something fishy

So after all the drama and scurrying last night, there was nothing left to do but play the veto. They picked players this morning and it sounds like Shane drew Jenn's name, Boogie and Frank each got HG choice and chose Ian and Ashley. Before the comp Frank pulled Ashley aside and spilled all about the Sickening Six and Dan's Double Dealing and explained to her that the plan was to get one of them off the block and get Shane to repl-nom Dan.

Meanwhile the Duckie Alliance met upstairs and Shane promised that he would never b-d Dan. Dan says he'll continue to be the fall guy, but again reiterates that he's taking the heat to protect Ian, so Ian better fight for the POV. Ian promises he will. With Ian out of the room Britney had suggested that they tell him if he doesn't fight for the POV he'll be the repl-nom. Dan says not to threaten him that way, just to say that the repl-nom will be whomever they feel is the least likely to vote the way they want. When Ian asks about repl-noms, Shane/Brit say exactly that, and ask whose vote he feels the least secure in. He throws out Jenn's name, saying that he has no idea where she stands.

There is a loooooooooooooooooong blockage for the comp, and when the feeds finally come back it's clear things have been done for quite a while. The BY is all cleared out and no one's talking about the comp. We finally deduce that Frank won, when Ian says to Dan and Danielle "so, Ashley will go up and we'll just vote out Boogie?" Later on the POV necklace is finally spotted around Ted the Bear's neck, confirming Frank's win. Dan's moping around, but he assures Danielle that it's all an act.

The weird thing is that any time any of them start to talk about the comp at all, we get sent to the fishtank. At one point, Ashley's sitting on the BY couches with Frank and Boogie and asks if Frank can see her in the mirror. He says yes, and we get fish. I found that very odd. A bit later Ashley says something to Britney and Shane about Joe saying that Frank and Boogie were "cheating" during the POV. Of course we got fish for that, but it caused a lightbulb to go on for me. My guess is that the cheating accusations had something to do with seeing things in the mirrors, so the minute the feedmasters heard "mirror" they hit the fish button.

Apparently there was also something a little fishy about Ashley's gameplay. It seems the game was the one where they make wagers on guessing how many of a particular item are in a display and then have to fold/stay with their answer. It sounds like it came down to Ashley and Frank, and Ashley folded, giving Frank the win. If I've followed everything correctly (which is a big "if" with all the fishy interruptions) it ended up that it wouldn't have mattered anyway because Frank's answer was closer. But, in Ian's words, Ashley's actions "raised a lot of eyebrows." There was also some mention of some talking during the comp, and "a ruling" from production. Ian also made mention of them all getting "the talk" from the DR. Bottom line, there seems to have been some question as to the fairness of the comp, but Frank winning is an outcome that production's going to be happy with, so the rest of us are just supposed to shut up about it.

Frank staying and Boogie going is actually about the best outcome for everyone. Boogie can go home and stop annoying us, and by getting out before jury he can go home to his kid and not have to be locked up in the jury house for a month. It seems the coaches get their full stipend whenever they leave, plus he's walking out with an extra $16K (w/the coaches' stipend being rumoured to be $20K that puts him above the unofficial 3rd place of America's Fav....not that he needs the money). Frank staying instead of Boogie is better for Shane/Brit since Frank will target Dan rather than them. It also is good for the Duckie Alliance in that they continue to have a big target in the game to keep them from turning on each other. Frank makes a better target than Boogie since without Frank, Boogie probably really would end up teaming up with Dan. The only person it's maybe bad for is Dan. If Frank wins the FF HOH on Thursday, Dan will surely hit the block.

Frank and Boogie also seem to have caught on to Ian's treason. They realized he was up in HOH this morning and it finally dawned on them that he could be their leak. This evening Ian tried to strike up a casual convo asking who they thought would be the repl-nom. They just said they had no idea. He said maybe him, and Frank asks "why? do you know something we don't?" There was tone to Frank's voice that made it clear that the trust is gone.

Ian also talked with Ashley and told her that he thinks he could be the repl-nom. She took the opportunity to ask if he thought all the stuff Froogie is saying about Dan is true. He told her he doesn't think Dan is a bad guy. Britney joined in the conversation, and she said she has no idea what Shane's going to do and doesn't want to know. Britney's going with the ignorance is bliss defense, saying she just doesn't want to get reamed out by Froogie again. She told Ashley that it's all up to Shane, that either he'll take the deal from Froogie and b-d Dan, or put up a pawn, probably Jenn or Ian, to ensure that Boogie goes.

In other news, they got the BB BBQ grill, and Joe is thrilled.