Hi, guys! Let’s all be in a good mood, because Big Brother is VERY ENTERTAINING tonight, for the first time in what feels like years. Ever since the backstabbing of Janelle, the house has been more or less chaos, with no strong alliance sticking together, and I just love, love, love it. The veterans are dropping like flies, no one can trust anyone for more than a week, and it’s just vintage, fantastic Big Brother. Plus: every single person cries tonight! Hooray!
Let’s not skip to the second half of the episode, even though I REALLY WANT TO TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS. (And let me say here: I’m very glad I don’t follow the live feeds, because this was an absolute delight to watch unfold on TV, with no prior knowledge.)
Anyway, I’m getting too excited. Let’s start at the beginning. Previously: Ian was good for a while, and then he started to really fuck up. Also: Boogie was voted out before the jury, which means we won’t have to see him until the finale night, and that is simply the best. We watch the patented Big Brother Black and White Flashback of the nomination ceremony, as Frank nominates Dan and Danielle.
Danielle sobs in the Diary Room, thus breaking the seal on her tear ducts, which will be flowing uncontrollably for the next 43 minutes. Dan, however, is already planning to talk Ian into using his special second Power of Veto this week to save him. But Frank is working with Ian and Britney now, so things look pretty grim for Dan.
THIS IS MY SERIOUS FACE, PLEASE TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. VERY SERIOUS HERE, GUYS.
Britney, however, has a master plan! And it’s actually pretty great! She explains to Dan that if she or Shane win the Veto, then Ian can use the Veto on Dan, she and Shane can use the Veto on Danielle, and then the whole Quack Pack (ugh) will be safe for the week and Frank will have to waste a week getting rid of Joe or Jenn. For me, this is just the best news ever, because it’s time to cut out the dead chef/punk weight in the house. Who would have thought the little girl who got duped by an idiot like Lane could come up with a good plan?
Solidifying my conviction that Britney is running the game, she sits Ian down, explains her plan, and then tells him that if she or Shane don’t win the Veto, it’s time for them to cut Dan loose. Everyone start a slow clap for Britney (she’s going to need our support later, spoiler alert).
Veto competition time! Like, five minutes into the episode? First sign that actual SHIT is going to go down. Finally. Frank picks Shane, and Danielle picks Britney, which is just perfect. Dan gets Houseguests Choice, so he picks Jenn because he assumes she sucks. Dan Diary Rooms that for Britney’s plan to work, he needs to throw the competition, but UH OH looks like Dan ISN’T throwing the competition, because he doesn’t trust anyone and winning is the only way to keep himself safe. Lots of back-stabbing happening already in this episode, and I am very pleased.
Jenn: “We look nice and casual, right?” Joe: “Absolutely. Not like we’re trying too hard at all.”
If you like it, spread it!:
36 Comments
I do not watch the live feeds but I do love to read about them on the TVGasm Forums! I knew about this ahead of time but it was still brilliant to watch it happen! The look of dawning horror on Ian’s face as it was unfolding during the Veto Ceremony was priceless, to say the least. I wanted either Ian or Dan to win this whole thing – now I only want Dan to win. What a brilliant (and gutsy) move on his part. Loved the recap, btw.
It WAS wonderful wasn’t it! I couldn’t wait to see this episode and to read your recap just so I could read your reaction. I always look forward to the diary room reactions too. Priceless! Isn’t this turning into a really fantastic season!
I’ve read a lot of these and thought a lot of them were hilarious. BUT, this recap is the best I’ve read since early iii stuff. Freakin hilarious.
Anyway, as the poster above mentioned, there are different things to like if you watch the feeds or watch the Showtime show. While I think it would have been cool to be surprised by the strat side of if, I also got a kick out of already knowing what the end result would be but not knowing the details. I catch the Showtime show for a few hours a week so I can figure out who get’s nominated and vetoed and so forth, but filling in the blanks when I only get minimal info is pretty entertaining too. For example, I knew that Dan did some kind of funeral thing and it shook up the house and got Brit nommed but there was no way to know what kind of kooky shit he would pull. That cat is diabolical!
