S17.E16: Episode 16

[Tara Ariano]

The Power of Veto competition is held.

[TexasChic]

Austin, just... yuck.

[Ceeg]

Vanessa's reasoning for putting up Jason rather than Meg or James was pretty solid. "Meg is TV show hosting. James.....is into chicks" Seriously, what do they do? 

Austin is going to be super embarrassed watching this back.

[Chrissytd]

In case you missed it, Clay played football at Texas A&M.

[Cutty]

That was an interesting edit.

The most annoying part of Vanessa is she refuses to own her game. So tired of her crying that she has to make a move on a TV game show. Does she apologize and whine when she beats someone at poker?

Edited July 30, 2015 by Cutty

[Donny Ketchum]

Uh . . . does Steve have something against Becky that we haven't been shown?  That confessional he made about her seemed really random to me.

 

Wow.  CBS really tried hard to protect their golden couple tonight. 

You'd have to be a live feeder to see just how big a part Clay and Shelli (especially Shelli), due to their own unnecessary paranoia, played in Jason going up on the block.  They actually considered sending Becky home just because she dared not to cheer for Clay's Veto win, which got them thinking that there was an alliance on the other side of the house looking to get rid of Clay.  Then, for some reason, Vanessa considered backdooring Jackie!  If you'd only seen how crazy this got, you'd have felt your head spin!

 

James is close to Meg and Jason, yet he chooses . . . Clay?  Sheesh, James.  Way to be a loyal ally.

 

Wish I could've been in the house for that Outback reward, though.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Donny Ketchum

[Cosmosgravitation]

 

Uh . . . does Steve have something against Becky that we haven't been shown?  That confessional he made about her seemed really random to me.

 

He overheard her mocking him pretty fiercely with Jason just before PoV.

 Also, she's very condescending in general when she talks to him and I think he knows he's her target.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Cosmosgravitation

[Dewey Decimate]

"I'll put my steak down my pants for you." The words every woman wants to hear from her man.

 

And Austin, dude, NOmance means NOmance!

[candall]

After a full hour that will make Austin curl up and cringe with embarrassment at how stupid he looked, [the editors decided] he had to wrap it up by snarling at the camera:

 

"NO ONE. . . humiliates. . . Judas!"

 

Oh dear, the irony.

*****************************

Otherwise, just a shallow note that Vanessa looked fabu for the Outback dinner and as far as "dressing to the nines," the three women made the men look like total losers.  You didn't bring a crisp white shirt to go with that fucking top hat, Austin?

 

Kind of funny that James wore hunter camo and Austin wore a deer.

Edited July 30, 2015 by candall

[mojoween]

It's not that I want Austin to stay one minute longer than necessary, but FINALLY something interesting.

And I just want everyone to know that I would put a steak down my pants for any of you.

[Wandering Snark]

Oh I just f'n loved Johnny Mac's convo with Clay about the Veto; and his DR's that went a long with it had me literally lol. Especially when he said "And then you might win it and someone will tell you NOT to use it!!"

 

I loved those "square-ill" outfits reminds me of the Food Comps of yesteryear. However, they should have had to keep on the square-ill hats the whole time. I bet this was a really great comp to be witness to. Can the non-involved people go in and catch a nap or do they have to sit there for hours while this plays out??

 

Wow you never hear from a guy for weeks and allasudden he goes all 'I love schadenfreude' on us... the hell?? And not just a little "hah... she dropped" but he was like reallllly into it. Kinda creepy to be honest. Maybe this is a glimspe into why Jackie wanted Steve as a back door plan?

 

Liz: "I just don't want to be in the middle of this" Vanessa "Well, unfortunately you are." Hah.

 

The problem with the "I'll let you talk it out with the King and Queen" plan is 'Scared Straight' doesn't work on stupid...

 

Well, it's blood or guts time... and if you don't have the guts to go through with your plan you rightfully get the blood on your hands, everywhere.

 

I guess things won't be so 'just a big happy family' anymore huh? Good! Let's get this show on the road *rubs hands*

[mojoween]

Oh also Vanessa was incredibly rude to Liz in their conversation after veto. And I don't even LIKE Liz and her whiny, horrible voice.

Also I feel like Meg should know when I was outside Yankee Stadium a few years ago a squirrel was running around a tree and another time in Battery Park squirrels were all over the benches.

Also also Shelli and Austin can get fucked with Shelli's "Steve's in there, we can kick him out" and Austin's dickheaded aggressiveness when they got in the room.

Steve might be annoying to them but he's still a human being, for cod's sack.

Edited July 30, 2015 by mojoween

[Callaphera]

What every guy wants to hear after he kisses the girl for the first time: "I haaaate yooooou!" with a smattering of giggles. 

 

What the hell was that Steve DR? 

 

This editing is horrible. 90% of the show is all about Austin being the backdoor target. In the last 10%, we suddenly have a new target. Can't we see a little more build up instead of Steve playing Hide'n'Seek with a camera by himself?

[TexasChic]

He overheard her mocking him pretty fiercely with Jason just before PoV.

Also she's very condescending in general when she talks to him and I think he knows he's her target.

Looks like they could've shown just a hint of that! What was the purpose of showing his DR anyway (with no backstory) - to make him look psycho?

Edited July 30, 2015 by stacey
Added Spoiler Tag

[AndreaK1041]

Austin is so, so, so gross.

