Xazeal

That final scene could've been straight out of Harper's Island. I haven't gotten that vibe in earlier episodes, but it was the first thing I thought of after this one. Definitely feeling this show a lot more now. The acting leaves a lot to be desired, but I still find the characters likable. My second thought was... Emma, you're being sprayed with bloody chunks of flesh. Close your damn mouth!

Big no to the new format. This show has a long history of trying to fix that which isn't broke, but this is ridiculous. Uneven groups? Really? I really hope they're not going to cater to Jaja's specific brand of animation for most of the season. Part of the beauty of SYTYCD for me is seeing a dancer like Janette, LoFro or Paul ace routines that are way out of their comfort zones. It's the reason I couldn't get behind Melanie's win, even though she was a beautiful dancer. I'm rooting for Jaja because she's incredible at what she does, but I'm going to need to see more before I declare her a worthy finalist.

I don't know about James as the target. Yeah, he's coming for Vanessa, but it seems like her entire alliance would rather see Jeff go. The rest of the house wants Audrey to go. Targeting James is just a surefire way of making nobody happy, which I can't imagine will help her. Has anyone clued in Audrey regarding the twins yet? Are we seriously in for a scenario where the twins are revealed and Audrey loses her shit while everyone else just sit there stonefaced?

Yeah, I don't think Vanessa has ever fully trusted Clay, or vice versa. They mainly seem to be connected through Shelli, who has actually protected Vanessa and said numerous times that she trusts her. I wouldn't be surprised if Vanessa is secretly hoping someone will take out Clay for her. It could potentially bring Shelli in closer. If James and Jeff are both still in the house next Friday, I'm going to vomit.

I'm hesitant to call for immediate expulsion since it's a very serious accusation and we don't know for sure what's happening, but that video is damning enough that I think production should do a thorough investigation here. If this thing blows up enough (which it seems like it might) then they'll have no choice but to look into this. From the talk they just had, Vanessa winning HOH might've been a great thing in terms of her relationship with Jason. I think plenty of people wanted to work with Jason but were concerned about his alliance with Da'vonne, but now she's gone and Vanessa gets first dibs. Considering how suspicious Jason's been of her, improving their connection and keeping him safe this week is the best thing she can do. I hope she doesn't go after him. She also apparently said something about marriage equality which reminded me that they still haven't heard about the Supreme Court's decision. If there's a current events quiz at some point, that has to be one of the things Julie mentions.

I don't think they see this as a failure, honestly. We saw a successful twin twist in season 5 - we've never seen what it would be like if they were exposed. Now that it has happened, I think the producers want to really explore that dynamic on the show. For once, they have something brand new that has never happened before. Besides, now that they're exposed it's going to have a pretty huge impact on the game, and there's no point in editing around that if the truth is just as interesting. I think we'll see most of it on Sunday's show, though. Maybe some initial suspicion tonight, but they probably can't squeeze in Julia's confession, especially since it just happened last night.

I think Vanessa has gone from a really bad place to a really great place in this game. She clearly just spent the first weeks observing people and feeling them out, and now she's building connections to exactly the right people and planting the right seeds at the right time. Not only do they all seem loyal to her, but all of her allies are great shields - physical beast Austin, twins Liz/Julia, showmance Shelli/Clay and awkward superfan Steve. Odds are they're going to be targetted before her. I'm seriously impressed by her game, but I'm worried about the luck factor. I really hope she doesn't get screwed.

I'm not sure I understand why everyone's so paranoid about Vanessa. There are at least three people in the house who seem to genuinely believe she's America's Player. It seems like she's Jason's number one target, above Audrey even. Obviously us viewers are paying extra attention to her because we know who she is, but since the HGs don't, what is she doing to stand out so much to them? Being normal?

Oof. So Shelli has told Meg she's not going up, but now she's telling Liz that she's safe and agreeing with Vanessa/Austin that Meg is the better replacement. I'm sure Clay will talk her out of it as soon as he finds out, but she's going to make some people quite unhappy either way. That was quite unnecessary. Good job, Shelli.

The only guys that can go up are Austin, Clay, James, and Jeff. Shelli's never going to put up Clay, Vanessa wouldn't want Austin up, which leaves James and Jeff. While I personally wouldn't mind seeing either of them go up, it would seem sketchy for Shelli to put them up against Day if Day is supposed to be the target since I don't think either of them would feel safe as pawns. I do believe Vanessa would love to have both Jeff and James (and Clay) out of the house, but since Day's eviction is more or less set in stone, it would only put a target on her back if she actually tried something. After hearing the other HGs talking about how if there's a twin twist it could obviously only be John, I'm actually rooting for Liz/Julia to stay just for that. It helps that they don't annoy me.

Hell yes! I mean, I'm sad that Da'vonne is almost definitely leaving (although things change quickly in this house) but now Shelli has to pick a replacement nominee. No matter who she picks, it fucks up her game. I'm all for that.

