Poor, hot-headed Russell. He just can’t catch a break. Well, he might catch one Thursday night but this week it’s him versus the women. Chima, as HoH appears to be using her reign to rally the women and declare the mission to get all the men out. Given the story she shared in last week’s episode about having been raped, it’s understandable that she might harbor some negative feelings about the male gender but all the same, she’s taking the girl-power bit pretty far in this game.
Tonight we were treated to two Russell-centered arguments. The first was with Michele. His attempt to warm up to her turned into a spat when the subject of her claiming Chima wanted to backdoor him came up. Mid-argument they decided to end their pool game early and Michele promptly went up stairs for an anti-Russell estrogen-fest. Later we saw Russell and Chima have it out on the main floor of the house. When Chima called Russell a terrorist, he countered it by calling her a racist. I guess that has something to do with his ethnicity. The BB producers backed Chima up on her defense, which was that she wasn’t referring to his ethnicity but rather, his behavior in his house. We got clips of Russell screaming at Jeff from weeks ago and the time he followed Ronnie around harassing him. Ok, so Chima gets off the hook for the terrorist remark as it seemed evident she wasn’t referring to his race but claiming he never yells at men the way he yells at women was false. All they had to do was replay the same clips they used to emphasize Russell’s “terrorist” nature and we’d all see that he’s happy to yell at men as much as he is yelling at women. Russell is an equal-opportunity harasser.
Other filler included seeing half the house getting to eat candy and watch Jeremy Piven’s new movie The Goods. Promo-promo-promo. Go see The Goods, etc. etc.
The Veto competition had the houseguests sticking their hands through chicken wire in an attempt to get an egg all the way up the fence and through a hole. While Kevin complained that his little Asian hands made the task more difficult for him, his tiny digits were more adept than the rest and he managed to win the Veto.
Russell chose Jeff, his latest ally, to play for the Veto with him, thus making it known that he trusts Jeff more than Jessie or anyone else on his former alliance. Jessie was upset because he knows the Veto would've been his only shot at securing himself safety against the wizard's magic power on Thursday night. He asked Russell about his Veto choice during a private conversation and Russell claimed he didn’t pick Jessie because he didn’t want people to see how close he was with him. Jessie didn’t buy it and, suspecting/worrying that Jeff has the Coup d’etat power, went to him to throw Russell under the bus. He also attempted to talk game with Jordan, knowing the conversation would get back to Jeff. Jordan, who may be an adorable ditz, isn’t dumb enough not to see through Jessie’s tactic. She knows he’s afraid of the magic power and doing whatever he can to ensure that it doesn’t get used. As far as we can tell, Jordan doesn't know Jeff has it, though she may suspect it.
One would think that with Kevin as the Veto winner, Lydia would be whisked off the block by her sweet, tiny-handed sugar bear, however that was not to be the case. Despite the “strain” that it would put on his relationship with the closest ally he has in the game (though feed updates have implied that Lydia's loyalty is questionable), he chose to honor Chima’s nominations at the Veto ceremony by not using it. Cut to Lydia looking sad, even though she knew it was coming and cut to Chima looking smug as she's got everything laid out just as she wants it.
As for the coup, I’m sticking with my initial opinion in thinking that Jeff will use it come Thursday night. He has more to gain by using it than he does to lose at this point. By taking Russell and Lydia off and throwing Natalie and Jessie up (if we’re to go by what he said about wanting to see those two up on the block), he can evict one of the two people he knows he has very little chance of ever forging a stable alliance with and at the same time, giving Russell and Lydia a reason to call him a hero.
If Jeff does use the Coup d’etat on Thursday night, I’m not sure what I’ll enjoy seeing more; the looks on the faces of the two new nominees or Chima’s reaction as she sees all of the work she put into her HoH week undone in a matter of seconds.