[Wandering Snark]

Was just thinking, with all the people he's told that he's "fallen in love with Liz" not a single person including Liz has taken him aside and given him a polite "dude, she's just not that into you" for his own sake. That kinda sucks.

[yankee1151]

I'm not sure I can continue watching this show while Austin and Liz are both still there.  Hopefully Julia finds out that he was plotting her demise and gets him the fuck out of there.  I can't even laugh at the fact that he thinks "Judas" is a thing anymore.  He's beyond pathetic.  And Liz may be leading him on for game purposes but I really, really hope she has a limit and shuts this shit down.  I don't think I've been so uncomfortable watching a reality show ever.  

 

ETA the only redeemable thing was Johnny Mac's DRs about the veto.  Hilarious.  He is the only DR screamer that I have ever enjoyed.  

Edited July 30, 2015 by yankee1151

[Katesus7]

Austin is a total asshat. And dude, "Judas" is never going to happen. Your wrestling 'career' is never going to happen. Go away. Asshat.

But Liz is certainly no prize.

That's all I've got.

[RedheadZombie]

Also I feel like Meg should know when I was outside Yankee Stadium a few years ago a squirrel was running around a tree and another time in Battery Park squirrels were all over the .

I watched two squirrels playing (or fighting) in Central Park. The only in NYC moment was watching a woman scold them for being mean to each other.

Has Vanessa been caking on the makeup this heavily all season? I read that she's been crying about her acne, so I guess she's trying to camouflage it. It ages her at least fifteen years.

[Wandering Snark]

 

Maybe he IS trying to snag clay away from shelly as he jokingly said.

Every joke like that has an unsettling amount of truth to it...

[Artsda]

Steve was creepy in that DR about Becky, he's really off. 

 

That veto sure was perfect for Clay to win.

[Nashville]

Hell, I like Steve, and that TH was creepy as shit.

He reminded me of Renfield out of the old Dracula movies.

I kept waiting for him to snatch a bug off the wall and eat it.

[DAngelus]

Well, that was sweet!  About time somebody kicked Vanessa hard enough to remind her that sacrificing her three core allies to curry the favor of "the house" is probably not a great idea.  

 

And, for all the crap the editors are taking about Steve v. Becky, the secret war, I was very glad that they put that clip in the "previouslies" of Vanessa telling Jason/Meg/James, "We get rid of those three [Austin and the twins] and we move forward from there".  I can't tell you how furious I was to see Vanessa unnecessarily including Liz and Julia in the "let's backdoor Austin" offer to "Dark Moon".  Well, perhaps I can illustrate by this quote from the episode:

VANESSA:  How did [the BotB result] happen?

ME (watching, to nobody except my cat):  Because Liz is a goddess and you're a backstabbing piece of shit, that's how!

 

(Yes, I may be a touch over-invested.  I'm aware.)

 

Oh also Vanessa was incredibly rude to Liz in their conversation after veto. And I don't even LIKE Liz and her whiny, horrible voice.

Also I feel like Meg should know when I was outside Yankee Stadium a few years ago a squirrel was running around a tree and another time in Battery Park squirrels were all over the benches.

Not only was Vanessa really brusque to Liz in their first post-Veto conversation, I really couldn't stand her over-the-top and IMO at least partly fake "I'm getting so emotional" reaction when Liz was trying to talk sense in their second convo.  (The one with Shelli present and Liz wearing the "Loyola" t-shirt.)  I feel this a technique Vanessa uses to try and control people, and I'm over it.

 

(And, as glad as I was that Shelli seems to have been at least partly responsible for making Vanessa see the light, I nearly blew my stack when she asked Liz why Liz trusts Austin's loyalty and not hers [shelli's].  That's a pretty ballsy question considering you just joined an alliance predicated on evicting both Liz and her sister, Horse Teeth.  [Not that Liz knows about "Dark Moon", of course, but it still pissed me off.])

 

And yes, Grod only knows where Meg pulled that "no squirrels in NYC" crap from.  Hey, sweetie, you're on an island in a temperate climate with a giant park full of trees smack in the middle; I hate to tell you, but rodents love that.  (And let's not get started on the rats in the subway tunnels…)

 

Not terribly thrilled with them doing the "Sisyphus" comp for Veto and making the HGs wear such heavy costumes, though.  The last time they held this comp (Amanda winning to save herself and McCrae during Elissa's HoH in S15), the competitors nearly collapsed from heat exhaustion.  I was cringing at the thought of extra layers being added.

 

What was the purpose of showing [steve's "I hate Becky"] DR anyway (with no backstory) - to make him look psycho?

 

Very poorly done, especially as they'd spent a minute earlier in the episode on a "Steve is a harmless cutie and the camera is in love with him" segment.  Do you not see the contradiction there, folks?  That said, there had been hints of Becky's animosity to Steve throughout the season; not simply that she'd been A-OK with him being (she thought) the back-up target both this week and during her planned backdoor of Audrey in Week 2, but she'd made remarks about his "lingering" in conversations in one of the early episodes.  (It's probably episode 17.06, when Becky is co-HoH and is suggesting targets, but the USB cable that connects my comp to the hard drive where I have the old episodes stored needs replacing and so, for the moment, I can't check.) It's not surprising that he's not too thrilled with her, but that was still over the top.

