S17.E13: Episode 13

[Tara Ariano]

The Power of Veto competition is held.

[PaperTree]

"Clearly she isn't taking it well"   LOL

 

Wow.  Goodbye Audrey

 

The boyband thing is beyond stupid.

[Callaphera]

That ending was so jarring. We go from a confrontation in the HoH room with Clay, Shelli, and Vanessa and after the commercial break: zombie Audrey! That made it seem like there is way more to the story than just a raised voices argument.

 

They couldn't have put Audrey's tuque on the nomination chair like they did last season with Jocasta's bowtie?

 

Shelli crying about the idea of her putting Audrey on the block was eye-rollingly annoying. Really? It's a game, people. Start treating it like one. 

[Yogi Mantle]

I can't with this show.

 

It's impossible to discuss what happened with Audrey because they left SO much out.

 

So I won't.

 

( I know we cant discuss the live feeds which is the reason this is an impossible task)

Edited July 23, 2015 by Yogi Mantle

[Chrissytd]

The Saved By The Bell-esque veto was nice even though the general concept is a copycat from last season. Vanessa strategy was smart.

 

The boyband thing is so embarrassing. At least they're taking it in stride.

 

I'm surprised they skipped over the reasoning behind Audrey's PoV ceremony absence.

[TimWil]

Absolutely awful episode, one of the very worst of all time. The Whack Street Boys bits were ENDLESS. And TPTB of this show are cowards for not having Shelli spell out the real reason she feels such dread at being the one to put up Audrey as a replacement nominee-it's because she's transgender. Terrible.

Edited July 23, 2015 by TimWil

[Gemma Violet]

I agree about the Wackstreet thing.  Long, boring, and unnecessary...especially when they could have put more in about Audrey. This show so desperately needs a new producer.  Why can't CBS see that?  I'll bet Grodner is besties with Mrs. Moonves.  That would explain it.

[NYGirl]

I don't get the feeds because I don't have the time to watch but I do read the thread...thankfully you guys are the best.

 

If I didn't know most of what happened I'd be saying huh? after that stupid episode.

[Wandering Snark]

Thoughts from tonight:

 

Liz: "Shelli is one of the select few who know our little secret" OMG she's bitchy and delusional. Select few huh?

 

Shelli: "Audrey is driving me crazy right now." And Audrey is driving me crazy hiding under her blankie with the stupid pom pom balls on it when talking to clay because she can't have an honest adult convo with anyone...

 

Wow I actually saw Steve when they were picking for veto, does that mean we'll have six more weeks of summer?

 

Vannessa to Audrey: Quit swearing on your life, do you not care about your life or something?? Duuuuude!! *snip*

 

Okay what's with the sunglasses in the house thing? And Audrey the Unibomber called he wants his hoodie and dark glasses back.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Stinger97

[candall]

Shelli, with big tears rolling down her face because she doesn't want "to get blood on her hands," is RIDICULOUS.

 

It's the equivalent of saying "I don't want to risk doing anything that might make someone be mad at me."  How do you come into a competition that pays $500k to the person who manipulates the elimination of one contestant after another and then start sniveling at the thought you might have to be proactive? 

Edited July 23, 2015 by candall

[Kris117]

I don't get the feeds because I don't have the time to watch but I do read the thread...thankfully you guys are the best.

 

If I didn't know most of what happened I'd be saying huh? after that stupid episode.

I can only imagine how tough it must be for production to edit Audrey's meltdown (or freeze-up?) in some coherent fashion. My guess is that they didn't have time to put much of it in tonight's episode, but felt they had to include something about it. If there isn't a fuller explanation tomorrow, then I will once again be wrong in predicting anything about BB.

[mojoween]

Austin is a dick. Unfunny, also.

[Katesus7]

So, Clay IS Zach from Saved by the Bell. I will never be able to see him otherwise.

I enjoyed all of the sunglasses in the house that is going on. Maybe Vanessa was handing out poker playing tips. Hide those eyes; they're huge tells!

