Category: Big Brother

Big Brother: All Stars | CBS | Week 7 HoH and Nominations

It’s week 7 in the BB house! Who will seize power (from The Committee) and who will the new HoH (from The Committee) put on the block?

Before the eviction, David tells Ian he’ll vote to keep him in order to make Dani break a tie, and Ian relays this to Da’Vonne. Day thinks she, Kevin, David and Nicole will vote to keep Ian, not knowing Nicole won’t actually go against Dani…

No one really trusts David, who really seems to be making a move to expose Dani’s allegiance(s). Kevin tells Dani about David’s plan and she tells him if there’s a tie she’ll vote Tyler out; she gets angry that David is coming for her.

Dani knows Nicole is voting for Ian, so she plans to make David take the fall for Nicole’s vote and make him ‘public enemy number 1.’

At the fire hydrant-building HoH comp, David, Tyler, and Memphis seem to be doing well. After not tightening up his puzzle and ringing in, Memphis pushes his pieces closer together and rings in to win the comp and become the new HoH. He seems like he’s going to go after David (again), and David thinks as much (again).

After the comp, Day is angry that someone flipped a vote, and she thinks it’s David (without any encouragement from anyone). Dani and Nicole are happy they’re on Day’s good side; Kevin says he also thinks David is lying when he tells Kevin he was ‘duped’ in the vote.

Later, Day asks David about the vote and he says he didn’t flip, but she doesn’t believe him. Nicole straight up lies to Day about her vote, as David gets angry (and loud) about his game.

David says he thinks Nicole and Dani are working together and correctly guesses they’re pinning the flipped vote on him. Kevin thinks there’s a (5%) possibility Nicole was the one who flipped.

Memphis calls everyone to the living room for the have-not transfer – on taco night! Day pics Christmas and David picks Cody – and both are very unhappy.

Memphis plans to back door David to get him out of the house; he tells David if he agrees to keep his nominees the same if he plays and wins the veto, he’ll keep him off the block. He tells David he has ‘other plans’ for this week, so David agrees, but in the DR wonders about a back door…

At the nomination ceremony, Memphis nominates Day and Kevin; he says it was a no brainier because they used the veto last week. In the DR, David says he’s going to play to win if he’s picked for the veto comp.

So it may all come down to the veto! Whoever wins will have to take someone down so Memphis can carry out his plan to back door David. If David wins, this may be another ‘collateral damage’ week in the BB house! M

Big Brother: All Stars | CBS | Week 6 Eviction

The house was disrupted by a secret power, and Ian is on the chopping block; former winner vs. great player: who will go?

After Ian is chosen as a replacement nominee, Da’Vonne talks to Dani and tells her she’ll do everything she can to keep Ian in the game.

Dani apologizes to Ian, though she doesn’t mean it; we learn there’s yet another alliance named The Four Prime: Dani, Cody, Nicole and Ian. Even so, Dani doesn’t seem to be very interested in keeping Ian.

Dani talks to Tyler and says he ‘definitely doesn’t want to’ come after him, and he seemingly believes her? He thinks they’re pretending to be enemies to fool everyone, but Dani isn’t playing. In the DR, Tyler says he has to keep her in his sights – so he’s not playing either!

Ian talks to Memphis to get him to keep him in the house, but Memphis tells him he’s just as dangerous as Tyler, if not more, because he actually won the game. Ian tells Nicole about the conversation with Memphis and she tells Ian she’ll campaign for him to stay. She wants Ian to stay but going against Tyler would be going against her alliance. #Tricky!

Day and Kevin compare notes and think it’s weird Tyler isn’t campaigning for himself; they think he knows he has the votes to stay.

Dani tells Nicole they can’t go against The Committee; if they campaign against Tyler they’ll put targets on their backs. Nicole talks to Memphis and Cody about keeping Ian but they’re not even entertaining it.

At the eviction, Da’Vonne, Kevin and David vote to evict Tyler, but the rest of the houseguests vote to evict Ian – even Nicole (!) – and he becomes the first member of the BB22 jury.

It’s crazy how Ian went from unassuming floater to ultimate pawn to evicted in one week! This is the kind of gameplay needed for this season, but Ian just ended up as collateral damage between Dani and her multiple alliances.

In this goodbye interview, Ian has nothing but nice things to say about his housemates and applauds them for playing so well – a class act, for sure.

Dani chooses not to use the Replay power, so she does not compete in the HOH competition. Said competition, “Hydrant Hustle”, sees the houseguests putting together a big puzzle in the shape of a fire hydrant.

