‘One-legged girl wins a foot race’: Christmas hops her way to ‘Big Brother’ power
Sunday night’s Head of Household competition involved a track and field competition – not exactly the contest in which you’d expect our broken-footed hometown heroine to excel, but never underestimate the power of Christmas.
Actually, never underestimate the power of Paul to manipulate the entire house and get them to throw the race so that Raleigh CrossFit star Christmas Abbott, who broke her foot the second week in the house, could win.
And it worked.
[Look out ‘Big Brother’ – here comes a dose of Raleigh ‘badass’]
[What happened to Raleigh’s Christmas Abbott on ‘Big Brother’?]
[Broken foot, eviction block: Another rough night for Christmas Abbott on ‘Big Brother’]
[Christmas Abbott with another ‘Big Brother’ first: casting an eviction vote from a hospital bed]
As crazy at it sounds, Christmas – in a cast (and tutu ... I don’t know why) – won a race. But technically she didn’t have to race anyone, because everyone else intentionally committed a false start to get kicked out. Still an impressive feat (hehe), you might say.
After the competition, Paul was a little stunned that it worked: “I got the one-legged girl to win a foot race!”
Paul put the plan in place so that Christmas, as HOH, could nominate Alex and Jason for eviction, keeping his own hands clean. To get Alex to throw the race, Paul told her that Kevin would go on the block.
Christmas works out again
Sunday night’s episode also spent some time showing how Christmas has stayed in shape in the house following surgery on her foot. I’m still trying to forget the disturbing scene in which she caressed her stomach and groin area, saying, “Hello body, it’s nice to meet you again. I know, I’ve abused you a lot, it’s not because I’ve wanted to.”
Okay...
Christmas explained that as her body has healed, she’s been able to increase her exercise. Her workout buddy Josh has been impressed.
“Christmas is amazing,” he said. “This girl literally has a broken foot and a boot, and she’s hitting abs, hitting crunches – she is the biggest badass I’ve ever met.”
Have to wonder if Christmas paid Josh to throw that “badass” comment in there, considering her two published books are called “The Badass Body Diet” and “The Badass Life.”
[Christmas Abbott update on ‘Big Brother’: ‘It looked like a bomb went off in my foot’]
[‘She must be a beast.’ Christmas Abbott comes clean about her time on NASCAR pit crew]
[Christmas and the Meatball: A strategic alliance and temptation on ‘Big Brother.’]
[Christmas in control: Raleigh contestant gets big power on ‘Big Brother’]
[Here’s what you need to know about Christmas Abbott’s pre-‘Big Brother’ NASCAR time]
What does ‘Head of Household’ mean?
The “Head of Household” is determined in each Sunday night’s live episode of “Big Brother.” The person who has “Head of Household” position (aka “HOH”) has all the power the rest of the week.
First, the HOH cannot be evicted that week. Almost as important is that the HOH also gets to nominate two house guests for the eviction block. Later in the week if a house guest with the Power of Veto removes one of the nominees from the eviction block, the HOH can name a replacement. Other perks include a private bedroom for the week (and a lot of sucking up from other house guests).
A little background
Christmas broke her foot in the second week of the show. It was pretty bad. She had surgery on her foot, but opted to stay in the house. Christmas said doctors told her she faces more surgery and isn’t likely to regain full range of motion in her foot, essentially ending her competitive CrossFit career.
Christmas, who worked as a civilian contractor in Iraq in 2004, started Crossfit training in 2006. She’s the owner of CrossFit Invoke in Raleigh, and in 2012, became the first woman to work in a NASCAR pit crew. She is also the author of two books.
This story was originally published September 3, 2017 at 9:10 PM.