We begin the week with the HoH competition, which involves transporting 40 berries from a big basket to a four tiered collection bin via an obstacle course of fallen trees; one path is shorter, but more difficult and the other is longer, but easier. If anyone falls off the trees, they are out of the game and the column of berries they were working on is emptied, but the rest of the team can stay in the game. During this comp, it is revealed that five minutes before the battle for HoH began, Frank had a chat with Victor to do some damage control about the Jozea vote – because Victor is the target now and they, the #8Pack need him to feel nice and safe. Another #BBAcademyAward for Frank! He explains that Paulie knew how everyone was going to vote and that it was better that way. Jozea was going to keep the target on their, Frank and Victor and Paul’s, backs so he had to get to steppin’ and it needed to stay hush hush. Victor is calm for the moment, but he’s knows he’s on his own and has to win if he wants to secure his safety.
Back to the HoH comp, it stays pretty neck-n-neck between the teams with Big Sister in last place. Paul is doing his best to rally the ladies, but Da’ and Zak are taking the “slow and steady” approach to this race. With Nicole and Natalie watching from the sidelines, because Natalie fell off on her first run down the faster course, Big Sister has catches up and it’s anyone’s game. Tiffany is exhausted, though, and Corey is doing great so she jumps out and they lose a berry, but it’s just one berry. Corey then decides it’s time to start taking the quicker route, but BAD IDEA because he falls and the #Freakazoids are outta the contest. So it really all comes down to #Catagory4, Big Sister, and #TeamUnicorn and since it is absolutely vital to the #8Pack plan, the Unicorns absolutely cannot win this HoH sooo… James decides that it is time to throw this comp to ensure that Victor will not be safe from the vote. Kudos to Da’s team for the effort to make up time, but #Catagory4 is on their last red berry. They decide to let Paulie grab the final, big berry to take the HoH room key for himself. Right after the comp, Bronte and Victor figure out that James threw the comp, Paul knows too, and Victor is really upset, like kinda crying in the DR upset.
After everyone files in from the backyard, most of the #8Pack celebrates in Tokyo. Nicole is all thumbs up to James on throwing that comp – he did a good job, she thinks. Corey walks in, which prompts Da’ and a couple others to exit the room so no one else in the house becomes suspicious. Corey sees how it is! lol Later in Tokyo, Bronte and Paul are going over the votes for Jozea to stay, obviously the two of them and Victor. Bronte tells him the definitely Natalie voted to keep Jozea, Paul isn’t sure, but Bronte knows she did and begs Paul to believe her. He has to believe her. Da’ and Zak voted to keep Paulie. She knows it. Da’ and Zak choose this time to exit the Have Not room and Paul and Bronte remain sad Pandas in Tokyo. Again in Tokyo, later, Paul and Victor are trying to figure out a strategy for themselves – all they really have is the Roadkill comp so one of them needs to win it. When Paulie walks in, Victor expresses that he would understand if Paulie put him up, but there are eight girls in the house and only six guys. He throws Natalie under the bus as the girl he’s worried about the most then Bronte walks into the room and pleads for her life promising to not put up Paulie if she’s HoH. Victor also wants Paulie to know that the same loyalty they had for Jozea can be loyalty they have to him. Paulie makes with the “open to things” eyes, but his goal is to send Victor out the door. Later, up in the HoH, Corey and Paulie are sitting with Paul. Paulie wants to put Paul up on the block as a pawn since he is Victor’s closest ally. Paulie says he’s safe, Victor is the #1 target, the three of them are good at comps and can beat him for the Veto, and he promises that Paul will be safe. Paul is reluctant, but he knows if he doesn’t do this, he’s going home so he seems to be on board.
Before the Nomination Ceremony there is a quick segment about James’ flirting with all the ladies of the house, all of them. Da’ laughs it up in the DR saying James just needs to stop. Then it’s time for Paulie to reveal his nominations: Paul and Bronte. Looks like Paulie has chosen the backdoor for Victor. Bronte doesn’t like where this game is headed and she is not trusting a single boy for the rest of her time in the house. Paul was expecting this so he’s not fazed and he’s got his eye on that Veto. In the bathroom, Natalie and James urge Bronte to remain calm and fight for the Veto. She says she’s not worried about things, she doesn’t think she’s the target, and all of this is part of her strategy to fly under the radar and try to get along with people she doesn’t really like. Victor is shocked he’s not nominated and confides in Paul that he thinks he’s going out the backdoor this week then explains what happens if anyone wins and takes themselves off the block – he’s going up no matter what if that happens and he’ll be going home. Paul plays dumb pretty well, but Frank still receives the #BBBestActor award for this episode and Victor knows that he has to win the Roadkill comp if he wants a chance to throw a wrench in this backdoor plan. And before we head to the Roadkill comp, Corey lets us know what a crazy Christmas person he is – Corey loves himself some Christmas! Might as well call him Clark! 😉 And there’s more flirting with Natalie from James, and more pranking from James, and Natalie wishes BB would have given them checkers to play because chess is hard!
