A mostly frustrating, painful week in the Big Brother House has now culminated with the first-ever “Camp Comeback” competition, where one of the first four evicted house guests returned to the game. So where do things go from here?
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!
Remember, if you missed some of my thoughts on all of the controversies going on in the house thus far this season, you can check last week’s Recap article here. I won’t go on and on about these controversies again this week, other than to say that this season hasn’t given us too many players to root for, and more than a few to root against. Also, seeing three people of color – Kemi, Ovi and David – sit side-by-side as the first three house guests to OFFICIALLY leave the game tonight, isn’t a good look for the show or the network. Fan-favorite (so far) Cliff won the Comeback Comp fair-and-square, but there is no denying that the other three were targeted and just “didn’t fit in” for reasons that I’ve already discussed (a last thought on this: We finally got to see a moment during tonight’s episode where Jack was condescending to Kemi, putting the faintest of spotlights on a very troubling player…Jack).
The events that led up to tonight’s Comeback Comp will definitely have major ripples in the game that we will have to wait until Sunday to see play out. When we left off last week, Nick had just won HOH, with his new girlfriend Bella by his side, and he quickly went to work on behalf of his Gr8ful alliance, putting up Cliff and Jessica. When Kat won the POV, she took Jessica down who Nick replaced with Nicole, and following Wednesday’s episode, it seemed like Nicole’s game was doomed.
But alas, expect the unexpected. We got to see the formation of a new six-person alliance dubbed “6shooters,” an alliance within the Gr8ful alliance made up of Tommy, Christie, Jack, Michie, Holly and Analyse. After Nick and Bella turned the house upside-down going after Nicole (more on this in a second), it seems like Nick and Bella had already understood that they were played for fools by the time the end credits “looked in on the house guests” at the end of tonight’s live episode.
Nicole, for as much as I was rooting for her, was quite disappointing to watch this week. First, she had her all-girl Black Widows alliance blown up by Bella, so she made what I found to be a good move in choosing to chat with Nick about some information she had heard: That Jack, Michie Christie and Analyse were possibly gunning for Nick and Bella, AND that Christie and Analyse had referred to them as “bullies.” We saw in the episode that Nicole was being truthful…everything that she said happened, happened. OF COURSE Christie, Analyse and the boys would deny this to Nick, especially prior to the POV Ceremony! But Nick and Bella – instead of then going back to Nicole to try to figure out who was telling the truth, or choosing to confront the entire house all at once – just decided that Nicole had made it all up and sided with their Gr8ful allies. What a massive boo-boo for their game. In the matter of about 24 hours, the 6shooters decided that now was the time to break up the Gr8ful alliance and vote out Cliff, and not even tell Nick and Bella about their plans.
The reason why Nicole was disappointing was in how she just folded. I understand that Bella didn’t let her get a word in edge-wise upon their initial conversation following the blow-up, but everything she was saying in the Diary Room was stuff she should have been saying publicly in the house. She needed to be a bit stronger in sticking up for herself. Listen, I get it: Bullying wouldn’t even be a thing if it was that easy to rise up against it. But in the Big Brother house at the end of the day, Nicole is her only real ally, and she needed to stand by the truth because it actually was the truth. They didn’t explicitly show this, but I feel like Christie‘s reasoning for keeping Nicole and getting rid of Cliff might have been due to her watching how badly Nicole handled this entire situation. Christie, with her strong personality, can easily steamroll Nicole, whereas Cliff was definitely more of an immovable object later in the game.
Overall I’m not sure if the whole “Camp Comeback” twist was a success, drama-wise, as most of them were completely shut-out of talking game with those still in the game, and their timid personalities didn’t help. On a different season, with a few more head-strong players, the Camp Comeback twist might have worked out a bit better, but in the end it is what it is. What makes Cliff‘s return so interesting is the new fracture that is sure to occur between Nick/Bella and the other 6shooters. And although I was sort of rooting for David to get to be the one to return to the game (he, of all of them, never really was given a chance to even play the social game), it does suck that Ovi‘s “Nightmare” power was never utilized…THAT, would have been cool to watch unfold.
Let’s not forget that Sam knows where he stands in the “Und9able” alliance, so watching it fracture this week might just make Sam a key player moving forward. Also, Kat (who I am starting to love, with all of her quirkiness) gave a cryptic message to Julie Chen that she knows what’s going on in the house. We know that Kat, Jessica, Nicole and Cliff are together, but there are 13 players still in the house and in the game at this point. Nick and Bella will need to turn somewhere and those four may be very eager to try breaking up the power alliance in the house. If they can get on-board with Sam, that would give their side of the house a 7-6 majority over the 6shooters. Did the 6shooters just shoot themselves in the foot by turning on Nick so quickly? Will these master-bullies be able to get Nick and Bella back on-board in some way? This next HOH will be key to seeing how the rest of the season shapes up.
Quick Recap of the Week
HOH: Nick
Whack-tivity Comp: Christie won the “Diamond POV,” giving her the ability to remove a nominee from the block, that is then replaced by the current POV holder
Original Nominations: Jessica and Cliff
POV Winner: Kat, who used it on Jessica
Final Nominations: Nicole and Cliff
Evicted: Cliff, in a vote of 6-4 (votes for Cliff: Jack, Michie, Christie, Tommy, Analyse, Holly…votes for Nicole: Jessica, Sam, Kat, Bella)
Comeback Competition Winner: Cliff dominated the challenge and returns to the house, in the game, permanently sending Kemi, Ovi and David home.
New HOH for upcoming week: TBD
Upcoming Big Brother Episode Schedule
- Sunday, 7/21 – See who is crowned as the new HOH, and who they nominate for eviction
- Wednesday, 7/24 – POV competition and ceremony
- Thursday, 7/25 – 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 – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON CLIFF RETURNING TO THE GAME? WHO ARE YOU ROOTING FOR TO WIN THIS UPCOMING HOH? AND IS THE GR8FUL ALLIANCE OFFICIALLY DEAD?
[Photo Credits: Monty Brinton/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved]
