The Toughest Nut Cracks
Given the constant drama that's surrounded Jen in the house this season--or at least it was constant until supplanted by the Eric drama--it's been easy to forget that she has yet to be on the block facing a vote for eviction. She has been nominated 3 times, but has won 2 vetoes and had Jameka veto her once. Jen has said that she's in the house for exposure and not to actually win, and cited her willingness to give up half her prize money as proof. But that's easy to say when you've only been in real danger for about 4 days total the entire game. It's been an open question as to how she would react once she was the unmistakable, unavoidable target.
And we now have our answer: not well. Daniele used the veto on Amber (and not Jameka, who makes a better pawn due to her inability to play for Head of Household) and nominated Jen in her place, the brief truce between Jen and the Donatos broken irreversibly. Realizing she had nothing left to lose, Jen responded by destroying Dick's cigarette cache (worry not cancer devotees; BB replaced them), getting in his face when she felt he blew smoke at her, and--the real biggie--breaking her slop fast and eating regular food.
This last item is what has apparently earned Jen a penalty nomination, something that has till now been the Loch Ness Monster of BB: often talked about but never actually seen. That's been a much-speculated about question from fans over the years: whether there even was such a thing as a penalty nomination, or was there no middle ground between a stern warning and getting tossed out of the house like Justin and Scott. So now we know. Little by little, all the great mysteries are revealing themselves. I expect to see Jessica come out with the unified field theory any day now.
What I'm still unclear about is whether this penalty nomination runs concurrently with her current nomination, or, as most seem to think, whether it applies to next week if she survives Thursday. Applying a rules violation from this week to next week isn't really fair to anyone, but that might be how it's being handled. There are some implications here for Jameka, who otherwise looked completely safe this week even with the possibility that Eric would be forced to vote against her. If Jen has a penalty nomination for next week, which would presumably include a ban on playing for HoH or the veto, that would leave the houseguests with a choice of powerless players to evict. BB certainly wouldn't mind keeping Jen in the house at the expense of the less dramatic Jameka, and the hamsters may feel that evicting Jameka would demoralize Amber even more.
One more thing to consider here: because of the somewhat strict formatting of the TV schedule, nothing that happened after the veto is going to make it onto the Tuesday show. Those who don't have the feeds or aren't otherwise following the action in the house in real time won't know about Jen's meltdown, the penalty nomination, and won't get to judge whether her anger was righteous and Dick had it coming, or if she's lost her mind and needs to go; and will thus be making their America's Player vote based on badly incomplete information. I've often felt that the TV show needs to allow for dramatic unexpected developments such as a major incident following the veto ceremony, and this is especially important now that America's Player has entered into it. It would be ironic if America voted for Eric to save Jen based on a sympathetic edit tonight, only to watch the meltdown in the first segment on Thursday's show and reach the conclusion that she needs to leave.
More as events warrant, as I expect they soon will.
Comments
Your time/date tags seem a little kooky.
I want to address your last paragraph-EDITING. Although tonight's show isn't supposed to be a live show, I would assume that some amount of the post-veto ceremony (Jen's "meltdown") could be included... heaven forbid it doesn't fit the format (you know the axe-sound of someone running a pick along a guitar string... and FADE TO GRAY) Why would BB deprive the broadcast mignons of all the available information? (sarcasm)
Here's the thing. Most people who are obsessed enough to know about this meltdown are the ones who are voting for AP en masse. So I'm not really worried that the AP voting might have a timeline bias, due to the regular format not being adhered to.
The America's Player concept seems to have been a running joke since the first week. Every week it seems like America wants to screw Eric or help him get laid? I don't buy it. Where are the tallies of the voting? And who is stupid enough to pay 99 cents per vote PLUS potentially subscribe to junk from CBS (more cents, no sense)? It's time CBS published these tallies.
Posted by: KevinH | August 21, 2007 03:25 PM
I cant really disagree with anything you wrote here, except the Dick/Jen feud seemed to end in a very strange way. Jen just flipped and destroyed his (suddenly found) cigs? Its so out of character. Then Dick going right into the SR, looking thru every drawer and cabinet until he "magically found" replacement cigs from BB all seemed very staged to me. I watched it live and there was no logic to the actions that happened. Dick couldnt smell the bleach for 10 min? Why was Dick sitting outside wondering if Jen was doing something to his stuff, BEFORE Jen had broken the truce. It was so strange. then there are magically cartons of cigs in the SR waiting for Dick, conveniently off camera? Either this was set up by production, or Dick & Jen worked this out as a way to get Jameka out this week.
I also agree that the format of the show needs to be more elastic. The main thing that has struck me as *extremely* odd is that Eric hasn't even played in a veto comp yet. This smacks of interference from production, because if he were to play and win the veto, it wouldnt be shown until Tues night, at that point they would ask us whether Eric should use his veto. This obviously wouldnt work at all, since the ceremony is held on Mondays. I dont think Eric's name is even in the bag, cause they dont want to deal with that mess. If he gets to final 6, which looks likely, and is able to play for veto, this is gonna be a major problem that production is gonna have to figure out a way to work around. There is no reason Eric should be able to do with the veto as he wants, since he hasnt made any decisions himself up until now. So how will they deal with this?
