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“Big Brother” recap (17.15-17.17): Week Five

It’s been five weeks in the Big Brother house and Clay has yet to win a competition, Vanessa Rousso remains one of the top dogs in the house, along with Shelli and Clay, and if twins Liz and Julia make it through another round of evictions, both girls will be eligible to play the game, and both will enter the house and play alongside each other for the remainder of the season. How will Austin work that out is anyone’s question. Jason continues to dress fiercely, and Steve’s having a love affair with the cameras. What will happen next?

SUNDAY: Nominations, Battle of the Block

After Jackie is crowned new, fellow HOH alongside Vanessa in last week’s HOH competition, Vanessa says, “Good job” to Jackie, telling the cameras she knows Jackie could be gunning for her ever since she got Jeff out. Her only goal is to go along with whatever Jackie puts down on the table for nomination suggestions. One of those suggestions: Austin. But, here’s why it just might work: Apparently the night before Audrey was evicted, Austin and Jason had a little chat in the bathroom and it led to Austin outing the truth about the twins to Jason. In some ways, this makes sense: Austin was only trying to create some insurance so that his alliance could have another number with Audrey leaving, or, whatever other mysterious reasoning Austin might have had. But Jason goes and runs and tells Meg, James, and the others-because not only did Austin out the twins, but he also told Jason he’s vying for Liz and doesn’t even care about what happens to Julia. He’s falling in love, you guys.

Jason and Meg take this new info to Shelli. Oops. Shelli plays it cool and acts like she’s hearing all this info for the first time-which isn’t hard, because in truth, she’s shocked that Austin betrayed #SixthSense, and she realizes now that his senses are love-clouded. Hey, takes one to know one. But Clay and Shelli’s showmance isn’t exactly Austin and Liz’s. In fact, they have a nomance. Liz tells the camera she is not interested. So, Shelli has the great pleasure of telling Clay about this new plot twist, while outside the HOH room, Vanessa slides up the hallway, Risky Business style. Fitting, really. Shelli’s like, “Oh, hey, Vanessa! Check out this news flash.” Over and over again, the trio just keeps asking the same question: Why, Austin? Why?

So, what do they need to do now? Vanessa speculates over whether they should just blow up their alliance, or backdoor one of its own members, Austin. Vanessa and Jackie talk privately, they give their word not to backdoor each other if the other’s HOH is dismantled-a necessary nicety they must get out of the way. Vanessa doesn’t really put up a fight to cover up the #SixthSense. In a way, it feels more beneficial to her game to give Jackie what she needs to hear to appease that side of the house. Jackie represents Jason, Meg and James. Johnny Mac is kind of a flipper (goes from one side to the other) like Becky, or Steve. Vanessa knows “that side” isn’t dumb about who is working with who. On some level, they have to know that Austin and Vanessa are working together with Clay and Shelli. What Vanessa needs to do, is work both sides-but can she do so without coming off think-skinned and two-faced to her true allegiances? Jackie brings Liz, Austin, and Steve to the HOH room.

Vanessa tells Austin she doesn’t want to be HOH. The stress of the decisions is getting to her. This is her chance to see if Austin will tell her the truth about the Jason conversation. She knows he’s playing her and lying. “Make sure you don’t lie to me,” she says to Austin. The way he tells her the story is: Jason went along with the twin thing, agreed to keep it low key, and said he wants one of the twins out, too. Say what? Vanessa knows that’s a lie, because just like Audrey’s lies, Austin is trying to convince her and maybe others, that Jason was the one championing Austin’s idea to pit the twins against each other. Austin leaves the HOH room swearing to Vanessa that he isn’t lying. She waves her hands up in frustration and, standing alone in the HOH room, looks up at the corner cam: “Why did Austin lie to me?” She realizes now she has to do something big, she has to tell Julia everything.

