Big Brother 11, Week 5
The Week Jeremy Piven Stopped By to Say Hello
By Eric Hughes
August 16, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Casually ringing the home's doorbell as if he does it every season, Piven strode into the main room to explain the rules of the contest. Once outside, the HouseGuests would have five minutes to stuff as many extraneous objects into their respective team car. Bulkier items – like oversized stuffed bears and regulation surfboards – were worth more points, and so on. Chima likened the set-up to being on the set of Sanford and Sons.
Before all this, the contestants were forced to sit through the movie's unfunny trailer like mice in a Big Brother lab experiment. Kudos to the show's editing department for capturing the reactions of the nine that remain during the preview's lone funny part and spreading it evenly throughout the time that the HouseGuests are show watching the trailer on screen.
The moment, an obvious product placement – the second of this season alone – left an awkward feeling in the pit of my stomach. I can't be the only one. What's next week... an alien from District 9?
I'll be sure to let you know if and when this happens. But until then, let's get to the recap.
Week 5 at a glance
Head of Household: Chima
HouseGuests nominated for eviction (pre-veto): Russell and Lydia
Power of Veto winner: Kevin
PoV used on: No one
HouseGuests nominated for eviction (post-veto): Russell and Lydia
HouseGuests nominated for eviction (post-Power of Coup D'etat): Jessie and Natalie
HouseGuest evicted live on Thursday: Jessie
Who should have been evicted: Jessie
New HoH: Michele
HouseGuests remaining: 8 (Chima, Jeff, Jordan, Kevin, Lydia, Michele, Natalie, Russell)
The house's love triangle continues to get more awkward
Like a pesky mosquito, Lydia still has a major crush on Jessie. Which is unfortunate, considering he'll never fall for anyone who doesn't look exactly like him. She's trying so hard to get him on her side, and he's having none of it. He's too busy configuring ways to look even better on camera.
Cool like a jelly bean, Natalie has a better chance at getting in his pants – and she doesn't even seem that interested. In fact, both she and Jessie are pretty asexual. That's why they work so well together. They're like friendly siblings (which to some is an oxymoron, I do realize).
Lydia and Natalie's scuffle this week had to do with Natalie stealing away Jessie from Lydia's claws on one of the hallway couches. To no one's surprise, Lydia got up with a start and blamed Natalie for being an evil person or something.
Alone again, Natalie threatened Jessie by telling him she'll blame him if Lydia ever sends Natalie packing. At the time Jessie really didn't know what to say about that, and frankly neither did I. Jessie didn't even have Head of Household for the week. Chima did.
Fortunate for Natalie, Chima felt like her alliance with Natalie and Jessie would disband if Lydia lasted another week in the house. So on Sunday night, Chima nominated Lydia and her biggest enemy – Russell – for eviction.
Too bad the Power of Coup D'etat was enacted four days later. More on that in a bit.
Kevin actually wins something for a change
In Tuesday's Power of Veto competition, HouseGuests had to pick up an egg, work its way up a barrier by sticking their hands through a series of increasingly higher holes and run the unbroken egg to an area behind them for collection and drop off.
It was a bit bogus and a clear sign that after 11 seasons, Big Brother is running out of competition ideas. From it, Chima had the week's best quote: "The first egg was the hardest because... how often have you done this? I've never done this."
Right. We know.
Finally proving that he's for real, Kevin surprisingly won this competition. (His tiny fingers had a lot to do with it). Even more surprisingly, he decided not to take Lydia – his best friend in the house – off the Chopping Block. At the Veto ceremony, he publicly said to Lydia that he hoped his decision wouldn't "put a strain on [their] relationship."
Heh. A strain? You best be sleeping with one eye open from now on, Kevin.
His reasoning for throwing his friend under the bus was because he didn't want to jeopardize his relationship with Chima by altering the nominations she made earlier in the week. Requesting for her to replace one of her nominees would be a symbolic slap in the face. We know from prior altercations that Chima is a fighter, so from a certain standpoint I can understand why he did it.
Steer clear of Chima
Kevin's decision to bow down to Chima's demands became even clearer when even Big Brother took action against a threat from the current HoH. Word broke a day before the live eviction episode that Chima threatened to go on a tirade against Big Brother's producers if any changes were to occur with her nominations live on television. Big Brother took the threat sincerely and put the "live" episode on serious tape delay to avoid any problems.
What Chima was indirectly referring to was the Power of Coup D'etat, a special privilege awarded to Jeff by America in which he could change the HoH's nominees minutes before a live vote. By now HouseGuests had been aware of the power for a couple of weeks, yet had no idea who held the power and what the mystery contestant could do with it. Assuming it had something to do with her nominees, Chima introduced her threat, and the rest is history.
What ended up happening Thursday was one of the best surprises Big Brother has ever cooked up. Instead of either Russell or Lydia heading home, it was Jessie or Natalie. With little more than a minute to think about who they'd like to evict, HouseGuests rashly chose their least-liked friend in the house – with Jessie accruing three votes to Natalie's two.
Final thoughts
With Ronnie being evicted in week 4, Jessie being evicted in week 5 and Russell transforming from a heel to a face, the Big Brother house has gotten a whole lot rosier. So much so that most of the enemies of the house are gone. And with it goes the tension.
I'm happy to report that one of my favorites of the season – Jordan, Jeff, even Russell – could win this thing outright. But the house needs some good Big Brother drama to make the rest of the season sustainable. Natalie and Lydia are the only ones who hate each other anymore, and I've been over that fight for weeks now. Even worse, the source of the bickering – Jessie – is no longer in the house.
But fretting over a drama dry spell in Big Brother is as big a time waster as believing CBS will never again develop another police procedural. All the HouseGuests need is a single act of incitement to get the house riled up again. I'm sure rivalries will be renewed Sunday.
A note on this column: Next time BOP's Big Brother Recap is published, the season will be about half over. Like I did last season, I'll wager who has the best chance to win Big Brother outright – and why.