Warning! The following contains spoilers from the Big Brother live feeds as of Tuesday, August 4th. Stream the feeds with a Paramount+ subscription and read at your own risk!
Haley Thogmartin's Week 4 Head of Household win was a big opportunity for her to make some moves in the game, but as the latest Big Brother episode showed, she's off to a bad start. She made it clear from the jump that this week was going to be her vengeance on those dragging her name through the mud, but so far fellow Houseguests just think she's being a "mean girl."
As the latest episode showed Haley tearing into Melody Morris, those watching Big Brother online saw her do the same to another woman in the house after the Week 4 veto competition didn't go how she wanted. Haley had a chance to gain an ally in Lyric Medeiros, but instead of extending an olive branch, she tore her to shreds.
Haley Blasted Lyric For Betraying Her Allies And Trying To Join The Red Corner
Once Taylor Brown won the veto, Haley was forced to pick someone else to go on the block. It seemed clear it would be between Mallory Aurichio and Lyric for who would go up, so Lyric quickly got to work talking to Haley's allies Chuk Anyanwu and Kamu Kirk, mentioning how Mallory wanted to put them and Haley on the block. As she hoped, both men took this information to Haley, who saw right through it and called Lyric up to the HOH room.
While Chuk and Kamu were receptive to the idea of Lyric joining the Red Corner, Haley made it clear to Lyric she didn't respect the pitch. In fact, she felt that the fact that Lyric was so willing to sell out Mallory, one of her biggest allies, to avoid the block made her look more shady than reliable. She said (via: @BBUpdatesLive):
It doesn’t look great that these are your best friends and you are so quick to throw them under the bus.
The conversation continued well beyond that, with Haley essentially telling Lyric she didn't trust her word and that she'd need to go a long way next week in earning her trust if she wants to join the Red Corner. Lyric went up there hoping the conversation would be about how she could avoid being the renomination choice for Big Brother 28's Week 4 eviction, and instead it was all but guaranteed she would be.
Lyric left the room upset and was seen later crying to Lala Verrett and Taylor over how the conversation with Haley went. Meanwhile, the latter felt justified in the conversation, seemingly oblivious to how the conversation might've ruined her chances of gaining another ally in the game.
Haley Made Another Houseguest Cry, And Gained Another Enemy In The House
From a gameplay standpoint, I didn't love it for Haley. She was the one who instigated the conversation, which was more of a lecture than a dialogue about where they stood. I felt it was unnecessary, considering Haley still put Lyric on the block anyway. It felt like a classic case of HOH-itis, in which the ruling Houseguest forgets they won't be in power next week.
Even if Haley didn't trust Lyric, it would've been far better for her to play nice. Now, no matter how this week shakes out, she's guaranteed to have two people coming off the block who are at odds with her. Making enemies can work in Big Brother, but if you want to win, you want to keep that to a minimum.
What's worse is Haley made a foe of Lyric, who is actively trying to insert herself into the Red Corner alliance. Lyric already has Kamu and Chuk's support, meaning if Haley is gone, she's all but guaranteed acceptance. Assuming she doesn't leave this week and continues winning things, I'd be even more nervous about Lyric going forward if I were Haley.
I'm very interested to see who goes and stays in the upcoming BB Blockbuster, which will air live when Big Brother is on CBS on Thursday, August 6th at 8:00 p.m. ET. It's also looking like we'll have an endurance competition on the live feeds, so be ready to stay up!