Anyway, great, great recap. Super f.unny.
Great episode! Great recap! But can someone explain how the whole Quack pack would have been saved by Dan throwing the veto competition to Britney or Shane. If Britney had won Shane could have gone up and if Shane had won then Britney could have gone up (assuming that the two vetos were used on Dan and Danielle)
Great recap, and I don’t even care for this program!
That pic of Boogie is NEVER going to get old!!!
I read the live feed recaps on the forums, so I knew this was coming, and I felt a sense of impending doom the whole hour. I love Britney, so I’m sad she’s leaving. Especially because of the yay-hoos still left in the house.
Good call on Jenn’s slow-talking. I had to mute the television during her 15 minute veto oratory. It was sooooo painful to listen to. I think it irritates me more, because she acts like she’s been some kind of sleeper cell the whole summer, when in fact, she has made it this far because NO ONE KNEW SHE WAS THERE. Ugh. I know that its great for people who are really manipulative and skillful players deserve to win, but I have a hard time separating that from my belief that whoever I think has the best personality deserves to win. Shane has the dull stare of a cow…all the time. Danielle is a pathological liar. Joe is ok, but hasn’t really done anything other than scream. At least we knew he was in the house, though, unlike JennCity. Dan already won, and Frank annoys me because he was Boogie’s cling-on for so long.
I’ll climb off my soap box now.
Although Danielle learned of Dan’s treachery later in the episode, to use someone’s emotions like that again and again is heartless and cold. I hope that Danielle uses Dan to get further in the game and then tosses him to the side as soon as she can, in favor of someone like Jenn, Ian, or Joe, whom I sure she could beat in a Final 2 or 3 endurance challenge.
Why didn’t they show any clips of Dan during his twenty-four hour quiet time? We got scenes of Danielle/Britney, Frank’s punishments, etc, but none of Dan during the punishment? I bet the whole ‘funeral’ plan was hatched by Dan with Grodner feeding Dan knowledge that Jenn/Frank had aligned, because that whole plan hinged on the fact that Frank could convince Jenn to use the veto. Why would Dan think Jenn would use the veto at all, had he not known that they were working together? I give it up to him for the plan working, and although entertaining, there seemed to be a lot of bullshit thrown in the mix to keep Dan in the game.
Easily one of the funniest recaps I’ve ever read. Dan FTW!!!
@smango, there’s something to be said for waiting for the right time to make a move. Jenn has started to create alliances now and make moves that could potentially earn Jury votes. Maybe her strategy was to be a non-entity type ‘floater’ until Jury since the Jury members are actually deciding the winner. I have to give it up to someone to be that quiet and non-existent and then make their impact known in such an unexpected way when it actually starts to matter. I think her strategy was actually quite brilliant, considering two weeks ago she was being compared to last season’s Adam with deserved derision. Now, she has actually won a competition, was instrumental in ridding the house of a returning player, and is part of a power alliance (unless things change in the next week).
In terms of Frank – fool me once shame on you – fool me twice shame on me – fool me every fucking week. Dan will nominate/back door him as soon as he or one of his minions safely can. Preferrably without getting Frank’s blood on his hands as is his wormy M.O.
Boogie was obnoxious but Dan is self righteous – not sure which is less appealing?
@Derek: Dan has been shown to observe a lot of what goes on around him. I clearly saw Jenn nod toward Frank when she won the Veto and run over to him to give him a hug. Dan could have clearly deduced from those actions that they were working together. Plus, they were both teammates on Team Boogie. I think that this is the one time there isn’t any producer manipulation…
I’ll be pissed if Britney gets the boot, but I’d be happy if Dan won again. He’s the best player ever — even better than Dr. Will.
If the producers are gonna manipulate the outcome, why can’t they keep the only person who makes this show entertaining from getting evicted? Dammit! Don’t they know that some of us are already committed to recapping this drivel, and thus have to watch every week? If I spend the last two weeks of BB listening to Chef Shouty and Dan try to out-outside-voice each other in DR while Jenn does nothing and Frank hard blinks at me then I’m gonna be PISSED. Arg!
