The ginja ninja has left the house as we return for episode nine. Having left the houseguests in the middle of an HoH competition last week, that's pretty much where we pick up with this episode. Right after we get the usual recaps of what came before for those not taking notes, and some footage immediately after Graig's eviction featuring a few Diary videos showing how people feel about the changes in the house.
Back to the HoH competition, "Through the Wringer" where houseguests need to slide down a laundry chute into a wash basin, grab the lettered facecloths, then squeeze through the wringer, down the rope, through the obstacle course and hang them on the line to spell "Fight Dirty Laundry." Do that and you win HoH and $5000 from OxyClean.
The obstacle looks like enough of a challenge but you also have to grab the letters in order before you can take them. The sooner you find your letters the harder it is for everyone else. Sarah is giving it her all in order to make sure she and Brittnee stay off the block this week, but every time she tries to avoid the agitator, . . . WHAM, she slides right into it. Godfrey realizes there's no way he's going to win so he decides to help Bruno. I'm not sure it was that much help but it worked and Bruno becomes the new HoH.
As soon as Bruno wins Sarah becomes a little paranoid that Bruno's gunning for her. So is Brittnee because it was her plan to get Graig out. Zach and Jordan on the other hand find themselves sitting pretty straddling the middle of the house with no one the wiser.
Time to see Bruno's HoH room with pictures of his family and kids and a letter from home. That'd be the hardest part, even for an old curmudgeon like me. My kids drive me crazy but I can't imagine being without them for that long. Bruno reads the letter aloud with almost as many tears as Graig had last week reading his letter. I still like Bruno and the way he's been playing the game, hopefully that doesn't change now that he's in the HoH room.
After everyone leaves Zach heads back up to the HoH room to see where Bruno's head is at. Zach finds out that Sarah and Johnny are Bruno's targets, even though Brittnee was the former HoH. Sarah was right about following her gut, and she knows it's her and Johnny. She has a little breakdown in the bedroom and Kevin and Zach move in to console her.
Kevin's turn to check in with Bruno as he needs to make sure that Kevin had no idea about last week's plan. Bruno knows Kevin's not exactly on his side, more likely straddling both sides, but he needs to keep his options open. You never know when you'll need to rely on someone outside of your alliance.
Time for the Have Not competition, and to ensure even teams Bruno picked Ashleigh and Bobby to sit out, guaranteeing them as Haves for the week. There are three teams of three and in each team one member will be blindfolded in a dog costume. Lame name, "Game of Bones," in which teams need to return with the most bones to get the weeks food. Nobody wants to be a Have Not, obviously.
This competition is like the blindfolded challenges in Survivor, with the added enjoyment of a shock collar. At either end of the yard are the sighted team members shouting directions with the blindfolded dog in the middle retrieving bones based on the directions they can hear. It doesn't help that everyone's directions are echoing over everyone else's. The guys team is Godfrey, Zach and Kevin as the blind dog; the girls team is Pilar, Brittnee and Willow as the dog; and team glasses is Jordan, Johnny and Sarah as the dog.
After a lot of misdirection and shock therapy for the wayward puppies the game is finally over. The guys team have gathered 16 bones, and Team glasses have also gathered 16 bones, leaving the Have Nots for the week as Brittnee, Willow and Pilar. The 32 food items selected included candy, wine, chicken feet (eww), and beer.
After the challenge the girls decide it's time for a waxing session and Bobby decides he wants to see what it's like so the girls wax his chest. Ouch. After the waxing, Johnny is more than happy to lotion him up.
Bruno confides in Brittnee how much he misses his family and why he fought so hard for the HoH. She knows he's going after her closest allies but first and foremost she needs to keep herself safe and she feels fairly secure after their chat. Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Kevin and Pilar are taking things to the next level with a lot of lip locking. Kevin is really attracted to her, but he's more attracted to winning.
Here comes the girl talk with Pilar and Ashleigh discussing their relationships with Kevin and Zach. Both girls are really attracted to the guys but they also know that the guys could just be playing them. Sarah comes in to join them and feels like their showmances will keep them safe in the house. Maybe Sarah should work on her own rather than being a little jealous of theirs.
Ashleigh and Bobby are chatting in the HoH room and it's time to talk strategy when Bruno arrives. Bobby is thinking its time to put Kevin back up on the block because he's a bigger threat than Sarah who doesn't win anything. That doesn't work well for Ashleigh who can see herself working with Kevin in the future because of how close they both are to Pilar.
Sarah finally decides it's time to talk to Bruno and the information she gets from Bruno is that her alliances have done nothing for her. Now she's pissed, but my question is . . . What took her so long? Bruno is a very careful HoH and chooses his words equally carefully to make sure he covers all his bases. Johnny also heads up to see Bruno and assures him that his beef last week was with Graig and Graig alone and had nothing to do with Bruno.
Sarah calls out Brittnee in the privacy of the bedroom on how she feels like nobody cares. It doesn't help when Brittnee also acts like she doesn't care. That does not bode well for her game if Sarah stays in the house because she may no longer have Sarah's trust. In the Big Brother house, if you can't trust your alliance you may as well just pack up and leave.
It's finally time for Bruno to make his nominations as he heads into the Vault. He shortlists Johnny, Kevin, Sarah and . . . his last one is left a mystery as he locks in his nominations and heads out to reveal. His first nomination is Johnny who has a wicked social and physical game and whom he has nothing negative to say; the second person is Sarah who he says is beautiful inside and out and it's just a game, but unsaid is the fact that he holds her responsible for getting rid of Graig. Is there a backdoor plan in place? Maybe, but we'll have to wait and see.
Tomorrow we'll find Sarah going all out to keep herself safe as she tries to win the PoV. Going up against Johnny, who's proven himself a lot better than the houseguests thought, should prove quite the challenge, but she also has to best Bruno and three other houseguests. Based on her track record, good luck with that. Maybe we'll also see a little more of Arisa who was unusually absent this episode. If you miss it I'll let you know how it turns out. See you all tomorrow.