'Big Brother 10': Renegades rule the roost

Big Brother 10 fans, I have a confession to make. I love the Renegades. I know, that's sort of like saying you love Tom Brady (pre-injury) or the Yankees (pre-downward spiral). What can I say, it's hard to argue with success. And no, I am not nor never was a Yankees fan. Tom Brady, on the other hand...well, ladies, you understand.

Before we get to the show, a quick recap: the Renegade alliance of Dan and Memphis cooked up a plan to nominate Jerry and Memphis to keep their alliance a secret, and somehow it worked; Dan took Michelle on a luxury trip and used the opportunity to try to sway Michelle's vote; Memphis won POV, took himself off the block and voted Keesha out; Keesha freaked when she learned of the plan to evict her and Dan blamed Memphis, smooth talking his way into her jury vote; the first part of the final HoH competition began.

Julie greets us in a dark brown outfit set off with an oddly placed light brown skinny belt. My style-challenged Julie is back! When we last left our three remaining houseguests, they were precariously perched on the wings of WWII-style planes. As if we need a reminder of Jerry's age. Dan and Memphis never let their guard down for a second, using their time next to Jerry to continue to keep their alliance a secret by Dan continuing to act like he had no idea Memphis would evict Keesha. They are playing it well, but I'm pretty sure they're getting a big assist from Jerry's very cause and effect-like brain. Memphis reminds us in the diary room that he only voted Keesha off because he thought they had a better shot beating Jerry in the final HoH competition. Dan then reminds us that he revealed his trip with Michelle as Keesha was walking out the door and is now relying on her to sway Michelle's vote in the jury house.

Back on the planes, Memphis tries to talk to Dan to pass the time but Dan just keeps selling the idea he's been betrayed by Memphis, which only makes Jerry more comfortable. Not long after, Jerry falls from his plane and the Renegades share a small, secret smile of defeat. This alliance is so much fun. To his credit, Jerry stays outside with them the whole time, forcing them to keep up the charade and actually play the game for real instead of just throwing it one way or the other right away. Eventually, Memphis takes a believable fall and Dan wins the first part of the competition, automatically advancing to the final round. After the competition, Jerry thanks Memphis for keeping him in the house and even says he's "really enjoying" Memphis in the diary room. I wonder if he'll call Memphis Judas when the inevitable betrayal takes place? Also, why is Jerry so obsessed with betrayal when he signed up to play a game that hinges on the concept? It never ceases to amaze me. Memphis and Dan celebrate mildly, but know they need Memphis to win the second round in order for their reign to continue.

The second part of the HoH competition is boxing themed, and I'm sure Memphis and Jerry are psyched about punching some of their former houseguests in the head. I know I would be. The goal of the game is to remember who was HoH and nominated for eviction in each successive week in the house, starting from the beginning. To make your choice you must "punch out" the houseguests who weren't involved, leaving the correct three standing. Memphis moves quickly but seems to get a few wrong and Jerry moves slowly but still seems to get several wrong. In the end, Memphis completed the competition in 8:35 and Jerry took a whopping 51:22. Wow. Give the editors some credit there because it didn't look quite that lopsided on the show. Still keeping up their charade, Dan and Memphis celebrate quietly in the spa room while Jerry takes his pants off and burps alone in the bedroom. Although there is no way those two things actually happened at the same time...ha. Good job, editors.

Julie brings us back for houseguest Q&A and immediately starts making fun of Jerry for doing so poorly at the HoH competition. Jerry makes a "funny" crack about falling in the pool and how it made him mess up. Hilarious! Memphis then talks about how it was very hard to evict Keesha, but he needed to do it to further himself in the game and Dan says something about sniffing money. Smells like fecal matter! Well, according to those fear-mongering news magazine shows it does, at least.

Now it's time for the jury house! Will Keesha use her powers of persuasion to get the entire house to vote for Dan? While playing cards with her fellow jury members, Michelle salivates at the chance to tell the newly evicted that she got an awesome trip and they didn't, because Michelle is totally That Girl. The jury members then talk about wanting Jerry to win the game, which is disheartening. When Keesha arrives, she reveals Memphis' betrayal and Michelle jumps in to try to tell her about her trip, but Keesha awesomely blurts that she already knew. Hee. Keesha and Michelle both know Dan was working on them for a vote, but how will that affect their ideas of what to do in the end? If I had a guess, I'd say Michelle will vote for Memphis (because she's an emotional player and will never get over Dan's betrayal) and Keesha will vote for Dan (because she's an emotional player that will never get over Memphis' betrayal, and also respects Dan's gameplay). I guess we'll find out on Tuesday!

Now it's time for the live conclusion of the HoH competition, and it's the usual "how well you know your houseguests" trivia quiz, with Memphis and Dan having to guess how a jury member will complete a sentence. For every correct answer, they get a point and the houseguest with the most points after six questions wins. Things are neck and neck until the very end, when Dan gets two right in a row and wins. At this point, all I'm wondering is if Jerry knows what's about to happen to him. Does he think he's sitting pretty no matter what? From Jerry's tame final speech, it's hard to tell. Memphis tries to keep their alliance under wraps in his, but pulls out a sly Renegades mention to let us know what's really going on. As predicted, Dan evicts Jerry while still giving him props for playing a good game. After Jerry walks out of the house, Dan and Memphis cutely celebrate by jumping up and down and into each other's arms. Aw, those boys. I can't help it, I love them. Jerry proves he's perhaps not as dumb as I think he is by suggesting in his interview with Julie that this was their plan all along. Jerry thinks Dan made a big mistake because he believes himself to be the deciding vote. What he doesn't say is that there's no way he's voting for Dan, but it's not that hard to read it in his eyes. In the end, Jerry manages to melt my heart a bit when he talks about BB as his "last hurrah" and says that as long has he's going home to his family he has a pretty great life. Jerry, why couldn't you have been that pleasant on the feeds? I might have actually liked you.

Julie comes back for the final segment to tell us that America's Vote is still in effect this year, and we'll get to decide which jury member will get a $25,000 prize. I think they should just make out the check to Jerry right now, don't you? We end the hour watching Dan and Memphis smile and marvel at how they made it this far. See you on Tuesday, boys.

Favorite quotes:

• "I'm just glad it wasn't me that had to do the stabbing this time." - Dan, on Memphis evicting Keesha
• "When Dan walked out with that boxing glove, I was hoping it wouldn't be that I had to box Memphis because I didn't want to die at this age." - Jerry, making me wonder if his dream was to die at a young age instead

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

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