STEPPING OUT OF FORMATION
Once again, CBS has opened the doors to its Big Brother house to celebrities. The abbreviated version of the long-running CBS hit show will feature 11 contestants as they fight to be the last person standing in a house completely cut off from the outside world. With no phones, no agents, and no glam squad, how will they ever survive?
THE CONTESTANTS
- Cynthia Bailey – Model/TV Personality, Real Housewives of Atlanta
- Todd Bridges – Actor, Diff’rent Strokes
- Todrick Hall – Entertainer, American Idol
- Chris Kattan – Actor, Saturday Night Live
- Chris Kirkpatrick – Singer, N*Sync
- Carson Kressley – TV Personality, Queer Eye
- Teddi Mellencamp – TV Personality, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
- Shanna Moakler – Former Miss USA
- Mirai Nagasu – Olympic Medalist
- Lamar Odom – Former NBA Champion
- Miesha Tate – Former UFC Champion
FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND EARLY ALLIANCES
The houseguests come in one by one, and as they talk and get to know each other, early bonds and alliances start to form. Carson Kressley, Todrick Hall, Cynthia Bailey, and Shanna Moakler quickly decide that they are going to work as an alliance. If they stick together, it can be a very formidable group. Other houseguests, like Chris Kattan, Lamar Odom, and Todd Bridges seem quite out of their element, and they will need to make some strong bonds quickly if they don’t want to be eliminated right away.
POPPIN’ BOTTLES FOR HOH
The first Head of Household competition had a Met Gala theme, with each contestant wearing an outlandish costume fitting of such an event. The houseguests are suspended in the air, with their feet in stirrups and their hands holding on to champagne bottles, essentially making them look like marionette puppets. Former N*Sync member Chris Kirkpatrick should feel right at home.
As the competition progresses, it quickly becomes apparent that Miesha Tate’s athletic background is going to pay off. Some contestants drop quickly, while others make a respectable showing, but unless Miesha is going to throw the competition, this one is hers all the way. The final three are Miesha, Todrick, and Teddi Mellencamp. Todrick asks Miesha if he’s safe, Miesha says yes, and Todrick drops. Teddi then asks the same thing and Miesha refuses to say for sure that Teddi would be safe.
Some might see this as a faux pas, but it is probably in Miesha’s best interest to not make any promises she can’t be certain she’ll be able to keep. As the obvious physical threat in the house, loyalty is going to be the only thing that will keep her from being targeted early. If she’s a competition beast AND someone who doesn’t keep their word, nobody will have any reason to keep her around. If she can at least be trusted 100%, an alliance would be wise to keep her in their corner for the sake of the competitions.
GALA GIFT
After the competition, Julie Chen lets the houseguests know that there is more power to be won this week. She doesn’t tell us what it is, but she says it’s inside the “Gala Gift” box that’s sitting to the side. Julie says it will be a blessing for one houseguest and a curse for another. Traditional Big Brother logic tells us the latter will be Todd, since he chose to sit out of the competition and be “master of ceremonies” instead. However, this IS Big Brother, and we need to always expect the unexpected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXNtdPsj_CE
Episode 2:
EVERYBODY LOVES TODRICK
After the first Head of Household competition, Miesha approaches Todrick (who has already agreed to work with Carson, Shannon, and Cynthia) and pitches an “athletes alliance” with him, herself, and Lamar, to which everybody quickly agrees. THEN, Chris Kirkpatrick approaches Todrick about working together, and, not long after that, Mirai throws out the idea of her, Todrick, Miesha, and Teddi all working together. Todrick agrees to ALL of these plans, which will set him up really nice at the beginning of the game. However, nobody else seems to be making multiple alliances. If it comes out that Todrick is the only one doing so, he will quickly become public enemy #1. For week one, though, he’s sitting in a very comfortable position.
THE MON WON HAT
The Gala Gift was revealed, and it was the coveted “Mon Won” purse/hat. One at a time, the houseguests pass the hat to one another, effectively eliminating them from being the final wearer of the hideous contraption. The last person to wear the hat receives safety for the week. Ultimately, the super alliance known as Formation (Carson, Todrick, Mirai, Cynthia, Shannon, and Teddi) are among the last in the game, and Cynthia becomes the final wearer of the hat, keeping her safe for the week.
SPILLING SECRETS
Remember what yours truly previously said about other people not getting caught in multiple alliances? Well, forget all of that, because Mirai quickly put herself in a horrible position. Miesha invites her into the athletes alliance and informs her of her plan to backdoor Teddi, who is part of Mirai’s other alliance, Formation. Mirai immediately tells Teddi of the plan, and Teddi relays that information back to Todrick. Realizing this means Mirai can’t be trusted, Miesha now has to reconsider her original plan and instead nominates Mirai and Carson. Carson is an obvious pawn, and Miesha has kept her options open to still backdoor Teddi if she wants to, but if the veto doesn’t get used, she has Mirai sitting on the block, who she wouldn’t mind seeing go home after she proved herself to not be trustworthy.
