Andrew Goes Down in a Blaze of Glory!

WOW! And may I say again, WOW!

Andrew's exit speech is what exit speeches on "Big Brother" should be! He even bested Annie's week one speech in which she warned everyone to be careful of Rachel and Brendon because they would be this year's Jeff and Jordan. Julie even gave Andrew props for having the best speech she has ever heard on "Big Brother."

Now, I know that there are some people who will say that Andrew did not manage to save himself, so it wasn't really effective but that ultimately did not matter. The votes were already determined and no one changes their mind following the speech. Andrew spoke the truth about pretty much everyone still in the house. None of this sappy, "privilege to get to know you" or "just happy for the opportunity." Andrew laid everything out on the line.

A lot of people focused on him outing Hayden and Kristen, but in his final speech he outed a lot of people, though not all by name. It threw the house into turmoil just moments before the live vote, and best part was that Kristen was basically told to "shut up" by Julie on live TV. How cool is that?

Deny! Deny! Deny!

All the house guests may publicly discount his words. Everyone will deny it. But, by the same token, they all know that what he said about them personally was true, so what if everything else was true? They've got to be thinking about it. Andrew managed a small tidbit about nearly everyone, both to make them doubt and make them believe.

I loved how he outed Hayden and Kristen, who were a little too comfortable in their down low relationship — ignoring each other during the day, followed by heavy duty make out sessions at night. Andrew talked about massages, kissing and more. I particularly loved the "and more" part! The look on Hayden's face was priceless! Brigade members Enzo, Matt and Lane were already wondering what was up between Hayden and Kristen (although Lane was thinking cousins). Well, now they know. Hahahaha!

He directed comments to Hayden, Kristen, Britney, Ragan, Enzo, but he mainly addressed Kristen, who has been a sleeper through most of this season. So far, she's managed to cruise through the season as barely a blip on anyone's radar. Now, if Hayden and Kristen had been smart, they would have simply sat there and let him have his say, and then quietly deny afterward. Instead, both attempted to refute immediately. "Lies, lies, lies."

After the first three votes were cast, a shot of the house showed Andrew still talking. In spite of the outcome, Andrew's words should echo through that house for some time to come. In fact, my guess is that Enzo will be the one to really keep it brewing. He believed Andrew's statements about people talking about his intelligence, and his personality is not one that let's go of things easily.

The goodbye speeches were a bit surreal after Andrew's speech. Rachel, ever delusional, gave her standard, "ain't no one going to get between me and my man." What a complete joke! That relationship is going nowhere outside the house if she sees everyone as a threat to come between her and her man. Insecurity personified!

The HOH competition was the recycled head-to-head competition. Rachel outlasted everyone to earn her place in the HOH room. I did think it was a bit early to have a competition like this because there have only been eight competitions total — three HOH, three Veto and two Have or Have Not. How difficult could it have been? Which leads to the question, just how bad of a player is Kathy?

The saboteur twist is back but it seems a little lame. America chooses who they want to be the saboteur and that person is offered the chance to be saboteur for $20,000. Only a handful would actually do it at this point, but the twist will go nowhere if BB spills the beans again

Like I said earlier, I would much rather watch Annie or Andrew come back to play a role without threat of eviction. They could still participate in the Have or Have Not competitions, but could not play in the veto unless they were house guest choice. In the meantime, they could do subtle sabotage, play out their own strategy and manipulate people with either the truth or complete lies.

The saboteur twist has lacked luster from the beginning and was little more that sophomoric pranks of stink bombs and beeping devices. Saboteurs should disrupt the game play of others, keep them off balance. Instead, they sabotage proved to be only minor annoyances. Now they are bringing it back, but why?

Finally, Matt. I was surprised that even his wife was not on board with his plan to use her imaginary illness, but she sent a letter to help him out? Then, Julie asks if he's afraid that he possibly offended someone? If he's smart, he will take a clue from that and quit talking about the disease. Win on your own merits, or not at all.

