'Big Brother 10': Swing vote

This week, Big Brother 10 picks up the torch Kevin Costner's recent box office bomb dropped by convincing us that hey! Our votes actually do count! Well, at least they do when it comes to reality television programs, that is.

Before we get into the action, a quick recap of the week: April won HoH by cutting a deal with Michelle that she and Jessie would be safe, April nominated Memphis and Jessie but promised Jessie he was safe therefore sort of keeping her promise to Michelle, the entire house got in a circular argument about who could be more annoying (they're all annoying, so everybody won!) and Jerry won POV and kept the nominations the same.

Julie greets us and throws us directly into the main action of the night: America's Player Dan and his power (or powerlessness) in the game this week. After the nomination ceremony, Jessie feels safe and Memphis doesn't, declaring that his alliance is basically over and he needs to fight for himself. Good thing Jessie is doing a fine job of self-imploding, making Memphis' game a hell of a lot easier in the process. Libra and Keesha conspire about their mutual hatred of Jessie and go to April to plead their case to evict him instead of Memphis, but April has her own self-interests for keeping Jessie in the game. Libra sees right through this charade, and thus begins Jessie's downfall. Keesha sits down with Memphis and realizes they need four votes to get Jessie out, with Dan being the swing vote. Memphis is sure Dan won't vote for him, but Keesha works on him all the same. Too bad it doesn't matter either way. America's Player strikes again! But Dan then GIVES HIS WORD to Keesha, Memphis and Libra that he'll keep Memphis in. I guess he's pretty certain America wants the bodybuilder out!

April, realizing Libra and Keesha might give her trouble this week, goes to Jerry to secure his vote to get out Memphis. Jerry assures her he can keep Dan on their side because he "brought Dan into their alliance" and they "kept him in the game." Poor Jerry, thinking he's in an alliance with April. Or Dan. He's a floater and he doesn't even seem to know it! Dan, unfortunately, has to promise Jerry he's still on his side. Whatever happens this week, they're going to know Dan was the swing vote and half of the house will be after him. Darn you, America's Player, ruining my favorite player's game! Even Dan realizes he's in trouble, talking to the cameras alone and telling us he's screwed no matter what happens.

This week's background package is about Dan and his love for his job and the kids he coaches, who watch him on TV every week. No wonder Dan never gets involved with any of the house drama. His very cute mother and sister are split on whether or not America's Player was a good thing for Dan. His sister is just flattered America thinks Dan is as peachy keen as she does, but their mother sees the reality of what this might do to Dan's game for what it is, and she's worried.

This week's houseguest Q&A asks the burning question: is Michelle still as steaming angry about her unitard as she was a few days ago? Michelle says she still hates her unitard, but knows she looks awesome in it and so is OK with it now. Heh. Vanity conquers anger every time! Keesha then gets grilled about her pathetic birthday, and she promises she still hasn't forgiven or forgotten anything that happened that day.  Foreshadowing for the upcoming vote, perhaps? Libra clears up any controversy about her taking a Hawaiian vacation over a letter from home in this week's POV competition with the succinct: "Because my husband would've killed me if I didn't!" Fair enough. She can get all the letters from home she wants when she's relaxing in the surf and sand of Hawaii, that's for sure. April (in the private HoH interview) is grilled about her relationship with Ollie, and is sure all of America wants to know what's going on. Oh, honey. We've seen the videos on YouTube. We all know what's going on.

At eviction time Jessie gives a very short speech, wishing his father a happy birthday and saying his fellow houseguests should vote for whoever they would like. Memphis gives a very Angie-like speech, saying they should vote for "themselves," a.k.a. the person who will help them get further in the game. When the votes come down, it turns out all of the bluster this week wasn't just misdirection - America's Player really is the deciding vote this week, as Keesha, Libra and Renny vote to evict Jessie while Jerry, Ollie and Michelle vote to evict Memphis. Therefore Dan just has to look at the camera in uncomfortable horror as America casts the deciding vote to get Jessie out of the house. Jessie leaves the house with a "it's your word, man, it's your word" to Dan. Dan, I think it's time to stop throwing competitions and win yourself an HoH.

Julie greets Jessie outside the house with the observation that he looks shocked, which he swears isn't true but the waver in his voice belies his true feelings. He blames Dan's untruthfulness on the fact that he's a Catholic but doesn't go to church every week, which is an interesting tactic. Jessie also affirms that he doesn't regret anything in the house, which maybe he should considering his actions lead directly to his eviction, but whatever. What do I know? Hilariously, Julie tries to play a word association game with Jessie about his fellow houseguests but seeing that Jessie is not so good with the words it doesn't go very well, with him using entire phrases instead of words for each houseguest and calling Libra "very deviant." I do not think that word means what he thinks it means. This is the second time he's called Libra deviant (instead of devious). The messages from his houseguests are as split as the votes, with the people on his side calling the other side liars and the people against him just saying how happy they are to see him go. I, unfortunately, am not happy to see him go. No one in this house brings on the drama like Jessie, that's for sure. 

Instead of going right to the HoH competition this week, Julie instead brings us a special treat: houseguest torture! As in previous seasons, America was invited to record annoying messages for the houseguests, which Big Brother played all night long last night. Hee! Houseguest torture is my favorite. Michelle and Jerry seem especially annoyed by the interruptions, with Jerry shouting an emphatic "Screw you!" to the recordings. Heh.

The HoH competition this week is called "Rude Awakening," and of course it directly relates to the aforementioned torture. Here's how it works: Julie will ask the houseguests a series of true or false questions based on the wake-up calls, and the last one standing will be the new HoH. Simple enough (for once). Everyone gets the first question right but start dropping like flies starting with question number two, which eliminates Renny and Ollie. The next question takes out everyone else except Libra and Michelle, which seeing as they are on opposite sides of the house is sort of perfect. Michelle and Libra split the next answer, with Michelle getting it right and winning the HoH competition. She immediately starts celebrating and saying her win is for Jessie, while the cameras focus solely on Dan, who is clearly resigned to his fate. Michelle's win begs an interesting question: is she now in an alliance with April, Jerry and Ollie, with Memphis, Keesha, Libra and Dan on the other side? Or will Michelle and Memphis stick together and bring a few other people in to get out April or Dan? No matter what happens, it should be an interesting week in the house. 

But wait, it's not over! After the commercial break, Julie has an interesting announcement for us. In celebration of Big Brother's 10th season, one of the houseguests from each season will be returning on Sunday to take part in a special competition. My little eyes spied Chicken George from BB1 (yawn), Bunky from BB2 (boo - where's Dr. Will?), Amy from BB3 (yay!), Jun from BB4 (yawn), Jace from BB5 (eh), Janelle from BB6 (eh), Mike Boogie from All-Stars (boo!), Jen from BB8 (yay!), Matt from BB9 (boo!) and Brian from BB10 (yay!). Who are you most excited to see? For me it's a wash. Dr. Will or bust!   

Favorite quotes:

• "I know I'm not going anywhere. Sweet beans!" - Jessie, counting his chickens
• "If I vote for your ass and you put me out next week, I'm going to kill you." - Libra to Memphis, obviously going for the always successful "gain loyalty by fear" tactic
• "It's another mechanism of friggin' mental torture!" - Michelle, about America's messages
• "This is for Jessie!" - Michelle, on her HoH win

Read all of the latest BB scoop on our Big Brother 10 Guide.

You can also discuss this episode on Zap2it's Big Brother 10 Forum.

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