Welcome back! This recap will be for the Wednesday PoV episode and the Thursday Eviction episode in one.

If you recall, Loveita made the stupid choice to put her trust in Jared, Kelsey and Raul, though she’s not at all sure she made the right choice. She isn’t sure that she can believe that they’ll actually take her to the jury. And she’s not alone. Many other house guests agree that she made a terrible mistake in nominating two floaters instead of taking out a power player. Christine, Maddy, and Cassandra get together after the nomination to talk about how much of a coward Loveita is, and Dallas thinks she’s wasted her HoH. He goes to talk to her about it, but she wants nothing to do with that conversation. She’s obviously feeling unsure of herself, and Dallas telling her she made a mistake makes her super defensive. It’s not a great conversation, and it just makes them both more frustrated.

I can understand both sides. Loveita was burned before when she nominated Kelsey, so she’s afraid to do it again. Even if they evict one of the three in the alliance, the other two will still be there to take her down, especially now that she’s made a deal with them. On the other hand, by not evicting one of the three, the rest of the house guests are making them more powerful by letting their own numbers dwindle while the alliance stays intact. It’s a tough move to make, and I’m not sure I would have the guts to do it either.

Adding to the problem is the fact that earlier, Loveita had promised Cassandra that she’d never put her up on the block, and now she has. Loveita does have a bit of an excuse, since Cassandra made a comment about the “dumb bitch” winning HoH again, but Cassandra maintains that she was just joking. I don’t think she was. She’s already shown herself to be two faced, saying one thing to Loveita’s face and then another behind her back. Plus, she and Kelsey seem to be somewhat close, and that’s kind of scary. No matter the meaning behind the words, her comment placed her on the block, and she’s pissed.

Jared, on the other hand, is surprised and grateful to Loveita for keeping him and his crew safe. He thinks this is the first step in building trust with Loveita and wants to work with her. He seems like such a sweet guy, and very sincere. I believe him when he tells us he wants to work with Loveita. On the other hand, we’ve got Kelsey, who practically brags about dodging the bullet after treating Loveita like crap last week. I really don’t like her. She seems like 100% the mean girl, and I would love nothing more than to see her go home.

We get an Allegiant-based PoV competition, and the extra players this week are Dallas, Ramsey, and Jared. Jared wants to win to keep himself safe. Dallas wants to force Loveita to make a big move in the game, and Ramsey just wants to watch the movie, which he’ll get to do if he wins the competition. They’ve each been assigned a colour, and they have to repel down the wall and then run through the trenches to find long narrow pieces of wood, puzzle pieces they’ll need to put together to win. Once the puzzle is complete, they need to climb the wall again and hit the button.

It’s definitely one of the most elaborate challenges I’ve ever seen. The trenches are narrow and about waist deep, so there’s a lot of body contact as they race each other through to the airplane wreckage that houses their puzzle pieces. Little explosions go off here and there, raining debris, and water falls down on them as they go, so the place gets more and more slippery. Ramsey and Jared take the lead early, practically lapping the others, while Dallas has trouble unhooking himself from the line. Christine fares even worse when she falls about four or five feet and lands on her back. After that, she’s in pain for the rest of the competition, barely able to do more than hobble her way through the trenches.

All three guys do well, as does Loveita, but in the end Dallas wins the PoV. He chooses to bring Maddy, Loveita and Joel along on his movie night, and the four of them spend the next several minutes in a very obvious product placement ad. Hey, every episode needs to have one. Once that’s over, it’s back to the game. Dallas tells Loveita that she should take down Christine and put up one of the brothers because they’re playing both sides of the house. I’m surprised that Maddy agrees with this, since she and Nick are getting pretty close. But Phil doesn’t want to have anything to do with them, so they’ve got to go. It’s really too bad. Phil was the first one in the house, but he may be the one to get them kicked out because of his haughty attitude toward some of the others.

Loveita practically begs Dallas not to use the Veto. She’s afraid that if she puts up a brother and they stay in the house, she’ll be screwed (she’s right). Dallas assures her it’d be unanimous, but she doesn’t agree (she’s probably right). So then he tries a different tactic: go after Jared, since he’s the best player in the house. But Loveita can’t go after him after giving her word that she wouldn’t. I don’t blame her. Take out one head, and two more will come after her. It’s not smart for her game now that she’s made a deal with them. Before? Absolutely, but not anymore.

In a sobering moment, we learn that Joel had a brother who passed away five years ago, and his birthday was this week. Joel usually spends this time with his family, and the fact that he can’t this year really gets to him. He breaks down in tears and soon has everyone else in tears too when he tells them the story. Having also lost a brother, I was definitely crying along with them. But it was really nice to see the other house guests rally around him and comfort him when he so clearly needed it.

