After weeks of the same alliance being in power in the Big Brother 17 house, not even someone with a sixth sense could’ve seen what was heading their way after the latest Head of Household competition resulted in a power shift.
The episode picks up during the first endurance competition since the season premiere. Everyone is still hanging on to the wall as they start getting blasted with water.
Meg tells us in the Diary Room that she just lost her best friend in the game and there are now twins in the house and it is more important than ever for one of her allies to win this competition. And Vanessa knows that neither Meg nor her allies can win because she’s afraid she’ll go up since she sent Jason home.
It looks like Austin has more initiative than anyone to win, though. Because Liz has promised him a kiss if he wins so we can expect him to stay up there all night. Or not. Austin only outlasts Steve as they’re the first two to fall. Sorry, Austin. But Liz can now spare herself some agony. Julia is the next person down.
James, like Meg, knows that he can’t fall because his alliance will be in the line of fire and he could possibly be the main target. And since Meg and Jackie have both fallen off the wall, he knows it’s all up to him.
Liz falls and Vanessa is starting to panic. Only Shelli and Clay remain from the Sixth Sense and since Becky is out soon, it’ll all be up to Vanessa’s core alliance. So it’s James, Clay, Shelli and John left. Oh, wait, Clay is out. Looks like it’s all up to Shelli, because let’s face it, John isn’t going to let himself win. So technically it’s Shelli vs. James. And James throws out a deal to the other two.
Shelli is pretty tired and decides to offer James a deal. She tells him he can’t put up or backdoor her or Clay. She does not mention Vanessa’s name and Vanessa is not happy. James agrees to Shelli’s offer and throws in some to John too just so he will drop as well. John drops then Shelli drops.
James is the new Head of Household and a power shift can finally be set in motion. And James has said he’s seeking revenge, so it’s a good thing Shelli cut that deal with him. Because he won’t go back on it it. Or will he?
Vanessa is especially worried since he made that deal with James that didn’t include her. Elsewhere, Julia wants to be caught up on why Austin is still in the house. Liz tells Julia that Jason made everything up and that Austin has their back. Julia does not believe her and does not pretend she likes Austin. And when he comes in, Julia actually confronts Austin and it becomes even more clear she does not care for Julia in the least.
Cue said music. Shelli needs to talk to Vanessa. She’s upset that she gave up on the wall. She says she went into the competition thinking someone from their team would win and that she didn’t want it to be her. She could not win a third HOH and that she can’t keep holding up the alliance by herself. She also explains to Vanessa that it would have been weird to ask for Vanessa’s safety.
Vanessa tells her and Clay that she thinks it’ll be herself or the twins that go up. And Shelli and Clay are only a little worried. They truly believe that James will stick to his word. After Vanessa leaves they decide they should help James decide by throwing Austin and the twins under the bus. They know one of their side will go up so as long as it’s not them or Vanessa, they’ll deal with it.
James, Meg, Jackie and Becky (even though Becky is working both sides) decide that Vanessa might not be their concern at the moment. They decide that Shelli is running the house and that with her out Clay would be lost. James decides that Shelli should be his target, despite the deal he made with her. They agree not to tell anyone about the plan. BUT BECKY IS IN THE ROOM.
And Becky goes right to Clay and Shelli that they need to not make themselves a target this week because they’re going to be backdoored this week. Becky tells them that if they play their cards right, they can avoid direction nominations, win the veto and freeze their plans. But Shelli gets upset and Clay tries to pull her back a little so they can just talk to James about what’s going on. Clay says she doesn’t think Vanessa needs to be pulled into this because she’s only worried about saving her own ass.
So, needless to say, Shelli is regretting not winning HOH.
And since Vanessa does not know that she’s about fourth or fifth on the target list, she still decides to talk to James to try to throw the rest of the house under the bus over the decision to get Jason out. James asks her if she’d be against one of Shelli and Clay going home. And she knows she’s vulnerable this week, so she can’t fight for them. And she doesn’t. She tells James she will be supportive and even throws out a deal to him. She offers him a deal until final 7 that she won’t nominate him and one other person of his choosing.
Now it’s time for Shelli and Clay to go check in on their deal. James asks them why they felt they even needed to make a deal. As in “weren’t we good? Why did you feel so scared and guilty?” Shelli and Clay try to again explain what they did and didn’t know about Jason going home and that they know people are blaming them so that’s why she was scared enough to make a deal.
Clay and Shelli focus on Austin. They blame him for Jason going home and suggest that Austin should be James’ target this week. But James isn’t buying it at all. James thinks on and and comes up with a plan. He goes to Meg and says he’s not messing around with pawns. He says he’s going for the jugular and is going to put up Shelli and Clay together upright.
At the nomination ceremony, James sticks to his plan and nominates Shelli and Clay. And Shelli and Clay bite back. Shelli points out that he broke his word to her and Clay gets bleeped over whatever he said. Shelli also maintains that they are not why Jason went on the block. So Vanessa is not happy. And on top of that, Shelli refuses to hug Vanessa after the ceremony.
That, folks, is what you call a power shift.