Big Brother Season 16 Episode 12 Recap: Welcome The Detonators

It looks like there's a new alliance in town and emerges from the previously dominant Bomb Squad, cheekily named The Detonators. It's looking to be a gender war in the Big Brother house and we finally see a small glimpse of drama in the house as well. Team America's next mission was revealed. It looks like Zrankie is still on and Caleb may be trying to give Amber the cold shoulder, but it's clear he still has feelings for her. Here's what happened on yesterday's episode.

The HOHs Are Crowned

When we last saw the houseguests, they were paired up for the HOH competition and the winning pair would be HOH for the week. The task was simple carry 12 eggs through the chicken wire through to your partner and deposit 12 into a slot. It seemed like redemption was on the minds of Amber, Brittany and Jocasta for the HOH competition. With an early lead Cody and Frankie had been making some good ground. However Brittany & Jocasta as well as Amber & Zach were right on their tails. Meanwhile the Donnie & Hayden and Victoria & Christine were struggling. In the end it was Cody and Frankie that won the competition and were crowned HOHs for the week.

After the HOH competition in the Beehive room, Zach and Frankie were talking. The most surprising moment happened, Zach said, "Yes, I will bang you," and then we see Frankie and Zach embrace. If you're a Live Feed watcher you'll also know there was something else that Frankie did during the conversation that made it even more hilarious to hear. So the bromance of Zrankie seems to be alive and well, but I wonder how long it will last. I'm surprised we have yet to see any houseguest dread seeing the HOH room, it's been a month now, it's the same thing. No surprise that Frankie's photos didn't reveal any clue of a pop star celebrity sibling. But odd there was only one for him while Cody had a bunch.

Man Crushes & Team America's Mission

Another random moment during this episode featured the topic of, "Man Crushes." Cody's "Man Crush," was Zac Efron and Hayden's was "Leonardo DiCaprio," but it was a good five minutes of talking about Zac Efron. I was surprised we didn't here much commentary about this from Frankie, but it was funny to hear Cody's diary room confessional about his "Man Crush," and hearing them talk about it. I was surprised Donny knew who Zac Efron was.

For Team America's next mission it was to target a "Physical Threat," and have them nominated for eviction. Frankie, Derrick and Donnie decide to target a female physical threat and luckily Frankie was HOH this week so it made completing this mission a breeze. What irked me the most was that they wanted to target a female rather than a male. It was like they were trying to be feminist and treat the women as equals. But it was clear Frankie and Derrick were trying to keep their allegiance with Caleb, while Donnie was convinced to just go with the Amber nominations. I was not happy with their choice, but it's a part of the game. Congrats to the gentleman in completing this task and banking another $5,000.

Amber saves herself and Jocasta

It was revealed that Cody nominated Victoria & Brittany for eviction, while Frankie nominated Amber & Jocasta. As stated above, Team America completed their task and it was an all-female nomination this week. I was so surprised with how Brittany reacted to being nominated next to Victoria. To be honest, Brittany hasn't been playing this game smart. She made Cody the current HOH upset when Frankie said something to him from a conversation Frankie and Brittany had. Then being nominated three times doesn't earn you a gold star, it just shows that people see you as a pawn or a threat and in this case the latter. But both Brittany and Victoria haven't made any effort to connect with Cody on a game level, so Cody's nominations were smart. Meanwhile Frankie's was a safe choice as well. It's interesting to see these four ladies being nominated all at the same time, when each has been nominated before.

I'm glad to see Amber and Brittany realize that the guys are running this game. I'm surprised Brittany has yet to form her all female alliance. El Cuatro could still live, without Paola and Joey. Hopefully the ladies will realize that the guys seem to just pick them off one by one if they continue to win HOH. However what Brittany and Amber are unaware of is Christine is also working with some of them. The Detonators, which consists of Frankie, Derrick, Zach, Cody and Christine, members of the now defunct Bomb Squad alliance has emerged. It must be nice for Christine to have these alliances fall into her lap. Her social game is definitely proving to be strong and being in the right place at the right time. I wonder which of her two alliances she'll stick with.

During the BOB competition, the ladies had to duke it out by moving like a Knight in the game of chess. Jocasta's strategy was very weak, pray your way through the competition and in doing so she prayed herself off being the first to be eliminated. Turn after turn, it was Brittany & Victoria against Amber. However as the spaces started to dwindle and with little moves Brittany was eliminated. Then in the final few moves it was clear Amber would win and a very emotional Jocasta was cheering on the sidelines. The noise Jocasta was making was a bit much but it was clear that Amber not only saved herself but Jocasta from eviction. Leaving Brittany & Victoria on the block, Cody as the sole HOH and Frankie tarred, feathered and dethroned.

Predictions for POV

It will really depend on what the competition will be to determine the winner. I will be surprised if Victoria wins, since she has yet to win a competition since Week One. But my hope is Brittany gets POV and takes herself off the block. Now I hope that if either of the nominees gets taken off the block, Cody will nominate a "Physical Threat," who happens to be a male. If only Team America's mission had a stipulation where the nominee had to be up for eviction for Thursday. But that's asking for too much and trying to control the game. However one can hope they'll target Caleb, Hayden or even going after Frankie. Dan Gheesling wrote an interesting post on "Why the house should have voted off Caleb," when they evicted Devin. It's a great read; you can find it here.

If Cody were smart, keeping the ladies would benefit in his favor than keeping the guys. However I still see Cody being a dark horse to win this game. His game play is similar to Hayden (Season 11 winner). Also has anyone else gotten the vibe from Zach that he's trying way too hard to be a villain like Dr. Will (Season Two winner) or Mike "Boogie" (Season Two contestant & Season Seven winner), but is coming across in his diary room confessionals as Dan Ghessling (Season 10 winner & Season 14 runner up)? After 15 seasons, there are so many former houseguests to compare the new houseguests to, but I digress...

Remember to tune in on Wednesday at 8pm on CBS 62 to find out whether Victoria or Brittany win POV and take themselves off the block. Also there may be some fun twists during this next POV competition. If you're a Live Feed watcher you know what happens. If you're not a Live Feed watcher, you can subscribe at cbs.com/bigbrother for more info.

Mark Drum is a Farmington Hills, MI native and Big Brother fan since 2000. Mark is a graduate from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Theatre Arts. Connect with Mark! Blogspot / Twitter / Facebook / Email