But that leads to Matt's declaration that he's the best to ever play. His arrogance is too much. His HOH fell flat. He had the opportunity to get Brendon or Rachel out of the game by nominating both but instead, he put up two of the least aggressive players. Matt considers himself the mastermind but so far, all of the power players remain in the game. He's won just one HOH competition. The Brigade, under his leadership, is quickly turning into the "Four Stooges" as they can't even orchestrate a veto win when they need it.

Usually the live feeds trump the CBS shows in the drama category but not this year. I'm loving the live shows more than feeds! Just wish that Pandora's Box would have included an unevictable Andrew or Annie to wreak havoc in the house, and say whatever was on their minds! Imagine the drama then! If they could not be nominated but

Whyyyyyyyy???

After watching the veto speeches during "Big Brother" this evening, I have just one question for Andrew: whyyyyyyy?

Andrew told Brendon he planned to make a bold move. I suppose, Andrew's bold move could, more correctly, be considered a desperate move. I think he was feeling, and correctly so, that he was running out of options.

Still, he called out Matt and pretty much the entire house, followed by stating directly and boldly that he planned to go after Brendon and Rachel if he stayed. Andrew ended with a direct plea to Brendon to use the veto on him.

Confused? Yeah me too! I mean I suppose it was a bold move. It certainly was an original move. But what was Andrew's motivation?

In going to Brendon prior to his veto speech and letting him know that he was going to make a bold move, I think Andrew was hoping that he would ease Brendon's mind about what he planned to say. I think Andrew was hoping that the Brigade would want to keep him after hearing that Brendon and Rachel were his targets. Deep down, I think Andrew was hoping that Brendon would choose him over Rachel, which falls into the "Ain't gonna happen" category.

Ultimately, in my opinion, Andrew's speech backfired in a big way. Not only will Rachel use his speech to confirm to Brendon that a.) Andrew does not like her, and b.) Andrew plans to get rid of her. Matt, Lane, Enzo and Hayden will view him as a threat because he not only revealed their original plan, but called them on it in front of the entire house. Kristen, Britney, Kathy and Ragan will probably just view him as completely crazy.

Actually, though, if they thought about it, Andrew would be a great person to keep around. He could be the perennial nominee — the one that is always on the block. No one likes him, and everyone will probably think he's burned any and all bridges with his speech. Everyone should start thinking about the possibility of bringing Andrew to the end with them because who would vote for him if he's final two or three?

Maybe that was part of his bold move! If it works, and Andrew stays in the game, he might have pulled off the biggest upset of the game. If it doesn't, well, he was probably going home anyway.

I have to rationalize because I love Andrew. I wanted to see him hang in there until the final three. I would love to have seen this Jewish guy with a bit of a reckless streak make it all the way to the end of the game.

But I still have one question, and this time, it's for Matt: Whyyyyyyyyyyy Matt? Why didn't you just nominate Rachel and Brendon, and be done with it? Why did you have to think you were smarter than the game?

Matt's HOH: What Could Have Been!

What a waste!

Matt's nominations of Kathy and Andrew are hardly earth shaking and, in the weeks ahead, will likely be viewed as a "fail" for the week.

After battling it out in the HOH, Matt found himself facing off against Ragan and Andrew — an unlikely threesome in this first endurance comp. Andrew made some tentative attempts to secure his safety this week, but it really came down to Matt who was already in the throes of planning his own version of the coup! Refusing to deal with Andrew, Matt remained solid and eventually forced Andrew from the game.

Andrew, for his part, put in a great effort. Of all the people on the boards (with the exception of Kathy), Andrew seemed to be the least confident. He awkwardly maneuvered in his short, shorts, up and down the surfboard, until a slight backward movement caught him unaware and forced him down. Great effort!

From that point on, Matt seemed set on nominating Kathy. Why? Revenge? He seems to be genuinely upset that Kathy was the second vote against him but is she worth his HOH nom? Hardly. True, she's got to go sometime, but third week?

BTW, I love the BB recaps when the voice over says, "Matt, the self-described genius." Makes me wonder because "Mensa" members always offer up proof of just how smart they are! Self-described, hmmmmmm!

Matt's HOH reveal was a little bit of a surprise. His wife sent a letter that made it sound like she was recovering from an illness which fed the story that she has a rare disease. I can't help but wonder if it was a very well planned letter. Another hmmmm!

