As always, Sunday starts with a rehash of Thursday. Keesha happily Diary Rooms about how popular she turned out to be, according to the unanimous vote to evict Libra instead of herself. April says she decided to get Libra out, all "I meant to do that," and Michelle remarks that she was the only one Libra didn't hug goodbye. We see Keesha thanking everyone for their votes, and Renny is a little nervous because her photo on the memory wall is surrounded by black-and-white photos of the evictees, which makes her feel like a target. She'll feel better in a few minutes.
And sure enough, after winning the Head of Household competition, Renny says she's looking forward to seeing photos of her family. Keesha and Memphis are both excited about Renny's big win and what it means for them, but Renny's already worried about Memphis moving into the otherwise-empty women's room with Keesha. "Keesha's mine, Memphis, do you hear me? Mine!" Okay, she doesn't actually say that. Audibly.
Inside, April and Ollie are trying to have a quiet moment to be sad when Jerry wanders in and sits across from them with a creepy smile. Doesn't say a word, just leers at them. Finally Ollie invites April to "go lay down with me." As they go past Keesha and Memphis, the latter two agree that April and Ollie will be this week's nominees.
But first, they snuggle in bed talking strategy (which is based on April's assumption that Jerry will be one of Renny's nominees), until Jerry joins them. Not in the actual bed, but it's just as creepy as he stares at the ceiling from the other bed in the room. While he lies there, April and Ollie have a whispered discussion of how each of them will fare against Jerry. Jerry, in turn, probably assumes that they're talking about futures markets.
Renny sits and pouts in what used to be the women's room, and starts looking all suspicious and jealous when Memphis comes in and banters with Keesha. As soon as he's gone, Renny tries to warn Keesha about Memphis, which makes Keesha more worried about Renny than suspicious of Memphis. I don't know why Renny is making such a case about this to Keesha. What was is Keesha said a few weeks ago? "Am I not the HoH!?!"
It's time to see Renny's HoH room, and she dissolves into wheezing sobs the moment she opens the door and sees her late parents' photos on the table. It's actually awkward. The boys hang out uncomfortably in the hallway, and even the girls offer to give Renny a minute to pull herself together in private. Of course she doesn't want it, because if nobody's watching her she ceases to exist. Jerry DRs about this new side of Renny, because she's usually such a clown. Yes, Jerry -- now she's a sad clown.
April has bonded with a stuffed poodle named Holly, which is apparently her best friend in the house now except for Ollie. The others play keep-away with it in the yard, upsetting April. Unfortunately, she can see the fun of it and denies us the spectacle of a full-on meltdown. Dammit.
So instead, let's see some more of Ollie and April's showmance, shall we? They lie in bed as though they're superglued together from head to toe, talking about how they want to stay together after leaving the house. At one point, Ollie half-jokingly asks her to marry him. "You got that on TV, right?" April asks the night-vision camera.
The editors cue up some Godfather-type music as Renny calls Michelle up to the HoH room to watch her eat her snacks and try to cut a deal and make veiled threats. Renny warns Michelle that their numbers are dwindling, and nobody should feel safe. Michelle claims to respect Renny, who swigs her wine and somehow makes the editors cue up clips of Renny's possible targets. Notice how Michelle didn't get so much as a crumb in that scene? So much for Renny's southern hospitality.
For the food competition, the guests are divided into red and blue teams, according to which color of giant bow they pick. Apparently there's going to be a restaurant motif, because the extra player is going to be a "server." Keesha volunteers, probably to challenge herself to see if she can do that with clothes on. They go to the backyard wearing fake tuxedo t-shirts, and Renny explains the rules: it's a version of rock-paper-scissors, but with slop, pig ears and crickets. And whoever wins each round has to actually eat what they write down in order to win a point for their team.
