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What a whirlwind week for the HG. Dom heads out but as some had briefly discussed towards the end of week 3, there was a battle back and a HG did re-enter the game. Jessica has the haulting hex, Cody is back in the house, and we have a new HOH and two nominees. The humor in this to me is so many fans felt handing Jessica the greatest power of the season and praying to the BB Gods that Cody will come back was because they want Paul out. You know the saying, what you fear you create? That may be exactly what plays out. Let's dive in to what's occurred since Thursday’s live show. First, I will tell you that the modified Battle Back was a vast improvement from a pure game perspective. I preferred the more level comp field where all evictees competed together in round 1. A significant improvement over BB 18 where 1st evictee would be forced to battle 4 times to get back in while the last evicted only needed to face off against one. I always land in favor of the players having the most control over the game and this twist was another step towards production returning to original game format. The Second round Cameron/Cody face off since they were the First two to complete round 1 against Jillian/Dom and each other. Cody had to work for it and in the end he beat out Cameron for the chance to move on to round 3. It sucks for Cameron he never got to play the game but this was a fair shot to win his way back in and it wasn't in the cards for him. Even better we find out that Cody will have to play one of the members of the house in round 3 and win or he won't re-enter the game. As a purist I was even happier to realize the HG had a vote in who would go head to head against Cody. Everyone except Paul voted for Paul so it was a unanimous house decision. Paul and Cody go head to head and Cody earns his spot back in the house. Now, I've considered the idea many fans have argued about Cosy’s advantage having played this maze once and Paul not being given a practice. We don't know if he was or wasn't but…in the big picture this season HG have had more control over the twists than any season in recent years and I approve! I don't like outside interference being forced into the game. The bottom line is HG controlled Paul entering, America controlled handing Paul 3 weeks safety, HG controlled if Cody had the ability to re-enter. Free will. When feeds return Friday night we learn that Jessica won HOH. She and Xmas had a battle of wills. Xmas was able to compete and she gave the entire house a run for their money and that's important for everyone to see! Now all these fans who voted who have been hoping and wishing Jessica and Cody would be handed safety to jury got their wish. Let me break that down for those who don't realize the numbers. Jessica has HOH now week 4. She and Cody are safe this eviction (which is 2nd eviction under the Hex power). Even if someone else wins HOH week 5 and were to take a shot at one or both of the Jody duo, she will play Haulting Hex and save them. Even if it were only Cody OTB week 5 she will use the power which means we’ve had 2 more weeks of them and will be forced to endure it into week 6 which is the final week of Haulting Hex power (4th eviction) unless by some miracle DE were to happen next week. We are guaranteed to have Jody in the game now for a minimum of 3 weeks. Many fans wanted Jess to have the power believing 2 things. 1. Jessica having the power guaranteed someone goes after Paul. 2. Assumed Cody would win his way back in and they love dramatic feeds and believed this duo would shake up the house coming out guns blazing. LMAO! This is where the be careful what you wish for comes into place. When feeds return those LF who held onto this idea are quickly complaining and all the air comes out of their we love Jess tires! We also quickly learn Jessica has nominated Josh and Ramses?! I heard many saying oh well she's going to BD Paul. That's not what all signs on the feeds point to. We catch Jody talking in the HOH and it's all about their hate of Josh, how great it will be to send him home. Wait! What? She's actually targeting Josh? Not only is she targeting Josh but she's repeating the exact same mistake Cody did?! I have to sit my tea cup down as I let this marinade in my mind. Cody’s fatal error week 1 was nominating pawns he wasn't open to losing. He say Xmas next to Jillian. Of course Jillian was always going to go! Even if the betrayal of his own alliance had not been an element that week. Jillian was a non-entity and always going to be the casualty after he named Paul and Paul was safe. I would suggest even if Paul had hit the block the allies were so pissed Jillian still would have gone home. The votes were never there. Fast forward to Jessica’s nom’s this week. She sits Josh next to Ramses?! Jessica is blind and this is a horrible move. The house has been suspicious and wanting to take out Ramses has been at the top of the hit list for 2 Weeks. This is why she needed to be interacting all the time from the beginning. If Josh and Ramses remain on the block after Veto Paul and Xmas have already secured the votes to keep Josh and go against Jessica’s target. Ramses is a number for Jessica/Cody! Josh is obnoxious and volatile but he's easily manipulated and a bigger shield for players like Paul and Alex. Why would she be so dumb? How does she believe getting her personal grudge on Josh out in the open to everyone to see would automatically mean everyone would support her target? LMAO! Ramses is a HUGE threat to Paul, Alex. Kevin, Xmas, even Mark. No one is threatened by Josh. Annoyed? Yes! Threatened? Not one person fears Josh as a player. So Paul and them went to Josh told him they are going to vote Ramses out and Josh just needs to seems sad and emotional all week and they will save him-sending Ramses out. Jessica sat a bigger target next to a pawn no one was ever going to follow that plan. Depending on how Veto goes if Ramses doesn't win and come off the block Ramses will be the one to go home. Ramses is on to Paul. On to Kevin. On to a lot. He's smart and seen as a triple threat even if he hasn't done anything that's how 90% of the house views him and Elena is really the only one who likes him. Jessica will not BD Paul. Hate to be the one that breaks the news but she has to have the votes and as well just witnessed Friday the entire house voted for Paul, who is a strong competitor to take on Cody! I swear I saw Jessica vote and she even names Paul. So all the fans basing their ideas on the belief Jessica and Cody will take Paul out and they want Paul gone…your strategy is about as savvy as Cosy’s week 1! The one smart thing I have seen from Jessica is her telling Cody they need to not isolate themselves from the rest of the house. While it may look to many that Jessica has Cody in line because we are seeing a much more interactive Jody in the house with socializing, we also see Cody alone with others. Now, this morning Cody is feeling out Jason in the KIT. Talking about taking big shots, shaking up the house, screw what these chicks (Jess/Alex) keep Trying to tell us we need to go rogue. Cody said in post eviction interviews he would want to Come back and work with Paul. Unless you are new to BB or simply a casual fan you had to know that was never going to happen. Cody and Jason chat is interesting to me. Suddenly Jason, Cowboy) finds himself in an amazing spot. He is in an alliance with Paul/Alex and he knows where all the bodies are buried and certainly we see him talking about taking Ramses out over Josh repeatedly last night. This morning as Cody is rambling on telling Jason way too much not knowing the background it hits me! Jason could swing either way. He can play dum-which he's great at naturally with Cody and run valuable intel back to Paul/Alex. Or he could get gas lit by Cody feeding him what deep down he's been wanting to do for weeks which is take a huge swing and help Cody shake up the house. I don't see Jason betraying Alex. Paul maybe, but never Alex. I don't see him convincing Alex to turn on Paul and align with Cody and Jessica. But suddenly Jason finds himself in an amazing position where both alphas want and need him. So now we had Paul/Cody/Alex/Ramses/Josh all as bigger targets than simple minded Jason and if he does play it correctly Jason is all but guaranteed final 6. Paul doesn't have to do anything to flip the target on Jessica because Ramses was already on everyone’s radar she handed them a target that was always going to be far more enticing than Josh. Xmas is the one we've seen going from pair to pair checking in that people want Ramses out over Josh. Jess, Cody, or Ramses have to win Veto and take Ramses down or he will go home on her HOH again sending out someone who’s agenda aligned with her own. We've also heard a lot of players saying let's wait until Veto happens then we can discuss a strategy but I've seen all individually say that Ramses is far more dangerous than Josh. This is likely to be a voting blindside on a Jody HOH once again. Now, what's the best alternative for Jess if Ramses were to come down? Who could she rally a 6 vote eviction against other than Josh no matter who she would replace Ramses with? Xmas. I can foresee enough votes being had if Xmas were sat next to Josh. People love Kevin. Too many believe they need Paul. Even though the Mark tides have changed I still don't see enough choosing to keep crazy ass Josh over Mark. Christmas is the only player I can see that there is any possibility of a re-nom scenario where Josh doesn't end up being the accidental group pawn to go home. Mark has already pointed out-does anyone want to be stuck in jury with Josh? Lol. This brings me to the last sip of tea. Mark and Elena are the only ones that the plan to vote Ramses out over Josh has been agreed upon. Elena has a soft spot for Ramses. Mark hates Josh as much as Cody and Jessica do. Some fans have suggested keeping Elena and Mark out of the loop could be bad for Paul. I however don't think they will remain out of the loop after the veto ceremony if Ramses and Josh remain the nominees. Paul will finesse Elena. He won't blindside her. He knows he has to get her blessing to keep himself on good terms with her. If Elena signs on Mark may not like it but he will agree and won't rock the boat. The only other thing I've seen in the last 15 hours that worries me is Kevin. Kevin told Cody he was the hinky vote for Ramses in the Cody eviction week. Why?! This was terribly miscalculated on Kevin's behalf. Cody just proved to the whole house when he's in trouble he will throw anyone and everyone under the bus. Many suspected Kevin but to confirm it to Cody? I don't understand why he would make such a terrible move. He did and we should be watching for this to come back and hurt Kevin in the near future. The Veto comp is scheduled to happen today. Don't expect some huge shift miraculously turning the house upside down. People are currently playing nice with Jody because she's HOH, but in week 4 when every player is deeply invested in targets they have had on their hit lists for weeks. Ramses, Josh, Xmas have all been on those lists and it's far more likely Jessica’s HOH will not result in some miraculous fall from grace for Paul in HG’s eyes this week. Jess and Cody are safe for the next 3’weeks but Paul looks to be almost just as safe for at least this week. The RealiTea is like him or not Paul has done the leg work that makes escape routes for him 1-2 weeks ahead in the game. Love him or hate him he is playing a phenomenal game. Jessica could have set nominations that would have been far better for her and Cody but she lacks the inside intel to know how to make moves come to life. Until we have the veto results and the actual ceremony the RealiTea is Ramses is more likely than Josh to leave this week and if not it's going to be a Josh week of meltdowns on the feeds unless Xmas happens to find herself OTB.