@Derek Hazelton you forgot that there’s a live feed and that there was a camera on Dan the whole time being tortured in that room! what you saw on your tv was nothing compared to what he had to endure in there! With all the drama going on this week, do you really think that they would waste precious minutes by showing Dan in that room?? The “producer manipulation conspiracies” have gotten way out of hand! Not all big game plays are producer manipulation…
WTF with Britney’s plan to have Dan throw the comp to either her or Shane? She seemed to be implying that Ian could not use his veto on Danielle if Dan took himself off the block, but that’s not true is it? Even if that were the case, there was no guarantee that Britney or Shane would have won if Dan simply rolled over and gave it up. Britney was acting like Dan winning points was like stealing them from Shane and her.
@OCrazy: Yes, I actually do believe that they would’ve shown Dan in the room because they’ve done that each and every season they’ve done the punishment Veto competition. And, I don’t watch the Feeds, but I do know that they cut the Feeds when the Hamsters discuss certain things, have “forgotten” to turn the Feeds back on after certain competitions, and other miscellaneous “mistakes” that have impacted the feed viewer experience.
@Pikey578: While I believe Dan is intelligent and a master of the game, I also am not stupid enough to believe that he was able to deduce the Jenn/Frank dynamic so quickly, stew on their nodding to each other for twenty-four hours, without some producer manipulation. GMAFB.
“The second drawing looks like a guy holding his dick.”
If you’re going to write a sentence like that please include a screen grab so we can decide for ourselves.
[BTW: Thanks for the picture of the carrot. Yes, it looks like a carrot.]
I wasn’t as impressed with Dan’s “great” plan as others seem to be. The people in the house are idiots so it’s understandable that they would fall for it but I was thinking it was WAY OVER THE TOP to be believable. What I did enjoy was watching Ian and Britney’s reactions during the veto meeting. That was fun. And Frank being disqualified was somewhat shocking because I can’t remember anyone ever being disqualified before PLUS I figured the producers of the show wanted Frank to win now that grandpa Boogie has left the nest.
@crankyguy: The full plan would only work if Britney won the Veto. Then, she would remove Dan from the block, and Ian would remove Danielle. Shane would go up on the block next to Joe, but it wouldn’t matter, because Britney, Ian, Danielle, and Dan would all vote out Joe, thereby keeping the entire Quack Pack (ugh ugh ugh) safe. If Dan won and took himself off, Britney would have gone up in his place. And if Ian had used his veto to save Danielle, then things would have gotten even WORSE for Britney, as Shane would have replaced Danielle. So it made sense why she was so upset he was ruining the plan, but, also, she should have anticipated that Dan would try to save himself at the expense of everyone else, because who wouldn’t do that?
@Derek Hazelton: I actually don’t think there was any producer manipulation in this plan. Dan has proven he knows how to play this game better than anyone since Dr. Will, and HE actually manipulated the producers to even get on the show in the first place, exaggerating his religious background to fit into their typecasting, only to surprise them when he turned out to not be an evangelical sent on a mission trip into the Big Brother house, but just a really good, low-key player. I wouldn’t assume he figured out that Jenn and Frank had made an alliance (even though she did make it pretty obvious during her victory celebration), but I’m sure he simply assumed that Jenn is such a floater in the house that Frank could talk her into doing whatever the HoH wanted. I think that’s where the whole plan stemmed from, not from any producer nudging. It just made the convincing-of-Jenn easier than Dan even anticipated, what with her new alliance with Frank. I’m willing to give the producers the benefit of the doubt on this one.
@Danny, thanks. I had forgotten that Britney winning the veto would make her safe from being put on the block. She apparently did not trust her new side alliance with Frank to protect her from that. Nevertheless, Dan had to try for himself, because Britney had a nonchalant “Oh, well” attitude about Dan going home if Britney or Shane had failed to win the veto, and obviously, they WOULD have failed because they both sucked at it.