Vanessa explains to Julia that Austin and Jason had that talk, and that Austin has it bad, bad, bad for Liz, and that it’s all some kind of sick love fixation that only involves getting “ass at jury house.” Jury House is where evicted houseguests go after a certain number of house guess have been evicted. Then, as the game progresses toward the end, a handful of houseguests sit in Jury House where one may even receive a chance to return to the game (a popular twist from previous seasons) and the jury votes in the end who should win the game. Anyway, Julia’s blood is boiling. She can’t believe what Vanessa is telling her-but she does. Julia says she won’t tell Liz. Everyone agrees that Liz’s intentions could be clouded, too. She may not have feelings for Austin, but she takes advantage of his loyalty and declares they’re best friends in the house.

Vanessa tells Shelli and Clay that Austin lied to her face. They discuss nominations. A plan is officially in action to backdoor Austin. It will require a lot of finessing. For one, Clay must volunteer himself to go up on the block with another strong player, Becky. Together they could win the Battle of the Block, keeping Vanessa’s nominations as is, so that someone can win POV and take her nomination off the block, putting Austin in their place. It could work. Jackie agrees to put up Liz and James out of principal for them nominating her previously. Becky is clued in on the news. A new alliance is born, one that Jason believes he is safe in. #DarkMoon. It’s an eight-person alliance that includes Vanessa, Jackie, Shelli, Clay, Jason, James, Becky, and Meg. Vanessa and Austin have an awkward conversation about why nominations are the way they are. He’s suspicious and confused about why Clay would put himself up. Vanessa reassures Julia that she’s safer than safe, despite Liz being put up. “Ride or die,” Vanessa says to Julia, cause girl’s got her back.

In the Battle of the Block, despite James doing his darndest to throw this comp so that Vanessa’s nominations stay the same, Clay and Becky can’t manage to find all the letters in their “Splashy Headlines” paint game. And Liz literally, individually wins the game for herself. Leave it to a BB comp to twist things up. Vanessa, Clay, Shelli and the rest of #DarkMoon are pretty devastated. But, there can still be a plan to backdoor Austin. It’s up to the POV.

WEDNESDAY: Power of Veto

Anyone know what language Vanessa is speaking? Anyway, it’s clear V is frustrated and her sentiment is basically, “Oy vey!” She doesn’t know what to do about Austin. He was supposed to be her closest ally in the house. “Vanessa’s blood bath continues,” she snickers. The plan remains in effect, but Liz is still in the dark-or is she? Liz and Austin have a chat, and Liz tells him she suspects James through the Battle of the Block. Duh, Liz. Vanessa is confronted by Austin again, but she plays it super cool. He senses a silence around the house like everyone feels something has failed. Liz is paranoid, he tells Vanessa. He seems highly worried about only Liz’s game, which he continues to lament over to the cameras. He then goes back to Liz and gets in bed and basically forces her face into a gross, wet kiss. She squirms away and laughs, “I hate you!” She says to him. Austin doesn’t get it. Liz might be sending mixed messages, but this is a game, not a TV show called Love Connection. Austin reminds the cameras that he’s falling in love. But that would hopefully require Liz to feel similar. She reminds the cameras that she does not.

In the POV competition, Shelli, Becky, Clay, Johnny Mac, Vanessa and Liz all compete in this “Get Nutty” acorn passing comp where each player must pass an acorn through their ramps 250 times without the acorn falling off, or they have to start over. Clay doesn’t even flinch, drop the nut, or ever have to start over. He wins the game, and gets the golden POV. He lets us know that’s what he calls a good old Texas ass whoopin’. We know Clay, you’re from Texas A&M and you played football. You won your first comp of the summer: Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose, right? A decision was made surrounding this comp, though. Tell Liz in case she wins POV and keeps nominations the same, or let her know so that if she does win, she can understand the plan to backdoor Austin? Vanessa and Shelli tell Liz after the comp ends and Liz is only mildly rattled. She doesn’t think Austin’s intentions with Jason were bad. But Vanessa lays in, “You must have a golden ass or something!” Liz-Austin’s playing this game for you, and you only, they drill in her. She crashes to the bed in defeat, “You guys, I don’t like him!”

