This years group seem to have that entertainment value that last years didn't have, not that they show the more entertaining sides of the houseguests on the CBS shows. I do think the live feeds and blog readers are getting much more out of this group already, then last years.

Jeff and Jordan seem to get themselves into the most unexpected alliances.

Before he saved Russell with the Coup de etat, I never would have put Jeff, Jordan, Russell and Michelle as the team to beat, or coming close to joining forces.

Before this season, especially after how the event Jeff & Jordan hosted last year went, did I think the Jeff and Jordan would consider or last in an alliance with Brendon and Rachel. I would have pictured more of the team J/J v team B/R for a good portion of the season.

Fireworks galore at the house today from what I was reading.

This will be an interesting Endurance competition if that's what type it is tomorrow.

More suspense and possibilities week to week this year then last.

I saw a lot of it. It was crazy in the house today. Best feeds day in 3 years.

Wow, what a day they've had in the house today! It will be interesting to see how they manage to fit all the stuff that's happened into the show tomorrow.

I agree with Bx that this year's cast has been, in general, much more entertaining to watch than usual ~ but they have to cut so much in order to just present 3 hours a week for television, I'm not sure that's coming across to the viewers. I watched an episode last week with my boyfriend's daughter who doesn't watch the show, and seeing it through her eyes, it seemed kinda boring. I'm just glad not to turn on the feeds and watch the Brigade talking about sports or Steamboat or how wonderful they are ad nauseum.

I'm pretty sure the HOH competition will be endurance, and that's what the houseguests are expecting. I'm excited ~ this is primarily why I pay for the feeds. None of that "Tune in 3 days from now and find out how the competition played out" for me! With all the animosity in the house right now, this one is going to be especially huge!

I meant to say that Wednesday's episode didn't really give the full accounting of Dani's big (failed) "power move". It made it look like Brendon and Rachel were putting a great deal of thought into backdooring Jeff, and Dani was just backing up their thoughts. While it's true that the thought did cross their minds (as the reverse did with Jeff and Jordan when Jordan was HOH last week), Dani pushed HARD for the backdooring of Jeff, and practically threatened Brendon and Rachel with how furious she would be if Dominic went home this week after she had done "all this work" on Dominic to get him to their side. She made it sound like all the work she'd done with Dominic was strictly for the benefit of Rachel and Brendon and their alliance ~ almost like they'd forced her into it when she didn't want to work with Dominic at all! This is what eventually caused the final split in Dani's alliance with the vets ~ and you could kinda but not really see that on Wednesday's show.

I think Dani's starting to realize she's now stuck outside the vets alliance, and with Dominic going home tomorrow, she's going to be stuck with Lawon and Kalia ~ not the most powerful or apt players in the game. Shelly and Porsche are firmly allied with the vets, and it remains to be seen where Adam will fall. Dani's good at endurance, so she could put out a win tonight. But if the vets win again, I think Dani will be the next to go.

I agree Starfish, I am glad they showed the reason that the back dooring Jeff idea got back to Jeff & Jordan. It was Dominic pushing his luck and trying to bring Shelly into an alliance with him and blabbing about the back dooring Jeff idea. Shelly has played a huge role for the veterans alliance so far, though it will be tougher for her to still do so now that people are sure she is with the vets.

Well Dominic went home and Dani is Queen of the endurance competitions and the new HoH.

Suprise of the night has to be Kalia lasting so long and being the last one up there against Dani.

Have to see how this one shakes out, I am going to guess Brendon and Jeff go on the block and the BRJJ alliance will be put to the test this week when it comes to campaigning for votes.

It sounds like Dani wants to make a one week deal with J/J and put up B/R.

Worst move of her season right there, even worse then getting caught talking about backdooring Jeff, targeting B/R by puting them up for eviction and leaving J/J, who want her out of the game more than B/R, still there and willing to do anything to get rid of her. Dominic wasn't that interesting to throw her whole game away on it. She could have salvaged last weeks mistakes with this HoH, but not as of right now. I blame Bredon for pushing hard to get out Dominic, which is more what Jeff wanted.

If they had just gotten out of the way and put the floaters up, oh well.

I think I am just going to start guessing using the Big Brother motto "expect the unexpected" and that the most unlikely things will happen every week now.

I like twists, but these ones the players are making don't seem to make much sense, first Dani risks her whole game on Kalia and Lawon and because of Dominic. Now out of nowhere Lawon volunteers himself to be the pawn and replace Jeff on the block.

