At its worst, Big Brother is pain. Celebrity Big Brother, at its worst, can achieve a level of pain the main show never can. That’s what happened this week, as the season looked to be entering a new period of hope – only to pull the rug out from under us in one of the worst cycles in the show’s history. After the eviction of Chris Kirkpatrick in a dramatic backdoor, a pivotal endurance competition would determine the balance of power. Hope came to the house when Carson Kressley finally dethroned Toddrick and Meisha’s alliance – but it wasn’t to be.
The trouble started early, when Carson made clear he intended to hold to the deal he made on the wall to keep Toddrick safe. Letting one half of the power alliance stay off the block is always a bad idea, because they can win veto and pull the other half off the block – making the entire week a waste. But Toddrick’s power over this season of Celebrity Big Brother went much deeper than that.
Carson soon nominated Todd and Meisha for eviction, but the nominations were largely a minor subplot to this week’s biggest drama – as Toddrick and Meisha set out to gaslight the opposition. They worked on Cynthia first, trying to convince her that Shanna Moakler had been double-dealing the whole time and scheming against them. This, despite the fact that Shanna had put her own alliance on the line to save Carson last week, actually seemed to work. Cynthia then went to work on Carson, giving him the hard sell that Shanna was untrustworthy. Soon, she was essentially the whole house’s target in yet another weird case of mobbing on Celebrity Big Brother.
I don’t know exactly what went on, but it was one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve seen on any reality show since Amanda essentially bullied the entire house into evicting Judd on Big Brother 15. At its best, Celebrity Big Brother is trashy fun. This was just unpleasant, watching Shanna begging for her game life and explaining the facts while Cynthia just repeated the lies she was told and Carson meekly nodded. It’s hard to blame Carson given that the entire house spent days gaslighting him, but it was a wildly depressing turn to his strong game.
It all came down to veto – as things went from bad to worse. Shanna was the only person not picked to play in veto, sitting on the sidelines as Toddrick won a live fast-paced puzzle competition. Surprisingly, he took Todd off the block and Shanna was put next to Meisha. Aside from a bizarre aside where Lamar – who spent most of this week whining about his ex-wife – became distracted in the voting booth and spent over a minute chewing his nails in front of a very confused Julie before voting, it was a done deal. Shanna was voted out 4-0 and couldn’t be out of the house fast enough, boasting that she would make sure the jury voted against Toddrick. The past two seasons of Celebrity Big Brother have been awkward, but there has never been one that got quite this ugly.
Many fans said they were done with the show, but the game marches on, and a new Head of Household was crowned later that night.
Spoilers Below for Wednesday’s Episode of Celebrity Big Brother:
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Round Six Celebrity Big Brother Head of Household – Todd Bridges
Okay, I’ll bite – how the heck did this happen? Todd winning HOH before Toddrick does amuse me, but we’ll see how it plays out on Wednesday. Below, the power rankings for this round of Celebrity Big Brother.
HOH: Todd
- Toddrick – At this point I’m pretty sure everyone is taking him to the F2.
- Meisha – She’s basically running the house, and there are very few scenarios where she even winds up on the block.
- Lamar – I don’t think there’s any chance he gets voted out – unless he asks to be, which isn’t impossible.
- Cynthia – She’s likely a pawn this week, but could easily be voted out if Carson wins veto.
- Carson – Yep. Back to where we started. Win or go home.