 

Has Vanessa been caking on the makeup this heavily all season? I read that she's been crying about her acne, so I guess she's trying to camouflage it. It ages her at least fifteen years.

 

Clearly, her face is having a very rough week.  I read on the feeds thread [not a spoiler of any significance] that it may be because she's using a charcoal mask more than she should be, and she's having a bad reaction to it.  (Disclaimer: I'm a guy, and I have almost as little knowledge of these subjects as James would.) You can see her with it on, very briefly, when she first speaks to Liz after the Veto.

 

I also didn't know that Vanessa spoke French, nor that Becky used to play soccer at, apparently, a pretty high level.  So at least the episode gave me some new facts to play with.  (I guess girl jocks don't like nerds, either.  More fuel for the Becky/Steve fire, perhaps.)

 

And as much as I'm glad Austin will be sticking around for strategic purposes, his nearly choking Liz with his giant ham-hock of an arm was way creepy.  I tend to put Austin third in my affections for the "Sixth Sense" (behind Julia and Liz, of course) because he is more solid in his loyalty than Vanessa/Shelli/Clay (although I'm pleased with the ultimate decision those three made this week), but somebody really needs to tell Austin to pump the brakes.  Hopefully Julia will do it once she comes in, full time.  And if she needs to illustrate it with a kick or two to his squirrels, so be it.

 

As much as I'm happy to see the end of Jason (I presume;  with four "Sixth Sense" votes, Becky only needs one more to stay, and I think either John or Jackie should have enough loyalty to her to make the difference), I will occasionally miss his humor.  I like his running complaint about all the sliming and splattering in the competitions ruining his clothes, although given that he's a BB historian, he should have known that coming in.  (I clearly recall Marcellas complaining during an All-Stars episode that he'd had three belts ruined already and he was going to bill production for the expense.)  And I liked his consoling James over Liz's winning the BotB by herself: "Don't worry about it, James.  We know she's smart." Heh.  

 

(Although Liz is, apparently, smarter than she's playing and also we have to consider to whom Jason is speaking here.  On a scale of "1-to-James", Liz probably is pretty damn smart.)

 

I don't know if the editors could have coped with this, since the PoV was on Saturday and the meeting was on Monday (and I haven't read the feeds thread to see when, exactly, Austin was able to flip the renom), but it's interesting that Sunday's episode was all about "wow, Austin really stuck his foot in it talking to Jason" and this ep's events made me reconsider how bad that conversation was for Jason, as it ultimately turned out.  

 

I mean, yes, Austin flapped his gums and then lied to cover it up, but consider it from a Sixth Sense p.o.v.:  Austin told Jason a secret…and Jason promptly went and told the house.  Austin extended an olive branch to try and work with Jason…and Jason went and used that to paint a target on Austin's back.  It doesn't really make Jason look like someone you want "on your side", in retrospect.   And I do remember that on a second viewing of Sunday's show, I saw it was actually Jason who first brought up the possibility that Austin might not be so thrilled about Julia being around him and Liz full-time, although Austin certainly took that ball and ran with it on his own.  But it makes sense that Austin would be able to flip this; he may be an idiot, but he's clearly Vanessa's idiot, whereas Jason has a good half-dozen people he's more connected to than he is to her.

 

So I think that Vanessa not only made the decision that satisfies me emotionally (as I'm very pro-twins and wanted Jason gone last week), but a logical one from a game perspective, too.  The irony is, even though Vanessa talks about what a target Liz is, the events of this week have probably moved the twins to being the safest of the alliance.  I mean, Austin and Clay are both giant meat-shields, and "Clelli" is a legit showmance, whereas I think the house pretty much knows Austin's being creepy about Liz and it might actually get her some sympathy.  And Vanessa and Shelli have now been the full-week HoHs for the last four weeks combined, and Vanessa's "betrayed" the other side twice now.  Yes, Liz has been co-HoH for a day and saved herself this week, and yes she and her sister are very unlikely to turn on each other, but of the six they're probably the ones with the smallest target on them now.  Good.

 

Which isn't to say my reactions to the episode were wholly unemotional.  My schadenfreude at Meg's reaction to the blindside was at near-Steve levels, I admit.  Best moment since Matty Mac almost literally slapped the smirk off of Joshuah's face in a similar circumstance in S9. (Although I recognize that Meg is nowhere near the jerk Joshuahahah was…or that Matt was, for that matter.  But I just loved seeing Fakey McFake, I'm So HAPPY and UP, don't you just LOVE IT??  being in tears at the thought of losing her handbag, I mean gay best friend.  Which I'm sure qualifies me as  a mean and bitter person, but hey…there's gotta be a reason I take those little red pills each morning, right?)

 

"Is that a steak down your pants, or are you just happy to see me?"—what I hope Shelli said to Clay after the dinner reward.

[RedheadZombie]

I think it's strange that Liz didn't have a stronger reaction to hearing Austin wanted Julia gone, and his plan was to get her to the jury house for sex. Therefore, he planned on spoiling both Twins' game. It's like Liz didn't realize that if his plan is to get her to the jury house, he very clearly plans to make sure she doesn't win.

It was also weird how Clay/Shellie didn't react to Austin's statement - "I fell in love and this is all that matters to me."

Also, I'm surprised that Vanessa doesn't realize that letting Austin believe C/S "saved" him, very likely elevates them above Vanessa in his loyalties.

