We begin the week with the Wall HoH comp complete with Jury members all fighting to get back into the game. No one wants this to happen, but they have no choice; well, Natalie and Michelle would love to have Bridgette back in the game, but otherwise, no one wants anyone from the Jury back in the house. Then we find out that four hours before the eviction, Paul, in his own words, “totally blew up [his]game” by starting a conversation with James in the kitchen about them having each other’s backs during which, Michelle pipes in to tell him that oh yeah, Paul totally had James’ back, Paul, the biggest lair and manipulator in the house, he’s the biggest baby in the house… Oh, Meech… So, Paul hates being interrupted even more than I hate being interrupted, especially when he’s not even talking to the person who interrupted him, from what I see, because he immediately comes back at Michelle. She can’t talk to him that way, he’s never done anything to her to warrant this attack from her and blah blah blah – he calls her the C-word, and I think we all know what word I’m talking about. He calls her a bully, says she talks down to people, she’s a terrible person, she likes to kick people when they are down; finally, Michelle has had enough and she goes to the Safari room.
Paul continues his conversation with James saying that he didn’t have a problem with James until he was on the block. This begins a whole back and forth between James, Paul, and Natalie who says that James had nothing to do with her noms, it was all her and they do not make decisions together because she was really mad that he put Bridgette on the block. Then James adds to the conversation, to further reiterate how much he and Natalie are playing their own games, that Natalie really wants Victor to stay this week. Nicole, in the Bathroom listening, is shocked to hear this, as is Corey who has been present in the kitchen for all of this. Natalie isn’t afraid to own up to it either. Yeah, she wants Victor to stay, she’s been trying to convince James to vote that way, but James doesn’t know what he’s gonna do. Well. Nicole is not happy about this at all and in the DR she doesn’t understand Natalie’s crazy strategy of wanting Victor to stay when she’s supposed to be in an alliance with her and Corey. In Tokyo alone with Corey, Nicole asks if Natalie for real said she wants Victor to stay, he confirms that she did and now Nicole is worried, BUT she doesn’t need to be because as we know, James did not keep Victor, he voted him out of the game.
And we’re back to the HoH comp. Nicole really wants to win to make sure she and Corey are safe because she doesn’t really trust James or Natalie since they were thinking of evicting Corey last week. Da’Vonne really wants to win too, buuut… She’s doesn’t like heights or water and this comp involves both and we don’t see how long she was up there, but it’s not that long. Both she and Zakiyah jump off of their platforms at the same time. After 25 minutes, Corey can’t hold up his weight anymore with the Wall tilted the way it is and he jumps. After 33 minutes, Bridgette can hang anymore and she’s out of it. So it’s down to Paulie and Victor and despite an amazing recovery, Paulie the Wall defeats Paulie after 48 minutes and Victor is back in the game, AGAIN! But he’s not winning HoH this time. Victor drops from the wall after 50 minutes. So it’s down to Paul, Nicole, and James and they all want this HoH BAAAD. After an hour and 35 minutes, though, Paul slips leaving Nicole and James to battle it out and let me tell you folks… I watched this comp on the live feeds and I was yelling at James the whole time to stay up there, to not listen to Nicole whining about wanting a letter from her mom because she hasn’t gotten to hear from her family at all, but um… You won the first HoH, Nicole! Sure, it’s been awhile, but you did get a letter from home. Anyway, James really wants to win this Wall comp because he’s a beast at the Wall comp, buuut after and two hours and four minutes, he gives in to Nicole and lets her have this HoH.