Matt definitely considers himself the brains of the "Brigade" and I suppose when one of the members is Lane, it really does not take much to surpass him; however, Matt's biggest mistake is assuming that he's smarter than the game. The Brigade is hardly going to be happy if Matt continues to go out on his own making decisions. They wanted Brendon and Rachel up, but Matt assumes he can manipulate the game and implement the dreaded backdoor of Brendon.

Backdoors are effective, IF you can pull it off but there are few guarantees in a game like "Big Brother." Matt's arrogance is palpable, and it will begin to grate on the nerves of his fellow house mates not to mention his fellow Brigade members.

The veto becomes so important in Backdoor plans. First off, the right people need to play. Then, the right person needs to win, and finally, that person needs to agree to use it.

Now, if you are a feed watcher, you know already who played in the veto. If you haven't seen it, and prefer not to know the outcome, STOP READING NOW!

Everything that could go wrong, went wrong with the veto challenge. For one thing, Brendon played for the veto. For another, well, Brendon won the veto, ensuring his safety for another week. Brendon would have to be stupid to use the veto and risk Rachel going on the block.

So ultimately either non-player Kathy will go home this week, or non-aligned Andrew. By the looks of things, Andrew is on his way home.

What a waste!

BB Personalities — More Irritating Than Not!

It wouldn't be "Big Brother" without a few irritating personalities! Every season has them BUT season 12 has a bumper crop!

Of course, my first impressions of the house guests tend to change as time goes on, call me noncommittal. There was only one season where I rooted for the same person start to finish — season 8's Daniele Donato. Other than that season, my views of the house guests evolved week to week.

For instance, I started season 10 liking Brian, but within a few weeks of him leaving the house, I could not remember why. Eventually, my favorites narrowed to Dan and Keesha.

Then during 11, I liked Lydia, but not so much after she started hanging with Jessie. Outside the house though, I really started enjoying her interaction with the fans. Plus, I thoroughly enjoy her show with Kevin, Poptalkwebshow. I also really liked Michele during her season, but afterward, not so much.

So this year, my pre-show favorites were Annie and Andrew (just occurred to me if they would have had a showmance, they could have been known simply as "Andrew" :) ). Annie remained a favorite after the first show, as did Andrew, but the first night on the feeds, my impressions of both changed dramatically.

The past few episodes, though, have been pivotal in shaping my opinions of all the house guests.

Annie: Early favorite, but lost favor when I saw her playing to the extreme on the feeds. Last Thursday's live eviction, showcased Annie at her best. Her exit speech was tremendous and anyone listening should have heeded her warning. Her live interview was epic and I saw the Annie that I assumed would have been in the house from the start. I think being the saboteur ultimately hurt her game.

Also an early favorite, Andrew was pummeled by the opening feeds. Then, without allies, he soon became the sad, underdog of the cast. Ostracized by nearly everyone, he's been cruising along and very nearly being nominated as a pawn last week. In my book, Andrew needs to stay in the house as long as possible because he's the GUARANTEE that there will be something else to eat during slop week because slop is not kosher. I <3 Andrew!

Tied for the top spot on my most irritating people list is Brendon. I'm all in favor of him showing a softer side but, good grief, what's up with him? He cries like a baby and then turns to accuse Brittany of the same thing? Plus, his showmance with Rachel just makes me say ugh as they crossed the line to daily sexual escapades that sometimes are interrupted by the indomitable Kathy. His redeeming quality? He likes Andrew.

Oh my eyes!

A word about showmances. Do these people really feel that they will find a "life partner" in a house with only six or seven members of the opposite sex to choose from? The choices are usually made even narrower by sexual orientation or age. I mean I understand the infatuations but not the potential for long term commitments. Jeff and Jordan, you say? Well, there are exceptions, but until reach the alter, I'm going to remain a bit skeptical.

May as well address Rachel here. She's quite possibly the most irritating person in the house, but I'm still thinking tie with her showmance partner, Brendon. From her voice that's like fingernails on the blackboard to her laugh that makes me cringe, she's the total irritating personality package! She's kind of an ultra version of BB8's Jen Johnson. Unfortunately, those in control of the feeds assume that we want to see every moment of the Brendon and Rachel's budding romance!

