Quick review: Clay is expected to use the Veto to save himself today. Vanessa has gone through the phone book looking for a suitable replacement nominee other than Austin. As of late last night, the likely target is Jason. Jackie, Meg, John and Jason were not privy to this change of plan. Will they find out too late?
9:45 AM
The house has come to life. Shelli gets a “Thank You” from Big Brother for cleaning the mirrors. She is giddy at the acknowledgement.
We learned there was a ‘Friends’ song as part of the wake-up music when Meg had a mild rant about the song choices.
Meanwhile Jackie has been doing her make-up in the HOH. Vanessa questions her about the Last Laugh and the votes to save Jeff. Vanessa is coy but isn’t sharing and Jackie is figuring out something is up. She suggests a meeting of the newest group of eight. They decide to wait to sort things out after the Veto meeting.
Just as Vanessa is called to the Diary Room she starts up about James. He did NOT throw the Battle of the Block because he corrected the spelling of ‘Christine’ and that gave him and Liz the win. She went down and roused him from his bed to confirm it. When a bewildered James says he did it, Vanessa just says, ‘ok’ and leaves them room.
Right back to the HOH, an increasingly perturbed Vanessa reports this to Jackie and asks Jackie to go get Jason. Jackie continues getting ready and Vanessa ends up going to the Diary Room without talking to Jason.
Meanwhile James is now up and worried Vanessa is up to something. He talks it through with Jason.
Right after we see Jackie with Shelli. She knows something is going on with the group but Shelli is careful with her answers.
Just as they leave the room, Vanessa appears out of the Diary Room so Shelli pulls her into the Have Not room to alert her about Jackie. They get the call for Outside Lockdown and Shelli is startled when Steve gets up from one of the dentist chairs.
While that is going on, James is outside with Clay trying to figure out why Vanessa questioned him this morning.
12:25 PM - Veto Meeting
Feeds were out 40 minutes for the Veto meeting. We learn immediately that Jason is on the block with Becky. Meg is crying and Jason says, "I'm not some master strategist that will work my way out of this."
James has gone up to the HoH to talk with Vanessa. She tells him the ‘Christine’ thing was a factor, but a small piece of a larger puzzle in her decision to nominate Jason. She tells him this is the best move for James’ game too and he nods in agreement.
A little later we see Clay consoling a crying Meg. She asks if he knew [about Jason going up] and he shakes his head no.
Liz tells Vanessa that Shelli and Clay are probably saying that they didn't know Jason was going up. Vanessa says the main reason she put Jason up was because of Shelli and Clay. They better not be acting like they didn't know or she will draw a line in the sand.
Elsewhere Jason thinks Jackie is the swing vote and John, Steve, Liz, and Austin are voting him out. James, Meg, and Jason are planning to confront Vanessa. Jackie abruptly leaves this conversation.
Not long after Jackie is up with Vanessa, Liz, and Shelli in the HoH. A very serious Jackie wants to know the details. As they go through everything Vanessa says the majority of house wants Jason to go. Jackie asks Shelli if she is one of them. Shelli says, “I don't want Jason to go.” Vanessa calls her on it and Shelli clarifies she backed up Vanessa's decision to put up Jason.
2:00 PM
When they are alone, Vanessa tells Jackie she knows she did her wrong and owes her one that Jackie can call in whenever she wants. Jackie replies, “All I can think is to make sure they aren’t after me”.
We briefly see Meg eaves-dropping on Liz, Austin, Clay, and Shelli in the Have Not room while they are recalling how Jackie came at them looking for answers upstairs. Feeds go to Fish and we don’t see what else was discussed.
When feeds return, Shelli and Clay are in the Have-Not room getting grilled by Meg and James. Shelli tried to come off that she just realized Jason was the one who brought up that Austin should go up. Meg calls her on it because there was already a plan before she or Jason talked to Vanessa.
Meanwhile outside, Liz tells Austin that Jackie is scared of her. Jackie can go off on Shelli but not her because she has an attitude just like Jackie does.
Jackie and Vanessa are still talking in the HoH and Vanessa lets on there was a large group of people working together that she was not part of.
Meg goes to see Vanessa in the HOH room. Meg is hurt not so much because Jason is up, but more because Meg was not told about it. Vanessa goes through her reasoning of why she did it. She makes a point to let Meg know that Clay and Shelli knew; she wouldn’t have made that move without them.
3:00 PM
Shelli tells Jackie she is on board with keeping Jason this week. Shelli notes "[Jason] hasn't even been up there to talk to [Vanessa] yet.” Jackie doesn’t think he cares to.