The band stuff was so very stupid, so of course they devoted so much time to it.

I would have sucked at that POV. I actually have a very good memory, but it takes me time. I'm terrible at the super short term memory thing. I would have been out on the second question; embarrassing!

As a devoted feed watcher, it's kind of impossible for me to comment on the Audrey stuff. I will say, based on just her conversation with James about Clay/Shelli, she's earned her nomination. Too much playing too soon.

[Artsda]

That was better Audrey related than I was expecting, I was expecting them to gloss over a lot but they didn't and even threw in the flashback of her conversation with Clay to show why he got angry when she lied to his face about not saying something she said to his face.

 

The boyband stuff was stupid and took too much time. 

[Brian Cronin]

Can you imagine how long it took them to film the Saved by the Bell freeze frame stuff? There's no way that they all understood that concept right away. "What are we doing? Why can't I move right now?"

[yankee1151]

That Whackstreet bullshit is an example of one of the many things that Grodner ruined about this show.  It's bs manufactured filler at the expense of showing actual gameplay, but it's also just stupid, lazy, and designed to make the HGs into actual hamsters.  Or puppies, or puppets.... or something else not human.  And the goddamn unitards... banana costumes, all that shit.  Can you imagine if Dr Will was forced to participate in a fake boy band for a week on command or wear a unitard?  He would not do it, and BB would not be able to do a damn thing about it.  These are grown ass people.  And if you think they can't be funny/interesting on their own, get better casting people.  I hate the rigging, I hate most of the twists, but I've come to accept them (and OCCASIONALLY, they add something to the game).  But this humiliation for the sake of manufactured "humor" I will never, ever get behind.  

 

Was the 90s thing supposed to be the takeover twist for the week?  Where's the twist part?  

 

Since Vanessa is so worried about getting blood on her hands, she should have thrown the comp when it was down to her and the two nominees.  If they all exploded there would have to be a tiebreaker, or do-over, something.  

[Petunia13]

Thank you. All of this!!

[ghoulina]

I will be glad when Shellie's reign as HOH is over. Homegirl needs to calm the fuck down. Here's a thought - if you can't stand the thought of "getting blood on your hands", don't be HOH. Throw every comp and float your way to the end. Fuck. It's so annoying. 

 

I'm really over the others letting Clay and Shellie run the house as well. Why did James need to go running to them about what Audrey said? You're not in their alliance. Why try to be on "their side". Create your own side! Damn. Audrey may be loony and a pathological liar, but she is right - someone should put those two up. 

 

So weird that Audrey didn't show for Veto Ceremony. I wish we could have seen more of what was going on with that. Editing this season is kind of...whack. 

[Puffaroo]

Clay:  If there's one thing I cannot tolerate, it's people lying to me.

 

DUDE, have you ever actually *seen* this show before?

[Wootini]

Listening to Shelli cry about having to put up Audrey was just ridiculous. This is Big Brother. It's a game. This is how the Big Brother game is played.

 

THERE'S NO CRYING IN BIG BROTHER! (unless you're Bunky)

 

And of course, because of the terrible editing on this show, we'll never know exactly why she was so upset about it. Was she sad because she genuinely thought Audrey was an ally and was upset that she wasn't and now had to go up on the block? Was she sad that she had to put up a transgender woman and worried about how America would perceive that? (Please. No one was concerned when they put up the black woman right away.)

 

And the Wackstreet Boys made me miss the unitards and banana costumes. Which is not something I ever thought I would say. Ugh.

 

No one seems at all concerned about Shelli and Clay becoming this uber-power couple, which concerns me. Those are exactly the kind of alliances you need to split up early, but no one ever does. Of course, this could again just be the editing. People might be thinking it but if they're not saying it, we'll never know. Hell, even if they DO say it, sometimes the editors won't let us hear it anyway!

 

It was clear that there was a LOT more going on with Audrey's no-show at the Veto ceremony than they showed us. I would wait and see if they do a flashback to the drama to pad out the live show on Thursday, but I don't trust the producers to give us the whole story, so I guess I'll just have to skim through the live feeds thread to find all the dirt! 