Britney is actually the one house guest who has risen a lot in my opinion. Her witty commentary about Rachel's HOH room was terrific! Loved her comments during Wednesday's episode: "Every time she (Rachel) wears a short skirt I feel like STDs have gone airborne!" Plus, I love her Rachel impersonation, so that's an added bonus. Then, her goodbye message to Monet is destined to become a classic moment! I hope she makes it to at least the jury.

Then there's Hayden. Sorry Hayden, but not a big fan. Maybe it's the "Brigade" or maybe it's his genuine sense that a foursome can make it to the end. Hayden also looks a little "off" in my opinion. I keep thinking Tarzan when I see him and not in a good way either. :p If his "third grade crush" is uncovered, how soon until the other three Brigade members question his loyalty?

Matt has put me on a rollercoaster — I've liked him, not liked him, liked him... there's a definite pattern developing! It's been pretty up and down. I think it's his arrogance that turns me off. His willingness to be put up as a pawn reminded me so much of Dustin from BB8 when he volunteered to be "the courtesy flush" to Evel Dick. Matt has the potential to go far but he should have eased off the accelerator a bit this past week.

The biggest trouble I see with some contestants is that they really believe that they are smarter than this game. Instead of simply playing smart, they believe they can do almost anything, and remain in the game. It's not even good strategy.

I like Enzo's accent, and by and large, I really like his style but his alliance made me think a little less of him, plus his constant and consistent "meow, meow" is a little irritating. Still, he's at least attempting to make the house and game more interesting.

I really have wanted to like Kathy but she seems clueless overall to game play, strategy, and most importantly, when Brendon and Rachel are having sex and three becomes a crowd. Watching her slip into bed next to them time and again as they are in various states of undress under the covers is just plain awkward. I really don't know if Kathy is naive or just a bit crazy!

Some players have yet to impact me in either a positive or negative way. They seem kind of like props in the background to some scenes.

Kristen, Hayden's love interest, is a little vanilla flavored in my opinion, but she might be playing a great strategic came. Push will come to shove if Hayden is faced with voting out Kristen over one of his Brigade members. Right now, my money's on Kristen to come out on top in that battle.

Outside of winning $10,000 Monet barely registered for me except that she was generally the counterpart to Britney's witty one-liners about Rachel. I'm hoping that with Monet gone, Britney will still get off a few zingers.

Lane at his best.

Lane and even Ragan seem pretty one dimensional at this point. Lane does not even know what a "brigade" is and for a time I wondered if he would turn into the male version of Amber BB8. Ragan is smart but a little uncertain. I really thought after Britney's comments during the premiere, they would turn out to be good friends.

I think one of the challenges this season should be morphs of a current player with a past season doppelganger. This could be fun!

Summer of Sabotage Ends Early!

Under normal circumstances, I have to give kudos to the producers of "Big Brother" for reinventing itself and coming up with insanely great ideas.

But alas, this is not one of them! In fact, this year's "Summer of Sabotage" is among the lamest in reality history and completely fizzled out to just "13 Days of Everyday Life in the BB House."

Certainly, the twist did allow for some early fan involvement but the tasks lacked creativity, and worse yet was the list of props that included duct tape and beeping devices. On the other hand, the build up was tremendous, and people were kept guessing right up until Julie announced it.

I, for one, was all over the board in my guesses. Andrew? Too obvious. Brendon? Too obvious. I even went out on a limb to suggest that it was, drum roll please, Kathy. But, instead of her being the saboteur, it turns out that she is just colossally poor in competitions.

Annie the Saboteur

So, when Julie announced that the saboteur was Annie, I was stunned. In spite of considering her a lead candidate early on, Annie evolved, literally, into the last person on my list of potentials after watching her game play this past week.


As the show closed last week, and the feeds began, Annie was in a state of, shall we say, overplay? Whispering here, whispering there, essentially whispering everywhere! Consulting and confiding, and to me, generally not playing the role of saboteur but rather playing the role of the classic, "too eager" gamer. She reminded me of Joe from BB8 or Ronnie from BB11. This strategy simply does not work.