The RealiTea of the Big Brother house is one small step in the wrong directions leaves a player in a mine field with no map to a safe route out of danger. What looked like a boring day of feeds after the Veto ceremony this afternoon quickly turns into another explosion and the casualty count is still under way. 12:16 pm the feeds return to Mark and Paul in the BY. Jason did not use the POV! From a game perspective, this was a smart move by Jason and it's the first major push by Paul that failed. For the Paul haters, stand up and celebrate! As you know my feeling was there was absolutely no reason to use the veto at this stage in the week. Dom had locked herself in as the target for the week and Jason and Alex were both going to create problems they didn't need to push a Paul agenda. Jason came to the conclusion that Mark and Jason were in a good spot and this would only create a potential problem for Jason down the road. Jessica and Dom remain OTB and we see Paul telling Mark that he and Elena are the ones that have Mark's back and Mark just needs to stick to his word and vote Dom out. Speaking of sticking to your word in this game...later in the afternoon this becomes a point that makes them pot of RealiTea boil over! Mark and Josh are playing a game of pool around 3:20 pm. They made a wager and the loser will have to drink a cup of pickle juice and hot sauce. During the game, Josh is doing what he always does which is talk a lot of smack! Josh double taps on the eight ball, in RealiTea losing the game. Before we continue on this path there are a couple important facts to note. First, we we have our Have Nots for the week. Josh, Mark, and Ramses are the HN. When this is announced Saturday my first thought was....Josh and Mark+slop for the week is a recipe for the week of #crybabies. Mark is a big guy and a week of slop for this guy isn't going to be fun. Josh on slop-well that's just going to be a week of misery for live feeders! He's such a whiny little mama's boy to begin with add being hangry to that and we are going to be force fed a kid who has no sense when he is well nourishes to begin with. Then Josh takes the 50/50 gamble and ends up losing that bet leading to not one but now two weeks of HN for him! This leads me to the second point we need to address before diving into the pool game yesterday. Since Josh entered the house he has been all bark and no bite. Josh is constantly sh*t talking with all of the guys and making bets. The problem is Josh writes checks he can't cash! If you don't have the live feeds then this is important to understand. Week 1 Josh made a bet with Kevin and when Josh lost he starts back peddaling saying he isn't going to follow through. This established a regular pattern of Josh making gentlemen bets and then crying and never following through on his word. Several times over the last 3 weeks LF's have watched Kevin, Mark, and Josh have heart to heart conversations with Josh about as a man when you give your word you have to keep it. Jason of all the guys delivered the most sensible eloquent man to man child conversation about how not being a man of your word effects how you look at yourself and affects your self value. Jason explains that every time Josh goes back on bet Josh will lose respect for himself. When you say you are going to do something no matter how annoyed or disappointed you are you have to follow through. Jason makes it clear not only does it effect Josh's own self esteem, since as a man the one thing you have to have is your word. The more Josh cries and whines about something the less the men in the house respect him and this will show up in the game. So stop making the bets or suck it up and take your punishment. I'm not doing the conversation justice but you get my point. Don't walk the walk if you can't talk the talk. This entire situation has everything to do with why Kevin loathes Josh as much as he does. Now that we have covered the back story it's time to return to Monday afternoon 3:20 pm BB time! Josh loses the game but refuses to accept the loss. After spending the entire time playing antagonizing Mark, calling him meatball and just being typical obnoxious Josh when he double taps he insists this isn't a rule and that Mark lost. Mark had put up with all the smack talk with a good attitude but when Josh loses Mark is not going to role over. As they begin to ask for a ruling by others in the house as to whether a double tap means Josh lost, Josh still cannot just own his b.s.. Josh heads in the house to get the cup of hot sauce and pickle juice thinking he's going to make Mark drink in. Elena makes a joke that Mark should throw the cup at Josh. She repeatedly says it was a joke, that's not a good idea. Josh returns and Mark approaches Josh asking if Josh double tapped. Josh says yes and Mark replies, I'm a man of my word takes the cup from Josh's hand and throws it directly in Josh's face telling him he always goes back on his bets and he needs to be a man of his word! Now, if you don't have Feeds let me make it clear, Mark is smiling and I sincerely believe he thought it would be funny. It wasn't some heated conversation that goes left but...it wasn't cool! In real life, this is literally a move that would make anyone come out guns blazing. In the game, this is an awful move by a guy who just missed hitting the block by the skin of his teeth! Now as a LF who watches Josh rinse and repeat this same sissy move of bet and renig, bet and renig it was GLORIOUS FEEDS! Josh is a tea cup poodle that is constantly yappinf at the big dogs in the house as if he believes he's a Mastiff. He finally got nipped by a Labrador. Quickly Josh heads inside and we see him washing his face in the sink. We hear him saying Mark just disrespected him on live TV and his family is going to see this. Meanwhile outside Elena is scolding Mark telling him tha was stupid and he shouldn't have done that (while laughing). Josh begins telling anyone in the vicinity that Mark just disrespected him as a man and that he is #pissed. Raven and Xmas are in the BA as Josh stomps around having a temper tantrum (understandably to a degree). Raven wants nothing to do with it and says as much and exits the BA. Xmas really empathizes with Josh but she's trying to talk him down telling him repeatedly he needs to calm down before he does something he woll regret. At this point others in the house like Paul, Matt, Ramses, Xmas feel bad for Josh and think Mark was wrong for what he just did. Paul is making a calm effort to diffuse Josh but also trying to give Josh time to collect himself but telling him don't do anything stupid bud. Let it go. Walk away. It was f'ed up but be the bigger man. This is Josh of course and he's going on and on about it got in his eyes, his eyes are burning, this is messed up. He disrespected as a man on TV! Josh heads to the storage as Elena is still chastising Mark. Josh grabs a bottle of ketchup and mayo, returns to yard, tells Elena she better move away from Mark and proceeds to fire both bottles all over Mark sitting on the lounge chair. Now, Mark takes it. He knows what he did was messed up and takes his punishment like a man for a second. Problem is Josh just keeps telling about how Mark slandered Josh as a man saying Josh isn't a man of his word and calls Mark out for not being a man of his word and that Mark said he wanted Paul out week 1! Shoot! Now I need popcorn because this is going to explode! In this game, one small thing can quickly turn on a dime and Josh took a low blow at Mark on point that Mark has been steadily trying to defend and deny since Cody painted Mark and Dom as the teammates. This was a bad move on Josh's part. Xmas warned him, others 100% took Josh's side in the moment and everyone was going to take his side that what Mark did was wrong...but now this is about to go left quickly! This is leads to the entire house in the BY After Mark came out and calmly tries to apologize to Josh and admit what he did was wrong. Problem is Josh has the spotlight which is what Josh craves and this kid has no common sense! Dom finally emerges from the BR and attempts to calm Josh and as he's yelling and interrupting Mark's apology she even calmly tells Josh to let Mark finish. As others make their way to see what's happening and Josh circles back around to Mark not being a man of his word and drags Paul's name into it again. In the midst of his rant Josh said, "I don't run around here pretending I like you washing dishes and cooking food and running around trying to fit in with people and reporting back to people. If I don't like you I don't like you!" Dom can't help herself and nods her head like "YES! Finally someone else who is willing to bring Paul's strategy up," Paul sees this and he chimes is asking Dom why she's nodding her head. Now Dom and Paul start in. Soon after Elena and Jessica insert themselves. Elena does so calmly and is asking Josh to clarify his statements. But Jessica calls out Josh for lying about voting for Xmas to leave week 1 when Cody was HOH. She points out that Josh told one side of the house he was going to vote Xmas out (Jessica and Cody) while he told Xmas he was voting Jillian out so Josh shouldn't be talking about anyone else not being a man of their word because Josh's word doesn't mean anything! All the whole Matt/Raven standing to the side visibly eating this up! We can see Matt give a thumbs up behind Raven's back as this is all unfolding because Josh has just put himself back in the line of fire and he's trying to pull Mark along with him. What's even more noticeable to me is we see Jason, Alex, and Ramses sitting on a bench under the shade together reveling in the front row seats to a show. At one point we can see Jason in the background miming a noose and Josh hanging himself (which is hilarious). Ramses and Alex are laughing and enjoying this show just as much! When I see the 3 of them sitting together giddy I think...you three should NEVER be seen sitting together! If I were in the house it's small things like this that would later have me going hmmmm? In a matter of minutes we went from a boring afternoon of HG cooking together in the kitchen (Paul, Matt, Raven, Jason, Xmas, Ramses) to land mines exploding all over the game! Josh was heated and he just has diarrhea of the mouth and by attaching Mark about not being a man of his word it leads to things again being said without forethought like, "I stick to my word with people I'm loyal to!" And "I was with them!" (Meaning the showmance alliance). He says he went to Xmas and promised him her vote because he was really with the big group not the outsiders so what he said to Cody, Jessica, Alex, Jillian, Andy Jason meant nothing. This isn't a good look for Josh screaming at Jessica the same way he did Megan and Kevin comments later about this. Also, in the midst of all of this Dom is making her only group appearance since the infamous HM early Sat morning) and the Veto ceremony so she's now planted herself in the mine field while trying to help Josh. Paul and Dom exchange a few tit for tats but Paul doesn't make the mistake of turning this into a situation where he becomes the center of attention. When Paul asks why she nodding her head she says,"Why are you even talking to me." Paul calmly replies I can talk to you and Dom turns back to Josh and says, "I'm just agreeing with your perception of this game." Josh replies and says, "I'm so heated don't even make this about anything." Dom, "and I'm not." Uh yes you are! I say this only because Dom has been in full Audrey mode with a side of JaCosta thrown in for good measure. She should have never inserted herself because now the house in gathered and she doesn't need to open herself to another poorly developed debate. Dom has completely isolated herself and suddenly when a fight that has zero to do with her or her situation inserts herself into it and tries to capitalize on the rantings of a mad man is not a good look. It's as a terrible move. Dom and Xmas already had a face off after the Veto this afternoon where it's clear that no one is giving any consideration to anything Dom has said because of the way Dom has behaved since the HM. Dom choosing to pop out just to do nothing more than twist an incident where she was no where to be found when it began makes her look even more shady and manipulative than she already does. While Dom's unraveling began with Paul manipulating the talk show incident to create a target on her she has only fed the fire and signed her own BB death warrant every time she's opened her mouth since. Stop! Just stop! One little game of pool turned into a myriad of HG side stepping land mines! Josh loses the sympathy of the house. Josh drops names and details he should have NEVER mentioned and now he has stepped on a mine! I will say while Mark doesn't take kindly to Josh trying to stir the pot about the Cody accusations again he does not immerse himself and follow Josh's lead of reacting emotionally. He's done a lot of work this week making sure to clean up the mess Cody attempted to leave at his feet as he exited the game. The fact that Mark didn't end up as a replacement nom shows that the work he put in was in fact helping his cause so I was happy to see he didn't let Josh completely undo all the efforts by engaging and having some knee jerk reaction to Josh trying to allude to the fact Mark is a snake. Elena also calmly coming to Mark's aide was an action that reassures Mark that Elena has his back. She's lucky it didn't back fire she really shouldn't have dipped her toe in this tea purely from a game point of view but I think it did extinguish the lingering doubts Mark made have had about her loyalty to him (right or wrong). All the while, Kevin is sitting on the sidelines quietly annoyed with all of this outlandish behavior. At one point later in the day Kevin remarks that Josh's actions screaming at women is cowardly and in the real world would get his a*s whipped. Kevin's comments about Josh and the his childish behaviors all season long are the comedic relief the HG and the LF need! I love this guy! He stayed out of it, but his ability to summarize things is amazing! This incident from beginning to end lasts about 2 hours! It was amazing feeds and it led to Josh making himself enemy number one in the game. Ironically, I think he has some twisted need to be at the center of all drama. Just yesterday Alex told Josh he's done a great job of blending into the fold and no one is talking about him. Meaning no one is targeting Josh! I think all Josh hears is no one is talking about me? I don't think Mark will come out completely unscathed but we will see where the power lands next week. It could easily end up Josh and Mark OTB and they both just hand delivered reasons for anyone in the house to justify taking aim at either or both of them. Josh's only take away from the entire explosive afternoon? He doesn't think he's going to play pool anymore. Lol. The RealiTea is the smallest this can quickly become the reason a player goes home. Just ask Dom Thursday night when she joins Julie on the stage after live eviction. No matter who wins the DOT this week it won't be available to use for the week 3 eviction so she will be the one to go.

