It's been busy times since last night's live eviction (non-eviction?) episode of Big Brother 9. If, for some reason you didn't read the Head of Household special report posted here on TV Squad, you might want to read that one before you read this one.

And, if you don't want to know show spoilers for the Sunday night show, don't look at the image gallery here, don't look at the HOH special report and, most of all ... do NOT read past the jump! (Don't feed me after midnight, either.)

But if you want the spoilers, read on.

It was 1:15 AM ET when Natalie croaked "deal" and jumped down leaving James to win HOH. Was her illness real? For the longest time as she and James fought it out, she was comparing it to her stripper days and pole dancing. She was dancing, singing, and having a great time. Her only complaint was that she was thirsty. When she went ill, it took less than five minutes before she went down. Yes, she did get ill after landing. But I thought it very odd as I watched it play out. When Ryan said how suddenly she got sick, she said she wasn't feeling good for almost a half-hour.

The deal James made was that he wouldn't put either Natalie or her Mattie on the block this week. It's only good for this reign of HOH and I believe he'll stick to it. He worked very hard at the comp -- all of them men were out first except for him as the comp was definitely more suited to the female body and smaller feet. He told Natalie someone he doesn't like will go home this week. Methinks that will be Sheila.

James isn't the best player ever in the house. He's made some mistakes, butted in when it cost him allies in the house. But I have noticed that he's very observant. It's too bad he does things like call Matt out for playing everyone, but he sees it and many others in the house are oblivious.

Matt actually was very kind to Natalie after the comp. Since either he or Adam were out first and I think the rest of the house was awed by how long James and Natalie hung in there. None thought to bring gloves. I don't even know if this crew has gloves.

In house crumbs:

• Joshuah apologized to Natalie for what he's done and said.
• Joshuah told Natalie that the pickle throwing and anything he said about her mother won't be shown on the show. (BB must have told him that and it hasn't aired, though it's certainly available on YouTube!)
• Natalie really wanted to win HOH to get pictures from home.
• James said he would ask BB to include some pictures for her in his HOH package as that was more important for her than him and she tried so hard to win.
• James said he doesn't want Chelsia in the HOH room.
• Matt is finally going to give Natalie her massage. We'll never hear the end of that!
• Sheila and Ryan think they'll be put on the block and one of them must win POV.
• James doesn't want to backdoor anyone. He wants his nominations to remain the same.
• James knows and told the others that the vote to put him back in the house was 5-3.
  
• Sheila is mad. She thinks she was blindsided and will be on the block.
• James told Chelsia he told Julie Chen he loved her.
• James asked for Natalie's picture of her dog, but BB wouldn't do it.
• In his letter from home, it said people were cheering James on all over the country.
• Ryan isn't a happy camper. He's sure James is out for revenge.
• James told Ryan that his greed is why he (James) got evicted. He wanted the $10,000 more than to keep his nominations and thus, James got backdoored.
• Ryan and James had a long talk. James is not targeting him -- he's after Sheila. But he will put him up on the block. James said he has to do it, but wants to start out fresh after this week.
• James and Chelsia talked about how they can build better bonds with Matt and Natalie.
• In an audio leak, we heard Chelsia saying she was upset that Natalie was going for HOH more for her boys than for herself. She also told them that the only one James will hold a grudge against will be Ryan.
• Sheila wanted Alex back because "he's pleasant and does the dishes."
• Sheila had an epiphany -- she hasn't been playing the game for herself! Oh, my.
• Sheila worked on Natalie trying to get in her favor. I don't think it will work.

Nominations are today, but haven't happened as I get this posted. I'll update this report when they're in. I think it's safe to say that James will put Ryan and Sheila on the block with the intent that Sheila goes home. James thinks she's a floater and playing all sides, instigating problems as she works her way through the house.

UPDATE: As expected, James nominated Ryan and Sheila for eviction.