In my opinion, which is all that counts haha JK, :) Annie played the complete opposite of how a saboteur should play. ABC's reality game show, "The Mole," has lifted the role of saboteur to an art form. The players themselves are only confident in the fact that they are not the mole. They admittedly are so unsure that many times their goal is only to complete the final test quicker than anyone else to hopefully avoid elimination.

Annie should have avoided early alliances and friendships. She could have played the field as a floater, but instead, she formed a quick alliance with Brendon and his Cruella DeVille sidekick, Rachel. Once they were on the block, she should have distanced herself somewhat from them. Annie blamed Brittney for starting the rumor that she was aligned with Brendon and Rachel, but it was so painfully clear from the start that she was close to them that it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out the connection.

To me, the first week should be the easiest week to avoid being booted. There are 12 other choices during the first week. Still, maybe the producers should have done something to protect her. Maybe they should have waited to tell the house guests about the saboteur until the first live show.

I can hear Julie now:
"House guests! Some of you may have noticed some things going amiss in the house over the past 13 days. Some of you may have noticed that the clock on the microwave was inexplicably off. Some of you may have noticed the out of order sign on the washing machine. Some of you may have noticed the lack of hot water. Some of you may have noticed your personal items have gone missing. Well, that's because there's a saboteur in your midst!"

Locking the storage room door was lame. Why not just hide some food items? The messages from the saboteur were equally uninspired. Does anyone really believe that there are two people with a prior relationship?

Now What?

So, week one, the saboteur is gone from the house. Problem is, I actually liked Annie. She brought the element of drama to a house badly in need of a little drama. She was interesting to watch on the feeds and I loved her exit interview! Perfect! I also loved her exit speech. I mean really folks, you are keeping a "couple" in the house, and evicting a person who just cut her only ally off at the knees?

The so-called "brigade" should have seen the opportunity to go after their sworn enemy Brendon, by evicting his soul mate and leaving him with the hot mess known as Annie.

Instead, what happened? Cruella Deville correctly answers the tie breaking question right and we have a week long butt kissing session with Rachel. The similarities to season 8 were drawn again during the HOH competition "Majority Rules."


Reaching the end of the competition with several house guests still in the running, Julie asks, "How many gallons of caramel in the pit?" Rachel throws a guess out there that was pure and simple, a guess. There was no calculating involved because it would be impossible in the amount of time allotted, to determine the area of the pit, depth of liquid, that would translate to the number of gallons of carmel. Rachel was off by about 250 gallons. But when she won, it was like Jen Johnson winning during season 8 when she correctly guessed the number of gallons of water the teacup would hold. Extremely random and purely luck!

So now begins Rachel's reign! I predict that Hayden is going on the block, probably alongside Kristin. If they (come on, you know Brendon will be part of the decision making) want Hayden out though, they should wait to put him up until after the POV and try to back door him.

Personally, I want Andrew and Matt to team up; however, Matt is too far ensconced in the "Brigade" to see his way out right now. Still, I want Andrew to survive and would love to see him at the end of the game.

I'm just hoping the producers end the sabotaging for the sake of Andrew. If they continue on, he could take the fall because he's a huge suspect inside the house.

Here's the question though, will they revive the saboteur in another form?

And the Saboteur Is...

Well, the truth is, I'm not 100 percent certain but I am pretty sure who the saboteur is. Well almost, not quite, but pretty sure. How's that for a degree of certainty?

Actually, it's easier to tell who is not the saboteur, and by process of elimination, who the saboteur is. Makes perfect sense to me!

By default, I really think the saboteur is someone who is likely to be off everyone's radar. I also believe it's probably someone who has little chance of winning the actual game, and jumped at the chance to win $50,000.

I think it's safe to eliminate a man from the list of possibilities simply because "Big Brother" has used a male antagonist for the past several seasons. Time to switch it up for BB12!

But just for the sake of argument, let's review the male candidates.

