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After Casey's eviction, Julie Chen dissolved the Big Brother cliques, and announced a Mystery Power would soon be awarded by America. The houseguests then went into the backyard for an endurance competition to determine the next Head of Household. If you follow the live feeds, you already know who won this -- but let's play pretend and follow along, just for fun, okay?

After Julie's announcement that the cliques were dissolved, few people were happier than Jeff (who can now go after his former fellow Athletes) and Chima, who bids goodbye to the Brains with a "See you later, dorks!" Natalie, however, is insecure, having lost the protection that the cliques offered these past few weeks.

We continue to watch the houseguests being swung around in the back yard, getting thwapped with the giant foam-rubber diploma and getting doused with the cold waters. Current Have-Not Ronnie exclaims, "I've had cold showers all week! This is nothing to meeeeeeeeeeee...!" Russell, realizing that the cold and wet clothing will only make him colder, takes the first opportunity to rip off his shirt so he doesn't freeze as badly.

After twenty-one minutes, Kevin drops. Being one of the first five to fall, he gets to pick a graduation gift box, and chooses #5. Wouldn't you know it, it's the $5000 prize. Lydia is the second to give up after twenty-five minutes, and picks graduation gift #2 -- the 42" flat screen television.

The swing speeds up again, with more smacking and dousing, and Natalie looks like she's about to puke. Ronnie says he hears this symphony of hurling -- but it's the smell of the vomit that gets to him, eventually, and he's the third one to fall, knocked off by the diploma. Natalie is the fourth to fall, and we're only forty-nine minutes into the game. They pick gifts #4 and #1 respectively, and both end up with a big, fat nothing.

One hour and thirty-seven minutes in, Jordan lets go. She gets the last box, and it's a mixed blessing. She gets to be a Have for the week, but must later pick three Have-Nots.

As Michele and Chima struggle against Russell and Jeff, Chima starts swinging wildly. She's rocking erratically, and holding on for dear life. At one point she ends up going over the diploma, upside down, and still holds on. Big Brother wisely decides to pull the diploma back until Chima's rope stabilizes.

Two hours and twenty-two minutes in, Chima has had enough. Ronnie and Kevin sprint to help her, while Jessie dismally looks on. He says later he felt his parachute had opened and nothing came out. Nice of him not to help Chima out, wasn't it? It's not the last of the moping we'll see from Jessie tonight.

Jeff and Russell are now both waiting for Michele to drop so they can discuss strategy -- which seems obviously pointed toward putting Ronnie up for eviction. Michele eventually does fall off, and as seems to happen only to her, does so in the most embarrassing way possible -- her pants catch on the swing's seat, and begin to tug off of her as she dangles, enough so that Big Brother has to employ some judicious pixelation. Poor, Michele...

Russell's hands are getting cut up by the rope, and Jordan is urging Jeff to "play it out." Jeff asks Russell if they're going to hang onto the swings all night; he asks Russell if he wants Ronnie out. Russell says yes, and we learn it's because he overheard Ronnie badmouthing Russell to Lydia and the Offbeats back when Ronnie was playing everybody's friend.

Then Russell asks the other houseguests to leave the backyard so he can have a private conversation with Jeff... and they do it! They actually give Jeff and Russell privacy to discuss strategy. Okay, that's polite, I guess, but it looks like the house is already willing to jump at Russell's orders. Rusell tells Jeff he wants that letter from home -- that his father almost died having neck surgery, and he needs to hear from him. Jeff makes him swear on his father that Jeff will be safe, and Russell one-ups it, promising safety for both Jeff and Jordan. So after three hours and thirty-eight minutes, Jeff lets go. Russell is now the new Head of Household, and says he has a newfound respect for Jeff because he's found someone who can compete on his level. (Let's be glad it wasn't a swinging, smacking, drenching spelling bee, eh, "Shotgun?")

