Betrayal, Instigator Chaos Ahead of Shocking Veto Ceremony

Plus, with the A.I. Instigator power bestowed on him by America, Tucker also had the ability to sow chaos in the House — but that’s just not working out the way he was hoping at all. His first move with it backfired spectacularly, and things just keep getting worse for him.

The Veto competition was the classic reward-punishment comp that sees a series of “assignments” available to Houeguests, who pick them up one by one as they’re eliminated. With each round, the eliminated person can keep the new “assingment” or steal one already opened.

Quinn was excited that the punishments could really shake up the House, but they weren’t really needed at all for that. Angela, who we hinted appeared to be backsliding into her extreme paranoia, erupted again this week, blowing up the House in a whole different way.

Meanwhile, Tucker spent the bulk of this episode pouting that he was put up as a pawn, after he made the offer to T’Kor. It’s understandable, because he is a genuine threat and this House is taking those out … but he’s also his alliance’s best shot of controlling the Veto comp.

One of Tucker’s biggest complaints is that he keeps giving and giving in this House, and everyone is more than happy to take … but no one is really giving him anything in return. He’s not entirely wrong, but at the same time, he has to understand. He’s won six competitions in a season controlled by competitions. His next closest competitors are Makensy and Angela with two apiece.

He was looking to make it seven in this Veto competition, which also happened to feature Makensy and Angela, one as a fellow nominee and Angela drawn by T’Kor. The other draw was Cam’s chip, leading him to inexplicably choose Joseph rather than his closest ally, Chelsie.

He said that it was to protect her game, but wouldn’t it be better to protect his own by having two shots to save it? Joseph wouldn’t use the Veto on him. He was chomping at the bit to get a win under his belt, but it was definitely a risky move. Especially as everyone already knows about him and Chelsie working together.

The game itself was a simple slingshot competition. Each round, players had one shot to not score the lowest number of points. Multlple scores of zero in a round would trigger a Shoot-Out (as they needed a loser each round).

As always, the first loser got the Veto — but would definitely not get to keep it. Joseph was out first, followed by Angela, who quickly gave him her “Trapped in the Mattrix” punishment. Considering how that turned out, it would have been much, much funnier for her to wind up with it.

Makensy was out third and won a trip for two to Hawai’i. Knowing there was no way anyone would leave her with the Veto, she opted to keep her vacation.

The next round triggered a Shoot-Out between Cam and T’Kor, with the HOH falling short. She got a punishment (“Radiation Eradication”) and hastily gave it to Angela for the Veto (which she knew she’d only hold temporarily).

And so, it was down to Cam and Tucker in the final round, a showdown for the ages. Cam was hoping to get his “swagger” back after being “humbled” so far, while Tucker was definitely not feeling safe on the Block.

Ultimately, though, Cam pulled out an unlikely victory (such as it is), sending Tucker spiraling even more. And yet, Tucker continues to play a loyal and giving game, intentionally taking the Veto from T’Kor so she could have the $5k he opened, knowing he’d wind up with the final punishment.

As anticipated, Cam opened the “BB A.I. Assistant” punishment and swapped with Tucker for the Golden Power of Veto. And so it was punishments for Tucker, Joseph, and Angela — which is part of what bloated this episode into a two-hour extravaganza — and a problem for T’Kor, as Cam was definitely going to save himself.

In many ways, Angela had the most brutal punishment in that she had to transport 1,000 small balls across the back yard one at a time. She had 12 hours to complete it, with occasional breaks for “de-contimanation” sliming and showering.

It was sweet seeing the Houseguests cheer her on as the night wore on, with Makensy even walking the final 50 or so back-and-forths alongside her. Variations of this punishment always seem to bring out the best in most Houseguests. In this case, Angela persevered in less than 10 hours, though it was past sunrise when she finished.

Despite ourselves, we found ourselves getting a little emotional watching it. Not so much for Angela, who we are more than over at this point, but by the support shown by Cam and Makensy, in particular, as she struggled through it.

Tucker’s punishment was annoying in a different way, as it was poised to last all week and could hit at any time. As the A.I. Assist, he had to answer any random question that came in. But that also meant looking up said answer in the BB Encyclopedia upstairs, and he had to get it right.