Hayden is definitely not the saboteur. He lacks the pre-knowledge of BB to make it happen, and he's conceited enough to feel that he will go the entire distance.

Ragan is out of the running in my opinion because they would probably not want to lose their only gay contestant to a twist.

Andrew was an early favorite for saboteur, but he's too obvious — both to his housemates and to the fans. His bio hinted at it and his actions have strongly suggested that he might be, but why give so many hints to viewers if he is the saboteur.

Next up is Matt, who also has strong possibilities but IMO, he's one of the strongest and best players in recent history. I doubt if he would risk his own game reputation to play a side game of sabotaging the game.

Of the men, Lane is the most forgettable at this point. When I've seen him, however, there's just something about him that screams, "I'm not capable of being the saboteur!"I know, great reasoning!

Then there's Enzo, who seems to have a huge ego, and I think he, like Matt, would really want to play the game to win.

Finally, there's Brendon who strolled around the house in the dark looking for his toothbrush. Who does that? Everyone else stays put, but he's roaming a dark, unfamiliar house? Again, too obvious, and too easy.

I think BB encouraged some of the players to move about during "unusual" times. Andrew was easy because it was part of his game play to keep players off balance, so he saw an opportunity to play with his house mates and made it happen. Brandon, on the other hand, could have been told, "If something out of the ordinary happens, just go about your usual routine."

Personally, I maintain that the storage room door was locked while they were in the backyard for the HOH competition. Julie did say the producers were helping the saboteur out, and what better way than to not have the saboteur lock the door at all but to have it already locked.

On to the women: Annie stood out on the feeds as being very disruptive, running between various groups and sharing information. Many house guests felt that she was the saboteur, but she seems a little too obvious — the Andrew of the women.

Monet seems a little bland and, if she turns out to be the saboteur, she's the best actress in the world. She just doesn't fit the mold of someone with the potential to sabotage.

Next there's Rachel, who is too, well, Rachel, for lack of a better word. She came to the house for whatever fame she can net and a showmance. Right now, she's too preoccupied by Brendon to be sabotaging the game, in my opinion. I doubt if the saboteur would have enmeshed themselves in a week one personal relationship.

Britney could be the saboteur with her "knee" injury that healed quickly after she was allowed to move on without actually moving on. The only problem is that she did not actually hurt or prevent her team from winning. I also think her age, in this case, prevents her from being the saboteur.

Kristen is the toughest read, and I think she's possibly the one with a prior relationship that the saboteur alluded to in a message earlier in the week. She doesn't give a lot of personal information but she's probably reluctant to go in that direction. She's also bonded with Hayden and I think the saboteur would probably not form a close bond with someone too early in the game.

Finally, there's Kathy who, in my opinion, has the most potential to be the saboteur, and here's why.

First, older women don't generally make it far in the game. Sheilah (BB9) made it to the final three, Renny (BB11) made it to the final five but these were exceptions rather than the rule. Kail (BB8) was out before the jury and Tonya (BB3) left in the first few weeks. So, an opportunity to make $50,000 in the first five weeks might have appealed to her.

Second, her performance in competitions makes her a suspect. She was the main reason that her team failed to win the competition. Her efforts to grab the wiener were lame. She crouched even when jumping with the help of Enzo and Brendon. She didn't even bother to try for the upper part of the bag that would have been less slippery.

Then in the food competition, she got herself mired down in the caramel to the point where she could not even move? I agree that it was difficult, but even Renny made it through a similar challenge.

Kathy looks like she's in great shape, and she should be fairly logical. Rachel figured out that less is more in this case. Rachel is a tall woman who managed to avoid the obstacles by crawling on her hands and knees, making sure that her body did not fully touch the caramel.

Then, in the popcorn, Kathy gingerly tore open the bags. Later, she told Britney that she (Britney) was spared the exhausting part of the challenge by not having to go into the popcorn. Well, okay then.

Next, we have the saboteur putting tape on Britney and Kathy's photos. I think the possibility was to throw everyone off by targeting herself by the saboteur. Obviously, the saboteur would never target herself by placing tape over her face, or would she?

My money is on Kathy for the saboteur. Now watch, it will turn out to be Monet!

