After a new Houseguest rises to 'Big Brother' power as Head of Household, a new alliance comes together and must decide to take the easy route (targeting last week's unhinged HOH Angela), or possibly expose themselves with a bigger move.
As Chelsie said at the top of the hour on Sunday's Big Brother, "Whoever wins HOH is gonna dictate the temperature of the house."
One thing the House could use is some cooling down after Angela kicked off the season with one of the more unhinged HOH reigns in BB history. Even more remarkable is the fact it was ultimately a successful week for her.
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View StoryShe certainly didn't win any fans among viewers by targeting her "Crazy-Eyes" Matt, nor did she make any friends in the House with her shocking rant tearing into him and her own alliance (which she didn't believe).
Angela fell victim to a level of paranoia that never happens in Week 1 and it tainted everything she tried to do. At the same time, Matt was a little blunt and direct in telling her if she targeted him, he'd target her. It was honest, but it triggered a paranoid explosion.
Could the House recover from that? Well, Angela has virtually zero allies at this point, and she was ineligible to play in the HOH Competition, so the House was definitely going to see a huge shift with her out of power.
Are any of the existing alliances going into this week real? Certainly any that involved Angela or Matt should be questioned. As it turns out -- and time will tell -- it seems as if the season might really be starting this week, after what was an anomalous Week 1 of petty personal revenge.
At the same time, you can never fault anyone for getting out a big physical threat like Matt, so even though the reasoning was pretty suspect, the result is a net gain for pretty much everyone else in the House.
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View StoryDread of Household
Another aspect of Angela setting the tone for the season is that no one seemed to really, really want to be HOH. There were some ready to take the game by the reins, but a lot more are wanting to lay low and see how the temperature of the House resets.
That's how things went as they headed into a cute competition of funny animal video compilations followed by True/False questions. One wrong answer meant elimination, and Round 2 was a bloodbath. After a perfect first round, there were eight HGs booted in Round 2 (Tucker, Rubina, Makensy, Cam, Lisa, Brooklyn, Joseph, and Quinn).
That left only T'Kor, Kimo, Kenney, Cedric, Chelsie, and Leah in it. Immediately, Cedric decided to throw it, and he was booted alongside Kenney. Then Kimo was knocked out, leaving T'Kor, Chelsie, and Leah. Chelsie also wanted to throw it, but somehow her guesses kept being right.
And she was "right" all the way to the win, knocking out both competitors in Round 6 to claim the Head of Household. She may not have wanted it, but now the power was hers and she had to decide what to do with it.
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View StoryDoes she go with the easy targets of Angela, Kenney, and Lisa (the latter two of who were nominated last week)? Angela for all the last week reasons, Kenney because he wanted to go over Matt, anyway, or Lisa for -- well, all sorts of different reasons.
As we saw last week, Lisa's glitteratti attacks have been driving everyone in the House crazy, but apparently no one more than Tucker. With both of them chefs, they've been at unexpected social odds all season, but in one major rant in Chelsie's fresh HOH room, he spoke for the whole House when he said she's driving everyone crazy with her antics -- and seems completely clueless about it.
So those are the easy choices. There's another set of easy choices, too, but those also draw a pretty clear line in the sand. Matt left allies in the House in the form of the remainder of his Throwmance trio, Makensy and Leah.
Both of them voted for him to stay, as did Lisa (who didn't know the House had opted to keep Kenney over him). In fact, her general tone deafness to the House is pretty remarkable throughout this hour. Self-awareness is not her superpower!
But who wants to make that decision alone?
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View StoryLies and Allies
One of the benefits of being the Head of Household is that everyone wants to talk to you and work with you -- unless you explode all over them like Angela did last week. Chelsie has been careful and intentional all season, and so she was already gravitating toward like-minded players.
She quickly found herself feeling comfortable with both Cam and Cedric. The three solidified an alliance, and then decided to expand their numbers. They targeted Brooklyn, who's been quietly observing the game, and Quinn, who is very, very savvy at the game (but perhaps a bit too overt about it).
Nevertheless, this fivesome decided to solidify their arrangement, with Brooklyn naming them The Pentagon, and them even coming up with hand signals. And for the first time this season, we have an alliance that feels genuine -- though we kind of feel bad for T'Kor. She and Chelsie were talking game before the Alliance formed, and then T'Kor wasn't part of it.
But with the new alliance, Chelsie started sharing her situation. Part of that situation happened ahead of the HOH Comp when Lisa told her she had voted to boot Matt. It was smart of Lisa to try and pretend she wasn't one of the three votes to keep him. Unfortunately, she wasn't remotely convincing.
And so, for that and multiple other reasons, she was already on Chelsie's radar. Angela quickly came up and offered herself as a shield. For all this TV-savvy mom (she's been on multiple other shows) knows how to milk it for the camera, she does seem aware of her standing in the House.
That's more than can be said for Lisa, who is completely clueless as to why she's not connecting with people.
Makensy tried her best to stay off of Chelsie's radar during their one-on-one, to the point she confessed to having one of the Upgrades. As The Pentagon discussed trying to flush those out, Quinn said in a confessional he could now never reveal he had the other one to anyone as it would only hurt his game at this point. But he can still use it!
