We left off last time with every member of the house trying to sink their teeth into somebody else's arm. With one of the centers of conflict as the new HOH, it was clear from the beginning that sparks were going to fly this week!

After LaNea was evicted last week in a narrow decision over Andrew, it was pretty clear that a decent portion of the house wanted to see Andrew walking out the door. Norman and Robin's conversation sort of surprised me- I agreed that neither of them would be nominated, but there was nothing to show that Andrew and Angie had patched things up. When Angie said that Andrew was still a total freak, it was pretty clear who would be her main target at the upcoming nomination ceremony.

Overall, I think Angie did the right thing with her nominations- nominating the inactive and the intolerable. When Andrew stood up and chewed on Angie's ass for announcing that he was her main target, though, I couldn't believe it. Reading that whole speech, I kept shaking my head in disbelief that he could see things from that perspective. First off, he accused Angie and Rob of not having any class in how they are playing the game. If I remember correctly, Andrew was the one who just last week went and gossiped behind Angie's back- and Rob was the one who called him out. Just the first couple sentences of Andrew's tirade smack of hypocrisy, and there's still more to come. He got mad at Angie for saying that he was the main target- wake up and smell the roses, Andrew. That's what happens in Big Brother- the HOH does their best to eliminate the people that they most want gone. You've been a jackass to her, and she's perfectly justified in trying to get you out. (And saying that if you get voted out you could reveal a bunch of dirt on Angie? Grow up, Andrew. You're pretending to take the moral high road, but you're not fooling anybody.) Finally, Andrew exploded at Angie for calling Chad inactive. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet- and by the same token, Chad's inactive no matter how you phrase it. Angie chose to put it the most obvious way- so what? She told the truth. She didn't even say anything bad about Chad's character or the type of person he is- just that he hasn't been talkative and would vote to keep Andrew. I'm glad that Rob got up and gave Andrew what was coming to him (even if it cost him a bit later). Andrew's response to Rob was even more mind-numbing than his tirade at Angie. He pretty much screams at Rob for causing all the drama in the game- let's reminisce a bit. Last week, the whole house was pissed at Andrew for being a dickwad and not playing honestly. Rob did the right thing by vetoing Nick and putting up the person who was causing the most drama. Now, Andrew is the one who has caused the most drama yet again (not to mention has taken up most of my column space this week). The hypocrisy demons strike again, as Andrew's arguments are shot down by pure and simple logic. And Andrew's final tirade about how Rob owes him- it's a game, dude. The point of the game is to have fun- and even if you get screwed or even if you don't like somebody, that doesn't get rid of the fact that it's still a game. Finally, Angie stood up and said almost exactly the same things I've said in my rants above- Andrew is the king of hypocrisy. Finally, Nick and Ben throw in their two cents' worth and just tell everyone to shut the fuck up. Kudos to everyone who actually got up and spoke their mind in the face of utter stupidity!

Whew- after that first episode, it seems like the rest of the week wouldn't be able to compare- and it practically doesn't. The first part of the next episode is devoted to telling us that the house is full of lying, drama, and tension- the most revealing part of this is that the viewpoints of the house aren't entirely unified against a certain person. Devon's confessional showed that not everyone thought that Angie was doing the right thing, and that the house is going to be torn apart even more in the coming weeks. The next bunch of confessionals is about alliances- it's clear that nobody knows what's going on when it comes to voting together and who not to nominate in the future. As for the veto challenge- as much as I don't like the way he's playing the game, I have to give props to Andrew for managing to win the poll competition (especially over Angie, who I know as someone who's incredibly good at getting votes in challenges like these). After vetoing himself, Andrew at least gave a reasonable veto speech- he said he reasons briefly and left it at that (although he said that he wanted Rob out more than anyone else- isn't that like what Angie did at the original nominations?) The reactions to the new nomination are pretty much uniform- nobody wants either Chad or Rob gone over some of the other members of the house, but the decision will have to be made.

Finally, we come to this week's eviction. Although during the veto episode it seemed clear that Chad would go, the votes are a lot more split than that. When I first read that it was an 8-8 tie between Chad and Rob, I was kind of shocked- I thought the votes would be much more skewed than that. I felt bad for Angie that she had to make the final decision, but I think she made the right one- Rob has been highly influential in the house and has affected most of the major events of the game- Chad, on the other hand, was just nice (although a bit boring). I'm glad that Chad didn't take his eviction badly- he seems like a nice guy, and would have gone farther if the veto hadn't been used. About the twist on HOH next time- it seems to me that the format is going to change (at least temporarily) to that of the UK and Aussie Big Brother- everyone throws points at who they want to nominate, and the people with the most are up for eviction. It's going to be interesting seeing how the house really feels- instead of picking between the choices of one person, the evictee will be the one that the housemates truly want out. Until next week- this is Adam, signing off.