Edited July 30, 2015 by RedheadZombie

[bc1795]

Maybe Vanessa can preside over the marriage of Austin and Liz in the jury house.

[Ceeg]

As a live feed watcher, it's very difficult to discuss this week's episode, because how it was edited is really not how the events went down at all. 

[ghoulina]

Grrrr, why is Austin not on the block?!? I seriously feel like Vanessa let ME down. That's how pissed off I am. I feel betrayed and disappointed. It might be time to step away from BB. 

 

No, seriously, though. I would not begrudge the house for being all kinds of pissed off at her. I hope next week someone else is in power and they all turn on her. Lead the way, Jackie! 

 

And it's not just going against what she said, but I just think it was really stupid. Yes, Austin is another number on your side, but you have Julia coming in this week - so it will balance out. But Austin is simply an unreliable number. He has already gone off on his own, making ridiculous moves without consulting his alliance, moves that could HURT his alliance. And he has straight up lied to your face about it! Several times. He is this horrible combination of a guy who's got tunnel vision for a girl and also is just a horrible game player at his core. BAD combination. What, you think because he's all crying and contrite and making promises you can count on him going forward? Ha, that's because he's trying to keep himself from going up on the block. But it's all out in the open now and your alliance is fractured. There are already seeds of distrust on both sides, it would have simply been wiser to just pull it up from the root and be done with it. 

 

And, Liz - I just don't get it. You're in this sticky situation with a guy pawing all over you, kissing you!, and you're not sure what to do about it....then this situation presents itself where you can get him out, and you don't? I don't get her at all. Austin is freaking creepy. He cannot read behavior, body language, etc. What was quite clearly, to me, an uncomfortable situation, is, to Austin, "flirting" and "special". Yes, any time a girl pushes you away multiple times and yells "I hate you!", that's some hardcore flirting right there. Maybe Austin is just really bad at reading signals. That's why it's just best to be upfront and assertive. But I don't feel bad about Austin potentially being led on, because of the shitty way he's treated his (ex)girlfriend. 

 

I don't really care for Liz anyhow. I hate that sexy wiggle thing she does every 5 seconds. Julia needs to hurry up and get in there and teach her how to play the game, because she kind of sucks at it. 

 

So, um, Clay is a Furry? Who would've thunk it? 

 

Steve playing with that camera was a very Flight of the Navigator moment for me. Very cute. But, wait, did I miss something? Does he seriously hate Becky? What the hell is going on there? I felt like I must have fallen asleep and missed a big chunk of the show at some point. 

[ghoulina]

Also also Shelli and Austin can get fucked with Shelli's "Steve's in there, we can kick him out" and Austin's dickheaded aggressiveness when they got in the room.

 

I hated that! They were all like, "Oh, it's just Steve in there. He doesn't count". 

 

 

 

Looks like they could've shown just a hint of that! What was the purpose of showing his DR anyway (with no backstory) - to make him look psycho?

 

Exactly! It came completely out of left field. The editing is shit this season. There have been so many random moments that have made me question if I missed something. Less Whackstreet Boys and more actual gameplay, please. 

 

 

 

Austin is a total asshat. And dude, "Judas" is never going to happen. Your wrestling 'career' is never going to happen. Go away. Asshat.

 

"Fetch" will happen before "Judas" does. 

Edited July 30, 2015 by ghoulina

[Wootini]

Hearing that there's more to the story than what we see on the show doesn't surprise me. The editors are always leaving out juicy bits that really should've been included. But showing Steve's bizarre DR about hating Becky was so out of context it makes him look like a creeper. Why not spend the few minutes they wasted showing Steve playing with the camera (complete with stupid android beeps and whistles like R2D2) showing why he might not like Becky. Unless of course, the editors WANT Steve to look like a completely creepy psycho. I mean, stranger things have happened.

 

Sounds like I'm going to have to peruse the live feeds thread again to get the full story of how Austin ended up being saved from the block this week. Sometimes Vanessa seems to be really good at this game, but other times she does things that make no sense at all. Why would you tell Liz anything before you put Austin up? Just explain to her afterwards that you put him up because he was trying to get Julia out. Liz would probably understand that. But that whole conversation was so weird. I never got the impression that Vanessa really impressed upon Liz the fact that Austin was willing to sacrifice her sister just so he could go to the jury house with her. Because much like the Clay/Shelli partnership, the Liz/Julia alliance is going to be super strong. Liz should want to do anything to keep her sister in the house. Even evict the guy who keeps creepily hitting on her and trying to kiss her even though she's not into him at all. (Seriously, I get that you want to flirt a little to lead the other person on to help your game, but the minute that tongue went in my mouth, I would shut that shit down on the quickfast. Just sayin')

 

Also, I don't know why during the whole bit about "We shouldn't evict Austin because we need him for numbers" no one -- like Liz, maybe? -- mentioned "Hey, it's okay. Julia's coming in after this eviction, so we'll come out even."

 

I find Jason amusing, so I will be sad to see him go. I mean, I suppose he might be able to dredge up the votes and send Becky home instead… I'd rather see that happen, so of course, that's not what will happen. Hell, I would think this vote would be pretty well split, so it'll probably end up being unanimous again. Oh, except for Austin, who will throw a vote to the other side as usual thinking he's being clever but actually just being stupid. Seriously, Austin seems to think he's some kind of game playing genius, but every move he makes has me going "Wait, WHAT?"

