stay. If not, they’d fold. The contestant who came closest to the right answer (and who stayed in the round) got a point. They needed three points to win.
Michele’s strategy was to bluff with her answers. She went extra-low on one of her answers, which caused the other houseguests to doubt their own answers and fold. She did the technique again and got another point. Finally, during the last question, which had to do with how many feathers were in the helmet, she guessed a low number and Jessie, refusing to hand Michele the point for free again, stayed in. His answer was way too high though and Michele won herself a third point and the PoV.
Michele had a decision to make and while Jessie and Natalie waited nervously outside the HoH room, she was in there talking to Russell and securing herself an alliance with him. As Russell made it even more clear that he wanted Ronnie gone during the Veto competition (cracking a joke about rats at Ronnie’s expense), we knew he wanted to keep the nominations the same.
Natalie seemed to want to take control of the situation as much as she could, informing Ronnie and Chima that Russell was listening in on them at one point. Ronnie said he didn’t care and Natalie reminded him that while he might not care since he’s going home (love how bluntly she put that), Chima isn’t and needs to watch her mouth. Natalie convinced Ronnie to try to talk to Michele about using the Veto to save him. I’m not entirely sure Natalie was right in thinking it couldn’t hurt to try. She may have done better sitting down with Michele herself rather than letting Ronnie do the job. For a guy who’s so good at debating (supposedly), he sure doesn’t know how to sweet-talk. His “take me off the block or you’re going home” lecture was pathetic. If he had any kind of read on Michele, he would’ve known that intimidation and threats weren’t going to get him anywhere. Does Ronnie really believe that Jessie, Natalie and Chima will target Michele just because she didn’t save him with the Veto? I think even if Michele’s the one vote that secures Ronnie’s eviction, his little alliance will be ready to move on by the time he’s out the door. There are bigger fish to fry than Michele (right now anyway). That threat would’ve held more weight if it came from Jessie, Natalie and/or Chima. If they were going to try to intimidate her, ganging up on her would’ve been the way to go about it and even then, I’m not sure she’d cave. While Lydia and Kevin aren’t exactly strong allies, Russell and Jeff are.
Michele gave Ronnie the opportunity to lie… err… tell her why she should use the Veto on him and then offered Lydia the same chance. In the end, she opted not to use it. If she had, Russell might have put Chima up in Ronnie’s place, considering he’s made it clear that she’s been getting on his nerves. I don’t think there’s much that could save Ronnie at this point. It’s unlikely that Jordan or Jeff are going to vote to evict Lydia, so unless Ronnie can somehow win Michele over by Thursday night, he’s a goner. There’s also the chance he could win the coup d’etat but as I said Sunday night, I think Jeff has that in the bag.