The shows ends mid-comp so we’ll see who has the power on Sunday; let’s see if someone other than anyone in The Committee can pull out a win! M

Big Brother: All Stars | CBS | Week 6 POV

So before the show even starts, BB Announcer Dude lets us know David is going to use his power and Dani will have to nominate someone else. Obvious, but #spoilers?!

During the actual show, David whips up some fake tears, and talks to Da’Vonne; he doesn’t let Day know he’s going to switch up the noms. Enzo and Cody discuss Dani wanting to back door Tyler but they say this absolutely can’t happen.

Cody, Dani and Christmas discuss the BB Basement powers, and why they haven’t been used… later, the houseguests are called to the kitchen and told the Disruptor power has been unleashed! David is taken off the block, and Dani nominates Tyler in his place. She calls Tyler up to the HOH room and tells him she doesn’t want him gone (pause for laughter). In the DR Tyler says they just made a deal, and he thought they were past their issues. You can understand his confusion.

David goes around asking everyone if they used the power on him; all of houseguests see right through him. Truly one of the funniest moments this season, and proof of why David hasn’t earned All Star status.

Dani talks to Christmas and says if she needs to put up a replacement nominee, Christmas or Memphis have the votes to stay. In the DR, Christmas asks why Dani is replacing one alliance member on the block for another? Dani has seemingly gone off the rails!

At the Veto pick, Dani chooses Da’Vonne, Tyler chooses Ian, and Kevin chooses Enzo. Day tells Dani she’ll keep noms the same to re-establish their trust.

Nicole hosts the Veto, and with a truly low-res CGI effect, the houseguests who are playing are shot with some sort of ray, or something, and ‘disappear’ from the living room..

The competition has the houseguests stacking 15 tiny cans of beer into a pyramid, with comically large tweezers. They fall, rebuild, and fall again, as you might expect.

After everyone meticulously stacks their tiny, tiny beer cans, Da’Vonne manages to stack her cans and wins (a very tiny, but very real) Veto – her first comp win! In the DR, Day says she doesn’t know what she’s going to do; she told Dani she wouldn’t use the veto, because she didn’t expect to win. Expect the unexpected, Day!

Kevin talks to Day, and wants her to take him off the block. Day tells Kevin she can’t really do that, because then she and Kevin will go up next week. Logical! But Day goes to talk to Dani, and says she wants to keep Kevin on her side, so she actually might use the veto.

Dani doesn’t know what to do if Kevin comes down; her only replacement options are Enzo and Ian. Cody tells Dani she needs to convince Day just to not use the veto, and Nicole tells her she doesn’t want Ian to go up… Later, Dani and Day speak, and Dani says she’s a much better ally than Kevin (100% true, for the record). In the DR Day says it’s her veto and Dani can’t dictate what she’ll do with it.

At the veto meeting, Day uses the veto on Kevin, and Dani replaces him with Ian – who she calls “the ultimate pawn.”

So David’s power really DID shake up and disrupt the house this week! Ian is a BB winner, and Tyler is a huge threat, so there’s a case for evicting either of them. Personally I think it’s smarter to take Tyler out now, but these houseguests haven’t made the best decisions this season, so we’ll see!! M

Big Brother: All Stars | CBS | Week 6 HOH + Nominations

It’s week 6 and BB is airing its first Tuesday night show of the season (due to the Academy of Country Music Awards airing Wednesday). Will the house be shaken up this week? It hasn’t so far, but we’ll see…

HOH and Nominations

Who had the fortitude to stay on the The Wall in the HOH comp? Before we get to that…

Christmas and Da’Vonne spoke before Bayleigh’s eviction, and made amends from the messy argument that happened last week. They assure each other they’re safe if each becomes HOH, but in the DR Day says she’ll go after Christmas if she gets the chance.

Back to the comp: Dani says she doesn’t want to win, and the only person she doesn’t want to win is Tyler. Day drops, purposely, to make it seem like she’s not good at comps. In the DR she gives an Emmy worthy performance, crying that she didn’t win – then letting us know it’s an act. Da’Vonne is easily the most entertaining houseguest this season!

After Day, David drops, then Ian. Memphis, Enzo and Kevin follow. Tyler drops a bit later, leaving Cody, Nicole and Dani to battle it out. In the DR: Cody says he wants either Nicole or Dani to get some blood on their hands; Nicole says she doesn’t want to win. Again, on purpose, Nicole falls, then Cody – leaving Dani as the new head of household; Tyler is rightfully concerned!

Dani tells Day she can relax; it seems like she and the house will be gunning for Tyler. Dani says she’s close to everyone in the house, so nominations will be tough; David tells Day he’s worried because he and Dani aren’t close – however, he has the Disruptor power, which he hasn’t told anyone about. Kevin says he’s not close to Dani either, so he’s also worried.

