'Big Brother 10' Kinder and gentler

We are one week into Big Brother 10, but it feels like so much longer. Only this time, it's not because the HGs are insufferable idiots. Well, OK, it sort of is because of that. But they are insufferable idiots in a totally new and unique way for Big Brother! This time, they are playing to win...as if they were 6 weeks in rather then just past 6 days. ish.

But first, let's review! Libra, April and Ollie banded the house together to take out Brian, who tried to use interpersonal skills and sock puppets to save himself. While he still ended up leaving the house, he did manage to gather enough of the easily entertained into his thrall despite the allure of a $500,000 pay day to ignore the guy everyone agreed to vote out. As such, Steven and Angie find themselves filed into the ranks with Dan as Brian supporters. The sock puppets were fun, but where they $500,000 worth of fun? Brian pegged Memphis as the biggest threat, but it's Jessie who won the HoH.

Honestly, there's a lot of petty bickering, such as Keesha muttering that April is a "Barbie Bitch" for jumping into Jessie's arms when he won, which she says was fake and Angie declares a strong dislike for everyone on team Jessie...but really, nothing much interesting gets said or accomplished until the reveal of the HoH room. It's about what we would expect, about 1 picture of Jessie with family, 1 with a friend, and then the rest are all of that which Jessie loves the most: himself. He points out to the other HGs how "freaking ripped" he was, all the way back in May, going into great detail to describe his deltoids and abs. It's the sort of conversation that would make me want to use chopsticks to deafen myself. Sadly, it seems no chopsticks or even sharp pencils were provided to the HGs. It should be termed cruel and unusual punishment, frankly. I'm considering writing a strongly worded missive to CBS.

Jessie likely couldn't write a missive, or even a post-it note to Mrs. Chen's husband, but he is more than a little upset that Steven decided to sit out his stunning lecture on his own pectorals. He waits until only Libra, Ollie, April, Michelle and Memphis are in his room to discuss who he wants to put up. He seems to be leaning toward Renny and Steven, but the rest of his alliance are against that. They want Steven and Dan. They give Jessie valid reasons why, but as time goes on and he insists he wants to put Renny up, they get increasingly fed up until finally Libra tells him that putting Renny up is a stupid idea and he needs to let it go. I'm liking Libra.

In the downtime, Jerry talks to some of the girls about his wife of 54 years, who is his best friend and who has Parkinson's. He tells them that he started getting in shape when he promised her that he would always be there to take care of her and would never put her in a nursing home. The girls cry and I have to admit, it's one of those hopelessly endearing things that you can't help but feel for. He goes on to say that she told him to put her in a home and not let her illness ruin his life and he starts to cry himself as he says he couldn't do such a thing to her.

Less emotionally sincere is Dan, who asks Steven about his experiences as a gay man, including whether or not he is out of the closet (well, he's out on national TV, so...yeah), if he waited to tell him last because he was Catholic, and if he's ever been with a girl. Dan just lived up to a bunch of Catholic stereotypes, which is a shame since he's already proven that he doesn't know the dogma that well. Steven answers all of Dan's questions graciously and then moves on to talk to Keesha about being dog owners. They both agree that sometimes they like their dogs better then people, but when Keesha goes one further by saying she likes her dog more than her significant other, Steven looks horrified. Rightfully so. But he also artfully crafts the conversation towards discussing how their dogs might forget them while they are in the house - and what if they get sick? Well, you would almost be GLAD to be evicted, wouldn't you? Keesha looks worried.

Angie, meanwhile, is not interested in little yappie balls of fuzz as much as she's interested in saving her own behind. She goes up to Jessie's room to tell him that she doesn't want their relationship to remain as it has been for the last 24 hours. He points out that they haven't had a relationship for the last 24 hours, because she aligned herself with Brian. She tries to deny that, but all her arguments fall weakly in the face of the fact that she spent 30 minutes trying to get him votes. The conversation ends with it being quite clear that Jessie is planning on holding a grudge.

Food Competition
It's called Stop Your Whining - which sounds promising, however when I notice no duct tape is involved I lose hope for the blissful silence I had briefly envisioned. Instead, they refer to "wine". The house is divided into 2 teams - red and green. Each team has two team mates to plug the holes in a large vat that is being filled with wine, one team mate to search for corks and toss them up to the pluggers and the rest of the team is set to gather up the wine falling from the holes in the other team's vat and try to fill wine bottles. The game is over when one team manages to plug all their holes (hee! Yes, I'm 12) and the winner is whichever team fills the most bottles. It's not much of a competition, with the green team filling 1.5 bottles and the red not even filling one. This means that April, Jerry, Renny, Libra and Keesha are all on slop. It doesn't seem to much bother Renny, Jerry and Keesha, but it really infuriates April and Libra who both yell and snipe at each other until finally going to pout on their own for a bit.

After the Food Comp, Dan asks to use Jessie's restroom - the standard ruse when you want to talk to the HoH. A fact Jessie is blissfully unaware of. Dan stays in the room, monitoring the TVs and waiting for Jessie to come upstairs. Which he finally does - with Ollie in tow. Dan puts the remote back as he found it and scurries to the bathroom while Ollie and Jessie hang out. A few minutes later, he flushes and they look at each other, wondering who is in the room. It would almost be comical if it wasn't so sad.

Speaking of sad, Libra suddenly asks Memphis why he is so unemotional. He says it probably has to do with a bunch of factors from his life and she challenges him to name 2. He starts off with losing his dad at age 15. It seems his dad left his mom when he was 2, but reached out to him 13 years later. Within 3 months he was diagnosed with terminal heart disease and died another 3 months after that. Memphis moves on to tell about how a girl broke his heart because she knew what kind of guy she wanted, and he wasn't that guy. April and Libra both "Awwww" and he's quick to continue that he's head over heels in love with his current girlfriend. In fact, it's the first time he's put his heart out there for anyone in about 10 years. So, tonight it's been a softer, gentler Big Brother, apparently.

Dan finally gets his time alone with Jessie, saying he wants to clear a few things up. He explains how he gave Brian his word, and so even though it hung him out to dry, he kept his word. He admits that he has nothing going for himself, asking if Jessie has any ideas and promising to give him the same sort of loyalty if he wants it. Jessie thanks him for his honestly and tells him that he admires how he handled the situation, but commits to nothing. Because for as strong as Jessie wants to seem on the outside, he doesn't seem to be able to make a decision for himself. So, he went with the alliance's choice. The final nominations are Dan and Steven - much to Renny's surprise.

What do you think of the nominations? How long do you think the alliance of Ollie, April, Libra, Jessie, Memphis and Michelle will last? Anyone else seeing Libra and Memphis as the strongest players, or is that just me? What about Renny's amazing attempt to bring back tie-dye tonight?

Check out our new Big Brother 10 Guide! 

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