@Derek…Being a non feed viewer & someone that caught the show towards the end of the veto comp, I have to tell you…you would have to be blind, dumb, or Ashleigh not to figure out that Jenn was working with Frank after she won that veto lol. She looked directly at him when she was given the choice to take the ticket or lose, after she won she not only nodded @ him, she winked, gave a not so sly thumbs up or pointed at him or some stupid crap like that, & that hug was wayyyy to long for a casual congrats from a guy she’s not working with. If I saw it after only watching a few minutes of them interacting, I can imagine that those 2 brain trusts weren’t able to hide that fact from JOE let alone Dan, who is, rather you like him or not, a brilliant player. I do plan on going back to catch the beginning becuz I’m sure she prob gave herself away even before the comp. If Brit & Ian et all DIDN’T know they were working together, I’m sure it’s because they deemed her too insignificant to worry about.
Grodner has done any and every thing to manipulate this game for years, even to the point of giving Frank a houseguest choice coin before veto picks, but I don’t believe she had any thing to do with this & that’s why he’s THE best player yet. You really think that anyone had to come up with ‘Dan’s BB Funeral’ for him? That’s CLASSIC Dan!
This was the most hilarious recap I have ever read!!! I read this first and then went and watched the show, and that made it even funnier!!! Love it!!!
In the annals of Big Brother greatness, there’s Dan Gheesling, Dr. Will Kirby, and everybody else. Making this even more impressive is that these people have already SEEN Dan in his first season cry and manipulate people whenever he needed to. What a treat to watch this guy play. Almost anyone else who ends up in this situation just gives up and either acts like a complete asshole or lays in bed sleeping all day. By the way Danny this recap was amazing and totally worthy of this classic episode. Until I looked at the byline I thought Flipit had written it and I can give you no higher compliment than that.
Amen Jason R. Dan’s incredible. If he wins it, he gets my vote for best BB player in history. If he doesn’t, I can say he’s tied with Dr. Will.
This plan was 100% Dan, no producer’s manipulation EXCEPT for having Ian go first in the ceremony. There was a bit of manipulation there – as they called it the “second veto” through out but made him go first. If he had gone second Britney would be safe.
@fancyface, I don’t watch the feeds either, but I will certainly give Dan his due for the move. I think his move is awesome, from a strategic point of view, but I just don’t think it was all him. I don’t know…. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but if clips of the other punishments were interspersed throughout the filler part of the episode, so should Dan’s have been. As I mentioned above, I do seem to recall punishment scenes from previous seasons (Britney/Brendan shackled together comes to mind) being aired on television. By not showing Dan, it seemed suspect to me. Maybe the producer interference wasn’t as blatant as I think, but if @zerocool is accurate, then the producer interference did impact the veto ceremony to keep Dan’s plan in motion to make great television.
shane should be smart and pull a jesse..take Danielle up in the hoh room..cover em up and just do it…thats what mr.muscle “jesse” did back when he was on..Danielle is ready to be popped open like can of pringles..enjoy a little in the big brother house..if the hoh room is rocking dont come knocking……poor ian..he could get fucked by dumb dizzy blondie and so instead he’s going to get fucked by a guy…frank!!!! ssshh!!! joe is hiding…lets pretend he’s not there…joe must think hes at home watching big brother………………………see ya britney…………dont come back!!!!!!
@Derek – according to the feed watchers, the feed camera was on the solitary confinement. It just didn’t make the live show. It seems feedwatchers even believe that he came up with this on his own. I also agree with fancyface that Jenn working with Frank was very obvious.
Good point@zerocool, I wonder if they knew Ian was going first. I guess they could have put Shane up in that case but still interesting to think about.
Awesome episode and Dan has definitely cemented himself amongst the best to ever play. This is when Big Brother is worth the 3 times a week commitment.
@wow, I concede the point, then.
