When we left off, it wasn't looking good for Donny. There was a last minute scramble by Frankie and Caleb that almost turned things around. Before you get too excited thinking Frankie suddenly became actually TeamAmerica or TeamDonny, I think on his part this all came out of DR hints. And before anyone gets too excited about DR manipulation--I don't think he was given any special info; just that he realized from the way things were phrased that he'd look better if he tried to do something for Donny. And before we get too excited about anything at all, remember Derrick's around. Derrick wanted Donny out, so there was no flipping allowed, and Donny trotted out on a 5-0 vote. He had a perfect chat with Julie. He was emotional and sweet, and also made it clear he was on to them all. He'll make a great juror.
There were a few worthwhile moments on the Thursday show. First was Julie's "coded message" to TA, or more specifically Frankie, that it was an OVERWELMING NO on his stupid play. Frankie and Derrick talked later, and Frankie knew it was all about Donny and that America would have rather see him saved. Frankie then basically told us to all go fuck ourselves, that he IS TeamAmerica and we would "learn" to love him. (That's an overwhelming no on that one too.) The second great moment was video messages from home. Cody (who is not a "pretty crier", btw) got all choked up over his, as did most of them to a lesser extent. Derrick's message from his wife and daughter brought many viewers to tears as well. Little Tenley's talking a lot more than she was when daddy left, and that really hit him hard.
Next it was out to play HOH and it was the BB staple of sliding on goo and racing to fill some container with liquid. Victoria immediately became irrelevant in the comp, but the cameras loved her so we got lots of shots of her falling, cartoon-running in place, and of her near empty snowman head. Derrick was also not a contender, so he decided to go for the side-prize of $5K and 5K "hollas". It was a fairly close race among Caleb, Christine, Frankie, Nicole...though it was clear from about the mid-point that either Caleb or Christine had it. Caleb called on his inner soldier/cowboy/whatever and pulled out the win.
It was a foregone conclusion that Nicole would be nominated. King Derrick wanted to actually target Christine, so when Caleb suggested her as the sit-beside for Nicole, rather than ensuring Victoria played in POV, that worked out great. So Nicole and Christine went up, and many of us out here were hoping Nicole would win POV and Christine would go. But, of course, Christine won POV, because that's the way this season goes. The comp was messy - they all came back covered in colored paint. It was something about colored wires, and apparently Nicole came in second. And for some reason that may or may not make sense when we see the comp, Cody is stuck in a dinosaur costume for coming in last in the comp.
So again it seemed the week had been decided and it was only Saturday. Victoria would go up in her we-can-get-her-out-later spot, and Nicole would go back to jury. But there's been another glimmer of hope. Caleb's started wondering if it's not a good idea to get Frankie out sooner rather than later. Caleb's worrying that if Frankie wins the next HOH, he'll decide to take his shot at the guys and that he's actually trying to get to the end with Christine and Victoria, as they'd be easier to beat. Caleb first talks to Derrick about this. Derrick isn't worried about Frankie targeting him so he continues to push for Nicole to go. I honestly think it's better for Derrick to get Frankie out now. Though he's right that Frankie's not after him, this way Frankie goes to jury, but pissed off at Caleb, locking in Frankie's jury vote for Derrick. Because Derrick also needs to keep a sharp eye on Caleb. A few weeks ago when Rachel stopped by the show and told Julie she thought Caleb was the one person who had a shot to beat Derrick, I wondered what kind of crack she'd been smoking. But the fact is Caleb's been winning comps and sending most people off to jury with nothing but love for him. Derrick's got tons of goodwill in the jury, but with Caleb's comp record, he could have an edge.
Anyway, back to the backdoor Frankie plan. Next up, Caleb checks in with Cody, who is all kinds of on board with the idea. Derrick joins in and though he continues to "play devil's advocate" he seems to realize that the boys have made up their mind and eventually sort of gives permission for the plan. About that time Frankie comes up to HOH and they have to kill the convo. I wouldn't call it a set plan by any stretch, but it's a distinct possibility.
Here's the problem with Frankie. He started out as a stuntcast, but as long as he was keeping his famous sister a secret, he was bearable. He had his annoying habits (the stupid voices come to mind), but he was no worse than any other HG really. And to the others he was just one of them. But once he "came out" he really became a pain in the ass. He let loose all of his self-entitlement and no longer had to hide the fact that he doesn't give two shits what anyone thinks of him. His vile comments have just gotten worse and worse over the last few weeks. He's been particularly nasty to Nicole, calling her all sorts of names (behind her back of course). He told Caleb to make her a HN this week, despite having told Cody to make her and Donny the HNs last week, and only having done it once himself. When Nicole got upset about having to do it for 2 weeks straight, he said she'd better not come crying to him (as if!) and that he couldn't possibly sleep in that cold room, but she should just suck it up. He's said all sorts of nasty things, a few lowlights being saying Jocasta could go kill herself, and suggesting he and Derrick could both exploit their grandfathers' deaths for game gain. But he hit a real low on Saturday afternoon when he "joked" that Caleb and Cody should get drunk and "take all of [Victoria's] virginities." Cody, Caleb, Derrick and Christine were all there. Derrick made a comment about Victoria's father hearing that and how he (Derrick) would react as a father, but yet he laughed along. Caleb and Cody both also said things about how awful it was, but all through laughter. Christine giggled along as well.
I didn't mean for this post to turn into a rant about Frankie, but that's what happens sometimes. I've always said no one can make it through weeks or months of being scrutinized 24x7 without at some point saying something to offend someone (though Donny may have proven me wrong). But there are lines that should never be crossed. They got crossed a lot last season and Frankie's just hopped over one.
In other news, the Utopia livefeeds started on Friday. When I first heard about this show - 24x7 livefeeds with no interruption for A YEAR - I thought "hell no." Not because I'm not interested, but because I just don't have the energy. But BB had gotten so predictable and frustrating that I figured I'd give 'em a shot. I was hooked within hours, as were a lot of BB livefeeders. This isn't a Utopia blog, so I won't go into what makes them so great....but it got me thinking about what's wrong with BB this year. I've watched every season since BB1 and livefeeds since BB7. There are always ups and downs within a given season and some overall are better than others. But ultimately what I look for in BB is drama and entertainment. And the problem with this year is that with the frickin' big alliance and the same few people running the show every single week we're not getting much of either. And if Victoria goes up as the repl-nom tomorrow, it's just more of the same.
In a late breaking development, ironically, Victoria may have ruined the b-d Frankie plan and gotten herself put up. She told Derrick that Nicole would target Cody if she stays. This is actually not necessarily true. Technically Nicole told Victoria that Hayden couldn't stand Cody (he also couldn't stand Derrick, but Nic knows better than to tell Victoria that). Victoria, being an idiot, thought Derrick would be glad to hear that Nicole isn't after him. But now he can go tell Caleb that Nicole's after Cody and that they have to get rid of her.
P.S. If you do want my take on Utopia, follow me on Twitter @NotReality...