It's Monday morning and as I start the day reflecting on where the BB house and players lie there are few perspectives that seem prevalent. Most of the weekend has been spent inside the game discussing the Paul/Dom saga and whether Mark should be a renom at the Veto ceremony. Let's get Dom out of the way. As of this morning she's still the target and will likely be headed out to join a battle back. Whichever HG leaves this week will more than likely fave off with Cameron, Jillian, Cody for the chance to return to the house. Dom would almost be the strongest contender for the most drama. Let's consider that Dom is correct in informing everyone that Paul has a deal of some kind in some way with every player in the game. Also, if Mark actually stays off the block and votes against Dom this will effect how she returns because he's been her only real allie all along. Mark needs to seperate himself from her to some degree because Cody dropped the dime on them as he hopped out of the house. Dom has completely isolated herself since the blow out. Never appear to be a wounded animal in a house full of hunters. But a revolving door for her will shake many foundations and hopefully give her a new jumpstart. What's bad for Dom is we don't see her considering even a possibility of a buy back chance and her current plan is to drop some bombs before she leaves. That could be what sends her immediately back out the lucky door so she needs to be strategic and no emotional about how she handles this. What a difference a week makes? Before Alex won we all would believe a Cody return would be the most volatile. Personally, for the game's sake, I would prefer a Cameron return. He would shake the house up in a very different way. I mean the kid never spent one night sleeping in the house and all of these crossovers amongst alliances would scramble to make him fit into their game somehow whether it's targeting him or adding a number. Ramses needs an unknown factor to help him that's for sure! As for rhe blow out and whether Paul was responsible for how her game blew up? Eh. Paul created the initial target and his plan aligned with Alex desire to put someone from that side up without appearing as if she's targeting the larger group. Once Dom was up...everything that happened can be traced back to Dom's actions. The talk show. The chat with Alex where she wrongly accuses Elena. Retreating into solitude and poo-pooing the initial efforts by Paul and others to remain cordial. Those choices were all made by Dom. I may not be a fan of how Paul does things all the time but he's winning! I do respect the influence he has over every single player as a result of a LOT of effort. Last season Paul, the first half of the game, was vicious. Let's not forget his verbalized goal to 'break' Bridgette. We also remember how awful he was to Meech and Natalie. That's was not game play it was just for his own entertainment. This season he may be aggressive, OTT, pushy, and some would say a bully but its purely strategy. We know this by watching how he varies his approach based on who he is talking to. Paul is excellent at defining what method of delivery is most effective to achieve his goal. Josh and Jason get a very in your face no this is what you need to do, shut up you have no idea I'm a vet and I'm telling you, but do what you want just don't cry to me when what I just told you what would happen happens. With Raven, Elena, Matt, Paul's approach is vastly different. His tone is calmer, he articulates in a critical thinking manner of expression and isn't in their face screaming at them saying "NO! I'm telling you what you need to do," kind of way that he does with J/J. Paul demonstrates a Dan Gheesling level of knowing which speech each player needs to hear even if at the base of it all he is saying the exact same thing. This week wasn't all about Dom for Paul. This week was about the fact the Paul is in his last week of safety. Paul has no intention of trying to make it to the end with showmance +Dom/Xmas. He purely capitalizes on Cody's bad game move to gain enough trust to use the players as the pieces he has to move to win. This week we know he wanted to shake up the big group. He did just that and by doing so people have developed some targets they didn't have. In doing so, he's no longer going to be the biggest target in the house when week 4 begins. That was his goal and we will see next week how it plays out for him. Every season we have one player the first 5-6 weeks that is working the house and running things. Every season by around week 6 that person becomes the enemy #1 and it's usually from their own mistakes getting too sure of their spot. So much has happened in just 2 1/2 weeks it feels like week 6, but it's not. There is still A LOT of game left to play. Paul's tactics could very well be discovered by savvy players like Alex, Matt, and especially Ramses. Dom's opinions may not have been given much thought now...but mark my words some time in the next 2-3 weeks something will be said, or done and one of the stronger players will begin to put all the Paul puzzle pieces together. In that scenario Paul needs to hope its someone he sees as an asset and has already drawn in so they see it as an advantage and not as a means to eliminate Paul with the support of the house majority. Paul's tireless efforts to get Mark sitting next to Dom this week is one of those moments. There has already been a few times where players like Kevin have said to others, 'why is Paul pushing to get Mark OTB?' If Elena, Mark, even Ramses gets confirmation and Paul doesn't know that he's in serious danger. Speaking of Elena...I see a pot of RealiTea beginning to brew. There's been a lot of discussion amongst various HG's that the women this season are very strong. Elena mentions this to Xmas in a way that makes me suspect she is sniffing out an all girls secret alliance. We know from feeds Elena does not want to shape her game completely around being a showmances and put all her eggs in Mark's basket. She says this before all hell breaks loose with Dom and as the dust settles we see some subtle yet potential signs that she's got some other plans. Imagine if Elena, Jessica, Alex, and even maybe Xmas joined forces! We have seen some alliances and final two-three-four discussions developing finally. I'm thrilled with this. Week 3 is the time players should begin to assess who they want to ride for. Enough time has passed. Some game moves and reactions have happened over 3-4 weeks. Kevin and Jason, perhaps even Alex like a final four with Jason, Kevin, Alex, and Paul. We've seen Paul protect Kevin which is a good indication that Paul sees he and Kevin going far. As this week winds up, we should head into week 4 with some more well defined lines. Alex has done an excellent job so far this week. I really like the way she's playing and she's going to be a player that has a great chance of making it to final 6 if the week ends and no one is looking at her as a threat. I don't think she should be pushing for veto to be used. Leave Jessica OTB. We really won't know what's going to happen with Veto until the ceremony happens today. It's been yes then no about 400 times in 48 hours. Until then...the RealiTea is we are going to have some exciting days ahead with the Temptation voting results and likely battle back!

Big Brother 19 served up a heaping pot of RealiTea over night Friday night! In an unexpected turn of events by the early hours of the morning this morning most HG pulled an all nighter and one HG blew up their own game. The game has been on a fast forward track with nominations happening early Friday morning and Veto players drawn Friday night. By 12:35 am Saturday morning we had a new Veto winner and too many 1-1 conversations to cover in a blog. Friday began with some rumblings as Dominique made the decision to follow Elena's advice and have a conversation with Alex after Dom lands on the block next to Jessica. Last we left our tea, Alex won HOH and Jessica and Dom were the likely nominations. The truth of the matter is that Elena made a valiant effort to prevent Dom from being a nominee over someone like Xmas or Ramses but Alex and Paul had other plans and her efforts fell short. What's mind blowing to me is that while everyone is comparing notes many of the details circle back to Paul. Cody and his attempt to cause some chaos to creat cover for Jessica with his talk show interview worked! No one is really talking about Jessica by mid day. Mark does not like the idea of being a potential pawn and has no idea this proposal originated with Paul. The target on Dom comes from Alex but only by way of Paul. The problem is Dom got tangled in her own web she's been spinning to Mark for weeks that Elena is jealous of Dom and/or Dom/Mark's relationship. Dom's constant efforts to spin this fictional version of reality finally bit her in the rear but not by anything Elena did. Dom was so tangled in her own web she approached that convo with Alex suggesting her delusions with Alex knowing that Elena spent quite some time going to bat for Dom. So when Dom unleashes her theories that it was Elena that created a target on Dom because she's jealous and hates Dom's closeness with Mark it leaves a bad taste in Alex's mouth. This is truly the key to what unfolds as the day and night progresses. Dom decides to have 1-1 convos with each HG. She's seeking details trying to figure out why it seems her own group is willing to sacrifice her. Dom tries to spin the story she's weaved and some facts regarding Paul's hands in the pot. The RealiTea when a person seeks answers to support a position they've already clung to they can easily stack the cards to appear to justify their original assumptions. Remember what they say about when you assume? Dom's convos with each player lead each HG to walk away quickly playing telephone with what was said and with Dom as the facilitator this leads to more questions than answers. As we all know she speaks in riddles but in a way that makes it obvious most of the time who she is speaking about or the point she intends to weave. She's obvious in her attempts to point fingers and make accusations but from Dom's perspective if she doesn't name names then she hasn't betrayed anyone or been a rat. Unfortunately for Dom that's not the perception of those around her. After an entire day of trying to create mistrust within her own group all she accomplished was widening the mistrust Paul had orchestrated around Dom. The unfortunate part for her is that while 50% of what she shares is actually fact the way she goes about attempting to gather intel and spread paranoia she's blown up her own spot. Everyone is sharing details with each other, which means Paul. By 5:20 a.m. Alex and Paul are hyped at Dom's own suggestion she's plans to call a house meeting. While Paul, Mark, Jason, and Elena have spent hours trying to convince Mark to be pawn under the pretense it's the safest move for Mark since he's the only one truly loyal to Dom the tea boils over. Before we get to the fireworks finale there are a couple of important game notes to point out. 1. Mark should not agree to be a pawn! 2. All the arguments and justifications being thrown at him about why he's the best candidate to replace Jessica OTB he easily counters those are the same reasons he's not comfortable being on the block. 3. For the life of me unless Alex is going to replace Jessica with her actual target there is NO reason change the nominations. 4. Mark's most substantial argument being that with what Cody did throwing Dom's and Mark's names out increases the risk. His concern that those who may be pondering the validity of Cody saying those two told him to nominate Xmas (half true) could very easily flip the votes and send Mark home. The next pot of RealiTea is that Paul did in fact have a hand to some degree in Dom being targeted. However, in BB when you are in an alliance you never want to be the low hanging fruit. The players at the bottom of a group are easily dispensable! Dom should have known this. Building friendship with Mark was never enough to move her to the middle of the group order and this is actually where you want to be. By hovering in the middle you have big targets at the top acting as shields and are far more likely to be targeted before anyone else. However when it comes time to negotiate, and this time always comes, the group will always volunteer the least valuable player-low hanging fruit. In the original power alliance with all 3 showmances Paul and Xmas were the low hanging fruit. Once the shift happened and Cody/Jessica were out Dom fell to the bottom with Xmas and did nothing to rectify that. In RealiTea I didn't see a time where she even realizes that's where she landed. Hosting the talk show which lead to some (unplanned) revelations were served she again put herself in the middle of a storm without any cover. Paul sees three steps ahead. 5:38 am Paul gets Dom after Alex had returned to the HOH with news that Dom is stating their is a snake in her own group. She also said there is a tempter in the game. Problem is again while she doesn't specify a name she makes is pretty clear she's talking about Paul and we all know Paul isn't one to allow anyone to try and turn attention to him and his game! So she Alex reveals that Dom said she's going to confront the whole house and call people out...Paul says let's do it right now! I have nothing to hide. Bring her in here. And so it begins! If you have LF go back and watch from 1 am-7 am for all the convos and watch the drama unfold. To skip straight to the main attraction grab your tea and biscuits and FB to 5:20 am. What I can tell you without giving a running record of all that was said is that Dom was not prepared for this fight. Paul is effective in this game because he uses facts and can twist information in a way that even Ramses would question if he was the third hinky vote for himself. Dom comes in with a lot of attitude and this idea she has 'right' on her side and will be victorious. Honey this is BB not confession. Every general or round about statement Dom makes or is questioned about making Paul counters with facts and details. Now I will say in this argument 85% of what Dom says about Paul is true! However, her credibility was already in question and everyone trusts Paul. So when the tennis match of versions of events and conversations occurs Paul is far more credible because he gives word for word details of what he said to Dom, or to Alex, or to Elena. Dom was not a credible witness for the jury (HG) and as her flame begins to smolder she would allude that well everyone isn't here or I can't speak for Jason he's not hear. Paul of course has an answer for everything. Add to that he replies to 'well so and so isn't here so I don't want to speak for them or they can't confirm what does Paul do? Let's get them up here. He wakes people up over and over until the room is now filled with: Mark/Elena Alex/Jason Dom/Paul Xmas/Josh Matt/Raven The end result was Paul looked like he was being truthful and only wants to clear his name. Dom looks tongue tied and can only make general statements versus providing details verbatim. Once he discredited comments she made 3 times its really a wrap. The nail in her coffin was denying for 90 minutes she didn't call Paul a snake, she never said he was the traitor in the group because she never used names she finally admits she was talking about Paul all along! If you are going to LIE, you never steer away from the original story. She would have been slightly better off not admitting it but by the time she finally does she's already drowning with no one willing to throw her a life preserver. Not even Mark. This is a rule Paul mastered long ago. Did Paul target Dom? Yes! Is Paul playing both sides of the house? YES! Was Dom the 3rd vote? No. Did Dom lose the confidence of several people with that talk show fiasco? Yes! Is Paul manipulating people? Absolutely! But people in the group want to believe Paul! He's playing extremely well even if he does too much sometime he's quick to gain control of any wrong turns because he's laid so many paths that interest he always has an escape route. Paul handling the showdown was very reminiscent of how Vanessa twisted things she found out to work for her. Like Derrick when Paul saw a potential storm he called the house meeting himself and had everyone convinced because he pays attention to the details. Everyone in that room had all the information they needed to realize Paul is in fact doing much of what Dom claims and he came away with more loyalty than he went into it. Finally, as the daylight breaks and the house wakes from just a few hours sleep, Paul is keeping HG laughing with self directed jokes about being a snake and Dom has taken a page from Audrey's play book and retreated under her blanket and when she does appear doesn't talk to anyone! This makes her look even more guilty! Jessica rises and suddenly the cool kids want to hang out with her again. So much happened and while there were still convos about replacing Jessica with Mark, by 4 pm even Jason is like forget it I am not using the Veto and let's just leave nominations the same. It was a wild ride and watching it unfold was the most action we've seen on feeds since Cody blew up his own alliance trying to target who? Paul! Remember how I said that doing these talk shows, like the old school food comps is a great way to have people let their guards down and reveal things that can hurt their game? Dom gave us all a real life example of how quickly someone can blow up there own game and never even realize they were doing it. Week 3 is only 3 days in and it feels like a month of feeds. We will all have to wait and see how the schedule plays out. Until then the RealiTea is that Paul is the most dangerous and most revered player in the house at the moment and only time will tell if he can sustain that once his safety expires at the end of the week.