Clay:  If there's one thing I cannot tolerate, it's people lying to me.

 

DUDE, have you ever actually *seen* this show before?

 

It's like last week when Jackie was all "I don't know what kind of game Austin is playing with me." and I was like, "Honey, it's called Big Brother." Sigh… these people...

[Puffaroo]

That was better Audrey related than I was expecting, I was expecting them to gloss over a lot but they didn't and even threw in the flashback of her conversation with Clay to show why he got angry when she lied to his face about not saying something she said to his face.

 

 

Welllll, technically she didn't lie when she said "those weren't my words."  They weren't, though the meaning was still the same.

[ghoulina]

Welllll, technically she didn't lie when she said "those weren't my words."  They weren't, though the meaning was still the same.

 

Yea, even though Audrey was pettily arguing semantics, it did kind of bother me how Clay kept saying - "Quote, unquote", because that was not literally what she said. He would have been better off saying, "Cut the crap, Audrey. I may not have transcribed the conversation, but the gist of what you were saying is still the same". 

[Primetimer]

Audrey hasn't been a serious target for a while now. And she can't have that.

Read the story

[Former Nun]

Was she sad that she had to put up a transgender woman and worried about how America would perceive that?

 

 

By jove, I think that's it!

[Jesse]

I thought the Wackstreet Boys bit was funny -- but definitely given too much airtime -- if only because it gave Johnny Mac the best line of the show. As noted in the recap. 

[ghoulina]

Yea, I found it hilarious how Johnny embraced his boy band persona, but we didn't need to see every single show.

[mojoween]

Was their performance to the same music every time? Because yeah, that would get super old.

[Artsda]

Welllll, technically she didn't lie when she said "those weren't my words."  They weren't, though the meaning was still the same.

She lied. She was denying the whole thing, not the order of words that she used replacement and he used backdoor.  In the same conversation she said she was never disloyal to Shelli and that Clay cornered her outside. Because everyone always corners Audrey to play game. LOL Any and everything out of Audrey's mouth is a lie even her "swear on my life." That Vanessa called her out on to stop because she had no value of her life.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Artsda

[iMonrey]

I've seriously thought there was something wrong with Audrey since Week 1, when she told a group of people Vanessa was trying to organize an all-girls alliance, then she turned around and went straight to Vanessa and told her people were saying she was organizing an all-girls alliance. WTF. Who does that? And for what purpose? It's one thing to try to target someone else or throw someone under the bus to take a target off yourself, but that accomplished neither.

 

Let's be generous and say there isn't something mentally wrong with Audrey. In that case we're left with just a few other alternatives. One is that she has never seen this show before and has no idea what the "game" is, and someone just briefed her moments before she set foot in the house, telling her the object of the game was to run around telling lies willy-nilly regardless of whether they make sense. Or maybe Audrey is a "twist" and she's a self-Saboteur, with the objective of being the first person voted out of the house. Barring either of these options, she's just a complete idiot.

 

Speaking of idiots . . . why in the hell would James go running straight to Clay and Shelli to tattle on Audrey? What does it get him? He wasn't even on the block anymore at that point. These people that keep getting nominated still keep running to Shelli and Clay and offering up any tidbit of info they overhear or glean. What is wrong with them? Do they not get that there's a reason they keep getting nominated every week? Are they so stupid they actually think they're in an alliance with these people? Or do they just hope to be?

Once again, I blame Battle of the Block. It has ruined the game. Everyone is desperate to be on the same side. It's just like last season. You've got one core alliance and everyone else thinks they're in that alliance or strives to be. There's never an effective counter alliance trying to take them down. Everyone is too afraid to draw a line in the sand because of this dumb BotB thing. Idiots, all of them.

[Katesus7]

I think James would go to Shelli and Clay because Shelli is HOH and James is close to both Jason and John, and doesn't want them to go, but would very much like Audrey to go.  And sure enough, he got what he wanted. 