Not long after Jackie tells Meg, "You and I are the only two people who didn't know." Meg is livid Shelli lied to her face twice! Meg throws out that Clay, Shelli, Liz and Austin are all working together with Vanessa. Jackie says that is the group Audrey said was an alliance. Jason agrees there is truth to what Audrey said. Jackie thinks Shelli and Clay won't vote for Jason even if they act like they are. Jason says every HOH except James' has been Shelli's HoH.
Interestingly, up in the HoH Vanessa tells Shelli she doesn't care if the house thinks Shelli and Clay are slagging Vanessa off by not admitting to knowing [about Jason going up]. Shelli denies she said she didn't know to the house but admits Clay denied a couple times. Vanessa pulls a clam-shell soap bar out of her HoH basket and says it is proof she can trust Shelli. Shelli observes the only people who have targets on their back from this are Clay and Shelli. Vanessa thinks she is lumped in too.
Jason walks into the HoH room and requests a moment alone with Vanessa. Shelli complies and leaves. Jason tells Vanessa that Shelli is the one running things and “I'm going to leave knowing I'm loyal and went down with my people's ship. I've been the target for 4 weeks.” He isn't buying any explanation from Vanessa. When things get emotional, Vanessa tells him, "In the real world there are a lot of things I can do to help you out, and I will." Jason is frustrated because he loves the game and most of the others are recruits.
They hug it out, but not before Vanessa makes it clear the only people who didn’t know about the plan were Meg, James and Jackie.
Clay and Shelli are alone and realize they need to shift the heat. Talking about the possibility of Austin and the Twins (they later decide against this saying they are off limits). Steve stops by and confirms Shelli and Clay are getting the brunt of the blame for not letting people know about the plan.
Meg gets Clay alone and after several denials he finally admits he knew but he didn’t lie to hurt Meg. He tries to convince her that he and Shelli have been protecting her and they want to work with her. Before they break up she lets it known Vanessa said Clay was the one who created the 8 person alliance. In his most genuine (and perhaps only real) moment of this meeting, Clay reacts, “WHAT?!”
6:00 PM
Becky is up talking to Shelli and Vanessa in the HoH. Becky seems to have bought into theory that James didn’t really throw the Battle of the Block. She thinks the votes will be 6-3 to keep her. She says It will be best for their group if she wins HoH next week.
Next Jackie is questioning Clay, "Why didn’t you tell anyone that Vanessa was keeping Austin?" His response, "We trust Vanessa and it isn't our place to go telling other's about her decision." He won’t admit to any alliance other than with Vanessa.
Becky is now in the Kitchen having a minor breakdown. She cries to Meg and Jason that she never asked for this to happen. Jason tells her not to worry; he's not even campaigning.
With James now in the Kitchen too, Steve is observed coming down from the HoH. James takes some friendly jabs at Steve asking if he was up there talking about votes and "You're gonna have to jump off that gravy train one day." Steve just says he's going to nap but ends up doing some sweeping. (Ahh, the ‘I’m invisible cuz I’m sweeping’ trick.)
The rest of the recap follows...
7:00 PM
Jackie meets up with Vanessa again. They agree they are not targeting each other, but Jackie presses if Vanessa would be scared if Jackie won HoH. Vanessa does not give a direct answer. Vanessa give the same explanation about the change of plan but this time stressing the part about Austin volunteering to be voted out once jury starts and that worked with people. Vanessa admits not informing the house was a mistake.
Vanessa adds that Austin's deal is if he makes it to final two, the jury is not allowed to vote for him to win. She asks that the information stay between the two of them. Jackie thought they already did.
Meanwhile Meg, James and Jason are together downstairs. Meg is sure Clay is [lying to] her. They think Clay and Shelli should be split up. Jason and Meg agreeing Shelli needs to go first. Meg reports Clay is trying to scoop her up, but she thinks Shelli wants her out. Jason says Steve is more of a threat and the others don't see it. Jason reassures Becky again there are five who will vote him out, so she's fine.
Jason and Meg tell Becky that it's Shelli, not Vanessa, who was after him because of fallout with Da’Vonne. Jason blames the house, not Vanessa, and singles out John, Steve, Shelli, Clay, and Liz.
Meg says they thought James didn't do a good job throwing BOB and since they couldn't put him up, they went after Jason. Jason says he's just going to enjoy his last days here and asks BB for some wine.
A little later there is an exchange between Jackie and Clay and Shelli. When they stress Jackie's name did NOT come up at all as a replacement, Jackie calls them on it since earlier Clay told Meg they had.
Outside, James says he is about to flip out and Jason talks him off the ledge. Big Brother requests they raise the awnings but Jason does not move saying he does not live here anymore.
