Guys, Paul Abrahamian is a mad genius. His last-minute plan for "Big Brother 18" Week 9-10 didn't work, but it almost did. And yet, it worked better than anticipated, because Victor Arroyo was evicted, but he returned to the game -- within, what, 45 minutes? And the best part is that if James Huling had actually had the guts to make the move to evict Corey Brooks, then Paulie Calafiore would've been the returning juror. [shudder]

So thank you, James, for not going through with the move we wanted you to make. Now we have Victor back for a record third time -- a history-making "Big Brother" first -- and NO MORE PAULIE. Epic. Plus, Vic now wants to target James, so this whole plan might backfire on Jatalie.


Nicole Franzel won the Head of Household competition (see below). It's looking bad for Michelle Meyer, but we'll see.

As we wrote below in the original post -- wondering if Victor would come back a third time on BB18 -- Vic was a lock to be evicted tonight. But Paul came up with a plan to 1) get close to Nicole and Corey in an obvious way, 2) spread the rumor that Corey said Natalie Negrotti was sucking James Huling's you-know-what, and 3) stage a fake fight with Victor so the houseguests would think Paul was this lone wolf who turned his back on his boy.

And ... it almost worked. But James -- being James -- backed out at the last minute. Victor was evicted over Corey, 2 (Nicole, James) to 1 (Paul).

No matter. King Victor and King Paul are back together. The #SittingDucks live to slay again.

HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD COMP: NICOLE WINS


The Head of Household was endurance (wall comp, a James specialty) and it started at the end of Thursday's live show. It continued on the live feeds. The last juror standing got to return. If that juror was also the last HG standing in total, they also got to be HoH.

The first two to fall (within 20 minutes) were Da'Vonne and Zakiyah, who held hands and jumped off together. No one understands why yet. It's sad, and kind of a slap in the face to the thousands of people who would love to play this game. They gave up.

Corey fell next. The Corey they were so worried about winning comps. Total flop. He has been the ultimate coaster all season. Not even a floater. But if he had been evicted instead of Victor...

Bridgette fell next, which was disappointing. This comp is made for people with small feet (which is why James won last time) so Cabbage Patch seemed like a good fit. When she fell, that was the last shot for a female juror to return.


Then Paulie fell, giving the return to Victor. However, Victor fell after that, so he didn't get to be HoH.


Nicole was one of the final three standing, showing that she can do well at comps when she tries. But most of her strategy this season has been to talk herself down and pretend she's not good at anything. No one ever should've believed that.

Sadly, Paul dropped next, leaving just the returnees -- James and Nicole -- hanging on. They are/were working together, but don't completely trust each other. We figured James would throw the HoH to Nicole, but he said he wanted to win a fourth wall comp. (Eye roll.) Nicole has yet to win a comp this season, so she wants to start building her own resume. That's not what she said, though. She said she can't go another week without a letter from home. (Eye roll.) They negotiated for a while, around 11:30 p.m. ET, an hour and a half into the comp. No one felt like giving ground. That should tell each other a lot.

Just before midnight ET, Nicole won HoH. James dropped so she could have it.

That was a mistake on James's part. He did make a deal with Nicole that she wouldn't put him or Natalie on the block, but Nic regretted that deal after she "won," and everyone in that house knows that James has gone back on his word in this exact comp deal situation more than once.

NOMINATIONS: MICHELLE & PAUL OTB

Nicole told Corey she didn't want to put up Paul but she also didn't want to go back on her deal with James. She was hoping Corey would get a takeover HoH care package.

This was her initial idea:


However, Nicole changed her mind after that. Michelle's name kept coming up (because Michelle has made it clear she wants Nicole out), but she and Corey want to lock in a final four with ... Paul and Victor! Yes, after everything, they are jumping ship from their final four with James and Natalie, because it's pretty clear Meech is part of the Jatalie trio now. Plus, everyone expects another double elimination is coming, and Nicorey wants to be on the stronger comp side of that action.

So Nicorey is joining the Sitting Ducks. Vanilla showmance + Perpetual Underdogs. With that in play, Nicole didn't want to put up Victor or Paul. (You can get a good play-by-play rundown of Nicorey's thought process in the 3-4 a.m. notes Big Brother Daily took.)

On Friday night, Nicole officially nominated Michelle and Paul, with Michelle as her target and Paul as a pawn. (He agreed to it in advance.) If Michelle comes down, she told Paul she'd put up one of Jatalie. She seems to mean it, but we'll see.


