Well I’ll get to that in a minute. If you haven’t seen tonight’s premiere of Big Brother then read no more. I promise several spoilers will be included in this post.

A very pregnant Julie Chen began the show with an introduction to the 12 new houseguests. As per usual, we saw them in all their glory receiving the keys but we didn’t get to see too much personality come through. The biggest annoyance was Laura who already seems like her personality is going to match her enormous fake breasts. She definitely seems like “that girl.”

After the houseguests all entered and introduced themselves they were told about this seasons twist. Essentially, the cliques (brains, popular, athletes, and offbeats) will be competing in luxury and food competitions as a group, but the HOH and Veto’s will be individual. The big twist is that the individual who wins HOH basically secures immunity for the rest of his group that week.

The cliques were split up as follows:
Offbeats: Lydia, Kevin, Casey
Brains: Michele, Chima, Ronnie
Populars: Braden, Laura, Jordan
Athletes: Jeff, Natalie, Russell

My initial reactions for all the houseguests are sticking so far. This is mostly because the episode did not have enough time to actually introduce the individual personalities. The only two changes I would make to my early judgments would be Kevin and Natalie. From tonight’s brief depiction of both these people, I think I’m going to like them a lot more. Kevin is loud, flamboyant, and honest but so far it’s not in an annoying way. Also, he seems to get along with my number one pick Lydia. Natalie may be a bit cocky but the girl deserves it. She endured the challenge the longest and probably would have out beat her partner Russell if given the opportunity to let the challenge play out. Natalie is a tough competitor and she is sure to dominate the physical challenges.

Lastly, the other big twist was the 13th houseguest. Four former houseguests were brought back to hang out with Julie and watch the first competition of the season. Each houseguest represented one of the cliques and thus the winning clique would not only secure that all-star houseguest the special 13th spot but they would also secure him/her the HOH for the week. Big Brother already started the season off horribly by bringing back some of the worst houseguests. Representing the offbeats was Michael (Cowboy) from Season 5. Please…far too boring and overrated. Representing the brains was Brian from Season 10. Now, Brian could be an interesting addition to the house since he showed us a glimpse of his strategic game play (actually more than a glimpse, which is why he left so early). My problem with Brian is that we barely got to know him as an audience and there are more deserving strategic players out there who could be brains. I mean, really, they should have brought Dr. Will to represent the Brains. Representing the athletes was Jesse from Season 10. He probably is the best choice for the athlete, but he was just so darn obnoxious. Last, representing the popular clique is Jessica from Season 8. You will all remember Jessica as the girl who was mad at whatsherface for borrowing five dollars in high school…or perhaps more memorable was her relationship with America’s Player Eric. Jessica was my favorite player in season 10, so needless to say I was routing for the popular kids. In the end, the competition came down to Braden and Laura (the popular crew) and Natalie and Russell (the athletes). Sadly, the athletes destroyed the competition and Jesse is our new HOH! I’m furious yet excited to see what kind of drama he stirs up. I hope Jesse loses a bit of the cockiness so we can actually see more strategic game play on his part.

Aside from all the twists, my favorite group just might be the athletes. I really like Natalie and Jeff so far and Russell made a good impression tonight. My second favorites would be the offbeats…I probably find Lydia and Kevin to be two of the most intriguing houseguests and I’m guessing I will be routing for them, but I’m not crazy about Casey which is why they aren’t my number one group.

Tune in Sunday to find out how the houseguests react to Jesse and who he will nominate for eviction.