 

I think what's so frustrating about this season is that the Sixth Sense alliance is always in power. They have been since the beginning. With two HoHs, at least one will be from there or loyal to them and the other is either on the same side or else agrees to work with them anyway (I'm looking at YOU Jackie). And it's not like previous seasons where it's two alliances pitted against each other and using a few floaters who keep switching sides depending on who's in power. That's when BB is interesting to me. When there's a constant shift in the power balance. But when it's a huge alliance picking off the rest of the house one by one with unanimous votes, it's just dull. Remember when eviction nights were tense because you weren't 100% sure who was going home? Yeah, me neither. :P

[ghoulina]

Sometimes Vanessa seems to be really good at this game, but other times she does things that make no sense at all. Why would you tell Liz anything before you put Austin up?

 

This. There was no reason to tell Liz. If she had been the one to win Veto, okay than. But otherwise, wait until everything is put in place. Liz is not the savviest player. All she is thinking about is how she can manipulate Austin into doing whatever she wants. She didn't even seem that bothered by the whole targeting Julia thing. 

[Primetimer]

When Liz gets wind of Austin's creepy divide-and-conquer plan for the twins, the results are…unexpected.

Read the story

[peachmangosteen]

The editing is certainly abysmal, but I don't really know how they could've made that Steve DR not creepy tbh. Sure, Becky's kinda targeting Steve and she has said some not-kind things about him behind his back, but literally everyone in the house (minus Vanessa, John, and Julia) are kinda dicks about Steve, so him singling out Becky so harshly is just weird. And like that was a way OTT reaction for sure.

[Nashville]

The editing is certainly abysmal, but I don't really know how they could've made that Steve DR not creepy tbh. Sure, Becky's kinda targeting Steve and she has said some not-kind things about him behind his back, but literally everyone in the house (minus Vanessa, John, and Julia) are kinda dicks about Steve, so him singling out Becky so harshly is just weird. And like that was a way OTT reaction for sure.

Oh, I dunno. Actually including Becky and Steve in the edit for for more than competition THs might help a little.

[butterbody]

As a live feed watcher, it's very difficult to discuss this week's episode, because how it was edited is really not how the events went down at all.

I was thinking of requesting a board where we could discuss the feeds without spoilers. Is that even possible? Might that be something you feed watchers would participate in?

[peachmangosteen]

Oh, I dunno. Actually including Becky and Steve in the edit for for more than competition THs might help a little.

 

I don't think it would tbh. Because Steve's rant just didn't make sense. And they actually did show Steve with that weird 'camera falls in love with Steve' thing, which just made that DR even stranger. But honestly imo Steve is pretty weird and creepy, so it feels like an accurate representation of him to me.

I was thinking of requesting a board where we could discuss the feeds without spoilers. Is that even possible? Might that be something you feed watchers would participate in?

 

What do you mean? Like talk about what goes on on the feeds but leave out talk of who is nommed/wins BOB/wins veto?

[AndreaK1041]

Maybe he was trying to do "funny" or "snarky" but it came out as creepy and psychotic?  I know he's a fan of the show and knows viewers like people who make fun of other people in the DR, but he might not naturally know how to be sarcastic (like John, who is pretty great at it) and it just comes off as cruel.

[Ceeg]

I was thinking of requesting a board where we could discuss the feeds without spoilers. Is that even possible? Might that be something you feed watchers would participate in?

Here is a rundown of what happened, up to the point of the Veto ceremony.

First of all, telling Jason about the twins wasn't the only ammunition Vanessa had against Austin. Julia told her that Austin was the Audrey vote too. Vanessa gave Austin two or three different opportunities for him to come clean about it, and he still played dumb about the vote. Julia also told Vanessa that Austin's wrestling name is Judas, and Vanessa took that as a sign that Austin is a big betrayer. 

So, Vanessa was totally on board to evict Austin, and she truly did not want to be the reigning HOH. The reason she wanted to tell Liz about the plan before the Veto Ceremony was twofold: 1) she really didn't want to blindside her since she needs Liz as a number but also bc Liz is in her alliance, and 2) she told Julia she would tell Liz. Julia knew about the plan pre-switch, and they decided not to tell Liz in the 10-minutes Twin Switch because it was too much info and Julia didn't want Liz to immediately call out Austin. So Vanessa agreed to fill Liz in after the Twin Switch.

Now, going into the Veto comp, the plan was still to backdoor Austin. However, when Clay won, Shelli saw Becky crying and didn't see enough people celebrating, so in her paranoid mind, that meant the house was conspiring against her and Clay, and that there was a secret plan for Clay to stay up and get evicted. So, immediately after the Veto comp, Shelli and Clay go up to Vanessa and tell her how shady everyone acted and that maybe they should rethink backdooring Austin. Vanessa pretty much agrees to it, because 1) she's never been aligned with that side of the house anyway, and 2) at the end of the day Austin really is still pretty loyal to Vanessa and is a number for her. 

When Austin went up to speak with Vanessa, after the Veto, Vanessa already knew that she wouldn't be backdooring Austin. However, she designed the conversation to seem as though Austin was really pleading his case to be saved. She laid on the "you lied to my face" really thick, Austin was groveling practically on his knees and promised his game to her, and she told him she'd be okay with not putting him up if he could get Shelli and Clay on board (they already were).

