Way back in week 2 of Big Brother 17, Da’Vonne referred to Meg as “the beautiful pawn.” And for a long time, that’s been her role, the useless competitor who you nominate to ensure the real target gets evicted. However, this week we learn that there’s an even better pawn in the house, someone more useless and even worse at competitions. And in the unlikeliest of scenarios, those two pawns are on the block next to each other.
It’s very rare this deep into the game for the two worst players to go on the block together, but it’s kind of refreshing that at least one of the Victorias will be evicted. This episode also features the return of the epic hide and seek competition which destroys the house.
After the Nominations
Vanessa wanted to get the least amount of blood on her hands. Meg is upset to be next to another one of her friends (following Da’Vonne, Jason and Jackie). Meg cries and cries over the fact that one of them is going home, but James cheers her up with his sense of humor.
Meg acknowledges the irony that she and James kept Vanessa instead of evicting her like Becky wanted. Vanessa recites her same bullet points to the nominees about not having anyone, being at the bottom of the totem pole, etc. Blah blah blah.
On a sweeter note, we learn that James didn’t know his baby mama was pregnant until the night his daughter Bailey was born. It’s an insanely funny story that makes him even more lovable.
The Power of Veto Competition
The AusTwins are all picked to play alongside Vanessa, James and Meg. Vanessa hilariously thinks she can rely on the AusTwins to fight to win the PoV and keep the nominations the same. Like when Austin threw it to Johnny Mac the first time Vanessa was HoH?
It’s a hide and seek competition. One at a time the six HGs get three minutes to hide a Veto Card and then go in one at a time for two minutes each to try and find a card. They don’t get to talk to each other and no one knows which card belongs to which HG.
Meg hides her card in a nook and cranny by a bed.
Austin hides his card in a duvet cover on a bed.
James hides his card under the rug in the living room.
Julia hides her card in a cushion in the parlor room.
Liz hides her card in a pizza box.
Vanessa hides her card in a sofa cushion in the living room.
Austin plays defensively, flipping everything in the bedroom to disguise his card’s location. James just enjoys trashing the house.
In the first round, Vanessa finds Liz’s card. In the second round, Julia finds Vanessa’s card. In the third round, Meg finds Julia’s card. In the fourth round, James also plays defensively, stacking everything on the rug. He also finds Meg’s card.
At this point, Austin and James are the only people left in the game, though no one knows it. Also, Liz and Julia are so over the messiness and don’t even care anymore. So much for relying on them to fight to the end.
Vanessa finds the fifth card, ending the game. After it’s done, John and Steve reveal the results. Needless to say, Austin’s Angels aren’t happy that Julia eliminated Vanessa while Vanessa eliminated Liz and Austin. And Meg isn’t happy that James eliminated her.
James wins the Power of Veto!
After the competition they all survey the damage to the house while Vanessa laments James winning and coming after her. Meg thinks she has a shot at staying depending on who Vanessa puts up.
Julia or Johnny Mac?
As foreshadowed earlier in the episode, Vanessa’s worst nightmare came true and James won the PoV. Now she has to nominate Steve, John or one of the AusTwins, all of whom she’s aligned with.
Julia asks Vanessa if she’ll put up Steve or John. Vanessa, however, wants to take out Meg and is worried that the AusTwins will flip and take out a bigger threat if she nominates either of those guys. She’s not wrong.
James is extremely cocky and isn’t afraid to let everyone know he’s going after Vanessa now. When Austin reports this to her, it solidifies her resolve to evict Meg and put up the best pawn to ensure that happens.
At an Austin’s Angels meeting, Vanessa proposes Julia being the pawn because she’s not a threat. The AusTwins push for Johnny Mac to be the replacement nominee and the target, which she doesn’t want at all. But Vanessa pushes back that Meg is dangerous because she’ll never get evicted if they don’t take this shot.
James talks to Vanessa about where they stand. He points out how hard she’s playing the game and reading into things. She somehow thinks he’s insulting her and gets extremely defensive. It turns into a massive blow-up for absolutely no reason other than Vanessa’s insanity and possibly her desire to justify targeting Meg.
The Power of Veto Ceremony
Vanessa sticks to her original plan and does what’s best for her game. Neither the AusTwins nor James changed her mind. James saves himself and Julia is the replacement nominee.
James sees the wisdom of taking out one third of the AusTwins trio. And Julia is worried that she might go home against Meg, because in her own mind, Julia is some massive threat even though she’s even worse than Meg at every single competition.
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
