Big Brother - Season 11, Episode 22 Recap

Wow. Every time that I think an eviction episode is going to be a somewhat lackluster event, something happens during the week to add some extra tension. This week it’s Jeff’s (not so) surprising use of the POV to take down Kevin and replace him with Russell.

Since then, the house has been on edge and full of paranoia. There were two lengthy arguments involving not only Jeff and Russell, but also Jordan, but everybody seems to be questioning not only those they don’t like but even their best friends in the house.

So tonight promises fireworks. Besides the fights described earlier, Russell has been bragging all week that his plea to stay will top the infamous theatrics of Chima, Ronnie, and Casey. We’ll also see the reunion of Lydia and Jessie in the jury house, although I’d put up a lot of money that within hours she was back in his arms. Obviously, we’re going to conclude with the latest “most important HOH competition of the season”. Isn’t that what they say every week?

Here we go with the reaction to Jeff’s use of the veto (after Julie’s intro, of course). “Let the weirdness begin”, Jeff says as he closes the veto box. Yeah, Kevin and Natalie are both more than pleased, and Jeff still believes that they’ll stick to their promise to not put him up.

Russell is the last to get up from the meeting, and we hear him talk in the diary room about how now everybody knows you can’t trust Jeff as he walks into one of the bedrooms. “They picked the wrong fucking guy.”

Meanwhile, Kevin is thanking Jordan in another room, and Natalie warns her that Russell is going to work them. Natalie says in the dairy room that they still plan on going after Jeff next week. We then see the two of them do a victory dance in the storage room. You gotta hand it to these silly twits for their admittedly “bold-faced lie”.

Oooh, serious music is playing, which must mean a fight is coming. First we see Michelle breaking down in the pool room with Russell. Strangely, he’s the one reassuring her. “Seriously, I hope you win.” They hug, and we hear Michelle talk about how they’ve bonded even though she doesn’t really like him. Interesting. Russell adds that he feels like he let her down.

Russell is now seen sitting outside, and Jeff says he’s going to go “face the music”. He wanders outside and asks if he wants to talk about it. “You got to know it’s a smart move.” Russell reminds him of their final four deal, and Jeff throws out that he went against him by having a final two deal with Michelle. It escalates, and is silly…especially when Russell promises to punch him when he enters the jury house.

Shit-stirrer Natalie runs upstairs to tell Jordan what’s going on, so she sprints down as the two continue to promise to punch each other. She starts in, and Russell bitches about how she’s Jeff’s “lapdog”. “Does she always fight your battles?” Hehehehe. Gotta love Natalie’s sly smile as she watches what she created. Jeff somehow believes that Russell’s outburst helped him. I’m not so sure about that.

A bit later, Russell and Kevin are playing pool, and Russell believes that he can get Kevin to switch his vote. “Who would have thought the one kid I thought was completely worthless holds the key to my existence in the big brother house.” Kevin plays along as Russell talks about how he’d be target #1, and Kevin’s voice over attempts to give us a bit of doubt that he’ll stay loyal to Natalie.

Moving on, everybody is outside once again (two days later), and Russell is babbling lines against Jeff once again. Jordan warns Jeff to not respond, and then those two go after each other once again. She ends up so upset she charges after him and thrust her lovely chest into his. Oh god, they did show him call her a fatty. I thought for sure they’d edit that out. Again, Natalie has a nice little smile as she observes.

This should be good - the Jessie and Lydia reunion. Ugh, Jessie is in a pink leotard working out. God, I don’t miss him. We get to see him watch the goodbye messages, including Lydia bitching about how she was treated. Jesus, enough with the Jessie story.

Jessie says he hopes it’s Jeff coming in because he’s “such a ding dong”, but instead it’s obviously Lydia. She hugs him, but says she’s “so fucking mad” at him. Yeah, this is going exactly as I predicted, especially as she describes how she wanted to not only kick him but hug and kiss him.

She fills Jessie in on how Chima was kicked out (or left, depending on who you believe). They watch the video of the infamous microphone incident, and then on to Jordan winning HOH. Wow, Jessie admits what I’d been thinking all along - that if Jeff makes it to the end he may have his vote.

It’s now time for Julie to interview the house, and she starts in with the ‘weirdness” in the house. Russell has changed his tune, saying it was “part of the fun of the game”. Good for Julie to call him on that bullshit, but we quickly move on to Jordan. Her response makes little sense, as usual, but says she’s never been as mad as she was when Russell called her fat.

Kevin is then asked about whether he was surprised about being taken off the block, and he makes a pretty good crack about Jeff having a “secret crush” on him. Back to Jordan, and how she pushed Jeff away from a victory kiss. Again, she babbles nonsense. Good thing she’s cute. Jeff is asked if he faces that kind of rejection in the real world, and a bit more nonsense. We conclude with Michelle babbling about chitlins and churros. Julie announces that from this moment on, the “have not” stuff is over…although there may be more “surprises around the corner”.

When we return, it’s time for the HOH interview with Jeff. She begins by asking about blindsiding Russell, and Jeff says that with the numbers dwindling it was time for him to go because he was talking about going after him. “I had to make the move now.” He thinks it’s going to make his game (yeah, right), but that it also puts a target on him. She then asks if he’s confident that Natalie and Kevin will keep their word, but he responds that he still controls his own destiny. Finally, she asks about the bickering with Jordan, and he laughs that it’s sometimes frustrating to get her to focus on the game.

So here we go with the final speeches, and Natalie goes first. She thanks CBS for some reason, and goes into the usual “opportunity of a lifetime” cliché. She boldly says thanks to the rest of the house since they’ve all pledged to evict Russell.

Russell gets up and babbles about how he’s had a great time in the house, and tried to incorporate all of the prior villains (Dr. Will, Evel Dick, etc.) into his game. He tells them all good luck, and that “personal attacks are part of the game”. So much for the fireworks, dammit!

The voting begins with Jordan, and you know that she wants Russell out. Will Kevin make a bold move and keep him? Nope. Michelle is the last vote, and she also votes to evict her buddy Russell. It’s the first unanimous vote of the year…but they have to sit through commercials to hear the verdict.

When Julie finally does deliver the results, she attempts to make it sound like Natalie was evicted (they always do that once or twice a season). Russell hugs her first, and is actually gracious to everybody. Interesting!

Little of interest is being said as we watch the house react to Russell’s departure, and then Julie jumps right in with his classy exit. Again, we hear Russell’s theory of being a composite of former dynamic players. Whatever. She asks about Jeff turning against him, and he sort of blames it on Michelle. He also claims that he was going to uphold his final four deal, and then team with Michelle for the final push. Surprisingly, Russell acknowledges that it was a smart move on Jeff’s part.

The goodbye messages start with Jeff bitching about how “unclassy” Russell acted, and that he was a “threat” to women. Oh boy. Kevin admits he was scary, but does say he ended up being an easy guy for him to talk to. Natalie and Michelle babble nonsense, and Jordan bitches about being “disrespected…I strongly, strongly dislike you with a passion”.

You know what’s next - the “most important HOH competition of all time!” This week’s game is entitled “The S’more the Merrier”. They have to walk across a “graham cracker”, and fill a cup with hot chocolate. The winner is the person who can remove the marshmallow from their cup. What a dumb competition.

Kevin comes close to falling, which makes Jeff laugh off camera. Oh, this is going to take awhile, as they have to fill a 16 gallon bowl with 8 oz. cups. That’s it for tonight, except that Julie says there will be a “huge” HOH twist! Sign up for the live feeds now to see who wins!