Same Formula, Different Season

After weeks of promotion, Summer of Sabotage finally got underway but instead of true suspense and anticipation, it felt kind of like I was watching a re-run.

The premiere episodes of "Big Brother" always have the same "flavor" — a little bland. Why? Because producers rely heavily on the formula-based format, and if it aint broke, then don't fix it.

Julie Chen's back to open the show with the "twist" which is touted to be new but seems to be more of just a re-working of the old America's Player twist. It has potential to make the show interesting, but revealing it to the cast was probably not the best idea.

Meet the Cast!

Then we get to the montage of this year's cast supposedly getting their keys and realizing for the first time they have finally made it into the Big Brother House. Really? Do they really think the viewing audience has a collective IQ of about 90? Is anyone really fooled into thinking that they arrive at someone's place of work (in this case Andrew's) and hide a key in a file folder for him to find in full view of a camera?

Granted, it does give the audience a glimpse into the personal lives of each cast member but it is a very scripted glimpse at best. Personally, I would rather see a few seconds of the video they made to get on the show then these contrived moments.

Monet's opening reminded me of Jen Johnson, BB8. According to Monet, she prefers not to be around anyone who is "gross and nasty." Okay, for the record, show of hands please: who among us prefers to be around people who are gross and nasty? Yeah, I thought so BUT most of don't say it.

Speaking of Big Brother 8, Hayden is totally a throwback to Nick Starcevic. From his strategy of flirting with girls and guys, to his looks and his athletic background, he's totally the reincarnation of Nick. Wonder if his gameplay will work out better? He does not seem to have any prior knowledge of BB.

Still on BB8, Matt kind of reminded me of a smarter version of Eric which makes me think that he's the potential saboteur.

Kathy reminds me of Tonya, BB3, and resident gay Ragan, reminds me of a combination of a few past players (he was wearing BB8 Dustin's grey shirt).

Okay, enough with the comparisons.

Just a few other words about the cast. Rachel stands out for her boobs more than her brains. In fact, her boobs are ginormous and are quite possibly the biggest in the history of the game. I will admit under normal circumstances I don't notice another woman's boobs, but did I mention, they're ginormous!! I even found myself wondering whether her dress would contain her enthusiasm!
The saboteur twist seems a little forced. Letting the house guests in on it definitely heightened the paranoia but I would have preferred to see someone work extra hard to disrupt the flow of the house in a subtle way. More on that later.

But first, the HOH competition. In a house like BB, who volunteers without first hearing the task. Andrew does (which puts him on the saboteur radar immediately). Because of the odd number of players, Julie needs a mascot that just happens to be a hotdog costume for the orthodox Jew.

After the teams are divided, they go into the backyard where a large grill is set up over which hangs a large wiener. We find out that a.) the wiener is slippery, b.) Rachel likes to jump on large wieners, and c.) it was more difficult to hang on to this wiener than say, an average wiener.

After the task, it seemed that the number of candidates for saboteur had risen dramatically. Was it Britney who "injured" her knee while attempting to cross? Could Kathy, who showed a startling lack of athleticism for a deputy sheriff and could not seem to hang on to the wiener, be the saboteur? Could it be Brandon who complained that his teammates began pulling him across really fast and he wanted to go back to the other side? (Ummm, Brandon? Why didn't you just jump off instead of yell at them to send you back????) Or could it be Annie or Monet who both went for the $10,000 prize to be the first across?


Who would have guessed that Hayden would take the first HOH? But he did and it could be interesting having a novice BB player in control during the first week.

Back in the house, the producers decide to help out the saboteur by dousing the lights. Andrew and Brandon are seen wandering the house. Brandon apparently employs robotic like qualities when the lights go out as he immediately went for his toothbrush. Really.

Andrew, on the other hand, saw the opportunity for some fun and games and tried to pull a few pranks. It made him seem like the obvious suspect when the lights came back on and the storage room was locked, but I think the room was locked by production staff, allowing the saboteur to remain seated on the couch.

All in all not a bad start to the season, but I'm kind of wait and see on the twist. My money is on Matt as saboteur right now, but that may change in the coming days.