So it's down to the final two -- but not before the evicted houseguest rips into the person who sent her packing. It's finally all coming to an end, and we get to see what some of the ex-houseguests are doing now that they're out of the game. But they'll all come back Thursday for the final vote.
As the country tries to get back to normal – or as close as we can come right now – Big Brother 2 continued on Tuesday night. The episode began by acknowledging last week’s attack and the effect it had on the household. Unsurprisingly, they did not mention that they hadn’t told the houseguests everything from the get-go. Instead, they acted like they had, in fact, revealed all right away. We know better.
They did show us Monica in the Diary Room when they informed her about the attack and her missing cousin. I thought that bit was a little ghoulish, but Monica stayed calm and collected as she usually has been. Indeed, both Will and Nicole commented on how strong she was.
After about five minutes of that, it was back to the game. Because an episode was pre-empted, viewers did not get to see the second part of the Head of Household (HoH) challenge. We were simply told that Will and Nicole came in first and second, meaning Monica would not get to compete in the end – also meaning Monica was outta there. I mean, let’s face it, neither one of them was going to keep the well-liked Monica around instead of the significantly-less-well-liked Will or Nicole!
But which one would actually evict her? Both Will and Nicole discussed the possibility of throwing the HoH competition so the other would have to be the one to deliver the bad news. But then they eventually came to an agreement to play fair – which Will later indicated to the viewers that he had no intention of doing.
But when it came time for the actual competition, both seemed to play it fair and square. Seemed. There were seven questions about their time in the BB2 house:
Who got stuck with the sleeping bag the first day in the house? (Kent – both got it right – it was just too easy to blow without making it obvious.)
Which houseguest was the first to jump into the icy pool during the competition against the Survivors? (Hardy – both right again – again, too easy.)
Which houseguest was the first to step out of the car in the first food competition? (Mike – Nicole got it right, Will said it was Sheryl. Was he blowing it on purpose? Probably. That was just hard enough to make it realistic that he got it wrong.)
In an America’s Choice question, what item received more votes than a massage chair or pull-up bar? (Toaster – both got it right. Again, too easy to blow.)
In the food pyramid question, when Krista was asked to name the fruit that comes in Bartlett, Bosc, and Anjou varieties, what was her answer? (Mushroom – both got it right. Again, too memorable – and damned funny, too!)
In the competition where the houseguests slid their keys down a board, who slide it off the end? (Monica – both right. Yet again, too easy to miss.)
Who was the first houseguest in a bikini to jump into the pool of mud during the “dirty dozen” competition? (Mike – once again, way too memorable to blow. Once again, both got it right.)
So Nicole got all seven of the easiest questions in the world right, Will got only six, and pretty much blew the only one that wouldn’t have made it obvious he was throwing the game. (I strongly suspect the producers, knowing that both talked about throwing it, made the questions especially easy so it would be more obvious if one tried to.) Nicole is HoH. Lucky her.
She didn’t feel too lucky, though. In fact, she was not too thrilled at all about this. And she had to evict one of them immediately. Monica and Will both had the opportunity to say a few words, but neither really said much of anything. As Will indicated, after being together for 77 days, there’s not much to say at this point that hasn’t already been said.
In the Diary Room after the competition but before the actual eviction, Nicole indicated that she has not had a good week. No kidding. Julie Chen asked what she had done best, and Nicole really didn’t have much of an answer, except to say that she’s gone back and forth – from being nice to being strategic to being emotional. Other than that, she said she “really want[s] to vomit right now.” Thanks for sharing.
So back she went to explain her choice. She said three things came into play. First, Monica is an amazing, funny, etc. person and Nicole has great admiration and respect for her. Second, Will is sometimes pretty much the devil and is her nemesis, but he has a few redeeming qualities. Finally, when she had to cancel her honeymoon to come into the house, she promised her husband that she would do whatever it took to win. So, she said, she had to pick the person against whom she had the best chance – which meant, as everybody knew, that Monica would have to leave.
Monica was not surprised by the news. In fact, she almost seemed happy – too happy. Like “manic” happy. She said she was not surprised and knew it wasn’t personal, but also said she was a bigger winner than both of them. At the door, she happily ripped into Nicole by saying that Nicole would have to learn some things about herself. She added that when it came time for the vote, “It’s on.” Oh, that again. Even when Nicole wished her well for her family, Monica blew it off with a frozen smile. It was kinda scary, actually. If I saw somebody acting that way in real life, I’d be backing away slowly and looking for a place to hide.