So, obviously, James only dropped after making a deal with Nicole to keep himself and Natalie safe, Paul feels okay about Nic being HoH too since he’s been cozying up to her lately. Michelle is the only person who is really worried, but James and Natalie might need to be worried since Nicole is considering going back on the deal she made with James. She remembers that Natalie wanted to keep Vic and vote out Corey. After the comp in the UK room, James asks Natalie if she’s mad, she says she’s not, he’s a grown man, he knows what he’s doing. In the DR, though, she tells us that she is disappointed that James didn’t stick with the comp since it would have been his fourth wall comp win. So Natalie IS worried that she could be sent home this week. Up in the HoH room, Vic and Paul are meeting with Nicole and Corey to solidify an alliance. Nicole sees the benefit of sticking with the boys rather than Nicole and James and as Corey points out, they did get evict all their friends. Nicole says that the boys are also really strong and they would rather go up against the best to win this game. As I tweeted, though, Dr. Will isn’t playing in BB18 so no one in the house can beat the best. 😉
Time to drop the Care Package. Corey wins it… I call shenanigans, but who cares. All he gets is a jock strap and the BB Bribe and its kind of the worst care package. Nicole immediately threatens to put him up on the block if he doesn’t bribe her not to and LOL it’s all fun and games. Both Corey and Nicole are hoping to use this bribe in the best way to benefit their game, even though Corey jokes about using it to make someone do something stupid and silly. Nicole is like, no, dude. Later in the Bathroom, James is telling Natalie that she trusts Nicole and Corey and doesn’t think she needs to go up and talk to them; he doesn’t want her to risk getting nervous and saying something that could turn Nicorey against them. Later in the HoH, Paul and Vic join Nicorey. Nicole reveals that her target is Michelle, she really wants her out of the game, but she needs a pawn because she doesn’t want to give Natalie and James any suspicions that she’s not working with them anymore. Then the four of them agree that they will be #TheFinalFour, like, that’s the name of their alliance, and everyone feels good about this group. At the nomination ceremony, Nicole lives up to her word and nominates Michelle and Paul because “they are both a threat to [her]game”. And Meech isn’t crying! She thinks Paul is the target…
After the nomination ceremony, James and Meech chat in the Have Not room. James lets her know that she and Natalie’s target is Paul, not her, and he fully believes that Nicole wants Paul out too, BUT, that is not the case. Nicole isn’t telling James and Natalie the real plan so they will not suspect that she is now working with Vic and Paul. Up in the HoH, Corey asks if he should bribe Michelle not to use the Veto if she wins it, but Nicole isn’t sure what they should do. Paul joins them and they discuss how the Veto should be used and Paul points out that no matter what happens, the line will be drawn this week. The best scenario for them is Victor winning Veto and taking Paul off so Nicole has no choice about putting up Nat or James as a replacement. Nicole does want to keep Nat and James in her back pocket, though, just so she has them as an option if needed. The Have Nots are revealed next: it’s Corey and Victor who can also enjoy squid and seaweed and it’s the WORST extra Have Not food of the entire season. After Paul torments Nat with a squid, it’s time to pick players for the Veto. Nicole draws Victor, which she’s happy about since they have that whole plan if he wins. Paul draws HG choice and chooses Corey, which raises some red flags with Nat, James, and Meech later. Michelle draws James and James is happy to have the opportunity to keep the noms the same so Paul goes home, hopefully…
Before the comp, Michelle expresses her concern to Nat and James about Paul choosing Corey; she’s pretty sure she’s the target this week. She just knows something is up with those four – Nicole, Corey, Paul, and Victor – She just knows it. What if they are going to pick the three of them off one-by-one? Great job for figuring this out, Meech! James says if that’s the case, he’d be the first one gone. Natalie tells him to win that Veto. Upstairs, PVCN, which is MY alliance name for Paul, Victor, Corey, and Nicole, are pretty happy with the Veto pick. They are worried that Paul’s pick will rise suspicions in NJM, but they had that falling out so it makes sense to them for Paul to pick Corey. They all feel pretty good about things as long as Michelle or James don’t win the Veto and it’s the Counting Comp! And it’s all Christmas-themed so you know Corey is loving this. There are actual REINDEER… Or animals that look like reindeer because my mom says they are not actual reindeer, but who cares – they look the part enough to draw Corey’s attention away from the Veto and towards all the Christmas stuff around him. So we all know how this comp so here we go… Round One, 77 Nutcrackers, both James and Nicole earn a candy cane since they were both only one number away from the Nutcracker count. Victor is furthest away from the correct answer of those that didn’t fold sooo there goes that plan! Round Two: 513 Carrots. James is eliminated and Nicole gets another candy cane. Paul would have gotten a point if he had stayed, but he’s folding until Michelle is gone. Round Three: 1879 Nice List Names. Corey guesses 1,000,000,000 and stays so Nicole will definitely survive the round and hopefully win her last candy cane, but she doesn’t win the point because Michelle was closer to the actual number so it was actually a brilliant move by Corey since Nicole would have been eliminated. Paul would have gotten the candy cane if he had stayed though… Round Four: 139 Teddy Bears. Nicole wins the point and the Veto!