Dan goes first against Memphis, and beats him by saying "crickets" when Memphis says "slop." Dan says grace before downing the bugs like a champ and winning a point for the red team. Acting like a weak player doesn't apply to food competitions, apparently. Michelle goes up against Ollie, and pulls a Vizzini on Ollie by figuring that Ollie will assume she'll act on her previously stated enjoyment of pig ears. But she beats Ollie's slop with her crickets, and sucks the insects down, winning another point for red. In the round, Jerry has to eat a bowl of slop for the blue team, and barely gets it down without vomiting. This despite having been on slop since before joining AARP. Then it's Dan vs. Memphis again, and this time Memphis ends up eating pig ears, tying the game. Michelle beats Ollie again, this time by going for the pig ears (never challenge a Portuguese person in a battle of wits!). April goes against Jerry and wins by going with pig ears, which is a bit of a problem for her, since she's a vegetarian. Jerry DRs that he's been on slop for 19 days, and doesn't want to do it any more, but when April scarfs down her pig ears, it's official: Memphis, Ollie, and Jerry are on slop, while Renny and the others get food. Renny gives the losers the good news that America has voted on the food item they can have to supplement their slop: it's giant lollipops. When they are allowed back inside the house, there are, like, a hundred of them all over the dining room table. "It looks like Pee-Wee's Playhouse," Ollie says happily, like he's not going to be sick of these sugary ping-pong paddles in two days. You can't spell "lollipops" without "slop," after all.
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Ollie's got a fear of birds, as we see him in the yard getting freaked out by a noisy crow perching on the wall of the compound. Finally he sneaks inside, and the crow flutters off, satisfied with its victory. I want to see a showmance between the crow and the stuffed poodle.
Renny brings Dan in for an audience, and says that she's considering putting him up as a pawn, so as not to piss off the April-Ollie-Jerry axis too much. Dan stammers that he doesn't like taking the risk, but that Renny needs to do what she has to do. When Memphis joins them and Renny makes him the same offer, he turns her down flat. Memphis runs down a few scenarios in which Renny puts up two of the trio and is still safe. Then Michelle and Keesha come in, and they're not any more open to the idea of being a pawn than Memphis was. Renny decides that she wants to talk to Ollie to see where he is. Once he arrives, Renny asks him a quick question and then dismisses everyone else so she can talk to Ollie in private. Ollie sees what's coming: "You're putting me up against April." Ollie assures her that he's here to win, and when Renny tells Ollie that her friends will do what she wants, Ollie questions that and asks whether that's just what they want her to think. You can practically hear Renny thinking, Yeah, how come none of them wanted to be my pawn? Ollie makes a case for Jerry getting nominated instead, or hey, maybe someone else entirely. Yeah, that's the ticket!
As nominations loom, Dan talks about how unpredictable Renny is. April expects to be nominated. "It's hard to swallow, because I am such a nice person," she says. I just decided that my idea of Hell is one day waking up in April's world. Ollie says he's at more risk than anyone with April as the main target. Even more at risk than April? I don't think I follow. Keesha's only worry is that Renny will nominate Memphis. "I love Renny to death, but her thinking sometimes is just completely off the wall," Keesha says, half-rolling one eye at the thought that Renny might target Keesha's second-closest ally. Memphis DRs that nominating him as a pawn would be a mistake. And Renny says that she wants to shake up the house. "Nobody's gonna make decisions for me," she vows. Yes, I would say it's going to be at least five or six years before Sparky and the rest of her family start leaving power of attorney papers lying around the house.
And Renny's nominees end up being April and Jerry. April doesn't look as happy about being up against Jerry as she said she would be earlier in the episode. In explaining her nominations, Renny tells April she's a big threat, and says that she's returning Jerry's favor of nominating her first. Afterward, Keesha DRs that Renny should have nominated April and Ollie, and doesn't know what she was thinking. Renny DRs that she is indeed paying Jerry back for his nomination of her, so I guess Keesha is the only one. It's not often that someone gives the same reason for a nomination both during the ceremony and in the DR. Jerry whines about how quickly people can turn on you, and how "big boys don't cry." Whether that applies to Jerry is still up in the air. April's just glad she's not up against Ollie, and already has a strategy in place to beat Jerry. Well, either way, this is win-win for me. Could we just skip the Power of Veto entirely this week? Please?
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M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, or just e-mail him at m.giant[at]gmail.com.
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