They had sex last night!!

Okay, now that I’ve got that out of my system, it’s on to Day 9: The Morning After.

Bright and early, that is considering their romp in the HOH room and the following head-holding nausea and regret in the bathroom, David tells Amanda that the cameras were “following (him) around like crazy” when he went to the bathroom. Sarcastically he adds, “They’re probably like, oh, the big, tough Ranger got sick last night and puked all over the place. What a tough guy.” Amanda gently answers, “I told you, you were nervous.” David only offers tired laughter in reply before he begins to talk about how last night was “the most incredible and bizarre and crazy night” of his life. Well, you ~did~ have sex not only for the entire internet to see (John_DK’s video has already had over 15,000 hits here at Joker’s alone), but for BB to use as footage for their television show (you do remember that pesky little show called Big Brother, don’t you?) that reaches over eight million homes on a good day. Bizarre and crazy, insane or loony—take your pick.

As the morning fritters away with Dana washing dishes in the kitchen and Jun complaining as usual (she wants to get to the eggs in the storage room), Amanda, Dave, Erika and Jack discuss last night’s events in the Sand Room. Though the couple don’t admit to having full-out sex, it is obvious to Erika and Jack that the two care about each other and were intimate on some level. Dave tells them about vomiting, however, and how worried he is that BB will show that part on TV (because, you know, ~that~ is the part he needs to be concerned about); Jack assures him that BB will most likely portray their interlude in a “romantic” light. After yelling a few times that he feels “like *****,” Dave’s words of wisdom are summed up with this simple sentence: “Oh well, you can’t cry over spilled milk —but you sure can be embarrassed by it.”

Dave also remarks that it is cool that he now has a new “most embarrassing moment.” I rather think myself that the funniest part of the whole thing is that he ended up locking them out of the HOH room (and thus BB had to go in themselves and clean up after them), but Dave’s embarrassment might be more easily understood as we hear him say, “I could have done a whole lot more if I didn’t get sick.” Maybe it’s a performance issue. We did, after all, see a lot of fumbling. When Amanda wonders if BB actually knew what was going on, Dave laughs, “Oh YEAH they know,” and when she further ponders over whether or not what happened will be shown on the television show, he says, “No way, it’s Primetime!” Er, I hate to break it to you, Dave, but only one of your answers there is right. And it’s not the one you’d hope it to be.

In the kitchen, Jack has fixed himself a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich (*puke*) for breakfast (even though it is after noon by now) and Erika sarcastically jokes to him that David would sure enjoy one of those at that moment—clearly, in this feed-freak’s opinion, referring to the fact that he is still sick from last night and not anything more (if the fact that they had sex was insinuated, it was never directly spoken to either Erika or Jack). When the two of them laugh at her joke, Alison and Dana look more than a bit confused. Erika then tells the group that they are locked out of the HOH so BB can prepare it for the new HOH who will be crowned later that day. Not once does she mention that Amanda and Dave initially locked themselves out of it on their own.

The afternoon before the live show is full of much primping and chatting. Jun gives Dana a manicure while Alison and Amanda sit by; their topic of conversation is how Amanda and Dave “fooled around” last night (by this, as is obvious from their conversation, they only mean that they believe the two petted and kissed and so forth; Amanda even lies and says they only got to “second base”). When Amanda again wonders if BB will show any of it on TV, Alison replies they probably only will if David messes around with any other woman in the house after Amanda is gone. Nice, Alison. The women then press Amanda for more details such as how well-endowed David is. Amanda mostly just blushes and quietly plays with her food.

Over in another part of the house, while Erika peers into a mirror and plucks her eyebrows, she and David discuss, what else, the night before. In reply to David commenting, “I am not gonna say anything,” she asserts, “I think Scotty’s coming after you.” David doesn’t seem too concerned, however. He then remarks that he needs to get his pants which were drying outside. To her puzzled look, he tells her that it was because of the vomiting (which was “all red;” thanks for the visual, Dave).

