SPOILERS ahead from the 2019 Big Brother 21 live feeds.
Who won the Veto in Big Brother 21, Week 10, and will it be used? The answer is almost certainly yes, for the first time since the same person was saved by the Veto in Week 7. It was Hide and Go Veto, which is funny because the houseguests were just talking about that classic comp being "played out" since everyone knows where to hide things now. Hah! The Big Brother house is now trashed, and only one person is holding the golden power of Veto. It's Tommy Bracco.
The Veto competition was held Saturday afternoon, August 31, 2019. You probably know by now that Jackson Michie won HoH (again) even though he didn't really want to, beasting his way through that endurance wall comp. Jackson defeated Tommy for that HoH, which is why he stayed up for so long, but Tommy is not his target. (Good thing, too.) Jackson put Christie Murphy and Jessica Milagros on the block, with Jess as his initial target. I say initial, because we have to -- all together now -- expect the unexpected on Big Brother. But really, switching a target from Jess to anyone else wouldn't really be unexpected.
Here are the results of Saturday's Veto competition:
Who Played In The Veto? The Veto players were HoH Jackson, nominees Christie and Jess, plus Cliff, Tommy, and ... Nicole! Yes, finally, Nicole got to play in a Veto. Her chip does exist. There are only seven houseguests left, so only Holly did not play in the Veto. Good thing she's tight with the HoH.Who Won The Veto? Tommy. It was a long one, too, about five hours.Will The Veto Be Used? Probably yes, to save Christie. Jackson and Tommy had a conversation about this on Friday. Jackson had said that Tommy could use the Veto on Christie to show loyalty. In that case, Jackson said he'd put Cliff up next to Jess, since Jess was his target. Cliff had told Jackson he was OK with being used as the pawn. (Oh, Cliff.) We'll confirm what happens on Monday, unless the schedule changes for Labor Day. Usually the Veto Ceremony is held Monday afternoon, West Coast time.
Will Tommy go ahead and use his Veto to save Christie? Christie and Tommy are tied by their personal pre-season history. If Christie feels betrayed by Tommy, would she spill that secret in jury? I can't see that happening, no matter what. But if Tommy does use the Veto to save Christie, would it just help her game more? It's still another argument in her favor, that she can be on the block FOUR times in a row and be saved. Plus, Tommy already saved her before in Week 7. It's like he's putting her game before his own. It's not like she's a non-threat pawn, either. She's Christie. Plus, Tommy knows Cliff Hogg III would be put up as the replacement pawn. Here's that conversation, by the way:
So would Tommy lose any potential points with Cliff to save Christie? Or would Jackson lose those points, since the blood would be on his hands? This is really worse for Jackson. They both said they don't want Cliff to leave, since they have been talking about the boys sticking together. Jess would still be the target. But does Tommy even know/suspect about the new final four of Jackson/Holly/Cliff/Nicole? I know Christie has talked about seeing it. (Update: On Sunday's episode, Tommy said in the DR that he had been thinking the same thing about Cliff/Nicole/Jackson/Holly.) Christie has been busy trying to stay good with Jackson and Holly, since Jackson and Holly keep putting her on the block as a pawn.
Shortly after the Veto comp -- after a bit of clean-up time -- Tommy told Jackson he was leaning toward taking Christie off the block. Tommy feels like Jackson and Holly have each other and Christie is the only one he has. Tommy also told Jess he was thinking of taking Christie off the block. Tommy didn't want to say he was 100% on it, but he will almost certainly use the Veto on Christie. He wants her to stay. Jackson would prefer the noms to stay the same, but he told Tommy he was OK with a replacement, as long as he didn't have to break a tie.
We're just about down to the small table in the Big Brother house, with only seven houseguests left:
Jackson Michie
Christie Murphy
Jess Milagros
Nicole Anthony
Holly Allen
Cliff Hogg III
Tommy Bracco
Only four houseguests can vote for eviction on Thursday, September 5. At this point, those HGs are Nicole, Holly, Cliff, and Tommy. If Cliff goes up, that means Christie would then get to join the vote between Cliff vs. Jess. In theory, there could be a tie. But I doubt there will be, especially since Jackson just said on Saturday that he did not want to break a tie. Christie and Tommy said they'd vote how Jackson wanted. That would be Jess. Will they change their minds? That's possible. There's a lot of time between Saturday and Thursday's live eviction.
Nicole started getting paranoid Saturday night, after Jackson found Nicole and Cliff's spots in Hide and Go Veto. She started thinking Jackson and Holly might have a final four with Christie and Tommy, and maybe they were working to screw over Cliff in some kind of backdoor set-up. That's not actually the case, although Jackson and Holly are trying to stay good with both pairs of Cliff and Nicole + Tommy and Christie, hoping that those pairs target each other. This whole Put Up Cliff scenario may be a crack in the Jackson/Holly/Cliff/Nicole final four. Jackson never should've told Tommy he should use the Veto if he won ... then again, if he nixed the idea, it would show his own cards that he's working with Nicole/Cliff.
At this point, Nicole, Cliff, Holly, and Jackson still have that final four deal. Tommy likes to vote with The House, so if he smells a vote moving in a certain direction, he'll vote that way. That would almost certainly include his old friend Christie, if she remained on the block. Tommy can be loyal, but he can also be brutal if he's not alone in it (just ask Jack).
Jess is Jackson's target at this point, but I'm curious to see if that sticks. It's boring, so there's a part of me that hopes something shakes things up. That said, getting Jess out of the way before the double eviction would be good, too, because then we're left with three pairs battling it out. (I'm team Nicole and Cliff, but I do need them to start winning comps and taking power.)
Christie campaigned hard when she was on the block with Analyse "Sis" Talavera, but her arguments to stay are more thin now that she's on the block for the fourth time in a row. Jackson and Holly want the other pairs to turn on each other. I think the theory is that Nicole and Cliff will stay more loyal to Jackson and Holly if the only other options are Christie and Tommy, vs. Tommy and Jess. Jess might be tempting to worth with.
Either way, Jackson wants either Christie or Jess out. He's worried about them coming after the guys, aka himself most of all as a self-described "alpha male." The houseguests don't know about the double eviction yet, but as this week's HoH Jackson is now in a tough spot. You don't think the HGs would keep protecting Jackson and Holly, do you? Maybe Cliff and Nicole would stay loyal to their final four -- unless they get paranoid after Jackson puts Cliff up as replacement -- but Tommy and Christie would take a shot, no?
Big Brother 2019 airs Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays on CBS. Keep up with all the action on the live feeds.
