'Big Brother 11': Are Jeff and Jordan getting too close?

Okay, it may not be the most exciting thing to assert, but you’ve got to admit: Jeff is the most likable guy in Big Brother history. That conversation he had with Michele about her work as a neuroscientist was completely charming. Her explaining that she works seven days a week on things like “the sugar component of [a] protein,” and his frank expression of ignorance and admiration was disarming, in a big-dumb-lug way. “I was impressed when I made a Lego castle — with instructions!” he said with winning self-deprecation.

(Okay, stop reading now if you don’t want to know any spoilers about this night’s edition of Big Brother.)

Speaking of winning, how ’bout Jeff getting HOH with those damn “recycling” cans? They actually yielded a little suspense at the start of the hour. The rest of the time, we were treated to Russell going off on Natalie during a poker game. (Jeff seemed as stunned as we were at home — Russell is a time-bomb; I wouldn’t bother trying to back-door him, if I was Jeff. I’d front-door him and stand back when he made his inevitable Incredible Hulk-smash exit.)

Then again, in plotting with Kevin and Natalie to put them up as pawns with the hope of pushing Russell out this week, we were treated to Jeff’s clever comment, regarding the veto competition, “It’s not gonna be a bench-pressing contest.” (That sound you heard were the producers yelling in the control booth, “Get six sets of barbells, stat!”)

I can’t recall a previous BB that had such as trusting a unit as Jeff-and-Jordan, can you? It gives them both a lot of strength at this point. It also makes for more cute moments, as when Jordan, after flirting with Jeff to get him to take her on the Hawaii trip he’s won, confided to the camera, “kissin’ and cuddlin’… that’s where I draw the line.”

But does cute win a game like BB? I’m getting worried about Jeff and Jordan’s increasing confidence. It seems like I’ve been calling Michele “underrated” for weeks now, and I’m afraid J and J may be letting down their guard just as Michele steps up her game.

Did you watch? What did you think?

And be sure to watch this Big Brother-themed Must List Live that’s already sweeping the nation, starring the best Brother contestants never to actually inhabit the Big Brother house, Dalton Ross and Josh Wolk.