Battle Lines Drawn with First Nominations

Things are suddenly looking very familiar on “Big Brother All-Stars” as the Houseguests start to settle into their new digs, everyone sucks up to the new Head of Household Cody and he sets the tone for the season with his nominees.

Unfortunately for Cody, he had to set that scene twice after the season’s first major twist, the Safety Suite, derailed everything. It also revealed just how savvy some of these people are and how he’s not nearly as good at the social game as his ally Derrick was in their season.

We also got to see the first kernels of alliances forming, and it’s interesting to see which pre-existing relationships seem to still hold weight and which do not. As an example, Nicole F and Cody seemed to click right off after playing Season 16 together.

But when Nicole F tried to honor that same connection with Da’Vonne over their time together in Season 18 (which Nicole F won), Da’Vonne wasn’t having it. This, of course, because she finally saw that Nicole F had betrayed her in the season.

Other connections that aren’t, at least so far, including Nicole A and David, who played Season 21 together, and Keesh and Memphis from Season 10. In fact, Memphis was busy trying to cozy up to Cody as they both played the power duo game in their seasons.

Meanwhile, Janelle and Kaysar found themselves gravitating toward one another again after playing Season 6 and 7 together, but it’s also because they knew that bond was well known in the house and they were likely targets.

In fact, they knew they were targets and they were spot-on with that prediction. Kudos to the old-school players for knowing just how big of targets they were going into the house, and more importantly, for reading Cody like an open book.

He just isn’t as good at subterfuge and deception. Cody seems like a genuinely decent guy who struggles with some of the harder aspects of the game — we definitely saw this with one of his nominees — but he’s going to have to work on his poker face if he wants to last.

Especially after he basically drew the battle lines this season. While Cody may not have told the house his initial targets, they both knew exactly where they stood. And that’s why they were the only two people who went for Safety.

A new twist this season was perhaps brought in to combat this painfully obvious divide, and yet there’s only so much it can do. The way it works is that every Houseguest has a VIP Pass to the Safety Suite.

Each week, it will open up for a limited time and they can decide if they want to compete. It’s only good for the first three weeks, and you can only enter it once … ever! Thus, it’s a huge risk and can potentially put a target on your back if you do run to it, or at least that’s what the house decided.

With seconds to spare, though both Janelle and Kaysar knew that Cody was gunning for them. They came in with big targets and his wishy-washy, by-the-book, say-nothing chats with them in the HOH room made it clear he was going to put them up.

Brilliantly, even though Kaysar won the competition, he was awarded the chance to extend safety to a plus-on and he chose Janelle. With one move, he killed Cody’s entire plan. And it was here that Cody exposed a potentially huge problem for a whole segment of players in the house.

Just like we saw in “Survivor: Winners at War,” it looks like we’re facing a generational divide in the house. Cody replaced the two old-school players he couldn’t target with two other old-school players.

He seemed torn up about it, especially after Kevin tearfully opened up to him about his own insecurities, but it mattered little in the end. For no reason other than they’re from the earlier seasons, Kevin and Keesha are the first two nominees of the season.

So here’s the problem as it stands. Daniele, Janelle, Kaysar, Keesha, Kevin, Memphis and Enzo represent the old school. They’re squaring off against nine “new-school” players. And already the old-school is probably going to go down to six.

If Kevin or Keesha gets the Power of Veto and saves themselves, the odds of Cody targeting someone in the “new-school” seems pretty slim. Maybe he’ll surprise us. Maybe the old-school players will.

We already see Enzo working his angles with Cody, but these players have their work cut out for them to infiltrate the younger cliques and break this direction before it becomes first a trend and then their destruction in this game.

It’s still a little early to start grading the players, as so many of them have made no impact at all yet. But we can certainly offer up our first impressions for those who’ve made any sort of impression at all yet. If you don’t see a name — well, there’s a reason for that.

Cody Calafiore has proven himself a formidable competitor, as well as a kind-hearted individual. That said, he’s also willing to put that aside to play the game. But he’s not doing as well at treating everyone equally in his HOH reign, or making them all feel welcome. He needs to get better at this if he wants to last when he’s out of power.

Daniele Briones is laying low and staying out of the limelight, which is absolutely her best move right now. It’s good to see her adapting to the house as it is. Now, she needs to work on solidifying relationships.

