We should point out that the editors had very little to work with today: Less than 24 hours of material since Wednesday's live Brittany-banishment shocker, and a show to put together on the West Coast by 8 p.m. EDT. So a lot of the footage is pre-banishment.

Plus, everyone's a little mopey. We understand.

It's kind of sad.

She was a flame-haired pain in the ass, that Sparky, but she was our flame-haired pain in the ass. The lovable imp.

Eddie is starting to get on our nerves. He says, "$500,000 is not that much money" at least twice tonight. Is that true? What are salaries on Long Island these days?

But at least he's thinking strategically -- which beats watching the others try to be the world's best friend day in and day out.

Eddie, the sentimental lunk, tells Cassandra that a friendship is worth more to him than 500 grand. But Cassandra reminds him that they're reaching a stage in the game where nominations will be taken personally.

Still, Eddie wants "the cheese." His feeling, explicitly stated, is that there are working people in the house who need the dough, and some others who don't. Jamie, he predicts, will rake in a cool half mil modeling this year alone. As will Josh and Brittany.

(Somewhere in New York, Kate Moss laughs so hard champagne comes out her nose. Gisele Bundchen farts.)

What Eddie means to say is that he's going to wait until the bitter end to nominate Cassandra and George, whose modeling careers may not be quite as bright as the others'.

But wait -- won't George soon be the celeb cover boy of Hunters Who've Killed a Man Monthly?

But, Cassandra, speaking in code, sends a pointed message:

"You never know what the public's going to do. The public might continue to put them right back and they will continue to be an obstacle. So you have to weigh your options."

We she means, we think, is that Eddie should consider the possibility of nominating George: He's desperate, he's vulnerable and there's no reason to think that Curtis, Jamie or Josh is going to win.

Ooooh, sneaky!

The next scene consists of Brittany and Jamie rehashing the game the residents were forced to play, voting who was the messiest, smartest, most two-faced and so forth.

Jamie is miffed, but Brittany coolly dismisses the judgments -- the laziness charge in particular. She says, "They don't know me best. This is the first time since I was 15 that I haven't had a job, or responsibilities or things I've had to do."

Yes, but they did get to observe you 24 hours a day for two months.

And she's not insecure, by the way. She's just secure enough to talk about her insecurities.

Next there is a backyard touch-football montage, which we won't talk about except to say that the aesthetics of the scene were somewhat different from those old photos of the Kennedys in Hyannisport.

After the commercial break, Jamie and Cassandra discuss stereotypes. Jamie thinks they both contradict theirs.

Cassandra agrees wholeheartedly. She couldn't agree more. Further agreement would be impossible. Oh, man, does she agree.

"It would be one thing if you were just the average beauty queen, but you are sooo smart and you are sooo deep ... "

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