Can Veto Force Bowie Jane to Backdoor Cameron or Cory?

Are there bigger targets in the house? The better question would be to ask, are there smaller targets in the house? No one is looking at or worried about Felicia or Cirie in this house. Meanwhile, Bowie is surrounded by a showmance, a power duo, a competition beast … and Blue.

This week saw the Scrambleverse mess up Zingbot, who came into the house with hearts on his chest and nothing but love for the Houseguests. Not to fear, though, there were still zings to be had because scrambled OTEV is actually Zingbot!

That’s right, the combination of two BB classics into one epic competition. And the burns were particularly ruthless this season, with one Houseguest getting a whole song and Zingbot even burning an already-evicted Houseguest.

As for the game, Jag has been running the show these past few weeks, and his ruthlessness is getting even more blatant. Even more impressive is the fact that no one seems to be picking up on just how effective he and Matt have been with their secret Minutemen alliance in controlling the game.

Bowie trusts them because she’s working with them. Cameron trusts them because he’s working with them. Felicia and Cirie are close with them. Blue is in good. Hell, even Cory and America think the couples are protecting one another.

That last one has some truth to it. Jag and Matt are confident that when it comes to it, they can beat Americory when it comes to it, so they’re determined to keep that duo intact and around as long as possible so no one will pay any attention to their even stronger duo.

So far, the strategy is working. Jag convinced Cameron not to use the Power of Veto last week to backdoor Cory out of the game. It may prove a fatal mistake for Cameron’s game. He so desperately wanted to be able to trust someone and play this game with allies, he never could fully accept that no one wants to play with him.

The only player who’s had his back has been Bowie Jane, and she even resisted the idea of nominating him this week. But nominations are only one part of the game. At this stage, the Power of Veto starts to grow in importance. And when it comes to backdooring someone — which is how you take out strong competitors — it’s the only thing that matters.

We’ve got Zingbot’s full zings listed below — and they’re definitely worth checking out — but there was plenty of drama even without those in this OTEV competition.

Cameron, whose instincts have been spot-on through most of this game (his only blind spot being The Fugitives and his desperate desire for allies/friends), immediately sussed that there was chatter about backdooring him with the Veto.

As such, he really, really wanted to play in it. Alas, his name didn’t get picked. Instead, it was Bowie and the nominees, Cirie and Felicia, along with Matt, Jag, and America. Duped into believing in The Fugitives, Cameron was rooting for his boys.

Little did he know that Jag had already decided it was time to cut him loose. He is a legitimate threat to win his way through the rest of this season, so here’s a week where he has zero chance at protection. The only thing protecting him has been Bowie Jane.

That could be pretty effective, considering she’s the Head of Household, but Jag has all week to use his skills of persuasion, as well as weaponizing Cameron’s own words against him. In a confessional, Jag even boldly said he was going to do just that.

He was determined to do everything in his power to win the Power of Veto and force Bowie Jane into putting up a replacement nominee by using it. Then, all he had to do was convince her who to put up. Cameron, of course, is still gunning for Cory, but almost everyone else is looking at him.

Poor Cirie, who’s yet to play in a Veto competition all season long, finally gets her chance (and it’s a classic!) and she blows it on the very first round. Her deplorable competition streak continues. Thankfully, her social game remains on point, which has always been her strong point.

America got knocked out second, leaving Bowie, Felicia and The Minutemen. At this point, Jag was okay with anyone but Bowie winning, because everyone else would use the Veto and force her hand. In the end, though, after Felicia and Matt went down, it came down to Jag and Bowie.

Jag had spent the first round of the competition laying out the photos of evicted Houseguests so he’d know right where to go to get the people OTEV is asking for in each round. His moves got more and more efficient with this strategy, so the final round was easy-breezy and Jag took his third Veto of the season.

Immediately, Cameron could smell the tides of change on the wind and went to confront Bowie. who was cagey and just about confessed that she was probably going to put him on the block. Despite his protection for her over the past two months, Jag had very effectively poisoned their relationship.

What’s remarkable about this stage of the game is just how many strong competitors are still in the house, strategically and physically. It really is anyone’s game at this point. We didn’t get to see the Veto meeting, but we have a feeling Jag will use it and Cameron will see the block, and subsequently see Julie on Thursday.

Jag Bains (25, truck company owner) has become the true mastermind of this season, steering The Minutemen and pretty much steering everyone else. He showed just how ruthlessly he’ll play this game to get himself and Matt to the end of the game, knowing that he’ll be able to make a stronger case for his more hands-on strategizing. RIght now, Jag might just be the one to beat. [Grade: A-]

Matthew Klotz (27, deaflympics gold medalist) remains extremely well positioned, but he’s either playing kind of dumb or Jag really is the true strategist of their alliance. If so, then he either needs to get rid of Jag or he’s going to stand very little chance of winning this game, even as he stands a good chance of making it to the end. [Grade: B+]

Bowie Jane Ball (46, barrister/DJ) is actually in a great spot. Even if she backdoors Cameron, which is looking likely, she’ll get very little blood on her hands as he has no allies and everyone would agree it was the right thing to do. Everyone considers her game pretty useless — though Cameron eviction is pretty good on the resume — so she could be carried to the end. Even now, she’s reluctantly playing the game, so who’s going to vote for her to win? [Grade: B-]

America Lopez (27, medical receptionist) could have a chance to make a name for herself outside of Americory if he gets evicted, but we suspect it’s too late for that. Without him, she’s a total wild card as we have no idea who she’d actually align with. She’s pretty smart and perceptive, but she’s been allowing Cory to make all their decisions (for the most part), and certainly allowing him to get all the blood on his hands, and the target on his back. [Grade: C]

