7-6-04 FOOD COMPETITION: CASH NOT CASHEWS

Each HouseGuest must crawl across an oversized spinning strand of DNA, plucking yellow balls and placing them in a bag as they go. Each ball is inscribed with the name of a food item, which everybody in the House will get to eat. Everyone except Holly completes the task, ut just as Lori is adding her yellow balls to the total, Julie instructs her to open one up and she finds a key inside. The key unlocks a chest containing $10,000 in cash. If Lori keeps the money, the House loses all the groceries they earned and must eat PB&J for the week. If Lori decides not to keep the money, the $10,000 will be offered to the next HouseGuest, who will then decide whether they will keep the money or force the House to go on a PB&J diet. Lori agonizes briefly, but decides to take the money, a decision that makes her a clear target.



7-6-04 HoH COMPETITION: TREADMILLS OF TERROR

The HouseGuests are split into six pairs, each with a Walker and a Talker (Will is the odd man out). Julie asks each Talker a yes-or-no question; depending on whether they answer the question correctly, their partner, the Walker, who is positioned on a treadmill, will have their speed either increased or left the same. Whoever lasts the longest will have a shot at being Head of Household; whoever loses slides back into a pile of mud. After a few rounds of questions (highlight: Marvin and Holly both get questions about themselves wrong), the final teams are Scott and Jase versus Karen and Lori. But after 27 minutes of running, Karen slips into the mud, leaving Jase and Scott the last team standing. Julie calls Will into play with the tiebreaker question, a question about himself that Jase answers correctly, thus becoming the first HoH.

7-08-04 LUXURY: MARGARITA MADNESS



Jase assembles the HouseGuests in the backyard. The task before them is to build a giant margarita: shave the ice, ice the glass, fill glass with tequila and mixer, drop a giant lime--a giant HUMAN lime--into the glass, then grab the key that unlocks the gate over the hot tub. If the HouseGuests complete the task in under 10 minutes, not only do they get hot tub privileges, they also get a much-needed Mexican fiesta. Teamwork rules the day: Holly, Lori and Karen are dubbed the Salt Sisters; mortician Marvin puts his gravedigger skills to work; Mike busts his ass getting the ice in the glass; Diane and Nakomis add sugar; Scott and Drew fill the glass with tequila; Will gets yoked with bucketsful of margarita mix; Michael, dressed as a giant lime, slides down into the glass and grabs the key with 18 seconds left to spare. PARTY!

7-13-04 - POWER OF VETO COMPETITION: FLARINGO

In a change from years past, not all HouseGuests will be participating in the Golden Power of Veto competition. The competitors will be the HOH and the two nominees who are up for eviction. Each of them will get to select one partner to also compete for the Power of Veto. The HouseGuests must toss a giant ring of Flaringo around one of the many pink flamingos arrayed before them. The flamingos are arranged in four separate zones, with each successive zone more valuable than the last. In order to stay in the game, a player must toss a ring into a zone of either equal or greater value than the previous player. If a player tosses the ring into one of greater value, the previous player is eliminated.



After a grueling battle with his fellow players, Scott comes through and wins the Power of Veto.

7-15-04 - HoH: MAJORITY RULES
The second Head of Household Competition of BIG BROTHER 5 is called Majority Rules and forces the HouseGuests to think more about the group than about themselves as individuals. Each HouseGuest except Jase (the outgoing Head of Household cannot compete) steps into their own private booth and has to answer a question posed by Julie not on what they think is the correct answer, but rather how they think the majority would answer. They answer by sliding a panel in front of them to either red or green. If you're in the minority, you're out. If you're with the majority, you stay in for the next round. Julie informs the HouseGuests who will stay and who will go. Over half the HouseGuests are swiftly eliminated, but then things stalemate as those left standing all answer correctly. Julie announces a tie-breaker question relating to the first Food Competition. Marvin gets the answer right and becomes new Head of Household.