After the competition, Jordan must decide on who the three Have-Nots will be. In an effort to avoid making herself a target to anyone, she elects to do this by way of random drawing, in full view of everyone. The first pull is Natalie, which doesn't bother Natalie because she has a Slop Pass and can otherwise handle the hard floor sleeping arrangements and cold showers. The second out is Kevin, who accepts another round of behing a Have-Not with aplomb. The third is Jessie, and everyone can tell he's just being a big baby with his passive-aggressive whining about having been made a Have-Not. That attitude isn't going to win you any friends, Jessie.

Jessie later tells Natalie that at least the two of them won't be going home, as he knows that Russell made a deal to give Ronnie the boot. Natalie wonders if Russell even wants Ronnie to go home. Meanwhile, Jeff lets Jordan know that they are also both safe this week.

Thinking they still have some kind of alliance, Natalie and Jessie go to their former cliquemate with the idea of putting up Lydia and Kevin. Russell listens, but in the Diary Room says that he'll do whatever he wants regardless of their opinions.

Ronnie then asks Natalie and Jessie (whom I think we can still call Jessalie) about any deals Russell brokered with Jeff. They tell him they don't know for sure, but Natalie adds that even if Russell does put Ronnie up, they want him here. Ronnie, meanwhile, is already hoping for the Mystery Power that America will bestow upon a houseguest this week. He may have already deduced that it's the Coup D'etat. "I would love to wield the power omnipotently, like a Jedi Knight," he tells the camera. He promises to use the power for good; then, indicating himself, Jessie and Natalie, he emphasizes, "This good."

Now that Russell has the HOH room, he has his own private space to discuss strategy with Jeff. Jeff says he knew it would come down to the two fo them, and that he trusts Russell that he and Jordan are safe. Russell says he believes their initial differences arose in the first weeks because they were two alphas going at it -- and offers an alliance between the two of them. "What's stopping us?" he says. "Me and Russell together is a game-changer," Jeff adds in the Diary Room.

Lydia also wants some private moments with Russell (as she continues to too-obviously set herself up as the HOH-whore). "You turned into such a nicer, sweeter, more adorable person," she coos. She then sells out Jessie and Natalie, telling him that they both wanted to go after Russell, claiming that Russell lied to them earlier. But when Jessie and Natalie visit later, accompanied by Chima, Russell brings the subject right up, adding that he didn't believe Lydia. "Notice how it didn't even come out until your HOH," Jessie notes. Natalie says that Lydia loves whoever the current HOH is, and Chima calls her a "bipolar drama queen."

Ronnie is obviously concerned about his position in the house, and has a private chat of his own with Russell. He asks directly if he's in danger, and Russell tells him, flat out, "Oh, no." One thing Russell has down pat is the poker face needed to play this game, but you can only lie so long before it all comes out. If anyone knows this, it's Ronnie.

Nomination Ceremony

 

On the Block
Ronnie	Lydia

As Russell makes his selections, he says that he's going to take out who he thinks should be gone -- and if people don't get with his program, he'll make sure those people are his next target.

The houseguests gather around the table and begin pulling out keys, and the order of safety is as follows:

Jeff
Jessie
Jordan
Chima
Michele
Natalie
Kevin

Lydia and Ronnie are nominated, but Russell makes it clear that Ronnie is the target. "Ronnie, I chose you because you slapped me in the face," he says, indicating that he was behind the door listening when Ronnie ran him down to Lydia. "If you wanna catch a snake, you've gotta be a mongoose -- and I'm that mongoose." Somebody was paying attention to "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" when he was a kid.

Diary Room Aftermath

Jeff: Russell's nominations were right on the money.
Lydia: I'm going to fight like H-E-double-hockeysticks.
Russell: I hope Ronnie does not get the Mystery Power.
Ronnie: Russell says he was the mongoose... I'm not just a snake, I'm a king cobra, and many times the king cobra kills the mongoose.

 

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