Spoilers ahead for the August 9 episode of Big Brother Season 25.
It wouldn't be Big Brother without some surprises, and once again, the show may need to call an audible and switch up how to proceed with the rest of the game. Luke Valentine was heard on the live feeds casually uttering a racial slur, and after a morning of reactions from the fans and past players, the CBS series announced his expulsion from the game.
Viewers who haven't already seen the footage will see it acknowledged in Thursday's live episode, which was supposed to feature the first eviction of the season. Now, with Luke already out of the house, we don't know if Kirsten Elwin or Felicia Johnson will go home after all. Here's what we know about what has happened in the past, and why it's possible there was never an eviction happening this week in the first place.
What Big Brother Has Done Before With Evictions Following Houseguests Leaving
Many Big Brother viewers are equating Luke Valentine's exit to Paloma Aguilar's in Season 24, and there are similarities. Fans will remember that Paloma's exit was a voluntary withdrawal, and she left on Day 8 of the game and tied the hands of the producers in the process. As a result, Julie Chen Moonves announced the week's eviction was cancelled, and everyone but the Head of Household of Week 1 was allowed to play for the next HOH. Now, in Season 25, Luke is also out on Day 8.
Assuming Big Brother follows the same protocol this year, Felicia and Kirsten will stay in the house, and everyone but Week 1 HOH Reilly Smedley will play for Week 2 HOH. Personally, I feel Reilly deserves a chance to play and for the show to do a soft reset, but if she's sidelined like Daniel Durston was in the previous season, it's not the worst scenario.
It is worth noting that Big Brother has continued on with the eviction in every previous instance where a Houseguest was expelled from the game. While there are similarities between Paloma and Luke's exits in terms of time spent in the game, and it's the closest example we have of how the show handled an unplanned exit, she was not expelled. I still lean toward the idea Big Brother will do what it did in Season 24 and replay Head of Household, but precedent from earlier seasons suggests that the eviction will happen.
There Are Rumors Big Brother Wasn't Evicting Anyone This Week Anyway
The online rumor mill for Big Brother is always sketchy in terms of reliability, but after it absolutely nailed Survivor legend Cirie Fields being in Season 25, I'm more willing to believe the other wild rumor circulating before all this drama occurred. There's been speculation all week on X (formerly known as Twitter) that there was another secret Houseguest entering the game on eviction night and that no player would be evicted in Week 1.
After this reveal, the Big Brother house was allegedly going to be divided into two groups of nine people. If this was the twist, then Luke's unexpected expulsion messed up the numbers. It is possible, however, that they'll just add the secret Houseguest to replace Luke and still do something zany. Again, this is just speculation based on internet theories, but fans figured out Cirie was on the show, so this could be legit!
Big Brother will reveal what's happening during the live episode on CBS on Thursday, August 10th at 9:00 p.m. ET. Those who can't watch on the network have options to watch the show online with their Paramount+ subscription and catch up on all the drama happening in the house via the live feeds.
