Big Brother - Season 11, Episode 16 Recap

I must begin tonight’s recap with a bit of a confession. Last week I was guilty of hyperbole, but it was unintentional. Knowing that Ronnie would be evicted, along with the unveiling of the “coup d’etat”, I believed it would be a perfect episode.

Yet, it was a bit underwhelming. Outside of a bat shit crazy statement towards Michelle, Ronnie’s eviction was not as fun as I had hoped. And quite frankly, Jeff’s winning the mystery power was so expected that it was truly anticlimactic.

But tonight is another story. There’s just no way tonight’s episode isn’t going to be action-packed. Will Jeff use the mystery power? If so, who will he use it on? Most importantly, how will everybody react?

That last question is obviously foremost on the minds of BB producers, as they made the unprecedented move of pre-taping tonight’s episode. Much of this is obviously due to the constant threats from Chima and others to disrupt the broadcast, but I’d say there’s other reasons that may even outweigh the possibility of bad words making it over the airwaves.

Historically, the BB producers have been pretty unimaginative and clichéd when it comes to the formatting of the shows. I criticize them every week over the predictability of the pacing of the show. The live eviction show is no exception. Outside of occasional packages on the contestant’s families, you can set your clocks according to what happens.

The mystery power throws a wrench into the tight format, and BB producers have historically had a tough time dealing with anything out or the ordinary. The mystery power is uncharted territory for them, as it wasn’t used the prior time it was in play. With this in mind, even without the chaos that it’s bound to create INSIDE the house, there’s going to be even more in the control booth. Prerecording the episode gives them a couple of hours to not only clean up the reactions, but also tie up some production issues.

So here we go!!! Yeah, yeah, yeah - recaps, recaps, zzzzzzz! Let’s get to the good stuff! Polka-dotted Julie Chen sets the stage as she always does, explaining how the mystery power works (as if we didn’t already know). But first…we start with Kevin’s decision to not use the veto earlier this week. Seriously, this material doesn’t need to be aired since it’s all meaningless.

Yes, Kevin, we know you don’t want any enemies, but Lydia says it’s “bogus” he didn’t save his best friend from the block. Chima is obviously happy that Russell MAY be leaving the house.

Russell heads into the bedroom and finds Lydia hidden under the covers. He hugs her, and says that he’s going to lobby for some votes. First candidate? Jessie. Oh wait, it’s not. Jessie’s coming into cheer up Lydia (and maybe get one last handy for the road). As always, Jessie turns it to himself because he’s worried about the “wizard power”. Lydia asks why he’s “psyching himself out”, and Jessie says it’s because he’s lost before.

Outside, Russell asks Jeff what he would do “hypothetically” if he was the wizard. Jeff emphatically answers the he doesn’t know “what this wizard power entails”. Um, yeah. Jeff adds that it’s been the talk of the whole week as we see a montage of conversation about it. Jeff adds that he “love, love, loves” having this mystery power.

Jeff is now sitting in the pool with Jordan as everybody looks on. Natalie says that her and Jessie believe that either Jeff or Jordan have the power, and they’re going to (shocker) actually spend the day outside with them. Are there beds in the backkyard. Jessie plays in the pool with Jordan, while Natalie attempts (key word) to play badminton with Jeff. Uncomfortable!!! Even silly Jordan understands that this is fraudulent. Well, she says it’s scandalous. Silly girl.

It’s now evening, and Jessie is playing pool with Russell, who points out that neither of them can win the finals next to any of the women. Russell says in the diary room that he’s trying to get Jessie’s vote, but Jessie again complains about being “kicked in the teeth” by not choosing him to play in the POV. Russell shows a bit of smarts, though, saying that the only reason Jessie wanted to play was to make himself safe from the mystery power. “Go get Natalie to massage your back.” He goes on about how he can’t win against the girls, and again Jessie complains that Russell chose Jeff over him.

We move on to Russell attempting to sway Michelle in the pool room by saying that with Jeff and Jordan’s votes all he needs is one more. Natalie is in the next room, though, and informs Jessie that the two of them are talking. Jessie shakes his head, especially since he thinks she may have the mystery power. “This may be the end of my game.”

Jessie walks in on the two of them, and immediately starts in on Russell. “Wasn’t it like four or five days ago that he was sitting there calling you crazy?” (Flashback to that scene.) “Yes, it was”, replies Michelle. Now the two of them get into it. Michelle finally leaves to let them argue.

Continuing to move around the house, we now see Jessie in Chima’s HOH bed. Chima hopes that Russell is unanimously voted out. “He deserves what he gets, and hopefully it’s outside with Julie”, replies Jessie. Chima adds that she hopes wants to “dance on Russell’s grave”, and that if “Jeff wants to see me wile animal-style, keep Russell here.” She adds in the diary room that she’s 99% sure that Jeff has the mystery power, and that the person who hates drama will now be in the midst of it.

After commercials, Julie addresses the house. She asks who is nervous, and Jessie, Natalie, and Jeff raise their hands. Interesting. She asks Kevin how hard it was not to use the veto on Lydia. He says he “kind of struggled with it”, but hopes that Lydia has forgiven him.

