As an armchair Big Brother strategist, I’m usually of the mindset that it’s necessary for the Head of Household to not only use their week of power to target potential threats, but also to line up some security for the following week. So I understand Jordan’s concern with making sure that she and Jeff were set up for safety the following week. But with six houseguests left, is anyone really safe?
Tonight’s live episode featured a live Veto competition, followed by the elimination and the start of a new Head of Household competition. “But first” we got to see some of the strategizing that went on after Jordan put Natalie and Lydia up on the block. From the get-go, there seemed to be a lot of waffling as to who the main target was. If we look back at Lydia’s drunken-meltdown after Jordan won HoH, it appeared that it was Natalie who would be going. When Lydia was yelling about them sending her out, Jeff argued that she was stuck with them (or something along the lines of an angry, “You’re staying!”). What we saw after the nomination ceremony told a different story.
Jordan met up with Natalie in private to assure her that she wasn’t the target, so at some point it seems she and Jeff decided Lydia should go. Jordan later said in the diary room that it was still mostly up in the air.
After an icky segment that featured some of Lydia and Jessie’s “good times” under the tent they made in the HoH bed, we saw a conversation between Natalie, Kevin and Lydia, wherein Natalie plotted to convince Jeff and Jordan that Russell was targeting them if he won Head of Household. Kevin went forward with the plan, telling Jeff that he heard Michele and Russell talking about coming after him and Jordan next week. The funniest part of this whole situation was that Michele and Russell actually had a conversation that implied just that. Russell told Michele he wanted to go to the final two with her because they were both villains and loners. This is good strategy. At this point in the game, it’s always a good idea to start throwing out reasons why you’d make a good final two partner if only to give some of the other houseguests a reason to keep you around.
While Kevin celebrated with Natalie and Lydia over how well the lie went over, Jeff told Jordan what Kevin said. The two hashed it out and naturally, it wasn’t hard for either of them to believe Russell would say such a thing. After all, despite Kevin thinking he was lying, it was the truth.
The last of the filler included Natalie’s tearful conversation with her father, which she won during this week’s HoH competition. Then the live portion of the episode started and after some banter about bubble baths and unitard costumes, the houseguests were sent out back for the Veto competition.
The comp was a before-and-after, where the houseguests (everyone but Russell, whose name wasn’t drawn to participate) had to answer “before” or “after” to bunch of questions pertaining to events that took place in the house. It came down to Jordan and Michele. Both of them continued to get questions correct, forcing it to a tie. Julie asked them how many truffles were in the giant mud pit in a previous competition. Jordan guessed 60, which was ten truffles higher than Michele’s guess. As the answer was something over a hundred, Jordan won the Veto.
We got commercials and afterward, the Veto ceremony took place. Natalie and Lydia both made their brief appeals for her to use it and then Jordan opted not to use it. So apparently between the time the Kevin’s non-lie was told and tonight, Jeff and Jordan decided that if they had the chance, they’d stick with the plan to get Lydia out.
After another commercial break (I’m assuming the extended time on the Veto comp resulted in the two commercial breaks happening so close together), Natalie and Lydia each pleaded their case, then the live voting began. Russell, Michele and Jeff voted to evict Lydia and Kevin was the lone vote to evict Natalie. After not using the Veto to save her the previous week, that seemed fair enough, though he didn’t seem sure of his choice when he cast the vote. I also noticed that he sometimes kisses his ring during the live show. Since he hasn’t won HoH yet, we haven’t seen pictures of his friends and family but perhaps that’s a nod to someone special waiting back home?
Usually when someone’s eliminated, the departing houseguest does most of the hugging but tonight, it seemed Natalie was the one extending the hugs after Lydia’s eviction. Lydia said goodbye to Kevin and then walked passed everyone else and left. When she came out of the house, she posed for the crowd, putting on a bit Captain Unitard smile. During her interview with Julie, she said she hoped Kevin wins the whole thing, expressed irritation at having to buddy up with Natalie over the last week and claimed Jessie was going to need some icepacks after she got to the sequester house because she’s now aware that he was playing her against Natalie during the game. Sure, I can see the irritation there but I’m still willing to bet those two will be having more “good times” during the one week of alone time they’ll get in the sequester house.
The HoH competition was set up for the houseguests (everyone but Jordan) to stand on high platforms and drop cans down clear tubes. The first houseguests to get 24 cans down their two tubes wins. If none of them manage to do it within the hour, then whoever has the most will win. As the openings of the tubes don’t look all that much wider than the cans they’re dropping, the task is going to be pretty tricky, though Michele and Kevin were tied for the lead when the episode ended. Jeff didn’t look that far behind.
If the feeds come back up tonight (they should) we’ll post the winner as soon as we know.
SPOILER ALERT
The live feeds came back at around 9:35 p.m. EST. The competition is over and from the sound of it, Kevin won but it might be Jeff who took it. They were also talking about gold-cans, so I think this week's HoH might have also been the have/have-not competition as well. Since it's still not completely clear who won, I'll post an update confirming it once the houseguests actually come out and say it.
Final update - It's Confirmed: Jeff just said he won it.