 

Over the course of the next 2 days, they went back and forth 1000 times about who to put up (Jackie or Jason or Meg, since James was safe after BotB), but ultimately decided on Jason. Now, because Vanessa is always concerned about pissing off the least amount of people, she also insisted that other people be on board as well, and she needed to ensure she'd have the numbers to vote out Jason. So, Vanessa, Shelli, and Clay also told Steve, John, and Becky the plan. The entire house knew and were on board with backdooring Jason, with the exception of Jackie, Jason, James, and Meg.

I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out, but that's the gist of what wasn't seen in the episode. They really played down Shelli and Clay's role in this, and they really played up Vanessa being a scumbag, which IMO really wasn't the case. They aren't doing a great job of showing the actual strategy and mapping out of plans, and instead are showing dumb shit like Steve's love affair with a camera and Austin's weird obsession with Liz. 

Edited July 30, 2015 by Ceeg

[Callaphera]

Oh, I dunno. Actually including Becky and Steve in the edit for for more than competition THs might help a little.

 

Mr. Callaphera's reaction to seeing Steve in the DR: Oh, right, he's still on the show.

Mr. Callaphera's reaction after seeing Steve's DR: Oh, that must be why we never see him. That was... weird.

 

To be fair, he had the same reaction to Becky and had to ask me what her name was twice. When you're on the block and fighting for Veto and the (non-live feed) viewers still don't remember you're there, it's kind of bad. 

 

The editing is just all over the map this season. I know from being a live feed viewer for a long time that what we see on the feeds versus what we see on the show can vary wildly but it's like watching two different shows with the same cast this time around. Besides, rather than Steve's and the camera's flirtmance 

we could have had Liz versus the stuffed garbage can, which was at least legitimately funny when it happened.

 

 

Or, you know, more in-house game play. They could've shown that, too.

[mojoween]

I would rather watch Vanessa applying the charcoal face mask from every possible camera angle including up her nostrils than any moment of Austin manhandling Liz. It was very uncomfortable and the slow-mo, filtered close-up of the kiss was super gross.

Edited July 30, 2015 by mojoween

[Nashville]

Maybe he was trying to do "funny" or "snarky" but it came out as creepy and psychotic? I know he's a fan of the show and knows viewers like people who make fun of other people in the DR, but he might not naturally know how to be sarcastic (like John, who is pretty great at it) and it just comes off as cruel.

My take as well. Also, I think the Camera Of Love bit in the broadcast was simply Production having some fun with Steve.

On the feeds and BBAD, Steve is regularly getting low-grade freaked out when he actually notices one or more cameras following his every move, especially when he isn't doing anything he would expect the cameras/viewers to find interesting. Purely a guess here, but I think while Steve understood on an intellectual level there would be dozens of cameras following his (and every other HG's) every move 24/7, I don't think he understood how the constant surveillance would impact him on an emotional level. I expect it affects every HG differently; some shrug it off and pay no attention, some treat it like one long, drawn-out Their Big Moment (I can think of one recent Grande example), and some - like Steve - get paranoid. Very understandable, especially if I'm right in (again) guessing Steve IRL is used to going about his normal daily routines with a minimum of notice by or interaction with other people.

Here is a rundown of what happened, up to the point of the Veto ceremony.

First of all, telling Jason about the twins wasn't the only ammunition Vanessa had against Austin. Julia told her that Austin was the Audrey vote too. Vanessa gave Austin two or three different opportunities for him to come clean about it, and he still played dumb about the vote. Julia also told Vanessa that Austin's wrestling name is Judas, and Vanessa took that as a sign that Austin is a big betrayer.

So, Vanessa was totally on board to evict Austin, and she truly did not want to be the reigning HOH. The reason she wanted to tell Liz about the plan before the Veto Ceremony was twofold: 1) she really didn't want to blindside her since she needs Liz as a number but also bc Liz is in her alliance, and 2) she told Julia she would tell Liz. Julia knew about the plan pre-switch, and they decided not to tell Liz in the 10-minutes Twin Switch because it was too much info and Julia didn't want Liz to immediately call out Austin. So Vanessa agreed to fill Liz in after the Twin Switch.

Now, going into the Veto comp, the plan was still to backdoor Austin. However, when Clay won, Shelli saw Becky crying and didn't see enough people celebrating, so in her paranoid mind, that meant the house was conspiring against her and Clay, and that there was a secret plan for Clay to stay up and get evicted. So, immediately after the Veto comp, Shelli and Clay go up to Vanessa and tell her how shady everyone acted and that maybe they should rethink backdooring Austin. Vanessa pretty much agrees to it, because 1) she's never been aligned with that side of the house anyway, and 2) at the end of the day Austin really is still pretty loyal to Vanessa and is a number for her.

When Austin went up to speak with Vanessa, after the Veto, Vanessa already knew that she wouldn't be backdooring Austin. However, she designed the conversation to seem as though Austin was really pleading his case to be saved. She laid on the "you lied to my face" really thick, Austin was groveling practically on his knees and promised his game to her, and she told him she'd be okay with not putting him up if he could get Shelli and Clay on board (they already were).