The RealiTea is that last night the BB house exploded in drama! Veto took place early. Christmas, Jason, and Kevin were selected to play. Jason won. When the feeds returned just after 12:30 a.m. Alex asks Paul when Eviction will happen? Paul speculates Saturday. It would make sense. Nom's were early. Veto was early. HN's just finally happened. Veto ceremony today. Remember the temptation voting doesn't close until Wednesday. Based on Julie's announcement BB would happen Friday. Production has to reveal the temptation for a curse to come into play. Wednesday is usually when the Veto comp airs, but same day this week that voting ends. In order for curse to result in a Battle Back they have to air that as well. If voting ends Wednesday BB would have to do temptation right after voting ends and include in Wednesday night episode or Thursday episode. With all of the other things that would happen if winner of popular vote accepts temptation (curse releases battle back) it's hard to conceive BB would want to cram DOT into Thursday LE episode. Maybe Sunday we will get a recorded eviction not a live one also showcasing another HOH comp? HOH/Nom/Veto/Eviction between Sun-Thursday? Seems like a lot. The RealiTea is we should expect the unexpected. I am kinda enjoying that everything isn't as predictable as usual. This is true for both HG's and fans. However, the Veto comp occuring late night Friday into Sat morning brings the cards tumbling down all over the house. As I sift through all the teas to choose from let this resinate. At 6:30 am the showmance alliance is gathered in the HOH with Alex and Jason and it's clear there has been a fight brewing all night and at this point Dom and Paul are going head to head. Mark is upset because his name has been thrown in the ring of replacement nominees. 12:36 a.m. this seems to be where the largest pot of tea began to brew post veto. Dom is digging. Xmas isn't offering any real help. Dom asks is Xmas will be loyal to her. Xmas says she has been loyal to her. Dom says that's not what I asked, I asked will you be loyal to me. Xmas said I'm not sure. Dom insists that this sudden target on her back came from the the interview and it's BS. Dom asks Xmas if she has her vote and Xmas says I can't commit to that, I need to think, I don't know who else is going up. If you have the LF's get you cup and some biscuits and flashback to 12:30 a.m. when this all begins. I'm dredging through all of this and will return later today with a complete run down of all the RealiTea bites that were served up in the BB house overnight!

The RealiTea is that after a relatively boring week in the house week 2, Wednesday night brought us some unexpected drama in the final hours of the week. The end of week 2 during Dom’s usual BBAD talk show. Christmas left the house soon after a 1-1 talk with Cody which becomes a topic after the talk show interviews end and the conflicts begin. This is relevant since Christmas wasn’t there to steer the perceptions or counter some of the assumptions that make the rounds back to her. Fortunately, for most of us Xmas’ absence shouldn’t sway her vote since she and Paul both want Cody gone. Ramses had a rough week between the blowback from banner-gate, questions of loyalty regarding the Jillian vote, and nearly winning the POV he’s now on everyone’s radar. The down side of the week is will be everyone is stuck with Jessica for at least one more week. By the end of this tea party we will have one less HG, a new HOH, and at least two players who find themselves at the center of controversies that can play into what happens in week 3. As most of us know Dom’s weekly talk show provides a welcome relief for HG form the monotony of the routine and being in game mode 24/7. What I haven’t seen is awareness that doing an activity like this also opens a window into information because people aren’t in game mode and fail to censor their opinions and actions forgetting that we are still in the game. I applaud Dom for being able to get the majority of the house on board with this but it leaves me wondering why has no one thought that this could in fact be a bad thing. As you know I love it because when you take players minds off the game we are more likely to see them say and do things they wouldn’t do willingly. Finally Wednesday night after some controversial questions and answers come out of the nightly chats Paul realizes they shouldn’t be doing this! Paul is correct in his assessment of the potential downside and his fear of what could possibly happen may become a RealiTea sooner than anyone could have expected. Let’s read the tea leaves from this cup of tea. All day Wednesday, Cody was refusing to be a guest on the talk show when Dom invites the three nominees to be guests on the show. Kevin and Dom have managed to provide some late night entertainment with this idea. Paul was exhausted and had not planned to attend tonight, he explained he wanted to head up to the HOH and catch up on some sleep. However when Cody has a sudden opening in his schedule to be interviewed Paul knows he needs to be there. Paul is looking forward to hearing what Cody has to say. In reality he wants to be there and hear everything first hand. This was absolutely the right move. Paul is not in a position to waste time sifting through versions of what was said long after and then navigating the paranoia and speculations that could potentially occur. Ironically, Cody didn’t really say anything unexpected. However, Dom’s game oriented questions turned quite a few heads. Many of the players have put in a lot of work, as Cody would say, ‘hugging’ players like Jason, Josh, and Alex but the consensus after the show was Dom’s line of questioning planted weeds in a perfectly manicured garden and in all honesty they weren’t wrong. By the end of the HOH we may see why. Don’t forget this event and the reactions of the players like Matt, Paul, Mark, Elena, and Raven. Even Jessica understands that this was a terrible idea by the end of Cody’s segment although for different reasons. If she and Cody could consider anything outside of their own POV’s this was an opportunity for them to capitalize on. Instead all they see is it didn’t go the way they planned. I will save these tea leaves because I have a strong inclination we will need to come back to them soon. Are you ready to break down the week 2 live eviction and HOH competition? Jessica heads to the DR and votes to evict Ramses Kevin votes to evict Ramses Christmas (remotely from hospital room) votes to evict Ramses Raven votes to evict Cody Dom votes to evict Cody Elena votes to evict Cody Mark votes to evict Cody Jason votes to evict Cody Matt votes to evict Cody Josh votes to evict Cody Final Votes Alex 0 Ramses 3 Cody 7 Cody has been evicted from the BB house! I may want to add a shot of celebratory spirit to my tea! As Cody departs the house is calm almost the second the door closes behind him. Elena, Paul, Ramses are seen offering Jessica some form of comfort. Paul had asked Kevin to throw a hunky vote to Ramses expecting Jessica to vote to evict Alex. Imagine if the plan to throw a hinky vote in had in fact resulted in Paul masterminding his own blindside? LOL Cody’s exit interview. Julie confirms Cody’s parting words to Jessica were asking her to be his GF. He admits he plans (at this moment) to pursue a relationship with her outside the house. Cody also tells us he believes Jessica’s game will improve greatly with him out of the house. Cody is then blindsided yet again! Despite the fact he spent time this week encouraging Alex/Jason/Kevin to evict girls the next 2 weeks so he can easily win a spot back in the game is there is a battle back. Julie informs Cody that next week, Friday, the first four evictees (Cameron/Jillian/Cody/+week 3 evictee) will have battle it out and the winner will return to the game and get another shot at the $500k grand prize. The new HOH competition is an infamous endurance wall comp. Remember Paul is outgoing HOH and cannot compete. However, he has one more week of protection so he cannot be a target this week. Directly anyways. I would have predicted perhaps Raven may do well even though she’s a bit taller but her dancer background offers an advantage in balance. However, my foot hurts at the thought of her having to stand there for any length of time with 5 stitches between her toes and a fresh wound she sustained just a little over 24 hours ago. Mark is way too big and with a broken finger that adds a lot more stress to his hands trying to hold up all the weight those bulging muscles add to his hulk like physique. Alex is one I would expect to do really well, except based on her current status in the house I wouldn’t expect her to want to win. Paul is safe, she wouldn’t want to target her own side (Jason/Josh/Ramses/Kevin). She has a solid belief that there is going to be a buy back in the near future. For these reasons IMO, winning this would be horrible for her game. Jason, is a bigger guy in stature but this guy dances with bulls for a living. Ramses will want this win almost as much as Jessica. Jessica needs this to guarantee her safety since she failed to build some paths to future relationships with her previous allies. Let me pause here for a second. I want to refill my cup. My RealiTea is in a perfect world is if Jessica was to win HOH this week she sends the fourth person out (preferably a stronger competitor) to face off with Cody in the battle back. Now while I want Cody to be eliminated more than air to breath… I love some twists and turns that create great drama in the house! If Cody were to win and re-enter immediately following a Jessica HOH she wouldn’t be allowed to compete in the HOH week 4 upon his return. For the sake of the best feeds Cody returns as she spends week 4 on the block! Since she wants everyone to have sympathy for her having to endure the worst week (insert victim noises) as HN, Toad, isolated, and losing her man it seems only right she continues the journey of drastic highs followed by emotional lows. Imagine if this were to happen! I can dream can’t I? On to the actual competition because flies are swarming this pot of RealiTea. Any guesses who the first to drop from the space themed wall comp? Of course it was Josh! He’s useless in nearly every sense of any self directed attempts to play this game. Now if his mom could have stood on the wall for him he might actually have had a great shot! Next to go is Mark. Big guy, bad finger, and lots of pleas for real ice follow. Poor little Raven and her broken wing soon follow. Ramses wavered when the wall leaned far forward and I knew he would fall because he leaned so hard into the direction the wall was headed. After years and years of watching this comp leaning into the leaning wall makes it so much harder to hold yourself up. It also makes it even more difficult to regain a good hold as the wall returns to an upright because of all the strength you just exuded to sustain your position. As I say aloud, Ramses is going to fall, he does! At this point I look at the wall and realize Matt, Elena, and Dom are the only ‘cool kids’ left on the wall. They are going to need to hang tight because Jessica looks relaxed and comfortable. Alex is constantly moving and wiggling. For now may not seem like a problem but as you tire this is always the player who takes a hand to wipe their eyes or releases a grip to shake out a pain and falls into the loser circle. I’m sure LF’s recall Justin in BBOTT who got overconfident dancing around and knocked himself out of the comp. Not to say Alex is being overconfident, it’s just one of those elements in the wall comp you need to be weary of. Elena surprises me. I did not expect her to be an endurance contender but she implies her double jointed arms are helpful. Did anyone expect her to be a contender in this competition? Maybe we have Mark to thank for that…wink, wink! I wasn’t surprised to see Kevin make it halfway through before falling. I don’t think HG realize he is a much fiercer competitor than he shows. I was happy to see him put some visible effort in before throwing this competition. He doesn’t want the power, nor does it appear he really needs it. However, he showed some muscle and hung in long enough for it to appear he was trying without wasting hours holding on. I mean he did throw out the idea of taking a big shot week 3 but I am happy to see he didn’t move on this idea for the sake of his own game. Now we are down to Elena, Jessica, Alex, Jason, and Dom. Jessica is beginning to waver. She’s tired, cold and falls at 8:18 p.m. Dom falls right after her. Not an accidental fall by any means. Instead Dom’s departure from the wall was a clear, ‘oh thank you Jesus! Jessica’s out’especially so I don’t need to hang in here any longer. It is refreshing to see all the players cheering for everyone regardless. Even Jessica got some pats on the back while on the wall and I prefer this tone in the HOH comps, esespeciallypecially this early on in the game. I suspect at this point Alex and Elena will hold on tight until Jason falls because he’s a wild card. Once he falls they will make a deal and hopefully Alex solicits some promises from Elena and allows her to take the win. Mark needs an Elena win to navigate the drama stirred by Cody. Alex doesn’t need the win at this point in the game she has a good read on what’s actually happening and she knows that collectively the house wants Ramses and Jessica gone in the near future and neither are a number she can’t survive without. 8:29 Alex proposes the first deal. Elena says sure what’s your deal. Alex says, I don’t care I just want a Coke at this point. Suddenly she screams “Jason what’s the deal?” Jason “You all fall off I ‘ll be HOH.” This is met with laughter from the viewing gallery and myself in all honesty. Moments later Jason yells, “No one on this wall is going home.” Alex, “Ok. We all agree we wont send…we wont put any of us (Jason, Alex, Elena) OTB. Elena agrees. Alex, “Ok, what’s the second part of the deal?” Jason, “Somebody else say.” Alex, “I get to take a sh*t in your guys’ toilet if you guys win. Whenever I want.” Jason, “Done!” Elena, “What do you want?” Jason, “Safety” Elena, “Ok deal you jump down and I wont put you OTB.” Jason, “Swear?” Elena, “Swear.” Jason jumped. 8:29:47 pm Elena, “Alex?” Alex, “I won’t put you OTB.” There’s a long enough pause for comments from Raven, Mark, Jason, and Paul. Alex, “You’re not my target.” Elena, “Ok I will jump. Swear?” Alex, “Swear.” Elena stealth whispers, “The people I want protected will be protected?’ Alex, agrees 8:30:44 Elena drops as I am yelling at the screen telling her not to do it! Alex is the week 3 HOH with over 90 minutes on the wall. Alex makes a point to go immediately over to Elena and hug her. This is a good indication and what she should do whether she intends to keep her word by the end of the week or not. Jason rushes to hug Alex followed by Kevin. Everyone congratulates and hugs Elena except Jessica who is going to break a tooth she is clinching her teeth so hard. With an Elena HOH, Jessica could have felt at least a chance going into the week. Cody is gone and all the hateful venom spewed at Alex the first two weeks in the house this is the last person Jessica needed to win. 8:50 pm HG are inside and we do hear Jessica choke out a congratulations to Alex. There you have it! The RealiTea is I think Alex taking this week's HOH could be a problem for Alex. She was in a great spot. Other than Jessica no one was even discussing Alex this week. I know she has some ill feelings about Ramses but Alex is a smart cookie and understood until the numbers on the other side dwindle slightly she needs to preserve the people who think they are aligned with her for because in BB there is some safety in numbers. Remember we have 13 HG left going into week 3. With two nominees and the HOH out of the voting pool that leaves 9 people voting if Christmas does return. There are 6 people on the showmance side of things, 4 on the outsiders which leaves Josh squarely in the middle of voting again this week. Would you want to rely on Josh to make your HOH plans come to life? I know I wouldn't! Come back tomorrow for a fresh cup of RealiTea Bites on everything that happens overnight and into Friday. Will Christmas return? Will the seeds Paul was attempting to cultivate about the votes take root?