Do these things usually happen THIS fast? It's been like 12 hours and BOTB is already done. I can't remember how they did it last season, though. I guess they could be speeding things up because they want to show the Day/Audrey/Vanessa drama next episode (there's no way they can't show that, right?) but still, this is super fast. I'm fine with how things shook out though. Da'vonne and Audrey on the block would be pretty awesome.

Ooh! I love that Vanessa got involved. The big alliance has only grown tighter because of Audrey's antics, and maybe this whole thing will help bring Vanessa into the fold a little bit. By the way, with all of this crazy stuff going down, there's no way they can somehow spin Audrey's edit into a mastermind edit, right? I've never really bought into the theory that she's somehow the producers' pet, and if they're going to pretend she's the brilliant strategist then they're going to have to... basically cut out all footage of her. And then they can't include great scenes like this one.

At least Vanessa knows for sure now that she is on Audrey's radar. I wasn't sure if she was aware she was being targetted. It's pretty much officially Audrey vs. Vanessa now and in reality, Vanessa is way smarter than her and most of Audrey's "allies" mistrust her and are severely annoyed by her. Again, I'll really only be worried if Audrey wins HOH. I know editing these episodes must be hell with so much going on, but I really show that conversation at some point. Audrey bit off way more than she could chew with Vanessa.

Bye, Jace! I think next HOH is going to be crucial. If Audrey wins, I'm scared for Vanessa. She really thinks Vanessa is the mastermind behind everything in the house and she's America's Player and has fifteen degrees and has the diamond POV and maybe knows actual magic. If she's the HOH, people will have no choice but to agree with her. This could potentially turn into an epic season of Audrey vs. Vanessa, but I think one of them will successfully take the other one out before jury.

Ha! Apparently Vanessa is going to try to get closer to Liz. Vanessa has already proven herself to be probably the most perceptive person in the game. Twin twist is screwed.

Audrey seriously thought it was a good idea to wake people up at 6 AM to "catch them up" on her latest paranoid delusions. Even if the producers try to keep her safe, there's only so much they can do - I don't think they can protect her for too long.

Since it doesn't seem like the target will be shifting from Jace, I'm praying the next HOH is someone who would put up Audrey. I was enjoying her craziness, but she has just gone into overdrive. She's a total wildcard, which I know makes for good television, but it means she could target literally anyone, which is scary for any viewer who has a favorite. She is now trying to make Vanessa a target because of her own paranoid delusions. It seems like the other HGs aren't having it, but I'm still a little bit worried

I can't keep up with the updates anymore. No idea what's happening. What I'm getting is that Audrey has an Amanda-like power over the house, but seems to have a harder time dealing with the paranoia, and and everyone's saying different things to everyone and spilling secret conversations and generally playing just for the sake of playing. And something about pillows. I'm guessing they might be going extra crazy because it's the first week, but if this keeps up then this season might be a brilliant clusterfuck. Vanessa turns out to be the opposite of what I expected, but still the smartest player in the game by staying way outside of this mess.

Considering how many people seem to be overplaying right now, Vanessa coming off as a basket case might actually help her. If it keeps her safe for a couple of weeks while they're all busy taking eachother out, she'll have plenty of time to recover and build relationships. I don't think Vanessa's faking it, though. She seemed genuinely frustrated by the treatment of Steve, missing her girlfriend, and that she could tell everyone was lying, constantly. The one thing that stuck out to me was that she apparently said she's never had to lie, which we know is a blatant lie. So, maybe. We might have to wait until the POV show to find out.

I'm intrigued. Seemingly no huge dominating alliance, people making moves, not afraid to target the players. I like it. If they do backdoor Jace, it will be glorious. From the interviews I felt that the women were way stronger than the men, and I definitely still feel that way. Aubrey seems to be positioning herself well. Haven't heard much about Da'vonne or Vanessa, but my guess is they're laying low in the beginning, which I think is smart. All three of them are pretty popular right off the bat and are likely to be favored by production. My early prediction is that one of them takes this thing.

I actually have a fairly positive first impression of this cast (my early favorite is in the next bunch, though) and it's sad that the twists will probably hurt this season. I do like the twin twist, so I don't mind that, but... If it's who I'm thinking, then I really don't think it's going to work this year.

From the interviews out there, I can tell we've got some ramblers in the house. Good luck cutting off their ten-minute speeches during the live shows, Julie! I was expecting at least some more information about the twist - are they going to reveal anything at all or will we have to wait until premiere night? Didn't we find out about the BOTB twist before last season started?

From the house tour we know that the table has sixteen plate settings. Unless they're intentionally trying to throw us off, there's no way there's fourteen houseguests.

I'm withholding judgement on the twist until we know more details. I'm guessing it will be some déja vu thing where each week uses a twist from a previous season. Jodi would come in and announce the "day one eviction" twist from BB14, Annie would come in and announce a saboteur, Elissa would come in and announce the MVP twist, stuff like that. There seems to be an unusually high amount of houseguests who have actually watched the show, so most of them would be familiar with the twists. No matter how silly the twists are, I'm sure I'll keep watching. Unless the final two houseguests are Amanda and Frankie.