I’ve thought long and hard about this, but I firmly stand by it: There is simply nothing in Reality TV that is more breath-taking, more nerve-racking, than Double-Eviction night of Big Brother. It’s somewhat become “must see TV” for fans of the show, who might opt to DVR a normal episode of Big Brother under normal circumstances.
But as I do every Double-Eviction, I kept myself off of Twitter and social media even though I desperately wanted to know the outcome, as I watched it on like a 20-minute delay (it’s a MUST to be able to fast-forward through those commercials on such an important evening). Watching the show live and not knowing the outcome is an absolute thrill, and not at all common in today’s “binge” culture. But seriously is there anything cooler than Double-Eviction? And this one especially my friends, did not disappoint.
I’ll try to avoid spoilers above the warning label, but as I do at the beginning of every one of my Survivor recaps, please heed the following: Remember that this recap assumes that you are caught up on all of the aired episodes of Big Brother 21. If you are not and don’t want to be spoiled, please come back later! It’s important to add that while we WILL hit on all of the important developments since the last recap, so if you need to go further back please click on the “Big Brother” Topic on this page to access past recaps…also, this is not a linear “blow-by-blow” recap, but is more of a discussion and reaction of what we just witnessed together.
CLICK THE CONTINUE READING BUTTON FOR MORE, AND THIS IS YOUR LAST *SPOILER* WARNING!
Nicole! Nicole! Nicole! What a time she picked to win her first competition of the Summer, here on Day 79. She blew away the competition during tonight’s Double-Eviction HOH, even though I thought she was going to squander her big lead when she missed her first shot (and admit it, you thought she was going to blow it at that point too!). But Nicole took home what is by far the most important HOH of the Summer up until now.
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At Final Six after Jessica‘s predictable eviction, we know we were down to three duos remaining in the game, and the season’s ultimate power couple, Michie and Holly, were short-handed since challenge beast Michie was not able to compete (since he was the outgoing HOH). With Cliff and Nicole working with Holly, it was a must-win for Christie and Tommy, as was the POV that followed…and Christie came so, so close to squeaking out the win and finagling her way back into safety yet again.
But – as Christie might say – the Universe had other plans. Cliff took the POV and with that, the unlikely duo of Nicole and Cliff – the duo that many would probably rank third out of the three remaining duos – completely dominated the night. “This is our night,” as Cliff told Nicole. It sure was.
The question now becomes: Did Nicole and/or Cliff make the right call in deciding to honor their Final Four with Michie and Holly? I truly think Michie and Holly will gun for Tommy next…he is just as big a threat, if not bigger, than Christie was and no one is going to want to sit next to him at the end of the game, especially with Christie now a sure-vote for Tommy on the jury.
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So looking ahead to Sunday’s Swaggy C and Bayleigh-hosted HOH, I think that Tommy will truly be on an island, and will need to win HOH or win POV to stay in the game.
Nicole will not be able to compete in the next HOH comp (I can’t believe that’s relevant to say!), but where things become interesting is if someone OTHER than Michie or Holly win the next HOH…in other words, what happens if Cliff or Tommy wins?
Let’s break it down. Tommy I think will clearly go after Michie and Holly…he simply has to break them up to give himself any chance of getting further than Final Four (because of this theory, it does appear that Cliff/Nicole did the right thing, because they are still not Tommy’s main target even after plucking his BFF from the game).
If let’s say Michie wins POV and pulls himself off (he wouldn’t use his POV on Holly would he???), Tommy would be forced to replace him with either Nicole or Cliff, so it would likely be Cliff. That would leave Michie and Nicole voting for who stays, and it would probably be a split with Michie voting to keep Holly and Nicole voting to keep Cliff…meaning that if it comes down to a tie-breaker vote, Tommy winning HOH could all but guarantee that either Holly or Michie goes home fifth…unless someone flips or a miraculous deal is struck.
If Cliff were to win Sunday’s HOH, things might get interesting…but I think he too would probably choose to stay loyal to Michie and Holly.
