Big Brother Season 19, Episode 2 Recap

Last night’s Big Brother premiere “highlighted” the multiple twists planned for the season. Seriously, it was a bit much. This is the season that should be called “over the top”. After a convoluted series of events, the show basically replaced superfan Cameron with season 18’s Paul.

The online community has been riled up over these development, but in hindsight I’m not as upset as I was 24 hours ago. Since we saw little to no house dynamics last night, we really have no clue how Cameron was fitting in with the house over those few hours he was there. Could he have possibly rubbed some people the wrong way? Could Christmas and Megan have charmed the house? That’s the problem when the feeds don’t go live until a full week after they enter the house.

That’s not to say I wish Cameron was no longer on the show. I will go to my grave complaining of returnees, and Paul is no exception. Yes, I did like him last year, but he seems to be coasting on the more annoying aspects of his character from last year. Yes, “friendship” stinks. And the way his return was set up is downright criminal.

Why do I say that? Let’s look back to last night. That competition that unleashed the temptation was created in a way where the endgame was predetermined. No matter what somebody was going to push that button. Were they going to let them sit there for days and days? Nope, and human nature dictates that somebody was going to go for it. The fact that it was at first unclear whether it was Kevin or somebody else is proof that’s the case.

Then there is the fiasco regarding his “friendship” bracelets. Letting him pick eight people to remain safe pretty much created a large alliance that will inevitably befriend him and keep him safe for the next few days, if not weeks. That’s craziness.

The final straw is this week’s “Den of Temptation” vote. It’s the first vote of the season, and Paul is competing against 15 people nobody has ever heard of before. Of course he’s going to win, which means that he’s safe for the next three weeks. Hmmm, isn’t it a familiar course of action or returnees to be safe up to jury time? (Or close to it, at least.)

Yeah, I’m not happy with these turns of events. But at least tonight we’re bound to see more house activity. This won’t be a Julie Chen-dominated show. There will be a HOH competition, and nominations will happen after some footage of the various folks trying to cement their place in the house. Hopefully, this will include some of the drama that Grodner hinted at in a tweet earlier this week.

So let’s jump in with tonight’s action. After a lengthy (and I mean lengthy) recap of what we just saw last week, the show begins with the aftermath of Cameron’s departure. Paul thinks it’s ridiculous that he went “over the beast Christmas. Wow, everybody in this house is stupid for not voting out an obviously strong player”. Yep, I agree. Christmas, meanwhile, is pissed that she actually got two votes to evict. She now has two unknown targets. Lighten up, Francis. Boring Jillian is happy that she survived, and she doesn’t want to be seen as comfortable on the block.

In the bedroom, Josh is freaking out even though he wasn’t nominated. It’s already difficult for him to be in the house. Megan and Alex are in another room talking about who could have possibly voted for Jillian (Matt, Mark, and Cody) or Christmas (Jason, Josh). In the diary room, Megan is convinced that all five votes came from guys (correct), and she knows that traditionally all-guys alliances begin right away. Alex says they have to find out who made those votes “ASAP”.

Mark is now seen giving Josh a pep talk. He “likes the kid” but the paranoia is already getting to him. Josh says “by tomorrow” he’ll be fine. Josh is convinced that “the girls and Ramses are forming”. Sure enough, we see him hopping around with the girls. Josh also says during the comp he saw “the blue haired girl” (Megan) saying they need to go after the guys. Flashbacks show her saying that exact thing.

Upstairs, Megan is telling Ramses and Jillian how much she likes their group of four. The fourth, Alex, joins them as Megan tells them that small groups of four usually work best as alliances. Megan drops a bombshell as she states who her initial nominees would be - Mark, Paul, and Cody. If any of them go, she will be happy. Jillian adds that she doesn’t trust Paul, and Alex agrees that he’s a huge threat.

Back to Josh, as he’s not overreacting to Christmas. He starts bawling as he’s a self-proclaimed “mama’s boy” who can’t deal with the fact nobody is genuine. The sad piano music comes up as he is whining about missing his family. Bitch, it’s just been a few hours! Ok, a few days including interview segments. Josh does appreciate the concern that Christmas shows him. They continue to babble about the house, and she asks him about Megan. “I don’t trust that girl That’s my gut. I don’t know if it’s God guiding me.”

Moving into the kitchen, Raven is dancing around when the doorbell rings. Holy fuck, it’s stupid Nicole. Why? Why are you doing this to me? Ramses, of course, goes nuts over her, as does Alex. Kevin has no idea who she is, though, so he just sits in the living room. Good for him.

Nicole is there to host the first HOH of the summer. There will be four groups of four, with equal girls and guys on each team. The orange team is Jason, Alex, Christmas, and Ramses. The yellow team is Elena, Jillian, Kevin, and Josh. The pink team is Dominique, Jessica, Jody, and Matt. Finally, the blue team is Paul, Mark, Raven, and Megan. Kevin, remember, must throw this competition for his team.

Again, apples are a part of this game. They must race across the vines, grab an apple, and return it via the vines before hitting the button. Once a team has reached 8 “rotten” apples, the quickest two teams will advance to the next round. There will also be a golden apple, and if found they are to return it. This will make them safe for the week, but there will be a consequence to it.

