Big Brother 4, August 13: The Live Eviction Vote

We begin the eviction episode this week with the usual recap. First, man discovered fire. Eventually, the television was invented. Then Big Brother came along. Justin won HOH and nominated Jack and Nathan. Whoa – the broadcast starts skipping. “First steps toward elim- First steps toward elim- First steps toward elim-…” Finally, something amusing from a recap! Anyway, Robert won Veto, egos were flexed, and the Veto was not used. Who will be the next HouseGuest eliminated? We’ll find out within the hour!

Now it’s time for Julie Chen to recap everything we just heard in the recap, for those of us with really short attention spans or memory problems. Seriously, one extra-long recap is bad enough – but two?! Come on, folks. I honestly can’t believe that a bunch of producers sat around and said, “OK, first we’ll have the announcer recap everything that ever happened, then we’ll do the show’s intro, and then we’ll have Julie recap everything again!” Wow, what a great idea!

OK, enough of that. Let’s get to the current episode. As things have progressed since the nomination and unused Veto, Jack has been lying low while Nathan has been scrambling to save himself. Meanwhile, Robert tells the other Stooges that everyone in the house is such a mess except them. You know, it’s a good thing they have already evicted some of the HouseGuests, so there is extra room in the house for the Stooges’ egos. Sheesh.

Alison says it’s like Revenge of the Nerds. She doesn’t know quite how they got into this position, but she’ll let them get rid of some of the scrap meat, like Jun and Jack and Erika.

Speaking of Jun, she tells Nathan that he shouldn’t trust Alison. Duh. Thanks for the newsflash, Jun. And, hey, did you know that Dana is psycho? And Dave is a goofball? Anyway, Nathan immediately tells Alison, who turns around to get mad at Jun! She asks Jun why it’s necessary for her to tell Nathan not to trust her. Jun clarifies that she didn’t say that, just that she said not to trust Alison 100%. Oh, well, that makes it all better then. Justin chimes in that Alison should tell Nathan to quit acting like a baby. Nice. So, of course, Alison tells him. Nate gets pissed and goes back to confront Justin. It’s like a bad game of tag! Anyway, Justin and the other guys blame Alison for always telling them that he’s whining, so that’s why they said it, even though they never actually heard him whining. Um, so then shouldn’t you blame yourselves for basing your comments on a known liar? No, of course not, because nothing is ever their fault.

Anyway, Nathan turns on Jun and says that as long as people are calling each other out, she’s a little snake who floats from group to group and tries to stir things up. Jun just sits there and accepts his attack without really responding. She thinks it made him mad that way. I know if I were him I would be mad. Argue, dammit! Don’t just sit there! There is no satisfaction in slamming somebody who just sits there.

Later, Nathan goes back to the HOH room, but this time to talk to Justin alone. He says they have been going at each other because of a girl – why are we letting “freaking Ali” do this to them? Why don’t they team up?

As the discussion goes on, Alison reports to Jack and Erika that Nathan is in the room alone. She goes to hang around outside the door and see what she can hear.

Nathan promises to put up anybody Justin wants if he sticks around. Nathan says he has no alliance with anybody now – Alison was the only one he trusted and that trust is gone. Nathan further promises not to put up the Stooges if he wins HOH. Justin says if it were up to him alone, he’d say okay, but there are others to talk to. Next we see him and Stooges with Jun. They all seem to like the idea.

Switching to live, it’s time to check in with the HouseGuests. Julie Chen has questions for them. Jun, how do you think Justin and the boys handled their position of power? She says they handled it the way she expected, like three boys. There was a lot of boy time and they left her out a lot, but they let her know what was going on, which was the most important thing to her. Still, it was like a boys club.

Moving on, Julie tells Jack he was a very cute strawberry in the last food competition. Will he ever live it down with the FBI? Jack says he hopes he can work undercover in the Middle East as a strawberry. Heh.

Jee is asked how happy he is that the house, including Justin and his stinky shorts, won laundry service? He says they are all happy that got it and claims it was really just one day that Justin’s shorts “stank like butt.”

While the nominees will have their chance to speak later, first Julie wants a couple HouseGuests to have a chance to speak to them. Erika is asked if there is anything she wants to say to roommate Jack if he is evicted. She says that she said everything already. Jack knows he’s like her dad in the house. Then she tears up.

Alison is asked if Nathan, “your frequent bedmate—” At this point Jun and several others crack up. Huh huh huh. She said bed. Huh huh huh. Wait. Sorry. Wrong Butthead. Anyway, Julie pushes past the interruption and asks if Alison has anything to say in case he goes. She says Nathan has been really awesome. He was her best friend in the house (which would explain the knife with her fingerprints sticking out of his back), like her brother (which would explain the earlier makeout sessions), and she’ll miss him if he goes. (Two-faced bitch.)