Over the course of the next 2 days, they went back and forth 1000 times about who to put up (Jackie or Jason or Meg, since James was safe after BotB), but ultimately decided on Jason. Now, because Vanessa is always concerned about pissing off the least amount of people, she also insisted that other people be on board as well, and she needed to ensure she'd have the numbers to vote out Jason. So, Vanessa, Shelli, and Clay also told Steve, John, and Becky the plan. The entire house knew and were on board with backdooring Jason, with the exception of Jackie, Jason, James, and Meg.

I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out, but that's the gist of what wasn't seen in the episode. They really played down Shelli and Clay's role in this, and they really played up Vanessa being a scumbag, which IMO really wasn't the case. They aren't doing a great job of showing the actual strategy and mapping out of plans, and instead are showing dumb shit like Steve's love affair with a camera and Austin's weird obsession with Liz.

Thank you, Ceeg. I was going to say while it was definitely possible, it would probably be extremely impractical (not to mention a pain in the ass) to glean any meaningful grain of information from amongst the chaff of spoiler tags - but you illustrated it perfectly. Edited July 30, 2015 by Nashville

[iMonrey]

 

I know! He's trying too hard to be one of the cool kids. Remember, he went straight to clay and shelly when Audrey confided in him about...(something I can't remember right now).

 

Audrey told him she was pissed at Shelli for throwing her under the bus with Jason. James really is an idiot, but so is everyone else who keeps running to Shelli and Clay about everything.

 

On the one hand, Shelli and Clay deserve to be the final two because the whole house seems determined to help them get there for some unfathomable reason. On the other hand, Shelli and Clay are exactly the kind of people I dread watching make it that far. They're both plastic, uninteresting swimsuit models.

 

 

I think it's strange that Liz didn't have a stronger reaction to hearing Austin wanted Julia gone, and his plan was to get her to the jury house for sex.

 

It's because she didn't believe it. Austin told her in advance he was going to let Jason in on the twin secret. She firmly believes Austin has her back more than anyone else and she's probably right. 

 

I can't help it, I find Steve adorkable and I liked the camera clip. Yes he's strange and I feel a bit sorry for him because he seems to be all alone in there but I want to give him a big hug. He seems so joyful every time he gets into the DR to vote and say Hi to Julie.

 

The editing is just lazy. It's clear they have some kind of playbook and every episode is crafted around the competition with two or three different houseguests explaining it to us as we're watching it. It's annoying as hell and just lazy. Whatever time they have left they just seem to randomly pull whatever footage they seemed to think was amusing.

[ladyrott]

This is my first season watching and I am beyond bewildered at the "game" of some of these morons. 

 

Austin/Liz.....I don't really have a problem with her flirting with the guy to better her game, but she needs to do SOMETHING before she ends up screwing the guy to keep him on her side.  After the hilarious DR's showing how differently they viewed the kiss, I looked at LordRott and said....If I were Liz, I'd tell Austin "look, I really like you, but I need to focus on my game right now".  Lead him on, keep him protecting me, but avoid any uncomfortable physical interactions with LOGIC.  LordRott pointed out she could also benefit by telling him Showmances put an additional target on their backs so they need to play it cool.  If I could come up with this after literally only watching 16 episodes of this show, why the hell can't these "superfans" figure it out?  On a side note, the constant nasally whine of Liz's voice is going to make my ears bleed.  Can someone please tell her, and her sister, that no adult should talk like that.

 

Becky/Steve...I don't even remember what her life story is.  When they used her as a pawn the first time, I asked LordRott and LordRottJr to refresh my memory as to who this chick was.  Neither of these BB fanatics could tell me.  So essentially she can just go home anytime and it will make no difference on this show.  Oh, well maybe it will make a difference to Steve, who apparently hates this non-person with a fiery passion for no reason we have ever been shown.  I actually liked Steve in the first episode but he is just kind of "there" at this point.  He has pretty much done nothing except have a camera fall in love with him.  Meh!

 

Clay/Shelly....I am seriously over Ken and Barbie and their Dream Dictatorship.  Am I supposed to think they are twu-wuv?  Shelly came INTO the house talking about being a cougar and wanting to bag a younger man.  Such a shock when every freaking episode shows these two in a bed together.  Oh, and their attitude when they threw Steve out of the room he was chilling out in FIRST.  I was so hoping he would look at them and say "Ummmm.....no.  I am comfortable here so why don't you three go check one of the other bajillion rooms in this house and find an empty one?!"

 

Meg....That bit about James and the Outback choice was just weird.  I LIKE James, but I can't recall seeing anything that indicated she was into him before that and something about that girl just rubs me the wrong way.

 

Jason..... NOOOOO!  Don't send Jason home, BB House!  He is bitchy and over the top, but he is FUN to watch!  I sincerely hope non-entity Becky goes home and we get to see Jason go after Vanessa with both guns blazing.

 

Vanessa....Didn't like her from the start and am almost as sick of her as I am of Clay/Becky.  Someone suggested a drinking game in the last episode thread for every time she says "blood on my hands".  LordRott and I are contemplating saving Thursday's episode for Friday night so we can get wasted playing this without having to get up for work the next day.  Seriously, is she trying to develop a catch phrase so she can sell t-shirts after she gets knocked off this show?

Edited July 30, 2015 by ladyrott

[Former Nun]

Meg....That bit about James and the Outback choice was just weird.  I LIKE James, but I can't recall seeing anything that indicated she was into him before that and something about that girl just rubs me the wrong way.

