It’s here, the first-ever celebrity edition of Big Brother! Eleven sorta famous people are moving in to compete against, nominate and evict each other for $250,000. Forget about the boring Winter Olympics, this is the real action in February.
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And as always (during the summer), I’ll be here every single day with recaps and spoiler articles to make sure you know every single thing that’s happening in the Celebrity Big Brother house 24/7.
Meet the Celebrities
After Julie Chen takes us through the fancy house, we meet the HGs in pre-taped segments that are just as cheesey as in the regular season.
Mark McGrath: The Sugar Ray singer is going to miss his adorable twins.
Brandi Glanville: The Real Housewife wants to check her temper at the door because she’s desperate and needs to win to pay for her kids’ private school.
Metta World Peace: The former NBA player knows nothing about the show, but L.A. Lakers co-owner Jeanie Buss is a big fan and gives him advice about finding a teammate. Honestly, she would’ve been a better casting choice.
Ariadna Gutierrez: The former Miss Colombia is kind of low-energy and dull.
Ross Mathews: He’s very over-the-top and a superfan who doesn’t want to pull strings, he wants to nudge people to do what he wants them to do.
Julie brings them on stage one at a time and Mark is super excited about Metta because he’s a huge Lakers fan. Ariadna is the first person to walk into the house, which means she’s not going to win. Brandi finds the bar immediately.
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Shannon Elizabeth: The American Pie now lives in South Africa for her charity against animal poaching. She’s a huge superfan and former poker player.
Chuck Liddell: The former UFC champion whose is a cuddly teddy bear at home with his cute little daughters.
Keshia Knight Pulliam: The former Cosby kid loves cooking and has her own spice line. She wants to win people over with her food.
Marissa Jaret Winokur: The Tony winner reveals to her 9-year-old son that she’s going to be on the show with a cake and he cries. It’s amazing because he’s a big fan.
James Maslow: The Big Time Rush is super into social media and his strategy to win is just to win.
Omarosa: She refers to herself as “a reality TV legend.” Her time in Trump’s White House taught her that she needs to watch her back and her front. She’s also a superfan. “I’m exceptional in everything I do” she adds.
Shannon gets a weird look on her face when Marissa comes out. When Omarosa comes out, Marissa says “Oh my God” as Omarosa does a little runway pose in front of Julie. Wow, she is coming in like a boss.
When they enter, Ross freaks out over Omarosa because she’s toxic and negative. Omarosa and Brandi seem to know each other and Mark is as in love with Chuck as he is with Metta. Brandi immediately hates James because he’s a young pretty boy and she isn’t interested in what he has to say about singing.
Shannon and Marissa are close in the real world (they were both in Scary Movie and on the same season of Dancing with the Stars), and they hope their secret relationship will help them.
Omarosa Starts the Female Revolution
Omarosa is competitive, but she wants to play a social game and build trust. James seems to have no idea who she is. Omarosa mentions that there’s a lot of lying and backstabbing in the Big Brother house, just like in the White House. Ooh, she is delivering everything CBS could’ve possibly wanted when they got her and, surprisingly, I’m loving all of it.
Omarosa talks to Shannon about aligning with strong women. Shannon immediately reveals that she knows Marissa (not a great sign that she spills her big secret so quickly). Omarosa proceeds to recruit Marissa and Ariadna into her all-girl alliance with the plan of winning the first HoH and nominating two guys. Marissa is all about celebrating the Time’s Up movement, even if it means working with Omarosa.
Shannon also recruits Keshia and Brandi, who are all-in. Just like that, the six women are working together while the guys play billiards upstairs.
The First HoH Competition
Before we get to the competition, there’s a twist. Everyone randomly picks a star with a number and the lucky number wins immunity for the week and won’t compete.
Omarosa is the winner and she’s safe for the first week. Hmm, was that really random or did production rig it to ensure that their biggest name sticks around because they were worried about her? It just seems a little convenient.
It’s an endurance competition where they must hang onto a giant awards statue as long as possible. As they hang, there’s an opening number where Paul Abrahamian and Rachel Reilly are singing. Mr. Pec-Tacular is also there and Rachel sings about how they could be loved like Jody. We then see season 14’s Jodi Rollins, which is quickly corrected to Jessica and Cody from season 19. Wow, Jodi Rollins got back in the house!
As for the competition, they get sprayed with water and paint as the statues spin. Here’s the elimination order.
3 minutes: Marissa
4 minutes: Metta
13 minutes: Mark
15 minutes: Ross
18 minutes: Chuck
20 minutes: Ariadna
23 minutes: Keshia and Brandi
It’s down to James, who is annoyingly cocky in the diary room, and Shannon, who wants to win it for the ladies. James tries to make a deal for Shannon to drop, but Omarosa blows it up because she sees how dangerous he is.
Eventually James falls. Shannon is the first HoH! Omarosa is excited that the women have power and they can take out a strong man.
A Gift Bag Twist
After the competition everyone receives a random gift bag and one of them has the Recast Power to overthrow the current HoH and take over in their place. Umm, what was the point of having a competition if they’re just going to add random chance into the equation?
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Tomorrow night we’ll see the Recast Power and nominations. Then on Friday we get a two-hour live eviction episode that includes the Power of Veto.
Celebrity Big Brother next airs Thursday at 8/7c. Regular episodes will air Fridays, Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS. For more updates, like BuddyTV’s Big Brother Facebook page.
(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.