To the backyard and into the #BBRV for the #BBRoadkill comp, in which, the players must “return” BB souvenirs, each marked with a price tag, so that the total amount of cash back is $18. The player with the fastest completion time wins, but here’s the catch: they have to return six items so it’s not just a matter of adding up the high-priced items first to get you to $18. Tiffany, the high school math teacher, isn’t doing so well. It’s too much pressure and her brain isn’t helping her out at all. She’s not the only person having issues, but there are a few guys who don’t seem to have any trouble at all. Frank loves winning comps and hopes to win this one back to back, Victor is a finance major and he feels good, Paul also feel pretty good. Once the tackle boxes are placed, we find out that Victor is the winner and he wants to use this power to his best advantage. So what does he do? Victor heads into the Storage room with Paulie and tells him that he won saying they need to really think about who they are putting up as the Roadkill nominee. Paulie says they will talk to Frank to see what he thinks. Later in Tokyo, Victor tells Frank about his winning the Roadkill comp. Neither Frank nor Paulie can believe that Victor is trusting them with this information – it gives them another reason to send him packing. Again in Tokyo later, Victor tells Paul and he immediately tells him NOT to tell anyone else. When Victor suggests putting up James, Paul says they’ll just ask him to throw the Veto and he will and urges Victor to trust him, the vote was 7-4, they are all working together and they are sitting ducks. This is the absolute truth, but Victor doesn’t think so and he heads up to the HoH.
In the HoH room, Paulie, Frank, and Tiffany are talking, but when Victor enters, she leaves to take a shower. Victor tells the boys that they better not be playing him, he’ll be pissed if that happens, and him telling them about winning the Roadkill comp is him showing that he’s loyal. Frank chooses to pop downstairs for a little nap leaving Victor to discuss his nomination with Paulie. He’s thinking Tiffany, which Paulie says is a good choice, then suggests James, but Victor thinks that would be too obvious. Paulie doesn’t really care who Victor nominate if those are his choices – they both want him backdoored out of the house so he’s cool if they are playing for the Veto. And now it’s time to reveal the nominee… It’s Tiffany and even though she’s in the #8Pack, she’s still nervous about being nominated. Da’ can’t believe someone is taking a shot at the alliance and Victor is happy that he has completed his first task towards the goal of staying in the house. The next task? Winning the Veto then he’s going to send one of the girls out the door. None of that is going to happen, though. The odds are not in Victor’s favor this week…
After the Roadkill Reveal, Vanes-I mean Tiffany heads into the UK room, snuggles into a bed, and proceeds to let her mind wander too far from the reality of her situation. When Michelle joins her, the tears start flowing and the more and more I see of Tiff, the more I see her sister. Tiff doesn’t know why she would be nominated and is super paranoid that she’s being shoved towards the backdoor. Despite Michelle, and later, Da’s support and reassurance that she is totally safe this week, Tiff still feels the need to talk to Paulie and heads up to the HoH where he is lounging with Zak – she leaves so they can talk. She wants to know that this isn’t just some elaborate, “get her out now while it’s easy”, type of thing. Paulie assures her that it is not. Victor is going home and if it’s not him, it’s Paul or Bronte – Tiffany is 100% safe. Paulie doesn’t understand why Tiff is so worried and HE didn’t put her up – Vic did. One by one, Nicole, Zak, Michelle, James, and Da’ come into the room and they are ALL telling Tiff that she’s safe, there is absolutely NO plan to get rid of her, she’s absolutely staying in the game. She has NOTHING to worry about it.
Except that now she does have something to worry about if she can’t get a grip on herself. Because of Tiffany’s extreme paranoia and extreme emotions, Da’ is not feeling so great about keeping her around because she’s becoming more like Vanessa and Da’ does NOT want to play with Vanessa from #BB17. Meanwhile, Bronte and Natalie are still besties and want to lay low, they don’t think they are high up on the hit list and they are hoping for drama to explode that doesn’t involve them. LATER, in the HoH, Frank is discussing Tiffany’s paranoia with Paulie and she conveniently chooses this time to come up to use the HoH shower. Frank asks how she’s doing, she says okay, then there is more paranoia and more assurance to her that Victor is the target, it’s a fact, and it’s not going to change, buuut… She’s going to have to stay on the block and throw that Veto comp. Tiffany has to lose or they can’t backdoor Victor because he’ll be nominating the replacement, not them. While she totally understands the logic and strategy of throwing the competition, Tiff doesn’t know if she can risk her own game and put all her eggs in the #8Pack basket and stay in the hot seat.
