On Friday, Shelli nominated Jason & John for eviction. Liz nominated James and Jackie. After the nominations, the twins swapped places. Julia came back into the house, taking over HoH duties from Liz. Her reign didn’t last long, however.  Later in the afternoon, James & Jackie won the Battle of the Block competition, leaving Shelli in power and her nominees, Jason & John in danger of being evicted from the house.

Who to put up became the topic of discussion for most of Thursday evening without any real clear cut decisions being made overnight. Vanessa spent a considerable amount of time obsessing over which houseguests voted to evict James instead of Jeff. She knew that Jeff’s Amazing Race partner, Jackie would vote to keep him safe, and John said straight up he’d be voting to evict James. But who cast the remaining two votes for Jeff?

Liz managed to keep a straight face throughout, despite being one of the rogue votes. Why did she defy her allies and vote to keep Jeff? In the diary room, Liz bragged that she loved flirting with Jeff, because she could manipulate him. So there’s that. I wonder if producers, attempting to throw a little drama into the mix, prodded Liz to cast a surprise vote?  The CBS could use some excitement. All the good stuff happens overnight on the feeds.

Vanessa, in the meantime, keeps repeating that she’s good at spotting liars. Uh. No she’s not. Steven is the other rogue vote, and even after he practically broke out in flop sweat as he denied voting to keep Jeff, Vanessa still believed him. Exactly how does she win all that money playing poker? With Audrey in her ear, running down her personal target Becky, Vanessa became convinced that she lied about voting to evict Jeff. Becky has been floating along, pretty much targeting nobody, but unfortunately, the group in power is now eyeing her suspiciously. Ironically, they can’t seem to shake Audrey and her lying, manipulating nonsense. Clay, Shelli and Vanessa should know better.

There has also been much speculation about the possibly of an “America’s Player” player alliance. In BB16 last summer, Derrick, Donny and Frankie were voted by viewers to carry out crazy tasks in the house for cash prizes. They mostly copped out of the tasks that would change the game significantly. Vanessa and Austin think Audrey may be America’s Player. No, she makes wacky decisions because she’s just straight up crazy.

Clay asked John to throw the BoB for a third time and he agreed, but Shelli told him he didn’t have to. Shelli nominated Jason because she’s afraid he’ll go after her for backdooring his bestie, Da’Vonne last week. She nominated John, because why not? She’s put him up before, and he always manages to come off the block. Liz nominated James instead of Becky so they could leave her as a backdoor option.

I think either Jason or Becky will end up going home next week. But it is still early. Will John win the power of veto for the 3rd week in a row tomorrow? James said if he wins the PoV, he’s taking John off the block. We’ll have some answers after Saturday’s Power of Veto competition.

ETA: A lot has happened in the house overnight. Audrey seems to be the new backdoor target. Clay, Shelli and Vanessa are finally coming to their senses regarding the manipulative game Audrey has been playing all along. Clay has always had reservations about Audrey. He spent last night convincing Shelli–who has a soft spot for Audrey–that she needs to go sooner rather than later. Vanessa believes her lying is even worse than Jeff’s. They tried to help and be her ally and she turned on them. Clay had to talk Vanessa down. There were a couple of moments between Clay and Shelli when they considered putting Austin up as the replacement nominee. They weren’t convinced of his trust. But Vanessa intervened, insisting Austin could be trusted. Jason talked to Shelli/Clay and they no longer believe he’s coming after them.

Unless they lose their nerve, it looks like Audrey is the new target.