As the minutes tick by into hours, the lock-downed (HOH competition is being set up outside) HGs notice that they are being called in sequence to the DR. When it is Erika’s turn, she tells BB, “But I was having so much fun plucking my eyebrows and talking to David about puke.” She leaves and we overhear David say to Jack, “What do you think of my strategy? Mess around with a girl that is going to leave?” Okay, okay, so this could be bastard behavior if taken literally, but I personally think that it was a joke making fun of himself—that he’s completely forgotten the game and gotten involved with someone who is leaving imminently. Not so smart of him, and thus the joke.

Close to 2:00pm, lockdown is ended. In the green and orange room, Michelle and Nathan chat as she changes into a bikini top under her shirt and he folds clothes. The room is fairly messy and Nathan comments that she is “taking it over.” We then learn when someone calls her out to workout that she needs to wear her pajamas because she hasn’t bothered to do any of her laundry yet—it instead sits in a growing pile on the floor. In the kitchen various HGs are making breakfast, while outside Jee, Justin, Nathan and Robert discuss Dana who “trips” over everything (not in the clumsy sense, but in the freak out sense). It’s more than just the game, they say. As for Amanda and David, well, they are talking about what you think they must be talking about. This time, it’s their families’ reactions in particular that concern them. Some of them will be embarrassed, some will “love it” (David’s uncle, he says).

A bit later as the HGs are lolling about or preparing for the live show, Jack asks David if he is taking a shower just then and David responds, “No, I’m just picking my nose right now. That’s all I’m doing.” And he picks his nose. Lovely.

And then there is FOTH. The practice for the live show is occurring, and though we see three people walk to the front door during this hour, nothing much interesting happens. This FOTH simply runs into the usual FOTH for the live show and we don’t get our feeds back until 7:00pm the HGs’ time. If you were watching and hadn’t seen the show, you’d have known immediately the results upon seeing Jee unpacking his bags and toting the coveted HOH key around his neck. Post-eviction chatter ensues.

Here are some tidbits: Dana tells Jee that he can “do some serious *****-talking now,” but Jee says he is not much of a “*****-talker.” They notice that Amanda has left her hat behind for them and Alison says she will wear it. A few HGs compliment Michelle on how well she did in the competition. Robert whispers to Alison that it will be Erika and Jack, “straight up,” and that there is no better person to do it (I really don’t understand how this guy feels safe enough to come off as SO incredibly cocky all of the time?). Of course, a little bit later he tells Dana that Alison versus Nathan might be a good strategy, too. Erika asks Jack which question he missed, and he replies, “The toothbrush one, gawdammit.” He had figured that while Jun would come up with it, Dana would actually do it. Ha! David tells the others that BB made him re-tape his farewell to Amanda that morning (I knew it, I knew it!). Jun is sweating and looking none too happy (for obvious reasons; maybe she should have tried to be a little nicer to Jee?). Dana says she only lost the competition because she picked up the wrong paddle. Uh-huh.

Other chatter: More speculation about Amanda and David’s night together; David says, “Wait until you guys get out of here and see it,” which is greeted with stunned silence until he cracks, “Just joking!” If only they knew. Then when talk veers to Alison and her boyfriend, they assure her (not knowing about her and Nathan’s own tryst) that he still loves her and is sticking by her. Ooookay; strange then that later they tell her she shouldn’t go back to him because the relationship in unhealthy. Jee lets the others know that the HOH room door is always open to them, but he would appreciate that they knock first. He’s also looking forward to sleeping on his back as he’s been sleeping so far on his front to keep from snoring (what a considerate guy!). When Jun asks him if she has to be nice to him now, he tells her no, that she should just be herself. Whether or not that means she is safe or not, time will tell (do it, Jee!! Do it, do it, do it!). Jun doesn’t have faith, however, for she is seen not more than fifteen minutes later crying in her bed. Awww, poor, nasty Jun can’t “use” Jee the way she wants anymore and may have to ingratiate herself to him. We can only hope that after a few days of watching her grovel, she ~doesn’t~ pull her key out of the box.

