Big Brother 21: About Last Night….

“Big Brother has been called the world’s craziest summer camp….”

Last night, with those words, Julie announced the start of Big Brother 21. I have to admit that my immediate reaction was, “It has?” Seriously, I’ve been watching this show since the very beginning and I have never heard anyone say this.

But, apparently, BB Summer Camp is going to be this summer’s theme which …. well, who cares? I mean, we’ve seen enough Big Brother to know that each summer has the same three themes: lying, betrayal, and drama!

Last night was pretty much a traditional Big Brother premiere. We watched as each of the houseguests received their key for the summer and then entered the house for the first time. If there’s one thing we should all know from previous seasons of Big Brother, it’s that first impressions are often deceptive. Right now, it seems like a fairly generic group. You’ve got the quirky girl and the pretty girls and the guy who likes guns and the token older guy and, of course, the guy with the long hair and the beard who looks like Aquaman. Some of them seemed nice and some of them seemed boring but we really won’t get to know any of them until the live feeds start at midnight.

Just as it’s pointless to try to determine who anyone is based on what we see of them during the first episode, it’s also pointless to worry about any of the alliances that are made during the first night. For instance, last night, we had the inevitable talk of an all-girl’s alliance, complete with Jessica the model saying, “I’m liking all this girl power.” I like girl power too, which is why I always cringe whenever anyone starts an all-girls alliance on Big Brother. They always fall apart for the most petty of reasons.

There are rumors that many of the members of this year’s cast were acquaintances before this season began. We got some confirmation of that last night when Tommy the dancer saw Christie the Boutique owner. Apparently, Christie used to date Tommy’s aunt. In the diary room, both Tommy and Christie insisted that this was a total coincidence. There are rumors online that some of the other cast members are acquaintances as well. We’ll see if that’s true but, for now, it appears that Tommy and Christie are keeping their past acquaintanceship a secret from the rest of the house.

After the houseguests met and introduced themselves, Julie announced that — in the summer’s first “big twist,” — they would be selecting a “camp director.” The camp director would have immunity for the first week and, Julie ominously warned, would also have to make a big decision. Houseguests would go, one at a time, into the backyard to cast their vote. However, before they did so, various houseguests made an argument about why they should get the job.

Cliff the petroleum engineer said that he wanted the job because he’s the oldest guy in the house and the oldest people always get targeted. David said he wanted the job because he can handle pressure. Jessica stood up and said, “Vote for me, I’m a Libra!” Jackson said that he would be camp director because he was willing to keep everyone else from getting a big target on their back. In the diary room, he told us that he needs immunity because he’s so handsome that he knows he’s going to be a target.

The girls, along with Tommy, all gathered in one of the bedrooms and swore that they would all vote for Jessica to be camp director. However, that unity didn’t last for long as Nicole quickly changed her mind and decided to vote for Jackson, apparently because she felt that Jackson would be a better ally than Jessica. Or something like that. I couldn’t really follow her logic but, once Nicole flipped, this led to Christie flipping and then Isabella flipped and, long story short — Jackson was elected Camp Director!

Of course, Jackson might regret that. Yes, he’s safe for the week. However, Jackson now has to pick four houseguests who will be “banished” from the game. The four of them will then compete in a head-to-head competition to see which three will reenter the house. (The fourth banished houseguest will be evicted.) So, Jackson is about to get a lot of blood on his hands.

We’ll see how that plays out tonight!

‘Til then,

Lisa Marie

P.S. The feeds go live at midnight, following the west coast airing of tonight’s episode.