Before Big Brother 17 started, I wrote an article about how a woman can win the game. One of the major takeaways was that, when women get power, they shouldn’t turn on each other. Obviously the women of Big Brother 17 aren’t heeding my advice.

This week there are two women in charge, and as we see in this episode, they have completely different targets, both of whom are other women. And there’s also a huge fight between two of the most dynamic female HGs. Somewhere in the world, Rachel Reilly is crying in a bush.

There’s also the Battle of the Block, and just like last year, it looks like we’ll be stuck with an entire season of people asking pawns to throw the competition. This is just one of the many reasons this twist is the absolute worst. Oh yeah, and Becky once got hit in the face by a train. IN THE FACE! BY A TRAIN!!

Da’Vonne vs. Audrey

We see flashbacks from before Jace got evicted to see how Audrey became a target. First, Audrey told her alliance that she doesn’t trust Vanessa because she thinks Vanessa is forming an all-girl alliance with Becky, Liz and Jackie. Audrey then goes to Vanessa and tells her that Da’Vonne is the one who started this all-girls alliance rumor.

Vanessa is in a room with Audrey and Da’Vonne and it all comes out, so Da’Vonne calls a house meeting so everyone can confirm that Audrey is the one who started this rumor. In the DR, Audrey even admits that her lies are all blowing up in her face.

Clay, James, Jason and Meg all come to the room and Da’Vonne leads the charge in blowing up Audrey’s entire game, exposing all of her lies and manipulations. She even brings up how Clay and Da’Vonne’s fight was all orchestrated by Audrey. Audrey is pathological as she continues to deny everything, even though it’s all 100 percent true. She then realizes her back is against the wall, so she decides to lie down and act dead.

Becky Got Hit in the Face by a Train

Becky tells everyone a story about how she once got hit in the face with a train at 6am while looking onto the tracks. She made a full recovery, obviously. It’s the craziest story ever that is somehow tragic and hilarious at the same time. Everyone is in awe about how strong Becky is for surviving getting hit in the face by a train.

The Nominations

When HoHs Shelli and Becky meet up, Becky wants to put up four pawns and backdoor Audrey. It’s really that simple for her. Becky is fine putting up Steve and Jason volunteers to go up since he put her up last week. Becky talks to everyone one-on-one and is sweet and direct about her plan to backdoor Audrey.

Clay talks to Jeff about making a deal with Audrey and going after Da’Vonne instead. Audrey meets up with Clay, Jeff and Meg, pretending to be repentant. Jeff and Meg see through her, but Clay is an emotional player who is easily manipulated by Audrey. He goes up to Shelli and pushes her to target Da’Vonne. She agrees. Basically, Clay, Shelli and Audrey are the only people who want Da’Vonne gone and they’re going to force this agenda down the house’s throat.

Shelli wants to nominate Da’Vonne with a pawn who will agree to throw the Battle of the Block. Clay offers himself, but Shelli knocks that idea down and proposes Johnny Mac instead. Shelli, with Clay and Jeff in the room, asks John to throw the competition. They give him the hard sell, so it’s basically an offer he can’t refuse. John isn’t sure how he wants to play this.

HoH Shelli nominates Da’Vonne and John.

HoH Becky nominates Jason and Steve.

Shelli makes it pretty clear she doesn’t trust Da’Vonne because Da’Vonne doesn’t trust her (which is idiotic, circular logic). Becky is so much sweeter and encourages her nominees to fight hard. Becky still thinks the plan is to backdoor Audrey while Shelli wants to take out Da’Vonne, even though she acknowledges that it could be a risky move. Clay and Shelli are definitely being given a villainous edit tonight, while Becky is coming off as supremely nice and cool.

Da’Vonne and Jason think they’re the targets. They’re half-right, but it’s depressing that they seem to think Becky is also against them and not on board with the alleged plan to backdoor Audrey. Audrey tries to slither her way back into Shelli and Clay’s good graces, and at the very least, Shelli is cautious of giving her any information.

The Battle of the Block

Unfortunately, John tells us in the DR that he plans on throwing the competition. Say it ain’t so, Johnny Mac! He could’ve been a real fan favorite, but now I feel like he’s going to play an Adam Poch-style game of being a constant pushover.

The competition features the set of Kathy Griffin’s fake TV show from the HoH competition. The HGs will get a shot list with nine props on the set and they must aim their nine cameras at the right props, but they don’t know which camera is looked to which screen. And they must be connected in one big outfit.

Jason and Steve only turn on two cameras at a time so they know which ones are connected to which screens and then they figure out which props should be on those cameras. It’s very simple and easy. Da’Vonne and John just turn on all of the cameras at the same time. John knows this strategy is really bad, so he just goes along with it because he knows they’ll lose anyway. But he’s also pretty slow, so she needs to drag him along. John says he didn’t really throw it, but only because he didn’t have to.

Jason and Steve win the Battle of the Block, and it’s a total blowout. Becky still naively believes Shelli will backdoor Audrey and everything is good. Shelli, however, is so smarmy and bitchy in the DR, gloating about how her plan worked and Becky’s plan isn’t going to happen. Wow, is it just my subjective take, or did this episode make Shelli look pretty bad?

Becky is dethroned and Jason and Steve are safe, but Shelli is still HoH with Da’Vonne and John on the block. It’s just a supremely depressing week. Da’Vonne was 100 percent right, Audrey was 100 percent wrong, and yet Da’Vonne is the one getting screwed over and Audrey is getting a free pass. And it’s all because Shelli and Clay are emotional players who are still giving Audrey the benefit of the doubt. Sure, they say it’s because they think Da’Vonne is coming after them, but that’s entirely due to Audrey’s early manipulations.

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(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.