Day tells Dani she’d put up Christmas, but Cody tells her to put up David and Kevin. They discuss back-dooring Tyler; Cody doesn’t want Tyler out because he says Tyler is a bigger threat, and without Tyler the target is squarely on him – and he’s probably not wrong about that. Later, Tyler talks to Dani and tells her he wouldn’t be bitter about Dani coming after him…

Kevin talks to Enzo, Dani and David about representation, and that he feels optimistic about where things are going with regards to people being able to just be themselves. Another important conversation, especially in the BB universe, because there have been major issues with the show and past contestants not being inclusive.

With so many alliances, Dani is conflicted about actually going after Tyler. She tells Kevin she needs him to be a pawn for her, and gives him a heads up that he’s most likely going on the block. Afterwards, she makes a deal with Tyler not go after each other until final 4 (!). Well, Tyler suggests that – will Dani play along? At this point she’s not even sure, but likes the option of keeping or evicting Tyler.

At the nomination ceremony, Dani puts up Kevin and David, following the wishes of her various alliances. She tells the nominees they just don’t really talk game and she’s genuinely sorry.

With David’s Disruptor power, there is a possibility for things to be shaken up this week. I hope he uses it, so Dani is forced to nominate someone else (most likely Tyler?) and ACTUALLY MAKE A MOVE!! But we shall see… M

Big Brother: All Stars | CBS | Week 5

It’s day 30 and Christmas (jingle jingle) is HOH this week! Will we finally get some excitement in the BB house? There’s a new twist with new powers; we’ll see if the old players will take advantage of them…

Nominations

In the DR Christmas says she wants to make some moves this week and show her alliance what she’s made of. Da’Vonne says if she would have won she had the ammunition needed to put Nicole and Dani on the block; Cody says he has to do a lot of damage control due to Kaysar’s speech. In the DR Enzo says Christmas went up on the block for him, but hopes she doesn’t expect that from him in return. Tyler, Bayleigh and Da’Vonne talk about the HOH competition, and say the members of The Slick Six kept choosing people in the alliance to go head to head with each other. Da’Vonne basically says she’s confused about what they’re trying to do. Cody tries to explain to Da’Vonne what he was doing in that comp, and he says he screwed up. Da’Vonne says ‘now it’s war’ and she’s ready…

Christmas and Dani celebrate and talk about Da’Vonne and Bayleigh as potential nominees because Christmas is in an alliance (or friendly) with everyone else. Da’Vonne says she hasn’t really talked to Christmas, but tells her she’s not coming for her, either way; she says she’ll vote however Christmas wants. Enzo says he’s going to use Christmas as hit ‘pitbull’ to go after whoever he wants. Enzo says Da’Vonne, Nicole, and Bayleigh are emotional players who need to go.

Christmas calls the houseguests together and describes the BB Basement twist. Three brand new powers will be awarded, but no one will know who wins them. The basement is completely dark, and the houseguests must find foam shapes and put them in their podiums. There are decoy shapes and all the houseguests are in the room at the same time, so it’s pretty chaotic. There’s goo, packing peanuts, hanging weight bags, and boxes everywhere and the houseguests continually fall (and even lose clothes). David finds the first power – the Disruptor – with a lightning bolt foam piece. Dani finds the second power – Replay – with a replay icon foam piece. Christmas finds the third power – Blocker – with a hand foam piece.

Christmas tells Tyler (with whom she has a final 2 deal!) that she got one of the powers. She learns the Blocker will prevent herself or another houseguest from being a replacement nominee at the veto meeting. She must declare she’s using the Blocker after the veto has been used but before the HOH names the next replacement. It can be used at the next 3 veto meetings.

Dani tells Nicole she got a power and learns the Replay power allows the HOH to play in back to back HOH competitions; she can use it for herself or for someone else for the next 2 HOH comps.

David learns the Disruptor power can save a nominee and force the HOH to name a new one; this can be used following the next 3 nomination ceremonies. He can use it on himself or anyone else.

Bayleigh tells Dani someone (Tyler!) told her Dani was coming after Bay and Day. Enzo confirms this and Dani gets angry. Dani goes to Christmas to vent, and in the DR Christmas says she can’t really put Bayleigh up because it will look like she’s on Dani’s side. Tyler says telling Bay and Day about Dani is coming back to bite him now.

At the nomination ceremony, Christmas nominates Bayleigh and Da’Vonne; she says she nominated Da’Vonne because she is Bayleigh’s ‘untouchable’. In the DR, a teary Christmas says she had to make this game move because there was no other option. In the DR, David says he could use his power, and Day says she’s determined to win the veto.