Posted by: Piper | August 21, 2007 04:30 PM
Jen said that she was told by BB that if she stays this week then she will have the penalty nomination next week... I suppose the theory is that assessing the penalty nomination this week would be no penalty at all since she is already nominated for eviction.
There was some talk by Dick and Zack that they should vote to evict Jameka this week because Jen is sure to be nomiated next week, and they could get her out then...
Up until this turn of events, it was a sure bet that Jen was going to be evicted on Thursday. It is kind of strange that this supposed penalty may in fact keep Jen in the game another week, with the possibilty that she may be nominated against Dick or Eric next week (against whom she would have a much better chance of staying in the house than she otherwise had versus Jameka). I almost wonder whether she planned this as a desparate "nothing to lose" attempt to stay in the game... maybe I am giving Jen too much credit, but it would be an awesome move if it was intentinal (and if it works).
Posted by: RD | August 21, 2007 04:40 PM
It's so "frustrating" to keep reading people say that we, the voters, are screwing Eric. WE are voting for what we would do in the house. WE thought that was what America's Player was supposed to be about - getting our voices in the house. No one told us it was a player assigned to us that we were supposed to help win.
As for Jen, I couldn't stand her from the beginning, but I have always felt sorry for her. I believe she is truly at a little brain-damaged or mentally retarded. She may even have a mild case of autism.
She has the flat, monotone voice type that often belies someone who is devoid of emotion. She appears to not be able to feel empathy, remorse, or any of a hundred other human emotions.
She is completely self-absorbed and can cry only when it is in the context of self-pity or anger. She listens to nothing, lies reflexively and doesn't seem to notice that no one enjoys her company. It's so painful to watch her perch herself in the HOH or squeeze in among the backyard lounges as others are conversing. She's not doing it to be annoying, as Dick would; she truly doesn't seem to know she's not wanted.
I'm sure there will be those die-hard Jen fans who will theorize that she planned all this to buy herself another week (or was perhaps coached by her friends, Booger and Dr. Will in this "worst-case-scenario" bailout), but listen to her, watch her, she's simply not bright enough to think of something like this.
That being said, the other HGs are absolute fools if they do not get rid of Jameka this week.
It's still a game, and Jen's Penality Nom buys the remaining 6 another "free" week.
I'd hate to see Jameka go under these circumstances, but if I was in the house and wanted to win, I'd take every opportunity to knock out any player I could.
Zach seems to get it. Dick is too pissed off to really hear it right now. Dani will probably know it's for the best and Eric, once he gets his orders from America (which will undoubtedly vote out Jameka), will find himself being the promoter of yet another very unpopular eviction.
But, unlike the case with Nick, this is definitely the smart eviction. Then take care of Jen next week.
(And, they shouldn't worry about ignoring her. She simply won't get it).
Posted by: Kel | August 21, 2007 04:42 PM
Piper, that occurred to me too: that the veto is a major loophole for America's Player, since if Eric ever won it America would not have any say on how it should be used, if at all. And since vetos are impossible to hide, a "strange" use of the veto could really ruin Eric's game.
It does seem a bit odd that no one has drawn his ball yet, although Dick's hasn't been drawn either (of course, his ball has been out of the bag twice because he was a nominee). Eric could still play veto via houseguest's choice, but the person most likely to pick him, Jessica, hasn't been nominated yet either.
Posted by: IA | August 21, 2007 05:18 PM
RD, I don't see any way a one-week reprieve for Jen could be anything other than that. Against Dick, she'd still be gone because Dick would have Daniele's and Eric's vote to stay for sure, and likely Jessica's as well. That would be all he would need. Dick isn't going anywhere unless he's nominated with either Daniele or Eric.
Posted by: IA | August 21, 2007 05:20 PM
Dick started verbally attacking Jen again after he slipped up about Daniele's true age. Jen caught it and called Daniele out on it. Naturally Daniele crybaby went to pieces, how dare Jen reveal her lies and true nature to people. So Dick being Dick blew up refusing to take his blame for his big mouth, and went after Jen. He was making up for lost time and especially nasty and cruel. He deserved what he got and more, he can dish it but we know he can't take it. He is a 44 year old, 2 year old. No one deserved his abusive attack and I am so disgusted with all the other HGS. Especially Eric for encouraging more abuse. Our AP is a scumbag and has got to go.
On the bright side people are now again, and Zach too, against Dick and want him out before he turns on them.
Posted by: Jaguarempress | August 21, 2007 05:25 PM
If my math is correct, Eric not having his ball pulled for a veto contest yet is somewhere between a 1-in-13 and 1-in-23 chance, depending on whether there's a houseguest's choice ball every week--that's not low enough to be suspicious IMO.
Posted by: BBAnalyst | August 21, 2007 05:38 PM
If any one watching the same bb8 as I, and asking why Jen did what she did to Dick, you have problems. The first time Dick threw his fit, the whole house, including his daughter should have responded. Count how many times Dick has gone off on helpless guest. Dick has poored tea, golf club temper, and severe verbal abuse. When I read an article about the reasons to get Jen out of the house, vs leaving Dick in the house????
Posted by: lee | August 21, 2007 06:50 PM
I think it is rude and judgemental to refer to smokers as "cancer devotees".You may not condone smoking but it is a personal choice
Posted by: Anonymous | August 23, 2007 09:17 PM
Sorry to come across as rude, but it's personal for me.
Posted by: IA | August 23, 2007 10:27 PM