Big Brother 21 – Friday Recap for 9/13/19

(Steve’s note – have some stuff to do today. I expect it to be another slow day but it’s an important veto comp. Hopefully I am home before the veto comp ends and can update you as soon as I hear who wins!)

Howdy ya’ll. Nicole practiced her southern speak last night so I thought I’d chime in too. I usually start off by summarizing the prior day, giving my opinions and follow that up with a more specific recap of conversations and game talk. I’m going to reverse it today because in all honesty, I don’t know what to say. Hopefully, by the time I’ve reviewed what happened again, I’ll have something to contribute because right now, I don’t have a clue. I’m trying to think back, but I can’t remember ever witnessing what I saw yesterday. Other than casual conversation and 4 bored and tired hg’s, here’s what happened:

As always, Beth= Holly 

• They finally had the luxury comp Christie, Beth and Sis wanted all season. Ovi was there and Jackson won it. He won $10k. (They probably needed one for the Sunday episode. I’d imagine they planned on the hoh comp taking up a big portion of it but that’s not an option since it was so short) Jackson went around telling everyone how he felt guilty for winning because they thought Cliff was upset over losing it.
• They got the small table:
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• They were all happy to see Ovi and Beth mentioned how different he looked. Jackson said he’d give up his 10k if they could have video msgs from home.
• Cliff wanted to talk to Jackson and clarify the deal he’d made with him. Cliff had already told Nicole, he realized Jackson was making an assumption over the details and wanted everything to be clear.
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• Beth was worried Tommy  might be Americas favorite and said she doesn’t want to look bad for the way he went out.
• Cliff met with Jackson and went over their deal again. Cliff had already promised to save Jackson with the veto and Jackson promised to save Cliff (both evicting Beth) Jackson also agreed to take Cliff to the F2 over Nicole. Jackson was under the impression the F2 deal went both ways. Cliff told Jackson he had misunderstood and said it was his intention to take Nicole to the F2. Cliff said he gave Nicole his word and he wasn’t going to break it. Jackson said he understood. (Jackson does not understand at all)
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• Nicole sorted out everything that happened to the cameras (as usual) and said she wasn’t sure who to keep when it came to Tommy. She didn’t know if Tommy would’ve really taken her or Cliff to the F2. She said she knew Cliff always preferred to keep Beth.
• Cliff took several opportunities to tell Jackson and Beth he was responsible for saving Beth and Nicole wanted to keep Tommy. (Even the night before, Jackson said “once again, the vote came down to Nicole.” Cliff said” well, I think I had more to do with it this week.”)

One of the things I like about Nicole is how much she talks to the cameras. I didn’t like it when people like Jack, Jackson, Christie, Tommy and others would do it for the specific purpose of creating a narrative to contradict things I’ve already seen. I enjoyed listening to Cliff do it too. (For a while) I like hearing peoples game plans and strategies and I’m glad Cliff didn’t stop after he was caught.  However, I don’t like to listen to Cliff as much anymore. Sure, he tells us his plans but he’s also working for Americas Favorite Player and that’s annoying. A lot of the stuff he says is geared towards us loving him and making him AFP. Tommy and Kat did the same thing.

• They all joked about the nomination ceremony because they know it doesn’t matter who gets put otb. Beth and Jackson were the ones nominated. Throughout the day, Beth became more annoyed over throwing the hoh comp. She told Jackson she should’ve been the one making the noms and it should’ve been her hoh.
• Cliff and Nicole had proposed the idea of Beth not having to throw the veto even though she’d already agreed to do it. (It was part of the deal to keep Beth over Tommy) They told her they didn’t think it was fair for her not to have the chance to save herself. They offered to let her out of the deal in exchange for Beth promising to evict Jackson if she won it. (This isn’t feeling bad because she can’t fight for her game, this is having someone play in order to use them to get what you want) Beth wanted some time to think about it.
• Jackson and Beth agreed she’d never stick to the deal and wasn’t even planning on throwing it to begin with. They readied themselves to do some more acting and planned to convince Cliff and Nicole she was ok with it. They both agreed they’d almost been screwed over by them and didn’t owe them anything.
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• Beth talked to Nicole about needing to be there for herself and play her own game. She agreed to keep Cliff over Jackson.
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• Beth talked to Cliff and told him the same thing. She also talked about never intending to turn their backs on Nicole and Cliff and said she and Jackson only wanted to make decisions that would make their parents proud.
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Beth did some good work here and she was pretty convincing. Of course, she’s dealing with people who want to be convinced and that makes it easier. She should still get the credit for finally acting like she wants to win and fighting to make it happen. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like Jackson did all the work on Thursday to get the vote to go her way so I’m  not giving her props for it just yet. Once we see how things played out on Thursday, I may have to change the way I see it. If she made it happen, good for her but so far, it sounds like this is another move Jackson should get the credit for. As for yesterday, she showed signs of the Beth we saw early in the game. This was way back when I said, I thought she, Jackson and Tommy had the best chances to win in my opinion. (Yes, she’s still Beth to me. It isn’t because I think I’m being funny, it isn’t to disrespect her and it really isn’t that serious. If she wins the game, I’ll probably be on here saying “holy shit, Beth won!”)