Corey got the final care package. It's a lame care package but it still led everyone in the house to believe that Nicole, Corey, James, Natalie, and Michelle are beloved, and Victor and Paul are the villains. This is not true, but it may affect decisions in the house, if HGs are more worried about their perceived popularity with "America" than gameplay.


What probably happened is Sitting Ducks fans split votes between Victor and Paul, and many TV-only fans -- who seem to love Nicole and probably Corey -- voted for Corey. Or this whole thing is rigged.

The Power of Veto competition was held Saturday. Nicole won PoV. The comp had a Christmas theme:

We'll see that Wednesday.

So Nicole won HoH and PoV in the same week. She admitted to Corey that she's been throwing comps. She also said her strategy this season was to stick with the vets in the beginning and the noobs toward the end. Will it end up working for her? If Corey were smart (he wouldn't be Corey) he might consider letting her loose, since she's clearly forming her arguments for F2.

But for now it looks like Paul is ... safe? Not the target? And he has a potentially strong final four with the people he won over in just the past few days? After all he pulled, including calling out Nicole to her face? Amazing. That's mist.


THE ALMOST PERFECT PLAN

Seriously, they were *thisclose* to voting out Corey instead of Victor. Just two hours before the live eviction, both Natalie and Michelle told James they wanted Victor to stay, assuming -- thanks to Paul and Victor's plan -- that Vic was on their side. And even James seemed to think Nicorey were being "sketchy."


King Paul has the mist magic. He's not even a "superfan" like Michelle. He said he didn't even get through BB17 because he was bored. But he's outplaying everyone, and if he had saved Victor, well, that would've been up there with Dan's funeral in BB14.

Then again, as part of Paul's shenanigans tonight, he did call Michelle the c-word, and "hurt" Natalie's feelings. They may dislike him to the point that he really does have a Dan situation in the final two and he won't get the votes to win.

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ORIGINAL POST:

Third time's the charm?

Tonight (August 25) on "Big Brother 18," Victor Arroyo is 99.9 percent certain to be evicted for the second time. But he could potentially just walk right back into the house. Again. There will be a buyback competition between the first five jurors -- Da'Vonne Rogers, Zakiyah Everette, Bridgette Dunning, Paulie Calafiore, and (probably) Victor. The HGs suspect this might be happening, but it will be confirmed tonight.

Who will return?

If it's a crapshoot competition, anyone could return. If it involves physical strength, Victor and Paulie are the most likely to return. Bridgette has also won a couple of comps, so she could pull out a win. Da'Vonne and Z have yet to win any comps, but you never know. This particular competition may be suited to their strengths. (Or Z may just help Paulie return, the way she has handed over her game to him all season.)

There was already a five-person battle back earlier in the season, which Victor won. So if he wins again, he would be getting a third chance. (Only poor Frank Eudy never had a second chance this season, from the first five evicted HGs to the first five jurors. He was in the middle.)

Here are the HGs currently in the house:

James Huling
Natalie Negrotti

Michelle Meyer

Nicole Franzel
Corey Brooks

Paul Abrahamian
Victor Arroyo

That's two showmances -- Jatalie and Nicorey -- and the power duo of Vic and Paul. Plus Michelle the self-declared worst superfan ever, who will either be targeted by the pairs or taken to the end. Michelle seems to be with James and Natalie now, and Paul has been trying to work Nicole and Corey, since it's clear that Meech is with Jatalie. But James and Nicole are probably going to stick together, as returnees who were friends before this season started, and both coached off-screen by BB16 winner Derrick. Plus, as annoying as the showmances have been all season, it makes sense for that foursome to stick together now. (But ... still rooting for a Paul or Victor win.)If Paulie returns, he'll probably work with Nicorey. If Victor returns, he'll probably go back to working with Paul, and maybe they can bring in Michelle, if Meech and Paul can get along again. If Bridgette returns, she'll probably want to work with Natalie. If Da'Vonne returns, she'll probably want to go back to targeting Nicole and Corey. If Z returns ... she may just go back to sleep. But she might actually be an interesting addition because all of these pairs would be tempted to bring her to the end. Anyone could beat Z in final two.

Whoever returns, here's hoping they put up James and Nicole, since the returnees have yet to sit on the block even one time this season. They were trained by Derrick and, like him, they have been spared the block. It's time for that to end.

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