Big Brother 17 showmance Shelli Poole and Clay Honeycutt had been riding high with a strategy that put them right down the middle of the house, but all that might have been thrown away after Monday’s Veto Ceremony.
As members of an 8-person deal to send Austin out the door Clay and Shelli continued to put on a front that they were with the underdogs and ready to send the lovelorn wrestler home even while working to under that very plan.
When the Veto Ceremony ended the underdogs (Meg, James, Jason, and Jackie) were left in shock and wanted answers. Shelli and Clay sat down with Meg, Jackie, and Jason in the backyard just after the meeting and assured them they had no idea this was happening. Clay said he knew nothing about it while Shelli said she had her worries that something was up.
Keep in mind that Vanessa had earlier made sure her allies, including Shelli and Clay, were going to back this plan and her decision. Imagine Vanessa’s surprise when Meg informed Vanessa that Clay and Shelli denied any awareness of the Jason renom. Flashback to 2:55PM BBT 7/27 to watch. Oh Vanessa wasn’t happy and makes sure Meg knows the power couple is lying to her.
Back downstairs Meg is quick to tell James, Jason, and Jackie that Clay and Shelli have been deceiving them and may have been not only been aware but actually instrumental in it happening. Oops. Meanwhile upstairs Shelli realizes she might be in trouble here after being caught in an obvious lie after trying to appeal both sides of the house.
Jackie and Meg agree that they must not let on to Clay and Shelli. They’ll need to play it cool with them now and figure out what to do next. Later we saw Meg saying she’d continue to trust Clay which I’m hoping was all part of the plan with Jackie as they plot their next move.
So what does this mean for the Shelli & Clay showmance? They appear to have quickly gone from well liked and trusted to top of the hit list for one side. We’ve seen them moving along right down the middle of the house week after week and playing both sides, but now they may have thrown that all away and for what?
Shelli disrupted the BD Austin plan on Saturday when she decided HGs didn’t do enough backflips for Clay’s Veto win. She took this as proof of a covert movement to target Clay and evict him this week. There was no such plan. In Shelli’s panic and overreaction she encouraged the same paranoia in Vanessa who took that as a chance to back off Backdooring Austin and targeting Jason as an easy alternative.
Last night Jason laid it out to James and Meg: Shelli must go. Flashback to 7:19PM BBT 7/27. They fear if Shelli is running the house and if she makes it to Jury then she’ll control the final decision from there too. They believe she orchestrated the flip on Jason and must be taken down.
Aside from Jason, Shelli and Clay ended up being the biggest losers in this flip. Vanessa gets to keep Austin, which was always a smarter move for her, while Shelli and Clay came out looking worse than the person who actually executed the flip all because they wanted to continue to lie and pretend to be on both sides of the decision.
Jackie, James, and Meg will be ready to target Shelli and Clay given the chance, but they’ll have to win something and then hold on to it to make that happen. Could this be the week to see that happen or will it be the 5th straight week in the HoH trade off between Shelli and Vanessa?