POV

All the houseguests are talking after the nominations; Dani tells Da’Vonne she never spoke against her and Bayleigh. Da’Vonne tells Dani it was Tyler who told them about Dani, and Dani comes up with a plan to potentially backdoor Tyler by throwing the veto competition to Da’Vonne… David says he will not use his Disruptor power because he wants to save it for himself.

For the veto, Christmas chooses Nicole, Da’Vonne chooses Dani, and Bayleigh chooses Ian. Ian hasn’t slept (for 2 days?!) and isn’t feeling well, so he goes to see the medic and doesn’t participate.

In the competition, the houseguests have to race to push a button when they see an equation on a big screen that totals 13. This comp has prizes that can be stolen: the veto, $5,000, a slop-unitard, a ‘never-be-a-have-not’ pass, and a punishment involving a treadmill.

Dani doesn’t get a chance to throw the comp, as Da’Vonne is eliminated first – then Bayleigh, Dani, and Nicole; Christmas wins the competition. Nicole gives Da’Vonne $5,000 in exchange for wearing a slop-unitard. Christmas gets a punishment as first place winner, and exchanges it for the Veto from Bayleigh.

Ian tells Nicole he just needs rest and food and will be okay; afterwards, Nicole goes to get her punishment unitard. It’s a box of “Sloppies”

Tyler says he’s not having fun playing this game and that it’s too much pressure; Dani and Cody comment that he’s losing weight. In the DR he says ‘something’s not right,” and that he’s the cause for a lot of the stress in the house. He goes to the have not room and talks with Day and Bay and basically apologizes for being the reason they’re on the block. He says he’s going to ask Christmas to take one of them down so that he can go up.

Tyler talks to Christmas and tells her both Bay and Day deserve to stay there more than he does; she tells him backdooring him isn’t good for her game and that she’ll ‘do what she wants’ with regards to the veto.

Day talks to Christmas and tries to get her to backdoor Tyler, but Christmas doesn’t think she can trade Tyler for Bayleigh. Da’Vonne says Bayleigh wants to go after Tyler, and Christmas later relays this to Tyler to sway him to staying in the house. Because of this, Tyler starts to have second thoughts about his decision to help Bay and Day.

At the veto ceremony, Christmas does the predictable thing and doesn’t use the veto. Bayleigh (oddly) asks if they can share who Christmas’ ‘untouchable’ was, and Christmas says no. #Weird. In the DR, Bay calls Christmas and Tyler snakes, Christmas says she’s not going to do Tyler’s dirty work, Tyler says he has to refocus, and Day is sad to be sitting up there with Bay.

Eviction

After the veto, Da’Vonne is incredulous, and Bayleigh thinks Tyler was lying to them about wanting to go up on the block. Bayleigh gets upset because she thinks it’s her fault that Day is on the block (which it kinda is).

Christmas and Day talk (again) and Christmas says she has nothing against Tyler, so she wouldn’t nominate him; she tells Day that Bay is the target. Tyler tells Day he’s going to make sure she stays and they (seemingly) are good with each other.

Cody is called to the DR; he finds a letter and immediately begins to cry. He learns his grandfather has passed away, on Labor Day, from cancer. The houseguests all support him.

Christmas talks to Dani about how Bayleigh is upset about being on the block, and Day overhears. She tells Christmas that Bayleigh feels betrayed by Christmas; they end up getting into a fight about gameplay and Day walks away. Day goes to the backyard and says she can’t react to Christmas because she’ll look crazy… Bay walks in on the end of the fight, and talks to Christmas about the situation; this ends up in a fight, and the ladies can’t communicate so Christmas storms off, clapping loudly, for some reason (?) and goes into the HOH room.

In the DR Day says she gave the houseguests what they wanted – she blew up, and now she’s going home. Christmas comes back downstairs and the three ladies start arguing again. Day says Christmas wanted to provoke her, and now she’s provoked.

So to sum up (I think?): Bay told Christmas that Tyler said Christmas’ alliance was coming after Bay and Day; Christmas told Tyler this, and Tyler felt guilty. Tyler told Bay and Day he’d offer himself up for eviction, and he did. Christmas didn’t take him up on his offer, and Bay took this personally. When Day tried to explain this to Christmas, all hell broke loose. Christmas thinks Bayleigh is mad because she wants Christmas to go after Tyler (for Bayleigh) and ‘do her dirty work.’ #Tired.

