I went ahead and started a spoiler thread -- mainly because the original thread doesn't specify spoilers in the title. And we don't want to ruin things for those that don't want to know! So, over there we can talk about regular stuff and over here, we can spill all the secrets.

The big spoiler that no one wanted to say out loud is that Dick has left the game. A few hours before the feeds went up on Thursday night, Dick was called to the Diary Room and never returned. The houseguests speculated about this for several hours, with Daniele finally becoming so worried that she begged (and eventually demanded) the cameras to let her talk to someone. (The camera shook it's head "No", prompting Brendon to cover it with his shirt.) The producers were obviously waiting for After Dark to go off the air on Showtime, because immediately afterward, Daniele was called to the Diary Room. Within seconds, the feeds were cut and they remained out for over 3 hours. When the feeds returned, it was learned that Dick was gone and we didn't learn much from Daniele. She said only that they had told her not to freak out and that Dick was fine. In compensation for losing her partner, Daniele has been given the new Golden Key. Unfortunately, this means that the "vets" alliance, which had 6 people competing, now only has 4 because Daniele cannot compete while she has the Key.

Dick has since posted a video that seems mostly designed just to dispel all the rumors. To explain his departure, he will only say that someone who's always been there for him needed him and he had to leave the house.

I was incredibly disappointed to see Dick leave. I was really looking forward to watching him play the game this year. During Season 8, he would stay up after everyone went to bed and sit in the backyard and talk to the feeders. It was dubbed "Dick At Night" and was the thing I was most looking forward to with Dick back in the house.

Dick certainly would have made the season more fun to watch. I think with him in the house the veterans would have steamrolled the newbies, now I think it could be an even battle between them, depending on if the newbie alliance can stick together and not have any of the newbies jump to the veterans side.

Logic says that Keith should go, but if the Newbies decide it's in their interest to keep a loyal Newbie, then he might stay and things would get interesting.

I am happily suprised that the veterans teamed together so fast and it looks like solidly as well.

I think there will be a lot more, you don't know what the players could do then recently.

What little bit we've gotten to see of Dick on Sunday's show, it seemed like he was in a good position in the game. It's a shame we won't find out how that would have come out. CBS will address his departure on Wednesday's show and supposedly that's the last we'll see of Dick on our televisions.

I think it also hurt Dani's game. She is one of the strongest comp players of all time, and not letting her take part stinks.

She doesn't seem to be very happy about it, either. And Dick's leaving really hurt the chances of all the veterans, because they had a seemingly strong alliance of 6. The producers have to be unhappy, too, as Dick was probably their biggest draw this year. (Certainly, no one was looking forward to another summer of Rachel and Brendon.) So Dick's leaving really screwed up a great deal.

This seems like a much more fun group, like in Dick & Danielle's season, where even though they played against each other hard in the game and competitions, they have the ability to just hang out with each other freely at other times. Emotions run high, fights happen, but you don't get that sense that anyone is taking gameplay personal, or truly hating other players yet.

That fight between Rachel and Brendon that aired on Thursday's show was completely misrepresented in the editing. It was only about 5% about Rachel calling Brendon "boo-kie" and 95% about Rachel's behavior when she drinks. Brendon lectured her for a solid hour on how obnoxious she acts when she drinks and how it's not appropriate as for his future wife. It was infuriating to watch. One wonders why he gave an engagement ring to a self-admitted Vegas party girl if he wants a proper lady for his wife.

He has also brought up to Rachel that he will not approve of his wife having any sort of cosmetic surgery, including botox. Not only does it seem that he has waited until after the engagement to have serious discussions about his expectations and desires, but also that he has waited until they are in front of cameras to have these discussions.

Their relationship is excruciating to watch.

The Veto competition is going on right now...

Suprisingly Dom won it, and will obviously take him and Adam off the block.

Now for the interesting stuff, as Cassi seems to be buddying up to Jordan and her and Shelly are buttering up Jordan to get her to turn on Brendon and Rachel already.

Cassi is playing the victim, as if she has been sitting idly by when she was one the intense gunners for the repeats in week 1 carrying the save Keith flag and getting [censored] at whoever didn't.

I knew Jordan & Rachel were oil and water, but they were each others only way to survive and Jordan may blow that Week 2.

Unreal, just as Rachel hasn't learned not to be Rachel, Jeff & Jordan haven't learned not to turn on your alliance, especially way before the time is right.

Waiting on the POV ceremony results.

I will just say it straight out, I don't hate Rachel. Is she one of the most annoying players ever? Yes. But, she plays her heart out every comp, which this year needs more of. I didn't like Cassi once she announced that she never washes her hands after the bathroom at home, only in public. Blech. Gorgeous, but oh so dirty. I would love a Dani/Rachel final.

BX brings up a good point about Jeff and Jordan turning on their alliances ~ I thought the way they turned on Russell during Season 11 was really a dumb move. However, I don't think they've given any serious thought to turning on Rachel and Brendon just yet. Obviously, at some point that will have to happen, but Cassie has tried (and just tried again last night) to talk them into backdooring one of them this week and they completely blew that off.