After the comp, in the HoH room, Nicole tells Corey that she didn’t realize what he was doing with the billion names thing, but oh man was it sooo smart. And since they won the Veto, they can use the Bribe for something other than keeping the noms the same. Victor joins them after a bit and they celebrate Nicole’s win then Vic lets them know that Paul may start talking because he’s a little paranoid, but to trust them both because Victor knows that Paul, like him, is 100% dedicated to this alliance. Vic says he’ll go get Paul and bring him upstairs, inconspicuously, and as soon as he’s gone, Nicole tells Corey that they COULD take a swing at one of those boys this week, they can do whatever they want, they have all the power. Corey knows… He knows. And Nicole knows that her family is sitting at home screaming at her to get one of them out; Corey says to be the best you have to beat the best. Nicole says that you have to take out the best to be the best too… Downstairs in the UK room, James and Natalie notice that Victor is being distant with them this week. Natalie thinks he’s hiding something; James has noticed those four getting close, he is paranoid about it. It sucks because they voted Victor out like they wanted them to do and now they are all buddy buddy with him. Both James and Natalie want to stick to their Final Four deal with Nicorey, James wants it to be a #BattleOfTheShowmances, but Natalie doesn’t know that it will be… They could be buttering up Paul…
After a fun segment with Paul and Vic in the Safari room during which they talk about how much they miss female company, they pretend to make dating videos, they talk about themselves and blah blah blah… Michelle is in bed in the UK room all frustrated about being nagged to “not obstruct her microphone”. She’s just sooo over the microphone, the house, the game. Natalie enters and tells her to hang in there, Michelle doesn’t soak it in, she’s not in a good mood at all and she’s ranting. She thinks she’s ugly, she hates Victor, and lol. I’m sorry, Meech, I know the house is a pressure cooker, but this segment is hilarious. We all have those moments, Meech… We all have those moments… Upstairs, Paul joins Nicole in the HoH room to let her know that he trusts her, like, a billion percent, he’s only been acting all unhappy and stuff to keep up appearances around James and Nat. Paul has an idea, though, a way to think ahead and use her Veto strategically with next week in mind. He thinks they should really rile up Nat, James, and Michelle by having Nicole take Paul off the block, put Natalie up, but still send Michelle to Jury. It’s a way to get Natalie and James all rattled for next week. Nicole does not see things the way Paul does. She thinks he’s just trying to get off the block because he doesn’t really trust her. She knows she has to make the right choice with this Veto because it could cost her half a million dollars. She chooses not to use the power and either Paul or Michelle will join the Jury this week.
Eviction episode time! Paul is very happy that Nicole didn’t use the Veto, it speaks volumes because she could have easily used it and put up Victor, but she didn’t and now the boys are totally solid with Nicole and Corey. They totally trust her and she says she trust them. It’s still all in Nicole’s hands, though, because the votes are totally split. James and Nat are going to vote to evict Paul and Victor and Corey are going to vote to evict Michelle so it’s going to come down to Nicole breaking a tie. Michelle just knows it. After the ceremony in the UK room, James, Meech, and Natalie talk about things then Paul joins and blah blah blah. James says to Paul that he should know that obviously, James and Natalie are voting to keep Michelle. Paul points out that Nicole is the one in charge and they all know who she wants out this week… Later around the kitchen table, Vic, Corey, and James are discussing his Bribe; James is willing to throw the HoH comp if Corey bribes him to do it, buuut… That’s not what Corey is going to do. He joins Nicole in the HoH and tells her about James offering to throw the HoH comp for $5,000. They find it shady that he’s willing to throw a comp this far into the game and figure that the only reason he would do that is if Victor was going to vote out Paul because… Yeah… Um, it’s just shady and it doesn’t help they see Victor talking to Michelle and stuff. But really, James just wants some money in his bank account, and Nicole is just being paranoid. She and Corey still agree that bribing Victor to vote Michelle out is the best thing to do with his care package advantage. And of course he’s happy about it because he was going to vote Michelle out anyway and now he gets $5,000 for doing what he planned to do all along. And while they are making this official with Victor, Natalie is downstairs begging James to go upstairs and investigate what is happening up there…
In the next segment, the HGs get messages from home and it’s super emotional for Paul and Victor; everyone loves hearing from their families and it’s great. Then we get a closer look at Victor’s family and friends and learn about their struggles after Hurricane Katrina and, like, I totally want to go to Louisiana to hang out with Victor’s people because they look like a totally fun group. After all that, it’s time to vote, but first, Paul makes his plea for everyone to be Friendship and keep him in the house. Michelle, well, she’s obviously nervous and her “please vote for me to stay” speech is not nearly as entertaining as her exit speech because duh – the vote comes down to a tie and duh – Nicole votes to evict Michelle and omg… She reminds the house again that Nicole is the one to target, but in speech says that she is coming after Victor if she stays because he’s a beast, then, as she literally walking out the door… Michelle says that Dan Gheesling is her cousin-in-law. WHAT??? No, it’s not. And Michelle’s interview with Julie is great so I highly recommend watching the episode if you missed it, MOM, you can watch it at CBS.com very easily since you have ALL ACCESS… There will still be commercials because I’m not paying more money for us to NOT have commercials. 😉 Love you, Mom! So Michelle is joining the Jury and omg, Paulie must be losing his mind in the Jury house right now. And the HoH comp is the Egg comp so this is where we end things this week.
