by David McAlpine

Last night on Big Brother 12, things picked up where they left off with the houseguests spinning around, holding on for dear life to the Big Brother paint can. Hayden wants to win badly because he's freshly pissed that Kristen walked out the door and now he has no one to cuddle with in the house (or, as Enzo puts it, "no more nookie for Hayden").

Kathy thinks her vote for Hayden may make her a target again this week in the house, but she still wants to stick to her integrity, which may make her the only interesting player in the game at this point. Back to the competition, where Kathy tries to make a deal to everyone that she'll take the Have-Not position for the week and jump off first. In response, everyone just laughs and doesn't respond, but she takes it as a yes anyway, falling off first. Apparently she wants to be seen as weak, but all she's seen as right now is ridiculous.

Rachel knows she needs Brendon to win, so like every other HoH challenge, she's borderline pleading him to win. No one else can take it and everyone is hoping that he'll fall off. Matt is even using Britney to give him updates on how Brendon is doing. Meanwhile Enzo figures that the rest of The Brigade is still up there, so he can fall, making him the second out of the competition. Matt sees that Enzo is a selfish player and is kind of annoyed that he's not pulling his weight.

Brendon is off next, frustrating Rachel because she knows they're the targets for the week. Finally, something smart comes out of Rachel's mouth because she knows that she's the target between the two of them since she's won two HoH competitions and he's only won one veto. She continues to verbally castrate him in the Diary Room by telling all of America how she shows up and competes but he doesn't, so she's worried she's going home.

Lane falls after Brendon, followed by Britney, who knows Brendon and Rachel think she's in an alliance with them, so she doesn't want to have to nominate this week, followed quickly by Hayden, leaving it up to Matt and Ragan for HoH. The competition passes the hour mark and Ragan starts to consider his options: nominate two people this week and stir the pot, or let Matt win. Since Ragan is a good ol' floater (just like everyone else in this game), he leaves it to Matt and falls off.

Now that Matt won, Hayden hopes he doesn't screw up the nominations like last time, or they'll have to throw him out of The Brigade. Hey, Hayden, you could also try winning HoH twice in three weeks--talk about getting verbally castrated. Meanwhile, it's trouble in paradise for Brendon and Rachel because Rachel is giving Brendon the cold shoulder. She knows she's headed for the door this week in everyone's minds and he's probably feeling really guilty.

Matt gets his HoH room and everyone goes up acting ridiculously excited to make fun of Rachel and Brendon. One by one, they all filter out as part of their own little game (called "Trapped"), where they try not to be the last ones in the HoH with Brendon and Rachel. Surprise, surprise, Matt loses, which makes me question how he can side with the rest of the house since they're obviously so selfish.

Later that day, Matt is confronted with Pandora's Box: a door with a big question mark on it and a cheap, bedazzled veto on the HoH screen. He chooses to open it and gets the Diamond Power of Veto, which allows him to take someone off the block and choose the replacement nominee for either of the next two evictions--a power he has to keep secret. In return, however, something bad will happen to the rest of the house.

Since the rest of the house was on lockdown, Matt comes down and explains to them all that he opened up Pandora's Box (not so smart) and that he only won a dollar, and that he figures something bad is going to happen to the rest of the house now (even worse). No one is buying it and now they're guessing about what Matt won. Brendon is convinced he won more money, while Ragan thinks he got the chance to bring someone back into the game.

Ragan also gets an offer he can't refuse: the results of America's Vote asking him to be the saboteur. His mission: carry out three sabotages a week for two weeks for $20,000. Ragan is worried it might mess up his gameplay, but he doesn't want to let down America, so he accepts. Seeing as how large of a target it makes you, I'm surprised he took it at all, since it seems like this house is all about the floating, but props to him for taking a risk at least.

With time running out before nominations, Rachel tries to strike a deal with Matt downstairs. Ragan is sitting there on the conversation and asks if he should leave, but Rachel says no, saying they'e a pair and he should be there anyway. This sets Ragan off because he thinks Rachel makes up truths in her head and says them, causing other people to believe them, so he calls her out on it--and she doesn't respond well.

Cue the raised voices carrying through the rest of the house, so who comes to her rescue? Brendon, of course, who then gets Ragan's wrath for defending her when he didn't even know the situation. Brendon and Ragan leave and carry on their tiff outside in the kitchen, while Rachel pouts in front of Matt. She eventually gets Brendon back in and makes the point that they're perhaps the three strongest people in the game and they could go far (which actually makes sense). Smug Matt, though, basically tells them to their face that a) he thinks they're lying and b) he doesn't care.

Before Matt can announce his targets for the week, the Saboteur leaves a message for the houseguests in the living room, pissing everyone off. Ragan is sitting there, sinking into his seat because he knows he could have cost himself the game, but at least he has to do something now (unlike everyone else in the house minus Brendon, Rachel and Matt). Honestly, I hope he gets difficult things to do to earn that $20,000. After that, Matt satisfies the rest of the house by putting up Brendon and Rachel for eviction, putting them on borrowed time. I don't really see either of them winning this week, because Brendon gets too stressed and Rachel gives up too easily.

Tune in to Big Brother 12 on Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS to see who wins the Power of Veto and if they use it on Brendon or Rachel. Big Brother 11's Jeff and Jordan also plan to make a stop by!

(Photo courtesy of CBS)

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