Mystic Gemini's BigBrother POV
It's week one and they're already flipping enough to make me a little dizzy. Despite the assurances from all quarters that there was no way Russell would use the veto, Lydia went up to JBT last night and made a pitch to save herself. I didn't hear it firsthand, but apparently she managed to get Natalie to decide that saving Lydia was the thing to do. So next they started talking about who should be the repl-nom. Lydia was basically ready to give up anyone, and since JBT is already after Jeff, but can't actually nom him, they settled on the next best thing....Braden.
Everyone got up this morning and something set off an explosion between Russell and Jeff. There was a lot of screaming from Russ about Jeff's lame-ass attempt in the veto comp (trying to pass off "technotronics" as word...for those who care, it turns out it is the name of a band; though it's unlikely Jeff knows that). Jeff keeps saying he knows he can't spell, but whatever. Russell keeps calling Jeff a "homo" and Jeff finally asks him what his problem is with gay people and says "if you want to call me a 'bitch' just do that."
Then Russell goes inside and Jeff, who apparently wasn't done yelling, redirects his ire at Natalie. She's mildly confused as to how this suddenly became her fight, but that doesn't stop her from going off. Jeff's main point is that he's not really part of TeamJock. Nat counterpoints that anyone can come up to HOH to talk to "us" and in fact, "people are walking in and out all the time without knocking." Jeff tosses out that they chose to nom Lydia without telling him, and Natalie comes back with "didn't you say to put up Chima? We did that!" BTW, Chima was standing about 3 feet away at the time...it's not clear to me if Jeff knew that. He admitted he did say to nom her, but a minute later he starts to backpedal a bit asking why they're suddenly trying to pin Chima's nomination all on him.
So these explosions pretty much firm up the backdoor Braden plan. Russell goes around telling just about anyone who will listen about the plan. Chima and Lydia both know, and Chima gets assurances that she's even safer against Braden than she was against Lydia. Pretty much everyone other than Jeff, Jordan and Braden are soon in the loop.
That's when Ronnie starts his rounds. He pulls Jordan into the asylum room and starts a whisper-fest with her. After psst-psst-psst'ing for quite a while, he leaves and she goes on to chat with Jeff. Apparently she hadn't quite understood the plan and thought he was telling her that Braden was next week's target, not a repl-nom this week. Jeff gets that and clues her in. They both agree that they can't lose Braden. Jordan seems to have forgotten her BFF Lydia just a bit...though she does say later that she hopes Lydia doesn't "fall" for the line from JBT that they're saving her b/c she's already got the votes to stay. Now, a.) that's not necessarily true, and b.) the b-d-B plan was sort of hers to begin with.
Jordan trots off and tells Braden what's going on. A bit later JBT notices he's moping and figures out he knows what's going on. They start making the rounds trying to figure out who spilled the beans. Someone (I think it was Chima) suggests that maybe no one told Braden, but rather someone told Jordan who told Braden. They all start to suspect Lydia. Which is, of course, stupid b/c why would Lydia risk the plan that's going to save her? It doesn't take them long to start suspecting Ronnie.
Russell/Jessie/Chima call Ronnie in and confront him about being the leak. He denies everything, and swears he didn't tell Jordan, and suggets that maybe Lydia did. Russell goes off for a check-in with Lydia, who equally swears innocence. She points out that it doesn't benefit her at all to tell anyone the plan, and could hurt her if it gets out and therefore doesn't go forward. It takes a bit of convincing, but eventually Russell pretty much believes her.
Meanwhile, in the Jessie Is An Idiot storyline, he goes on talking with Ronnie, and Ronnie ends up telling him that he's an internationally ranked debate champion and really good at persuading people to his point of view. Jessie hears that and it somehow convinces him that he can trust Ronnie. (Uh, Zippy? Really?) When Jessie later tells Russell this, Russ asks "doesn't that seem like a red flag to you?" No, Jessie thinks that the fact Ronnie told him this means he's not using that skill against Jessie. Russell raises an eyebrow at that, and Jessie goes "no, no, trust me...I notice red flags when they're red flags I notice...we can trust him." (Seriously?)
[In a side Jessie Is An Idiot story....last night Chima told everyone about a horrible crime she survived (documented, true story) and how the guy who attacked her was captured due to her description plus DNA evidence. She said "yeah, they did like the CSI stuff..." and Jessie cuts her off and says "and you know what, when you call the cops they always say 'what do you think this is, CSI?' and they won't help." He goes on to talk about calling the police when his car had been vandalized and not getting help from them. And then I have to give major grace points to Chima....she responds by saying that she totally understands his point, that her car was once vandalized too, and the cops told her they couldn't do anything without proof even though she was pretty sure she knew who did it. And she doesn't say what I would have: Really? You're comparing a car to rape and attempted murder?!]
So back to the Dork....at his first chance, he runs to Jordan and tells her he needs her to "swear on her life" that if she's asked she won't tell that he was the leak on the b-d-Braden plan. She gives him the always popular "pinkie swear" that she'll keep quiet. A bit later Ronnie goes to Jordan and Jeff and tells them not to trust Lydia, that she just sold them (read: him) out to Russell. J&J totally buy it, and when Jordan says she's going to confront Lydia about it, Ronnie tells her "no, no, don't say anything to her. You can't trust her." He then walks off and immediately spins a line for Lydia that attempts to cover his butt if they do.
And to top of his day of duplicity, Ronnie comes back to Jessie and says that he went and talked to Jeff and asked what he thought was going on. Ronnie reports that Jeff said "Well, I know I'm safe, Jordan's safe and Braden's safe, so we're just gonna float through to next week." I didn't see anything to indicate that Ronnie even spoke to Jeff. But regardless, Jessie bought it completely and went and relayed it to Russell saying "and that's coming from Jeff, so Braden doesn't know about the plan after all." I'm pretty sure Russell wasn't buying it, but he also has decided he doesn't care. At this point the plan is still to veto Lydia and repl-nom Braden. But that could easily change before the ceremony (which should be tomorrow).
