Big Brother delivered its second eviction of the week, and the last one we'll see before the grand finale a week from today. Who won the last Veto competition of the season? Who made it to the Final 3? And was someone blindsided tonight? We'll get to that, but first let's talk about the wrap-up from last night's episode.
On one hand, the guys got Frankie out, and that may have been their last chance to do that. As a feed-watcher, I was more of a Frankie fan before he revealed his big secret. That's the Frankie we saw exit the house during last night's episode, all smiles, fun and entertainment. He left some seemingly light-hearted parting words to his fellow houseguests before stepping out of the house, tossing some glitter over his head and acting as though he just won the game.
Watching that yesterday, little did we know, hours before, when the feeds were down, Frankie was playing the last card he had in his hand, which came off as kind of a threat. After Derrick admitted to Frankie that he was going, the guys convened in the Head of Household room, where Frankie calmly said, "By doing this to me, you have created the most powerful person in this game. Because when I step out of those front doors, you are reconnecting me with my millions of followers. And you are reconnecting me with the jury. And, let's face it, who's the most convincing speaker in this house? You're looking at the person who will singlehandedly pick the winner of this game."
I don't actually fault Frankie for threatening to control the jury. I don't think any one person has that much influence, but from a strategic standpoint, it's not over the line to post that kind of warning if it means trying to get people to change their mind about sending him out. It's part of the game, and it's something the houseguests should have already been concerned about. But the thing about his "millions of followers" sounded personal. What exactly is he saying there? Was he just bragging? Or was he trying to throw around his weight as a "social media mogul" with some kind of warning about being reconnected with his followers? I don't know. He didn't elaborate.
This was probably Frankie's last ditch effort to scare up a vote or two from these guys, but it didn't work. Caleb told him to shut up and Cody pointed out that Frankie is not, in fact, Jesus.
Man, I wish we could see the unedited version of that conversation. There's always more. Alas, the feeds were down then so we may never see it. But what they showed tonight almost made up for last night's underwhelming pre-taped episode. I get why they held off on showing the conversation, as production wouldn't want to give away who was going before the eviction. But it would have been nice to have gotten some indication that there was some tension in the house leading up to the eviction.
Other filler included a segment focusing on Caleb's family, and a montage of stories and tall tales he's told in the house. Caleb always has a story. That's actually not such a bad thing in the Big Brother house, as it makes the feeds a bit more interesting.
There was also a great moment in the episode where Derrick got a "holla" from his baby. I'm not ashamed to admit I rewound that and watched it twice because it was so adorable to see the look on his face when it registered.
Moving on to tonight's eviction, we saw the houseguests competing in the last Veto competition, which involved matching players to events in the house. Derrick implied in the diary room that he was throwing the competition. He had no reason to win it. But it was great to see all three of the other houseguests assuring themselves in the diary room that Derrick had their backs.
Derrick only has his own back. He's said numerous times to people all summer that he's here to win the money for his family. He is here to win. He's not here to be a nice guy and help other people get closer to the prize, unless them being closer to the end helps him. That's how this game works.
Cody ended up winning the Veto, and obviously, he didn't use it. Despite the Final 3 deal he had with Caleb and Derrick, Cody opted to stick to his and Derrick's plan to send Caleb out.
This looked like an actual blindside, and that may have been at least partially due to production stepping in to discourage a pre-eviction conversation. Admittedly, this is based on vague and partial information, but as I reported in our Live Feed Spoilers post earlier today, Cody and Derrick had a conversation this morning that implied they might have been told not to tell the nominees who was being evicted tonight -- or possibly specifically not to tell Caleb he was being evicted. Like I said, the conversation was really vague and it went to fish before we heard the end of it, but if my assumptions about what was said are correct, production wanted tonight's eviction to be a blindside. I feel for Caleb if he didn't see it coming, but for a season that's been really predictable, I won't complain about seeing some genuine reactions, if that's what we were getting tonight.
Before the vote, Victoria gave her usual speech "happy to be here, no hard feelings, etc," while Caleb's speech focused on loyalty. Yes, Caleb, you and Cody and Derrick have all been loyal to one another. And you were all loyal to Frankie, Christine and Zach... until you weren't. I'm not faulting Caleb for emphasizing loyalty, as that's really the best and only reason to keep him around. Even if Caleb were to stay and win the final Head of Household and take Cody to the Final 2, he'd be hard to beat in the end. He had to go. But loyalty wasn't the theme of this season. They can talk all they want about how far that alliance went, but it was always about strength in numbers.
Of everyone, Caleb was probably the most loyal, but when it was convenient to get Zach, Christine and Frankie out, I don't remember him putting up much of a fight.
So, out Caleb went, but not before Cody made sure Caleb knew that this situation was happening because of the Hitmen. Cody's speech could hurt Derrick. In fact, judging by the way Caleb acted as he left the house, and his body language when he was watching the goodbye messages, I don't think he's happy at all with Derrick. Whether or not that turns out to be a problem for Derrick -- it's possible the jury has soured toward him as well, though I really hope not -- we'll see a week from now.
The episode ended with Cody, Derrick and Victoria celebrating their Final 3 status together. It'll be exciting to see who wins the first two parts of the Head of Household competition. Does Victoria have any chance? It would be kind of funny if she managed to pull off a win, but I don't think many are counting on that.
