What a topsy-turvy show this is! We all know that with Big Brother we can “expect the unexpected,” but these past three weeks have really been an emotional roller coaster. Since last we met two weeks ago (I was on a Disney vacation with my two-year-old, and I use the word “vacation” very lightly), the house has lost three contestants, with the jury pool now at two members. We’ve had backstabs, frontstabs, blindsides, a fan-driven road trip, the break-up of a major alliance, and the resurgence of a new alliance. There have been plenty of tears, lots of laughs, and even a choreographed dance (from Tommy) thrown in. OTEV has come and gone, and the power has shifted back-and-forth so frequently that you almost need to wear a giant red space helmet in order to make it through.
We’ll blow through the major events of the past couple weeks, and get all caught up following tonight’s Live Eviction Episode, but first: My important disclaimer as follows!
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!
Well first off, it’s great to be back! Nine episodes of the show have gone by since my last Recap, and it seems like it’s an entirely different game. The 6shooter alliance all but imploded, the lasting affects of watching Sam get the boot as the final contestant to go pre-jury. That episode was one of the best of the season, as we simultaneously saw Sam get eliminated, the 6shooters go bonkers on one another, and only to watch it end with Jessica – of all people! – winning HOH.
Her week was a phenomenal success and had fans cheering (or whatever the equivalent of cheering is on social media) when it led to the season-long villain (and potential racist), Jack Matthews, finally getting voted out of the house and becoming the first member of the jury. But just as it looked like the “underdogs” were going to claw their way back into the game, Tommy went and won the next HOH, and despite having to navigate through a tumultuous week that included a BB Road Trip Competition that landed Christie on the block as a third nominee, he ended up being able to save her, which resulted in the quirky Kat getting sent home.
RELATED: Big Brother 21 Week 4 Recap: The Proof Is In The Pudding… And On The Live Feeds
Phew! And that’s just the Cliff Notes version of what happened. Speaking of good ole Cliff, the oldest contestant this season has also been the most resilient, and it is mind-boggling (and a credit to his game) that others don’t seem to mind him getting deeper into the game. What’s also mind-boggling is watching the so-called “floaters” (Jessica, Nicole, Cliff and Kat) do nearly nothing to counter the other side of the house. Nick actually said it best in these past episodes, when he said that in normal seasons of Big Brother, you have two sides of the house. This season, you have one side of the house and then a bunch of floaters. Sadly, he is correct.
But all in all, this season is a much-improved season then when I left it back on July 31st. Nobody likes watching one dominant alliance pick-off other players one at a time, and if nothing else the past few weeks have delivered in terms of drama and good, digestible entertainment. And those mad that Christie somehow managed to squeak by during Tommy‘s HOH week, well, it really came down to that week’s POV comp, which just so happened to be the OTEV competition.
RELATED: Big Brother 21 Week 3 Recap: An Evicted Player Returns To The Game… Now What?
Going into that challenge, there were three contestants (Cliff, Kat and Michie) who would have kept Christie up on the block, and three (Christie, Tommy and Nick) who would have pulled her off. The stakes don’t get more even than that. But as they’ve done all season, the 6shooters (or the remnants of) have won comps when they need to in order to get the game to shift their way, and Tommy winning that challenge was maybe the single-most important comp victory so far this season.
Rewinding a bit, I think everyone watching was pleased to see that Jack was removed from the game. His more-than-controversial words and actions this season have made national news, and he had a lot to answer for, even though Chen-Moonves-bot didn’t quite grill him as hard as some were hoping (for example, she didn’t ask him about mimicking David walking like a monkey, or his alleged use of the N-word along with Michie in the kitchen), it was semi-satisfying to watch him go from over-confident to uncomfortably shifting in his seat during her questioning. From a game stand-point, Jack seemed like an immovable object, and it’s a bit stellar that Jessica was able to get him out of the game so early.
RELATED: Big Brother 21 Week 2 Recap: What’s Really Going Down In The Big Brother House?
Of course Jack‘s demise also resulted in Michie and Holly completely fracturing away from the others. Although I usually find myself rooting for the underdogs each season, I’m finding it quite tough to root for either Michie or Holly, but their “quiet” game play the past couple weeks has seemed to benefit them. Unlike the other “floaters,” I have a feeling that getting Michie out of the game won’t be all that easy for the power alliance, but at least it should make for some good TV.
Speaking of good TV, I’m sorry to say that I took pleasure in Christie coming to the realization this past week that America might hate her. Michie, Sis and Christie correctly concluded that America would never have voted to send anybody they like on the Road Trip Comp, and the realization of this was great to watch. I don’t have much else to say about this, other than that I do like watching “karma” come back around.
