The infamous words of Ron Burgundy “Boy, that escalated quickly” could be used to explain week 1 in the Big Brother 19 house. For those of you waiting months for Big Brother to come back – it’s here – and we are already in mid-season form. Hopefully the drama can continue – and from what we have seen so far from this batch of Houseguests – it will.
At the time I am writing this – we still do not know for sure who is going home on Thursday night, and I love that. We have had so much safe gameplay the last few seasons (partially because of the twists) so it’s refreshing knowing that Thursday night’s episode should be a “shocker.”
BUT FIRST – let’s take a look back at the wild and crazy week – and see who earned themselves bacon for playing well, and who earned tofu for being, no so good!
Production – 5 strips of perfectly cooked, thick bacon! With the exception of Paul coming back (more on this later) – I love everything so far about this season, The house decoration, the twist(s), and especially the cast have all delivered entertainment above and beyond any of my pre-season expectations. Sure the “Den of Temptation” is just a weekly Pandoras Box, but the rewards / punishments are just what we want. They are complex and will blow up anyone’s game at any time. This is going to force this crop of houseguests to play like no cast has ever done before.
Alex Ow – 5 strips of Bacon – for the regular readers of my column, you know there is nothing better in the BB house than winning Veto when you are on the block. You ensure your safety – and are able to play in the following week’s HoH to give you the chance to get even. Alex also took the whole Megan situation in stride and never lost her cool. When the dust settled Alex emerged as a force to be reckoned with this season.
Kevin Schlehuber – 4 strips of Bacon – what’s there not to love about Kevin so far? His seemingly lack of BB knowledge may have been frustrating to superfans before the show started – but he has been “feeds gold” so far. The comic relief in a very tense house this week – he is putting himself in a great position to be dragged far into the game. At some point people may start to realize that they might not be able to win against him as he is so well liked, but that time is not now. He will continue to be a non-threat and watch all the threats go out before him.
Cody Nickson – 3 strips of Bacon – Cody’s reign of Head of Household has been legendary in BB history already. I cannot remember anyone having to nominate half the house the first week – and in doing so he has seemingly pissed off everyone in the house at some point. He is the biggest target moving forward (along with his showmance Jessica) but he also has the ability to win challenges & people may keep him around as “the bigger threat” to help further their game the next few weeks. He is obviously not scared of making big moves.
Christmas Abbott – 2 strips of Bacon – she went from at risk night one, to middle of the majority alliance, to the block, to the hospital, and now back in the house fighting for her life. WHAT A WEEK huh? Christmas is campaigning more than her block-mate, but may be over campaigning a little and actually giving people reasons to vote her out. Since its still too early to call, I am just guessing she will stay – but the smart move is to get rid of her.
Dominique Cooper – 2 strips of Bacon – Dom started off great getting in the middle of conversations – but not taking them over. She was making her rounds very well, and everyone seemed to trust her. But the last couple of days, Dominique has started to ruffle some feathers and her motives are starting to be exposed. She still does have some loyal people on her side, but it’s a slipper slope and the next HoH reign could expose her even more.
Ramses Soto – 1 strip of Bacon – Ramses name is being thrown around a little bit so far, but not sure if that is just a ploy by Paul to take the target off himself, or if he really is in danger. We do know that he has the curse of having to nominate himself in the next 2 weeks which sucks, but instead of moping about it, he seems to be taking it in stride (that’s what happens when a superfan is in the house and knows to “expect the unexpected”). Unfortunately we have not seen enough DR sessions from him & no real camera talking to know what exactly is going through his head. With Cameron gone, he’s the biggest superfan left in the house.
Josh Martinez – 1 strip of Bacon – it takes some balls to go for individual safety in the first team challenge of the season, and whether or not Josh’s early paranoia was warranted or not, we will never really know. But it actually turned into a great move as Cody had to nominate 65 people this week, but Josh was not one of them. He is looking to be one of the swing votes this week and despite his camera talking that he is 100% on board with Christmas & Paul, he is such a wild-card that we cannot be so sure.
Paul Abrahamian – 1/2 strip of Bacon – going on the record (again) – that I do not like when they mix the casts. I want to see all newbies, or all vets. Not a mix. Even if it is just 1 returnee. Paul coming back in was not really his fault, Kevin’s greed is the reason… and Paul’s 3 weeks of safety was also not really his fault, because OF COURSE the fans would vote to give him safety.