Da’Vonne Rogers is proving once again just how savvy and aware she is in the house, and unlike the current HOH she is a master at lying right to your face, as she did with Nicole F. This means that her biggest weakness, her mouth, is in check right now, which could bode very well for her in this game.

Janelle Pierzina may not have won this competition, but she is a beast. She’s also a huge threat and has a huge target on her back. Now that she’s used up her Safety shot, she’s going to need friends and allies and bigger targets. She’s not doing anything wrong, per se, but she’s in the toughest spot in the house just for being the legend she is.

Kaysar Ridha came here to play and he is not playing around. We are so impressed with his mind and conviction in this game. If he can turn that mental power into building alliances and creating a safety net around himself, he could be a real contender this season. Janelle could be his saving grace or his downfall, though, just through their past association.

Keesha Smith needs to figure out she’s in the ‘Big Brother’ house again. Most of these newer players are not familiar with her, but rather than be intimidated or act out of sorts, this is her chance to invent whatever game she wants. But she needs to figure it out fast — if she lasts.

Kevin Campbell is all over the place emotionally, and acting like he’s not sure he belongs in this house. He is capable of having an incredible social game if he can get control of himself. Hopefully, getting nominated lights that fire and he gets it together.

Nicole Franzel needs to open her eyes and start seeing this game a little better. The fact she allowed herself to get snowed by Da’Vonne so easily is not a great sign for where her head is in this game. She was one of the most intuitive players across two seasons — where’s that girl?

Memphis Garrett is smart to try and hook up with Cody. The drawback, though, is that if they’re at all public about it, the rest of the house knows that this is their modus operandi in this game and break them up before they get too powerful or too far together.

Enzo Palumbo seems to think he and Cody can ride that Jersey Italian thing, but we didn’t see Cody buying it quite as well as Enzo thinks. We think he’s a little more on the outside of the house right now than he may realize.

• “So how much time passes before people start fighting?” –Kaysar
• “I gotta be honest, I didn’t want to come in and immediately put the target on my back, but I needed to win this Head of Household. It’s ‘All-Stars,’ I didn’t want to go home Week 1. There’s no way that I was going to let this one go to somebody else and leave my fate in their hands.” –Cody
• “I am officially the first four-time player in ‘Big Brother’ history, which is cool. Kaysar and I played two seasons back-to-back and we were aligned both times.” –Janelle
• “I honestly feel like I’ve been plucked off my couch, plopped into my TV and I’m watching ‘All-Stars’ happening. I keep having to remind myself, No, Nicole, you’re one of them.” –Nicole A
• “When Nicol and I played ‘Big Brother 18,’ we made an agreement — we were in two alliances together — so I thought she would be my ally. Come to find out she was gunning for me. No, you never get to cross me twice.” –Da’Vonne (privately rejecting Nicole F’s declaration of thanks and support)
• “I’m not worried with Cody as HOH. I think that we are going to be a duo … is it to reckon with? Is that a thing?” — Nicole F
• “Having two people in the house who’ve played multiple times; both of them are good in competitions; it’s something I have to take into consideration.” –Cody (considering Janelle and Kasyar for nominations)
• “Well this sucks.” –Cody (after Safety Suite reveal)
• “It sucks. I never thought I was gonna be on the side like where I’m trying to not stick out because I can’t fit in … for being older.” –Kaysar (to Keesha)
• “I have literally never played this game where I wasn’t one of the main people being targeted. I don’t want to do that this season. I want to chill, I want to lay low.” –Dani
• “Cody gave me the scripted templates response. That was an immediate red flag. Honestly, I found it to be insulting. This is ‘All-Stars’ and I don’t fall for that crap.” –Kaysar (after talking with Cody about possible alignment)
• “Kaysar and Janelle. Are you f–king kidding me?” –Cody (seeing his targets go for the Safety Suite)
• “We just put a target on our backs.” — Kaysar
• “Mine was already pretty big so I’ve got nothing to lose.” –Janelle
• “Now I have to go in and reevaluate and pick two more nominees.” –Cody (after Kasyar wins Safety and gives Janella his Plus One)
• “I just feel like i need to teach these kids a damned lesson. They don’t understand who they’re messing with. If you mess with the bull, you always get the horns. I’m gonna take them all down. And I’m going to enjoy every moment of it.” –Kaysar (after winning Safety)
• “This girl looks like a bootleg Teletubby right now.” –Enzo (after Janelle puts on her mascot costume)

“Big Brother” continues every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

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