Once we get back to the game, we join the house guests at the PoV meeting where, after a lot of consideration, Dallas decides not to use the PoV I’m glad. Forcing Loveita to make a move would probably send her over the edge. She’s already teetering under all the stress and feelings of loneliness. I feel kind of bad for her, though it’s her own fault that she’s in this situation.

In tonight’s episode, we see a determined Cassandra ready to lobby for votes, while Christine wallows in her anger at Dallas for not using the Veto on her and at Loveita for getting her way again. She doesn’t seem to be very good at fighting for herself, but it’s all good, because she’s got people to fight for her, namely team Dallas who are ready to plead her case, as they want to get rid of Cassandra.

Meanwhile, Tim and Nikki just want to have a little fun, so they decide to play a few pranks on the others, though nothing too bad, just Vaseline on the toilet seat and dish soap in the mouthwash and barbecue sauce in the shampoo. Cassandra seems to be the lucky person to fall prey to these pranks, which I find funny, though it just gives her more “why me?” fodder.

I’m not sure who is telling secrets around the house – so if anyone knows, please let me know – but somehow team Kelsey knows about Dallas’s ambition to backdoor first the brothers and then Jared, a tidbit Kelsey has no problem sharing with the brothers. I don’t know if she embellished a little or if the rumours were just blown out of proportion, but she also tells the brothers that she’d heard they were in on the plan, which really throws Phil for a loop. After she leaves, Mitch tells the boys to cool off. The goal for the middle people is to make the two alliances fight each other rather than pick them off, so they need to suck it up and lay low. The more attention they draw, the lower their chances of staying in the house. Nick seems to understand this, but Phil really seems to be a hot head. I’m starting to like him less and less.

Another reason I don’t like Phil? Nick and Maddy make a really cute couple, and they still cuddle together when they can, but Nick is so paranoid of Phil walking in on them that he can’t even enjoy it. It must be awful to be afraid to do anything for fear of your brother finding out and freaking on you. I feel bad for them.

So while Team Dallas fights for Christine, and Christine herself creates an alliance with Loveita, Cassandra and Tim drive Nikki crazy by spending all their time together. I think it’s pretty safe to say that Nikki is a little unhinged. She’s totally jealous of Tim’s relationship with Cassandra, even blaming the other woman for stealing him from her. Part of me can’t blame her – they came in together, they’re the only international house guests, so they’re two of a kind – but she goes a little overboard. I really do wonder if she’s manic. This relationship between Tim and Cassandra totally throws Nikki into a tailspin, and after crying about it and ranting about it to some of the other house guests, she suddenly decides she hates him after one joke at her expense from him. She’s entertaining to watch, but man, she’s exhausting, and I worry a little bit about her sanity.

But back to the game as Team Dallas wants to keep Christine because Cassandra can’t be trusted, and Kelsey wants to get rid of Christine because the other side wants to keep her. So now both sides try to sway the floaters, and it really seems like either side could win. Jared talks to Phil, first about the rumours, and then about keeping Cassandra, while Dallas and Loveita talk to Nick. We don’t really have a clue how Mitch or Joel will vote, but at this point, Phil wants to keep Cassandra, and Nick wants to keep Christine.

The vote is close. In the end, Mitch, Joel and the brothers vote to keep Cassandra for some reason, so Christine goes home. And I wonder if the floaters are truly floaters anymore. By choosing to keep Cassandra, they voted against Team Dallas, which probably won’t go over well. As much as they wanted to stay in the middle, they may have just chosen a side. And unless they side with team Dallas next week to even it out, I don’t know if they’ll be able to call themselves middlemen anymore.

Before we leave for the night, we join the house guests for the new HoH challenge, titled Locked Lips. The house guests have been paired up and have to work together to maneuver a bunch of little red balls from their table, over the bridge to make-out point. The team to do it first will win, and then they’ll have to decide which of the two of them will be HoH. This is rough, since we’ve got some enemies working together: Dallas and Jared, and Kelsey and Ramsey are paired up, and both teams do relatively well. If either of these teams win, I have no idea how they’ll decide on HoH, since neither will want to give up the power and the middle people had better watch out, because deals could be made to save both alliances. I’m nervous to see what will happen. My hope is that either Tim and Maddy or Mitch and Joel will win. I still want Kelsey and Cassandra gone, and the only way that’ll happen is if a floater or someone from Team Dallas wins.

What did you think of these episodes? Were you happy with Dallas’s decision to not use the Veto? Were you satisfied with Christine being evicted? Who do you think will be the next HoH? Who do you WANT to be the next HoH? Let me know! And we’ll see you Sunday!

– This article and other Big Brother-related stuff by the estimable Rebecca Griffin