Paul has for sure learned a thing or two since the last time he walked into the BB house to play. This is not his first rodeo ya know. He started off stirring the pot a little and now that his safety is exposed, he’s playing even harder. He says he has some master plan that will be exposed if he wins HoH. I’m sure he has something big up his sleeve, but he is really getting annoying. I am hoping that the house gets rid of him sooner rather than later.
Mark Jansen – 1 strip of Tofu – this hurts to give one of my preseason picks tofu after week one, and honestly – Mark probably deserves more tofu this week. His showmance with Elena seems to have cooled off which could have helped him moving forward, but he is still siding with Jessica & Cody, which could potentially hurt him as allies of targets sometimes are the victims. Mark really needs to keep his emotions out of the game, and play more strategic. My hopes is he can turn that around soon.
Elena Davies – 1 strip of Tofu – we knew from her preseason interviews – Elena was probably going to be a loud one – and she sure has held true on this prediction. Even when she was making out with Mark, it was LOUD! Gamewise – she was driving the “Jody” bandwagon as their biggest fan, now she seems to want to do whatever will hurt their game the most. She is not your typical floater – but if this is any indication of her loyalty & allegiance moving forward, she too could be a major wild-card moving forward.
Raven Walton & Matthew Clines – 2 strips of Tofu each – honestly, of the 3 early showmances, this one I did not see coming, and even now still not sure if there is any substance there. It’s kinda like when 2 of your friends start hooking up because they are the only single ones in your group. 40+ words into this recap, and no talk about their game… they are just sheep at the moment and seem to be going along with the Paul/Christmas gang – but who really knows.
Jason Dent – 3 strips of Tofu – oh man, cmon Whistlenut – I know you wanted to get rid of the competition any way you could – but causing physical injury to someone that was supporting you is not the way to go. Jason fit right into the floater role that we all thought he would, and almost became Cody’s 93rd nominee of the week. He is going to be pivotal as his vote could be the difference maker this week – but he is not aware of how important he is. Some of the others do realize this and are campaigning hard to him. Another one that we have no clue what he will actually do on Thursday night.
Jillian Parker – 4 strips of Tofu – The Big Brother house is stressful enough when you are not on the block. Approx 75% of Jillian’s time in the house she has been on the block – and honestly – not for any good reason. All of this seems very overwhelming to her and we have not really heard too much strategizing, campaigning, hell, anything really coming out of her this whole week. It’s a shame that if she stays – then pretty much she will just be the pawn all season until someone’s back door plan goes wrong, and she is sent packing. It’s a bigger shame that it may happen this week.
Jessica Graf – 5 strips of Tofu – now, if Jessica was a recruit, I may understand her behavior a little better. She cozied up with the first HoH which, eh, ok – not a horrible move to keep yourself safe. But when Cody went off the reservation and his behavior / actions became erratic – she threw caution to the wind and decided to go along with it. Now Jessica is public enemy #2 behind Cody, and to some, may even be higher on their hit-list. She will be fighting for her life the rest of the season. Cody better be worth it.
That brings us to our first Tofurkey of the Week – and it goes to Megan Lowder. I mean, there are obvious reasons for this dubious distinction, but even more than her decision to self-evict – was the path she was leading herself down in the game. After the first couple of days of getting into arguments with her new HGs – from what we saw, she did not really try to make amends and give the house a different perspective of herself. If she did – it just didn’t work.
As far as her walking away – TRUST ME when I say – unless you lived in that house, you have NO idea how hard it is psychologically. Yeah yeah yeah, we laugh at people crying on the show all the time. It really is a mind bending experience so while I do not agree with her decision to walk out, I surely understand. As a self proclaimed superfan of the show – she should have known what to expect a little more. Hopefully whatever demons she had to face, as well as all the new ones this decision will bring up – she can look back and take solace in the fact that she was one of 16 people picked in the country to be on this show this season.
My question of the week for you all is – what Houseguest has surprised you the most (in a good or bad way) for how different you thought they would be in the preseason to how they are actually are inside the house?
OK – there we go – another week in the books. The fireworks that went off this holiday week have been spectacular – and BB19 has gotten our summer off to such a wonderful start. I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating this long weekend with their family & friends – and kept up with the happenings inside the BB House along the way.
Let me know what you think of my rankings this week – as well as answer my Question of the Week in the comments section below.
From outside the Big Brother House – I’m Adam Poch – have a great day!!
Follow Adam Poch on Twitter: twitter.com/heavymetalteddy.
If you are in the NY area – Sunday July 30th – please come out and join me as I am the head judge of the New York Best Wings Festival – more info & tickets can be found here: www.nybestwingsfestival.com