REPLACING PALOMA
We begin Big Brother Season 24 Week 2 with Paloma out of the house and the alliance of Monty, Kyle, Michael, Ameerah, and Alyssa needing a new sixth member. They chose to approach Nicole, which is an interesting choice, given how close her and Daniel clearly are. They are putting a lot of faith in Nicole not to tell Daniel and ruin their plans. Indy, or even Joseph would have been better picks, since they don’t really seem to be tightly aligned with anybody at the moment.
Meanwhile, Taylor and Brittany are both ecstatic that they are still in the house, and Taylor has a chance to be the new HoH. If she can pull off this win, Daniel might be her easy target, but if she’s smart, she’ll try to create some divides in the house. An unexpected ally in Alyssa might shift Taylor’s focus to some of the guys who aren’t in Alyssa’s alliance. Honestly, not a bad move for all involved.
HUNGRY FOR POWER
Part two of the Head of Household competition is a “pie eating contest” Each round, players will be asked a true or false question about the “BB Motel” that the houseguests have been living in. Players will have to dig through a pie to find the T or F that corresponds to the correct answer to the question (true or false).
The first question asks about the sign above the Dining room table reading “Color TV”. It is true, and Joseph, Michael, Jasmine, Taylor, and Ameerah advance, while Monty and Kyle are eliminated. Bad first round for the 6 person alliance, as they lost 2 of the 4 players they had in this competition.
In Round Two, the houseguests are asked: True or False, the refrigerator is Red. This is false. Michael, Ameerah, and Jasmine are the first to ring in. Taylor and Joseph were too late and were eliminated.
For Round Three, Michael, Ameerah, and Jasmine have to determine if “there are five exercise bikes in the downstairs gym” is true or false. Ameerah buzzes in first, but she answers true and the answer is false, therefore she’s eliminated.
In the final round, Michael and Jasmine are told the neon diver above the stairs is wearing a pink bathing suit. This is true, and Jasmine rings in correctly to become the new head of household. It’s a good thing for Jasmine this wasn’t a physical competition, because her sprained ankle would have likely prevented her from competing. It’s only been two weeks, but the ironic twists in this game continue, and now, it’s time for Princess Jasmine to rule!
FILLING HIM IN ON THE PLAN
Well, that didn’t take long. After the Head of Household competition is over, Nicole tells Daniel about the “final six” deal that she was approached with by Ameerah. It is clear that Nicole’s true loyalties lie with Daniel, and if two of the five (minus Nicole) don’t find themselves in the last two chairs, they have only themselves to blame. Nicole and Daniel are not secretive about their bond, so it shows that it truly was a bad decision to make Nicole the sixth member of the group.
POOCH SCREWED POOCH
Whichever team Pooch currently coaches for, I have a feeling they are going to be looking for a new person to fill the role, because Pooch just made the number one strategic error in Big Brother. Believing that the whole house wants Taylor gone (kind of true), he feels like it’s the best idea to have Jasmine put up Brittany and himself, in the hopes that Taylor doesn’t get picked to play in the veto and then she can be back-doored. Oh Pooch, you naive meathead, you NEVER volunteer to go on the block!
At the nomination ceremony, Jasmine keeps her options open and nominates Taylor, her original target, and Pooch, who volunteered to go up…but not against Taylor. His thought for going up was that Taylor would not get the chance to play in the veto competition, which she certainly will as a nominee. This was the best move for Jasmine’s personal game. Both players think they are pawns, neither seems to be really mad at her for her move, and Jasmine gets one of her big threats out no matter what.
CLOSE CONTACT
A showmance is developing in the house, but not one most people would have seen coming. The closest couple in the house this year is Joseph and…Pooch? The guys can’t seem to keep their hands off of each other (Pooch seemingly being the bigger offender), but every time you turn around, they’re cuddling, wrestling, or laying in the pool together. It’s sweet, it’s weird, hey…it’s Big Brother. While Zach and Frankie will always be the best BB Bromance, Pooch and Joseph have won their way into our hearts.
