It’s the first Power of Veto competition of Big Brother 16, which means it’s time for the annual (and often hilarious) spelling bee. It’s always fun to watch the HGs try to spell words. Brendon Villegas won this comp twice with the same word (“understanding”) while less impressive wins came with words like “delivery” and “shotgun.” But nothing will ever come close to Jeff Schroeder trying to spell “technotronics” in season 11.
However, more embarrassing than awful spelling is Joey, who is quite possibly the worst player in the history of the game. Actually, no, she IS the worst player ever. Worse than Marcellas who refused to use the PoV on himself then got evicted and worse than Lawon who volunteered to be evicted in hopes that he’d come back with a special power.
Between Joey, Paola’s spelling and the two girls afraid of ghosts, I’ve never been happier to be a man than I am right now, because this entire episode makes women look dumb.
Donny the Super Soldier
After the Battle of the Block, Caleb is the sole HoH while Donny and Paola are the nominees. But even though they’re against each other, the BotB actually brought them together and Donny gets emotional. I didn’t think about this unexpected side effect, where the two nominees left on the block just worked together and probably grew closer than nominees usually are.
Devin rallies the Bomb Squad to make sure Donny doesn’t win the PoV so they can evict him since he was so good at the BotB competition. Awkwardly, the show cuts to Donny being emotional with Devin, who doesn’t believe him at all. The sad part is that Donny is so genuine.
Caleb thinks Donny is ex-military because he doesn’t have hair on his lower legs from Army boots. He and Devin then speculate about Donny being a super soldier and probably a Navy SEAL while Frankie stares in disbelief. By the end of the season, I’m sure Caleb and Devin will be convinced that Donny is the man who killed Osama bin Laden.
Devin, who continues to prove how bad he is at this game, confronts Donny about whether he was in the military. Donny says he’s not and adds that he still trusts Devin no matter what. Aww.
Ghost Filler and Have-Nots
Nicole is convinced that there’s a ghost in the house and she gets Christine to freak out too. As if Joey’s gameplay and Pow-Pow’s spelling aren’t bad enough, the two smartest girls in the house are shown to be silly, shrieking idiots. This episode of Big Brother 16 is doing more damage to women than the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling.
Later, Caleb, as sole HoH, has to pick four HGs to be the first Have-Nots. Hayden, Joey, Brittany and Cody all volunteer. Once they see the cold ice room they have to sleep in and the slop-sicles they have to eat, they regret it.
Joey Is the Worst
Joey, still trying to make “girl power” the theme of the season, tries to reaffirm the power of El Quatro and expand it to El Ocho with all of the girls staying together. Unfortunately, Amber is now in the Bomb Squad and doesn’t believe in it. Amber then goes up to HoH Caleb and outs the fact that Joey is the ringleader of the fledgling all-girl alliance.
This is why all-girl alliances never work. There’s always at least ONE woman in the house who would rather attach herself to strong guys and hope they carry her to the end than work with other girls. Way to go, Benedict Amber.
But worse than Amber is Joey, who, having failed at making El Quatro work, proceeds to tell everyone else in the house (including Devin) that she tried to start an all-girl alliance because she thinks transparency is important. Girl, honesty is NOT the best policy in Big Brother. However, it’s worth it just to hear Devin call her the worst player in the show’s history, which is delightfully ironic.
The Power of V-E-T-O
Victoria, Zach and Cody are picked to play in the Power of Veto competition and Caleb vows to eat his hat if Victoria, Pow-Pow or Donny beat any of the strong Bomb Squad guys. It’s the standard game where the HGs must run through a bunch of messy stuff to collect letters and spell the longest word they can in 10 minutes. The theme is “Miami Lice” with pastel suits and a giant bathtub filled with lice.
Caleb thinks he can win because he graduated from high school. Cody’s strategy is to find the letter “C” because he is thinking of words that start with that letter. Donny goes slow and steady.
Zach spells…WARNING. (As in “Warning: The rest of these HGs are about to make fools out of themselves”)
Cody misspells…COMPETIVELY. (Missing a syllable from “competitively”)
Caleb misspells…SECIALIZE (Missing a “p” for “specialize”)
Victoria misspells…PHARMAIST (Missing a “c” for “pharmacist”)
Pow-Pow misspells…CALTORU (Trying for “calculator” and messing up horribly)
Yikes, after five people, Zach is the only one who correctly spelled a word. Christine explains that this must be why the Bomb Squad recruited her, because they need someone with a functioning brain.
Donny spells…SPLITTERS. No one knows what it is, but it’s a real word.
Donny wins the Power of Veto!
He’s happy as a clam and so gosh-darn sweet about it.
The Replacement
Donny was target #1, but Joey is target #2, so Caleb isn’t worried at all because he can just put her up as a replacement nominee and she’ll go home for trying to start an all-girls alliance (and then telling everyone about it when she failed).
Joey meets with Caleb, who says that coming clean about the all-girl alliance was a good thing. It’s embarrassing how bad Joey is at this game, but in all fairness, she was recruited by producers and hadn’t watched it before. Her only knowledge was binge-watching past seasons when she was sequestered before entering the house, which is why GinaMarie from last year is her favorite player.
I hope this will make producers rely more on actual fans and people who willingly audition in the future and not just going out to recruit models and friends of friends, but I know that nothing will change and we’ll always have to deal with these clueless HGs. Sigh.
At the Power of Veto ceremony, Donny saves himself. Joey is nominated. And in the biggest twist of the season, it looks like the first member of Team America will be sent home before she even gets a teammate. It’s just like when Annie the Saboteur was the first HG evicted in season 12, which could mean we’re in for another dull season of one-sided domination by the guys.
Tomorrow on Big Brother 16: It’s the first live eviction and we’ll meet the second (or maybe the new first) member of Team America.
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
