T. Green
From the previous column, we found out that Nicole and Donny were the new HOHs, but we didn’t know how the competition concluded. For the tiebreaker, the remaining five had to calculate how long the competition had lasted up until that point. Donny and Nicole were the two closest, so they were the winners. Zach feigned being pissed, but was secretly happy he didn’t have to be HOH two times in a row.
This is the first week that no members of the Bomb Squad or the Detonators have HOH power. The people in those alliances are worried that one of their own could get picked off. Derrick and Frankie were feeling sour that Donny bailed on the last Team America mission, but since Donny was HOH, they weren’t going to target him.
For the HOHs, Donny wants to consult with Hayden to get more information about the rest of the house. Nicole thinks this is a chance for her to make a big move in the game. She’s starting to catch on about some things. Obviously, she notices that the number of girls is dwindling. She also recognizes that Frankie is a major threat, and is pondering the idea of backdooring him.
If you take Nicole’s words at face value, she will backdoor Frankie if she has the chance. But I’m not convinced that her heart is 100% in it. She knows that it’s a risk that will kill her game if it backfires. The HOHs considered every possibility with the noms. Even if the power of veto wasn’t used, one of the strong guys would still be on block and would hopefully get evicted
A funny thing happened on the way to this week’s nominations. Zach went to Nicole and Caleb went to Donny, with both “volunteering” to be put on the block. The reality was that neither of them wanted to be put up. Zach was using the reverse psychology method. Caleb is confident he will win BOB or veto and go after Donny if he’s put up.
Turns out, Zach and Caleb got what they wanted, so to speak. Nicole nominated Zach and Jocasta, while Donny put up Caleb and Victoria. The thinking was that by mixing weak players with strong players, it wouldn’t matter who won Battle of the Block. In my opinion, the real bold play would’ve been for the HOHs to nominate four guys and all but ensure that one of them would go home. Backdooring Frankie could still work however.
Caleb didn’t have much faith in Victoria, but he was still going to try his best. This BOB was called Domino Effect. Each team had to set up a chain of dominoes that led all the way to the buzzer. The hook was that three punishment dominoes would have to be part of the chain. Only the winning team would have to do the punishments.
Jocasta and Zach were the first team to tip over the dominoes, but their chain broke partway through. They had to run back and set up the dominoes again. That gave Caleb and Victoria the opportunity to catch up and win.
Even though Victoria and Caleb won and took themselves off the block, they also lost. They had to be chained to each other for 48 hours while wearing Adam & Eve outfits. Both had to eat slop for two weeks. Finally, Victoria had to shave Caleb’s head (they could’ve did it the other way around, but let’s get real here).
Nicole was now the only HOH, and Zach and Jocasta remained on the block. Donny hoped that Nicole would stick to the plan. Of course, the veto competition would affect a lot of the decision-making as well.
