No good ever comes of sleeping during BB...when I went to bed last night around 12 AM BBT (which is 3 AM for me), things were pretty much as I left them in my last entry. The PityParty was hogging the golf/possible veto practice stuff and the wash/dryer, and hiding various things belonging to Jeff/Jordan/Russell.
There was one incident around 10 PM BBT that I hadn't mentioned. Turns out it may be critical....
Chima comes out to practice the golf thing, and she's not wearing her mic. Nat tells her to go get it, she says no. Nat/Lydia say they'll get it for her, she says no. Kevin brings it out, Nat thanks him, and runs it over to Chima. Chima takes it and immediately flings it into the hot tub. Nat says "oh my God, Chima" and runs for the pool skimmer to save the drowned mic pack. Nat/Lydia rescue it and dry it off, Chima still refuses to put it on, and goes sans mic for a while. Eventually BB tells her there's a new one in the store room, and someone (I believe Kevin, again) gets it for her, but she still refuses to put it on.
There was also another incident where someone allegedly mentioned dropping red M&Ms in Michele's drink. Michele is highly allergic to red dye. I didn't hear the comment myself, and I'm not sure who made it (or even if it was really said). But a bit later Lydia comes back from the DR and says they are doing a "health and welfare check" on the HGs. Threatening the physical safety of another HGs is an established reason for expulsion...it's what got BB2 Justin expelled. BB4 Scott was expelled throwing furniture...his anger had to do with being in the house with his ex-g/f, though the violence was directed at the "house" not at her.
They hold out until after ShowtimeTime, but shortly after BBAD ends, the feeds go to extended fishies. They come back around 2:40 AM BBT, and Chima is GONE. The HG chatter doesn't do much to clear up what happened, just that she's gone. Nat/Lydia have a conversation about whether it was planned or not based on the fact that Chima didn't pack. The HGs also mention that Exec. Prods Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan were there.
So, it's not clear if it was Chima's choice to leave or if the prods kicked her. She's been a thorn in their side for a while. Her week 1 eviction speech forced an audio-drop and she was "spoken to" about it. She's repeatedly said they're treating her unfairly, slanting comps against her, etc. She threatened to go ballistic on live TV if the coup was used, forcing them to make their live show not so live. And now she's deliberately damaged a somewhat pricey piece of production equipment. It's always been in the contracts that the HGs will be charged for damaged/destroyed property, particularly microphones. I hear those mic packs go for about $1500, or about 2 weeks stipend to a HG. (update/correction: apparently they are more like $5000.) I don't know that anyone's ever been fined, but all previous mic damaging incidents I can think of were accidental.
On the "she left on her own" side of the argument, the HGs keep talking about how poorly she reacted to being nominated, and there have been some mentions of "trying to talk her into staying." And Michele has made a few comments about feeling guilty that her noms drove Chima over the edge.
We'll probably never know the whole story. A lot of speculation out here is that her departure will be sold as leaving for "personal/family reasons." If they go that way, they won't elaborate. And if they go with she was expelled for rule violations, they'll show the mic drowning and leave it at that. I would say that given Chima's outspoken nature and her role as a "freelance journalist" that we'd hear her side at some point. But I strongly suspect that CBS would negotiate some sort of gag order in return for not suing her for breach of contract.
So what does this mean for the show and for us? Excellent question. My immediate thought was that they can easily keep on schedule simply by cancelling next Thursday's double-eviction/fast-forward. But what about this week? Does Michele make another nomination and have us just move forward from there? Will BB re-do the nom. ceremony and say Chima's departure was prior to it? Probably not b/c they may need her nomination as an explanation for her behavior. Unless they go with "family reasons" for her departure. And what about the jury? BB has never had a HG leave this late in the season. The first 4 evictees were not sequestered, so no one can be brought back w/o interfering with the "integrity of the game." And to those worried about Jessie returning again: it does BB no good b/c they still have only 6 jurors. Most likely solution to the jury problem is that America will get a vote. More $1/txt msg revenue for CBS, and more involvement in the game for viewers.
Just a bit ago (around noon-ish BBT) Michele was called to the DR. Eventually the feeds went to the control room FOTH, and on the monitors it looked like Mich in the DR, then walking out with a card to read calling the HGs to the living room. Could be POV. Earlier Michele and Lydia did have a quick convo that kind of made it sound like Lyd was nominated. Mich said something about how she gave Chima a chance to play for POV rather that back-dooring her, and Lyd said something about "yeah, if I leave this week..." Though Lydia's comment could have just been an "if" in general.
The only other thing I've got for you right now is this exchange between Kevin and Michele this morning, which makes it sound as if Chima was expelled:
Kevin: When you get expelled, they ban you from like Viacom, CBS. I told her--BET, MTV [others]--gone. You know she wanted to be a host.Michele: The point of my nominations wasn't to ruin her life. Kevin: What's weird is her picture is still in color. When you're gone they take you off the website and everything, as if you were never here.
LATE BREAKING UPDATE: I was just about to post when the feeds came back from trivia, and it seems BB is going to re-do HOH, the new HOH will select 2 new nominees and we will proceed from there. Chima's picture is now grey. I'll be back when we have more info. Hopefully they won't keep us blocked until Sunday, though I wouldn't put it past them.