(S09E32) "Team Christ has passed away and cannot be resurrected." - Ryan

It's down to the final four in that Big Brother 9 house of misguided malcontents. What kind of wacky shenanigans will they pull this week? I can't believe I actually said "wacky shenanigans." I don't know what came over me, perhaps cabin fever from watching the live feeds and the show this season. Have they figured out that the guinea pigs are the third preexisting relationship in the house? Ryan has to put two of the three remaining houseguests on the block while he has alliances with two of the three. A sticky dilemma indeed!

Read on past the jump for the full review of the show.

To start the show off, it's the inevitable recrap ... er, recap, of the last episode perked up with new Diary Room segments. The theme of the segments was "will friends turn into enemies?" Horrors! Although they didn't show much of it in the last episode, Adam mouthed to Natalie that he voted for her to stay. It's understandable why he did it -- she will be a jury vote for him and not for Ryan as he betrayed her.

But the problem is that Ryan saw Adam do it. Uh-oh. The guys definitely had agreed to a split vote for Natalie's eviction knowing that Sheila would vote to evict her. But they (supposedly) didn't want Natalie or the others to know for whom they each voted. It's a mystery, you see. They wanted all of the blood for the Natalie eviction on Sheila's hands, but with Adam letting her know he voted for her to stay, some of the blood splashed onto Ryan's hands. Oh, what a shame for Ryan, eh?

Sheila's hands may be less bloody than Ryan's in the long run because Natalie's final speech pretty much doomed her for the tiebreaker. If Natalie considers what she said and how Sheila responded, she did herself in with her. She needn't know that Sheila intended to vote her out all along. She said her loyalties were with the guys which put Sheila in the position that keeping her would be foolish. Had Sheila kept Natalie after she said that, Sheila would be targeted by both Natalie and the guys this week. Sheila's very relieved that she had a graceful way out and was able to cast the vote for Natalie's eviction with a minimum amount of bloody hands.


On the other hand, Ryan was livid with Adam. He knows why Adam did it and feels betrayed. He told him that he read his lips. Adam tried to deny it, said he never meant to, and later claimed he said "What do you want me to do?" Now, that makes no sense. Adam is caught. But it might work out for him just fine if he makes it to the final two. Ryan, bully he likes to be, tells us there will be repercussions! Oh, I'm trembling here. I noticed that he made the statement in the above image while he talked to Sharon, not to Adam's face. A cowardly bully, I say!

Although Ryan's ticked at Adam, Sheila still needs to know he has her back. He didn't seem too interested in committing to her as she poked and prodded him, telling him she has had his back throughout the game. She said she also saved Ryan from eviction, so she doesn't think it would be fair to her if she went on the block and even worse if she's voted out this week.

The preexisting relationship?
They flashed the image of the guinea pigs along with the subtitle about them being sisters very quickly during last week's head of household competition, so even some viewers were caught off guard with the answer. The answer left the houseguests themselves all confused. Most think Sheila has to be related to someone. They first think she really might have a relationship with Adam. Yikes, no! Then they wonder if she's someone's aunt. We get Diary Room segments of them all denying knowing anyone in the house.

Then we get a quick flash of the guinea pigs saying "Heehee. We're sisters!" as they sit on the couch. Well, I'm sure they didn't really say the words. I kind of doubt they giggled, either. If anything, these poor guinea pigs might be crying for help, unable to dial 911 and escape from the nightmares of being exposed to the BB9 houseguests! I'm sure down the road they'll need guinea pig therapists to analyze why the words "beeebies" and "fur-iends" make them shiver in fear and hide away.

Ryan's HOH room
Now, keep in mind, I'm not too thrilled with Ryan. I think he's a bully and the HOH win makes him more smug and full of himself. I didn't care for his girlfriend Jen when she was in the house either. Plus, I think that the big reveal of the HOH room each week tends towards phony smiles and hugs -- often like the phony hugs they give when others are evicted. Those hugs are more "better her than me" while the hugs and smiles during the HOH room reveal are more "it should be me, not him."

That said, I just can't get all teary about Ryan getting photos of Jen and himself and a letter from Jen. Oh, yeah, it was a sweet letter. She's become addicted to the feeds and loves him so much. She's not Jen without her Ryan. Just gag me now. But, emo Adam sheds yet another tear.

Luxury competition time - What Happens in Vegas

They've only had one other luxury comp this season and that one involved a movie. What happens with these is that the movie gets the equivalent of product placement and air time on a national television show. Even if the houseguests don't like the movie won, they say good things about the film for Diary Room bits. It's win-win for the movie, always. This time the movie involved is What Happens in Vegas starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.

The backyard was set up with New York on one side and Las Vegas on the other. There was a bar with what turned out to be prop break-away bottles, each bottle containing a ring. The four houseguests had to split into pairs -- Sharon calling dibs on Ryan immediately -- and then don shirts and wigs which contained helmets underneath. Then they had to run back and forth from NY to Vegas, smashing bottles over the heads of their partners seeking dice rings instead of the plain costume jewelry rings in the smashed bottles.

Each time they found a dice ring, they'd hang it on a tote board which had several images matching those on the wheel which was spun at the end to determine the winner. Of course, the more images claimed with the dice rings, the better the chance of winning the prize -- a movie showing in the backyard followed by a trip to the movie premiere, meeting both stars of the movie, luxury accomodations, and a Beverly Hills shopping spree in the beginning of May. The losing couple has to be shackled together for 24 hours.

It was kind of funny. Sheila accused Adam of hitting her much too hard with the bottle. He's anNOYing, you know! Sheila and Adam didn't have much luck at all. Even though they were smashing the bottles as quickly as Ryan and Sharon, it was the luck of the draw. Or, in this case, the luck of the bottle picked.

So, the greatest movie buff ever, Sheila, didn't win the chance. Sharon jumped right into Ryan's arms as the wheel landed on one of their dice ring selected images. Joy, joy. Sheila did get some satisfaction breaking bottles over Adam's head. So there's that positive, right?

Ryan and Sharon's night out went no further than the backyard. It was set up like a drive-in theater with classic Mustangs, concession stand and all. They appropriately smiled, laughed, and loved the film. Sharon adores Ashton Kutcher and is a big Cameron Diaz fan as well. Ryan seemed a bit less enthusiastic, but told us how great the movie is. I'd say it's probably better than the Will Ferrell ones they've won in previous years. But, then again, I like Ashton Kutcher and don't like Will Ferrell, so that's probably just me.

Nominations today

The editing tried to create some drama over the nominations. Sure, they tried to make us wonder if Ryan would put his buddy Adam on the block for betraying him to Natalie. But I thought it was pretty evident that Ryan would put Sheila and Sharon on the block all along with the idea that he wanted to vote out Sheila this week leaving himself with his two separate alliances going into the final three.

It's kind of ominous when they're sitting at the mini-table with only one key in the box. Ryan told them what a tough decision it was (yeah, right) and proceeds to draw the lone key. Adam is safe. Ryan encourages both Sheila and Sharon to do their best to win the power of veto. He can't stress how important it is for them.

Adam is still worried until the power of veto is played. He thinks if Sharon wins it, she'll remove herself from the block, he'll go on the block, and Sharon's sole vote will send him packing. Sharon isn't all that worried, perhaps she should be, I don't know. Sheila is as irked at being chained to Adam as she is being up on the block for eviction. The guinea pigs just want them all gone. Okay, I was speaking for the guinea pigs. If they could talk, I'm sure they'd feel that way!