A new episode of Big Brother 17 airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap here.
John was evicted this past Thursday, but he went back into the house with Shelli, Jackie, and Becky for a chance to reenter the game. Which evicted HouseGuest will get a second chance at the $500,000? And who will win HoH? Let’s find out!
The episode picks up at the start of the HoH competition where everyone is hanging onto their ropes. We hear from Shelli and Jackie in the diary room about how this is an extremely important competition since it will determine whether or not they get to come back into the game. Steve is worried about Jackie returning, while Liz is worried about Becky returning. However, in the diary room, Becky says she really wants Vanessa gone. John is excited to be back to compete too. He was just gone ten minutes ago, but here he is fighting to come back into the house.
The first to fall off her rope is Julia, and she’s followed by Steve and Meg. James is disappointed Meg fell off and is worried about Shelli returning since he sent Clay home. And his concerns are right as Shelli admits in the diary room she would target James if she were to reenter the game before James falls off his rope. A few minutes later, Liz falls off. This means the last five left hanging on are the four jurors and Vanessa.
Jackie is the first juror to fall off. She says goodbye before she has to walk out of the backyard. Becky is the next to fall off. She’s disappointed, but she knows she gave it her all. A few minutes later, Shelli falls off. John is back in the game! Shelli congratulates John and wishes him the best of luck winning the game before shouting a goodbye to everyone and walking out of the backyard. Now it’s down to John and Vanessa left competing. One of them will be the new Head of Household. Vanessa tells John that he is safe; she just really wants a letter from home. John says in the diary room that he and Vanessa are working together, but he wants that to remain a secret. So he can’t accept Vanessa’s deal in public. However, his muscles are sore and his feet are slipping, so he drops out. Vanessa wins HoH! Liz, Julia, and Austin are thrilled Vanessa won HoH, but they’re upset that John is back in the game since they just sent him out of the house. Liz is mad and also oddly says that John has no reason to have a vengeance against them….even though they just evicted him from the game earlier in the evening. John is also happy that Vanessa won HoH. In the diary room, he admits that Vanessa may be the biggest liar he has ever met, but he believes she will be loyal to him.
John and Steve talk in the comic book room. John is happy to be back in the game, and Steve is glad as well since John is someone he knows he can trust in the game. Vanessa then talks to John afterwards, and they are both excited to work together. Vanessa knows that she is at the bottom of the totem pole with the Austwins, so aligning with John and Steve will give her a “greater umbrella of safety.” This means Vanessa wants to target James and Meg this week, even though she knows a lot of people are expecting her to send John right back out the door.
We next see a segment of the HouseGuests nicknaming Meg “Grandma Meg” and treating her like an elderly lady. Afterwards, it’s the HoH room reveal. Vanessa feels reinvigorated after getting pictures of her girlfriend and dogs, and she gets emotional as she reads her letter from home.
Vanessa then talks to Austin and Liz about nominations. She first brings up that James and Meg didn’t congratulate her winning HoH before telling them about her conversation with James and Meg before the eviction. We see a flashback of said conversation. James and Meg voice their concerns to Vanessa about the vote. They’re worried that keeping Steve benefits Austin and the twins more than it benefits them. After this revelation, Vanessa has successfully got the Austwins to change their mind about targeting John. They are now totally on board with targeting James and Meg.
Next is a scene of Austin and Liz. Austin asks Liz to be his girlfriend and she says yes. Barf. In the diary room, Liz says that Austin has to break up with his girlfriend back home as soon as the season ends. The next scene is Julia scaring Austin when the lights are off.
Meg and James head up to the HoH room to plead their case to Vanessa. Vanessa tells them she is open-minded to hear them out, especially if they have information on Austin to use against him. However, James and Meg don’t give her any information since giving Vanessa information is dangerous. Vanessa admits in the diary room that since Meg and James didn’t give her any dirt on Austin, then she can stick to her plan on targeting James and Meg. She then misleads them into thinking John is the target before asking if either of them would want to be a pawn. James volunteers to be a pawn, but Meg tearfully rejects that. She tells Vanessa to put her up as a pawn before James. Vanessa is bewildered over the fact of them willing to save the other from being on the block. She realizes they are way too close and this proves that they need to be broken up.
Before the nomination ceremony, James remembers a deal he made with Vanessa the last time he was HoH (the week Clay and Shelli were nominated). Vanessa promised him that if she were to win HoH before Final 7, then he would keep him and one person of his choice off the block if he didn’t nominate her. He and Meg contemplate reminding Vanessa about this deal, but worry it would come across as too aggressive. They also assume that Vanessa will nominate John and Steve anyway.
At the nomination ceremony, Vanessa nominated Meg and James for eviction. She tells them that this was strictly a game move, and she says she isn’t afraid to put a king in check and a king isn’t worth much without his queen. In the diary room, Meg tearfully says she feels played and is upset that she will either go home or lose her closest ally. James has regret about not bringing up the deal beforehand, but he feels like it was a catch-22 scenario whether he did or didn’t.
And that wraps up tonight’s episode of Big Brother 17. Thanks for reading and come back Wednesday for another live recap.
