This 'Big Brother' Twist Changes Everything

If you thought the second night of Big Brother 's Season 16 premiere was just going to be a repeat of Wednesday night's episode but with new faces, think again. Host Julie Chen dropped another bombshell on us for "the most twisted summer ever." Okay, since we already had a taste of what to expect from the "Battle of the Block" addition to the competition, Chen's announcement about it wasn't that shocking, but this new twist is certainly going to have some major implications on how the houseguests play the game.

Caleb won the second Head of Household competition during Thursday night's episode, holding on for dear life like a roasted pig on a spit, literally. (Side note: After Chen maniacally announced there would be "barbecue sauce" poured on the contestants holding on to the rotating spit, was anyone else genuinely creeped out by the houseguests drenched in the bloody-looking liquid?It looked like the prom scene from Carrie all up in there.) Anyway, Caleb joined the HoH winner from Wednesday night, Frankie, who was kind of worried that the two might not see eye-to-eye on some things. Judging from Caleb's past behavior, Frankie might be right to trust his instincts on this one.

After Caleb's victory, Chen sat the houseguests down for some real talk. She explained that each HoH would nominate two houseguests for eviction, which means there will be a total of four houseguests on the chopping block each week. But wait, there's more! The four nominees will compete in the new "Battle of the Block" competition. The pair that wins is safe for the week, but the person who nominated them is not so lucky. That HoH will be dethroned and will return to being a regular old houseguest, ripe for the picking as a new nominee if someone uses the Power of Veto to remove someone from the chopping block. What?! Being HoH doesn't guarantee safety for the week? What kind of sorcery is this?

When I originally read about this season's twists, it all seemed like a bit too much, and nothing was that exciting to me. But the "Battle of the Block" scenario is actually very intriguing. It sounds like this twist will impact the game more than any other this year because it adds a whole new level of strategy that needs to be taken into consideration.

Normally as HoH, you would want to nominate strong players to evict threats from the house. With this twist, strong players could easily win the "Battle of the Block," and compromise their own safety for the week. If someone nominates you, there is the potential for extremely quick turnaround for some payback. This new competition also makes it difficult for anyone to be a floater this year. With twice the chance of winning HoH or getting nominated, and having another competition to show your skills or make deals in, no one really has the luxury of laying low.

It seems like the "Battle of the Block" competition could shake up alliances, up the drama, and make everyone paranoid this summer. Sounds like a quality Big Brother season to me.

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