"Houseguests," Julie Chen calls from the television in the living room. The Houseguests gather. "It's time for the first Head of Household competition of the season. As you all know, the Head of Household has an important responsibility: they must nominate two Houseguests for eviction. They have the ultimate power in the Big Brother house. Not only that, but they get safety for the week."
The Houseguests nod. This is not news, even to the recruits.
"But this season, things are a little different."
The Houseguests squirm. Of course there would be a twist.
"Let's just say, things won't be so simple for the HOH this season. More on that later, Houseguests."
The screen goes black, with no opportunity for the Houseguests to ask any questions of Julie Chen.
MARY: Julie implies there's gonna be some sort of twist with the HOH, and I'm really starting to freak out. Big Brother, I don't want a wrench to be thrown in my strategy this early.
MIA: Already I'm planning on gunning for this HOH so that I can take a shot at Patrick, but now Julie says things are going to be different this season? I don't know what to expect.
PATRICK: The show's motto isn't expect the unexpected for no reason…
The barrier slides up, and the backyard is revealed to the Houseguests for the first time. Or, more accurately, a tall green hedge is revealed to the Houseguests. Everyone is nervous and excited, but Caleb is one of the more excited Houseguests; he is the first to throw open the door and fly around the hedge wall.
Immediately, he sees what looks like asteroids hanging from ropes in a grid in the backyard. But Toby and Tyler are right behind him, and the two superfans recall the show's last season. These aren't asteroids, they realize. These are meatballs.
At the opposite end of the grid of meatballs stands Josh Martinez, the winner of Big Brother 19. His wide smile is clear from across the backyard.
"What's up, Meatballs?!" Josh yells from across the yard.
TYLER: I walk into the backyard, and Josh Martinez from Big Brother 19 is here? What the hell?!
MAUREEN: Josh from last season is here. I'm a huge fan, so I'm trying to contain my excitement, because I don't want everyone to know how much I know about this show!
The Houseguests all line up at the edge of the yard.
"Who's ready to compete in the first Head of Household competition of the year?"
The Houseguests cheer.
"Well, meatballs, if you want to win the first HOH, you're going to have to outlast your fellow Houseguests. In front of you are fourteen spaghetti noodles with three meatballs hanging from them. The object of the competition is to stay on your meatball the longest. The last Houseguest remaining will be the new Head of Household! Aaron, since you earned safety for the week, you will not be competing. Now, there are three meatballs on each of your spaghetti noodles; each one is smaller than the last. When I tell you, you must move up to the next smallest meatball. Does everybody understand?"
The Houseguests nod in agreement.
"Okay, well take your spots, because it's time to play...Spaghetti and Meatballs!"
The Houseguests mount their meatballs. Aaron sits off to the side of the yard on a bench. He feels happy to be safe for the week, but is worried that he hasn't had the chance to make connections with anyone yet. This is especially worrisome considering he was already almost voted out of the house this evening. It would be an easy cop-out next week to put him on the block since he was clearly wanted out by the house. He feels the need to work hard this week; he must get the house on his side.
Meanwhile, Patrick tries to find his most comfortable position on the bottom meatball. This is harder than it looks; the meatballs are a round surface that your legs want to slide right off of. But Patrick is determined. He needs this HOH, needs to feel safe. Still, Julie's warning resounds in his head: Let's just say, things won't be so simple for the HOH this season. What could that mean?
And other Houseguests don't want the power at all this week. Both Maureen and Toby plan to strategically throw the Head of Household competition. Maureen wants people to think she's a weak girl, where that couldn't be further from the truth. She knows that she can hold her own against the boys. Toby wants the same, though he's not sure how much of a competition threat he actually could be, especially considering how slick the surface of these meatballs is. Throwing this particular competition might not be so difficult; he just needs the right time.
Tyler isn't sure what he should do. If he wins this, he might secure his reputation as a competition threat early in the game. He doesn't want that just yet. But because of his stature, he could already be perceived as such, and what if that's enough for whoever wins to put him up on the block?
Mia, on the other hand, worries about what will happen if she doesn't win. Will she be able to split from Patrick without hurting his feelings? She doesn't want a target on her back from him, because he seems like a loose cannon who will do what he has to do to win. And still she wonders, is she just overreacting based on one thing that he said? But she remembers how adamant he had been, how he had said I want to keep my finger on the pulse in this house.
LESLIE: Honestly, my arms are trembling trying to hold onto this rope, but it's hard to get your legs to do any of the work when they just wanna slide right off the meatball.
CALEB: I realize early on that if I want to win this, I have to take some of the weight off my arms. And I find out that if I cross my ankles and lock them, I can actually get my legs to hold me on the meatball.
GEORGIA: I notice Caleb's strategy of crossing his ankles, and I think Hmm. I might try that myself. And it works! It's as simple as riding a bike. I realize that hey, I might actually have a shot at winning this thing!
After only ten minutes of the competition, people start to fall. First is Leslie, followed by Kristen, and then Toby.
KRISTEN: I was sort of trying to win this competition, but I don't know that it matters that I didn't. I don't think I'm enough of a threat to anyone in this house that I would get voted out even if I were nominated.
TOBY: My plan was to throw this competition, but actually, I didn't need to throw it! I honestly just fell off. It was really hard!
Alice falls next, after a little longer than thirty minutes on the meatball. At the forty-five minute mark, Josh calls out, "Okay, Meatballs, it's time to move up to the next tier!"
The Houseguests are shaky as they try to move up. Not only is it awkward to get into a standing position on legs that are weakened and asleep from forty-five minutes in a seated position, but doing so causes the rope to swing a bit. This transition alone causes Retta, Maureen, and Zack to fall off.
ZACK: I wanted to try to win that one to show the other Houseguests that I'm a strong competitor, but I just couldn't do it.
GEORGIA: Moving up to the second tier is so difficult! I'm hoping that the Houseguests keep on dropping, because I'm not sure that I'll be able to do it again.
Mary falls next, then Jonathan, then Tyler. By the time Josh tells the Houseguests to move up to the next tier, it is down to only Caleb, Patrick, Mia, and Georgia. At this point, all four remaining Houseguests want the power, if not because they have an agenda, then because they have been hanging on the meatballs for the past two hours and they don't want all of that hard work to go to waste.
But if the transition to the second tier was hard, the transition to the third and final tier is infinitely harder. Caleb is the first one who is able to get to the third tier. The difference in the size of the meatball is noticeable; there's barely anything for him to sit on, so his arms have to do a lot of the work. Caleb knows that this is a problem for him; the way he is built, he has much more strength in his lower body than his upper body. And with the girls and Patrick all being lighter than him, they might have an easier time holding on. But as Patrick tries to move to a standing position, he is absolutely trembling. Georgia and Mia are trying to slowly pull themselves up to the final tier, but Patrick can't get above a low crouch.
So the negotiations begin.
"If I jump, am I safe this week?" Patrick asks.
The other three Houseguests look around at each other. Mia doesn't want Patrick to know, but Patrick is her target this week. Georgia and Caleb answer immediately, "You're safe, Patrick." He has given neither of them any reason to distrust him, and besides, this early in the game, there are plenty of viable targets.
But Mia has to say something, so she says, "Go ahead, Pat." And so he does. But Mia knows that while what she did say was definitely shady, she didn't necessarily give him her word that he was safe this week. She just told him to go ahead and fall.
PATRICK: I got the other Houseguests' word that I'm safe for the week. But of course they're gonna tell me that. I just hope that they weren't lying.
After some effort, Mia and Georgia both make it to a sitting position on their meatballs. And Mia decides it's time to try to get in the other two Houseguests' heads.
"If you give it to me, you're both safe for the week," she says. "I really want this. I wanna prove it to myself."
"I want that too," Georgia says.
"Yeah," says Caleb, but his voice is clearly strained. Holding on, his arms are trembling. He doesn't look like he can last too much longer.
But they all want this, so they hold on.
Caleb is starting to realize he didn't do enough preparation for the endurance competitions. His body is not able to hold on; he knows he can't win this. So finally, when he can't bear the weight of his own body on his arms a second longer, he falls of. And his back hitting the mat is a terrible feeling, because he knows how hard he tried, he just couldn't pull it off.
Georgia and Mia can't see each other because their backs are to each other, so neither can tell how the other is doing. They would have to turn their body in order to tell, and neither wants to risk the extra strain doing so would put on their arms. So they each blindly hope that the other is doing worse than they are. What they don't know is, it's anyone's game at this point. Either girl could have another thirty minutes of this in her. Though it hurts, they can hold on longer.
In the end, it all comes down to an itch. The top of Mia's head begins to itch. She tells herself not to think about it, but of course that just makes it become the only thing she can think about. She has to reach up and scratch it or she will lose her mind. So she reaches up with her right hand. And when she does so, her weaker left arm simply gives out.
Since Georgia's back is turned, she doesn't know that she has won the competition until she hears the slap of Mia's back on the mat.
"Congratulations, Georgia, you are the first Head of Household of Big Brother 20!" yells Josh. And then, because of course production told him to, Josh celebrates her victory by doing his customary pots-and-pans routine, banging the two pans together while singing DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA!
The Head of Household room key is placed around her neck and the Houseguests all walk towards the living room. The moment they are all seated, the television comes on once again.
"Hello, Houseguests, and congratulations Georgia on winning the first Head of Household competition of the season!"
The Houseguests cheer, and Georgia's smile stretches from ear to ear.
"But you didn't think it'd be that easy, do you?" Julie says. "That's right, I have another twist for you. Just because you won Head of Household doesn't mean you are safe for the week this season. Hang tight, Houseguests. I'll be back tomorrow to reveal a new twist that is sure to shake up the game."