At the eviction ceremony, the vote is unanimous to evict Bayleigh. In her eviction interview, Julie tells Bay about the alliances, and that Tyler was Christmas’ ‘untouchable.’ Bay says she and Tyler spoke, and all the drama between them will be left in the house, and they (seemingly) are good with each other. Bye, Bay!

The HOH competition is The Wall endurance comp, and Julie lets them know the first 3 houseguests to fall will be have-nots for the week. Also, that there will be no battle-back, so they’ve (theoretically) made it to the jury!

Who will seize power and be the next HOH? Da’Vonne, if there’s any justice in this game! M

Big Brother: All Stars | CBS | Week 4

It’s another week of Big Brother! In the first Janelle-less week, Kaysar is public enemy number 1, Kevin is the number 1 pawn, and for an All Stars season, this has been a complete snooze.

HOH and Nominations

In the first round of the HOH comp, Kaysar sinks his 3 balls and is the first to advance. Enzo eventually follows, then David (!), eliminating Nicole, Da’Vonne and Ian.

In round 2, Dani is the first to advance, followed by Kevin (!) and Cody, eliminating Memphis, Christmas and Bayleigh. Christmas came close a bunch of times, but couldn’t pull it off.

In the final round, Cody, Dani, David, Kevin, Enzo and Kaysar face off. Kaysar sinks 2 balls pretty quickly, much to everyone’s horror. It seems Kaysar is poised to win… until Enzo sinks his third ball and takes it! In the DR he says “I’m here to cause chaos and win this thing.” So his noms should be interesting?

Dani tells Cody that Bayleigh must have voted against the house; we learn Dani asked Cody to throw votes to Kaysar to shake things up. When she tells him it was Bayleigh, he’s not convinced. Everyone discusses the hinky votes and Dani continues trying to convince everyone it was Bayleigh who voted to keep Janelle. Cody and Enzo compare notes and think Dani voted against the house.

Kaysar and Da’Vonne discuss race, and how their journeys are similar. It’s nice to see Big Brother airing these conversations, in light of what’s going on in America; maybe it will expose people to some new ideas and do some good. This deep stuff is followed by the have-not transfer! Tyler, Da’Vonne and Dani are chosen as have-nots for the week. Do we care about have-nots anymore? I feel like BB doesn’t devote any time to them, or Slop ^TM, or the have-not room…

Apparently Dani and Nicole are super close; who knew?! I feel like Nicole hasn’t been around much, but good to know these two ladies at least have each other, I guess?

Enzo says he’s probably going to nominate Kaysar and a pawn. Kaysar comes to talk to Enzo, but afterwards (to no one but the camera) Enzo says he can’t trust Kaysar because Kaysar hasn’t spoken to him at all about the game.

Christmas gets plushy babies 10 – 12 and this punishment has officially become severely annoying run its course. She and Enzo team up, officially; they discuss the others: Ian as a big threat, Kevin as a floater, David as a big old question mark, and Dani and Nicole as buddies.

At the nomination ceremony, Enzo nominates Kaysar and Kevin, who perpetually looks like he’s on the verge of a mental breakdown. In the DR, Kevin asks why he’s “continually being nominated” and whines a bit (note: you weren’t nominated last week, dude); in the DR, Enzo says Kevin is just a pawn.

POV

After the nomination ceremony, Kevin continues to whine in the DR but goes to talk to Enzo. Enzo tells him he’s just a pawn, and he’s sorry… (For what?! This is Big Brother. All Stars!)

Kaysar talks to Enzo (again), and Enzo says he’s not trying to ruffle feathers in nominating Kaysar. Kaysar says he may potentially want to work with Enzo, not knowing about the hundreds of alliances going on. Enzo yeses Kaysar to death, but in the DR says he’s still the target.

Ian tells Enzo if he plays and wins the veto, he’ll ask Enzo what he wants to happen. Clearly, Ian’s buddying up to Enzo as to not be a potential replacement nominee, unaware he’s already on Enzo’s radar. Enzo tells Cody putting Ian up would be a power move; he wants to either evict Kaysar or “a big person” in the house.

Memphis and Kaysar put on a show where they guess the current news headlines. Apparently they’re not even able to have paper and pens in the BB house? Huh. Who knew?

David and Kevin decide as outsiders they could help each other; David would potentially save Kevin if he wins the veto. The players are drawn: Enzo chooses Tyler (4th time in a row he’s been chosen!), Kaysar chooses Bayleigh, and Kevin chooses David with Houseguest Choice. Kaysar talks to Bayleigh, unaware of the hundreds of alliances going on; the conversation doesn’t go well for Kaysar, as expected.

Memphis hosts the Puppet Master POV competition, which is an endurance comp! The houseguests have to hold on for dear life as they are hoisted into the air on ropes, like marionettes.

