Big Brother 17 Watch: An Eviction And An End To A Very Odd Week

What a weird week in the Big Brother house. That's probably putting it mildly. We've seen people react poorly to being backdoored, but Audrey may have redefined that situation, first by sitting out the Veto Ceremony and missing her own nomination, and then spending days inside the Have Not room, barely speaking to anyone.

Tonight's live episode understandably focused heavily on Audrey, but the balance was awkward, as half of it touched on her post-Veto seclusion, and the other half focused on her supportive family. After seeing her covered in a hood, sunglasses and/or a blanket all week, tonight's Audrey's Family package felt a bit oddly timed, despite Audrey's impending eviction. That said, it was great to see her supportive family, and learn a bit more about who Audrey is outside this game.

The Veto episode showed Audrey's game finally catching up with her. If she had a downfall -- beyond over-gaming from the very beginning -- it was not being more loyal to Shelli, who went above and beyond to keep Audrey safe the last time she was Head of Household -- the week after Audrey's game first began to implode. Shelli seemed determined to work with Audrey, despite the trust issues. Audrey needed to demonstrate unwavering loyalty and hope that nothing she might say about Shelli (or Clay) got back to Shelli. That just didn't happen.

I'm not sure what to make of Audrey's reaction to her nomination, and tonight's episode did very little to fill in the blanks in terms of what was really happening. Was it anxiety that sent her to the Have Not room, where she spent the rest of the week? Was she just giving up? Or was her behavior this week an effort to garner sympathy from her houseguests or present herself as weakened and alone? It's hard to say, and the episode didn't shed much light on that. What we do know is that Audrey skipped the Veto ceremony, and dismissed some of her Have Not restrictions, earning her a moot penalty vote.

It should also be said that the houseguests who did interact with Audrey this week were all -- from what I saw on the feeds -- kind to her. There was no bullying or taunting, even after she skipped the ceremony. This was all game from the houseguest's perspective, and from what I've seen on the feeds, this season's crop of contestants seem to really grasp the distinction between personal and game. Some heads are in the game a bit more than others, but so far, much of what's been on the feeds has been friendly, even as people are plotting others' game-demise.

While Audrey tucked herself away, the rest of the house existed harmoniously. It was essentially decided that Audrey would go, and no one was campaigning on her behalf, so there wasn't a lot of game talk to be done.

To see Audrey tonight, you'd never have known she'd spent most of the week in seclusion. On the live show, she looked as stunning as she did when she came into the house. And she went out with a smile, making the "Merry Christmas" joke she talked about on the feeds earlier today. It'll be interesting to see what she has to say about things now that she's out of the game.

Beyond Audrey, there were a couple of interesting events tonight:

Austin dropped a hinky vote into the mix ahead of tonight's eviction. It's a dangerous thing, as I think he actually joked about doing that at least once during the last week. It's likely that he's trying to get this blamed on someone in an effort to keep the house focused on anything other than the twin twist (which everyone knows about). And since there's been some stray votes already this season, there's a good chance he'll avoid the blame for that. Unless he tells someone.

James was either banking on luck to get him through tonight's song-HoH competition, or he was just blatantly throwing it, because he buzzed in immediately both times, without hearing the song. It worked to his favor the first time, but he was eliminated the next time he guessed.

Vanessa and Jackie won Head of Household. Jackie's kind of a wildcard, in terms of her targets. But she strikes me as the type to do her thing and not let anyone else run her Head of Household week. So I'm excited to see what she does.

As for Vanessa, well I can't get enough of her gameplay. She's super-strategic and constantly trying to think two moves ahead. We saw a bit of that tonight when she had to select two houseguests to face off. She took a moment (or two) to make her selections, likely trying to calculate odds and outcomes before locking in her choices. So I'm looking forward to seeing how she handles being Head of Household again.

The question is, are the Heads of Household going to be on the same page? If you're looking for spoilers, find out what we saw on the Big Brother live feeds after tonight's episode on the next page...