[Gregg247]

Audrey has consistently been the biggest troublemaker on the show this season, and she's absolutely TERRIBLE at playing BB.  I like the fact that she's trying to stir things up, but she does it in such a blatant, ridiculous way, that she always gets caught red-handed.  She's like the Wile E. Coyote of BB.

 

I think James turned Audrey in to Shelli and Clay, not to curry favor with them, but because EVERYONE in the house is united in the desire in getting Audrey out of there.  She's making their lives miserable.

 

My big problem with this season is that we have the Sixth Sense coalition, and then 8-9 individuals who just think they're on summer vacation.

[Wootini]

I think iMonrey might be on to something there. I was never a fan of Battle of the Block because it just seemed to overcomplicate the whole nomination/veto/elimination procedure. But now that you mention it, have the two HoH's ever been at odds with each other? My memory is for crap, but I feel like they've always worked together to figure out nominees and an endgame target. I know this season has been like that, but I feel like it's been that way ever since the BoB has been introduced. It would be so much more interesting to have two HoH's working at cross-purposes, and putting up each others allies. Then there would be some drama to the BoB contest. But since its introduction, all it's seemed to accomplish was annoying the people put up as "pawns" because now they have to nominate four people instead of two.

 

A Big Brother "twist" to the gameplay that falls flat on its face? WHAT A SURPRISE!

[Turtle]

BotB is terrible because it discourages HoHs from targeting anyone other than "who the house wants." I just think back to how different last season might have been if Donny had won solo HoH and done whatever he wanted instead of negotiating his nominees. I don't mind changes to the game, like making the veto picks theoretically random, but they shouldn't be changes that make he game less strategic and more boring.

[Wootini]

Honestly, if they wanted a twist that would shake things up, they should have regular power of veto, and then occasionally a GOLDEN power of veto which allows that person to take someone off the block… but then also choose the nominee THEY want. :D

[DAngelus]

Shelli, with big tears rolling down her face because she doesn't want "to get blood on her hands," is RIDICULOUS.

 

It's the equivalent of saying "I don't want to risk doing anything that might make someone be mad at me."  How do you come into a competition that pays $500k to the person who manipulates the elimination of one contestant after another and then start sniveling at the thought you might have to be proactive? 

 

I believe the tears were more over betraying her promises to Audrey (two Georgia girls who bonded on Day One, and Shelli is the one who has lived a pampered and protected life, the one who didn't get kidnapped in the middle of the night and dragged off to "Pray the Gay Away" camp) than about getting blood on her hands.  

 

And I don't mind HoHs being concerned about having an exit strategy.  You want to accomplish your goal and not pay the price the next week, that's only logical.  I admire HoHs who can do that, like Shelli did in Week 2 and Vanessa did last week.  Ironically, while Shelli is concerned that backdooring Audrey would get blood on her hands, it's actually doing the opposite.  This week is where she's "going with the house" and not getting out a target, out of fear.  (We'll see how great an idea letting Jason off of the hook proves to be, long-term.  My money's on "not so much".) So it's an inappropriate use of the phrase, but the general idea is fine, IMO.

 

That was better Audrey related than I was expecting, I was expecting them to gloss over a lot but they didn't and even threw in the flashback of her conversation with Clay to show why he got angry when she lied to his face about not saying something she said to his face.

 

I haven't caught up on BBAD, or read the feeds thread after that, but I'd be surprised if we had really missed all that much, relatively.  Seems like Audrey just Audreying, a lot.  I'm sure there were details that got cut, but I feel as though the gist of it was covered.

 

Can you imagine if Dr Will was forced to participate in a fake boy band for a week on command or wear a unitard?  He would not do it, and BB would not be able to do a damn thing about it. 

