We know that GinaMarie nominated Jessie and Candice for eviction this week after winning HoH. As is customary, GinaMarie explains her nominations in the Diary Room, not that she held back during the nomination ceremony. Candice is "appalled" at being called a tattletale and a rat, and Jessie is "bummed out." After the nominations, Amanda and Judd head into one of the rooms to let out the giggles they couldn't quite contain during GinaMarie's nomination speech. Up in the HoH room, GinaMarie assures Jessie that Candice is the target and they part friends.
In the kitchen, Judd apologizes to Candice, who is then summoned up to the HoH room by GinaMarie. GinaMarie lectures Candice about spreading rumors, and offers to apologize for calling her a rat without taking back what she said earlier about "loyalty," like GinaMarie cares about Candice's relationship with Helen. Candice listens politely, but I think they both know that GinaMarie is lying to cover her ass in case Candice stays this week.
Of course, there's still the issue of who the MVP will be, which is fueling all manner of wild speculation. We of course know it's America, or more accurately that small segment of America that votes on these things. Amanda is one of the few people who still maintains that the MVP is in the house, saying that nobody outside it would ever nominate Elissa or even Amanda herself. Because Amanda figures in the DR, "I've been getting out all the mean people in the house, I don't see why they'd put me up." Spencer tells Amanda that she might be doing something people don't like, but Amanda can't imagine what that could possibly be. Which of course is a big part of the problem.
Jessie joins a small party in the HoH room that already includes GinaMarie, Helen, Andy, Amanda, McCrae, and Aaryn. The musical cue indicates the tension, and Amanda narrates it by talking in the DR about how much Jessie annoys her, especially when she sits to McCrae. So in the HoH room, she invites McCrae to come sit with her. And when McCrae declines -- foolishly, it must be said -- Amanda storms out. McCrae follows her to another bedroom, where they quietly argue about what just happened. Later, McCrae finds Amanda in the shower again, and she tries to get McCrae to understand why she's irritated. And all McCrae is thinking about his how silly this is. "I'd do anything just to be able to scratch through the drywall and just get out of here," he DRs. Must be love. Amanda keeps quizzing him, but McCrae stays mum. She asks if McCrae doesn't want to be with her. Right now he's torn. On the one hand he doesn't, but on the other hand he's terrified to tell her that. So, you know, there's the answer.
Veto player selection time. As always, the drawing is preceded by the overdramatic reveal of the MVP's third nominee. And once again, it's Amanda. She DRs about how it doesn't make any sense, but McCrae DRs that he's not remotely surprised. When Amanda and her fellow nominees Candice and Jessie join GinaMarie at the front of the room, the randomly selected other two players end up being Spencer and Judd, neither of whom has much skin in this game.
Helen, Candice, and Elissa meet to talk about the MVP, whom they think is Judd. When Amanda joins them, she's a hundred percent certain of the same thing. So she goes to find Judd and asks him to Veto her if she wins. Judd takes her aside and stage-whispers that he's using it on Jessie. Or rather, he'll pretend to, and then use it on Amanda. As usual, Amanda reads social awkwardness as sketchiness and doesn't trust him at all. She then goes to Spencer and asks the same thing. Spencer acts as though he'd consider it, but in the DR he mocks the very idea.
Amanda then proceeds to the HoH, where Helen and Andy and McCrae already are. Amanda still doesn't get why she'd be nominated, and McCrae is the only one to say it might have something to do with how loudly Amanda likes to talk about how stupid it is to nominate her. Aaryn joins them, and GinaMarie assures Amanda that Candice is still her target, and that she would use the Veto on Amanda if she wins. This upsets Aaryn for some reason, and she pulls an Amanda-style storm-out. Aaryn DRs about how selfish Amanda is. And Amanda tells the others that Aaryn must think she'd be the MVP's replacement nominee if GinaMarie were to save Amanda. Which is not selfish of Aaryn at all.
