SPOILERS ahead from the 2019 Big Brother 21 live feeds.
Nick Maccarone is the third Head of Household of Big Brother 21. The brief good news for fellow fans of Nicole Anthony was that Nick did not seem interested in playing into controversial houseguest Jackson Michie's plan to blame Nicole for the hinky eviction vote. However, after Nick made his nominations official at Friday's Nomination Ceremony, Gr8ful plus Sam gathered in the HoH room to trash Nicole and try to turn Nick (and Bella) against her. Now Nick is hell-bent on backdooring Nicole this week. Interestingly enough, the rest of the house is no longer into the Nicole plan, so they plan to save her.
UPDATE: The Power of Veto competition was held very late Saturday night, and here are the results. It sounds like Nick and Bella will be the ones blindsided, if this new plan survives.
At first, after Thursday's July 11, 2019 live eviction show, new HoH Nick seemed to be buying what Jackson was selling -- with Jackson/Michie trying to pin his own hinky vote to evict Jess on Nicole. However, Nick agreed with Nicole that someone was probably trying to frame her. He suspected it was Michie. So he told Nicole she would not be going up, even as a potential replacement nominee after Veto. But even then it looked like he might change his mind.
Nick is still kind of in the middle, since if he hadn't won HoH, someone from either side of the house might've taken a shot at him and Bella. Nick and Bella were already recognized for playing both sides, but now that Nick is in power, Gr8ful tried to throw Nicole under the bus as playing both sides of the house.
Nick was high on himself after his HoH win, since Kemi Fakunle had called out his gameplay during her pre-eviction speech. (That eviction speech led to a dramatic Kemi/Bella fight.)
Nick had been leaning toward putting Cliff Hogg III and Jessica Milagros on the block, with Nicole as a backup replacement nominee, but after talking to Jackson he seemed to lean toward taking out Nicole. However, he later backtracked and told Nicole he wouldn't put her up, and if he needed a replacement nominee it would probably be Kathryn Dunn. Nick told his special lady friend Isabella "Bella" Wang -- and both Sam Smith and Tommy Bracco -- that he told Christie Murphy he would nominate Cliff and Jess, and that's what he planned to do as of early Friday morning.
The Nomination Ceremony was held Friday evening, and we'll see it in Sunday's July 14 episode. The third and final Whacktivity Competition was also held late Friday morning/early afternoon Cali time. Here are the results:
Nick's nomination plan: Cliff and JessPotential replacement nominee: At first, Nick told Nicole she would not be the replacement nominee, and it would probably be Kat as a pawn, if needed. He said he suspected Jackson Michie tried to pin the Jess vote on Nicole, and he's right. However, after the Nomination Ceremony, Nicole is definitely Nick's backdoor plan.Nick's backdoor target: Nicole. Panic Whacktivity players: Analyse, Christie, Jessica, NickPanic Whacktivity winner: ChristiePanic Power: Christie told Tommy she won the Panic power, and it's the Diamond Power of Veto. She said that she can use the Diamond PoV at any of the next four Veto ceremonies. Also, she can activate it anonymously.Most likely to be evicted: At this point ... it's looking like Cliff. Christie and her team don't want Nicole out. Christie sees Cliff as the bigger threat right now, and she'd rather keep Nicole around to take a shot at Bella.
Julie Chen said a Big Brother classic power would return to the game for this final Whacktivity comp, so fans thought it could it be Coup D'Etat or Diamond Power of Veto. Turns out it was the latter. The Diamond Veto allows the holder to override one of the HoH's nominations and appoint the replacement nominee themselves.
Fans wanted Jess to win the Panic Whacktivity power to shake up the house. If Christie, Nick, or Analyse "Sis" Talavera won, it was understood they probably wouldn't do anything with it this week. But, based on what Christie said, she can use it at any of the next four Veto ceremonies.
The Power of Veto competition was held Saturday evening, to air in the following Wednesday episode, and that's obviously another piece to the puzzle. There's still a lot of intel out there that can be exposed, and it may sway Nick in a new direction. My fingers were crossed for a last minute Jack or Jackson backdoor, but Nick was never going to be that bold.
Whoever is evicted next becomes the final Camp Comeback member, but not for long. The four houseguests -- David, Ovi, Kemi, and Whoever -- will compete to return to the game this coming week. If Gr8ful were really so tight, one HG could've taken one for the team and offered to be evicted and try to take out the other Camp Comeback competition. That way, if they returned, there would be no extra threats in the game. Otherwise, whoever comes back will be very un-Gr8ful.
Big Brother Season 21 continues Sunday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays on CBS.
