blindside denied

After all the planning and plotting and intention of blindsiding TeamBoogie, it ended up that it didn't matter in the least. The extra twist to the coaches joining the game was that there was no eviction this week, and everyone got to play in HOH. Julie said it's a reset of the game, as if it's Day 1 all over again. Of course, that's not really the case because they've known each other for a month and alliances and animosities have formed.

None of the coaches surprised me with their choice, but it seems Britney and Janelle are both denying hitting the button. For whatever reason people seem to believe Britney. I haven't heard Dan come right out and admit he hit it, but everyone's assuming and he's not denying. On top of it, apparently the exchange between Boogie and Dan in the DR hallway was Dan telling Boogie that Frank would go if there was a vote, so hitting the button was the only way to keep him in the game. This has caused all sorts of consternation. FrankBoogie are mad that Dan didn't tell them sooner (he admitted he found out last night; said that Danielle had made a promise he was unaware of until then). Brit and Shane are in deny-deny-deny mode, and told Danielle to do the same. Since it came from Dan, Danielle denying it is pointless. Dan told Boogie they'd talk at some point and he'd explain everything. I seriously think Dan can fix this.

Anyway, after a non-vote and a pointless package about Sid Vicious, they all trot out for HOH and one of the best endurance comps we've see in many years. No one was taking anything for granted. Boogie was the first to go, realizing early on that his body wasn't going to hold up. Joe, and then Jenn, went shortly after for similar reasons. Ashley claims to have slipped, and who knows with her? Dan jumped next, and I think he was trying, but I also think he intended all along to throw the comp. Frank came off next; I think he slipped, but with his size he wasn't going to win it. Shane was in a similar boat and held on much longer than anyone could have expected, finally jumping in tandem with Wil. Janelle jumped a little bit later, leaving Ian, Britney and Danielle to fight it out.

Everyone expected Ian to win endurance easily and for a while things looked good. He's been taking cold HN showers for weeks, so the water wasn't a big deal at first. He's little and short, so he could hold his position fairly well. He rocks and bounces a lot all the time, so he kept his circulation going. And he wanted it. By the time he gave up, he was shaking like a leaf, and had already slipped a couple of times, once spinning around and putting his foot on the neighboring perch, which he was afraid was going to DQ him. Apparently the producer told them that since it wasn't intentional, he was still good (like disqualifications are usually for intentional acts? Well, whatever. See yesterday's entry re: BB fairness). But in the end, I think coaching made all the difference. Dan had promised Danielle he'd give her a coach's pep-talk once she was one of the last 3 and he gave her a great one. He also gave Ian a reasonable pep-talk, but not with quite the same passion as Danielle got. As they got down to the wire, Dan stayed on the sidelines keeping Danielle up. Meanwhile Boogie was inside pow-wowing with Frank. I couldn't help but notice that the one guy who said he wanted to keep coaching was leaving one of his players to the wolves, and the one coach everyone agreed had hit the big red button was still cheering his girl on. But that's Dan.

Anyway, Ian finally agreed to drop after Britney and Danielle both promised him he would not be nom'ed or repl-nom'ed. Then Britney quickly handed the comp to Danielle. Dan ran out and lifted Danielle off the plank, and practically tackled her in celebration, resulting in some screenshots that could really give a person the wrong idea. But then Shane jumped on top of her and gave her the reward she really wanted. (Shane's made clear to everyone from Danielle to Julie Chen that he's really not all that in to her, but things like this keep hope alive in her junior high school girl heart.)