In the Storage room, Da’ and Frank have a “worst case scenario” chat about Tiffany. What if Vic wins the Veto? As much as Da’ would like to stick with the eight… Why can’t Paulie be eight? Since Frank and Tiffany got into a little “thing” on Day 16, something about the tone of Frank’s voice and Vanes- I mean Tiffany being somewhat offended or whatever by it. Frank is apprehensive of Tiffany because of this little scene; she’s confrontational and overly emotional and if it comes down to the brass tacks – Frank and Da’ agree that it would be better to vote out Tiffany because they just can’t have her going around the house spreading paranoia and creating cracks in the alliance. Later, Paulie wants to have a chat with Paul because Victor told him that Paul told Victor not to trust Paulie and Frank sooo… Did he say that to Victor? I would LIKE to give Paul the #BBAcademyAward for this episode, but his response is not an act. He dug himself out of that hole very nicely because Paulie totally believes him, but he’s done with Victor. He expresses to Paulie that he would rather play with him and Frank because they seem to be the more stable players and he expresses to us that Victor is sinking his own ship and Paul isn’t going to be dragged down with him.
Time to pick players for the Veto! Paulie draws Da’s name first, then he draws Paul’s name, which is exactly what Paul did NOT want to happen because now he’s got Victor looking at him all expectantly thinking Paul is going to choose him, and he’s damned if he does and if he doesn’t, but he doesn’t. Paul chooses Zak. After the ceremony, Paul does his best to perform damage control on Vic by playing dumb – OH! Darnit, man… I didn’t even think that if you play and win you can take me down and keep yourself safe too! I had no idea that’s how it worked… Great job, but still not worthy of the #BBBestActor award. Sorry, Paul! Then Victor hops on Frank for a piggyback ride through the house and Paul is just, like, whatever about the whole thing. In the Bathroom later, Da’, Frank, and Zak tell Paul that he did a good job during the Veto pick, that’s the game and it’s tough sometimes. Paul is sooo happy he was able to help Frank do his dirty work, #eyeroll, but Paul’s cool with it because it bought him a little trust with Frank and that was his goal. It’s at this point that Da’ reminds again that Tiff MUST throw this competition. It’s all they have left to worry about…
Time for the Veto! It’s the spelling comp, but this year, each letter has a point value so it’s not just the longest word in the fastest time, you also have to consider points. The theme is feet and fungus this year in the setting of the FOOThills in the TOEzarks… (Shout out to my man, Spencer Clawson!) So the players have to dig mushroom letter tiles out of toe-shaped vats scattered about a shallow pool of water, luckily it’s just water… For now… So! Everyone is in it to win it except Tiffany who can’t decide if she wants to throw it or not. Da’ is getting sprayed in the face with “fungus” and so is Zak. Bronte is stashing letters under the bridge and Frank is concerned about Paul’s contacts. THEN… Tiff decides to go for the win and takes a look over at Da’s board to see how many letters she has, which Momma Day does NOT LIKE. Da’ locks in her answer. All Paulie needs is a “B”, Paul needs an “ING”… Then finally, everyone has locked in their answers and time is up! After some nail-biting moments from everyone that wants Tiff to lose since she spelled “Twinkling” and scored herself 10 points, Paulie reveals his word, “Sustainability”, worth 10 points as well, but since Paulie locked his answer in first, he wins the Veto. And the #8Pack, for the most part, breathes a sigh of relief, but Da’ isn’t playing around with “little miss poker player’s sister” anymore.
After the Veto comp, Da’ is in Tokyo talking with Frank about Tiff looking over at her, and only her, letters. Paulie joins at some point too. Frank thinks Tiff looked at everyone’s letters, but Da’ watched her and she only looked at hers. This, of course, has Frank concerned because he already has issues with Tiff, but the majority plan is still set to backdoor Victor. Paulie tells Paul that he’s going to use the Veto on him and when Nicole and Frank hear the same from Paulie, they agree that it’s the right thing to do since he’s been such a team player for them this week. Bronte and Natalie are still doing their flying under the radar thing and have no idea what’s going on in the house and Victor is happy that Tiffany is still on the block because he thinks he can wrangle up the votes to send her home. After a quick prank consisting of James hiding in a trash bin in the Storage area and scaring the crap out of Nicole, we cut to Nicole with Da’, Zak, and Michelle in the Have Not room… They want the #8Pack to be strong, but they also want their #Fatal5 to be strong and Tiff’s recent behavior in the house makes them all very suspicious of her motives moving forward and how much damage she can do to their games in the long run. They may have to make this the #Fatal4 alliance and Da’ thinks it’s the strongest one in the house. She doesn’t want them to miss an opportunity because of the #8Pack and it might just have to be a sneak attack against Tiff this week.
