In the aftermath of Jen and Parker's ouster, we learn how it's affecting people. Amanda's bummed, because she's stuck in a house with people who hate her (so I think we know which couple voted for Ryan and Allison). Ryan has new resolve to win this for both himself and the evicted girlfriend who called him a racist on national television. And Allison is looking forward to having Ryan to herself, so that they can grow their "relationship." Because Ryan deserves better. Why can I not figure out how to address that statement? It's true, and yet it's not, on any number of levels. Of course, nobody is more pleased than Sheila that her best friend and fake lesbian partner is staying. As Jen and Parker's pictures go gray on the Memory Mall, Matt DRs that he'll miss them, but that he's going to concentrate on the game. Oh, I agree. Wait, miss who now?
We also have to see how everyone's reacting to James and Chelsia being the new HoH couple. They are thrilled, of course. Alex is worried, because they hate his partner, Amanda. And Amanda herself "threw up in [her] mouth," knowing she's going up. Natalie feels safe, and Allison does too, since she knows Chelsia appreciates the trust Allison has placed in her by lying to her about her fake lesbian relationship with Sheila.
When the contestants comes in from the HoH competition, they notice that all the cups and glasses have been taken, as was chosen during the competition. So they'll be drinking from bowls. The producer who was hoping to show houseguests staying hydrated by sticking their heads under the tap and bringing straws out to the hot tub is bitterly disappointed.
James and Chelsia assure Matt that they're not going to be nominating him this week. "You got that? Camera? America?" Matt asks. James and Chelsia aren't amused, because when an HoH couple promises not to nominate you, etiquette calls for you to kiss their asses instead of being a wiseacre.
Later, Joshuah decides to let his partner, Sharon, in on a secret he knows: that Sheila and Allison are lesbians. They plot to hold it over their heads. That should go well.
Shall we check out the James/Chelsia HoH room? They're excited to see the pictures from their families. Which, in James's case, is the first time he's seen his family in nine months, because he's been cycling around the world. Whatever, I bet he just got lost on the way to the convenience store. After they settle in, James and Chelsia give Natalie assurances that they won't nominate her, just as they did with her partner, Matt. I am now certain that Natalie and Matt will be nominated.
Outside, James enlists Adam and Ryan in his project to eliminate Alex and Amanda from the house, in what he calls "Operation Condor" for reasons too dorky to get into. What James wants from Ryan and Adam is for one of them to volunteer to be a pawn. Ryan wants a week off from the block, but Adam is also reluctant: "The pawn always goes home." Still, they're on board with Operation Condor. Is the condor still endangered, by the way? Just wondering.
Amanda decides to have a sit-down with Joshua, where she not only forgives him for their big blowout last week, but offers him a super-secret alliance. Joshuah reluctantly accepts, causing Amanda to throw herself into his arms all Kelly Kapoor, but with less self-awareness.
Amanda and Natalie hang out in the hot tub. Natalie gushes to Amanda about how hot she is for Matt. And then later, she gets into a bubble bath with her top off, and unsubtly tries to get Matt to join her. Matt sees through her subterfuge, but doesn't want to let a possible romance distract him from the game, and totally shoots her down. Poor Natalie then compares their relationship to The Cutting Edge, where they both like each other but don't want to admit it. She's...let's see...exactly one-quarter right. You don't see that too often.
Allison confers with Sheila about possibly telling Joshuah and Chelsia the truth about their nonexistent lesbian relationship. She's just now figuring out that this was a bad idea? Sheila has doubts, especially given the possibility of pissing off Joshuah for using "the gay card." Allison figures that they can flatter Joshuah out of being mad by telling him they thought he would tell everyone and then he didn't. I bet Allison would be unbeatable on Bizarro Big Brother. Sheila is seriously concerned about this blowing up in their faces. A little late for that.