He tried to stay positive and upbeat about it, but you could see it starting to wear on him.

The reason we wanted Angela to get the third punishment, “Trapped in the Matt-rix,” is because of her irrational hatred of Matt. Joseph thought he might enjoy 24 hours away from the rest of the House, but it wasn’t the kind of quiet solitude that begat “Dan’s Funeral” or anything.

In this isolation, Matt’s avatar was there to keep Joseph company and it looks like he talked nonstop for 24 hours straight about everything and mostly nothing at all. We’d like to think you could eventually drown him out, but it was definitely driving Joseph batty. See why it would have been so much more fun to see it with Angela in there?

Angela didn’t need 24 hours with “Crazy Eyes” to trigger her, though, as she did that well enough on her own. Once again, Angela’s paranoia was getting the better of her and she found herself doubting people telling her the truth.

That started all the way back in Week 1 when she doubted Matt’s sincerity, thinking he was targeting her, and doubted being invited to join the first Collective, blowing it up instead.

This time, it was one of her closest allies, who’s had her back, who felt the wrath of her paranoia. Tucker’s A.I. Instigator antics were a lot of nonsense — and not nearly entertaining enough — but they were also leading the House to suspect Angela.

Wanting to give his ally a heads-up about it, Tucker told Angela the House suspected her. He also told her that he had her back and would keep her deep into this game, and even beyond showmance Rubina, as he and Angela had partnered up first.

She nodded along, and then immediately ran to a group including Quinn to throw Tucker under the bus, telling them that he was “filling” her head with lies to confuse her. And so, she wanted to try and orchestrate his eviction this week, if he didn’t win A.I. Arena.

Well, Quinn being Quinn, took this intel to his Visionaries allies Kimo and T’Kor. He’s not aware of their own Sixth Avenue alliance, which includes both Tucker and Angela (who begged her way into it). Nevertheless, they encouraged him to tell Tucker.

And so, Quinn told Tucker, who immediately confronted Angela. To his credit, he didn’t out Quinn — which suggests some trust building between the allies — but Angela likely suspects it was him. She also, to her credit, owned up to her paranoia.

She also told Tucker that she just didn’t believe he’d keep her over Rubina, pointing out that “it’s a lot of money.” Tucker, still giving, told her that despite all this, he’d still fight to have her back and work with her deep into this game. We suspect she still might try to blindside him.

Again, true to his word, Tucker even went so far as to lobby T’Kor hard that when Cam inevitably used the Veto on himself, she should put Leah up. That was the first logical choice as T’Kor isn’t working with Cam, Makensy, and Leah. So the three most obvious targets are those three people, right?

Well, that might have been the case until Quinn told her about one alliance member targeting another. And so, despite Tucker flat-out asking her to nominate Leah, she put Angela up when Cam took himself down.

And so, the Tucker spiral continues. Who knows how he’ll handle the week feeling like he can’t trust anyone and no one really has his back. He kind of made this bed by being so good in the comps and playing so aggressively, but he did also give T’Kor $5k and take her punishment, and he did take Angela off the Block.

He’s one of those players who’s dominant and loyal to those people he thinks will be loyal to him. Those players often get betrayed by their closest allies right out of the House. Tucker’s absolutely right in that he only has himself to rely on. He needs to win his way through this game.

T’kor Clottey (23, crochet business) and Kimo Apaka (35, mattress sales) are running the House right now. They were doing so behind the scenes, orchestrating the end of the Pentagon, and now they’re doing it more overtly. But make no mistake, this phase of the game is theirs and so far, no one seems to be seeing this powerful duo. [Grade: B+]

Joseph Rodriguez (30, video store) is paying attention and part of the Sixth Avenue alliance that’s in control right now. He’s also so far off the radar, may in the House probably think he’s just floating. But he’s a sneaky little player, running and holding a lot of intel. [Grade: B-]

Quinn Martin (25, nurse recruiter) seems to slowly be salvaging the precarious position of his early game. He’s still seen as someone who’s potentially reckless and too smart about the game, but he’s now using the information he blabs around a little more cleverly, potentially building some trust. Is he capable of juggling it, though? [Grade: C+]