Moving away from the HouseGuests, Jack has already been up for eviction, so we don’t get to hear from his family again. But this is Nathan’s first time, so his mom and little sister Lindsey have some things to say.

Mom points out that Nathan grew up in a house full of a lot of girls (three). He was always getting in trouble, hiding animals, dolls, etc. She calls him a “little booger.” Awww. Lindsey says he is a great big brother. Mom says he has always been a stud. He attracts all the girls and was voted “most handsome” in high school. When she first heard the HouseGuests saying they thought Nathan was gay, it cracked her up.

So, what do they think about Alison? In the beginning, Mom notes, Alison and Nathan were very romantically involved (not if you believe Alison, who claims they weren’t – but then, you’d be a fool to believe anything from Alison). Then it turned into a brother/sister relationship. And now it’s pretty bad. To emphasize this point, we see Alison saying Nathan doesn’t smell appealing. Alison makes Nathan’s mom mad and she’s crushed that Ali turned on him. Lindsey adds that Alison pisses her off. At first she liked her, but now she’s gone too far.

Back into the house, Julie is talking to Justin in the HOH room. She notes that Justin was true to his word with Alison, so how long does he plan to honor their alliance? Justin says that’s a tough question. They’ve had an agreement since the second day in there, but a lot happened since then. The whole agreement was squashed at one point, but then she won HOH and didn’t put him up, so she gained some trust back. Who knows what will happen. If she gets HOH and saves him again, he says he’ll honor his word and still be true to her. But there is no telling what will happen, as she has been playing both sides and everybody is aware of that.

Julie says that when Justin gave his reasons for the nominations, he said Jack and Nate were lying. Can you play the game and not lie? “Absolutely,” says Justin. But that also doesn’t mean that something you said two weeks ago means the same thing as today. Hmmm. Are we going to hear Justin say that it depends on what “is” means. No, he says at one point you might have said you wouldn’t put somebody up, but then a week’s worth of activity happens and there are changes. Then if you put ‘em up, that was not a lie. Lying to somebody’s face is what they (the original alliance) did – everybody in America knew they were targeting the exes except for the exes themselves.

Julie wonders if anything can break up him, Rob, and Jee? Nothing. So if they were the final three, who would he evict? He doesn’t know. If it came down to just those three, he says it would be a heck of an accomplishment. They’d probably have to flip for it.

Next segment is time to focus on the women in the Big Brother house. We have Jun, Erika, and Alison – one does the cooking, one the cleaning, the other turned flirting into an art form. Julie Chen wonders: Could one of these three hold the key to victory?

Jun says she is queen of the kitchen and therefore of the house. Um, yeah. Erika is a nurturer. Ali is the flirt of the house. In various snippets, the guys say Jun is good in the kitchen and she says people like her more ‘cus she feeds them. Ali says Jun is a sneak – Jun agrees, but she’s a cute sneak.

Erika doesn’t talk much. She’s the big sister in the house. She does hair, makeup, and dresses Alison. Erika says she enjoys it but part of it is a strategy for people to like and trust her. Robert, meanwhile, says Erika doesn’t have a strategy – she just has Jack. However, we do see Erika strategizing a bit, saying she doesn’t want to win competitions because you can make yourself a target.

Alison says her strategy has been to use her feminine side since Day 1. Ah, so that’s a strategy. And here I just thought you were a slut. Oh, wait, I still do! Anyway, Erika says Ali is good, when she wants to manipulate somebody, she does it. Ali says she manipulates everybody. And it’s kind of fun. Jun says Alison is pushing back the women’s movement 40-50 years (yeah, ‘cus walking around in a skimpy bikini while cooking for the men is a really progressive thing to do!). Jun says Alison cries on cue. And Alison admits it. Jun says Erika also does it, but Jun cannot stand girls who cry all the time. Tears are really pointless, as Jun notes that they all know everybody in there is a cold hard competitor.

It’s time to hear from the nominees. The votes have not been cast yet, so they still have a chance to change minds and sway votes. Yeah, right. They’ve been lobbying for a week now, and what they say in the last 30 seconds is going to change everything?

Nathan says it’s been a long five weeks with many ups and downs. If he does happen to leave, each person should know he wants to be known as a loyal trustworthy person. If that means anything to save him now, great.

Jack says he is grateful for the opportunity to be there to compete in this fun and complicated game. The difficult thing is they have to evict people who have become close. He knows if he leaves, it will be strategic and not personal. He has the greatest fondness for all of them and would like to stay.

Time to vote! One at a time, they enter the Diary Room and cast their vote. Once all have voted, Julie will reveal the result.

Robert is first and this will pretty much tell us the end result right here. He votes to evict Nathan. Jee follows and Julie, trying to keep us interested even though we know how it ends now, wonders aloud if it’s safe to assume that Jee will vote the same way as Robert. The answer is a resounding “Yes!” as he votes to evict Nathan.

