BB FANS

For five weeks, the Okins twins have been switching in and out of CBS' popular summer reality show Big Brother 5, pretending to be one person. So far, none of the 13 contestants, who are sequestered in a house on a CBS studio lot in Los Angeles until the Sept. 21 finale, has caught on.

Thursday night, however, all will be revealed. "This will be the crowning moment in the five years of Big Brother," co-producer Arnold Shapiro says.

The stunt apparently has helped hook viewers.

Like CBS' Amazing Race 5, Big Brother 5 is doing well this summer. Airing new episodes three times a week — Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, Thursdays at 8 ET/PT and Saturdays at 9 ET/PT —BB5 regularly ranks in the top 20 among the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49 age group. The Tuesday show averages 9.1 million viewers, Thursday pulls in 8.6 million, and Saturday draws 4.9 million, according to Nielsen tracking.

Viewers for whom that's not enough can watch what goes on 24/7 by purchasing Web access (at cbs.com) to cameras throughout the house.

But not much actually goes on. The contestants have no access to television, the Internet or newspapers. They don't know that John Edwards is Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's running mate. They mostly sit around strategizing over forming winning alliances, or stabbing people in the back so they won't be thrown out of the house by that week's Head of Household.

"This is really the ultimate reality soap opera," Shapiro says. And in true soap fashion, Shapiro and co-producer Allison Grodner have included a switcheroo twin plot (though neither is an evil twin).

Adria Montgomery-Klein and Natalie Montgomery-Carroll, 30 — they use Adria Okins, a family name, for the show — are personal trainers from Birmingham, Ala.

They wanted to be on a reality show and landed the spot on BB5, with the condition that they pull off the charade of subbing themselves in and out every three days. And by making it to tonight's episode without being caught or evicted from the house, Adria and Natalie will now both be allowed to play the game and vie for the $500,000 prize.

So far, only mild suspicions have been voiced, once based on the slight difference in the twins' personalities. (One is more aggressive than the other.) And in another slip-up, Adria made a reference to Natalie and had to backpedal, saying she was referring to her "inner Natalie."

"It'll be interesting to see the reaction," Grodner says.

Says Shapiro: "They're just not expecting this. They're very into the game. A lot of these people are very self-centered."

It has been especially suspenseful for the twins' mom, Joan Smith, who works with them at their gym in Birmingham and generally doesn't watch TV. "I have not missed a moment," she says. "It is crazy. It wakes me up in the night."

She is not surprised that no one has noticed that Adria Okins is actually two people. "Everyone has always had a hard time telling them apart."

The surprising part to her?

"We've got these two great Southern homegrown Christian girls, thrown into this lying spin, and they're trying to be true to their characters and beliefs," she says. "To me, this is a tremendous twist."

The 'Big Brother 5' houseguests are now seeing double.

Much to the surprise of the other players, professional Fitness Twins Adria and Natalie Okins won the right to enter the house and play the game as individuals on last night's live eviction show. The twins secured the priviledge by not being voted out or discovered for five weeks as they switched in and out of the house ten times using the Diary (testimonial) Room. The producers stated that the inactive twin lived under the same restrictions as the houseguests did although footage of where and how they were sequestered was never broadcast.

Though it made for great TV, the twin twist almost didn't happen when Adria was nominated for eviction last week. Fearing Adria would be voted out, the producers altered the rules stating that if Adria was bounced, Natalie would take her place. CBS also aired commercials during 'The Amazing Race' mentioning the rule change.

The twin twist was another blow for the once dominant Four Horsemen Alliance who saw Scott Long evicted from the game by a vote of 4 to 3. Adria was the deciding vote.

When asked by host Julie Chen what happened to cause the Four Horsemen to stumble, Scott stated that their egos sunk them.

"We thought we had everything under control and I guess the power got to our heads. We definitely learned that nothing is certain and I learned that at a young age like I told everybody. I am just shocked. Julie, I don't know what to say," said Scott who still doesn't regret voting out Horsemen ally Holly King last week even though her vote could've kept him in the game.

Horsemen member Jase Wirey pointed out Scott's mistake in his goodbye video message to him.

"I want you to know right now that I would never have voted you out. You choose to make this game personal. You took Holly out of this house. She was a vote to save you. That was a bad idea. So, if you are sitting there right now listening to this, I had your back the whole way, brother and you know the Horsemen did too. You left because of your own actions," stated Jase.

Scott claimed that he saw the error of his lying ways and tried to make amends when others in the house introduced him to the teachings of the Bible.

"As the weeks went on I started realizing that this isn't the right thing to do and I kinda came clean and I think I showed that to America. I tried to make things right. It is just a game and I think I took it too far," said Scott.

Viewing the twin twist as unfair, several of the houseguests claimed they were ready to quit playing the game and just relax for the rest of their time in the house. On the 24/7 'Big Brother' Internet feeds both Jase and Marvin indicated that there was no way they could win a game now that the producers "stacked the odds" against them. Neither wants to be sequestered as part of the jury or continue playing the game. When they are voted out, they just want to go home even if it means sacrificing their stipend to be on the series.

"I am ready to go. I dont have a snowball's chance at winning even $50,000," Jase told Marvin, Drew and Michael on the live feeds.

In the Head of Household competition, it was Jennifer Dedmon who came out on top for the Girl Power Alliance in a memory game concerning items found in the 'Big Brother' house. The HOH competition had its share of controversy too last night when Natalie answered incorrectly during one round but was permitted to keep playing. Jennifer will make her nominations for eviction on Saturday's telecast.