Lawon thinks because Julie told the houseguests that the next evicted would have a chance to come back, that he will not only return, but will be automatically HOH. Where on earth did he get that idea?

Not only has Kalia nominated one of her own alliance members, he is not a pawn! The plan is to evict him and keep Rachel. Shelley maneuvered this Sunday night, convincing Kalia that it was better to keep Rachel because a) if she evicts Rachel and Rachel comes back she will be gunning for Kalia and b) because Rachel is the biggest target in the house. Shelley pushed for Porsche to go up as a replacement for Jeff. Kalia completely bought into this plan, until Dani flipped her lid at the thought of losing Porsche. I went to fix myself a Coke and before I knew it, Lawon had offered himself up, not just as a pawn, but to be evicted!

So who will it be coming back in the house tomorrow.

I don't think Keith has much chance.

The odds on Brendon, Cassi or Dominic coming back seem pretty even and just below 2/3 for one of them to come back to the house. I do a slight edge to it being Dominic that plays to come back.

Lawon's chances are slim, because if he gets voted out like is the plan the odds of him beating the person trying to come back are slim.

If Rachel gets voted out I give her 50/50 against Cassi or Dominic and she throws the competition if it's against Brendon.

Brendon comes back, big win for Rachel and the Veterans, big loss for Dani.

Dominic comes back, big win for Dani and her crew.

Cassi comes back, big win for JJ and Shelley, big loss for Rachel.

Lawon goes out and comes back, possibly entertainment value.

Rachel goes out and comes back, loss for everyone else, because the veterans or Shelly would have had to backstab her and she'll spend at least one week crying or scream fighting with people.

Wow, the edit on last night's show was the most skewed edit I've ever seen Big Brother present. There are always things that America doesn't get to see, but I was totally shocked that the episode showed nothing of Shelly's manipulations of Kalia, getting her to consider keeping Rachel. It has been a very busy couple of days in the BB house and therefore a lot of information needed to be squeezed into a one hour show ~ but they completely left out Shelly's part in the equation, and not only was it THE crucial part, but it would have made for good TV. Shelly had that aforementioned long talk with Kalia and did an excellent job of completely changing Kalia's mind about what to do. Kalia went into the conversation intending to get Rachel out, and left the conversation determined to keep Rachel and evict Porsche. At conversation's end when Kalia walked away, Shelly smiled and said for the cameras, "My work here is done." It would have made great TV!

But ... Kalia's plan to evict Porsche didn't sit well with Dani at all. Last night's episode showed Kalia and Dani arguing over Kalia's new thought of keeping Rachel, but nothing at all of Dani's fight to keep Porsche. (But I think all of America got to see last night that Dani wants Porsche to be the new Dominic in her game.) When Kalia realized Dani was going to have an absolute cow if Porsche left, she turned to the idea of nominating Adam, but then poor Lawon just piped up and volunteered to be evicted (a big Brother first!) and solved the problem.

I feel kind of bad for Lawon. He can be hilarious sometimes, but he's not playing the game at all. He's just...there. It is rare that anyone talks game with Lawon, and if they do, he just agrees with everything they say. A lot of times, he makes no sense and rambles on about weird stuff until I honestly wonder if they are letting him smoke pot in the Diary Room. And it's because he's so clueless, that I feel bad for him. He has no idea that on Thursday, it's likely that he will go home, not to the jury house, and will receive no more stipend for the rest of the game. Unless something major changes today, Lawon will have taken the Dumbest Move In The History Of Big Brother Trophy away from Marcellas.

Who's coming back tonight? We have so much drama in the house this year, we don't really need anyone to come back! I have only seen a couple of polls, but the ones I've seen had more people voting for Brendon. Some people have said they were voting for Brendon because it will cause the most drama. Some people think last night's show was edited to make people want to vote for Brendon, and some people think the show was edited to leaving Shelly the mastermind out of the equation so that people would like Kalia and Dani more and therefore vote for Dominic. Keith will get almost no votes, so in my mind, he's out of the running. A lot of people thought Cassi got a raw deal, and she had some fans, so I'm sure she'll get some votes. A lot of people seem to like Dominic (especially Dani fans), but I thought he had horrible gameplay. He turned down a deal and a proposal from Rachel and Brendon, and then ran back after he was nominated wanting to take the deal after all. Then he actually threw the Veto competion while he was on the block. Who does that?