There has not been overflowing pots of tea for us to sip in week 2. The first few days following Paul becoming the 2nd HOH to the Veto ceremony lack luster this week. It's been much calmer waters but some players are mastering their strokes. Let's sip some RealiTea Bites from nominations to the Veto ceremony. Cody/Xmas have a 1-1 convo. Cody is trying to clarify some details about his actions, not to make peace with Christmas or even campaign for votes this week. Cody's agenda is to stir the pot while trying to 'help' Jessica's position going into week 3. Of course it's Cody so what he plans and how he executes never achieve the desired outcome. As Cody is talking he implies that Mark knew the whole time Cody was going to nominate Paul week 1. While that isn't true, what he means to convey is that Mark knew prior to nominations that Cody wanted to get Paul out. Xmas takes what he says this way (bases on how Cody fumbles around constructing any clear thoughts. Cody was referring to prior to big couples alliance even forming and clarifies a minute later was that Mark knew Day 1-2 that Cody wanted Paul out and that was his goal. Cody is spilling all the tea on his group. We see here that Cody understands more than many fans gave him credit for re:how the game works and should be played. Where does Cody fail here? He is clarifying implied details. If he was truly smart strategically he would leave the open ended version of truthful details just that...open ended. This would be a masterful way to create doubt purposefully and position Jessica better and potentially himself if he were to return in some battle back twist. That's how you create doubt and paranoia without lying or betraying. On to the next bite of Cody's toad-ally slimy week. Cody has been banking all week in the idea he will get to compete in a battle back. He tells Alex, Jason, Kevin, Jessica they need to evict girls next because he would then be guaranteed to beat them in any comp allowing him to return. Delusions of Cody. While not a bad strategic play his executions are some of the worst of the worst in BB history. Monday, sometime between 12-1 pm Cody tells Jessica that 'if Josh messes with him one more time he's going to tell Josh that when he leaves the house he will tell everyone Josh is a sexual predator'. Cody justifies this because 'he peeps over the shower when girls are in there and opens the door to the BA when girls are using it to try and get a peep at them.' Yet another replay of Monte and Morgan from BBOTY where they latch onto a version of someone else's story and clings to it. Problem with Cody is like Monte, his plan to attack Josh outside the house has nothing to do with game and everything to do with ego. What's key for me here is this: You see the idea come to Cody's mind. He visible gets excited at the thought of disparaging Josh publicly just to retaliate at him announcing "I will hit him where it hurts!" Even more to my points about Jessica all along is everything she does has an angle for a storyline. She encourage this idea and then goes on to predict 'he will run crying to the DR'. She has an enormous influence on the level of despicable behaviors Cody displays. They feed off each other and it's gross. The only credit I will give Jess is hers is game motivated on some level at least 50% of the time. Cody's is only so about 15% of the time. It's working! At least camera time on LF because most of the time there is a camera zooming in on Jessica and her body, showcasing the non-stop fondling and sexual exhibitions of Jody. Whether they use the footage to portray her how she would like or at all is another thing entirely. She's a mean girl. Together they feed into the darkest parts of each other's character and they will be in a for a shock when they return to the real World and see the majority of fans loath their behaviors even if they crave the drama it created on the LF. Problem is, like Paulie, I don't think either will care. Early following the Veto ceremony Jessica goes to Paul in the HOH to try and gain some sympathy. Like any sociopath she delivers a D-list performance telling Paul she knows she needs to socialize with everyone. Feel sorry for me because I don't support the things Cody did but he's alone in this house and I can't abandon some guy I met 19 days ago for $500k (like I said in my preseason video). She basically sums up all the same things I've said she's doing wrong which sounds good but Paul and LF know she's calculated this and it's falling on deaf ears with Paul. Here's what smart players in the house and watching for Jessica to do. If she's flips out and falls off the rails again when Cody leaves they will label her a threat and she's at the top of the eviction hit list. However, if she chills out, stays quiet, blends in the walls we know she's broken and she's not a threat and we can put her on the back burner. Some even believe this latter reaction week 3 may make her a person they may want to pull in and use. She will be without anyone. I hear many HG's (and fans) debating where Jessica will land in the hierarchy next week. I feel as though they all have it ass backwards. If she's volatile and OTT she remains a target and I would want to keep her for a few weeks as a shield. She will always make herself a bigger target than me. If she's quietly blending back into the fold she's dangerous! I want her gone people are forgetting what she's capable of and considering secret alliances with her and for me as a player would feel she's the biggest threat to my long term game if she were able to bottle the mean girl. Tunnel vision on Cody in some cases prevents some players from seeing Jessica as a potential threat. This is BB! I will tell you as I refill my teacup that Paul and Alex have the best reads on Jessica this week. They see her manipulating ways and are using it to their advantage to some degree but they both seem to be subscribing to the if she can settle down we can use her and that's a huge mistake for their personal games. Alex and Paul two will move to the front of the line quickly as the strongest threats very soon. They need a shield or two. Kevin also perceives Jessica as a threat but wants Alex, Jason, Kevin, Ramses, and Jessica to form a group and take a shot at one of the big dogs (excluding Paul) on the opposing side this week. Alex wants nothing to do with that plan and shuts Kevin down FAST! Alex has the BEST read in the house on all Players this week. She brilliantly quieted down and stopped being aggressive and boisterous this week and has done exactly what she should and what Jessica is tip toeing around potentially trying to do, but like Cody she has no skill in the art of execution. Alex is off nearly everyone's radar despite sitting on the block this week. People are all in varying conversations repeating the seed Paul planted early in the week gracefully. At varying times with varying combinations of HG 90% of the discussions have been everyone listing Ramses, Jason, Jessica, Josh as the order of the next evictees they want (unaware they want it because Paul has done a lot of work to be sure everyone makes their list according to his seeds). Alex also understands that the Larger voting block will begin to look Around at each other over her soon after Cody leaves. With still no committed defined alliances in the game it's beginning to be a lot of work to uncover who is really riding for whom. Of course besides Jody and now Marlena apparently (Tuesday night). Although I am referring to the figurative statement versus the literal. Just a little rated X tea for those who don't have LF. My point is as we approach week three there are very few handshakes to reveal. Kevin has promised he will never vote against Alex or Paul and states this to each about both. Alex/Kevin seem to be happy working together. Paul and Kevin are not only well matched opponents they are so hilariously entertaining on the feeds. If BB19 were a movie it would be Paul as the neighborhood kid that the local gangster takes an interest in. Then the protege surprises the mentor. These two constantly bantering and discussing random rapid fire topics brings me so much joy! That's personal so I will leave it there and get back to current events. Jason attempts to discuss an alliance with Paul who says he doesn't do alliances he's a you scratch my back I will Scratch yours kinda player and that's what Jason should be too. Paul tells him trying to do that will Widen the target on Jason's back he just needs to prove he's a 'team player' by nominating Ramses and Jessica if he wins HOH next week and that will Prove to others he's on board with the majority. In reality Paul is dangling carrots and planting seeds all the time. There are times he's pushing to hard and needs to sensor his delivery. Come on let's be honest-it's Paul. #Nevercared Paul struck a deal with Alex and whole Alex agreed to Paul's face she let's us know she will ride that until it doesn't benefit her then she will come out guns blazing. Alex is the most dangerous player in the game this week and no one knows it. No one is talking about Alex. She was in your face week 1 and now despite being OTB she melted into the fold and has purposely chilled. Mark and Xmas have a convo discussing that Paul is gaining some negative attention in the house and rather than realize they should allow that to grow they need to actively work to protect Paul! What?! Yes, this is how good Paul has been doing that they feel the need to protect him! Not monitor the situation, not nurture the target gracefully but we need to help Paul get back to the 500k. There is a lot of this and it's both a side effect of lack of game savviness and Paul's hard work to surround himself with people who will work to save him. He knows he will become a target and has been laying the bricks to lead to a path of escape. Paul struggled early in the week with being too overbearing and aggressive in his delivery of where the votes need to go, who needs to do what in veto, etc...All Week I was thinking chill out! Massage your delivery the ideas are on track and great but tailor the delivery so people want to listen long term and don't get tired of your tactics. What helped Paul reset was his ability to see how others were perceiving Christmas' similar actions and slowing turning against her. Which is grey for Paul! As the week progresses she's speaking in a way (for whatever reason) that resembles Cody and this doesn't appeal to many in the house. Mark and Xmas already had some bad vibes after the group discussed how to nominate to achieve BD Cody. He didn't like the way she spoke to him and that festers over time. Xmas should have sensed this and gone in an done some damage control but whether the meds or the ego she fails to see this. Paul however doesn't and his falls into his hands and opens a crack for him to start chipping away at the loyalty HG showed in their votes to keep her without it looking suspicious on Paul's behalf. Paul has a VERY good eye for this game. I don't care for his approach all the time. He Needs to reign in the always in your face approach and diarrhea of the mouth in knee jerk reactions many times. However, I felt the same way BB18. He was always at a defcon 5 level and usually as a result of some dumb ass thing he did or said so I had zero sympathy for that. Despite that he snatched one of those final two seats by the end, stayed loyal to Victor the second half of the game without fail and took second. Like or not he's earned some BB respect. I see a lot of growth but I also see many areas where he changes nothing and we will see how that plays out for him this time. Kevin is the spotlight a lot more often this week. In both good and bad ways and this isn't great for him although I don't see an immediate threat the blind notion he's and old man and no one needs to be worried about him isn't so blind. Kevin admits to Jason that he was the one who voted against Jillian and initially Jason doesn't believe him. Wth? Why would Kevin lie about something that only hurts Kevin? Jason is all over the place and knows he's on the list of targets but his efforts this week are as scattered as his conversations. I can see the good ideas or reads behind Jason's eyes at times. The problem is when he's talking game but he never manages to get it from his brain to his lips without fumbling all over everything and this exasperates those talking to him. That's not all a bad thing because this does keep the focus on Ramses ahead of himself but come on man! Think before you speak. Develop the dialogue over a length of time. In this game Jason has to know Communication is not his Strong. People never understand Jason's main idea. I know that's a lot to for a HG like Jason or Josh but the point is in this game that's what these two Should be doing. I mean look at Cody. Every time he opens his mouth he drops a grenade on not only his own but his allies games. It's looking like business as usual for Paul's HOH. The back door plan worked. People are collectively in agreement to vote Paul out. Well except Kevin perhaps. Paul has asked Kevin to throw a hinky vote to Ramses to create some drama before HOH. Great idea, bad delivery. It's not what Paul says but how he says it. Here's the bottom line though. Paul reads people well and knows when someone is reacting some kind of way and he commits to damage control tailored to that person. That's the RealiTea of where players are landing this week. Not much drama other than Jody being hateful nasty people and I won't give that a solid platform when it's not strategic. Alex is in a great spot and may be both primed for a week 3 HOH win if its endurance as well as the player with the most global understanding in the game. Kevin is still doing very well but beginning to reveal too much as times and we should keep an eye on that. Cody is set to leave but is counting on a battle back. Xmas is doped up and that's not good for anyone’s game. She will be out Wednesday for surgery and potentially return before LE. Jessica is a lone frog with no Lilly pad for now without Cody week 3. Ramses is in trouble and needs to put in serious work.