 

Not so.  One of Mike Boogie's big "achievements" in Big Brother 2 was his organizing the "Big Brother boy band", which he dubbed "2 Hype" (apparently unaware that this was the title of the debut album by Kid N' Play), and yes, Will was a (pardon the pun) willing participant.  In fact, Will won the season by always being the one who enjoyed Big Brother's tacky little games while the Cancer-Sucking Alliance that had kicked out all of Chill Town except for him would bitch about it.  (Okay, so some of that was to get under the skin of Hardy and Nicole, but still.)  And in All-Stars, he was part of the "I Wanna Shower" '80s rock "music video" that was the last time any HG-created musical content made the CBS show until Shelli's amateur theatricals somehow infected Sunday's show.  (Well, unless you count the drumline booty-shaking that Rachel organized in Week 1 of Season 13.)

 

JMO, but I think Will would wear that carrot costume, and wear it proudly.  (And of course this whole subject begs the question of why Mike isn't this week's "BB Takeover" "celebrity".  You know he would do it in a heartbeat, and not even ironically.)

 

I'm really over the others letting Clay and Shellie run the house as well. Why did James need to go running to them about what Audrey said? You're not in their alliance. Why try to be on "their side". Create your own side! 

 

Well, as much as we have seen the Sixth Sense holding meetings and swearing loyalty and so on, Clay and Shelli have never actually gotten around to printing up cards reading "Mr. Clayton Honeycutt and Ms. Shelli Poole are pleased to announce that they have joined the 'Sixth Sense' alliance with Ms. Vanessa Rousso, Mr. Austin Matelson, the one and only Liz Nolan, and a special mystery guest, and the rest of you are cordially invited to kick rocks".  Clay and Shelli are a strong pair that have been winning competitions, would make a nice shield, and as far as James knows, are still part of the group that formed in Week 1.  I'd say it's hardly surprising that James believes it behooves him a lot more to try and build closer ties with them than to try and organize a F3 with Jackie and Steve, for example.

 

I thought the Wackstreet Boys bit was funny -- but definitely given too much airtime -- if only because it gave Johnny Mac the best line of the show. As noted in the recap. 

 

I very much enjoyed several things about the bit; that despite their "screaming female groupies", there was a grand total of one heterosexual man in the group, which pretty much fits the profile of the average boy band, and that their lyrics never got more complex than "Uhhh, yeah", which pretty much gibes with the musical "output" of said groups.  And the "private concert" for Jackie in the kitchen was cute, I thought, and recalled the (thankful) fizzling out of that era of "music".  (At least until the British unleashed Wand Erection or whatever the name of that group is…)

 

I've seriously thought there was something wrong with Audrey since Week 1, when she told a group of people Vanessa was trying to organize an all-girls alliance, then she turned around and went straight to Vanessa and told her people were saying she was organizing an all-girls alliance. WTF. Who does that? And for what purpose? It's one thing to try to target someone else or throw someone under the bus to take a target off yourself, but that accomplished neither.

 

It's her m.o.; create a target with lies and then warn the target so that they blame people other than you.  It's not the worst idea ever, she just does it over the top.  (Without going into spoiler-y details, she tried something very similar with Becky in Week 1, which is why Becky wanted her out so badly in Week 2.  She might also have been doing this against Steve, but that would be pre-feeds, so we've had no true confirmation of that situation.)  It probably goes back to her background in that "online Survivor" that she won, but it probably worked better there, since the other players in that game were not isolated in a house with nothing to do but compare notes, nor could they "corner" Audrey at a time of their choosing.  IMO, she's a prisoner of her old strategy and has failed to adapt to new situations.  

 

She also appears to be psychologically incapable of "laying low", unless it's part of a greater scheme.  Apparently she won the iSurv1vor (hope I spelled that right) by disappearing before Final Tribal Council, then showing up with an explanation/excuse and an emotionally-manipulative speech.  She may be trying to recreate this by hiding in the Have-Not Room.  I suppose John should probably be a little worried; it's not a hard argument to make that he's a competition threat they should get out while they can and if Shelli were to reverse course, she would only need 5 votes to force a tie-breaker, and she's got 4 solid allies in the HoH room with her, so it would only take one more person.

 

I just don't see it, though;  I think Audrey's Hail-Mary here is like the rest of her playbook…out of date.  We'll see soon, I suppose.