Another theme of this season has been the discrepancies between the live-feeds and the TV show that airs, with things on the show not quite resembling what viewers of the live-feeds know to be going on. This is still going on, involving the curious case of Nick, who is simply the most unpredictable house guest this season by far. When I left on my trip just a few short weeks ago, Nick was in a hot-and-heavy showmance with Bella, and he was betrayed badly by his former alliance members when Bella was targeted and voted-out. They told each other they loved each other, and Bella hinted that they might continue a relationship outside the game once the game is over.
RELATED: Big Brother 21 Week 1 Recap: The Comeback Kids
Well, live-feeders know where I’m going with this. Unbelievably, with Bella gone and with Jack now at jury, Nick has been cozying up with Jack’s former beau Sis (Analyse), and the cameras have even caught them kissing and making out. It has even prompted Bella to pretty much break up with him via Twitter. Of course, the TV show has decided not to show this or allude to it in any way, shape or form, but if you are at all wondering why Nick was able to get close again and form an alliance with those that burned him, you can credit Sis with getting Nick on-board.
It has been very interesting that the game has taken some “unexpected” twists in the hours leading up to the live shows the past few weeks, with house guests threatening to flip their votes at the last minute, but so far it’s all been hype over action. Like tonight, we saw another potential game-changing shift when it appeared that Kat might have been able to get the votes to stay over Cliff, but ultimately that fizzled out as well.
RELATED: Big Brother 21 Premiere Recap: Camp Is In Session!
The question is: Why isn’t the other group of people fighting back? And why is there an obsession with forming a six-person alliance? While it hasn’t been easy to root for Tommy and Christie, I think these two are and have been playing the game the hardest from the get-go, and are perhaps most-deserving of winning the game. Sis – in a completely unconventional way – is going to be there at the end as well, even though the perception of her game won’t gain her any winning votes.
But more so than on other Reality TV shows, Big Brother juries can be BITTER. And Sis sitting next to the right person could make her an unlikely outside candidate to win the game. Now, I don’t think this will really happen…I’m just saying that these three – Sis, Tommy and Christie – sort of deserve it the way they’ve been able to pull through almost all adversity thrown at them, even if Christie does tend to cry through most of it.
RELATED: Meet The Cast Of Big Brother 21!
But Nicole and Jessica are – let’s face it – worthless when it comes to the game of Big Brother. Nicole is a floater if there ever was one, and the worst kind, because she’s so indecisive and lacks the confidence to trust her gut or make big moves. And Jessica. Kudos to her for winning HOH and POV and getting Jack out, but how is she still at this point so clueless as to what’s going on in the house? It wasn’t shown (again) on TV, but she actually went to Sis after Nicole told her about the new alliance…Sis!
You know, one of the people Nicole named as being in the alliance, someone who was in the other original six-person alliance, and someone who has shown absolutely no loyalty to Jessica throughout the entire game. Sis immediately went back to her new alliance, meaning that although we THINK we are seeing a new alliance of six forming, everyone in the alliance already knows that Nicole spilled the beans about it, and therefore can’t be trusted. Nicole was on the bottom of this alliance anyways, so I don’t think it will matter too much, but still. Just poor, lame game-play by the floaters.
That covers a lot of it! Kat is now gone (I really liked her!), and the majority alliance is feeling more secure, but if the game goes like it has this past two weeks, it’s going to be a long, bumpy and unpredictable ride. So hang on!
RELATED: Celebrity Big Brother Finale Recap: And The Winner Is…
Quick Recap of the (past) Week
HOH: Tommy
Original Nominations: Cliff and Kat (Christie added as a third nominee as a result of the Road Trip comp)
POV Winner: Tommy, who used it to pull Christie off the block. Since she was a special nominee, there was no replacement nom
Final Nominations: Cliff and Kat
Evicted: Kat, in a vote of 6-1 (everyone voted for Kat except for Jessica)
New HOH for upcoming week: TBD…the slip and slide challenge began at the end of the latest episode
Upcoming Big Brother Episode Schedule
- Sunday, 8/18 – See who is crowned as the new HOH, and who they nominate for eviction
- Wednesday, 8/21 – POV competition and ceremony
- Thursday, 8/22 – 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 WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON IN THE GAME? WOULD YOU HAVE RATHER SEEN KAT OR CLIFF EVICTED? AND WHO ARE YOU ROOTING FOR AT THIS POINT?
[Photo Credits: Monty Brinton/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved]