The POV ceremony was today and Cassie and Shelly are the replacement nominees. Unless something really wacky happens, Cassie will be the one gone on Thursday. Boy, will she be surprised when she finds out that her partner Shelly was one of the hinky votes to evict Keith!

Jeff still thinks that taking out Russell was the right move, not for him, but it ended up being so for Jordan.

Rachel is a great competitor and I am glad she got a second chance, the Brigade (Super Floater Alliance) ruined the enjoyment of watching last season for me.

Almost seems like Cassi might be getting the come uppance that Britney deserved last season.

Yeah it will not be a good day for Cassi when she finds out it was Shelly.

Shelly is playing a dangerous game. One that can win her it all, but will most likely come back to bite her. She is playing both sides, but she is doing so too adamantly. She will either get caught or have a nervous breakdown trying to keep both sides of her stories and emotion together.

I guess you can't fault the Russell move since it ended up winning Jordan the game, but at the time it was going down, I remember thinking it was the dumbest move since Howie evicted one of his own alliance members during Season 6. (Neither can complete however with what I believe was the stupidest game move ever, when Marcellas did not use the veto on himself.)

If you didn't like Britney, you were probably shocked that she won America's Favorite Player. Most of the feeders loved Britney, probably for the most part because she was entertaining to watch on the feeds while the Brigade was not.

I'm not sure how smart Shelly is playing, either. Hinky votes are usually (but not always) found out. Most of the newbies have been believing the two hinky votes were Kalia and Adam. Adam acted very suspicious and guilty right after Keith was evicted -- so much so that if I hadn't seen him vote for Porsche with my own eyes on live television, I would have believed he was the hinky vote, too. I can't imagine why he acted that way, but it didn't do him any favors with the other newbies. Supposedly, it was to remain a secret that Shelly and Kalia voted with the veterans. But tonight Porsche told Jordan and Rachel that Shelly told her she voted to evict Keith! I don't know if this is true or not -- Porsche may just have been fishing. And of course Jordan and Rachel already know how Shelly voted, and the fishing expedition, if it was one, went bust because neither one confirmed. It's hard to believe Shelly would expose herself that way, and equally hard to believe it hasn't gotten around the house. But the newbies were consumed with discussing the hinky votes only until Dominic and Adam were nominated, and then the topic was abruptly dropped, as new challenges opened up for them to worry about. They no longer seem to care at all about the hinky votes.

As for Rachel, it's funny ~ she came back this year purportedly to change her image from the way she was portrayed last year. She's said she's had a hard time finding work because of it. She doesn't really seem to be any different this year, but Brendon is the one who is coming off horribly this year and will need an image-cleansing after this. Rachel seems to be a relatively normal and intelligent person compared to Brendon. Every fight I have seen so far (and they're almost daily) is started by Brendon attacking Rachel for some imaginary transgression on her part. Today's hour-long bashing by Brendon was brought on by Rachel saying "Brendon, do you love me?" in a teasing voice when she wanted him to get her some slop. Apparently, this was horribly wrong because Rachel was "annoying everyone" by being "too affectionate". So far, only the feeders know what an emotional abuser this guy is, but I hope CBS gives him an accurate edit ~ like they did for Rachel last year. The Rachel that was shown on TV was the exact same Rachel we saw on the feeds ~ now CBS should show the real Brendon.

I swear, I think if I have to watch much more of Brendon this year, I'm going to shoot my computer. At this very moment, he is whining about the fact that Rachel's HOH letter from her sister was all about HER and didn't mention HIS family at all. He is also upset that there are no pictures of him and Rachel in her HOH room ~ seemingly clueless to the fact the the entire point of getting pictures in your HOH room is to see loved ones that you MISS. Between watching Rachel's little baby fit in the bushes and Brendon's constant whining and attacking, I'm am soooo over those two.

They are giving us Rachel & Brendon overload this year. I thnk Rachel is toned down a bit from last year, but Brendon is worse then last year. The whole issue that happened at the Veto competition was from how Jeff wanted him and Jordan to play the game, she was going to take the slop pass and he yelled at her not to, then Rachel made one comment and Jeff went off the deep end, like he has been looking for an excuse to go off on Rachel. Jeff being controling, like Brendon is also this year, seems to be the norm for the returning copuples and more OK with America then Rachel and to a point Jordan wanting to be extra competitive.

You barely know that Kalia and Lawon are in the house, since I heard they sleep most of the day.

There is so much more to show, like Jeff and Kalia's Dumbledore arguement, but that wasn't worthy of CBS's coverage. CBS is killing Rachel and Brendon, Rachel is going to be the villian, like it or not, being the villian or not.

Watching Wednesday episode was beyond excrutiating, though the competition was interesting and it showed that Dominic might be a bit of a force to contend with down the line.