Austin is called upstairs. It’s time to let him know what’s happening. Vanessa decides to blindside him would be to completely stoop to his level, and she doesn’t want to leave their friendship like that. She’d rather be upfront before eviction night. After she explains that she’s given the house her word, Austin begs her for survival. He tries to explain that the Jason thing was a lame decision, and that he’s playing too emotionally. Vanessa’s like, “No shit, man.” She starts crying as Austin continues begging. He legit cares about Vanessa, and you can see the difference in Austin’s eyes as opposed to win he plays dumb with other houseguests. He genuinely feels bad. But Vanessa isn’t so sure.

At the POV meeting, Clay takes himself off the block, and Vanessa shocks the entire house when she puts up Jason as a replacement nominee instead of Austin. What happened was: The #SixthSense realized they need Austin’s number. They realized he wasn’t going to ever go after them or put them up, but that there will always be a big amount of doubt with others, especially Jason. It’s a sad moment, considering Jason and the others thought they were in #DarkMoon. Looks like this is certainly the darkest side of the moon there’ll ever be for Jason. He says to the cameras in the diary room: “Vanessa is a scumbag bitch.” Uh oh.

THURSDAY: Live Eviction

Everything has become unraveled. The “other side” of the house, formerly the #DarkMoon, a fake alliance created to appease the “other side” knows now that Vanessa, Clay, Shelli and Austin are all together. They know that Austin was able to save himself, make a deal, and get back into the good graces of a group that has had ultimate control of every single eviction yet. Meg cries uncontrollably and says she feels dumb. She goes up to the HOH room to try to get some answers. Shelli says she’d be devastated to see Jason go. Vanessa isn’t having it. If their alliance is blown, it’s time to take full-on accountability for it. Instead, Vanessa is tiptoeing around it with the questioning, crying houseguests. She doesn’t want to seem too eager, too certain, or too a part of anything. But in the process, an even larger target is being placed all over Vanessa’s back.

Jackie confronts Vanessa’s decision. Vanessa says, “It’s what the house wants.” Jackie is stunned: “To see Jason go?” Vanessa nods, furrowing her brow. The sun passes over the exercise equipment in the BB backyard as Meg continues to tear up at the sight of her beloved Jason, and Jason begrudgingly bitches out Vanessa to the camera in the diary room. He says he’ll do anything to fight for his life in this house-he’s a superfan after all, maybe he can? He chats up Clay and Shelli and says that he could take them so far in this game. The rest of the members of #DarkMoon who weren’t in #SixthSense are panicked and shocked, but Clay and Shelli swear they didn’t know about the Jason nomination. Vanessa tries to privately talk to Clay and Shelli after the awkward confrontation with half the house.

Vanessa’s basically saying, “They need to understand that I wouldn’t do a move like that by myself-so the others who were involved need to step up next to me so I’m not alone in this.” But, on the other hand, Shelli exclaims how uncomfortable it was for her to have to explain herself like that, assuring Vanessa she’s not the biggest target. The fact is: No one wants blood on their hands, but like Shelli said this week to Vanessa, things can only get bloody, bloody, bloody from here on out. She thinks she’s being sweet and remaining neutral by saying things like: “Of course I don’t want Jason to go!” But, that general feeling, which applies to all houseguests she’s become friends with, is neither here nor there. Vanessa needs loyalty, and instead she’s facing the realization that her game won’t be flanked by anyone in this house willing to go to bat for her. That’s Vanessa: She will likely go to bat for someone else, she’s saved Austin-but will her gambles come back to haunt her? The #SixthSense is not so put together anymore. They’ve become the second time you watch the movie Sixth Sense and put it together. Their damage control plan is: There is no plan. Vanessa’s freaked.

At the live eviction, the house votes out Jason (minus Meg and James) and both Liz and Julia enter the house to play the game. A new HOH must be crowned, but for the first time this summer, there will no longer be two HOHs—there will only be one. That means there will only be two nominations on Sunday, too. It’s hands down, the biggest HOH competition of the house. And it’s an endurance comp. Who will win? We have to tune in Sunday to see! In fact, I bet they’re still hanging on to those cliffs as we speak.

Tweet me @the_hoff to discuss what you thought of this week’s BB and predict what will go down next! #TeamVanessa!

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