Next up is Alison, who also votes to evict Nathan. So now Nathan has lost, but there are two more votes. Desperate to keep us from heading to the fridge for a snack, Julie wonders if Jun or Erika will toss a sympathy vote Nathan’s way. Jun doesn’t. Neither does Erika. So it’s unanimous! Jack and his one-liners will stay, so there is hope for some continued entertainment!

Julie lets the HouseGuests know the results. Five to zero, Nathan is gone. There are some quick hugs and a goodbye to Nathan. Lots of silence in the house after he leaves.

When he meets up with Julie Chen and gets himself seated, he says that it has been quite the experience. He made a run and has no regrets. Julie notes that not even Alison gave him a sympathy vote. Well, Nathan says he knows she’s a smart player and has to go with the majority to better self in game. He understands.

Yeah, but Julie wonders if he can respect the way she’s playing the game? Yes, but he’s disappointed in her. She’s playing a great game, you can’t take it personally. So, does he plan on being friends outside the house? Yeah. He doesn’t know if he would make the trip to visit her in Pennsylvania, but they’ll stay in touch.

Moving on, Julie says that he campaigned hard to stay in house. Would he have honored any of those deals? He says he would indeed have run with the three amigos for a little while. He was offering the deal hoping that Alison or Erika would win HOH and he wouldn’t actually have to honor it. Basically, he hoped to get by this week and move on from there. But he also wanted to leave the house as a trustworthy person and he thinks he did.

Julie finishes the interview by asking about the most important thing he learned. Then she answers her own question by saying, “Not to trust Alison.” Heh. Nathan says the answer is not to burn bridges.

Time for the taped goodbye messages. Jun says he was her eye candy and she will be sorry to see him go. Justin says Nathan’s proposal on staying in the house was attractive and he really wanted do it, but he is only one of four and the others weren’t convinced. Very smart move, Justin. Since Nathan is going to be sequestered, the last thing he will hear from Justin for a while is essentially, “I trusted you and wanted to keep you around, but it was those other guys who sent you packing.”

Jee remembers their joking around. He says the gay jokes were not too funny but he knows Nathan is secure. Jack says he has friendship, admiration, and respect for Nathan. Alison thanks him for saving her and claims she feels responsible for where he is now on the outside. She didn’t get a chance to tell him how handsome he was because it would be too much of an ego trip for him, but she does now. Another strategic move on her part, though a bit transparent, in my opinion.

Julie tells Nathan that he will now join Dana in the sequester house. Nathan screams and tries to run, but CBS guards jump him and drag him off, kicking and screaming. OK, not really, but you know that’s what he was thinking about – trying to make a break for it so he’s not cooped up with Dana!

So now it’s time for the HOH competition. Julie says the Stooges have been savoring their power (there’s an understatement!). The last three evicted have all been part of the original Elite 8 alliance. So this HOH is critical. How badly do they want it? We’ll find out.

The HouseGuests head to the backyard, where they find three big steel cages. Jun says they’re going to cage dance. Jee thinks they will give him lapdances. Um. No.

Julie says this competition is called Steel Cage Match. They all have to go into the larger cage (except Justin, of course). Justin locks them in as they all have to face outward. It’s a fairly tight fit in the cage. The objective, Julie says, is to work your way through all three cages. Each cage is smaller than last. The second cage only holds four, and the third only two. The winner will be person who stays in last cage the longest. No eating, sleeping, drinking, etc. If their feet touch the ground beneath the cage, they are out.

Because Julie didn’t explain the rules very well, the HouseGuests start to ask when they get to move to the next cage, as JC explained. And she did make it sound like they would have to work their way into the cage, somehow. But they eventually figure out that they move on when two people drop out. Jee says he should have gone to the bathroom. Jack says it’s hot under the lights.

We’ll check back with them in a minute, but first, it’s time for America’s Choice. Who do you want to see get a letter from home? Personally, I’d like to see Alison get a “Dear John” letter from her “boyfriend.” But that’s just me.

OK, so how are they doing a few minutes later? All are still in. Jack has to bend over while the shorter people, like Jun, can stand straight up. There is not much talking, just concentrating. Oh, how exciting. Jun says it’s so funny. Ali says they will be there all night. Jee jokes that the food competition better not be at 8 am tomorrow!

With that, we leave the episode. Julie tells us that we won’t have our regular Friday episode, but will have a special edition on Saturday at 8/7 Central. Tune in then to find out who is the HOH and who they nominate. Or you can find out all the answers before then at our spoiler page and in our live feed highlight columns.

Next Wednesday, of course, features another live eviction. Ah, but now there’s going to be a new twist on the game. Hmmm…

Want to keep up with important events in the house? Check out our Big Brother 4 Spoiler Page for news on who wins contests and other ongoing info.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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