When Monica got out to Chen for the interview, she noted what everybody else already knew – that she was a threat and that was why she knew she’d have to go. She also said some other things like, “I know what I’m talking about” – this is a good thing, because half the time, nobody else does. Still, she discussed Nicole’s “song and dance” about her husband and dismissed it as crap. She expanded on what she’d told Nicole at the door by saying Nicole needs to work on her controlling personality and getting some self-esteem. To make things perfectly clear, she flat-out stated, “She won’t get my vote.” Ouch. Even when she watched the goodbye videos, she did so with extreme sarcasm whenever Nicole’s face was on the screen.
So we know how one person will vote – what about the others? Well, they didn’t give us any real indication of that, but they did provide us with some clips of the ex-houseguests back at their real life. Mike took the opportunity to once again defend Chill Town (oh get over it already), saying the house didn’t like Chill Town but they weren’t an alliance – they were friends. Awww, how sweet. Now I know how Nicole felt when she said she was going to vomit. Anyway, Mike has continued with his acting career, and got a part in the CBS comedy, Yes, Dear. I’d like to note, for the record, that Mike got a part as an extra. Remember, he was the one calling himself the star and complaining about the extras taking over.
Shannon is playing beach volleyball and also took the opportunity to defend her actions. In this case, she defended her use of Hardy’s toothbrush as a toilet cleaning utensil, saying it was well-deserved because he was a bully. Jeez, what a bitch. But she said not to judge her. Yeah, right. On the boyfriend front, she met with Jim for a while to discuss the past and future, but doesn’t know which direction she’ll go (I bet half a million dollars will help her make that decision).
Autumn is planning to get married, and has also lost nine pounds. It turns out she had been diagnosed with Graves Disease only a few weeks before going into the house, and that is – according to her – why she put on weight (that would be the weight that Shannon & Co. made fun of. But don’t judge Shannon).
Sheryl’s story is the most important. After she was evicted, she found a lump in her breast. It turned out to be cancer, and had already begun to spread within the breast. The doctor advised (right there in front of the cameras) a mastectomy, and she is planning for the surgery. Once again, we see that reality TV pales in comparison to real life. I shudder to think about what could have happened if she had stayed in the house and therefore might not have detected it as early as she did.
Kent is now a non-smoker, having had his last cigarette on August 1 in the house. But as far as the game goes, he says he couldn’t care less which freak wins the game.
Krista is so overwhelmed by fans that she can’t even go to the grocery store. Poor girl. She said she is finally back with her daughter (well, you know, you could have been back with her a week earlier if you hadn’t hung out with Mike after your eviction). She says she can’t imagine going back to work as a waitress, so she’s going to see how fame works out. Oh, great – just what we need to see, more Krista. I wonder how many more times she’ll tell the awful tale about how she wouldn’t lie or connive. Gag. Oh, and she did take the opportunity to once again whine about Nicole stabbing her in the back. Gag again.
Bunky says his life is like a whirlwind. He and Kent plan to get together at some point. And he was happy to see Hardy and Nicole admit they were wrong about having evicted him – it feels good to get in an “I told you so.” He says Will is shrewd, and he has to respect a guy who is honest about his dishonesty.
Hardy says the whole thing is mind-boggling. His biggest eye-opener was seeing Will’s Diary Room entrees where he kept talking about how he was lying to everybody. Um, Hardy, you just now figured this out? Yeesh.
Closing out the show, Julie Chen asked Nicole and Will if they had any regrets. Nicole said she didn’t have a lot – less than some people should have (indicating Will), but she did note a couple of minor things. Will said he had a lot of regrets, but he wasn’t going to start going over them now. He came to play a game, and he did. And that’s that.
So, we will finally get our answer as to who wins on Thursday, live. For a prediction, I will stick by what I discussed in my article of several weeks ago that talked about Will’s strategy. I think he will pull it off and walk away with half a million bucks. That said, I understand The Unbelievable Bloombergini has submitted his own prediction and it differs somewhat from mine. So be it. We’ll find out in a couple days.
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