After about 12 minutes, Kaysar is the first to fall, as the houseguests are pelted with colored goo over and over again. Enzo follows, then Tyler. Bayleigh seems solid… until she loses a rope and can’t recover. David and Kevin are holding on, and Kevin makes an impressive recovery after losing a rope. David falls, and Kevin wins the veto. Kevin cries in the DR again.

Kaysar says with Kevin’s win there’s a ray of hope for him, and he talks to Ian, who is now getting anxious about being the replacement. Enzo talks to Nicole and Cody, and Nicole nods and agrees with them about Ian being a threat, but in the DR says she doesn’t want Ian evicted. Cody mentions how it’s weird that no one mentions Nicole [as a threat – because she’s won Big Brother already too!].

To solidify their partnership and throw the house off their scent, Christmas offers to go up as a pawn for Enzo, but Enzo isn’t convinced. Dani tells Tyler, in front of Nicole, they (the Slick Six) need to ‘have a meeting’. Nicole isn’t in the Slick Six, so Tyler is confused… he explains what happened to Enzo, unaware Dani is close with Nicole and the hundreds of alliances going on. Tyler and Enzo discuss the replacement nominee – either Christmas as a pawn, Ian as a threat, or Dani as a back-door.

At the veto ceremony, Kevin takes himself off the block, and Enzo plays it safe and puts Christmas up for eviction.

Eviction

Kaysar appeals to Memphis, still unaware Memphis is working with half the house. Enzo and Cody discuss Dani, and Enzo says he’s done with her. Cody then tells Enzo about the Slick Six, and in the DR Enzo says doesn’t care; he says “he’s in 3 alliances too.” Everyone seemingly turns on Dani; Enzo, Cody, Tyler, Da’Vonne and Bayleigh all talk about Dani and how she’s playing all sides.

Kevin and Ian discuss the rest of the house, and Ian says Kaysar told him about the big alliance. Ian talks to Bayleigh about who’s running the house; Bay says Dani and Ian says Cody. Later, Ian tells Kevin that Kaysar has nothing to lose and can blow up the house to expose alliances. Ian talks to Kaysar and (correctly) guesses there are many, many alliances. Ian no longer trusts Nicole, and he and Kaysar discuss how everything is being run by Nicole and Cody. Kaysar says he considers blowing things up because it would be fun.

For their eviction speeches, Christmas gives a little poem, while Kaysar does indeed try to blow things up by exposing alliances. He says Cody and Nicole are running the game, Cody is in an alliance with Dani and Nicole, and Tyler, Enzo and David are in another alliance. In a unanimous vote, Kaysar is voted out, as expected.

Julie confirms some of Kaysar’s suspicions about the alliances, and lets him know Memphis was not his buddy; Kaysar is clearly shocked by the info. Kaysar tells Julie that he didn’t come back to play for the money, but he was trying to make a difference by discussing the pain and division going on.

For the HOH comp, the houseguests have to face off, looking at pictures of the houseguests run through filters, and answer “More, Exactly or Less.” After a bunch of rounds, Da’Vonne faces Christmas in the final round. Da’Vonne rings in incorrectly and is eliminated, so Christmas goes from being on the block to being the new HOH!

Julie lets us know that the BB basement will be opening, an entire competition will be played in the dark and 3 new powers will be unleashed into the house.

Hopefully these new powers will stir things up a bit and flip things around because watching a huge alliance run things hasn’t made for an exciting season of Big Brother. With Kaysar and Janelle gone, the alliance has to turn on itself at some point – and these guys should be kicking themselves for not making big moves every single week. M

Big Brother: All Stars | CBS | Week 3

HoH & Nominations

The house is firmly against Janelle and Kaysar, and yet another new alliance, “The Slick Six” is formed; they are: Tyler, Enzo, Dani, Da’Vonne, Bayleigh, and Cody.

For the Have-Not transfer, Enzo and Cody volunteer to be have-nots; Christmas chooses Bayleigh and Nicole chooses Janelle (with a snide comment, much to everyone’s shock!).

Janelle and Kaysar ask Memphis if he wins Safety Suite he will save one of them, and he says he will… in the DR though he says he’s not trying to win, as to no anger his alliance.

Tyler tells his alliance he’s thinking Kaysar and Janelle; Dani and Cody agree. Da’Vonne asks her alliance members to give her the safety plus 1 if they win, getting them paranoid; she says she just wants the punishment, since she’s never had one.

