RECAP: 'Big Brother' Humanizes Joe, Sends Wil Packing

by UInterviewAugust 17, 2012, 12:00 amNews >

Big Brother, CBS’s 9 p.m. summer staple, has received mixed reviews this season, but at least the latest episode was filled with plenty of scheming and squirming. The episode picked up from last week with Wil and Joe on the eviction block, where two men enter and only one man leaves the house.

The episode began with a strain in Frank and Dan’s relationship, when Dan found out that Frank had considered betraying him to gain power in the house. Later, Ashley went behind Ian, who is her kind-of go-to flirt, and made out with Frank on the Head of Household couch, all the while insisting she did not do it to advance in the game, but because she truly liked Frank, going so far as to compare him to Channing Tatum. On a less sickening note, viewers were given a look into Joe’s life outside the house, where he has a wife and four sons.

In what surely came as no surprise to avid Big Brother watchers, Wil and his flowing locks were evicted with a vote of 6-2 (only Jenn and Ashley spared Wil, voting for Joe to no avail). Following the eviction was the Head of Household Competition, which involved the contestants having to fill three different jars of their choice with liquid, with the first HouseGuest to fill the jar to the top winning the prize. The first to fill the largest jar was promised HoH rights, while the two smaller jars were for Safety, which protects the player from being nominated or sent home, and $10,000. Next week, we’ll see which contestants went after which prizes. Let the speculation begin.

The episode concluded with an announcement that next week will feature two evictions, and with the finale just under five weeks away, the remaining HouseGuests will need to start being more aggressive to stake their claims to that $500,000 grand prize.

Regarding Big Brother news outside the isolated house, the CBS reality show dominated the 9 p.m. time slot with 6.3 million viewers, over a million more than its FOX competitor, an NFL preseason game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons (5.5 million). Whether it's an off year or not, people seem to keep tuning in.