The first week of the new season of Big Brother was jammed packed full of new showmances, betrayals, blindsides, arguments, and glorious feeds! As we settle in for the first live eviction of the season its necessary to remind fans that this in RealiTea is the 3rd eviction of the season at the end of week one. Let us not forget that Cameron was evicted during the premier episodes and Megan self evicted before veto could even be played. Heading into live eviction night Jillian and Cody were oblivious to what was about to happen. The overconfidence these two rode into the night on was a United aIrline flight and a confused passenger is about to be snatched off this plane. RealiTea Cody and Jillian’s ignorance to the coordination in the house is most relevant because Cody is the catalyst for how this vote will play out. Jillian elected to rely on someone else to pack her parachute. Jillian was absolute in her confidence that the word of Cody, who’s entire alliance deplaned early in the week. Let’s think about this. Jillian’s willingly chose to put all her eggs in Cody’s basket after Alex wins veto and Cody chooses to go rogue and attempt to replace Alex with Paul. This is a guy who lives in his own universe and you choose to rely on his assurances that he will save you this week? Alex chooses to fly stand by with Cody after all of the other HG’s he was aligned used their emergency parachutes to float their way over to Paul. Matt/Raven, Mark/Elena, Christmas and Dom all abandon Cody and the whole house can see they are working feverishly to repair the damage Cody caused their individual and collective games openly confessing they were never aligned with a plan to nominate Paul. As fans sit on the edge of their seats watching the HG’s enter the diary room to cast their votes we see that Jillian will pay the price for relying on the information she was getting from Alex and Cody. In this house, when you put your BB life in someone else’s hands willingly you really have no one to blame but yourself. After Julie announces that Jillian has been evicted by a vote of 7-4 we watch Cody and Jessica melt down like a Hawaiian shave ice on a summer afternoon in Las Vegas. Let’s dive right into the tea that fans without live feeds (LF) may not be aware of. LF should know that Jessica came on BB with the intention of promoting her VIP concierge business. She’s told Cody this and frankly her reaction to the eviction was OTT. We all see Jessica was livid that ounce again she is being punished for what she tells herself is a direct result of Cody’s game play. Jessica chooses to unleash her inner Scrooge on Christmas. Here’s where I take issue with Jessica’s perceptions. Jessica chose a side in the fallout of Cody’s tyrannical HOH nominations. With every decision in life there is a consequence. In the BB house that is no different. In her mind no one should be upset with her. Jessica says it was cowardly to for Christmas to mention her on live TV when she can’t defend herself. What show do you think you are on? We’ve seen plenty of unexpected reactions during the live show! The RealiTea is she does a myriad of things to get herself into this mess. My impression of her watching her on feeds is she is purposeful in her reactions seeking a sympathetic edit from production. She should have put that same amount of effort into interacting with everyone else in the house all week. Instead she spent 99% of her time mounting Cody in the HOH room except the few times he discharged her to go downstairs and ask or tell someone something. Girl bye! I love all the drama and it’s a great fuel to get everyone revved up for the new HOH competition though. The HOH is a CandyCrush shop theme. The comp is similar to BB2’s food competition and more recently the BBOTT HOH competition Perfect Shot. That’s the HOH where Krissy wins. In this competition balls are launched into the yard. HG break open the balls looking for carnival tickets. There is also a conveyer belt where swirl lollipops are and constantly rolling out. HG can also find tickets inside the wrappers of the suckers. It’s blatantly obvious to everyone that those who voted Jillian out are clearly coordinating. Well, excdept Kevin he’s shaaring tickets with no desire to win this HOH. We can see various players like Raven, Kevin, Christmas gathering tickets and handing them off. Raven, CHristmas, and Dom are hadning off tickets to Paul or Matt to roll the ball attempting to make it around the looped ramp into the hole at the end. What we also see is Jessica playing solo and doesn’t care about anyone or anything standing in her way of getting suckers with tickets. Alex and Ramses work together some of the time. Josh is also sifting through the candy shop searching for tickets solo as well. Cody is clearly praying Alex wins. Analyzing this next moment is key because we’ve assumed Cody is oblivious to how a ‘team’ functions and that working cooperatively is a key element. He demonstrates to me he is in fact capable of working cooperatively when he knows he doesn’t have control. Cody does in fact have the capacity to consider others. I observe this when he offers Alex a water bottle while she waits in line to turn her tickets. Alex takes a sip, passes it behind her to Ramses to take a sip before returning the water bottle to Cody. There’s no reaction to her doing so which is also good to see. Why? After the eviction both she and Cody suspect Ramses may have been one that voted to evict Jillian preventing a tie vote that would have given Cody the final word in the eviction to send Christmas home and save Jillian. This is the first time I’ve seen him show this kind ‘team’ effort beyond his own game. What this tells me is he does know how to do it. These are the smaller details that can tell you a lot in a short period of time. Alex, Ramses, Jason and Josh are all working hard. Jessica is a lone wolf and doesn’t care. She stands in front of other players right at the exit of the conveyer belt snatching up suckers before anyone can try to. Josh does at some points stand right next to her alternating (trying to take turns allowing her to take one then he leans in and grabs the next). We see Dom do the same towards the end of the comp. Most HG are just examining at the suckers to see if there is a ticket if not they toss them to the ground. Jessica is standing at the conveyer and repeatedly smashing them on the metal working out her frustrations. As she does this she is being very aggressive with how she’s trying to find tickets. At one point we see Matt and Alex tackle each. These two both attempt to recover a ball launched into the yard. This is shocking to Kevin, with such the dad reaction, “We are tackling people now WTF?” If he was at home with his kids I believe he would have ended the game and made them all have a group hug. LOL Kevin didn’t want anything to do with winning this HOH. It was obvious and he later confirms this on the feeds. What’s great about Kevin in the comp is his reactions to things. He delivers the comedy for viewers and we are always guaranteed a good laugh with Kevin in the house. However, this older player in the house that has HG and fans laughing when he tells his nightly stories, or reacts to how people behave, or refers to selfies as onesies or emojis as mojos is much more than constant entertainment in the game. Cody, Alex, and Jason all question Kevin about his vote and quickly determine there is no way he flipped on them. Why? Kevin plays off the vote like a gangster! Watching him up to today has been put entertainment for LF’s. However, his hand is stacked with more than just social game. Kevin’s ability to show how smart he is at some moments and the comical reactions at others disarms people. That leaves most of the other HG’s feeling like he’s far less threatening to their current game than he actually is. The RealiTea is Kevin plays right along with Alex and Jason’s outrage and has no problem deflecting the evidence to Ramses as the best suspect. Its brilliant to watch him express shock and awe that someone in their group would vote for Christmas to stay and betray everyone. Cody and Jessica latch onto this along with their correct assumption that Josh had to be another. Kevin is gas lighting these three and coming out without so much of a grain of sand of suspicion that he may have been one of the ones to change his vote and lie. Let’s take moment to take a bite of the fan reactions to this comp. The RealiTea is there are always fans who think every thing in the BB house is a conspiracy. There was no shortage of side eye by me as I surfed through SM. The RealiTea is every season some feel that production conspires to help those players they like. This season we aren’t even in week two and those conspiracy theories are already spinning in cyber space. After the HOH some fans share that they are certain production allowed HG to work together was an attempt to stack cards in a certain a player’s favor. I would tell those fans to please sit down. We’ve had plenty of previous comps over the years where HG’s are permitted to choose to coordinate efforts to take a win. If you watch BB you know that alliances intentionally throw comps for someone to win. In the fall, during BBOTT Perfect Shot and BB Barcode HGs were given similar directions that they may keep what get or share it. There are plenty of comps where BB goes out of their way to keep players from sharing intel or coordinating, they are sequestered for hours and hours in separate rooms of the house when these type of comps are played. Long time fans should know that we’ve watched just as many where its play however you want. In all honesty the comps where players can work together if they choose are the most informative ones. This is a great way for a savvy player to collect valuable intel on others in the game if they are paying attention. I’m not just saying the obvious information like who’s working together. The subtle actions can be very telling. It’s one of the reasons I loved the food competitions back in the earlier years. It wasn’t because those comps were so great and appealing to me. The realiTea is I always appreciated when the house competed to win their food for the week. People aren’t scheming for position in the game. They are hungry and want food. In this scenario their actions aren’t as controlled. Players say and do things perhaps they otherwise wouldn’t. The more relaxed, non-competitive competitions people can forget the game. For a few moments they are distracted by hunger and those paying attention in the house are often given a perspective they wouldn’t have otherwise had. Think about it. Some of the very best brewed tea in the house happens when someone’s guard is down and they forget they are playing a game. Now back to the current game. There are plenty of places to find the stats breakdowns of attempts, tickets collected, etc…the bottom line is that at 7:39 pm Paul Wins! Here’s what happens immediately after, you might want to grab a snack and put your feet up this is going to be more than a nibble! Jessica immediately seeks out Cody behind the candy country and we hear Cody say, “F*^@$ off Paul! Hope the fans love BB18. That’s all this is.” We see Kevin walks past. Cody tries to catch his attention but fails. As everyone congratulates Paul we see Jessica and Cody stand at the ticket counter isolating themselves just as they have done for the first 16 days. 7:41:26 cam 2 After 3 minutes pass they come out from behind the counter and into the yard but still go off to the side away from everyone else. These two are boiling and their tea pots are about to overflow! 7:41:30 we get FISH we have audio though. 