Catching up with Big Brother 16, aka House of Crazies

Ah, summertime. That time of year when it’s way too hot to go outside, so what better diversion than CBS’ perennial “social experiment” Big Brother to while away the hours? This year’s sixteenth edition brought some new changes to the game, and one big change for the viewers at home — this is the first season the show is being broadcast in high def! Reportedly three years in the making, the house is full of more cameras than ever, giving us some new things to see. I have to say, the house looks fantastic in HD.

After last year’s extremely controversial cast, the producers seem to have picked a group this year that’s a bit more fun … although some racist, homophobic tweets discovered from House Guest Caleb prior to the show’s premiere have thrown a little bit of a dark cloud over him, making viewers wonder when and if that side of him will come out on the live feeds. The rest of the House Guests seem to be quirky and almost lovable (for now) with outspoken, blue-haired feminist Joey, mom of three Brittany, nerdy super fan Christine, dopey underwear model Cody, faux surfer dude Hayden, bow tie-wearing minister Jocasta, Gomer Pyle’s long-lost cousin Donny, and pink-haired Frankie, who wastes no time in reminding us (but not his fellow House Guests) that he’s Ariana Grande’s brother, in the mix.

The game has also been shaken up a bit this season. The premiere took place in two parts with eight House Guests being introduced on night one, and a second group of eight joining them on night two (although we’re not sure how much time had passed in real time before the second group joined but the house already looked “lived in” by the time they arrived). The big bombshell dropped on the second group was that there was already an HoH in charge … and there would also be a second one from the new group. And each H0H would nominate two House Guests! This “twist” will probably go away in a few weeks as most twists do.

A new competition has also been added called Battle of the Block, in which the four nominees fight to get themselves off the block. Whichever pair of nominees wins is safe and the HoH who nominated them is de-throned. The first Battle of the Block featured Paola (aka Pao Pao) & Donny (nominated by Caleb, the second HoH) and Brittany and Victoria (nominated by first HoH Frankie, Ariana Grande’s brother). It seemed to be a simple task: each nominee sat on a swing (the amazing set looked like something out of The Great Gatsby with everyone in 1920s gowns and tuxes) and had to swing towards each other transferring water from a fountain to a large martini glass, passing the liquid to the other nominee’s glass, and that nominee had to dump the liquid into a large vase filled with plastic balls. The first team to get enough liquid into the vase and have one ball fall out won. Sounds simple enough, especially if you’ve ever been a child and played on swings. Pao Pao obviously has not had that life experience (see picture above).

Her miserable performance secured her and Donny’s place on the block and de-throned Frankie in the process, making him eligible for eviction as well should one of the nominees win PoV and save themselves. Frankie made sure to form a tight alliance with Caleb, and then found himself as part of an all-guy alliance with Devin, Caleb, Cody, Derrick and Zach, The Bomb Squad. Devin had already formed an alliance with Donny, The Double D’s, but he’s already trashed that … unbeknownst to Donny.

But a week in the house has already driven some of the House Guests insane. According to Wednesday’s show (July 2) it was Day 6 in the house. Nicole, who looked like this year’s Aaryn but thankfully has a personality 180 degrees away from her, is convinced there is someone else in the house with them. Specifically … a ghost. In one of the funniest moments ever on Big Brother, Nicole was convinced something was touching her and was freaking out her bestie Christine, leading them to both come shrieking out of their dark bedroom, startling their bewildered House Guests in the kitchen. Christine is rethinking her alliance.

The craziest of the crazies is Devin, the devoted dad who said in his intro piece that he’s hoping to hook up with some of the ladies in the house. Nice message for your daughter, dude! Anyway, Devin seems like a nice guy even if he is a little full of himself. He looks good and he knows it. But he’s turning into someone who makes the House Guests want to sleep with one eye open. A minute after forming The Bomb Squad, Devin practically ran to Amber and Christine to tell them about the guy alliance and make them honorary members! Without telling the rest of his alliance! And he’s convinced his former alliance member Donny is a deep cover military expert putting on a good old boy act (he’s not). Even in a moment of real sincerity from Donny, Devin thought he was giving an Oscar-worthy performance … until he changed his mind and felt the sincerity was real leading to some emotional turmoil for Devin. The only thing that’s certain now is that Devin’s wild theories and mood swings have put a giant target on his back. But there is a bigger target in the house right now.

And that would be Joey. Joey (rightly) assumed there was an all-guy alliance in the house (minus Donny and Hayden, for some reason) and tried to rally the girls to form an alliance. Of course, two of the girls she approached are honorary Bomb Squad members and they refused to commit to any alliance. Which I found strange. None of the girls in the house wanted to form an alliance with Joey. I’m usually against anyone forming an alliance week one because those often turn out to be misguided (Devin and Donny) or just fall apart quickly (the first eight in the house formed The Crazy Eights and the four girls made a side alliance, El Cuatro — neither of those seem to have stuck), but it had to be obvious that there was a guy alliance that the girls would want to combat — even if two of them were with the guys. Everyone has side alliances!

It’s a bit maddening that the girls don’t seem to be interested in protecting their best interests, and Joey was ratted out for her efforts, confronted by Caleb Godfather style, and promptly made the replacement nominee when “super soldier” Donny won PoV and removed himself from the block. Tonight is the first live eviction and it seems pretty clear Joey is the first out … despite the fact that she was the first House Guest chosen by viewers to be part of the top secret three-person Team America (Fuck YEAH!), another BB twist that has imploded before it ever began. Hopefully the first week was just a sample of the crazy entertainment to come over the next three months and the house won’t descend into the awfulness that marred BB 15.