Andy reports to McCrae that Aaryn's pissed, and that Amanda needs to tone it down a bit. McCrae agrees with this, but instead of going to Amanda, he runs to GinaMarie and advises her -- in front of Aaryn -- not to use the Veto if she wins. Amanda joins the conversation too late to hear McCrae say anything too damning, and asks Aaryn why she's worried about being the replacement nominee. Aaryn thinks the MVP is Candice, which, if that were true, Candice wouldn't have bothered with Amanda in the first place. Rather than pointing this out, Amanda tries to tell Aaryn she wouldn't go home anyway, and McCrae interrupts to say they don't need to worry about this if the nominations don't change. "Why are you fighting for me to stay on the block?" Amanda asks him. McCrae tells her he's worried about ruffling feathers, and she storms out again to let them figure it out "while I sit on the block for a second week in a row." Even McCrae DRs that nobody owes Amanda anything.
Amanda goes to fret in the Have-Not room, and Judd and McCrae follow her in to ask what's wrong. Amanda's mad at McCrae's lack of loyalty. So McCrae explains that asking GinaMarie to potentially put her closest ally at risk is the same as if someone asked McCrae to do that to Amanda. She calls him a "dictator" in their relationship, which is rich, and he DRs that she's making it hard to work with her if this is how she's going to play the game. Well, what did you expect, dude?
For the Veto competition, the players head outside in camouflage waders to find a backyard that's been made up like a swamp with a shack at the edge of it. This is tailor-made for Judd, clearly, because it involves toy frogs. As the competition's host, Aaryn tells the players that they'll fling frogs across the pond at fake lily pads, each of which is marked with a number. The player with the lowest score at the end of each round will get eliminated. This is also one of those "White Elephant" or "Yankee Swap" type prize situations, where each eliminated player gets a prize out of a bucket of worms, one of which is the PoV. But anyone who gets eliminated after them can trade their prize for one that's already been won.
Jessie is the first to play in round one, tossing her frog so it lands in the 3 area. Spencer scores 5, Candice 4, Judd the frog-gigger 8, and Amanda a whopping 23. GinaMarie's frog lands in the water, so she's out. She pulls a prize from one of the buckets, which turns out to be the Veto medal. Even GinaMarie is smart enough to realize it's not going to be hers for long. In the second round, Spencer scores 5, Candice 24, Judd 6, and Jessie 4, but Amanda hits a 1 and is out. Her "prize" ends up being a "cone of shame" that she'll have to wear for 48 hours, which she swaps with GinaMarie for the PoV. "48 hours is two days, right?" GinaMarie asks. What did I say just now about her being smart?
Third round. Judd gets 21, Jessie 9, and Spencer 5. While Candice is awaiting her turn, she whispers to Judd that he's the suspected MVP. "They called me a rat, I'll be a rat." Amanda sees the whispering and invites Candice to "shut your big fat mouth." That's a brilliant thing to say in front of everyone when you're nominated and have a slim to none chance of winning the Veto. And then Amanda DRs about how stupid Candice is. In the yard, Amanda accuses Candice of being the MVP, and Candice chants about how she nominates Amanda all the time. "That's the Shaniqua coming out of you, I guess, right?" Amanda says. "Am I racist now? I'm racist now." Yup. Candice promises to play any stereotype that gets hung on her, and Amanda tells Candice this was the reason she was made fun of in school. Andy tells both of them to stop.
Aaryn tries to get things back on track with her "cheerful hostess" voice as she calls Candice for her turn. Amanda loudly mocks Candice as she's trying to set up, and then even more loudly when Candice's frog lands in the water. Out for this round, Candice's prize ends up being a vacation to the Bahamas. Which she swaps with the Veto. Since they have to stand there waiting for the rest of the competition, Amanda accuses Candice of making shit up, sending Howard home, and having no gameplay. She succeeds in provoking Candice and bickering continues to escalate between them. This of course is making McCrae miserable, as Amanda is making them both targets.
