Someone call in Marie Kondo, because Big Brother‘s 24th season has gotten messy.
To be clear, I say that with the utmost appreciation for mess: Big Brother has been stuck in a predictable, let’s-vote-with-the-house rut for many seasons, and it’s a delight to see the opposite situation playing out here. But between Kyle’s ill-advised showmance with Alyssa, Nicole’s correct suspicion that most of The Leftovers are working together, and, of course, Daniel’s insane decision to use the Power of Veto and endanger his No. 1 ally, this week in the BB house has been undeniably (and wonderfully) chaotic.
Let’s break down how the week concluded, with Nicole unknowingly poised to be backdoored ahead of Thursday’s episode:
THE STRATEGY | The veto meeting ends with Nicole and Taylor now on the chopping block, and Taylor’s tears of frustration are legit: She’s peeved that the veto was used to save Alyssa and Indy when she thought nominations were staying the same, and her trust in The Leftovers seems to have taken a hit since she got no heads-up about the switcheroo. Nicole, meanwhile, is feeling “euphoric” to be on the block, so, there’s that.
But not long before the veto meeting took place, Kyle had gone upstairs to warn Monte that Daniel “100 percent” planned to use the veto. The previous night, Nicole had visited the HOH bedroom and found six of the seven Leftovers — in other words, everyone except Kyle — hanging out in there, making her confident that those six are in an alliance. With Monte and Taylor unable to cast votes this week, Nicole and Daniel are under the impression that Taylor will only have four votes to stay, when in reality she’ll have five (Kyle being the fifth), and Monte would break a potential tie in Taylor’s favor anyway. So while it’s not ideal that Taylor is seeing the block for the umpteenth time, The Leftovers privately know that Daniel “played himself,” as Joseph puts it, by using the veto this time around.
Other highlights of the pre-taped segments: After doing so with Terrance just last week, Nicole reveals to Indy, Alyssa and Jasmine that she used to be a cop, which she seems to think is a game-changing piece of information; Kyle and Alyssa strike up one of Big Brother‘s cringiest showmances (the bathroom flirting! Make it stop!); and after getting word from some of The Leftovers that Nicole may not have the votes to stay, Indy, Alyssa and Jasmine weigh their options, hoping to keep Nicole but markedly more desperate to simply be on the right side of the house’s vote this week. Just floatin’ along, those three!
THE EVICTION | When it comes time for the eviction, Taylor gets a little spicy in her pre-vote speech, telling Nicole, “To quote Big Brother superfan Rihanna, you look so dumb right now.” (!) She reminds Nicole how she thought it was clever to choose Taylor as her Festie Bestie, unaware that her own ride-or-die, Daniel, would ultimately be responsible for her downfall. (Nicole looks like she’s taking this all in stride, but after Taylor sits back down, the women exchange a smile that screams, “I can’t stand you!”)
In the end, it’s only Daniel that has Nicole’s back: She’s evicted by a 9-1 vote, but she hugs everyone on her way out and tells Julie that she’s “not at all” surprised to learn about The Leftovers, since she’d already correctly identified six of its seven members. She also calls Taylor’s pre-vote speech “amazing and comical” and “nothing but the truth,” considering Nicole did think she could manipulate others, including Taylor, to keep herself in the game.
And because we’re seemingly destined to never get a live Head of Household competition in full again, the episode instead ends with Taylor choosing Alyssa and Indy as her new Festie Besties. Daniel, meanwhile, heads off to one of the bedrooms by himself, remarking that he ought to pack his bags right now. Moments earlier, he had told Nicole in his goodbye message that he wouldn’t leave the Big Brother house without a fight… but he seems to feel a little differently now.
Your turn! What did you think of Nicole’s eviction? And who do you want to see win Head of Household? Drop a comment below!