Blue Kim (25, brand strategist) is one of the most active floaters in the history of this game. She’s been trying so hard to do something and make a difference and influence votes and fight for competition wins and she has accomplished exactly none of that. It’s actually kind of remarkable. She’s come close in enough competitions, though, that we suspect she’ll get picked off as an easy elimination if the big targets take themselves off the board or flinch. [Grade: C]

Felicia Cannon (63, real estate agent) could be in danger if nominations stay the same, but it seems incredibly unlikely they will. We know Bowie would like to see Cirie go, so we’d suspect she’ll pull Felicia off the block. It’s all about who would go up in her place. At this point, the house seems ready to carry the Mamas deeper into this game as easy outs later and convenient votes (to save themselves). [Grade: C-]

Cirie Fields (53, nurse) remains a nominee, but we don’t think anyone is really looking to get rid of her. She’s got good personal relationships with everyone in the house. Even though they know she’s a threat, Bowie seems to be the only one ready to take a shot. Cory might, if it came down to it, but he also might want to get rid of Felicia first. She’s not in a great spot in the house, but she’s wiggled out of worse a time or two. [Grade: C-]

Cory Wurtenberger (22, college student) is probably not the backdoor this week, but he remains high on the target list for half of the house. If Cameron goes, he’ll shift his target to The Minutemen as his biggest threats (accurately so), which means they’ll be ready to target him, too, more than likely. And they’ll have a better shot of hitting what they’re aiming at. Cory played too blatantly and aggressively — even tonight, he talked with Bowie and Jag about who was coming after him and who they should therefore target as if everyone should just be playing his game for him. [Grade: D+]

Cameron Hardin (34, stay-at-home dad) is ripe for a backdoor, and we think Bowie’s concerns about rocking the house and making enemies will make her cower before Jag and Matt and do their bidding for them. Americory might well pitch the same strategy to her, leaving her worried that if she doesn’t backdoor her only possible ally in the house, they’ll come after her. Spoiler: they’ll do that anyway. [Grade: D]

• “Danger, danger, there is a thief among us. America, you’re under arrest for robbing the cradle.”
• “What do you think brought the bigger wrinkles to this game? The multiverse twist or Felicia.”
• “Jag, your gameplay reminds me of a sports car. Not a Jaguar, more like a Bore-vette. An Astin moron, and a lame-borghini.”
• “Kitty, kitty, purr. Boots down. Slay. Blue, the only thing worse than your catchphrases is your fashion sense.”
• “What’s the difference between a great, white shark and Bowie Jane? One’s an Australian creature who’s scary teeth terrify people and the other one’s a shark. DOn’t get me started on those pigtails!”
• “Mecole, watching you play Big Brother has had a major impact on my life. I’ve gone from Me-bored to a six-week me-coma … Oh wait, Mecole was so under-the-radar, I didn’t realize she got evicted.”
• “Matt, I can see why you hit it off with a cardboard cutout: similar intelligence.”
• Cirie, the past few weeks have been hard on you. A lot of your good friends left the game, leaving you alone. But that’s okay, now you can finally do what you do best: lose while on an island. The tribe has spoken zing!”
• “Cameron, congratulations, you received a military promotion while in the Big Brother house. You’ve gone from Lieutenant Loser to Major F–king Tool.”
• “America, your name is so patriotic it makes me want to sing a song the whole country can get behind. Cory’s not beautiful / under any skies / short like a piece of grain / a thin mustache / if you call it that / It causes my eyes pain / America! America! / Did you have a lobotomy / He’s a tiny man / Can’t kiss worth a damn / Let’s throw him in the sea!”

• “Ultimately, Cirie is my target. Cirie is brilliant at getting people to trust her, she is a Survivor legend. So, if she made it to the end, I’m sorry, she would win and that’s a good reason for her to go.” –Bowie (in DR after nominations)
• “We always knew there was a façade with Bowie Jane. That grin is fake.” –Felicia (in DR)
• “The way I see it is there’s a couple of people in this house who are coming after me. Blue’s coming after me, Cam’s getting there. The one thing I was curious your thoughts on: is there any benefit of a Cam backdoor?” –Cory (to Bowie and Jag)
• “I think it’s clear, Cam’s loyal to Cam.” –Jag
• “It’s a bit dirty, isn’t it … I’m trying to keep my hands clean.” –Bowie (resisting)
• “That’s all very well for his game. That’s his game.” –Bowie (to Jag about backdooring Cameron)
• “Oh, so Cory’s already gunning after me. Got it. Now I know what we have to do. I gotta get Cory out of here. Probably should have done that last week.” –Cameron (in DR and yeah, you should have)
• “Cory’s pitching Cameron, Cameron’s pitching Cory. This is perfect, that’s why nominations should stay the same, so next week Cory and Cameron can go after each other instead of me.” –Bowie (in DR)
• “The Minutemen are coming for you, and you’re just playing into our hands by saying all this stuff against Bowie. And now, I’m gonna use it against you.” –Jag (in DR after Cameron expresses his concerns Bowie has a deal with Comerica)
• “Cam is so suss about you.” –Jag (to Bowie)
• “He’s gonna dig his own grave.” –Bowie
• “As a human I’m destroyed, but as a fan this is the best day of my life.” –Cory (in DR after Zingbot)
• “I hope Matt or Jag win. We’re The Fugitives.” –Cameron (in DR during POV)
• “The thing is, with Me, Matt and Jag voting, whatever you want [will happen]. The only thing I don’t want is me on the block.” –Cameron (to Bowie after POV)
• “I don’t want blood on my hands.” –Bowie
• “So the least amount of blood is me?” –Cameron (he sees what’s going on)

Big Brother airs its live eviction Thursday at 9pm ET, Sunday at 10pm ET on CBS, and Tuesday at 8pm ET on CBS.