‘Celebrity Big Brother’ Names New HOH, Eviction Nominees After Ryan Lochte Backdoored

The Celebrity Big Brother house now under the control of comedian Tom Green.

On Wednesday’s episode of the CBS reality show’s second season, the house was still reeling from the eviction of Olympian Ryan Lochte in a surprise backdoor orchestrated by Head of Household Kato Kaelin and his allies, which included Green, wrestler Natalie Eva Marie Olympian Lolo Jones.

“So my HOH reign was a success. We made a big move. We targeted Ryan and he’s out,”Kaelin said in the diary room, adding that a member of his alliance better win the upcoming HOH after putting such a target on their backs.

Jones, meanwhile, was upset about her part in the eviction of a fellow Olympian, agreeing that while the solid player had to be removed from the house, she felt like she had “betrayed Team USA.”

When it came time to crown the new HOH, the houseguests were tasked with investigating a haunted horror house to find a key and their way out. While some made like Braxton Family Values star Tamar Braxton and completely lost their cool in the spooky environment, Green excelled, claiming he was “more afraid of not winning HOH” than he was of what goes bump in the dark.

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss was onto Green’s alliance, which now tentatively has NFL alum Ricky Williams, from the start, confronting him right away about his plans, only to get a noncommittal answer she grabbed onto from the start.

Actor Joey Lawrence was also an obvious target for the alliance to take on, being one of Lochte’s closest allies before he was evicted, but Green was struggling with having Williams make it further in the game, based on his strong athletic performances.

“Ricky’s kind of my alliance now, but I’m thinking, ‘Actually Ricky, you’re the biggest threat in the house,’” Green said in the diary room. “What about you Ricky?”

Kaelin urged his buddy to stay the course with the alliance, but Green was reticent to not make a big move while he was in power for possibly the only time this entire game.

It was then that the Power of the Publicist twist was unveiled, giving one houseguest the ability to keep themselves off the block during this coming eviction. Braxton was awarded the power, deciding to keep the information to herself.

Green decided in the end to nominate Burruss and Lawrence, trying to flush out the Power of the Publicist in vain.

“I like you both very much, but when the [Power of the Publicist was announced], my gut told me it was one of you, so I’m putting you up for nomination to see if I was right,” he told the house. “I hope I’m not putting either of you in too sticky of a situation.”

But with the Power of Veto on the line, and the Power of the Publicist still under wraps, who will actually be the next star to exit the house?

The new season of Celebrity Big Brother will air over 13 episodes, with the finale airing on Feb. 13.

The next episode of Celebrity Big Brother airs Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Photo credit: Cliff Lipson /CBS