• Jackson and Beth met up to go over what she said to Cliff and Nicole. She said she thinks she sold it and told them she didn’t  want to have to do it but at this point, she has to look out for her own game. They both became more and more annoyed over the way things were being presented to them. Jackson thought it was very cocky and arrogant for Cliff to “allow” Beth to play (veto) and have his “permission” to fight for it. He said Nicole and Cliff really thought they were just going to be handed two spots in the F2. He said they’ve already burned Beth and Jackson and he doesn’t feel bad about making a deal and not keeping it.
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• Beth continued to complain she made a huge mistake and shouldn’t have thrown the hoh. (She shouldn’t. I’m not sure why some people are saying the hoh doesn’t matter simply because you don’t choose who goes. Hell yes, it matters. It’s not as good as having the veto, which let’s you choose who leaves AND be safe but it does guarantee you a spot in the F3. How can that not matter? Regardless of who wins the veto, Nicole WILL be competing in the final hoh comp. None of the other 3 can say that yet)
• They may have all been exhausted from the emotional turmoil of the day before because the evening was spent laying around on the sofas trying to stay awake or giving up and napping.
• Jackson was still annoyed and told Beth he was going to win the veto and evict Cliff. Jackson said he wouldn’t even think about honoring a deal with Cliff after Cliff told him he was taking Nicole to the F2.
• Beth started talking about Nicole and saying she was walking around the house all full of herself because she was safe from something they gave her. She said Nicole didnt have to earn it. Beth said she didn’t like the way Nicole preaches antibullying but says she was bullied into throwing the hoh comp. Jackson let her know she needed to take it down a notch and appeared annoyed over the comments.
• Cliff and Nicole talked and are under the impression Beth will keep her deal with them. They discussed (again) how Cliff made a deal to keep Jackson and evict Beth if he wins veto but Nicole didn’t. Cliff said that’s the loophole they have if they want to get him out. (The day before, Cliff said he could tell Jackson he only promised to keep him if HE won it but if Nicole won it, he’d do what Nicole wanted)  Nicole asked Cliff if it was close, would he throw it to her so they could evict Jackson? Cliff wasn’t sure if he would or not. He said they could talk about things and see how they played out.  Cliff also said he wouldn’t mind throwing the comp to Beth so she could evict Jackson for them. They talked about having to fight it out and win the final hoh no matter which one of them stayed.
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• Nicole (alone) wasn’t  bothered by Cliff making the F3 deals with Jackson and Beth. She’s already there and wants him there too. She said she knows she has to win her way to the end anyway and she’s  fine with it. She said everyone gets there in different ways but they’re all deserving because they all made it to the F4. She hope’s the jury and the fans can see that. When she was with Cliff, she used Jordan winning as an example. She said Jordan was deserving even if she was carried there because she got people to carry her. (Nicole and I may have to disagree a little bit on this one. Yes, I agree if you got there, you did something right to get there and no ones win is undeserved. I’m also of the opinion there are better and more deserving winners than others. Some people play great games to win and others have won in spite of their best efforts to lose. I loved Jordan but I think she’s in the bottom half of winner rankings in BB. Actually, she’s really far down on the bottom half of my list too. There wasn’t anything about her game that impressed me. I just liked her)
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• Beth told Cliff once more, she is accepting she may have to get rid of Jackson and says she’s ok with it. She knows it’s a game and it’s just the way it is. Cliff said he wanted all the deals out in the open. Beth said how hard it was to throw the hoh and he said it proved she was good to her word. Nicole admitted being surprised when Beth followed through with it.  Beth said she thinks Tommy would’ve gone back on it but said she never would.
•  Cliff and Nicole agreed if Nicole wins the veto, he’ll do what she wants with it even though he would have the sole vote. She said Beth would’ve won the hoh if she hadn’t thrown it and feels bad about it so she’d like her to be the one to go to the F3 with them. (That’s not the reason. Its because Nicole thinks she can beat Beth) Cliff reminded her he promised Jackson so if he won the veto, they’ll have to take him because it would be hard for him to break his word.
• Nicole (alone) said again, she needs to win this veto so Cliff will do what she wants with his vote.
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• Cliff checked in with Jackson. He gave him the details of the new deal with Beth because he wants everything in the open. He said Bet iis allowed to fight for the veto but she had to agree to evict Jackson. Jackson said he understood and he wants her to do what’s best for her game.
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• Beth and Jackson are worried about the face comp and hope it’s going to be something physical.
• Cliff (alone) said he feels good about his deals and believes Jackson and Beth will both keep their word. He’s feels confident he’s secured himself a spot in the F3. He said he’s a little worried about keeping Jackson. He compared it to Cody keeping Derrick. He wasn’t claiming to be Derrick, just for the record. He was only comparing keeping a strong player like Jackson if he won and got to choose. He wondered if it was a mistake. (The entire shit show of a day was the mistake)
• Jackson still insisted on brushing his teeth in the hoh room. He really does think it belongs to him.
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• Nicole tried on Cliffs hat and boots, did some dancing and practiced her southern accent.
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I have no idea what Cliff is thinking. I get it, he wants to secure a spot in the F3 but this wasn’t the way to do it. He hasn’t played an amazing game but he’s played an ok game. Considering his starting position, he’s actually played a good game and used what he had to work with but this is so sloppy. One of the reasons I liked Cliffs game was because I thought he made the safer move with Christie (regarding her power) in order to gain trust with people. (Ya, I wanted the other move too) That’s great currency to have in a house where people can’t be trusted. It worked and the rest of the game, he was able to accomplish things simply because people believed him. I also liked it because I thought (based on things he said to the cameras) he was going to cash in all the currency near the end of the game. Instead, he just plans to keep making deals and keeping his word. To me, this is like saving up money to bu a car. After all the time spent saving, you go out and buy a boat instead. Worse, you don’t live anywhere near water. I don’t  know if it’s arrogance, like Jackson said or if it’s just losing perspective as we near the end. Cliff isn’t a stupid person so I can’t understand why he thinks Jackson or Beth would keep a deal like this, especially after they let it be known all week, they almost turned on them and kept Tommy.

