God-loving, bikini and knee sock wearing Natalie is getting her smiley-faced revenge on Big Brother 9 house mates who plotted to oust her “soul mate” Matt. Last night Natalie, the Head of Household, nominated Joshuah and James for eviction. Surprisingly enough it was Joshuah’s first nomination, not bad considering how conniving and cruel he has been in the house thus far.

The show began with Natalie basking in the glory of her HOH win. She credited God and a kooky reliance on lucky numbers. Joshuah was shocked and embarrassed that Natalie beat him in a “mental” competition. Sheila hoped Natalie’s HOH win would bring her closure and vengeance for Matt’s eviction. Adam took Natalie’s win as a sign that there may really be a God, one who favors dim-witted bikini barista/slash carnival artists from The Beaver State. 

When we finally got to see Natalie’s HOH room her pictures were, as Joshuah pointed out, exactly what you would expect. There was a picture of Natalie with vacation braids (you know, the kind you get on trips to Mexico or Jamaica). Natalie hugging a big, lovable tree in Oregon and Natalie winning a bikini competition.

Next, we got to hear her letter from home.  Natalie’s dad reminded her how proud he is of how she has behaved on the show (guess he doesn’t watch the live feeds). He told her exile in the Big Brother 9 house is even bringing her fractured family together. The letter brought Sheila to tears as she remembered that she left behind a child for the show.

Since this particular episode focuses on Day 49, we start to get a sense that the isolation and lack of stimulation in the Big Brother 9 house is wearing on the house guests. In one scene we see an absurd game of hide and seek where Natalie, dressed only in a see-through bra top and super-short shorts, hides in places like a bucket and inside a tiny cabinet while Adam and Ryan pretend they can’t find her. In another scene, Adam and Ryan try to make a whirlpool in the super-small Big Brother pool. Clearly these house guests are cracking. And on a side note: how cruel is it to have only pictures of books on the walls and not actual books? Then again, not sure this bunch would actually read if given the chance.

Later, we see a Breakfast Club-esque conversation where Sheila asks Joshuah to tell them what it was like to tell his mother and father he was gay. (It was freshman year of college; Joshuah was 18 and his parents were very understanding).

A bit later we see Crazy James sidle up to Natalie to try to broker a deal to save his butt. He offered an alliance to Natalie that could in theory take them both to the Final 2 if she wouldn’t nominate him this week. Natalie, who appears to have a serious weakness when it comes to trusting bad men, seemed like she was considering the offer.

Next, in a totally confusing food competition involving a farm scene, watermelons and mallets, the house guests had to each decide if they wanted to eat slop for the week or real food. The catch was their decision could work against them if a majority of the house chose one thing over another. My head hurts just thinking about this dumb challenge. In the end it was only Adam that came up with the right choice and gets to eat real food for the week with HOH Natalie. Everyone else is on slop.

Finally we get to the nominations where after a heart-to-heart talk with Matt’s picture (I kid you not) Natalie makes her decision to nominate Joshuah and James. She basically calls James out as a backstabber and tells Joshuah he is too big of a threat to stay in the house.

I don’t know whether to love or hate Natalie. Her wildly inappropriate clothing and fingernail polish art are scary to me however she possesses a kind of irrational optimism and confidence that is oddly appealing in our negative and cynical world.  Sure, she is dumb as a box of rocks and seems to have given her heart and soul to Matt who has already washed his hands of her and moved on but Natalie may just prove how powerful it is to think positively. She is after all, the most powerful person in the Big Brother house right now and she has done it for the most part without being cruel or manipulative to others.

The next episode will have the house guests fighting for the Power of Veto. Big Brother 9 airs Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.