Becky Burgess is a bit of a running joke on Big Brother 17. She refers to herself as “Basic Becky.” She barely appears in most episodes, speaks with a simple naivete and just seems to float along. She has no problem admitting she was cast off of Tinder and the most interesting thing about her is that she once got hit in the face by a train. She’s even inspired the hashtag #BeckyUpdate because she does so little in the game that any new information about her is worth commenting on.

So it’s a huge twist that, this week, not only does Becky take control as HoH, but she has no problem coming up with a master plan to take out a huge player that involves lying, deception and manipulation. It seems after James took on Clelli last week, the HGs have been inspired to start making big moves.

The HoH Competition

In the slip-and-slide competition, Vanessa and the twins keep falling, Austin struggles and Meg is like a grandma, going incredibly slowly. Meg knows she’ll lose so she’s just competing against Austin not to be the worst. Becky is in the lead from the start and just stays there the whole time. Jackie, Shelli, Julia and Johnny Mac are behind, but Becky is a runaway train.

Becky has such a commanding lead that she takes the Never Not pass (meaning she will never be a Have-Not), then she takes $5,000 and then she takes HoH. Becky is the new HoH! Hell, she could’ve stopped to make a sandwich in the middle of this comp and still won it.

The Clay and Vanessa Drama

Before Clay’s eviction, there were fireworks in the house. Johnny Mac told Clay that he’ll vote him out, but he doesn’t want to. He thinks Vanessa is in Shelli’s head and he wants to put a stop to it. But Clay still trusts Vanessa and wants to mend fences, so he tells Vanessa that James told Johnny Mac to be suspicious of Vanessa.

Vanessa confronts James about it and he denies it. She also talks to Johnny Mac, and he denies that James said that. She believes them and James calls out Clay for throwing him under the bus. Clay gets in James’ face and the fight gets heated. Then Vanessa calls a summit with Clay, Johnny Mac and James to get to the bottom of it. Johnny Mac admits that he’s the one who is suspicious of Vanessa, but she somehow doesn’t believe him and thinks Clay made it up. How delusional is Vanessa that she refuses to believe that Johnny Mac is coming after her even when he tells her that he is?

Vanessa cries and it’s absolute insanity. Johnny Mac knows that this is part of her manipulations. It all comes down to Clay trying to get Vanessa and Johnny Mac to team up against James, but it backfired because John isn’t as stupid as Clay is and he knows that trusting Vanessa is a bad idea. Vanessa even accuses Clay and Johnny Mac of being related or gay lovers.

Becky Picks a Side

Becky says that Jackie, James and Meg are the people she trusts most in the house and she’s excited to tell them about her plan. Elsewhere, Austin and the twins think they’re safe, but they’re worried about Vanessa. Johnny Mac is happy because he’s super tight with Becky and he wants her to target Vanessa. This puts Steve in an awkward position because Johnny Mac and Vanessa are the two people he’s closest to and they’re now on opposite sides.

Last week, Vanessa made Austin, the twins, Becky, James, Jackie and Meg agree to go after Steve, Johnny Mac and Shelli this week. So Becky wants to “stick” to the plan by nominating two of them, but then she wants to backdoor Vanessa! However, the goal is to completely blindside her by acting like they’re all sticking with the plan and going after Shelli.

Becky is a total bad-ass who is very excited to execute this plan, especially since she knows everyone thinks she’s so simple and dull and would NEVER expect something so diabolical from her. Jackie, James and Meg are totally on board. They’re basically Becky’s minions.

Becky’s Plan Comes Together

Despite promising that she wouldn’t, Becky tells Shelli that her target is Vanessa. Becky lays out her plan and Shelli wants to trust Vanessa, but she’s not about to stick her neck out to defend her. Shelli seems to know it’s her or Vanessa going this week and now that Clay’s gone, her head is in the game and she know it’s gonna have to be Vanessa.

When Becky meets with Vanessa, Vanessa tries to make a deal and Becky IMMEDIATELY shuts it down. She doesn’t want to hear the words “deal” or “alliance.” Becky says she likes short-term plans and wants trust to build organically, not through forced deals.

Vanessa is absolutely perplexed that Becky doesn’t want to make a deal with her. She thinks Becky is playing the game all wrong and it might mean she’s a potential target. Oh Vanessa, Becky isn’t playing a bad game. She’s just refusing to play YOUR game.

Becky also fills Johnny Mac in on everything because they’re very close, but they’re keeping their distance so people don’t realize it. Johnny Mac is 200 percent on board with getting rid of Vanessa, who he calls “a really smart Audrey” because he’s had a problem with her from week 1.

The Nominations

Becky goes with the plan and nominates Shelli and Steve. She says Clay caused drama that makes her question Shelli and Steve needs to step up his game because he’s a superfan who’s been laying low. In the diary room, Steve tells us that he IS a superfan, he IS laying low and he DOESN’T have any blood on his hands, all of which is his strategy. And now that Becky has exposed his game, she’s his top target.

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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.