And the competition is still going on. In the fourth round, Judd scores 23, Jessie 13 when her frog bounces off the 50 pad, and Spencer 6. He wins a prize called "50 Shades of Orange," which entails getting a spray tan every time an alarm goes off. GinaMarie begs for it, of course, but Spencer steals Amanda's Bahamas vacation instead. Now the competition is down to Jessie and Judd. She goes for the 50 again, but this time her frog falls in the water. Judd scores 20, but barely gets to celebrate before Amanda starts trying to make alibis proving how she never said anything about Judd being MVP (which of course she did, to Candice, and we saw it happen). Candice advises Judd to let Jessie have the Veto, because Amanda is a snake.
Indeed, Judd does quietly tell Jessie that she can take it and he'll let her keep it, "As long as mine's not a crap garbage." Jessie's prize is $5,000, but she trades that with Candice for the PoV. And Judd draws the "clownitard," which must be this year's rebranded unitard. Judd trades that with Candice's five thousand dollars. So Jessie not only wins PoV, she's the only nominee who comes out of this competition smelling like a rose. Amanda is pretty bitter about her failure at competitions, but she's still confident she can get rid of Candice. Who in turn hopes that everyone just saw a great reason to boot Amanda instead. And that seems like a pretty reasonable hope right now.
After the competition, Amanda returns to the Have-Not room to pout more. McCrae joins her, telling her she should have shut up. "That's all you need to do! You're on the block!" McCrae blames her for making a spectacle of herself and acting like a bully. Maybe he's getting through to her and maybe not, because she buries her head in her hands and tells him to leave her alone.
Candice is still upset about the fight with Amanda, but she's not about to let anyone else see that. So as she laughs with Elissa about what the clownitard might look like, Aaryn begins to suspect that there's a plan in place to keep Candice and that Elissa's part of it. So with no evidence whatsoever, she heads right up to the HoH room and tells GinaMarie that Elissa is plotting to keep Candice. GinaMarie totally believes this and thinks she might put Elissa up . See, Elissa, this is the problem with doing stupid shit in the house like your stunt with Kaitlin a few weeks ago: people will believe all kinds of other stupid shit about you that you didn't do. Especially stupid people.
Candice is called to the DR, and when she emerges, she's wearing the "clownitard," which is a baggy unitard accessorized with a rainbow wig, a tutu, big shoes, and a red plastic nose. Not a flattering look, though Spencer gives Candice props in the DR for working it. Amanda has to get painted orange every time music plays, but at least she has a sense of humor about being forced to look like a raccoon-eyed Oompa-Loompa. And of course there's GinaMarie's cone of shame, which is a big plastic cone around her neck like on a dog with stiches, and which she seems to be enjoying completely without irony.
And she's still wearing it when Helen pays her a visit in the HoH room to make sure that GinaMarie isn't planning to put up one of Helen's allies in place of Jessie. But of course GinaMarie is already planning to act on the rumor Aaryn started about Elissa campaigning for Candice. Helen can't have that, so she butters up GinaMarie and suggests putting up "other people." All the other people?
Jessie is wearing Judd's grizzly bear shirt for the Veto meeting. That thing is taking on ceremonial significance. Jessie wishes, futilely, that someone would make a big move and nominate McCrae against Amanda. Amanda DRs orangely that "it's stupid, I'm dirty, I'm tan and I want to just go cry." Candice and her clown costume hope that Amanda will be seen as the bigger target. GinaMarie just hopes that whoever she replacement-nominates doesn't come after her week.
In the Veto meeting, Jessie Vetoes herself as expected, and GinaMarie and her cone name the replacement: Spencer. He's one of the least nervous nominees ever, given who the other choices are. Always a master of projection, Amanda figures nobody trusts Spencer and nobody likes Candice, so she's in good shape. And Candice has convinced herself that Amanda is seen by most of the house as a bigger target. One of them must be wrong. Candice promises World War Three in the house this week. And since tomorrow night is double eviction, that may prove to be only be 99.997% hyperbole.