Episode 3:
STEPPING OUT OF FORMATION
After the nomination ceremony, the house is abuzz. Two members of the Formation supergroup have been nominated, and a third member, Teddi, is still potentially the backdoor option. Whispers start circulating within the supergroup, and Teddi quickly pieces together that Mirai and Todrick are the two most likely to be feeding information back to Miesha. While Miesha doesn’t actually know about all the members of the group, Teddi isn’t wrong in her analysis of the players. Todrick now even admits to the cameras that he might have to abandon Formation and lock in further with the athletes alliance. Todrick has his hands in so many cookie jars, he’s bound to get caught eventually. This is the problem with making a lot of early alliances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QmpJTw-vWQ
POWER OF VETO BLOWOUT
It’s tiiimmmeeee for the veto competition! Miesha, Carson, Mirai, Lamar, Cynthia, and Todrick are the competitors for the veto competition, and it is a spin on a classic logic puzzle. Based on vague clues given to them, the celebrities must figure out the order in which they are stopping at a variety of stores on a street. Speaking bluntly, this competition is not hard. After listening to the clues one time, it becomes pretty apparent what the correct order was. However, most of the celebrities are struggling with this one.
Lamar can’t finish and times out at 30:00. Cynthia, Mirai, and Todrick all take a long time, and only Miesha and Carson have fast times with the puzzle. Miesha’s time of 8:58 impresses her fellow contestants until Carson’s time is revealed to be 3:54, absolutely blowing away everybody else. Carson will obviously save himself, and now Miesha needs to figure out who will be the replacement. This win was a double-edged sword for Carson. Any time you’re on the block, you need to save yourself, but this impressive performance confirmed Todrick’s accusations that Carson is a huge threat in this game. Carson’s social and competition skills are now on everybody’s radar.
THE CURSE OF MON WON’S HAT AND FIRST EVICTION
Before the POV ceremony, Todrick gets in Miesha’s ear and convinces her that Teddi is still the best replacement option since she’s so close with Carson. Miesha lets Teddi in on the plan, and Teddi is obviously upset, but can’t convince Miesha otherwise, and once Carson uses the veto on himself, Teddi is named as the replacement. Miesha might have been the one in the HOH bedroom, but it’s obvious that Todrick is the puppet master in all of this. As a superfan, he has to be aware that the game he is playing is either going to lead him to victory or likely get him eliminated in the next week or so. He has betrayed 5 people’s trust, but so far nobody is aware of it besides Miesha.
Teddi does her best to rally as many votes as possible, and it looks like the vote is going to ultimately come down to Lamar Odom, who had an emotional moment with Mirai when the two discussed racism in the United States. However, everybody seems to be forgetting about the curse of Mon Won. Julie comes on the screen and reveals that “Mon Won”, when turned upside down, turns into “Nom Now”, and the celebrities must again go around passing the hat to one another. However, this time, the last person with the hat will be a new nominee and have to replace one of the current nominees.
Everybody is obviously in shock, but the ceremony must commence. Cynthia passes the hat to Shanna, who hands it off to Chris Kirkpatrick, who gives it to Todrick, to Chris Kattan, to Lamar, and finally to Todd Bridges, who becomes the new nominee. He chooses to save Mirai, so now, just like that, the vote comes down to Todd vs. Teddi. In the end, the vote comes down 5-3 and Teddi is the first person evicted from Celebrity Big Brother.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yoRKXj39Lc
Overall thoughts for Celebrity Big Brother Season 3 Episodes 1-3:
Superfans always do the best on this show, and Todrick and Chris Kirkpatrick seem to be the biggest Big Brother fans. While they are both in the athletes alliance, their strategies are in completely different directions. Todrick is getting involved in every single conversation and has dealt with almost everybody in the house. Meanwhile, Chris has played a very lowkey game, yet seems to have his finger on the pulse of the house. If Chris can pull in some floaters to a side alliance, he has a great shot at winning this game. If Todrick can keep juggling his alliances and lies until the final 5, he should be the winner.
The long-shot possible winner for this season is actually Cynthia. Previous Real Housewives contestants on this show have been loud, abrasive, and not very strategic. Cynthia has played a loyal but lowkey game, and it seems like nobody has any beef with her. If the big threats like Todrick, Miesha, and Carson get eliminated before finale night, she can beat almost anybody else in the house.
