Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from the Big Brother 17 live feeds, many of which haven't aired yet, including who won the Veto and whether or not it was used... and all of the interesting stuff that happened after the Veto ceremony.
UPDATE: Read our breakdown of Thursday night's double-eviction HERE!
Head of Household
Becky
Nominated
Steve
Shelli
Won the Veto
Steve
Veto Replacement Nominee
Vanessa
Who's the Target?
Vanessa and Shelli are on the block against one another. As of Wednesday afternoon, it's looking like Vanessa has the votes to stay, but there's a lot of chatter on the feeds, so that could change between today and tomorrow.
There's a good chance tonight's episode will make it look like Vanessa's fate is sealed, and as of the Veto Ceremony, it really did seem like it was. She was Becki's primary target from the start. Though Vanessa got to play for the Veto (despite not being nominated), she didn't win it and Becki had the opportunity to exact her plan of backdooring Vanessa. Steve used the Veto on himself, Vanessa was put up, and though we won't see the ceremony until tonight's episode, it sounds like Becky went all out with her speech, essentially making it clear that Vanessa's her target this week.
At this point, Becky had the support of James, Meg and Jackie (the After Dark Crew alliance) and Johnny Mac. She only needs four votes, because if it goes to a tie (eight people voting this week), she would break it. So I get the impression she went into the Veto ceremony feeling very confident and expressed her intentions to Vanessa.
Well, things aren't so certain now. Vanessa spent most of the rest of Monday in bed, crying and upset over what was happening and how Becki treated her. She went on a ramble to the ADC about Becki trying to form an alliance with her and other called The Generals, and how Becki was the one who mentioned targeting James the week Vanessa was Head of Household. Then she retreated to her room and was upset for the rest of the day and night.
Late Monday night, the ADC alliance (James, Jackie and Meg) were in the Have Not (HN) room talking about the whole situation and realizing that if Shelli stays, she's going to come after them. Whereas if they keep Vanessa, she'll likely target Becki. So they're basically just doing Becki's work by getting Vanessa out, meanwhile Becky could be close to Shelli and therefore safe from her if she stays. So why keep Shelli? They went to sleep with their minds changed, and on Tuesday, they solidified an agreement with the twins and Austin to keep Vanessa.
Austwins seemed prepared to vote to evict Vanessa up until ADC expressed an interest in keeping her. They realize that being six, they control the vote, and united, they're safer together than they would be against each other going into the double eviction.
Vanessa has given up more info about Becki to ADC, including some stuff she apparently said about James being a sexist? This is hearsay. I have no idea if it's true or not, but James didn't like it.
James also has reason to want Shelli out, for his role in getting Clay out. There was also some mini-drama about a shirt James either took from Clay or Clay gave him, which Shelli secretly stole back on Monday. That may have been the turning point for James, as he likely feels he's still Shelli's primary target if she's rifling through his stuff and taking Clay's shirt.
Becky knows ADC is looking at evicting Shelli, and as of this afternoon, she's spoken to them quite a bit about trying to change their minds. The problem for her is that her only argument is really that Vanessa is going to be gunning for her if she stays. ADC seems to have their doubts about Becki's intentions, factoring in some of the stuff they know about her and her attempted "Generals" alliance --which hilariously keeps prompting people to quote a certain catch commercial -- and the fear that they won't have another shot at Shelli, or that she'll ally with Becky and Johnny Mac and target them, it doesn't seem like they're going to be swayed.
Shelli seemed very confident she was staying early in the week, but that confidence appears to be fizzling, especially as Vanessa has become more animated. Johnny Mac spoke with her today and suggested she talk to ADC to make them feel secure that she's not targeting them if she stays. Whether or not that has any impact on their decision remains to be seen.
And of course, with a day to go before eviction, it's very possible that things could shift back to Vanessa being the target. As I'm typing this, Shelli is pitching an alliance idea with Meg, Jackie and Johnny Mac. So this plan could change, especially considering this is less a situation of people trying to save one player as it is most of them trying to figure out who needs to go first (and who they're willing to risk leaving in the house).
Becky may be in trouble no matter who goes. Vanessa was sitting on information about Becky (specifically, dropping James' name as a target, and her closeness with Clay and Shelli) that she released after Becky blindsided her (and wouldn't give her more than a few minutes of her time afterward to explain her reasons). If Vanessa's proven anything, it's that she relies on other people's reasons to make (or justify) her own choices. Maybe nothing Becky did would have mattered in this case, but blindsiding Vanessa and then not laying out her decision in a way that made it seem more game than personal set Vanessa off and gave her an excuse to unleash the ammo she had on Becky.
If Vanessa goes, Becky still has Shelli (unless she follows her out as the next evictee) and that's something. If Vanessa stays, not only does that mean Becky's lost Shelli, who wasn't likely to target her (and may have more firmly allied with her, in absence of Vanessa), but she's also going to be one of Vanessa's targets.
We'll have to wait and see if things turn around for Shelli between today and tomorrow, but it'll take a lot of convincing on her part to make that happen.
Big Brother airs Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. EST and Thursday at 9:00 p.m. EST on CBS.
