Last week, for the first time on Big Brother 16, the Power of Veto was not used. But it has been used every other time this season. This week there’s another first, and it’s a big one that I’m sure the producers have been praying for.

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains Big Brother 16 spoilers.

Zach won the Power of Veto.

Zach saved himself. Nicole is the replacement nominee.

That’s right, someone has finally gone from winning HoH to on the block and most likely going to be evicted all in a single week. Unfortunately, that person is sweet, innocent Nicole.

It sounds like Christine’s speech was vicious, accusing Nicole of stabbing her in the back, so Christine is simply repaying the favor. I guess it doesn’t matter that Christine was in the Bomb Squad for two weeks and never told Nicole, then she was in the Detonators for three weeks and never told Nicole (even making up a lie about it starting much later) and she also told Nicole that Hayden and Victoria were hoking up. But sure, Nicole is the backstabber for not trusting Christine.

Nicole has handled it surprisingly well, walking with Donny after the ceremony and not blowing up. They commiserated about how the odds are just stacked against them. She knows that it’s over because all of those guys who came to her with a plan probably told Christine it was all her idea.

Frankie is also being extra cruel, angry at Nicole for allegedly saying mean things about his sister, Ariana Grande. I believe the worse thing she’s said is that Frankie thinks he has Victoria in his back pocket because she’s such a big Ariana fan, which is actually something Frankie said to Christine and then Christine repeated to Nicole.

Though Christine initially promised not to backdoor her one-time best friend, all of the guys in the Bomb Squad collectively agreed to make her do it. They told her about how Nicole promised to backdoor Christine if she stayed HoH and Frankie won the Power of Veto (which she did say), though they certainly put all of the blame on Nicole even though it was Derrick, Zach and Caleb who approached her with the entire plan.

Sunday night saw an endless parade of male intimidation as guys like Caleb and Zach essentially threatened Christine, saying that if she didn’t nominate Nicole, the whole house would think they’re working together and the guys in the Bomb Squad would come after Christine. Clearly the sole female member of the Bomb Squad caved to the pressure, even though she said on Sunday’s episode that she respected Nicole for “growing a pair” and making a big move like nominating Frankie.

Christine’s one worry was that Nicole would stay, but all of the guys promised to vote her out. So now it seems that Nicole will be evicted, which is good news for Donny, but not by much. He and Victoria are obviously still the next targets for the Bomb Squad as they continue to pick off their opposition one by one.

At the last minute, Donny tried to convince Frankie and Derrick to take another stab at this week’s Team America mission by suggesting they get Victoria to volunteer as a pawn and then vote her out. But since they were both already a part of the plan to get rid of Nicole, they shot him down. In other words, Donny wanted to do the mission, but Frankie and Derrick declined it because it wasn’t best for their individual games, the exact thing they’re angry at him for doing last time.

The Weekend Drama

There’s been a lot of in-fighting between the Bomb Squad this week, especially surrounding everyone turning against Frankie and Christine, as well as Derrick getting angry at Zach once again. Zach told Victoria everything about his game (like he did with Nicole) and Victoria got mad because it made her realize Derrick had all of these other alliances he never told her about, even though she thought they were working together.

Victoria wanted to confront Derrick about it, but that made Zach worried, so he told Derrick that Nicole told Victoria all of that stuff. But he immediately told Cody the truth, that it was Zach who did it. Cody told Derrick, then Cody informed Nicole and it led to a large house meeting in the HoH room with Derrick calling out Zach. Zach confessed that he did make up that lie about the cover-up, and Derrick used that to try and convince Victoria that Zach’s a liar and she can’t trust anything he says.

Derrick did a lot of damage control to try to keep Victoria in his back pocket, and he also urged Zach to stop talking about blowing up everyone’s games.

The Bomb Squad is once again saved, with everyone in it scheming already for the Top 6. Christine approached Derrick and Cody for a Final 3 deal, which just means that the Hitmen pretty much have deals with every single person in the Bomb Squad, plus Victoria.

FUN FACTS

-Cody and Derrick have now survived eight sets of nominations without ever going on the block. Only 10 other HGs in the history of the show have ever done that, including the past two winners, Andy Herren and Ian Terry.

-By not going on the block, this means Victoria will cast her eighth consecutive vote as she has never been one of the final nominees and never been HoH. There are only five other HGs in the history of the show to ever cast votes in each of the first eight evictions. It has not been done since Ragan Fox in season 12.

-This is the fourth nomination for Nicole, tying Jocasta and Victoria. Donny still has the most nominations with five.

-Christine, Cody, Derrick, Frankie and Victoria have all never been eligible for eviction. This is the second time Donny and Nicole have each faced an eviction vote.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

John Kubicek

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire DiariesSupernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.