Time for the food challenge, which has a nautical theme. The yellow team, "Sea-duction" (please kill me) will be Joshuah/Sharon, Ryan/Allison, and Natalie/Matt. The "Dev-ocean" (goddammit, why have you not killed me yet?) team is Amanda/Alex, Sheila/Adam, and Chelsia/James, who are competing in the challenge despite having full food privileges regardless of the outcome. The teams head outside in color-coded swimsuits, to find the backyard in pond mode, with what look like fishing boats set up and dead fish everywhere. Wow, the "stench of rot" symbolism isn't usually so overt. James and Chelsia do this whole over-the-top announcer thing explaining the challenge, in which teams will race to fill each others' fishing nets (three per team) and make them too heavy to hold up. The yellow team divides by gender, sending the women in to fill the green team's nets, whereas the green team is sending Chelsia, Sheila, and Alex. When half the houseguests hop off the sterns of the fake fishing boats into the ankle-deep water, the green team's loaders focus on Ryan's net, making him the first to drop out. James fails first on the green team, followed by Amanda (who somehow reads it as an affirmation of her victim status that everyone ganged up on her, even though they went after James first). Adam's the only one holding onto a net for green, and when Matt drops his net, it's down to Joshuah for yellow. Finally, Adam loses his grip, so that's a win for yellow, and green is on slop. And you thought there wouldn't be slop this season. Okay, maybe you didn't. I was hoping, though.
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Obligatory shot of everyone heading into the kitchen to meet their new best friend, the slop. Somehow, they're disgusted by it even after an afternoon of running around throwing dead fish, which says something about the slop.
Let's learn something new about Amanda: she says bueno a lot, and it gets on everyone's nerves. Chelsia does a rather funny DR imitation of Amanda in which she chirps, "Bueno!," and then jumps on the chair to wave her ass in the camera's face. Damn, that's uncanny.
Let's see how our HoH couple is doing. James admits that he kind of digs Chelsia. Chelsia is holding back, particularly when James hops into bed and tries to get her to join him. There's all sorts of cringeworthy awkwardness and mixed signals, but when they end up making out in bed, I guess that's resolved. For now. At least until Chelsia gets wind of certain James-related rumors I may have read about on the internet. What? Gay porn? Who said anything about gay porn?
day, it's time for Allison and Sheila to come clean with Chelsia. All Chelsia says is that she told James. Somehow that conjures James into the room, wearing nothing but a towel and his tattoos (the Colonel Sanders string tie on his sternum is my least favorite) to hear about the "latest twist." Little to no reaction from James, at least for now.
Allison decides to tell Joshuah alone in the pantry. For the original lie, she gives the excuse that she just wanted to go out with a bang, except for the part where she didn't go out because Jen is an even bigger idiot than Allison is. Joshuah just stands there in his towel and body mic, drinking from a salad bowl with his initials on it. As you do. In the DR, Joshuah jokes that, at this point, he's starting to wonder if he's straight himself. Afterward, Chelsia and Joshuah meet up and have a whispered conversation about how untrustworthy this proves Sheila and Allison are. James joins them, and when Chelsia suggests putting the two formerly fake former lesbians up, James agrees that they suck.
But what about Operation Condor? James still needs a strong pawn to go up with Alex and Amanda, so he has a discreet conversation with Matt, in which they recall James's promise not to nominate Matt. Beyond that, they're both being so elliptical that I have no idea what they're talking about.
Nominations. Amanda and Alex feel vulnerable. Natalie feels safe. Sheila is worried about the lesbian story blowing up in her and Adam's faces. Adam blathers.
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Chelsia and James convene the nomination ceremony. Adam and Sheila are safe, to the outsized relief of both of them. Joshua and Sharon are also safe. And the last safe couple is Allison and Ryan, leaving Amanda/Alex and Matt/Natalie nominated. James explains why he nominated Matt and Natalie: it was so that they could win PoV and get "a certain other couple" out. And Chelsia explains why Amanda and Alex were nominated: it's because Amanda sucks. Nominations over!
Alex and Amanda DR about their determination to stay in the game. Natalie is confident about winning PoV. But Matt is bitter at James for double-crossing him. Which is totally different from how Matt double-crossed Parker on the PoV last week. Totally different.
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