BB17 Episode 28 – August 26, 2015
<–Previously, Austin Keeps the Game Interesting
I know I didn’t expect last week’s multiple alliances to come back into play, but damn if that wasn’t a brilliant effort on John’s part to tell Vanessa about the scheming last week to target her. It could make the difference in him staying in the house as Vanessa is likely a tie-breaker if the Twins and Meg & James vote differently. I sure thought this would be a fairly boring week when Austin won HoH and apparently I couldn’t have been more wrong!
Newly Zingle Zingbot 9000!
Zingbot can be very funny, oftentimes at the expense of feelings. I did notice though that this year’s Zings were very close to being just a touch too mean, although I did love his first one towards James and Meg taking him to a special place after the show: The FriendZone.
That was pretty awesome. The other ones got kinda mean, especially slamming Julia as a less attractive, stupider version of Liz; Steve being the least cool thing ever; John’s backhair being more unattractive than his laugh (hey, not all of us have genetics for attractive body features, that’s for sure; I feel ya, John!). Then the one to Liz about if she’s excited about meeting Austin’s girlfriend…? That almost feels like it could impact the game as she certainly looked pissed afterwards at both Austin and herself for hooking up with a guy with a girlfriend. Later in the show it seemed that wasn’t a problem, but still, it could have impact on the game.
Veto Competition on the Zinder
Julia finally got picked for a Veto competition! Trust me, it was a big deal. 🙂 In this Veto comp, the Zingbot needed help looking through potential mates on the Zinder app, and it was up to the houseguests to figure out which 3 houseguests were merged in the pictures. Often you could easily pick out one houesguest clearly, but sometimes it was just a nose being used and that’s where attention to detail and obsessive staring at the Memory Wall must come into play! Â Julia was first and actually did good for a while, with both Steve and Austin timing out before completing the challenge. Finally Vanessa comes in and crushes that time, and after that neither John or Meg are able to beat her time.
So guess who won Veto when they absolutely needed to? Vanessa! Part of me wants to see her keep lasting and lasting like Janelle as it is fun to see underdogs triumph. Vanessa certainly hasn’t been an underdog in much of the season, but this episode she quickly realizes that she’s now in a position where the whole house is targeting her. More on that later!
John & Vanessa Make Up, For Now
Vanessa looks to have some awareness at this point that it is in her best interest to build up a coalition of her own. The Austwins are never going to break up until forced to; likewise James & Meg are a strong platonic pair. Vanessa reaches out an olive branch to John to see if they can move past any of the Becky- and Clay-inspired drama. John readily says he can move on so she decides to do what she can in terms of talking to Austin about using the Veto. No promises though!
Austin Says No
Vanessa does try to honor her side of the deal and suggests to Austin that Meg & James shouldn’t be off limits this week as targets. She points to Meg being a good target but Austin doesn’t want to rattle the James tiger as he figures if he targets either of them, it will be all out war and if somehow an ally of theirs comes back, it’s even worse. So Austin tells Vanessa that he doesn’t want her to use it, and she agrees not to. And above is when she tells John, trying to let him down easy and ensure he knows she did try.
Johnny Mac Drops That Bomb
This is the moment when John surprisingly brings up last week’s 5-person alliance and their eventual plan to take out Vanessa. John readily admits he was on board and was happy to target her, but that was then, not now. But this news seems to take Vanessa by surprise. When he lays out that it was Steve + the Austwins behind it, that’s when she wonders why the script was flipped. Time to do some digging…
First up on the inquisition is Liz – who looks like she may have just gotten up from bed and is not wanting to deal with this shit. Like a boss though she readily admits that there was a plan but swiftly deflects the blame all to Steve. It was glorious. Liz had no problem throwing him right under that bus. Vanessa seemed sold on that version of events, and of course perception is all that matters. I honestly couldn’t remember if Steve was the ringleader as Liz had me convinced! But I think the editing with Steve’s face cut in at that revelation made it clear that Liz was totally BSing Vanessa.
Sorry, Steve
Feeling totally hoodwinked by Steve, Vanessa is royally pissed. When Steve tries to start a conversation with her and asks how she is, well, the above screenshot was blurred out because of her response. In other words, Vanessa wasn’t having any of what Steve had to say.
Later, Vanessa confronts Steve one-on-one to find out from Steve directly if he was the chief orchestrator of last week’s alliance to get her out. Steve really doesn’t handle this well and waffles on every question thrown his way, making his defense that much more rocky in Vanessa’s mind. He literally starts to breathe hard and stammer while talking to Vanessa and she just leans in and effectively says, “I’d be breathing hard too as you’re going home, Steve.” The conversation ends and it’s like, damn, son, you got that bus square in the face. Even Becky’s experience with a train wasn’t as painful.
The Veto That Wasn’t Used
Vanessa seems bursting with rage during this entire ceremony and it’s clear Steve & John know it. Steve doesn’t even bother trying to do much besides say “don’t hurt me” while John just laughs at the prospect of even trying to ask for her to use the Veto on him, as it would be like a gazelle asking a tiger to hang out. I love John. As if their words even mattered, Vanessa gleefully tells them she’s not using the Veto. Steve tells us he’s still dumbfounded as to what the hell is going on and John hilariously tells us that he’ll do whatever “and if Steve has to go, I don’t care…haHAha!” Oh, John, please don’t get evicted this week. Or if you do, come back!
Status & Standings:
Head of Household: Austin
Nominated for Eviction: John & Steve
Power of Veto Winner: Vanessa
Veto Used? No
Well, one of the two awkward guys is going home tonight. I hope it’s Steve, as that would just be great to have him out the door right after his “nemesis” Becky. Tonight is also the night when the 4 jurors get to fight for the right to come back into the house – if John is amongst the 4, I want him to come back. If Steve is amongst the 4, I want Becky or Shelli back. Looking forward to seeing how this pretty great week ends up!