In the last Safety Suite comp, the houseguests competing (Nicole, Memphis, Enzo, and Dani) had to get from one end of the room to the other while dodging “lasers” in order to “steal” a safety orb (giant ball). They then had to get back to the start with the ball, while dodging all the lasers. If they touched a laser, they’d have to start again.

Enzo wins with a very speedy 4 minutes, 41 seconds, and gives his plus 1 to Christmas; in the DR he says he’s trying to reel her in as an ally. Da’Vonne looks unhappy about not being chosen for the plus 1, which annoys Tyler, because he says she doesn’t trust him.

In the DR, Janelle says she knows Memphis threw the competition (he did), and that he’s the type of player who doesn’t want to make any moves. Janelle and Kaysar separately make their cases to Tyler, but ultimately he nominates them both for eviction.

Power of Veto

Tyler, Janelle and Kaysar pick Cody, Bayleigh and Memphis, respectively, to compete. Long story short, Kaysar and Janelle are eliminated in round 1, and Cody ultimately wins. In the DR, everyone thinks Memphis threw the competition (he didn’t).

Christmas’ punishment for being Enzo’s plus 1 is having to take care of a ‘baby’ plush toy for the week; this annoying cute plushy whines and cries and Christmas has to tend to it. The announcer lets Christmas know that another ‘baby’ is born, and another, and another, and ultimately Christmas has to care for 9 (!) crying plush toys. They joke that Enzo is the father, and Bayleigh jokes the Meow Meow needs to be spayed an neutered!

Janelle makes a case to Cody and says if she uses the veto she’ll vote with him for the next 2 weeks; she wants to take out floaters. In the DR, Cody ‘considers’ it, but he’s been gunning for Janelle since day 1.

In the least shocking move all season, Cody doesn’t use the veto, and the nominations stay the same.

Eviction

In the DR Tyler says he’s re-thinking his moves because he’s getting rid of big targets and moving himself up the list. The Slick Six meets to decide who to evict; Bayleigh brings up the fact that if Janelle is evicted, this will be the third week a woman goes home.

Da’Vonne says she wants Janelle to stay because she’s in an alliance with a bunch of guys, and Janelle can take them out down the line. She tells Janelle to talk to Kevin to see if she can get his vote. Janelle tells Bayleigh she has some votes, and it might all boil down to Cody’s vote to keep her. Janelle talks to Cody and offers her wedding ring as “collateral”. Janelle is playing this game!

David thinks Da’Vonne tried to get him out of the house; David tells Da’Vonne that Tyler and Cody told him there was attempt to flip the votes from Nicole A (#RookieMistake). He then basically tells Tyler he’s in an alliance with Da’Vonne and Bayleigh. Tyler tells Cody what happened and they say they’re done with David.

In her nominee speech, Janelle says they’re the coolest bunch of people she’s played Big Brother with; Kaysar basically says he just wants to keep playing the game.

Dani surprisingly votes for Kaysar, which flusters Julie! Ultimately only Dani and Enzo vote to evict Kaysar, and Janelle becomes the third person evicted from the house.

In the exit interview, Julie spills the beans about the votes and the alliances; she tells Janelle that Memphis had a hand in her eviction, and that basically trusting Memphis was her mistake!

At the HOH competition, Julie lets the houseguests know the Safety Suite twist is done. By random draw Nicole, Da’Vonne, David, Ian, Enzo and David are chosen to compete first. They must roll 3 balls up a ramp and sink the balls in the holes at the top… HOH TBD!

So Janelle is officially out of the game, but you can’t say she didn’t try her best to stay! I understand why the rest of the house wanted to get her out, but it does sting that it’s only week 3. Janelle is such a strong player – physically, mentally, and socially – and it was so fun watching her play the game, even if only for 3 weeks. Can’t wait until she can come back in season 30 for All Stars 3! M

Big Brother All-Stars Week 1

Big Brother is back! CBS’s reality show behemoth debuted last week for its 22nd season, and brought back 16 all-star players to battle it out for $500,000. Surprisingly, this is only the second all-stars season in the show’s 20 years on the air – the first was way back in season 7 (2006) – and is very much overdue. Once again in the hosting chair is the Chenbot herself, Julie Chen-Moonves.

What’s interesting is the majority of players are from season 8 onward, with only Kaysar and Janelle returning from season 6 (though they both competed in the first all-stars season) and no one from before season 6. This works out well for me, as I only started watching BB in season 8, so I’m familiar with every houseguests except Kaysar. Big Brother icon Janelle competed in season 14, and I watched her and fellow BB alum Britney run The Amazing Race, so just like the rest of America, I know and love Janelle.