Rubina Bernabe (35, event bartender) is not seen as much of a threat of any kind on her own, but her association with Tucker puts her on the radar — as he pointed out himself with the Instigator power. That makes her an easier target if he proves elusive. [Grade: C]

Chelsie Baham (27, nonprofit dir) is doing a good job of fading into the background a bit post-Pentagon. She needs to work on building relationships with the power structure, or blowing those up, or she’ll start looking like a more and more tempting target. [Grade: C-]

Cam Sullivan-Brown (25, physical therapist) saved his game this week, but he needs to work hard to build trust and relationships because he and Chelise are still vastly outnumbered by people who’d rather they go home. They need to regroup, re-strategize and attack this game. [Grade: C-]

Leah Peters (26, VIP cocktail) needs to at least make an effort to figure out what’s going on in the House. Her game is definitely not in her hands, as she did notice. [Grade: C-]

Angela Murray (50, real estate agent) keeps blowing up her own game, and it’s only a matter of time before the House decides they’ve had enough. The fact she’s also won a couple of competitions makes her even more of a risk for anyone to try and work with. [Grade: D+]

Makensy Manbeck (22, construction pm) is the clearest target right now, as no one is working with her and she is a competition threat. At the same time, Angela has been a frustrating albatross for a long time, and Tucker is public enemy number one. We think Angela survives sitting next to either of them, and Makensy survives sitting next to Tucker. [Grade: D]

Tucker Des Lauriers (30, marketing/sales exec) continues to try and be loyal to people who want to betray him. If he does not pull out an A.I. Arena victory, we suspect this House will take the shot at such a huge target … and be right to do so. We don’t see that ever changing for him at this point no matter what he does. [Grade: D-]

(asides and comments — not necessarily strategic, but entertaining and sometimes revealing)

• “Clearly I’m a celebrity because they always want to invite me to the Block Party.” –Cam (after nominations)
• “Cheers, Brooklyn.” –Angela (eating remnants of charcuterie board)
• “Wanna do ‘Lady and the Tramp’?” –Jonathan (splitting pickle with Kimo)
• “I know this is about you, and I feel bad for you, I do. But I feel like you have people and I feel like I don’t have people.” –Leah (to Cam, afraid to be replacement nominee)
• “Um, I don’t think you remember that I was gonna go home last week.” –Cam
• “I didn’t graduate from college. But what I did get was a Bachelor’s in twerking.” — Rubina
• “I don’t wanna say ‘throwing ass,’ so I said, ‘I’m rolling my butt.'” –Angela (after learning to twerk)
• “How are you doing … now that I’m not flirting with you anymore in this game.” –Quinn
• “Shut up! I feel great.” –Leah
• “Oh you feel great as a result of it not happening anymore. Cool, cool, cool.” –Quinn
• “Cam, has the spirit of dumbassery hit you?” –Chelsie (about Cam picking Joseph to play Veto)
• “I’ll be in solitary confinement for 24 hours, which if you’ve lived in a house with some of these annoying people, it’s actually not that much of a punishment. 24 hours without hearing Rubina laugh is just gonna be sweet, sweet bliss.” –Joseph
• “Radiation Eridaction.” –T’Kor (misreading Veto punishment)
• “Eradication.” –Makensy
• “Radiation Eradication.” –T’Kor
• “We don’t know who she’s working with, and she is working with people; there’s no way she’s not.” –Kimo (about Leah)
• “The bodysuit is hugging him in places I’m not sure anything should hug.” –Rubina (seeing Tucker’s punishment)
• “Can I twerk in this?” –Angela (in punishment radioactive costume)
• “I can’t remember ever having to do something so strenuous in my life … other than childbirth.” –Angela (about punishment)
• “It’s great to see Matt back in this House, but his jeans still are way too tight.” –Makensy (seeing Avatar Matt)
• “Alright, so no game talk while I’m away.” –Joseph (heading into 24-hour punishment)
• “If I was doing that, it would be a lot more juicier than that.” –Angela (to Tucker about House speculation she’s A.I. Instigator)

Big Brother airs Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays on CBS.