You know where the next question went, and Lydia says she still loves him despite the fact he didn’t save her. He claps in response. “It can only make us stronger”, she adds.

After Julie congratulates them for making the halfway mark, she explains to them that those evicted will now be a part of the jury house. Yet for some reason, she asks Natalie what is the most surprising thing about the game so far. She says it’s the boredom, which Julie doesn’t believe because of all the tension and drama. “I want to see what your real life is like.” Point to Julie.

Jeff is then asked if this game has been more difficult than he believe it would be, and of course he answers that it is. “(There’s) just all the tension (and) all the downtime…every day is a mind…” “Don’t say it”, pleads Julie!

Interview time over, we get to visit with Chima’s grandmother after she talks about how her family is a group of strong women. Grandma is adorable as she describes her, but it’s her friend Kimberly I want to know more about! Grandma is wise, though, when she is seen watching the arguments with Russell. “You should not get personal.“ Enough with the filler! Let’s get down to the real business!

It’s time for Julie’s HOH talk with Chima, and Julie begins by asking about the dissolution of her friendship with Russell. “I thought we were friends, but he was speaking of me behind my back…it was inevitable that I‘d find out all these things.” Julie asks if she has any regrets about the things she said to and about him, and she says she doesn’t. The final question is about the mystery power, and whether it’s affected her strategy. She says that she basically had to just forget about it, and do what she wanted to do which is to get Russell out.





We go back to the living room, and it’s time to see if Jeff is going to use the mystery power. Jeff stands up, and Jessie knows what’s going to happen. Jordan’s jaw just dropped to the floor. Kevin is relieved that he can’t be put on the block.

Julie asks if he wants to take Lydia off the block, and he then puts up Natalie in her place. He is then asked about Russell, and replaces him with Jessie, who for some ungodly reason takes off one of his shirts! Julie asks if he wants to say anything to the new nominees, and he says “as I learned from both of you, this is just a game. I know you’re upset, but you guys run this house, and haven’t had the chance to feel the block. I have the power, and now you guys got to feel the pain a little bit. Enjoy.”

They both get to plead their case, though, and Natalie says that she now knows she was right to “fear this power…I can’t say anything bad about Jessie. Not only has he been a good friend, but he’s been a great ally. I would love to talk to him outside this house. I’ve been loyal in this house. There are certain people I’ve given my word to, and I have not gone back on my word.”

She goes on, but let’s move on to Jessie. “This was worst case scenario, and the best move you’ve done so far (to Jeff). Congratulations, man. I saw it coming. I’ve been loyal to everybody that I’ve talked to, and I’ve proven it in my actions (Chima nods in agreement). You got the short end of the stick because you chose the world you wanted to choose, and Jordan did the same.” Actually, a nice little speech from Jessie, although he has to be cut off by Julie.

The voting begins with Lydia, who votes to eliminate Natalie. Jordan is next, and chooses Jessie, as does Kevin and Michelle. Russell is the final vote, and his meaningless vote goes against Natalie. Interesting.

After commercials, Julie announces that Jessie has been eliminated. He hugs Natalie, Chima, and Lydia, and the house is quiet as he heads out. Oh wait, he comes back to babble some nonsense. After hugging Julie, it appears that Lydia is taking his eviction the hardest. Wait, Chima is pissed, saying that somebody (Jordan?) “knew” Jeff had the power, and that she needs to have a talk with the producers. Still, not the rage we were promised!

Julie immediately asks Jessie about the mystery power, and he babbles that since America hated him last year, they obviously would choose somebody that hated him this year. “You’re blaming America for not giving you the coup d-etat?” She then asks why he didn’t spend “tons of face time” with Jeff if he thought he had the power. Jessie’s response is that he had given him his word that he had other people he was going after. Julie pushes the issue a bit more, and complains about him sleeping 12 - 13 hours a day. Jessie says that it didn’t matter because Jeff didn’t have any power anyway. “It was (the) best move for him…it doesn’t matter as I’ll be a sports entertainer no worries (as he flexes his muscles).” Julie makes a joke about the jury house, and the reign of Jessie is officially over!



As you may expect, we end with the HOH competition, which is called “Hit the Road”. Two people at a time face off with questions about previous competitions, and the answers are either “HOH”, “Have Not”, or “Veto”. The winner of a round causes the loser to be eliminated, and then picks the next two people to play. Yeah, we’ve seen variations of this in previous seasons.

Lydia and Kevin are up first, and Kevin is correct and chooses Jeff and Russell (with a little help from Chima). Russell is incorrect on the next round, so Jeff chooses Chima and Natalie. Chima is correct, and chooses Jeff and Jordan to play. Jeff is correct, and chooses Kevin and Chima. Kevin is right this time around, and Michelle and Jeff are up next. Michelle wins this round, and goes up against Kevin for HOH. Michelle answers correctly, and wins HOH! (Has she now won the most competitions?)

So there we go - not as many fireworks as we expected, but still pretty exciting!