Before the Veto Meeting, Paul and Victor are playing pool in the backyard discussing said meeting. Victor thinks Paul will be alright, but Paul thinks things are super sketchy and says he thinks Paulie will use the Veto on Bronte. Victor doesn’t think so. He thinks Bronte is the target, he’s pretty sure of it, and if someone comes down, he thinks Natalie has the biggest chance of going up on the block… and he has all kinds of other ideas that are totally NOT what is going to happen. Paul feels bad that Victor is so clueless, but he’s playing dumb like a good little soldier. During the meeting, Paul asks for the Veto by talking about the power of friendship and building on that friendship and YAY for friendship! Paulie takes Paul off the block, puts Victor up, and we’re all set for the eviction episode, which starts with a recap that rewinds all the way back to the first episode of the season and takes about three and a half minutes, not including the opening credits, to watch and THEN it’s more recap from last week and THEN we’re finally into new content.
And this is where we speed things up because we all know who’s going home this week, regardless of what editing does to trick us… Victor tries to sway the votes of his team towards Tiff, but that’s not going to go so well. Tiff bonds a bit with Bronte and Bridgette because she’s not so much into the idea of moving forward with Frank. Bridgette blabs to Frank about Tiff wanting him out, but she doesn’t think she would do it herself. Frank knows that’s why she’s trying to be all buddy-buddy with people. James is suspicious of Tiff and the Bronte bunch too because they stop talking when he enters a room. Frank then decides it’s time to tell Paulie about the #8Pack because Tiff is a threat and they are going to have to give her the ol’ heave ho out of the alliance. So Frank tells Paulie, he’s happy to have the info, and Da’ is not at ALL happy that Frank just did that without the rest of them being involved and she’s gonna keep Tiff in the game now just to have another number voting against his selfish ass. Up in the HoH with Zak, Paulie decides it’s time to solidify some “ride or dies” for his personal alliance. Together, they come up with a list: Paulie, Zak, Nicole, Corey and Da’… LOL Yeah, right! As if Da’Vonne is going to go for that because obviously she’s the fifth wheel of that vehicle. When Zak proposes this plan, Da’ reacts as expected – calm and composed in the house, but all animate in the DR. She pulls James into a conversation in the Have Not room and confides in him about this five-person alliance, that doesn’t involve Frank or him and they both agree: Everyone is playing each other, the two of them have been the most honest, and it is genuinely upsetting to Da’ that this/these solid group/groups she thought she had is/are deteriorating right in front of her.
Time to vote! After blah blah blah from Bronte, a goofy message in a weird accent from Victor that ends with a shout out for his Instagram, then Tiffany reminds the girls she is the owner of the only flat iron in the house so if they want straight hair… The votes: Natalie – Victor, Paul – Bronte, Bridgette – Victor, Zakiyah – Victor, James – Victor, Da’Vonne – Victor, and blah blah blah of course the #8Pack votes to evict Victor! In his interview with Julie, Victor is very light-hearted and plays off his mistakes well. Paul is great in his good-bye message and then Julie drops the ol’ twist on him. Of course Victor is pumped and Julie told him about all the mistakes he made so of course he’s going to be mindful of that if he gets back in the house. And I guess I don’t understand how this #BattleBack works because I thought that we would see a competition every week between the evicted HGs. I still haven’t had time to research this. I’ve barely had time to read up on what’s happening on the live feeds! After the interview it’s time for the HoH competition, which involves bouncing balls onto a slanted court with numbered slots at the bottom. The lowest scoring player each round is eliminated. It’s tennis themed because you know, Wimbledon. As the balls continue to bounce, and the ball boys step on the court to retrieve them, the players dwindle down to one person from each team still left in the game: Paul, Bridgette, Tiffany, and Natalie. Tiffany is out first, followed by Natalie and then… Paul! Bridgette has won HoH and has secured safety for her team, which includes Frank! As always… Eric does weekly video recaps and you should watch them because he’s great and so are his guests and you have to check out all of our Big Brother 18 coverage. And please, again, if you’re going to donate hair, donate to Wigs For Kids! 😉 Click HERE for my week one recap and click HERE for my week 2 recap. Love you all!