Meanwhile, Kyle and Michael are struggling with a different kind of close contact…their lenses. Both Kyle and Michael wear glasses, but in an effort of solidarity (and likely boredom) they both decide to switch to their contacts. The problem? Neither can keep the damn thing in their eyes! Kyle thinks this might help him in some competitions if he doesn’t have to worry about keeping his glasses on his face. A good thought, but one that doesn’t do much good if you can’t keep your lenses in your eye. Both struggle mightily, but eventually they get the lenses in and give us all a nice little bit of comic relief.
VETO COMPETITION
At the veto drawing ceremony, Ameerah, Michael, and Terrence are selected to compete along with Pooch, Taylor, and Jasmine (assuming her twisted ankle will allow her to participate). It’s a pretty interesting selection, as Ameerah and Jasmine are tight, Taylor and Michael seem to be tight, and Terrence is the only person in the house who truly isn’t aligned with anybody.
The competition requires the contestants to “transform into mermaids” and navigate a “pearl” (ball) over a series of hills using only their head or face to advance it along. Once they clear the hills, they must “shoot” the pearl into a basket, again using only their head to take the shot. The first player to get a pearl into each of the three baskets at the end of the track will win the power of veto.
Because of her injury, Jasmine does not feel comfortable competing, so the contest is down to five players. Per usual, Michael the competition beast jumps out to an early lead and is the first one to get two pearls in the basket. Taylor comes back and gets a second pearl in as well. Being a smart ally, Michael mentioned possibly throwing the competition to Taylor so she could save herself, plus winning another competition would paint an even larger bullseye on him. However, the main objective of both of them is to make sure Pooch doesn’t win, and while he only got one pearl in the basket at this point, he has several pearls hovering around, and he could steal the competition with one lucky shot. Michael allows Taylor to take her shot first, but she misses, and he can’t sandbag any longer. He sinks the third pearl and Michael wins his second Veto in a row.
FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY
Usually being on the block is a stressful position for anybody. Sometimes one of the people might be feeling safe because they’ve been reassured up and down that they are not going to get voted out, but rarely, if ever, do both nominees feel like they aren’t going anywhere. Taylor is convinced Pooch is going home, and Pooch is convinced Taylor is going home. It’s strange to see nominees be more cocky and confident than their allies. However, unless Michael uses the power of veto to remove one of them from the block, somebody is going to get majorly blindsided.
POWER OF VETO MEETING
Before the veto meeting, the girls (plus Michael) float the idea to Jasmine of taking Taylor down and replacing her with Joseph. Joseph and Pooch have their “Bromance” and many of the girls actually see Joseph as the bigger long-term threat. While it would guarantee one of them goes home, it would be a huge blindside not only to Pooch & Joseph, but to everybody else in the house, and anybody who got blindsided by the announcement would immediately distrust Jasmine for the rest of the game. Ultimately, it was just a fun hypothetical, and Michael does the smart thing and keeps nominations the same.
BOYS VS. GIRLS
While Kyle and Monty were originally on board with voting out Pooch, Alyssa let it slip to Kyle that the girls are looking out for each other, and they want Taylor to win Head of Household next week and take another shot at a guy. Monty and Kyle have two alliances currently going, “Po’s Pack” with three girls and three guys, and “The Oasis” an all-male alliance with Pooch, Joseph, and Turner. It suddenly may no longer be in the best interest of Kyle and Monty to knock out a member of their side alliance. This is why showmances are a bad idea. Alyssa and Kyle are getting very close to each other, and while they are in a main alliance together, the side hustles and deals that each other is making are at risk of being exposed. Alyssa’s closeness to Kyle may have not only screwed Taylor’s game, it could sink a lot of the girls.
THE FIRST EVICTION
Big Brother Season 24 Week 2 saw the first formal vote of the season — even though Paloma was the first to exit the game. While it seemed like the vote was going to be split along gender lines, it turned out to be a unanimous 12-0 vote to eliminate Pooch. Let this be a lesson, kids: NEVER EVER volunteer to go on the block.
Big Brother Season 24 Week 2 is now streaming on Paramount+