7:42 we hear Paul tell Jessica: good effort (genuine). then we hear a ?HG (female): you got to think about it homie… 7:42:19 It’s difficult to hear on any one camera because so much talking going on in the BY after comp. You can hear Cody say something about lying to someone. Turns out that Cody attempted to take a swing or something similar at Josh. Jessica and Christmas will face off soon after but the beautiful fine china tea cup this is served in comes from what we hear from production since they went to FISH so we can’t see what is happening but left the audio on: 7:42:38 We hear BB say (cam 3): separate guys hey! 7:42:44 Then suddenly we get : Hey guys it’s Rich. Quiet down, quiet down and listen. Listen emotions run high in the BB house, like we talked all of you about. I don’t want anybody getting nose to nose or any stuff like that happening. You can say anything you want to each other we won’t police that but, but you know you’re playing a game. Say whatever you want is fine but do not get in each other’s faces. We do not want to have to step in. 7:43:19 we hear Paul cam 2 calmly speaking to Cody: This is a game. From a game perspective it’s not worth it. We hear Cody talking: He straight up lied to my face. A couple people. Paul: Just don’t let it get under your skin. We suddenly hear Dom calmly say: You can’t take to me like that in front of all these people. You can’t. Paul: It’s not worth it. Cody: We are just going to relax this week. Now we can her Jessica and Christmas squaring off. Christmas I just know we have to live together so we can be cool and cordial. Jessica That’s how I felt all week! I asked you how you were doing that was on a friend to friend level. You took it as in assessing your injuries and I wasn’t at any time. Xmas Ok. Noted. Just we are going to live together and be cordial Cody That’s all we want to do is just hand out with each other Xmas Yeah Cody Cause I know one of us is going home so Xmas Well I mean I respect that Cody yeah Xmas I’m not gonna poke, I’m not gonna say anything, I’m not gonna like shit talk or anything. We have to live together I would like this to be as peaceful as possible and I think we can all agree to that. Cody I’m cool with that Xmas Cool. On another note that was fun as sh*t. Jessica to Cody I thoroughly enjoyed smashing lollipops (giggle) Cody you re so sticky J-Can we make up our HN bed. C-I told you we should get used to it laughing both 7:45:05 feeds return as the house reopens and HG are given directions about their athletic mic’s. As soon as warning ends you can her most still discussing comp, how many attempts, the lollipops. I heard some speculations about Xmas/Jess confrontation but we find out a from Mark a little later in the BA what happened. Does Cody even know what game he is playing? He and Jessica are sore losers. How does he not recall that he flipped the entire house upside down going rogue and betraying his entire alliance by nominating Paul? The when that blows up in his face he doesn’t retreat back to what his group wanted originally… he nominates another member of their supposed group? If he had just nominated Jason there may have been an opportunity to salvage the damage done by going rogue with the Paul nom. Now Cody/Jessica are playing victim and incredulous about the fact some people didn’t vote the way he ordered. How dare they not tell him they were voting differently! There are multiple confrontations between Josh and Cody/Jessica as the night continues into the early hours of the morning. Now, I didn’t like the way Josh handled Megan but I dislike how these two dog pile on Josh even less. Josh sums up the entire scenario when he tells the, in the midst of their verbal assaults, “You two haven’t even talk to me in the last 14 days!” Basically pointing out the obvious. No offense but these two relying on Josh to vote in their favor was stupid! The other group had persuaded Josh to save Christmas and they were able to because they may not like him either but they make him feel included and understood. They laid the bricks to create a path to the vote they needed while Cody and Jessica sat up in the HOH room all week talking about how stupid everyone else in the house is. Josh’s lie about his vote was planned. Everyone knew Josh is malleable, even Josh! The truth is that the idea was to tell Cody/Jess/Alex what they want to hear but vote how you want (with the other side). That way he avoided being tormented and bullied all week. It was a smart plan. Very well played by both Josh and the Christmas voting group. Once again Cody is wiping the egg off of his face with Jessica’s weave by the end of the night. Cody’s reaction wasn’t some calculated reaction planned to out certain people and create distrust. If it were I would accept it more easily even if I didn’t like it; I would give them credit for efforts and game play. Instead these were childish temper tantrum behaviors by a guy who thinks everyone should accept their marching orders and fall in line with what he thinks should be done . Cody’s identifying himself as the BB master and how the house crashed down around him this week was entertaining! It’s the worst kind of player but some of the best kind of feeds. You made your bed now you and Jess continue to lie in it. Just the way you both have in the HOH for nearly 2 weeks. Jessica’s reactions as the night progresses do appear a bit more fabricated. Miss #crybaby threatens to quit with all your ‘victim noises’. Speaking of beds, as I predicted the transition downstairs for these two was not a pleasant one. Cody has announced that he and Jessica will be moving into the HN room and sleeping on the spiked beds beginning tonight although HN’s aren’t selected until the following day. When the comp ended Cody could have just been a man and congratulated Paul. Instead we saw Paul come to Cody after the comp and humbly shake his hand and be the bigger man. We see Paul again later as he walks through a bedroom and sees Jessica crying on Cody. Paul approaches and extends her an olive branch offering her comfort and telling her not to cry “don’t let this game get to you like that.” We hear Jessica mention how others do things to get edits but the truth is that’s what she is trying to do a lot of the time. As the night unfolds if you are really paying attention you will see how this chick purposefully reacts and then always within minutes ducks into the DR. Not like Josh who gets emotional and attempts to retreat to a safe place or a private room where he can vomit all of his emotions without everyone seeing. If you haven’t picked up on how Jessica does this it’s a good time to file that away in the back of your mind and begin really paying attention to her subtle manipulations and the conversations she and Cody have either just before or right after. Even Cody frequently comments about how Jessica is focused on promoting her business. Okay, let’s wind up the immediate reactions of HG’s following the Paul win. Just before HG re-enter the house we can hear Cody Sounds questioning Kevin (cam 3) and we hear Kevin masterfully convey “No, I keep my word. No one is…lying to you.” Kevin uses this same finesse throughout the night and is quickly dismissed as a potential traitor which is brilliant to watch! 7:46 pm HG return inside and we see Christmas (cam 3/4) telling Josh just be cool. Check it, check it, just be cool. That’s what’s best for everybody. Cody, Jess, Alex, Jason have no idea who voted to evict Jillian. They don’t need one for their blowout pity party extravaganza to begin. 7:47 pm cam 3 SR Jess/Cody immediately head to SR when they return to the house. Complain no food yet. J-I have legitimately been gotten blindsided in every aspect of this game every single day I have been here C- yeah J-so if they want to play dirty I will lie, I will backstab, I will throw everybody under the …bus C-we don’t have the numbers anymore now and Paul’s the HOH so they’re going to put us against each other . I’m not saying I’m defeated but like it will be either me or you I guess. J-I’m fine with that I don’t regret anything. C-I don’t either. I mean I made those deals to stay loyal to them, you know what I mean? I’m not mad that Christmas had a legit gripe against me. She projected on you. I don’t know why she did it to you. J-In the most cowardly way. Like when I couldn’t actually say something that’s when she…ugh we get FISH for 5 minutes then back to Jess interview with Jillian. Um wait wasn’t this the same guy laying in the HOH bed professing he will make himself the target and be her hero? Isn’t this the same guy who told everyone in his alliance he made a deal with Alex and Jason solely with the intention of saving all of them and he will gladly go home week 2? At one point in the HOH he was listing all the things he will say to Matt attacking his manhood to be sure the target stays on him (Cody) and they have to send him home and keep her? Where’s that guy Jessica? LMAO 8:34 pm CAM 4 Mark lets us on Cody’s inquire to Mark about how his vote landed. What’s important to note is how Cody approaches Mark versus how Cody pounces on Josh. Cody would NEVER speak to or behave towards Mark, Kevin, or Matt the way he does to Jason or Josh. 8:36-Elena If you do me wrong and you didn’t tell me you weren’t going to do that, I can’t get over that. If you look mean the eye and tell me you won’t do something and you do it, I’m done. Its over I won’t trust you. -Elena is essentially expressing the same reaction emotionally that Cody/Jessica are having to being lied to. However she is sitting relaxed in the BA with various HG rationally explaining how she reacts to it. 8:38 pm Mark explains that Cody confronted Mark after Paul won HOH. According to Mark, Cody asked him who he voted for. They had a moment and Mark told him straight up he voted for Christmas to stay. Mark said he felt like they were good after that. Mark goes on to say that he “after I picked him (Paul) up (after he won)I don’t think we’re good anymore.” LOL Matt lightens the mood with: He looks like an ass on national tv plenty of times. Just chill out we got squad goals to focus on. Matt has really won me over the last two weeks. He is the most rational well balanced player on the male side of things in this game. Matt moves with a perfect balance between social and strategic game. He knows how to talk to people and of the three showmances this is the only one I don’t want to stab myself in the eye when I am watching how they interact with each other. I said preseason I suspected he would easily make it to the middle of this game but if he continues on the path he is on he may just be an end game contender. Its week two and everything I would want a strong player to be doing, Matt is doing. Next week will be very telling. 8:40 pm Mark, Elena, Dom funny moment to watch. A random bit of tea we are served later in the BA is that Mark was born with a club foot. We find this out when Dom mentions she noticed he has one leg is bigger than other. Interesting fact about Mark but watching the body language variances between Elena and Dom are the more interesting moments here. As the night continues LF realize they may want to switch from tea to coffee because it’s going to be a long night of amazing feeds to be enjoyed! I will leave you with one final note. 9:05 pm Kevin/Alex cam 3/4 Kevin commits to Alex: I will say moving forward, from this day on, I promise to always vote for you and Paul. We haven’t seen any golden handshakes or hard and fast pledges of allegiance since the showmance alliance splintered. We have seen Kevin easily smooze everyone in the game but we certainly haven’t really been able to nail down who Kevin is really considering aligning with. So I am shocked to hear him say this. It’s actually a great trio, Paul is on one side in the house, Alex is on the other, and Kevin is welcomed by everyone. As the evening’s events and conversations unfold this will be something to circle back around to in the next blog. For now I am going to brew a fresh cup of tea for the HOH reveal and various whispering happening throughout the house for next time. The RealiTea is from eviction to conclusion of the HOH competition there was an ocean of tea to swim through and more than a few bites of drama to digest. There was no shortage of confusion and deceit on eviction night and that sets the tone for the week ahead.

