SPOILERS ahead from the 2019 Big Brother 21 live feeds.
I'm uncomfortable being this fond of the problematic Jackson Michie, but he won me over this week as Big Brother 21 HoH. Here are the latest results as of Monday, August 19, 2019.
Who Won The Veto? Jackson won the Veto during Saturday's competition, and on Monday the Veto Ceremony confirmed the results.Did Jackson Use The Veto? Jackson did NOT use the Power of Veto.Who Are The Final Nominees? Christie Murphy and Analyse Talavera remain on the block.Who Can Vote For Eviction? There are nine houseguests left, and six can vote -- Cliff, Holly, Jess, Nick, Nicole, and Tommy. Theoretically, it could be a tie and in that case Jackson would break the tie. It is more likely that Christie will get a majority if not all of the votes.Who Will Be Evicted? Christie is Jackson's target and will most likely be evicted. But we'll see. Christie could sweet talk her way into a deal before Thursday's live eviction episode. [UPDATE: Yep, there's been a change on this front!}
They tried. Sis and Christie did not sit back before the Week 8 Veto Ceremony. I thought Sis might just say "I'm over it" and mope, but she did spend some time making arguments to bring the Gr8ful remnants back together.
There was a push to maybe put Jessica Milagros on the block as a replacement nominee, or put up Nicole Anthony, and keep both Christie and Sis in the house. The plan would be to reforge the split six alliance with Jackson, Sis, Christie, Holly Allen, Tommy Bracco, and Nick Maccarone.
So that plan is now out. Christie had said she wouldn't campaign against Sis, but Kat and Cliff didn't plan to campaign against each other at first either. Christie will probably make some kind of argument in the next couple of days. If she doesn't, I'd be disappointed in her.
Christie has some arguments she can make -- she's a useful shield as a continued target in the house, unlike Sis; and she could go after Jackson and get that blood on her own hands.
Nick was never in The Six Shooters, but he was in Gr8ful with Bella before that whole thing fell apart. The Six Shooters used to be the three couples -- Jackson and Holly, Sis and the recently evicted Jack Matthews, and Tommy and Christie (who were not romantic, but did know each other for years before entering the house).
Last week during Tommy's HoH, Cliff Hogg III was on the block next to Kathryn Dunn and made a new six deal with Nick, including himself and Nicole, and including Tommy, Christie, Sis, and Nick. That left out Jackson, Holly, and Jess. Tommy wanted to keep Jackson and Holly in his six, and he may still be willing to target Cliff and Nicole moving forward. It all depends on who is in charge. He also said at one point he wanted to make a deal with Cliff and Nicole to all target Jackson and Holly. Whoever is HoH, Tommy wants to cover his own 6 o'clock.
Jess blew up the house over the new six, doing a lot of talking about everyone, and it put her on the map as an easy target. Nick has been especially vocal about wanting Jess out. Jess has also been vocal about wanting Nick out. (Holly also brought Nick's name up to Jackson this week.) I also think it's smart to target Both Sides Nick. But this week it's Jackson's call and he wants Christie out. For him, this is the right move.
Jackson has been willing to take out Christie knowing he'll still have a target on his back after this. If the new six stands, that means Sis, Tommy, Cliff, Nicole, and Nick would theoretically still be on the other side. I can see how it would be tempting for Jackson to make a deal to cover his and Holly's butts moving forward. After all, that was Tommy's whole plan with his HoH last week -- use the power to put himself in a comfortable position moving forward.
But Jackson is not like Tommy. Tommy knows how to weasel and scramble, as one does in Big Brother. Tommy had wanted to go back to the old Six Shooters, with Nick potentially replacing Jack, who is now in jury. (That said, even Tommy is now starting to sideye Nick as someone you can't really trust.) Jackson is proud of being a straight-shooter. He'd rather take this shot, knowing it could be his only time as HoH, rather than make some kind of deal with people he's not sure he can even trust.
Jackson knows targeting Christie may mean Sis and Tommy target him after this. Holly was particularly worried about that, and would've rather seen Nick targeted. But Jackson knows if he keeps Christie in the game it may not help him anyway, and he could still be targeted. He's emphasizing that this is about Christie and Christie alone.
I like him. Watermelon worship, Have-Not rule breaking, rude comments, chess-not-checkers nonsense and all. Whatever. Don't @ me.
Jackson was just comparing himself and Holly to Cody and Jessica from Big Brother 19. I don't know how I feel about that, but I do see some similarities. It also makes me wonder if they'll head to The Amazing Race at some point ... although Jackson and Holly aren't as popular as underdogs Cody and Jess were in the Big Brother house under Paul's reign of terror.
What happens next? Will the obvious target of Jess stay a target next week? Will the next HoH target Jackson for putting up Christie and Sis? Will Holly or Jess win and maybe target Nick? Is a double eviction ahead?
Jess does have a few friends in the house and if she pulls a Cliff and tries to make deals, maybe a new six or five or whatever will form from the remaining eight players, and Jess will end up in the majority. The "alliances"/"deals" this week seem pretty fluid -- like "voting blocks" each tribal council on some seasons of Survivor rather than solid alliances.
Big Brother 2019 airs Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays on CBS. Keep up with all the action on the live feeds. It should be an interesting week, and the game should stay lively from here. I hope.
