Big Brother recap: It's a tense week as allegiances are tested and either Ian or Tyler goes home
CBS
Tuesday's episode of Big Brother really shook up the house, as Da'Vonne won the Power of Veto and used it to take Kevin off the block. This came after David used his secret power to take himself off the block, completely messing with Dani/the Committee's nominations. That brought Tyler and then Ian to the block, possibly causing the Committee to turn on itself if Tyler ends up being the one to go home.
There's a lot of ways this vote could go, and the players discuss some options early. Ian rightly knows he only needs four votes to make it a tie, and that would force Dani to be the tiebreaker and choose who goes home. So, he's out here campaigning to people like Memphis about why he should stay, assuming he already has Nicole's vote and maybe Da'Vonne and Kevin's. But here's the thing: Dani is lying to him. Nicole is lying to him. Everyone in the Committee is lying to him. He thinks Tyler is the target because Dani keeps assuring him that's the truth, but the Committee, other than Nicole, is pretty much in agreement that Ian needs to go to keep the alliance intact.
So, let's break down what's genuine here: Cody, Memphis, Christmas, and obviously Tyler all want Ian to go home. Ian thinks he's close with some of them, and he's confused about why Dani would put him on the block as a pawn, and much of his gameplay is built around the misunderstanding that Dani has his back. Nicole seems to really want Ian to stay, and she sees that Cody and Tyler are making a lot of decisions for the alliance that benefit their own game. Da'Vonne and Kevin see some of what's going on too, sniffing out that Tyler hasn't really been campaigning to stay, which probably means he's safe and Dani is lying about targeting him.
It's all pretty messy, but I have a few issues with the gameplay: namely, Nicole's guilt about potentially voting Ian out. I feel like her gameplay is a microcosm of the larger trend of the season. She doesn't want Ian to leave on a personal level, but she also wants to keep him around because he's good for her game. But she insists she's being forced to vote him out because it's what her alliance wants. And sure, that's true, the Committee wants him out. But she has an option! She could go to David, Kevin, and Da'Vonne and go for the tie. She could absolutely go against her alliance and make a bold move to keep Ian around. Yes, that's a big move that could have consequences when it comes to the jury, and she might not make it to the end, but if keeping Ian really means that much to her and her game, and if she sees that the Committee is being controlled by threats like Cody and Tyler, why not go for it? Again, this is falling into a pattern. There's a lot of talk about how the power in the house is too concentrated and how things need to change, but nobody is taking the big shots and the Committee continues to roll.
That brings us to the vote, where, of course, the Committee members stays true to their plan and Nicole doesn't bother shaking anything up. Da'Vonne, Kevin, and David all vote for Tyler to go home, but the other five vote Ian and he's gone. It's not particularly surprising, but his exit interview is interesting. What's really fascinating is that in his recorded message in the case of Ian going home, Tyler tells him all about the Committee and how the vote went down. That actually makes Ian feel better. To paraphrase him, he was worried he'd just been ganged up on by a bunch of lousy players, but he's relieved to see it was an actual plan by an actual alliance, and he gives them kudos for knocking a former winner out of the game.
With the ceremony done, the players begin the next HOH competition, which involves building a 3D puzzle of a fire hydrant. Best I can tell before the episode goes off the air is that Tyler, David, and Cody have their pieces coming together nicely, but we'll have to wait until Sunday to find out the new HOH and their nominations.
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