'Big Brother' recap: The Peel World

Casey did not go softly; whatever you may say about this year's cast, they sure know how to make a jury speech. The reason Casey was on the block, he said, was because of two people, and I quote: ''Ronnie, the manipulative dorkapotomous with the god complex. Jesse, the self-absorbed, smedium-wearing egomaniac with a personality and IQ of, ironically enough, a banana.'' (Though I replayed this speech many times, I'm sure I misheard it: What the hell is ''smedium''? Whatever it may be, I know that its main use is wiping all expression off of Jessie's face.) Ultimately, this speech did nothing but give Casey some catharsis, and give his school more reasons to reconsider having him back.

With Casey gone, the clique structure was eliminated, and the players went on an endurance circular swing challenge for HOH that continued past the live show, yet another way for the producers to get their money's worth on their rain machine. Who will win? Not sure, and I'm torn as to who should, just as I'm torn about who should win the Coup D'Etat, a power resurrected from Big Brother All-Stars. Whomever viewers vote to get the Coup can (at least for the next two weeks) toss out the HOH's nominations right before live voting, and then replace either one or both nominees with his or her own choice. The winner also has to keep what the Coup does secret, or it loses its power, something that happened to Mike Boogie when he had it. Boy, I miss that guy. So lovable.

Again, my underdog loyalties should make me want to urge you all to vote to give the Coup to Jeff or Jordan, but they seem so incapable of making good moves that it feels wasteful. (A coworker emailed me tonight to say, ''Aren't those two the cutest?'' To which I say, ''If they can spell 'cute,' they can be cute. But until then, they're just dummest.'' Although Jordan's dimness makes more sense after tonight, when we saw that someone in her town put up a poster supporting her and misspelled her name. Someone should really test that town's water supply for battery acid.) But on the other hand, I certainly don’t want Jessie, Natalie, Lydia, or Ronnie to get it. Perhaps the it would be better to vote for Michele to get it. Best case scenario, she'll celebrate the victory by falling over and getting her head caught in the slop pot.

Who would you like to see win HOH and the Coup D'Etat? Do you think Russell and Kevin should have rallied others to keep Casey? And how long until Lydia boils a bunny? Make sure to check out Julie Chen's take on all of this in her blog (boy, it looked like she was doing all she could not to throttle Casey for his stupidity last night). Also, make sure to watch our interview below with last week's evictee, Laura, and check back Monday for a new EW.com interview with Casey, who hopefully will have calmed down, or at the very least will have had his banana dry-cleaned. I'll be gone on vacation for the next two weeks, but you'll be in good hands with some excellent EW Big Brother recappers who will be sitting in for me while I'm gone: Be nice to them. After all, much like Casey, you're men and women who love jokes!