 

 

Oops...I thought she was kidding.  Am I the only one who likes her kooky self?

[mojoween]

I watched all of last season. Was there really an Outback reward? I have no recollection of this event.

[DAngelus]

Edited:  Given that we have an editing topic, I'm going to move my post there.  Long story short (from me??  yeah, I know, I know [/JoJo]), I don't think we missed a damn thing due to the editing of this episode, and I generally find complaints about how we can't tell what's going on without the live feeds overblown and a bit annoying.  But JMO.

Edited July 30, 2015 by DAngelus

[ghoulina]

Here is a rundown of what happened, up to the point of the Veto ceremony.

First of all, telling Jason about the twins wasn't the only ammunition Vanessa had against Austin. Julia told her that Austin was the Audrey vote too. Vanessa gave Austin two or three different opportunities for him to come clean about it, and he still played dumb about the vote. Julia also told Vanessa that Austin's wrestling name is Judas, and Vanessa took that as a sign that Austin is a big betrayer. 

So, Vanessa was totally on board to evict Austin, and she truly did not want to be the reigning HOH. The reason she wanted to tell Liz about the plan before the Veto Ceremony was twofold: 1) she really didn't want to blindside her since she needs Liz as a number but also bc Liz is in her alliance, and 2) she told Julia she would tell Liz. Julia knew about the plan pre-switch, and they decided not to tell Liz in the 10-minutes Twin Switch because it was too much info and Julia didn't want Liz to immediately call out Austin. So Vanessa agreed to fill Liz in after the Twin Switch.

Now, going into the Veto comp, the plan was still to backdoor Austin. However, when Clay won, Shelli saw Becky crying and didn't see enough people celebrating, so in her paranoid mind, that meant the house was conspiring against her and Clay, and that there was a secret plan for Clay to stay up and get evicted. So, immediately after the Veto comp, Shelli and Clay go up to Vanessa and tell her how shady everyone acted and that maybe they should rethink backdooring Austin. Vanessa pretty much agrees to it, because 1) she's never been aligned with that side of the house anyway, and 2) at the end of the day Austin really is still pretty loyal to Vanessa and is a number for her. 

When Austin went up to speak with Vanessa, after the Veto, Vanessa already knew that she wouldn't be backdooring Austin. However, she designed the conversation to seem as though Austin was really pleading his case to be saved. She laid on the "you lied to my face" really thick, Austin was groveling practically on his knees and promised his game to her, and she told him she'd be okay with not putting him up if he could get Shelli and Clay on board (they already were).

 

Over the course of the next 2 days, they went back and forth 1000 times about who to put up (Jackie or Jason or Meg, since James was safe after BotB), but ultimately decided on Jason. Now, because Vanessa is always concerned about pissing off the least amount of people, she also insisted that other people be on board as well, and she needed to ensure she'd have the numbers to vote out Jason. So, Vanessa, Shelli, and Clay also told Steve, John, and Becky the plan. The entire house knew and were on board with backdooring Jason, with the exception of Jackie, Jason, James, and Meg.

I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out, but that's the gist of what wasn't seen in the episode. They really played down Shelli and Clay's role in this, and they really played up Vanessa being a scumbag, which IMO really wasn't the case. They aren't doing a great job of showing the actual strategy and mapping out of plans, and instead are showing dumb shit like Steve's love affair with a camera and Austin's weird obsession with Liz. 

Thank you! 

 

That makes it a lot more clear. And, it pisses me off because it definitely did not look like Shellie and Clay were behind the change. It appeared more of a thing where Liz started freaking out and Vanessa decided to save Austin for HER sake. Either way, I still think it was stupid.

[HurricaneVal]

I really feel for Steve.  I'm sure he's awkward in real life, but in real life he can escape or find an outlet when he has difficulties with people.  But he's stuck in the house with people (excepting Vanessa and Julia) who truly seem to despise him and who treat him rudely.  The way they treat him is so dismissive and dehumanizing.  So I did love his little tete a tete love affair with the camera.  I love it that production has some sympathy for him such that they'll get playful with him to give him a chance to have some fun.  I also hate it that his DR session was totally taken out of context and without seeing what led him to going off on Becky like that, he just seems creepy and psycho.  I mean, look at all that footage last night.  Other than that DR, the camera flirting, and the generic footage of the peanut gallery during the POV comp, do you see Steve anywhere?

 

And I agree with y'all, the video and story editing this season is really wanting.  However, I do believe last night's episode was the sound editor's Emmy reel....

[mojoween]

What was that booth that Steve went into anyways when the camera started macking on him? It looked like a TV or computer of some sort.

Edited July 30, 2015 by mojoween

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Have Mercy / When Liz gets wind of Austin's creepy divide-and-conquer plan for the twins, the results are…unexpected.

[butterbody]

I don't think it would tbh. Because Steve's rant just didn't make sense. And they actually did show Steve with that weird 'camera falls in love with Steve' thing, which just made that DR even stranger. But honestly imo Steve is pretty weird and creepy, so it feels like an accurate representation of him to me.

What do you mean? Like talk about what goes on on the feeds but leave out talk of who is nommed/wins BOB/wins veto?

Yes! Exactly. Discuss the hamsters without giving away who wins the comps.