Big Brother 11, Week 4
For One Week Only, I’d Rather Be Watching Something Else on CBS
By Eric Hughes
August 10, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
It was a boring week in the Big Brother house.
I hate beginning a recap column like that. Hell, I hate beginning any piece of writing that way. But hear me out: the Head of Household's nominations were a no brainer, the HouseGuest getting the boot was anything but shocking and worst of all – we're talking about summer reality here – no conflicts?
Okay, that's a lie, but only because it was too little, too late!
Contestants this season have always found a bone to pick with one another by the time Thursday's live eviction comes around. And Week 4 was no different. (We'll get to it). Sunday and Tuesday's all-work-and-no-play-makes-Jack-a-poor-boy eps were duller than Emily Dickinson poetry – making Thursday's nothing fight a bit of a bore.
Essentially, Ronnie could have run around buck-naked singing selections from hit Broadway musicals and I still would've given the week a negative review.
For the record, said act of randomness didn't happen. Even so, you may by now have at least a rough idea of how I felt about Russell's turn as leader of the house.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Let's get to the recap.
Week 4 at a glance
Head of Household: Russell
HouseGuests nominated for eviction (pre-veto): Ronnie and Lydia
Power of Veto winner: Michele
PoV used on: No one
HouseGuests nominated for eviction (post-veto): Ronnie and Lydia
HouseGuest evicted live on Thursday: Ronnie
Who should have been evicted: Ronnie
New HoH: Chima
HouseGuests remaining: 9 (Chima, Jeff, Jessie, Jordan, Kevin, Lydia, Michele, Natalie, Russell)
I now pronounce you Jeff and Russell
The mediocrity began during the HoH competish when the two remaining HouseGuests – Jeff and Russell – still in contention for the prize decided they were both gunning for the same person this week (Ronnie). Because of this, there was no sense in literally swinging around and around in an endless circle in a test of endurance if both dudes wanted Ronnie gone.
With that came a truce: Jeff would voluntarily relieve himself from the swings if Russell promised not to nominate Jeff or Jeff's better (showmance) half, Jordan, for eviction.
With no Bible handy, Russell swore on his father's life. Good enough for Jeff.
And as luck would have it, Russell stuck to his word and nominated Ronnie and Lydia for eviction.
Then things got interesting...
On Sunday, Russell was saying things like, "I have a newfound respect for Jeff." Fair enough. Bros say that. Even better, the boys decided they'd partner up from here on out to take down the rest of the house.
If you ask me, they very well could.
Two days later, Jeff is tweaking to Jordan because he's under the impression that Russell has some sort of man crush on him. He relates to her how earlier he was laying down somewhere, and when he shifted his weight to the other side, he caught Russell starring into his eyes.
What's creepy is that instead of doing the normal breaking-the-ice thing to cover his tracks – "Yo dude, what's up?' – Russell was a deer in the headlights for seconds before snapping his eyes shut, as if in sleep.
Awkward. Turtle.
Michele monsters it two weeks straight
Up until this week, Michele's been a boring, practically nonexistent blip on Big Brother's radar. I'd be surprised to learn execs weren't slapping themselves for choosing a brainy neuroscientist over the busty bombshells that typically populate the house.
Her role in the game, however, took a turn this week when the woman won the Power of Veto for the second week in a row AND got into her first verbal fight with Chima and Russell. Granted, she bowed out pretty quickly and allowed the other two to fight for blood.
But good on her. She's finally getting a piece of the action – even if the fight made not a lick of sense. I'm with Jeff, who said bluntly, "I don't know what's going on."
Seriously, it's not worth the energy.
She also apparently got under the skin of the departed Ronnie, who vacated the house Thursday night after a magical Big Brother run. During his goodbye speech, the dude choked back tears as he thanked those involved in getting him on the show and blessed everyone still in the house for a wonderful summer... except Michele.
He pointed this out, then skipped her on his hug rounds on the way to this luggage, then preceded to call her the worst human being he has ever met. Michele was – how best to put this - shocked.
I don't know if it's the fault of Big Brother censors or what, but there certainly hasn't been enough footage in primetime to validate Ronnie's opinion of Michele. To the audience's eyes, she's nothing more than a little baby doll. Sure, she's quiet and plays without alliances, but that's the game.
I hardly find it fair for HouseGuests to judge one another personally when they originally meet one another during a summer-long quest for $500,000.
Coup d'etat is French, silly!
Jeff's language frustrations never cease to amaze me. The guy made the mistake weeks ago during a challenge to spell the longest possible word when he failed with technotronics. Not only did he spell it wrong, but technotronics isn't a word. Even worse, he pluralized it. He wanted two of something that can't be had. Brilliant.
Flash forward to this week, where America awards Jeff the Power of Coup d'etat, which enables him to overthrow the HoH and nominate a Chopping Block of his choice minutes before a live eviction.
Coup d'etat is no every day word, but it's not a secret word either. We've all seen it, and we all know how to pronounce it. Well, all of us but Jeff. The poor soul had to call upon the aids in the diary room to tell him how to pronounce it correctly as he was reading over the power's description.
Anyway, with Ronnie already on the Chopping Block, Jeff had no reason to utilize the power this week. He'll have to use it next week, or never at all. With Chima – who has her mind set on Russell – in power, Jeff's special clout may be the only way to keep the Jeff-Russell bromance alive.