HoHitis is a very serious medical condition. When certain Big Brother houseguests win HoH, they can go mad with power and lose their minds. On Big Brother 16, that happened with Devin, and this week it happens with Zach. Luckily for us, Zach’s particular brand of crazy is highly entertaining.

Zach’s short time as HoH temporarily makes the game interesting, nominating a member of his own Detonators alliance while (with a nudge from Team America) delivering some memorably ridiculous speeches.

HoH Zankie

After Frankie and Zach win HoH, everyone thinks it was so moving and touching that Derrick let Frankie win so he could see photos of his recently deceased grandfather. It’s a nice thing to do, but this is still a game and I hope this is the last time someone lets sympathy for Frankie affect it.

Everyone agrees that Zach is a “hot mess” and a “wild card,” so no one knows what he’ll do. Elsewhere, Donny and Jocasta realize they are at the bottom with Victoria and are almost certainly going to be nominated yet again. It doesn’t go unnoticed that Christine put Donny and Jocasta against each other in the Knockout HoH competition.

More importantly, Zankie, the real showmance of the season, is in power. They celebrate and hug before getting their HoH room. Zach gets a picture of his “Little Bro-sky,” which makes him happy. But it’s all about the photos of Frankie’s sweet, adorable grandfather…until Frankie sees that his CD is Justin Bieber. Then he goes from tears to squeals of joy.

Zach vs. Amber and Christine

Zach lets everyone know that Amber is his target because she told Christine she’s coming after him, and Christine reported it back to the Detonators. Zach tells this to Caleb, who then goes to Amber to find out what she’s thinking. Caleb relays the message to her, and Amber is able to figure out fairly quickly who the rat is.

Zach wants to get blood on his hands. He approaches Christine and tells her she needs to take one for the team, going on the block with Amber and throwing the Battle of the Block to ensure that Amber can go home. Christine is NOT on board with this.

This infuriates Zach because Christine has done absolutely nothing for the Detonators so far. Cody and Frankie try to talk him out of nominating someone in their five-person alliance. They decide to backdoor Amber, but that means Zach needs to put up two pawns.

Because Zach is angry at Christine, he decides to mess with her game a little bit by asking Nicole if she trusts Christine. He plants the seeds of mistrust, and Nicole eats them up like a hungry frog snatching flies out of the air. She asks Christine if there’s anything she needs to know. Christine hilariously admits in the diary room that she is completely lying to Nicole and Zach is seriously jeopardizing her entire game, but continues to deny having anything on the side to Nicole. Sadly, Nicole then tells us that it would break her heart if Christine is lying to her.

The Hitmen

Derrick and Cody really like each other. They agree that the Detonators can get them far, but Zach is too crazy, Frankie is too charismatic and sly while Christine is floating but clever. They call themselves the Hitmen and solidify their Final 2 deal.

Pickle Date

Amber loves pickles. Caleb hates pickles. Amber jokes that she would go on a date with him if he eats a pickle. She wasn’t serious, but he eats a pickle anyway. “He put the whole thing in his mouth,” Christine says.

Amber reluctantly goes on a date, which Caleb takes WAAAAAY too seriously. It’s so awkward, because he thinks he’s in The Notebook and she thinks she’s in the movie Misery.

Team America

Donny gets the third Team America mission, to get two HGs to have a 20-second fight at the nomination ceremony or PoV meeting. They agree this is the hardest one yet, but they instantly realize that Zach is the perfect person to start this fight.

Zach has sort of become the unofficial fourth member of Team America because he is such a loose cannon. Derrick and Frankie don’t need to do much because Zach is already eager to deliver a crazy speech to Christine at the nomination ceremony. He truly deserves half of the Team America money.

The Nominations

Frankie nominates Jocasta and someone named Victoria. This is literally the first time we see this mysterious woman in the entire episode. He’s nominated them both before and does it because he wants to avoid getting more blood on his hands.

Zach, on the other hand, nominates Christine and Nicole because he’s eager to get as much blood on his hands as possible. He says that if he pulled out the Big Brother Dictionary, Christine and Jenn City from season 14 would be in it next to the word “floater” because they do nothing. He calls Nicole a “fruit-loop dingus.” No one knows whether to laugh or cry, but there’s no fighting. Sorry, Team America. Mission: Failed. For now.

Nicole is upset because Zach hurt her feelings and everyone consoles her. Christine wants to get revenge because Zach is trying to mess with her game. Christine confronts Zach about telling Nicole not to trust her. He denies it, but Christine calls him out because she knows he did. I hope Zach is smart enough to realize that Christine basically just confirmed that she has a side alliance with Nicole.

Frankie acts like he had no idea what Zach was going to do and even suggests to Christine and Nicole that he might be willing to backdoor him.

The Battle of the Block

It’s a wedding-themed competition where the two HGs must build a wedding cake tower and climb to the top, standing on it. Cody is just interested in finding the bridesmaids while Frankie thinks it’s a gay wedding for him and Zach. Hilariously, Christine thinks beating Jocasta and Victoria (the two worst competitors) will prove that she’s not a floater. That’s like saying winning the game of Operation makes you a doctor.

As expected, Christine and Nicole work well together and have a plan while Jocasta and Victoria are utterly useless. Christine and Nicole win the Battle of the Block! Zach is dethroned, but even the wedding cake that’s supposed to hit him in the face misses.

In the end, Frankie tells us that backdooring Amber is still his main goal, but if everyone in the house wants him to backdoor Zach, he might have to do it. With those words, a knife just entered the gut of every Zankie ‘shipper on Twitter, because they’re mot invested in this relationship than Frankie is.

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(Image courtesy of CBS)

John Kubicek

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire DiariesSupernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.