I've seen a lot of speculation on what the competition will be between tonight's evictee and America's Choice. Because Julie said that the two would "compete", most people seem to think it's going to be some sort of competition ~ but they have never done it that way before. In Season 3, the houseguests voted on who to bring back. In Season 6, America voted. In Season 9, the houseguests were given a choice of bring back the most recent evictee or bring back a previous houseguest in a "mystery box". So in my mind, the question should be: if the houseguests are voting, who will they vote for?

You had that one right Starfish, it was Brendon who came back, for how long is the question now since Dani won another HoH.

I thought Julie was a little harsh on Keith and Cassi when she told them that they could leave since they didn't even make the top 2.

They should really gag the other house members if they aren't playing in whatever competition is going on, I had to agree with Jordan who was just holding her ears while everyone, especially Rachel, was screaming at Brendon and Lawon.

The yelling during competitions isn't ALL bad ~ sometimes people completely out their alliances while they're rooting their favorites on.

Speaking of that, did anyone think it was ridiculous and completely over the top when Kalia just stopped playing last week's veto competition and just stood there rooting Jeff on?

Over the top? Absolutely. Talk about giving yourself away to everyone within sight. Being so obvious was a big mistake.

When she was HoH, I guess she was trying to keep her frienship with JJ from being completed busted to where it couldn't be picked back up later, plus her main goal was for Rachel not to win it.

Too much doesn't make sense, the one team, B/R, that is the most hated often by folks, are the ones who have done the least amount of backstabbing by non floaters.

I am starting to wonder ifShelly even realizes some of the things she says when talking to people, like where she forgets the conversations she has with people in regards to final 3's. As if when she gets into a conversation with an objective in mind, she will say whatever it takes to get that objective accomplished, sometimes not even realizing how she is getting it accomplished or what was said later.

It's true that Shelly seems to misremember or outright forget things that she has said. However, I don't think Shelley saying to Brendon and Rachel on Day 10, "Would you consider taking me to the Final 3?" constitutes a Final 3 deal. To my knowledge, she and Brendon and Rachel have ever discussed the Final 3 since.

There was that other instance (I'm pretty sure they showed it on TV) in which Rachel was "fake-sleeping" in the Have Not Room and heard Shelly tell Jordan if she won HOH she would nominate Adam and Porsche and backdoor Dani. With all the drama this week, Rachel started telling that around and pretty soon Shelly found out about it and called Rachel a liar. When Shelly went to Jordan claiming she never said that, Jordan had to remind her that she had, indeed, said that.

The almost outright lie that Rachel told on tonight's episode was that Shelly brought up evicting Jordan. Granted, discussing a Final 3 deal amongst 3 people implies that all the others will have to be evicted. But, again, that was a general discussion that took place over a month ago, and has never been discussed again. Rachel took a small discussion and put some really big words in Shelly's mouth, obviously hoping to inspire mistrust in Jeff and Jordan.

Dani had even the feeders guessing her intentions for part of this week. If Dani decided to lie about her intentions to everyone in the house, without the benefit of seeing Diary Rooms we are left to wonder. Her alliance with Brendon and Rachel was supposed to be secret from everyone, so we weren't quite sure whether to believe her when she told almost everyone in the house that she was nominating Brendon. We had to wait days for her to have a private discussion with Brendon and Rachel to see if what she'd been saying was real.

Those is the instances where Rachel screws up royaly when confronting people. She had no reason to add that bit about Shelly wanting Jordan out, but did and ended up making all other things she said that were true seem like lies. That deal wasn't firm or anything but I do think that final 3 conversation on the couch on day 10 had enough seriousness to it.

I am getting the feeling these days that this might be my last year watching and following big brother as intensely as I have. I feel the week drags out too long, if they had had evictions every 5 days rather then 7 that would be intense and get my interest going again.

Shelly DID mention getting Jordan out. That is what is so infuriating about it. Even if she had just said that she was running scenarios like everyone does, it wouldn;t be a big deal. But to say she never said any of it is simply false.

From August 2nd.

Shelly: You just have to be strong if he goes. You have to know there are some of us who know how you feel.
Rachel: It just makes no sense for him to leave. You will keep your target off your back.
Shelly: I don't think of it that way... I like Brendon. Game-wise, I know it would be better for him to stay in the game. It's a smarter move for me.
Rachel: And Jordan won the game playing the same game she is playing this time.

