'Big Brother 11' Chima is S-M-R-T

There no more cliques in the 'Big Brother 11' house, Russell is in power, and Lydia and Ronnie are on the block. This means the house is split directly in half. Well, almost...

Chima, Natalie and Jessie all want Lydia gone while Kevin, Jeff and Jordan would all vote for Ronnie to leave. Which leaves Michele as a total unknown and therefore the vote everyone wants to secure.  Ronnie seems strangely confident, stating he has risen from worse odds before, but that is not as sad as Kevin promising Lydia to save her if he wins PoV. Does anyone believe Kevin can win anything?

Ronnie tries to talk Russell into not evicting him by trying to squeeze out a few tears, but Russell sees right through his clever ruse and doesn't buy a bit of it. Chima takes over for Ronnie's campaign and tries to sway Russell towards Lydia, but he's not terrifically interested in that either. When Jessie and Natalie join the anti-Lydia party Russell seems a bit annoyed as he's determined to rid the house of Ronnie. The accuse Russell of making it personal and not about game play, which is funny since the only reason they have for wanting Lydia gone is her spat over Jessie with Natalie. Which still makes me gag a bit.

The PoV pits Russell, Lydia, Ronnie, Jessie, Kevin and Michele against each other in a standard guess the amount contest. Chima is the host and with the toga theme, we have to listen to her irritating voice stumble through the revisions of the HGs names - like Ronnicus and Jessiephus. And of course, she cackles through until I want to stab myself in the eardrum with a chopstick. There is something horrifically insincere about her laugh.

Michele wins the PoV and the first person to pounce on her is Ronnie, who tells her that he is not above begging. And then turns around and tells her that if she votes against him, Jessie, Chima and Natalie will take her out and therefore she won't survive in the game without him. I don't know about Michele, but that sort of tactic would not endear anyone to me. At all. Thus, Michele goes to talk to Russell, which makes Natalie and Jessie nervous. More telling than that is how Natalie sticks to Jessie like glue - even when he goes to the bathroom, she follows him downstairs and waits for him to finish. For someone who talks such a big game, why is she hiding behind that giant slab of dumb?

In the room, Russell tells Michele that they have a lot in common - namely that they have no alliances in the house. Except the alliance he had with Ronnie and the one he has now with Jeff. But whatever. Michele listens and Russell seems to win himself another partner. Which is good timing, since Jessie and Natalie's anxiety seems to have rubbed off on Chima, who accuses Russell of picking a new girlfriend every week. Which sets Russell off and kicks back to her.

She takes her situation from bad to worse when she talks with Ronnie in the splash room. They talk about how Russell and Michele aren't smart and how he thinks he's important now but next week he will be powerless and targeted for eviction. They are just moving on to congratulating themselves on their superiority when Russell pokes his head in the door - just to let them know he was listening the whole time. And I sort of love him in that moment. Natalie and Jessie jump in to quickly distance themselves from the mess Chima and Ronnie have made for themselves by saying they are not defending Russell, but they can't help them anymore than they've already tried to. Ronnie and Chima act like it's all Russell's paranoia, but it's too late.

At the PoV ceremony, it's pretty easy to tell how things are going to go. The first indicator is when Michele gives the usual opener and Lydia rolls her eyes in response. The second indicator is when Michele says "Ronnie, I'll give you the chance to lie first". So it's no surprise when she opts not to save either of them. It puts her firmly on the side of Russell, and therefore Jeff, Jordan and Kevin. Which will be enough votes to save Lydia, even if Jessie, Chima and Natalie all vote against her. Which would be silly of Natalie and Jessie to do.

Of course, the power of Coup D'etat is the big unknown. Will it be granted in time to change the outcome of this week's eviction? Could Ronnie possibly survive? Do you want him to?

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