Things have slowed down on Big Brother 17. After a flurry of activity following Jace’s eviction (HoH, nominations, Battle of the Block and PoV all happened within 24 hours), now the HGs have a long holiday weekend before the Power of Veto ceremony. But since the HoH, and the house, already seem to have their mind made up about who’s going, all that’s left is to chill, relax and, of course, jockey for position and realign.

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains Big Brother 17 spoilers.

Shelli is the permanent HoH with Da’Vonne and John on the block, but John won the PoV. Shelli initially suggested Liz as a replacement pawn to send Da’Vonne home, but has since switched to Meg. Either way, it seems unfathomable at this point that Da”Vonne could stay.

Shelli (and by proxy Clay) have gotten a bad case of HoHitis. They’re trying to stay safe with everyone while getting rid of Da’Vonne, but perhaps they’re stretching themselves too thin by aligning with the entire house.

Shelli was moved by the trio of Austin, Vanessa and Liz to switch to Meg as the replacement nominee. So on one side, Shelli and Clay are working with those three.

But Clay is wary of Austin and feels more comfortable with Jeff. Clay is pushing for him and Shelli to align with Jeff, Jackie and Becky. But then Jeff and Clay also have something with Meg, who is working closely with James and Jason. Then there’s Audrey, who got a reprieve this week and who Clay and Shelli think is a suitable shield for them as Audrey will be targeted before they are.

However, I suspect that letting Audrey slide for a week will lead to her sliding a lot further. She’s a wounded animal, but no one is going to waste an HoH going for the kill.

Basically, Clay and Shelli are trying to position themselves between three main groups: Austin/Vanessa/Liz, Meg/James/Jason and Jeff/Jackie/Becky. But it gets complicated as Jeff is also close with the Meg/James/Jason trio.

This leaves Audrey, Steve and Johnny Mac as complete outsiders. They don’t seem to have any real loyalties, ties or alliances with anyone, except for Audrey’s temporary connection to Clay and Shelli.

Whatever happens, clear clusters are starting to form. The Austin/Vanessa/Liz group seems extremely close while Meg/James/Jason are also strong, especially since they spend a lot of time hanging out with Jeff, who can bring in Jackie and her BFF Becky.

Shelli and Clay are now in the middle of everything, with the other HGs noticing that Clay has basically moved upstairs with Shelli. Those two are cuddling a lot in the HoH room, with him begging her for kisses. Will they be able to survive the post-HoH fall in week 3, or will everyone realize that the showmance needs to be broken up?

(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.