@JasonR..I think that’s EXACTLY why I think it’s so awesome. People that watched him WIN the game with this strategy were too dumb to see it coming. I mean, I def don’t give the newbies much credit, but he even got one over on Boogie & Janelle (Brit doesn’t count because she will always be ‘she who doesn’t know how to play the game’ to me)
@Derek…Could be. Maybe they showed him going in & playing with the ‘turntables’ and thought that was enough to see because they only showed little snippets of the other ones too. They literally had SOO much to pack into this epi & feeders say they still left out the best parts.
@Alice…”shane should be smart…” you lost me right there. He SHOULD be smart but bless his heart…he’s just….not. lol & YESSS! Most of Joe’s shots shows him looking like he’s watching BB on tv instead of actually playing the game lol. Mouth open & everything!
I believe Dan came up with this on his own. He’s the only player — apart from Dr. Will, perhaps — who’d I’d give credit for coming up with a balls out plan like this. As much as I like to watch Britney, she’s a lightweight and clearly doesn’t stand a chance. I’m still hoping she’ll pull one out of the hat thought.
Anyway, Dan didn’t need to know Jenn was working with Frank — all he needed to do was tug on her heartstrings with his speech enough to get her to use the veto on him. He’s surely figured out she’s a marshmallow (and a jive-talking idiot) beneath that ruff n’ tuff exterior.
I really hate Jennshitty and her attempts at cool-speak. Do people truly speak like these days? If so [making sign of blowing my brains out].
what i don’t understand is why Frank didn’t tell the producers he was not going to do the punishments if he was eliminated from the challenge for a rule I am guessing was not clearly explained. They would have shown Ian explaining that rule if it had really been said. On that note, what happens if a player refuses the punishment? Are they kicked out of the house? People cheat all the time when a half-not but they only get yelled at by the voice in the sky.
Have to run, and still haven’t read all the comments, but I just had to say:
adVADGtage . . . heh, you said vadge, heh . . .
@Carol. If Frank hadn’t taken the punishments, they would have given him a more “real” punishment like they did Jenn(?) a few seasons back when she blatantly started breaking the have-not rules. Probably an auto nom or something like that. The minor cheating on have-not isn’t a big deal to the producers I figure, but arguing with them about getting eliminated for clearly cheating would certainly bring down the wrath. As for the obvious editing on Ian reading the rule about what exactly was cheating, I’ve read several times over the years that the challenges on BB and, especially, Survivor take hours longer than anybody would think by watching the show. Much of that time is spent going over dozens of specific rules and safety precautions that never make it to air. So they could just pluck that specific rule off the tape and edit it in. They would do the same thing if somebody got hurt in a challenge mostly just to make things clear to the viewers without bogging the show down with tons of boring rules recitals.
Responding to the other folks about the producer manipulation stuff; I don’t think they did anything shady with Dan in the techno room if the live-feeders don’t which is what previous comments here suggest. Still, they should have shown some of it since it was kinda brutal from what I saw on Showtime. Basically the same stuff the army does to terrorists and hostage situations where they blast the music in constant intervals so that it jars you every time. Funny to watch. I do, however, think there was a certain amount of manipulation with the order of the Vetos. But these shows always leave that door open so I don’t hold that against them (unlike giving Frank the houseguests choice, which was lame). I figure it’s at the producers’ discretion to pick and choose certain challenges to benifit their hopes for the show and switching up orders falls into that category for me. Also, fyi, several of the houseguests have talked about thinking the order was shady on the Showtime show, so they may not be quite as clueless as they sometimes appear to be. Maybe just a tiny bit less…
@Carol – they did show Ian explaining that any helping between the competitors would mean disqualification. If anything it gave away that someone was going to cheat b/c they usually don’t show the minute details of the rules like that.
@Wow…You’re right. Danny even pointed it out in the recap, right? Foreshadowing @ it’s finest lol
I recently went back and watched early seasons of BB on youtube. Back then, when more than one houseguest had to get up and speak or do something, such as give their please-don’t-vote-me-out speech, Julie would say they go alphabetically. I assume that still stands because every Thursday night when the two noms give their speeches it is still done alphabetically. Ian would go before Jenn in that case, so no manipulation there.