Not since Mark left the house has a houseguest known they were the target until it was too late to do anything about it. Such is the case for this week's target, and we could be looking at a major blindside. Live feed spoilers ahead!
Here's how the power's shaking out this week...
Head of Household:
Christmas
Originally nominated:
Alex
Jason
Won the Veto:
Paul
Veto used?
Yes, Paul used the Veto to take Alex off the block.
Current nominations:
Kevin
Jason
Most likely going home:
Jason
Paul won the Veto and used it to take Alex off. Christmas put Kevin up as a pawn, and this has allowed Alex and Jason to buy the plan that Kevin will be going home on Thursday.
Kevin isn't anyone's ride-or-die at this point, but Paul, Christmas, Josh and Raven are all on board for Jason to go. I've lost track of whether or not it'll be a forced tie (Paul/Alex vote to evict Kevin, Raven/Josh vote to evict Jason. Christmas breaks the tie and sends Jason out), or if Paul will vote with Raven and Josh, and get blood on his hands for Jason's exit. I'm pretty sure it'll be a tie. By pushing it to a tie, Paul can act like he wasn't part of the blindside, and keep Alex on his side, in the event that she wins Head of Household next, and he needs to steer her away from retaliating against Josh and Christmas.
We'll also see if anyone caves and tells Jason what's going to happen before it does. On one hand, these houseguests aren't especially exited about sending Jason out. They know it's the best move for their game, but they get along with Jason, so they might decide it's the right thing to do to give him some notice, so he isn't completely shocked when the votes come down. On the other hand, there's no way he or Alex receive that news well, and there won't be anything either can say or do to turn the tides. Worse, if the plan is to force a tie, it's in Paul's (and by proxy, for now, Jason and Christmas's) best interest to stay on Alex's good side and make her believe he was not in on the plan. It'd be kind of hard to pull that off if the plan gets out beforehand. By making it a blindside, Paul just has to act surprised, and pretend to be on Alex's side until they have their first opportunity to get her out (which could be soon).
And let's face it, maybe they won't tell Jason because they don't want to have to face the intense awkwardness that'll linger inside the house because he knows he's going. Blindsiding him means they have to face a minute or so (max) between when Jason finds out he's going, and when he's walking out the door.
Jason will undoubtedly go out the door on Thursday. If he really is blindsided, there's no predicting just how he'll react. Jason's not typically one to stay calm under pressure, but who knows what he'll say or do when it happens. The same applies to Alex.
The houseguests are prepared for the possibility of a double eviction. They're doing the math and know the season is about to speed up soon.
As of right now, I think Alex is the next target. Paul has been working the remaining houseguests to ensure they have their eye on her for the next eviction. And she doesn't really have anyone's support or loyalty right now.
Meanwhile, Kevin is on his own. It's not the worst position to be in, considering he hasn't won competitions, and he's not linked with anyone who might make him a bigger target. People are actively ignoring him at this point, leaving him on the sidelines, where he might actually skate by for a few more evictions. Or he'll get pawned out the door when the real target wins Veto.
Paul has done well to continue to keep dividers up between the rest of the houseguests. No one is a big fan of Alex, Kevin or Raven, though Paul is on decent terms with all of them.
Josh has continued to express concern over the way Paul is clearly setting himself up to be protected from all sides. He's tried to talk to Christmas about it, but she's in team-mode and wants none of Josh's negativity. She doesn't want to hear anything that suggests there are fractures in their small group. And maybe that's her way of ensuring that all three of them are rock solid, so they can get to Final 3. But Josh isn't wrong to see that Paul is much better set up to win this game than either of them are. Or even that there's a chance Paul will see it more beneficial to take Kevin or Raven to the Final 3. I'm not sure that's the case.
We'll update if there are any major changes to Jason's situation, but for now, expect him to be sitting face-to-face with Julie on Thursday night.