****

Shelly: What votes do you have? Rachel. Porsche. Maybe me.
Rachel: Maybe Adam...
Shelly: He will vote like (me)....
Shelly: Would you consider taking me to Final 3?
Brendon: Definitely... You are one of the only people we trust in the game...
Brendon: What do you think of Jeff and Jordan.
Shelly: They are wonderful people.... I don't want them to win again... I know I have better chances with you... I have to find out if Jeff has a deal with Daniele... If that's so it's bad for me.
Rachel: If Daniele really wanted to make a power move, she would have put up Jeff and Brendon.
Shelly: Definitely. Something is up with that...
Rachel: We were trying to get her to put up Lawon or Kalia who will be best friends with anyone who is HoH. Get ready Shelly if you get HoH next week..
Shelly: She can try...
Rachel: The thing is if Jordan stays in the game... it will come down to me versus the two of them (Jeff and Jordan)
Shelly: Everything in my mind says this is very logical.

Shelly: So if I can get Adam, then we have the four with Porsche?
Brendon: Yeah.
Shelly: I'll talk to him if I can get him up.
Rachel: Porsche doesn't trust Jeff. She thinks he will work with Daniele and toss us to the wind.

Thanks for that Bubbles, it will be interesting if we can find out at some point if she is just trying to squirm her way out of her lies or that she truly believes that conversation never happened.

Yes, thanks, Bubbles! I missed that conversation and reading it reminds me again how Shelly is sooooo shifty. I don't remember a Big Brother player ever telling so many lies to so many different people and never getting caught. She even lies to America in her Diary Room sessions! Will might have played a very sneaky game, but he always told us what he was really thinking in his DR sessions. In Shelly's DRs, she tells America she's with Jeff and Jordan 100%. But all week this week, she's been trying to get Adam to flip and keep Dani in the house. At first I thought maybe she was just trying to tell Dani what she wanted to hear. But she has so unabashedly campaigned for and with Dani to Adam, he can have no doubt at this point that her loyalties do not lie with Jeff and Jordan. (Interestingly, he has not shared this with Jeff.) So far, Adam does not seem to be buying it and still seems dead set on voting out Dani.

But the editing of the TV show has me mystified. They have made the whole Shelly thing very confusing. You would think if she's really playing this terrific, sneaky game, they would let her talk about it in the DR and let America in on the game Shelly's playing.

Shelly is certainly not the same player we see on the CBS shows. Her game is respectable for what she has been able to accomplish and steer people, but as you say Starfish, she doesn't include America in on her game, with Will you felt like you were playing along with him and you shared the secret of the truth.

If she could win a competition she could be one of the immortals of BB.



On a "What the Heck" note, can it really be true that Rachel is pregnant and all this time together for her and Brendon earlier this season has led to the first child conceived in the BB house?

If so, is she drinking alcohol and how much?

Why hasn't anyone gotten to the bottom of this yet.

No, not to be graphic, but her period isn't even very late. That was totally made up by the mean girl alliance, including Shelly, who make up crap about Rachel 24/7.

I like the way you put that, Bx, that we felt like we were playing along with Will ~ that really describes the fun involved in both his seasons. And it's for that reason, I can't get on board the Shelly train and say she's playing a great game ~ I don't even know what kind of game she's playing! Never have I been so confused about a houseguest's game as I am Shelly's. After that kinda-psycho scene with Kalia, Dani, and Poor Lawon in the HOH room when she accused them of lying and demanded to see their pupils, I'm not sure she's not just playing a psycho game.

Since being nominated, Dani has threatened that her good friends in production will quit their jobs if she is evicted. This made Shelly very paranoid, and she told someone (Adam, maybe? can't remember) that she was going to the Diary Room to express concerns that Dani was being given inside information because she has friends in production. Immediately after coming out of the Diary Room, Shelly began trying to convince Adam to switch sides and vote to keep Dani. She said she had suddenly realized that she would not be able to beat Jeff and/or Jordan in the end. This has led to rampant speculation that the folks in the Diary Room had somehow swayed Shelley to join the mean girls. Risky move, saying that to Adam, who could run straight to Jeff and Jordan and repeat the conversation. But he hasn't. And again sneaky Shelly isn't busted.

As for Rachel, I would not be surprised if she's simply late due to all the stress involved in the game and eating slop. We don't even know being late might be normal for her. All I know is she does not to seem to be worried about it. And, yes, Bx, she has been drinking this week.