By David McAlpine

Last time on Big Brother 11, Jessie won HoH and continued the reign of terror in the Big Brother house. He up and decided that Ronnie hadn’t done anything that bad to him, so kept him safe and, instead nominated Michele and Jordan for eviction, throwing all hope of an interesting week out the window.

As they should be, Michele and Jordan are both really unsure about their positions in the house. Jordan whines to Jeff about not being safe this week, but Jeff tells her to buck up and be confident (I mean, hey, at least their showmance is affirming to one another, not hurting themselves in the game). Enter Michele, who gets the same sympathy from Jeff and Jordan, but it’s still really clear that she’s still on the outside of that alliance, too. With the sides of the house the way they are, could Michele be royally screwed? I really hope not.

Jessie continues more about why he wants to keep Ronnie (with cuts of Natalie, which, like I said before, and I will continue to stress, holds no actual decision-making power, telling Ronnie he’s safe), and it’s clear that his target this week is Casey. Looks like Natalie triumphs again this week in controlling the house. Jessie talks to everyone separately and uses his meathead reasoning to try and convince everyone that Ronnie isn’t coming after them, so obviously Casey is the best choice to go. And everyone just seems to agree…wonderful. Even Kevin and Lydia, who would be safe if Casey won HoH, are prone to Jessie’s sweet talk.

This leads me to realize something that really bothers me: Jessie is recreating the sides of the house that were made in week 1. By not putting up Ronnie, we’re just settling back into the groups that were formed because of Braden’s eviction—which means Ronnie can go back to slipping under the radar until his ugly “I’m a mastermind” ego rears its head again. This week just gets better and better, doesn’t it?

The houseguests get bored and decide to play Truth or Dare, which involves Kevin cuddling with Jessie (who doesn’t look happy at all with it after Natalie wakes him up) and Ronnie giving Casey a hug (which Ronnie enjoyed way too much). Could this house really be that uninteresting? I guess now that Ronnie is cool with everyone again, it must be. Sigh.

It’s Power of Veto time and Jessie just doesn’t want Casey to be picked. And, as like every other time where we see a Diary Room where someone says they don’t want someone competing in veto, they get picked (this time by Michele). Jessie picks Jeff and Jordan picks Chima, after which they head to the storage room to get dressed up in…pink spandex and pig noses? Jessie also picks Natalie to be the host, which you can tell pisses off Lydia to the max.

It turns out the competition is swinging off a platform via a rope swing into a pit of mud and looking for “truffles.” The truffles then must be brought back to your platform and you look on them to see what their value is—a number between 1 and 10. You can choose to keep it (in one of four slots) or leave it, but the decision is permanent. Some truffles have prizes, too, so houseguests could sacrifice one of their spots for a prize instead of a number. The houseguest with the most number of points at the end of the challenge would win the power of veto. Simple enough (sort of), right?

Everyone starts swinging and searching for their truffles except for Chima, who daintily picks through the mud. Her strategy was apparently to stay clean. Can I get a show of hands for how hilarious it would be if the veto was used and Chima was put up because she didn’t try? I would have thought about it, at least.

At the end, before anyone shows their collected truffles, each houseguest is tempted to pick an envelope, which could contain good things or bad things. Jessie, Jeff, Casey and Michele pick envelopes, so now it’s on to the scores:

Jessie: 31 points (with a +5 in his envelope) and $2,500
Jordan: 24 points
Jeff: 22 points (with a -5 in his envelope)
Chima: 25 points
Casey: A margarita party for the house (which he thought would win him brownie points), 22 points, and the joy of wearing a banana suit for the week (his envelope prize)
Michele: 35 points (with a +7 in her envelope)

As all this is unfolding, it’s painful to watch for Casey. The poor guy is now probably going to have the wear the banana suit at eviction, he’s getting backdoored and he has no idea, and he gave the people who are plotting it all free alcohol, chips and dip. This is not good karma for the athletes, that’s all I have to say.

Anyway, Michele goes to talk to Jessie, still under the impression that Ronnie is the target this week (as are Jeff, Jordan and Casey). After talking with Jessie, however, his huge ego plus her smarts helps her figure out that Casey is the real target this week, which pisses her off. She mentions it to Lydia, who makes a backhanded comment about people “feeling 100% safe week after week” a.k.a. Natalie, her main competition for Jessie. My hopes for a catfight just skyrocketed!

Lydia and Michele tell Jordan, who tells Jeff, who tells Casey, and they all get that wide-eyed, we’re screwed look, because they know that there’s really little hope left. Casey (in his banana glory) goes up to talk to Jessie anyway, who keeps telling him “the right guy” is going home. I mean the guy could just be honest and tell Casey he wants him out, but he has to act like an immature dweeb still.

At the veto ceremony, Michele saves herself (shocker number one!) and, after some fake suspense, Jessie puts up Casey (shocker number two!). It’s all but helpless now for the Jeff/Jordan/Casey/Michele team—all I’m hoping for is that someone steps up and wins HoH.

Tune in to Big Brother 11 on CBS on Thursday at 8/7c to see the live eviction and Head of Household competition. Is Casey’s fate sealed? Will someone willing to change up the house finally win Head of Household? It’s just hope at this point.

(Image courtesy of CBS and RealPlayer)

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