The problem comes in that Tommy would need to sit next to someone, so either Michie or Holly would have to go up. That would mean that if Tommy somehow were to win the POV (and he’s proven he’s capable), that potentially Holly AND Michie might ultimately sit on the block during Cliff’s HOH, even though he might have truly had no intention of going after them.
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This scenario, by the way, is probably the best possible one for Cliff, because if this were to happen, it would be no fault of his own, and yet he’d probably be able to add “got rid of Michie” to his resumé, without getting too much blood on his hands or having to renege on his word.
The beauty of late-game Big Brother is that it all comes down to competitions…with so few people left in the game, there simply aren’t many other options once a person wins a comp. Nicole showed that she’s at least capable now, but all of the remaining players have shown that they have it in them to win challenges.
This makes the game infinitely more interesting moving down the stretch. But Michie and Holly are clearly the front-runners to win then, since they have been the most dominant in the challenge department. Oh man…less than three weeks away until someone is crowned winner, and still so much game to be played!
Final Thoughts on Christie: Love her or hate her this season (and I did my fair-share of both), Christie was a large part of this season’s overall story-line and one of the best strategic players in the house. Her “Taco Tuesday” blow-up was one of the most epic social-strategic maneuvers the game has ever seen, in that in not only saved her that week but it shifted the target to her target for the following week.
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Christie was such a good player, and everybody in the house knew it, which is why she spent the past month on the block. When she was able to be on the offense in this game, she ran the show, but she was kept on the defensive for the last several weeks.
With her back up against the ropes, she fought valiantly, and it probably couldn’t have worked out any better to send her home during a Double-Eviction…had she been given time to work her mystic magic, she very well might have found a way to stay in this game, yet again. She was overly emotional, way too dramatic and was the sort of character that you love to hate, but she was never dull. Kudos to Christie!
Final Thoughts on Jessica: Being that this is a weekly Recap, I guess I should mention that Jessica went home in what was probably the lamest week of the season. I wanted to like Jessica, but I truly don’t remember a more clueless player. Like ever. But what else is there to say about Jessica? Not much, so I’ll leave it at that.
Other Breaking BB News: This just in: While all of this drama was unfolding, it has just been announced that Big Brother has officially been renewed for Season 22 next Summer! Julie Chen Moonves will of course return as host. There wasn’t much doubt that Big Brother would return, but it’s always reassuring to know for sure!
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Quick Recap of the (past) Week
HOH: Michie
Original Nominations: Christie and Jessica
POV Winner: Tommy, who used it on Christie
Final Nominations: Jessica and Cliff
Evicted: Jessica, in a vote of 4-0 (everyone voted for Jessica)
Double-Eviction HOH Winner: Nicole (!!!)
Double-Eviction Nominations: Tommy and Christie
Double-Eviction POV Winner: Cliff, did not use the Veto
Final Double-Eviction Nominations: Tommy and Christie
Double-Eviction Evictee: Christie, in a vote of 3-0 (everyone voted for Christie)
New HOH for upcoming week: TBD (to be revealed on Sundays episode)
Upcoming Big Brother Episode Schedule
- Sunday, 9/8 – Find out who wins HOH, and who he/she nominates for eviction
- Wednesday, 9/11 – POV competition and ceremony
- Thursday, 9/12 – Next Live Eviction
This Season: You can count on at least one of these Recaps each week, usually following the Eviction. That means that I’ll be back with a Recap following next Thursday’s episode. I’ll discuss everything that happened over the course of these three episodes (above). In the meantime, if you have comments or are dying to discuss the show, use the comment section of this article (below) as a sounding board! Here’s looking forward to a fun-filled Summer full of “unexpected” twists, as we look to cover everything going on in the Big Brother House, from A to Zingbot.
See you next week!
TELL US – DID THIS EPISODE TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY OR WAS IT JUST ME? DO YOU THINK MICHIE WILL WIN THE GAME? IF NOT, WHO DO YOU THINK HAS THE BEST PATH TO THE END?
[Photo Credits: Monty Brinton/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved]