HOLLYWOOD—It was a night of firsts for week one of “Big Brother” with Thursday night marking the first eviction, HOH and nominations of the season. Not to mention some new alliances and possible enemies.

The team members of the Freakazoids: Nicole, Corey, Glenn and Tiffany, are up for the first elimination of the season. Even the first elimination contained a twist by the eliminated contestant being chosen through competition instead of votes.

It seems that there are basic alliances forming with the newbies on one side and the veterans on the other, but it looks like the four returnees might be able to increase their numbers. Da’Vonne is a shoulder for Tiffany to cry on and Tiffany reveals to Da’Vonne that she is past contestant Vanessa’s sister. This leads Da’Vonne to bring up to the veterans that Tiffany could be a possible ally.

Nicole has worked on her manipulation skills since her season on Big Brother 16 and is able to convince her teammate Corey that it is his idea to have her be the next Head of Household if neither of them gets evicted.

The HOH/eviction competition is a test of balance as the team members of Freakazoids have to climb a palm tree to gather coconuts and place the coconuts in various spots to spell out SOS on a large wobbly platform. The first three houseguests to place all their coconuts and grab their flag with all of their coconuts in place get to pick which of them is the next HOH. Last person to grab the flag will be the first evicted this season.

It is a close game between all four contestants using various strategies from placing coconuts closest to the tree first or placing coconuts farthest away from the tree first. Nicole is the first competitor to grab her flag, much to the dismay of Paul who seems to be taking the place as leader of the newbies.

Tiffany is next to grab her flag and Corey and Glenn are neck and neck to see who will be the first evicted. They are so close in finishing the competition that it takes looking at the video in slow motion to determine who grabbed their flag first. Corey gets to stay! Unfortunately for Glenn when he went to grab his flag, three of his coconuts had shifted off of their designated places.

Heartfelt good-byes are said to Glenn and his portrait on the wall inside the house has already been grayed out as the houseguests enter the abode. Not only have Nicole’s manipulation skills gotten better, but so has her acting. She was able to convince both Corey and Tiffany that she is unhappily taking the HOH position and is able to sweeten the deal by making them promise not to put her up in the future for this “favor” she is doing them.

Paul along with Bridgette angrily confronts Corey in the pantry about why he chose Nicole as HOH. Corey is starting to realize he made a mistake. In the HOH room, Paulie is using his relationship as brother to past contestant Cody to his advantage. It seems like he could be joining the veterans alliance just based on the fact that all the past contestants love and respect Cody.

Paul calls a newbie meeting, and I am starting to think Paul acting like the leader could end up getting him in trouble in the long run. Victor volunteers on behalf of the newbies to talk to Nicole to find out what she is thinking for nominations. Instead, he unintentionally gives Nicole a possible nominee by accidentally throwing Jozea under the bus.

James reminds me why I loved him so much in BB17, as he pranks a showering Nicole by pretending he is Victor. The Big Sister team with Da’Vonne, Jozea, Paul and Zakiyah get their slop as the current have-nots and visit their circus themed room with bumper cars for beds.

Jozea and Da’Vonne are hanging out when he tells her he is the “messiah” of the newbies and starts telling her the newbies plans for getting rid of the veterans. What are these newbies thinking this season by spilling their plans to vets!

Da’Vonne shares this information with Nicole sealing Jozea’s fate as a nominee for the week. Nicole is able to get Paulie on board as a pawn to win the veto competition, so Jozea goes home next week. We will see if Nicole’s plans work next Thursday or if the pawn goes home like they tend to. Until next week when we find out what the all new competition to change the game will be! “Big Brother 18” airs Sundays at 8 p.m., Wednesdays at 8 p.m. and Thursdays at 9 p.m. on CBS.

“Big Brother 18” A Night Of Firsts! was originally published on San Francisco News