New strategy talks begin tonight with pretty much not a single person left out. The elite-8 think that they will undoubtedly be targets, and when they reason that Jee won’t go after Jun after all, they wonder if they could convince him to nominate Dana and a decoy. Dana is getting on everyone’s last nerves, not only for her general behavior, but because of how quickly she was seen to suck up to Jee. Jee, however, has other ideas and tells Dana she is safe, as well as Justin, Nathan and Robert. He will nominate Erika and a decoy, most likely Michelle. If the POV is used, then he will put Jack in the vetoed person’s place. Erika and Jack ~must~ go, he says. Michelle, meanwhile, is chatting with Alison and both agree that they think they are “safe for another week.” To ensure it, they will remain on their best flirty behavior. Dave comes in then wearing Amanda’s hat and tells them that he won’t miss Amanda too much because he will see her soon enough. When Michelle asks him what he means by this and he tells her that he knows he is a “marked man” in the house, she firmly tells him that he is mistaken.

Erika and Jack are at this time having a private powwow, and they seem to understand that she will be put up. Even though, they think they have a good chance of beating it because she isn’t seen as a “real threat” by anyone in the house yet. When Erika wonders if David will be evicted if nominated beside her, Jack is silent; and though Jee isn’t marking David right now, Justin is doing his best to have him put up instead of Michelle—so who knows what will happen? Alison in the meantime is telling Jee that she will vote however he wants and that Jee need not worry at all about Nathan, who is only “smoothing things over” with Jack and not seriously allied with him.

But don’t think that because Jee told Dana she is safe that he and Justin and Robert actually trust her. As they strategize late in the evening, they discuss what a player she is and how untrustworthy she can be and decide that once they get rid of the “dark side,” they will then dump her. The three of them then solidify their alliance and promise to not ever nominate each other when HOH. Dana then comes in and resumes sucking up (“I love Nathan, but he’s a *****.” I realize that word will be fothed, but just think meow…). She says goodnight and then leaves…and then comes back. She says goodnight and then leaves…and then comes back. She says goodnight and then leaves… I am not the one being repetitive here, folks, it’s Dana. I suppose she is too scared to leave the three guys alone in the HOH room, but all she is doing, as they remark later, is showing her “true colors.”

And on and on the scheming goes. Dave proposes a plan to his alliance members that they approach Jee and threaten him with nomination and eviction as soon as one of them gets HOH if he doesn’t nominate the one of them they want (Dana—he suggests putting her up against Erika with the “ruse” that Erika will go, but in fact everyone will vote for Dana; the plan is not so crazy as it seems because Jee won’t be able to participate in the next HOH and the odds will be that one of them—the rest of the elite 8—will win it). Alison is popping back and forth between the groups, and it appears that she ~is~ working for the original alliance because she blabs much less around Jee, Justin and Robert than she does around the others. While the three of them are cautious about her, Justin professes to know when she is lying; thus, as far as he knows, he thinks that she truly is “playing Nathan.” In any case, they all consider trying to lure Nathan, who is a strong player, over to their side. They are pretty sure, too, that through threat they can win over David and Jack (a lot of talk about the men, eh? The women are only good enough to pick off, I suppose).

As for Jun, stupid Jee says he respects her for not sucking up the way Dana is. I guess I begrudgingly have to agree, but I so wanted to see Jee make her eat crow. Who knows, there may be chance yet.

And that is Day 9. Once again, the HOH and his close allies seem to think that because they have control for one week, that they can bully people into doing their bidding forever. It should be interesting this year to see the dynamics change as their numbers thin. No other year have we seen this much strategizing, and while it sometimes proves more than a little tiresome and/or irksome, it sure beats watching the at times horrendously boring BB1 or the crude-to-extreme cast of BB2.