The rest of the all-stars are, with their original season(s): Dani (8 and 13), Memphis (10), Keesha (10), Kevin (11), Enzo (12), Ian (14), Cody (16), Nicole F (16 and 18), Da’Vonne (17 and 18), Christmas (19), Tyler (20), Bayleigh (20), David (21), and Nicole A (21).

The only person who’s not an all-star is David, who was evicted first last season after failing a competition. It’s a nice gesture to let him come back, but we barely got to learn his name before he was evicted, so he doesn’t really qualify for all-star status, does he?

Because of the COVID-19 of it all, the season was delayed, and for some reason CBS decided to air the houseguests moving in live in the 2-hour premiere. It was a bit of a mess, as you might expect. Some highlights:

• Even though they’ve reportedly been in quarantine with COVID testing, the houseguests (4 at a time) wore masks on stage before entering the house. They were told they could remove their masks when they entered the house. Mmmkay. Why?
  
  
• The houseguests didn’t know who else would be in the house, so when they saw each other for the first time they were understandably excited. Julie tried to corral them into the living room, but they weren’t listening or possibly couldn’t hear her. Julie’s joke of ‘whoever sits down last gets evicted’ didn’t land either time she said it.
  
  
• The week’s Have-Nots couldn’t get into the Have-Not bedroom. The door is a small one they have to crawl through, but ultimately it wouldn’t open (and we haven’t seen the room since – only shots of it, unoccupied, as far as I remember).
  
  
• The first competition, played in rounds of 4 people, was a difficult mess. The houseguests had to get a ball through a hole of a labyrinth-table, and no one could easily do it.

In the first Head of Household competition, the houseguests had to jump on stumps to make their way across the backyard; but some of the stumps were fake and wobbly and if they fell off they had to start again. Cody beat the challenge in about 22 seconds, easily smoking the competition; he became the first HOH and nominated Keesha and Kevin for eviction. In the Power of Veto, Enzo came out on top, and the Meow Meow decided not to use the veto. I didn’t like either of these comps – the veto was rocking back and forth on a giant banana to earn time to stack plastic fruit; most pieces of fruit won. It was very boring.

Slightly less boring is this season’s first gimmick: the Safety Suite! Each houseguest was given a pass to the Suite; they can use the pass to compete in a challenge only once this season. If they win the challenge, they are safe for the week and get to choose another person to be safe; however, that other person has to endure a punishment. Kaysar and Janelle competed in a competition to recreate a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star remix (yup), and Kaysar won. He obviously chose Janelle to be safe, and she was given her first punishment (!) in the BB house: a star costume (complete with lights!) to wear for the week.

In the lead up to the eviction, there were so many alliances formed, or talks of alliances, I couldn’t keep them straight. Cody seems to have deals with Enzo, Memphis, Nicole F, and Da’Vonne. Da’Vonne has a Black Girl Magic alliance with Bayleigh; Tyler and Bayleigh seem to also be working together. Ian and Nicole F, the only former winners, seem to be cooking something up. Kevin and Nicole A talked about teaming up; Janelle and Kaysar are already close, and who knows what Memphis’ proposed super alliance will ultimately look like.

On eviction night, the house unanimously evicts Keesha. Couldn’t tell you why; it just wasn’t that interesting, as first evictions usually aren’t. Julie tells Keesha she has to put on her mask, then exit the house; she does and takes a seat way across the stage from Julie for her exit interview. (Again, why?! It seems like BB said “How can we acknowledge this pandemic in the dumbest way possible?”) Keesha sees her goodbye messages and is upset to go out first but happy to have been back.

The second HOH competition was one in which the houseguests had to watch videos of a ‘comedian’ doing very bad voices and characters, then answer Julie’s true or false questions with the notorious Big Brother blocks that have to be ‘reset’.*

*Really, can we get a better system? Maybe touch screens that reset themselves? Hearing Julie constantly say ‘Please reset’ at this point is extremely annoying. Am I the only one? Bueller? On a related note, can we do away with the Diary Room voting system? Why not have all the contestants go into a room, separate from each other, and ALL VOTE AT THE SAME TIME (again, using screens)? It is way too time consuming for people to get to the DR just to say one person’s name and walk out, never mind all the shout outs to friends and family. /rant.

In the end, Memphis came out on top and was crowned the new HOH. I’m not sure who he’ll be gunning for; I’d guess Ian and Nicole F are safe bets but I’ve watched this show long enough to expect the unexpected.

With much of television production still on hiatus, I’m really happy CBS figured out how to get BB on the air and that its crazy three-nights-a-week schedule is intact. Because what’s better than watching full grown adults hurl themselves around, make and break deals, and play silly games for money?! Goofy fun wins out for me, every time. M