Thursday July 14th 2011
R.DiMatteo

Paranoia Sets In...

Leaving off with nominations is where last nights episode of Big Brother picked up. Porsche was upset with the nominations and clearly emotional. Rachel, Brendon and Danielle were confused by Porsche’s emotions about being put up. They are concerned about her emotional state and her being a “loose cannon”. Clearly they forget about the nerves of being the pawn. The Veterans should know better than anyone about how it feels to be 1.nominated first and 2.be used as a pawn. The Regulators alliance seems confident that Porsche will be the one walking out the door on eviction night. Keith is starting to get paranoid. Most live feeders will agree that this paranoia is getting progressively worse. Both sides of the house at this point were feeling pretty confident...

Dick’s Disappearing Act
After hours of Dick being brought into the Diary Room (DR) the house guests start to question...Where is Dick? Clearly it got too quiet in the house that they started to be concerned. As Danielle said last night, “My dad goes into the diary room, which is nothing out of the usual. But, its been awhile and I know my dad likes to talk but i know something is not right” (Danielle Donato, BB13, Ep.3, CBS). Moments later Rachel was called into the DR and sent out with a statement. The news of Dick’s departure shook the house. Danielle was clearly upset, having now lost a partner who just happens to be her father, with little to no explanation. She knows how much Dick loves the game of Big Brother and for him to leave she realizes the severity of the situation. Danielle Donato may also be the only player to be unhappy about receiving a golden key. Anyone who watched Dani in Big Brother 8 knows that the last thing she wants to do is just sit by and watch other people compete. Danielle is not a floater she is a fighter. Up in the HOH room the veterans start to panic as they realize they are down not just by one but by two since Danielle cannot compete for their alliance. Brenchel, Jordan and Dani start feeling defeated...but then to the rescue Coach Jeff comes in and gives the team a pep talk...its not too late...we can win every competition...its like Rocky...its not over! GET OFF THE NEGATIVE TRAIN!!!!!

Keith’s celebrating to the cameras and his plan to “make a move on Dani” is disheartening to some of the other house guests. He comes up with a plan to “expose” Porsche and Kalia for siding with the veterans. Which is really a non-issue because Porsche cannot vote anyway. In a meeting with the newbies it becomes evident to all of them that Keith’s paranoia is getting out of hand. People from his own alliance are looking at him like he is crazy. Dominic and Lawon are even doubting him. Dominic lays out the numbers as 8 vs. 4...but for this weeks voting its is actually only 6 vs. 4...and with Keith’s paranoia some of the newbies are bound to flip over to the veterans. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to play with these all stars?

In the Power of Veto competition the veterans have stacked odds. Having pulled Jeff and Jordan’s name from the POV bag the veterans have Jeff and Jordan, Rachel and Brendon vs. Porsche and Keith. BUT...that doesn’t seem to matter because both Porsche and Keith have plans to throw the POV competition. Neither of them think that the other one is planning to throw the POV which makes for a funny challenge. Out to the backyard they go dressed in super hero costumes! The backyard is set up like an alley way with dumpsters. The object of the game is that one player will retrieve a puzzle piece while the other will be flown up to a wall to assemble a vertical brick puzzle that will spell out VETO. The puzzle assemblers were Porsche, Jordan (bad idea) and Rachel. With Keith (Captain Veto Thrower) and Porsche who were both throwing the competition and Jeff and Jordan (Batman and Robin), who were struggling...the only team actually making progress was Rachel and Pumpkin Head. Jordan was hilarious as usual, she didn’t want to do the puzzle because the person throwing the game was doing better then she was. Flying to victory, Brendon and Rachel won the POV. The veto recap with Porsche and Keith was funny, neither of them are good actors, each pretending that the veto was difficult when both were throwing the game so horribly.

After the POV, Rachel contemplated changing the nominations in order to make deals with some newbies. Since the veterans were down in numbers she was planning to make some deals to ensure the safety of not just Brendon and herself, but also the safety of Jeff and Jordan. Rachel called all the teams into HOH one by one to make deals, the newbies just kept nodding and smiling. In the POV ceremony Rachel felt confident and decided to keep her original nominations. Tonight will be the first live eviction of the season. Who will be the first person evicted from the Big Brother house and where will the power shift?

One thought I would like to leave you with...
The most insightful aspect of the episodes of Big Brother are the Diary Room sessions. The episodes themselves often do not share full disclosure and although the live feeds may show everything that is going on in the house 90% of the time, it is in the Diary Room sessions where we have the only opportunity to see the true opinions of the house guests. Having live feeds gives you the most exposure to the house, but even live feeders are sometimes confused with how the house guests will vote. In the DR there is no reason to lie because the other house guests cannot hear what you are saying. Often times the most emotional and honest moments of the game happen in the DR.