8:00 PM
Jason has gone into bed with Meg, tears shed by both of them. Jason wishes he knew how to do his own funeral or had a Hail Mary pass.
Clay and Shelli come out and tell James they do not have any deals and had nothing to do with Jason going up. James just grins at them. Shelli tells him that’s offensive. She didn't know this was coming. Then they say aside from James, Jason and Jackie, it was kind of unanimous. They couldn’t tell him because it wasn’t confirmed. Vanessa decided this morning it was going to happen. They continue trying to convince James of their clean hands in all this. Shelli leaves and Clay continues the explanations to James. James is not happy he is being questioned about not throwing the Battle of the Block. Clay believes him making it sound like the comp took so long it was about to be forfeited. Now James feels bad for offending Shelli and goes to talk to her about it.
But now we see Shelli has joined Meg and Jason still crying. Shelli swears to God she didn't put Jason's name out there. Jason tells her it is okay; he doesn't want to go against Becky and wants to leave with his head held high. Shelli is crying now too trying to give a pep talk to Jason; the game is not life or death, it’ll probably be a relief when they finally go on stage with Julie, glad to be out of the house.
After Shelli leaves, Jason advises Meg they will go after James making sure she is alone in the game and will dump her too.
Becky and Jackie chat. Becky was giving Jason space because he has "block shock" and he's not the one she wanted going this week. They review how the others just changed things to get Jason out. Becky worries there's something going on that they don't know about. The two of them are glad they are good with Vanessa for the moment because ‘that group’ keeps winning. Jackie notes Meg and James are not good with Vanessa.
10:30 PM
Jason points out to Meg that Vanessa had a double standard. It wasn't OK to kick out the transgendered person but now suddenly it's OK for the lesbian to kick the gay guy out?
Jackie is STILL up in the HoH with Vanessa. Vanessa breaks out the wine. Jackie is yet again questioning Vanessa and receives an elaborate explanation of how Vanessa being the HoH instead of Jackie uncovered some previously buried lines in the sand and ultimately, "They wanted a blood bath."
Vanessa says season 17 is the most fickle week-to-week season she's ever seen.
Meanwhile Clay is out back assuring John they are still good and will continue to work together. But he may have lost all credibility when John asks about ‘us four’ and Clay doesn’t know who he means. John had to remind him, "You, me, Shelli, Becky?"
Liz and Austin are shown complaining about Jason and Jackie. They make it out to the hammock where Austin says he will try to distract Jackie during the HoH, "No one comes between me and my twins, Jackie!" Liz expresses concern about them hanging out together so much. Austin says they could stop hanging out and it wouldn't matter. They'd still be associated with each other. Liz is concerned that Austin wanted to separate the twins. Austin says Jason twisted that around. Liz asked if he said that to anyone else and Austin denies.
During some horseplay Steve lightly threw an orange at Meg, but it was hard enough to actually make a sound when it hit her prompting the others to note she did not sound hollow.
Meanwhile we see Jackie is still up with Vanessa and continues the questioning. This time Vanessa explains Jason is a stronger player than Austin. That was her fear. Their marathon session is finally ended by Big Brother when Vanessa is called to the Diary Room just before midnight.
1:30 AM
Steve, Liz, Vanessa and Austin are in the HOH discussing their favorite players from each season. Steve was a fan of Christine. He didn't like her game, but she was his favorite. He wrote a long letter to Christine last season after she was evicted and she wrote back.
Steve mentions he wants to be a Mod on Jokers Updates. (Why does that make me nervous?!)
2:30 AM
Steve is alone with Vanessa now in the HoH and they have a long chat. Vanessa thinks Meg and Jason were the hinky votes for Jeff. Steve thinks that makes sense (Cough cough). Steve is going to say, "Get to steppin!" as a sign of respect to Jason when he leaves. Steve gets a hug when he notes his lack of physical contact with anyone. He then confides to Vanessa, “If I make it to jury I'm totally going to showmance Julia. I like her. She's my age.”
Elsewhere, Jason tells the feeders that he hates Shelli and Clay and they better not be ranked high when he gets home… Austin too.
Next Steve is alone in backyard playing with hula-hoop while talking to himself. He tells himself, "Stop that!" when he gets too close to the Backyard mics. He goes inside and showers and the house goes quiet by 3:30 AM.
Will Jason continue to play dead or does he have anything up his sleeve to stay? Is it too late for Shellie and Clay to get their stories straight? Will the twins entering the game take things in an unexpected direction?
The Houseguests were all over the place today. Thanks to the Updaters for keeping up with it!