Thanks to Paul, his team takes the early lead, but then it gets funny. Due to Josh’s paranoia about his place in the house, he grabs the golden apple that makes him safe. Elena is pissed, as she was going to grab that. “I could be on the block this week because of you.” She continues to bitch that he’s a traitor. “You know why I did this”, he says as eliminates his team from this competition. He’s convinced people are gunning for him. Jillian thinks it’s extremely selfish, as he continues to talk about his gut feelings. Jillian says he wasn’t on anybody’s radar, although he is now.

Mark dislocates a finger during the comp, but he carries on. Cody takes charge and whips his way through the rings. Alex gets the clown music, though, as she struggles through the ropes. Raven also struggles. The game ends as Cody springs across one last time for the eighth apple. “Watch out, loser”, he says as he pushes past Josh. Second place goes to the blue team, as Mark struggles with his team’s eight apple.

Afterwards, Josh is pacing away from everybody else as they talk about who grabbed the golden apple. Cody says he’s a coward, and he’s now on his radar in the future. Josh starts bitching at Megan that he’s an intelligent and smart guy, and he “doesn’t want nothing to do with your game”. He likes everybody but her. “You’re a snake and a bully, and I’m done with you.” She’s upset as she has no idea what she did to him.

Nicole’s awful voice comes on again as she introduces the second part of the competition. It’s a similar competition in some respects as they have to balance a bunch of apples on a tree, but each team has to pick one person to represent them. Cody wants to be his team’s representative, and Paul is basically forced to play. Not surprising, Cody easily wins. He’s the season’s first HOH!

Back inside, Cody says he wants to be the person who divides the house, “and it starts today”. Paul reminds us that Cody shook his hand as they discussed safety the previous day, but I’m not sure that will hold. Josh is still fuming over Megan, and he says he has to call her out once again. This time in public. He does, and calls her a snake once again. Apparently, she’s been making some snide remarks about him, and she apologizes. He is convinced that he would have been going home if he didn’t win safety and she denies that is the case. This if beyond ridiculous. Josh keeps going and going, but Megan finally walks away.

In the bedroom, Josh tells Kevin that he’s convinced he would be going home if he hadn’t grabbed that safety apple. “I have a gut feeling.” You really have a bad gut, my friend. Kevin thinks the “kids in this house are sometimes just nuts”. Yep, you’re spot on, old man.

In one of the bedrooms, Jason is letting Paul put on his cowboy clothes as he believes he’s good at “being the breath of fresh air”. Yeah, whatever. Friendship, blah blah blah. He rides Jason around the house, and not in the way you’re probably thinking. Cody just doesn’t give a fuck, though, and gives Paul the evil stardown. Yes!

In the bedroom, Cody tells Matt that he wants to join up with him and Matt. Matt is all for it. He moves on to talk to Mark about the same thing. He feels they’ve all been on the same page since day one. Wait, isn’t this day two?

In the kitchen, Megan is washing dishes as Josh wanders over to get a glass of water. He tells her he’d like to talk to her, but her only response is to nag him to clean up his mess as she just cleaned the kitchen. In the diary room, he claims to feel bad about what he did and knows he created a huge target. He tells her what he did was completely wrong, and whines that this is the first time he’s been away from his family. She says in the diary room that the problem is that she now has to fix the mess he created with everybody else in the house.

Up in the HOH, Megan talks to Cody about how she doesn’t want to go up on the block. Too bad she knows she has “zero relationship” with him. Yeah, he doesn’t really respond, and complains in the diary room that he hates the Big Brother cliched “save me” speech. “If there’s one thing I don’t respect it’s begging and selfishness. If she thinks she’s going to get any intel from me, she’s wrong.”

Outside, the girls are in their swimsuits, and Cody talks about how he needs to create a real team together. He needs to find people similar to him. Matt and Mark are the obvious natural picks, but he needs to have some “babes” - Christmas, Dominique, Raven, and Elena. Hmmm, I’m not sure about those picks. Oh yeah, he also picks big boobed Jessica. He loses his train of thought as he talks about her. Then there’s the outsiders, which is too big of a group to list. It’s basically everybody else, and those are the people he must decide between for nominations.

Mark and Cody talk about noms in the diary room. He’s thinking of the “three outside chicks” - Alex, Megan, and Jillian. Yes, I like that!!! If possible, he’d like to backdoor Paul. Mark loves the guy, though, and thinks he could be an ally. Too bad he can’t tell Cody this. “The guy is going to play both sides”, Cody says. He doesn’t buy that Paul is trustworthy, but Mark doesn’t agree.

The show ends with Cody’s nominations, and they are Jillian and Megan. He tells Megan “I just don’t really like you that much”. Wow!!! Jillian is up because she’s associated with Megan. And that’s all he has to say!!

There’s the usual babble from everybody involved, and that’s it for tonight! What are your thoughts? Were you happy to see that snake, Nicole? Are you already sick of Josh? Or how about that beastmode Cody? Let me know!!!