Big Brother 11, August 6 Live Feeds, Part 2: The Rise of Chima

When last we left the Big Brother 11 houseguests, it was about 8:50 pm on Thursday and I decided to split up the live feed recap – Ronnie was gone and Chima was just beginning her HOH reign. If you haven’t yet caught up on the live feeds to that point, I suggest you do so now. I’ll wait.

OK, are you ready to go? Great!

We begin with Jeff, Jordan, Michele, and Natalie talking about the mystery power. Despite Jeff’s earlier hints, Jordan still doesn’t realize that Jeff has the power. Lydia (who isn’t in this discussion) has it pretty well figured out, but Natalie is sure it’s Kevin. Anyway, Jordan says it’s driving her crazy to not know, and Jeff agrees, but says what are you going to do? Even though Natalie previously indicated that she doesn’t think Jeff or Jordan have the power, she emphasizes to them that if they do have it, they shouldn’t use it this week to change Chima’s upcoming nominations, or it will make them a target. Jeff notes that he and Jordan are still on the bottom of the list in Natalie’s alliance’s eyes, but she points out that Chima has already said they won’t be nominated this week.

Jeff recounts how he was all alone in the early goings. He was sitting by himself at one point and Jordan came to talk to him. He told her to leave him alone because being seen with him could hurt her game. She said no, she just wanted to talk to him. He will not forget that and will do anything for her. He fails to add, but is probably thinking, “And she’s a good kisser!”

In other news, Natalie earlier dyed half of her hair black. She was then called to the diary room and yelled at, and I speculated it was because of the hair coloring. Yep, that was it – so now she has to wash it out.

Switching back, Jordan says Natalie she and Jessie make a cute couple and Jordan believes Natalie likes her. Natalie tries to dodge the subject, saying she was stuck with Jessie because they were in the same clique (yeah, but so were Ronnie and Michele!) and Natalie has a boyfriend back home. She’s in love with him and she hasn’t crossed any lines with Jessie, so he shouldn’t be mad at her.

Chima’s HOH room is ready! She got a lot of pictures and at least one of them is embarrassing (as Chima feared it would be). She apparently got some Marines-style clothing or pajamas from her dad, the ex-Marine. Her mom, who was sick, is feeling better. Kevin points out that she is the first female HOH this season! I hadn’t even realized it, but he’s right.

Chima says the women in her family are very outspoken and there are always loud debates going on in the house. Yeah, well, that might work in real life but not so much in Big Brother.

Folks filter out of the room. Jeff and Jordan talk and believe Julie Chen will ask them next week about their kissing (they were ready for it this week, but it wasn’t brought up). Jeff believes Chima will nominate Lydia and Russell, with Michele going up if the Veto is used.

Back in the HOH room, Chima tells Russell that the alliance doesn’t know where he stands because he sent Ronnie packing. Russell says that was due to a personal beef and he’s still with them, but Jessie and Chima point out that his personal issue hurt the alliance’s numbers. I have to say that they’re correct.

Jessie and Chima have now come to Natalie’s way of thinking – that Kevin has the power of the Coup D’etat. They also don’t believe the special power includes the ability to change both nominees. It’s like they’re having a contest on how wrong they can be.

Back to Chima’s feelings on Russell, she says she’s having a hard time trusting him. He says he has apologized time and time again – even to Julie when she interviewed him on the live show. But Chima repeats that they don’t know where he stands.

In other news, Kevin has some sort of skin rash. He thinks he is having an allergic reaction, but others suggest measles or chicken pox. Jessie apparently believes that measles is the same thing as chicken pox, except that’s what it’s called when you’re an adult. Thank you, Dr. Jessie.

In the kitchen, Jessie and Chima are talking to Kevin. Well, more like talking at Kevin. Jessie is grilling him, saying they know how he voted. Duh. Kevin is similarly incredulous since he says it was never a secret that he would vote to keep his friend, Lydia. But Jessie says Kevin was strutting around, rubbing it in their faces. Kevin says he did that because he was happy, but it was only for a few minutes and he stopped. Now that Ronnie’s gone, he isn’t going to go on about it.

Jessie actually uses that to turn completely around and say Kevin is still slapping them in the face because he’s telling three people who liked Ronnie that he’s glad Ronnie gone. Kevin, while being stared at hard by Jessie, says he doesn’t like to group people and hopes they won’t do the same.

I’m not sure why Jessie is being such a jerk to Kevin, whose loyalties were known from the outset. Maybe he’s afraid he’ll catch chicken measles from him or something.

Later, Kevin asks Natalie and Chima to look at him separately from Lydia (ah, that’s what he meant about grouping people). He won’t dump her as a friend, but nor does he want to be viewed as an enemy just because she is.

Chima and Russell talk again, with Russell apologizing again for their argument. Chima correctly notes that she only has his word when it benefits him. He says they are both playing personally. This leads eventually to Chima admitting there was a plan to backdoor him during Ronnie’s time as HOH, but putting it in the perspective of wondering why he was talking to Michele about it in the first place, since she isn’t part of their alliance. Chima accuses him of lying and once again says he is the rat in the house – it wasn’t Ronnie.

They are getting progressively louder and speaking over one another. Chima at one point says she never said anything negative about him. Oh, sure, at one point she said he needed to go home, but nothing negative (yeah, that’ll make him feel better). Russell says he didn’t want to be the guy who gets duped on TV, which he sees all the time. (Maybe that explains his extreme paranoia.) She says that if he’s thinking that way, it’s more likely that he is the one doing the plotting and duping.