by David McAlpine

Tonight, on the long-awaited premiere of Big Brother 11, we get to see the twelve houseguests finally move into the house. In addition, tonight, the mystery houseguest’s identity is revealed and the houseguests learn that they’ll be playing the game as part of a “clique.” The summer-long competition for $500,000 has just begun!

Julie introduces the groups, the athletes, the braniacs, the popular people and the offbeats, then the contestants get their keys to the house. First up is Jeff, the “Chicago boy,” followed by Ronnie, the “gamer,” then Jordan, the “Southern girl,” and Natalie, the karate woman. Next to receive their keys are Kevin, the designer, Chima, the one with book smarts, Braden, the surfer, and Michele, the scientist. The last four to get their keys are Russell, the fighter, Laura, the “sweet bitch,” Lydia, the “tattoo lady,” and Casey, “teacher by day and DJ by night.”

As the houseguests start to pack, it’s clear that possible conflicts already exist. Kevin wants someone ghetto fabulous, while Chima thinks people who think black people are ghetto are ignorant. Laura has, well, a larger chest, and Kevin thinks that looks tacky. Laura also doesn’t like white guys who rap, and Casey is a white, middle-aged DJ. It’s already shaping up to be an interesting summer.

The first four to enter the house are Ronnie, Laura, Russell and Kevin. It’s all smiles and hugs between the four, while Chima, Braden, Natalie and Casey come in. Braden is already making up words about how it feels to move into the house, and Casey definitely gets the impression that Braden is a typical “surfer” type. The last four, Jordan, Jeff, Michele and Lydia find their beds…well, at least three of them. They quickly realize there aren’t enough to go around, so Jordan and Michele decide to double up.

Of course, it’s toast time and everyone introduces themselves to the rest of the group. Casey is already making fun of Chima’s laugh, Michele decides to downplay her job and the fact that she has a Ph.D., and Natalie, who is 24, decides to lie and say she’s 18 so people think she’s naïve, but Kevin calls her out on it. And every girl loves Jeff and clearly wants to get with him.

Julie introduces the twist to the houseguests: each contestant will be assigned to a clique which with they’ll be competing with. Although they’re ultimately competing individually, if someone from their clique wins HoH for the week, no one from that clique can be nominated that week. Everyone starts to label each other, trying to figure out who is going to be in what clique. Lydia thinks she’ll be in the offbeat clique, while Jordan is pegged as a “popular.” We then find out the other twist of the night: each clique has been assigned a former past houseguest and one of them will be returning to the game, becoming the 13th player this season.

All the houseguests are told to go out to the backyard for their first Head of Household competition where they’re introduced to their cliques:

Athletes: Jeff, Natalie, Russell
Offbeat: Lydia, Kevin, Casey
Popular: Jordan, Laura, Braden
Brains: Chima, Ronnie, Michele

The backyard is made up like a locker room and each houseguest has to step into an underwear shaped harness, which will be pulled into a wedgie in the air, and hold on to a hanging toilet seat. The last houseguest standing wins the challenge—but not HoH. Instead, the clique that wins will have their corresponding returning houseguest become the first Head of Household (though the houseguests don’t know it yet). The returning houseguests are:

Offbeat: Cowboy (season 5)
Popular: Jessica (season 8)
Brains: Brian (season 10)
Athletes: Jessie (season 10)

Clearly some people aren’t cut out for this competition by the way they’re hanging, but no one wants to be the first one to drop. Michele is the first one to drop, followed by Ronnie. But this competition can’t be that easy: each “mystery” houseguest gets to give 30 seconds of super wedgie to a clique of their choice. Brian selects the populars, Jessie selects the offbeats, and Cowboy and Jessica select the athletes. After the super wedgies, which just seemed to be consisting of lifting the contestants higher in the air, Lydia and Jordan fall, then Kevin, leaving the offbeats and the brains with just one player each. Jeff drops next, then Julie polls the four past houseguests about super wedgies. This time, everyone picks the athletes except Jessie, who picks the brains. Chima drops next, eliminating the brains (and Brian) from the HoH, followed soon after by Casey, eliminating the offbeats (and Cowboy).

Natalie starts to act cocky up on the harness and gets really vocal, while Laura keeps complaining about her crotch. Laura drops out, leaving Braden to compete for the populars. However, Braden slips and falls, giving the win to the athletes and making Jessie the 13th houseguest and this week’s HoH. Julie tells the houseguests that it’s a past contestant returning and they all think it’s Jessie or Matt (season 9). In a “to be continued” ending, Jessie runs into the house to surprise from  the others.

Tune in to Big Brother 11, Sunday at 8/7c on CBS to see how the houseguests react to Jessie and who he’ll nominate as Head of Household!

(Image courtesy of CBS)

For more Big Brother Links visit Sirlinksalot.net