[DAngelus]

Now that you mention it, have the two HoH's ever been at odds with each other? My memory is for crap, but I feel like they've always worked together to figure out nominees and an endgame target. 

 

(Pardon the double-post; I hadn't seen that this had been posted while I was composing my longer post, above.)

 

It's only been two weeks since we had two HoHs with completely different plans;  Becky wanted to backdoor Audrey and thought Shelli was on board with that, but Shelli lied to her up one side and down the other, got John to throw BotB so that Becky would be dethroned, and went through with her secret plan to kick Da'Vonne out, instead.  Becky appeared to take this with supreme equanimity, rather than screaming at Shelli for lying to her or any such thing, but we'll see about that as the game goes ahead, perhaps.  But yes, the surface appearance of HoH cooperation is not always the case, and it's our current HoH who has already pulled a fast one on her partner.  

 

And then last week, while Vanessa and Austin had lots of talks about what they should do and ultimately "agreed" on a plan, at the end of the day we had Vanessa wanting to evict James and Austin preferring to get rid of Jeff and Austin sabotaging Vanessa's plans by throwing the Veto so that Vanessa would have to put up a replacement nominee and their arguing about it.  (Although why Vanessa thought Austin should get the "why are you not using the Veto and protecting Audrey, you asshole?" blood-on-his-hands to help Vanessa evict her target instead of his, I haven't a clue.)

 

And even this week, I didn't get any sense that there was an agreement in place; it seemed as though BotB was legitimate once Shelli revoked the request for John to throw it.  Had he and Jason found a pumpkin, we'd be seeing the Sixth Sense mulling the James vs. Jackie eviction, most likely. (The twins are probably less susceptible to Audrey overload since they get a break from it every three days or so, I bet.)

 

So, as far as I can tell, the "HoHs agree on a target and that's it" scenario you describe has happened only once this season, way back in Week 1.  And that was Jace, for heaven's sake.  Agreeing to evict him wasn't exactly a hard sell, I'm thinking.

Edited July 24, 2015 by DAngelus

[yankee1151]

Not so.  One of Mike Boogie's big "achievements" in Big Brother 2 was his organizing the "Big Brother boy band", which he dubbed "2 Hype" (apparently unaware that this was the title of the debut album by Kid N' Play), and yes, Will was a (pardon the pun) willing participant.  In fact, Will won the season by always being the one who enjoyed Big Brother's tacky little games while the Cancer-Sucking Alliance that had kicked out all of Chill Town except for him would bitch about it.  (Okay, so some of that was to get under the skin of Hardy and Nicole, but still.)  And in All-Stars, he was part of the "I Wanna Shower" '80s rock "music video" that was the last time any HG-created musical content made the CBS show until Shelli's amateur theatricals somehow infected Sunday's show.  (Well, unless you count the drumline booty-shaking that Rachel organized in Week 1 of Season 13.)

 

But that's my whole point.  The HGs came up with these shenanigans for fun, on their own.  None of it was producer driven.  And (IMO) the show was MUCH better back then.  Production didn't have to orchestrate these stupid "punishments" for our alleged entertainment, the HGs were entertaining enough on their own.  

[Donny Ketchum]

Honestly, if they wanted a twist that would shake things up, they should have regular power of veto, and then occasionally a GOLDEN power of veto which allows that person to take someone off the block… but then also choose the nominee THEY want. :D

I think you mean a Diamond Power of Veto.  That one allows the user of the Veto to nominate a new nominee rather than the Head of Household.  The Golden Power of Veto allows the user to nullify a nomination, including the user him- or herself, but the HoH still picks the new nominee.  Then, there's the old, normal, regular Power of Veto, which the user could use on any nominee who wasn't the user him- or herself.  However, the user, if he or she wasn't on the block, could still be nominated as a replacement nominee, which many people found unfair.  Production apparently did, too, as that Veto was abolished after BB3, its first and only season of use, to be replaced with the golden one full-time.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Donny Ketchum