T. Green
Heading into double elimination night, the deck appeared to be stacked against Zach. The house majority was content with getting rid of him and keeping Jocasta. However, some last-minute events flipped the script and changed the direction of the voting.
The dominoes actually started falling with a bit of a rift within the Detonators alliance. Frankie walked in on Cody and Derrick having a conversation, but they got suspiciously silent when he came in. Frankie was only worried about Cody plotting against him though. He talked to Derrick about it, but was assured there were no games going on. Frankie and Derrick then turned their attention to Zach, confirming that the plan was to vote him out.
Cody and Derrick then talked to Caleb about evicting Zach. Caleb balked at the idea, saying that Zach was an extra vote for their alliance. He said if they showed enough loyalty to Zach, he would be on their side at the end. It was still a tough call, as most people viewed Zach as an untrustworthy snake.
The rest of the Detonators (or Bomb Squad, if you’re Caleb) were informed about the new plan. The sense was that Hayden and Nicole were playing their alliance. Cody went and told Christine and Frankie about Nicole’s plan to backdoor Frankie and target Christine afterwards. That was enough to convince them to change their votes.
Julie informed the house that “all good things must come to an end”. After this eviction, there would be no double HOH. That’s because it was double eviction night. Julie also mentioned that the first person evicted tonight would be the first of the nine-person Big Brother jury. She also said that the people in the jury house could have a chance to return to the Big Brother house.
It was then time to cast the first eviction vote of the night. The last-minute change of plans greatly benefited Zach, as the house voted 6-2 to evict Jocasta. Jocasta was now the first member of the jury. Hayden appeared surprised at how the voting went down. (Note: There are some conspiracy theories floating out there as to why the tide suddenly shifted in favor of the “popular” Zach. But hey, that’s reality TV for you.)
Jocasta exited the house and came onto the stage. She said she was not shocked that she got evicted, but she was cool with it. Julie inquired about her lack of gameplay. Jocasta said her strategy was to up her social game and take that as far as she could (which was almost halfway). She promised her mother she wouldn’t lie, which is why she didn’t partake in the backstabbing and scheming that could’ve helped her game. Julie did hint to Jocasta that she could find herself back in the house, telling her to “expect the unexpected”.
Now, it was time for a quick HOH game. Again, only one HOH would be crowned. The game was called “Mathcathalon”. Houseguests were quizzed on various happenings this summer in the house. The questions were based on quantities, so the possible answers for each question were more, less, or exactly.
More than half the field got wiped out on the first question, leaving Caleb, Christine, and Zach as the remaining players. Zach was wrong on the next question, so Christine and Caleb were the only ones left. After a couple more questions passed, Christine was eliminated, which meant Caleb won the competition and was now the lone HOH.
Caleb only had a few moments to choose his nominees. He decided to draw a line in the sand, and throw Hayden and Donny up on the block. With only one HOH, there would be no BOB, so the POV was the only chance for the nominees to take themselves off the block. The POV contestants were: Caleb, Hayden, Donny, Zach, Victoria, and Christine.
The game was called “Best of Duck”. Each player had to run down to their own ball pits and retrieve three rubber duckies. Only one duck could be brought back at a time. Once all three ducks were brought back to the end, the players had to grab the veto symbol and hit the buzzer to win.
Zach got off to a fast start and was the first person to bring a duck back to the other side. Donny was next to retrieve a duck, but Zach was right behind him with his second duck already in hand. Donny was still in second when he got duck number two, but Caleb was gaining on him. Zach got hung up while digging for the third duck. Donny took advantage of that and got his third duck to the end first. He took the veto symbol and rang the buzzer to secure his POV victory. The elder statesman of the house fell into a heap from exhaustion afterwards.
Donny obviously used the POV to save himself. Nicole looked distressed as she knew what was likely to happen next. Sure enough, Caleb named Nicole as the replacement nominee. Hayden and Nicole both threw Frankie and Christine under the bus, referring to their dirty gameplay. They figured that those two were behind the shadiness that went on.
By a vote of 5-2, Hayden was the second person evicted of the night. When it was his turn to take the stage, he said he “got boned”. Once Jocasta was evicted, he knew he was in trouble. Hayden wasn’t entirely sure how the plan formulated to switch votes, but he was mad at Frankie the most. On his relationship with Nicole, Hayden acknowledged that they were two different people. He did say “we’ll see” when questioned if their relationship would continue. Julie also let Hayden know that it was possible for him to get back in the Big Brother house.
It was certainly a jarring end to Hayden’s game (for now) getting blindsided like that. Many people thought he was playing a great game and was a dark horse to win it all. Meanwhile, back at the house, Nicole was on the warpath trying to get to the bottom of the shenanigans. It’s definitely worth checking out Big Brother After Dark and the live feeds to see the continued fallout from this intense episode.