The drawback for Makensy and Leah is that the House has picked up on them as a duo, and now they suspect Lisa may be working with them. That creates a trio, which is dangerous -- even if it's not necessarily really what's going on. So does Chelsie take a shot, draw a line and get blood on her hands? Or does she play it safe?
In the end, she went with the safe option, putting Kenney and Lisa back on the Block for the second week in a row, alongside the most obvious choice of them all, last week's s--t-stirrer, Angela. Now her biggest fear is what to do if one of them wins Veto. Is there another safe choice?
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View StoryHouseguest Report Cards
Chelsie Baham (27, nonprofit dir) was already playing this game harder than almost anyone else. She may not have wanted this position, but if she plays it right, it will only further solidify her power. She's definitely in the driver's season this week with The Pentagon, and her touching conversation with Kimo about religion and sexual orientation emphasized how natural she is at interpersonal connections, as well, which only strengthens her position. [Grade: A]
Cedric Hodges (21, ex-marine) kind of masterminded the alliance and has the best pulse on the overall game right now. He's a great strategist and charismatic. No one is paying any attention to him as a threat right now, which is just the way he wants it. [Grade: A-]
Cam Sullivan-Brown (25, physical therapist) built a good relationship with Chelsie at the right moment. He was a confidante early in her HOH reign and then a founding member of The Pentagon, and a part of the trio at the top. Even better, he's practically invisible in the House, otherwise, giving him opportunity to gain intel. [Grade: B+]
Quinn Martin (25, nurse recruiter) continues to rise to the top, with every major alliance seeming to want to work with him. They want him for his brain and his knowledge of the game. What he needs to ensure, though, is that he's not thought of as expendable. He seems well-liked, but his understanding of the game also makes him a threat. [Grade: B]
Brooklyn Rivera (34, business admin) knows she's the fifth member of The Collective, and is disposable, which puts her just ahead of Quinn, who may not see his position outside of the three at the core. We've not see much of her game yet, but it says a lot she was chosen to be part of this small core. She also named it, which gives her something. We'll have to hold out and see what else she's got. [Grade: B-]
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View StoryT'kor Clottey (23, crochet business) is right in the middle of the game. She's in good with Chelsie, but not good enough to be part of The Pentagon. A free agent, still, no one is looking to target her yet, but no one seems to want to solidify something with her, either (we don't believe The Collective is a thing). She's well-liked so far, but she needs to find her people. [Grade: C+]
Kimo Apaka (35, mattress sales) really seems to be well-liked in the House, with people rooting for him to do well and prove himself to himself. But they're also very much not wanting to align with him, as proven by them telling him to go win safety last week (which he did). Being loved don't won the game, though. [Grade: C+]
Tucker Des Lauriers (30, marketing/sales exec), Joseph Rodriguez (30, video store), and Rubina Bernabe (35, event bartender) are there. Tucker showed some personality in his disdain for Lisa this week, but none of them are showing much at all when it comes to strategy, alliances, or gameplay. They're just... floating. [Grade: C]
Leah Peters (26, VIP cocktail) and Makensy Manbeck (22, construction pm) have been tied together after the Matt vote, and so they're seen as a pair that needs to be targeted and eliminated. Makensy has told a few too many people about her power, too, making her an even bigger threat as she could save herself with it. [Grade: C-]
Lisa Weintraub (33, celeb chef) is just not vibing with this House at all. No one seems to really want to work with her or even be her friend. She's actively annoying people and doesn't seem to have much of a strategy ... or self-awareness. [Grade: D]
Kenney Kelley (52, ex-cop) didn't help his game when he was ready to go over Matt last week. Someone who doesn't want to be there that bad... well, no one wants that guy to win. We're not sure what he can do to change his eventual fate because he doesn't seem inclined to do anything about it. He lost his closest ally in Matt and he's not really trying to make any other connections. [Grade: D]
Angela Murray (50, real estate agent) is still the easy target to get out of. She not only rocked the boat last week, she nearly sunk it. She's not making any friends and no one can trust her far enough to actively work with her. They could keep her as a shield, as she pitched, but even that would only get her so far. [Grade: D-]
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View StoryHouse Chatter
(amusing asides and comments made by HGs -- not necessarily strategy, but entertaining and sometimes revealing)
"He's more handsome in black-and-white. This is impossible." --uncertain (about Matt)
"The circumstances of it, I just wish it was not this week after everything he went through." --Makensy (about Matt's eviction)
"I wasn't on his side. That's why I didn't want him in the House; it was getting too messy. And I hope people see that." --Lisa (lying to Cheslie about Matt)
"Wait, which camera? We're doing this for Matt. This week, she's going down." --Makensy (posturing with Lisa)
"I don't know how I got here. I guessed on half of those questions" --Chelsie (about HOH comp)
"I don't know how she'll play because she hasn't had to play." --Brooklyn (about Chelsie as HOH)
"What kind of chef exercises in the kitchen?" --Tucker (about Lisa)
"We've come past the point of no return. I have to die with this lie." --Quinn (can't reveal power-up)
"No matter how many times I am nominated, I will always bring the sparkle, I will always bring the glitter." --Lisa (but that's why you're nominated again)