Ryan's Hope
First things first: has there ever been a more embarrassing exit from the show than the one endured by Allison? Let's go through the roller coaster she was on over the course of about ten minutes: she was told she was evicted (along with Ryan), something she had obviously expected and thoroughly processed. The announcement of the vote is fairly routine, and the departing houseguests say their goodbyes...when Allison finds the door locked and the siren sounding. She's saved! She's giddy! Julie gives the good news: you're now playing as singles. Allison obviously gets the idea that the eviction is completely nullified...until Julie gives the word that there is going to be a re-vote, and either Ryan or Allison will still be leaving the house. This was like the moment in a "too good to be true" sales pitch when you realize exactly why something is too good to be true. Allison's grin turned upside down, because she knew what was coming.
With a good deal more enthusiasm than we usually see on this show, six of the houseguests, joined this time by Natalie and Matt, trooped in to vote to evict Allison. When she got the word--no time or privacy to coordinate a sympathy vote, in the unlikely event anyone would have wanted to give her one--Allison got a brief hug from Ryan but was then left to walk to the door with no condolences. The hamsters had already moved on to talk among themselves before she even left the house, which I'm pretty sure we've never seen before. Even if you didn't like Allison, it all seemed a bit excessive and nasty without a purpose. Even the most controversial houseguests generally get a pro forma sendoff.
Having said all this, I don't think the TV show really conveyed how annoying Allison became to the people in the house, let along those watching on feeds. They gave off the strong impression that the lesbian ruse was the main reason she left, and while I no longer think that the anger over this was purely an invention of the producers--I've seen Joshuah gripe about it without any prompting--it was really just a small piece of the irritating puzzle that was Allison. But I think she telling the truth when she told Julie that making up that story was just an attempt to create a little diversion in a boring environment, and she wasn't thinking about the game at all. The reasons why she came on this show in the first place are still a mystery, but I'll get into this more at the time of her postmortem.
I don't know that the others were really all that surprised by the twist; James outright predicted it and it seems all of them taped goodbye messages to individuals, which should have tipped them off that solo evictions would be happening eventually. But I think it was time; aside from the fact that the show wouldn't have made it to the end of the month with two players leaving at a time, there just wasn't anything happening gamewise. Now, there are the possibilities of new alliances, and the interesting prospect of some pairs continuing to hang together while others come apart (Sheila and Adam, try to handle the breakup with class). The one little negative is that with Ryan not only still in the house but as the HoH, it seems that we're almost assured of getting one of those dull "young man alliances", with Adam and possibly James (if he's not too tied to Chelsia) joining in. There was no way Allison ever would have stayed, but it would have made for a more interesting mix in there if she had.
And so Ryan is Head of Household, and is going to be a member of the jury at the very least: not bad for someone who never would have gotten on this show or even tried to except for Jen. I was sort of hard on him early in the season because I didn't think he was adding anything to the entertainment value. He didn't seem especially smart or good looking or dramatic or even very interested in being on the show, and that's the type of player you would think would get easily frustrated under pressure. Yet he's borne up pretty well considering he's been under the gun almost constantly as both Jen's boyfriend and Allison's partner. Now he has the opportunity to make his own way in the game, and he has the major advantage of having not really mad any enemies yet (being nominated as much as he has, it's not like he's had the chance to get people upset). Head of Household could be a double-edged sword for him though, because the easy evictions are finished now (possibly Sheila would qualify). He might not want to take sides, but there's a decent chance the house will be divided by the end of his week anyway.