Beth made a mistake by not winning the veto. Yeah, yeah, yeah, everyone says the hoh doesn’t matter and I’ve already said, yes it does. It’s gets your ass into the F3 and that has value. It has more for her if the veto comp is mental because she’s the worst at the days. We all know why she kept her word too and it’s why she’s beating herself up over it. It’s one thing to make a move for game reasons and it simply not work out but that’s not what happened. Sure, she made the deal for game reasons but she kept her word because she spent days saying (where we could hear) how honorable she is, how much integrity she has and how she’s playing with morals. She felt like she had to put up or shut up. She had to prove she was a better person than Nicole. Nicole almost betrayed them but she never would and that’s what throwing the hoh was all about. It’s F4, so other than jury votes, what can happen from breaking the deal?

Nicole screwed up lately too. Cliff’s the biggest mouthpiece over what happened yesterday but she certainly played her part. I agree with her about it all coming down to the veto and she’s already in the F3. It doesn’t hurt her as much. She needs to be more worried about the F2. It sounds like she is but she could be in more trouble with the jury than she would’ve been. Originally, Nicole didn’t stand a chance because it looked like she was playing Cliffs game.  She won some comps, saved Cliff and started building her resume. Tommy vs Beth didn’t matter nearly as much as the way the jury may perceive the move. She was better to say nothing than to fight for Tommy and cave in the end. This would’ve  been seen as Nicole’s big move to split up the shomance and Tommy was impressed. (So was Cliff and he began to worry she’d give him competition in a F2) Now, Tommy heads to jury to explain that Nicole attempted a move but Jackson blocked it. Tommy leaving is Jacksons move now, not Nicole and Cliffs, even though they had the only two votes. Nicole also read Jackson very wrong. When he hinted at being ok with Beth leaving, he didn’t mean now. He meant at F4 and was only trying to secure himself a spot in the F3. Combine that with the fact it wasn’t even true, it was very naive on her part to think he meant it.

As far as Jackson goes, he’s doing what he needs to do. He’s never planned on letting Beth go and why should he? Even if they continued to fight, she’s at least a possibility to win a comp. She’s  never voting against him and he knows it. Why would he send her to jury mad at him when he can keep her there as someone who’ll take him to the F2?

I’m still at a loss as to what the hell happened yesterday and those are the only thoughts I have off the top of my head. I’m ready for this veto, that’s the only thing I know for sure! Sorry this was late today and have a great Saturday.

Mel