July 6-Pre-Eviction Welcome to RealiTea Bites the blog where I spill all the tea on what’s happening in the Big Brother house. Tonight is eviction night and this first week of Big Brother 19 has easily ben the most insane first week in BB history. The game for fans began with a powerful alliance 9 people strong: Cody, Jessica, Mark, Elena, Matt, Raven, Dominique, Paul, and Christmas. This isn’t unusual since by the time the feeds go live for fans relationships have already been established and a myriad of alliances are already formed. What is different about this cast is by the end of week one the house has been blown up and the cards land where they may. Cody’s power move blew up all the relationships in the house including dividing the power alliance and we are delivered a piping hot fresh pot of tea as we see the players scrambling to find a new group and running or safety. Let’s break down how I see each player navigating the game and the most explosive first week! Cody was HOH and while most of us wouldn’t choose to be the first HOH he followed his preseason play book and took the first HOH comp. Once Megan leaves the game unexpectedly things quickly change. Let’s be real here, Paul was ALWAYS Cody’s target. Cody’s intention was to backdoor Paul from the minute Paul didn’t give him a friendship bracelet, maybe even frorm the second he came through the doors. To some casual fans it may seem like a good idea if you are 3 showmances already in full swing by the time we enter the house. I mean Cody has the numbers right? WRONG! The couples have all have aligned together with several other players by the end of the second night. The problem is his target was always one of the people everyone in his group believed was on their team, namely Paul! Cody is blowing in the wind by the end of this week. Alex may seem like she’s willing to work with him but if you watch the feeds you know this is smoke and mirrors. Alex wants to save Jillian so of course she would agree to collaborate with her enemies to eliminate Christmas and save her own ally. Once the vote is over Alex has her eyes set on Jessica and Cody. At the moment anyway. Jillian is a number for Alex. Cody is emotionless, simple minded, and egocentric. As I suspected he is rigid, inflexible, and has no social skills at all. Does this mean the house will target Cody next week? Not so fast my friends. The realiTea is that Alex’s side of the house wants Cody gone. Alex wants Jessica gone more than Cody, but that’s personal not game. Fortunately, for her the two may align. Let’s not brew next week’s tea when there is so much to sip and nibble on this week. Cody’s side of the house wants Cody gone. Christmas wants Jesica and Cody gone and has made no secret about it. If the house is smart and stays focused on this threat they will throw Cody and Jesica on the block, pull Cody down and send Jessica home. Cody can’t survive long without Jessica. Jessica has enough sense about her to figureout a way to blend back in and rally a group to allow her to reitergate and will seem far more appealing to work with once Cody exits the house. Jessica is smart in the sense she understands the game and how you do things is just as important as what you do. However, when the house shake up happens she locks herself away with Cody and fails to adjust her game to survive the aftermath. Jessica does try to make it appear she is willing to work with Alex after days and days of lashing out at her, calling her names and delivering daily death stares directed at Alex. Jessica’s jealousy and desire to have all of Cody’s attention leaves her on the side of the road and I expect her to be preverbal road kill soon. Eliminating Jessica is the smarter move for everyone but most of all for Alex. We all know Cody is obsessed with Alex, whatever the reasoning and if Jessica is sent out then Alex, if she plays her cards correctly could pull Cody over to her side. I don’t see her intentionally planning this approach but she should! I was thrilled when Alex won the comp, and she is high on my rankings for the season but now that we are in the game there are some warning signs. You can be strong and smart without putting people off. Alex would be smart to dial back her overbearing temperament and not react so emotionally. While she isn’t anyone’s target but Jessica everything you do in this house leaves a fingerprint and she’s gotten her hands very dirty with her actions. Chill out girlie. You aren’t in danger at the moment, Jillian, while a number for you is not a shield for you and you are spending capital you can’t afford to waste on her. Don’t get into a pissing contest with Cody, it’s not a good look and it won’t help your long term game. Jillian is on the block and as Cody would say she has been playing victim all week. She tells us she's been on the block 3 times and is constantly begging the live feed cameras pleading with America to feel bad for her and send her a temptation. Um, she’s been OTB the block twice. She’s done this so often that the camera’s started turning away from her every time she does it. I wasn’t as irritated as some fans with her lack of campaigning. Look at all this big personalities in the house and all the drama going on. Christmas blowing up, Cody pushing buttons, Ramses running from room to room listening in on every chat. Often in these scenarios hanging back and blending in is a smart play. The problem is she may not be campaigning but she is actively doing things that are drawing attention. Paul isn’t the only one to observe that she is running information up to Cody like a carrier pigeon. She and Ramses both are getting information and running back to the other side and spilling tea. This is an approach that requires a very mature and wise player. It has to be done in a way that: 1. Isn't obvious to everyone else 2. Includes you in the talks where people see you as an asset and solicit your input. Neither of which is happening with either of these two players and that’s a problem. A more immediate one for Jillian since she’s OTB. Jilia has invested all her energy into Alex and Cody and this could be her most critical error. One that sends her out the door tonight. That’s lucky for Cameron who we’ve herd nothing from in the outside world so one has to believe he is in sequester somewhere waiting for a chance to re-enter the game. I hope he does! Ramses may have been ranked higher on my preseason predictions but his age is both a positive and a negative. He has formed a strong friendship with Elena, and was in the ‘know’ with Alex’s group but his desire to plant seeds and cause divides doesn’t balance with his skill set to do so effectively without having his hand prints all over it. One problme here too is that Elena has a target on her back that Domininique has drawn after a lot of shaking of the trees so to speak. Ramses does create some doubt in Elena’s mind about Mark. Marrk is loayl to both Elena and dom but…not simultaneously. These two girls need to stop all of this and in the short term work together with Mark. There is strength in numbers. Instead they are treating him like a Stretch Armstrong doll. This is the biggest shift from Veto to eviction night. Mark and Elena were seen as a duo and now they have been fussing and fighting over some efforts by Ramses and Dominique on the Mark side of things. Ramses needs to participate more. He needs to talk and interact. Definitely listen more than you speak but you need to be a part of the conversations not just a fly on the wall because someone will swat you. Dominique is the break out star of the week in my book. I have been surprisingly impressed with Elena on many levels but she can be very hot or cold while Dom is steady Betty 99% of the time. Dom was brought into the fold with the showmances. She established a very strong personal connection with Mark and most of the ladies in that group engage her in conversations both casual and game play. She has blended in beautifully and has the balance I was describing earlier about listening more than talking but doing so as a part of the conversations happening in most corners of the house. My only advice is she needs to stop pushing for Mark to listen to her about Elena and be a bit more subtle about how she delivers the thinking points related to this for Mark. She also needs to find a common interest with Alex. She managed to find it with Jason who is the exact opposite of her so I have faith that she can, but it requires some active play and not passive in this area. You may not need her now, but you may down the road so find something you two connect on and build on that. I know she was coming off very passive aggressive when the whole banner topic came about. It didn’t help there was some holiday bubbly involved that night. Ironically, Ramses was trying to create the doubt about Mark in Elena’s mind while Dom was doing the same about Elena in Mark’s mind. Jason is the one who I still don’t feel like I completely understand. He’s smart and funny but plays dumb a lot. Yes, I am giving him credit that most of the time he is playing. He does say too much but has found himself in a position where both sides of this eviction vote are seeking him out. That’s a place you want to be. People coming to you and vying for your vote. I caution him to heed my warning, talk less. Jason rambles on and ends up leaving people scratching their heads trying to figure out what the heck his point was. Chill out. By tonight you will have to pick a side and be ready to ride that ride until it ends. He could take a few notes on how Kevin manages this. Josh is by far the most improved character since night 1 of the show. He came in loud, aggressive, and emotional. He should have been the week 1 target/pawn but that terrible safety move was critical to his survival and allowed him time to settleinto the game. Slowly he calmed down and relaxed quite a bit over the last week. Believe it or not he could be the swing vote tonight. I expect him to be a basket case by the time the live vote happens, but baseed on all I have seen I have faith he will stick to his word and vote to evict Jillian. I also expect him to go after safety if it’s avaiable again tonight. He votes for Jillian to leave and Cody will be delivering death rays at him. If he votes for Christmas to leave there will likely be a tie and Cody gets to deliver the end to his week that he hopes for which is send Christmas out. Honestly, I don’t think either one leaving tonight makes much of a difference of where the current game is other than Cody or Paul being the victor for the evening. Christmas staying was much more important prior to breaking her foot. By the end of week 1 we do have a separation down the middle of the house as far as votes go. What’s more important is that as for ‘alliances’ this season is really void of any at the moment. We’ve not seen one final two deal, no handshakes, just a lot of vote wheeling and dealing. This next week we should see some serious discussions about who wants to team up with who. This brings me to Paul. Paul came in strong and up to the day of the veto he was playing very well. Friendly, likable, sociable, and houseguest genuinely like him and the entertainment value he brings to the house. Paul amazed me with how well he handled the veto, nomination, and temptation. People are confiding in him which is a great sign! Dom admitted on the feeds that she is an engineer but only to Paul. Kevin reveals he took the 25k but only to Paul. There is a funnel of information that benefits Paul being piped directly to him and that’s a great thing right now. After the injury and threat of Christmas leaving because of her foot he began to campaign a little to vigorously. I would have liked him to chill a lot more and let people come to him seeking his input but instead he begins delivering facts and perceptions that are in many cases unsolicited. Several people begin to comment about it and that’s a problem. He may be untouchable this first 3 weeks but that time will end and he shouldn’t be acting like he is. By Monday he was telling people he had a master plan and they should throw HOH to him but not sharing any of the details. Um, isn’t that what Cody just did? Pump your brakes Paul. You were in a great spot don’t turn the radar back on yourself because you want to be seen as the puppeteer character in the broadcasts. There is more than one path to that label and none get you there by way of eviction the second your safety expires. With all that said, I feel like this is actually a great week for Paul to win HOH. He has a lot of allies at the moment. Has no alliance and needs to make one sooner than later. The bonus being that he cannot be nominated the week after the HOH if he wins this week because he has one more week of safety after that. If he saves Christmas she will ride hard for him. Kevin and Paul have this bromance happening that many of us find hilarious and most of the HG’s enjoy a well. Bet you can guess which two do not. With Paul’s power of protection there is no other time until final 4 do you have that kind of guarantee in this house. After an HOH week the outgoing HOH is always a talking point as a target unless their own alliance has power. Since we really have no alliances, Paul has safety the next week (week 3) and all winners need a resume. This is a position you want to be in if you are going to try for an HOH. This would be the one for Paul. The problem is Paul ran around telling those who want to vote for Christmas to stay that they should let him have HOH. Paul needed to stay on the low key radar he began with earlier this week. Just stop pushing for it. Bring back subtle relaxed mentioning of things when asked Paul. I wouldn’t be unhappy or have any problem with a Paul HOH week 2. Go for it! The truth of the matter is depending on how this vote plays out tonight we could have 13 HG’s holding on for dear life trying to grab this HOH to guarantee their safety. Alex and Jessica will be fighting to the death either way the vote goes. Alex’s target may change if Jillian goes home and everyone should be considering this. So many are so caught up in securing the votes for who they want to stay I haven’t seen near the amount of discussions about this as we should be seeing. This morning Kevin points this out during several conversations. Until today fans (LF) have been counting on Kevin’s vote swaying towards keeping Jillian but this morning he told Matt, Raven, and Elena he was going to vote with them. Kevin is the kind of player when he does finally say something specific you should listen because most of the time in this house he avoids game talk and when it does include him he is very noncommittal. We see this with he and Christmas this morning. She is earnestly trying to get him to confirm he will vote to keep her and he changes the subject and avoids a direct response the entire time. We do have Raven and Matt as well as Paul 100% on lock for voting to evict Jillian. If Kevin and Josh (who told LF on camera yesterday) both vote to evict Jillian that is 5 votes now against Jillian. My guess is that Elena is a lock but Matt is going to have to choose between the women in his life when this vote happens. People beleive Dom is on board to save CHristmas but I am a bit suspect. You will rarely find me spilling tea early after nom’s or veto about who is voting where because it honestly holds no weight until we hit Thursday morning. Before eviction day the votes can change 20 x’s. I don’t get too invested in what people are saying before this but I do watch what they are doing and how they behave along the way. Jessica, Alex, and Ramses are the locked voted for Jillian to stay. The problem is Cody miraculously appears downstairs this morning discussing with individuals like Kevin and Josh about how they need to be voting. LOL. Now the RealiTea is they see exactly what we see in this moment. Josh and Kevin even say after Cody leaves to various people re: Cody “You haven’t talked to me all week!” Terreible game play as usual Cody. Christmas has attempted to guilt Jason into voting with her since her injury was his fault in her eyes. Jason isn’t buying what she’s selling. He has flip flopped all over the hosue like a fish out of water mostly becasue he trusts Alex. Christmas tells the cameras she’s confident it will be a 9-3 vote. My impression is Paul is believing the same. I don’t think it will be. I think it will be a 7-5 vote to keep Christmas. It would still be a 6-6 vote if they hadn’t swayed Josh. Can you believe after the way this week began this entire outcome tonight comes down to Josh? The RealiTea is he is the swing vote. He has told us he is keeping Christmas. We saw some teetering and many have seen him running to both sides professing his commitment to their cause but that was a planned approach. Not sure the smartest one but that’s what it was. The good news is Josh doesn’t care for Cody. No one but Cody, Alex, Jessica, and Jillian of course want Cody to get his way. I feel like Christmas’ greatest advantage going in to tonight is that people are so over Cody’s tyrannical reign of HOH they will vote against what he wants just because he wants it. I feel as though most of the house will not be surprised if Christmas does in fact stay. What will stir up immediate feelings is the numbers of the votes. We head directly into the next HOH and if things don’t fall how people anticipate this could be one heck of a battle for a week 2 HOH. Kevin will be the only one alongside Christmas (who likely will not be able to play) that wont hang in for the long haul. It’s sounding like an endurance comp since BB has announced that the HOH competition will be shown live on the feeds. This leads me to believe that we will have battle of wills and Cody will be benched with nothing to do but stare at everyone…pretty much what he always does. At the end of week one the players in the best positions in the house are: Raven/Matt, (although Jillian has told the cameras that she’s coming for Matt). Kevin because everyone loves him and he can play off any backlash that may be directed at him if people feel he didn’t vote how they wanted. Finally, Dominique. Everyone generally likes and respects her. Josh has made it clear he wants to work with Christmas, Paul, and Dominique. Mark wants to weork with her. Paul and Christmas have done the damage control and emotional management with Josh the best they can but whenever he repeats who he trusts and wants to work with he does not get confirmatio form anyone. Less pressure more stroking because they understand how to manage him. Cody on the other hand just wants to bully people into doing what he expects without earning any respect or loyalty. In this game anything can happen. I expect tonight to be a roller coaster ride, just like this first week. Make sure to hold on to your tea cup until next time when I follow up after tonight’s live eviction and HOH competition with the next RealiTea Bites update!