Rachel is indeed slightly less annoying than last year, and Brendon about 100x more annoying. It's true that Jeff started the argument with Rachel after the Veto competition was over, but it was due to Rachel's snarky comment during the competition. He explained afterward that his point was a) that the vets alliance should discuss things in private and not be showing cracks in their alliance in front of the newbies, and b) he thought it was a bad idea for either Jordan OR Rachel to take slop and weaken themselves for future competitions unless they were close to winning. And it did work out that way ~ Rachel's on 2 weeks of slop and Dominic won the Veto anyway. [Although as the new HOH, she can at least eat food in her HOH basket and fridge. I'm not sure if she's exempt from slop altogether.] I do agree that he was at least in some respects looking for an excuse to vent at Rachel a bit. The entire house is sick to death of them and their constant drama. As much as they frustrate me on the feeds, I can't imagine what it would be like to be locked up in a house with them. So it's gotten to a point that even their own alliance is starting to be at least as frustrated as I am. [Dani walked in a room the other day, found Rachel crying, and said, "What's wrong with you NOW?"] They showed a bit on last night's show of Jordan trying to nicely explain to Rachel how she comes off. Shelly (who should change careers and become a motivational speaker) has also talked to Rachel about how to be a gracious winner and save her gloating for private moments.

Kalia does indeed sleep probably 10 or 11 hours a day. Lawon doesn't sleep all the time, but he's not really playing the game. He's just hanging out, and whenever he's present during game talk, all he ever does is agree with whoever's talking. For the most part, I'm left to wonder if he even realizes he's playing a game. He's never seen the show before and had to have the Veto explained to him, so I guess he has no idea what he's supposed to be doing or what to expect.

I knew CBS would never air the Dumbledore argument. Jeff is their golden boy and they gave him his own show last year. I've long wished that CBS would give all the activities in the house a true edit and let the chips fall where they may, but everyone knows "reality TV" is anything but. There is a good amount of manipulation by the producers in the Diary Room that is hidden from America. Even the feeders get little information about this, as whenever someone says, "They tried to talk me into this" or "They tried to make me say this", Big Brother comes on the PA and says, "Houseguests, you are not allowed to talk about your Diary Room sessions!"

It's looking like the plan for now is to nominate Adam and Dominic and if they win Veto, to put Kalia and Lawon in their place. They had considered putting Kalia and Lawon up first so they could backdoor either Adam or Dominic, but were afraid that if Adam or Dominic won the Veto they would use it just to force Rachel to put up Jeff and Jordan. Apparently, they are not worried that either Kalia or Lawon will win the Veto and use it. They don't seem to have decided yet whether they want to send Dominic or Adam home.

According to a CBS commercial, the celebrity visit Julie hyped on last night's show will be someone from the new show "Same Name" and apparently, it's David Hasselhoff. ZZZZZ.

Rachel would have another drinking partner lol.

Yes, he came today, and a couple of people have said he seemed drunk or on drugs or something. There's no way CBS will air those comments on TV, so you'll have to take it from me. Rachel didn't get to meet him, though. Bummer for her.

Brendon and Rachel hold all the power right now, they have HoH and POV.

Jeff & Jordon, along with Shelley, are pushing for Dominic, who is already on the block with Adam, to be sent home.

Danielle, along with Dominic & Kalia, are wanting to see Jeff & Jordon backdoored.

Both sides are pressing B/R hard to do their dirty work for them.

They won't do the following because they are all about the power moves, but B/R should just jump out of the way of the bullets this week, play it safe, put up Lawon and Kalia, not push for either of them to be sent home, and let the rest of the house decide for themselves who to vote for, but they should personally back Lawon and tell only him that.

Where they won't make any friends this week, they won't make any enemies for the rest of the game either, plus they will get a floater out. It would be the most unexpected move in a long time from any houseguests. Plus it should lead to J/J/S and D/D/K going after each other for a couple of weeks.

I see it as just the opposite. I think this is their one chance to get Jeff out. And as Jordan doesn't want to be there except to be with Jeff, I think she would then sabotage herself. It would be a brilliant game move, but they won't do it.

I think Dani is more dangerous then J/J ever could be and the power has been shifting to Dani lately. If you take the Coup de etat power that America gave him from Jeff in his season he wouldn't have been much. He wasn't even aligned with Russell yet when he used that power and the rest of the athletes were picking people off left and right up until then.

I don't think that Jeff is a great player, but I see getting him out as a twofer. And, most of them are on to Dani's game now, she overplayed her hand.

Dani just pushed too hard for them to backdoor Jeff, and the vets feel it's very suspicious that she turned on them so early in the game. Some of the comments that they've made on the feeds seem to indicate that the Diary Room was trying to plant the seeds of evicting Jeff this week, leading to speculation that the producers are trying to maneuver that so that Jeff can be the houseguests that returns to the game. Haven't heard anything said about this in a couple of days, so one can only assume the producers have abandoned this plan ~ if it ever existed at all.

Oh, I forgot ~ Evel Dick tweeted last night when someone asked him what he thought of the season so far. His response: "I think Dani is [screwing] up big time and she better do some serious scrambling to fix [stuff]."