Big Brother 4 - The Spying Machine

The Spying Machine

◄ ►  Season 4

Housemates Name Entered Exited       Tommy Day 1 Day 90 Jessica Day 1  Day 90    Ava Day 1  Day 90    Simon Day 1  Day 85    Buddy Day 1  Day 78    Nick Day 1 Day 43  Day 57 Day 71    Tina Day 1  Day 71    Ikke Day 1  Day 64    Holden Day 1  Day 57    Paula Day 1  Day 50    Zoe Day 1  Day 43    Ashlee Day 1  Day 36    Jamie Day 1  Day 29    Willy Day 1  Day 22    Tamara Day 1  Day 15    Mike Day 1  Day 8    Winner Evicted

Big Brother 4 - The Spying Machine
Season Information
Season	4
No. of Days	90
Winner	Tommy Elenes
Production
Series Chronology
Previous Season	The Spying Machine - Season 3
Next Season	The Spying Machine - Season 5

This is the fourth season of a New Big Brother Franchise hosted by Matpeng. This season of Big Brother - The Spying Machine has 16 housemates.

Twists

• No Haves/Have-Nots: self-explanatory
• Safety Competition: Just like in the 19th season of the canon Big Brother, each week for the first six weeks, the players will have the choice to participate in a Safety Competition to earn immunity for the week. However, unlike the Tempation Competition, there won't be any third nominee.
• Jury Vote to win: The first member of the jury will cast the Wiki's vote to win. In other words, you will help decided which of the two final houseguests is the most deserving of the Grand Prize.
• Jury Come-Back: The first four jury members will have a chance to come back into the game at the Final 7. The Wiki will vote to choose which of the four deserves the most to enter the game.
• Prediction Game for the Users: This season, the Wiki will play an even more important role in the Game as you will be able to participate in a prediction game. For more info, check my blog ! (http://bigbrotherfanon.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Matpeng/Big_Brother_5_Prediction_Game)

Houseguests

Winner    Tommy	Runner-Up    Jessica	Jury: Tommy    Ava	Jury: Jessica    Simon
Jury: Tommy    Buddy	Jury: Jessica    Nick	Jury: Tommy    Tina	Jury: Tommy    Ikke
Jury: Tommy    Holden	Jury: Tommy    Paula	Jury: Tommy    Zoe	Evicted    Ashlee
Evicted    Jamie	Evicted    Willy	Evicted    Tamara	Evicted    Mike

Nomination Table

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6		Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10		Week 11	Week 12		FINALE	Eviction votes received
						Regular	Double				Regular	Double		Day 84	Day 90
Head of Household	Nick	Tina	Nick	Paula	Buddy	Tina	Simon	Ikke	Tina	Jessica	Nick	Tommy	Simon	Tommy	Tommy
Safety Winner	Ava	Tommy	Jamie	Tommy	Holden	Buddy				Nick
Nominations (pre-veto)	Ikke Paula	Tamara Zoe	Jessica Willy	Ikke Jamie	Ikke Zoe	Holden Tommy	Ikke Zoe	Paula Tina	Holden Ikke	Ava Ikke	Ava Tommy	Simon Nick	Ava Tommy	Jessica Simon	Ava Jessica
Veto Winner	Paula	Buddy	Tommy	Paula	Ikke	Holden	Ava	Tina	Tina	Tommy	Nick	Tommy	Tommy	Jessica
Nominations (post-veto)	Ikke Mike	Tamara Zoe	Jessica Willy	Ikke Jamie	Ashlee Zoe	Nick Tommy	Tommy Zoe	Paula Simon	Holden Ikke	Buddy Ikke	Ava Tina	Simon Nick	Ava Buddy	Ava Simon
Tommy	Mike	Immune Tamara	Willy	Immune Jamie	Ashlee	Nominated	Nominated	Paula	Holden	Buddy	Vetoed Tina	Head of Household	Vetoed Buddy	Head of Household	Ava	Winner	1
Jessica	Mike	Tamara	Nominated	Jamie	Ashlee	Nick	Zoe	Paula	Ikke	Head of Household	Tina	Nick	Buddy	Vetoed Simon	Nominated	Runner-Up	2
Ava	Immune Mike	Zoe	Willy	Jamie	Ashlee	Nick	Zoe	Paula	Holden	Vetoed Buddy	Nominated	Nick	Nominated	Nominated	Nominated	Tommy	0
Simon	Mike	Tamara	Willy	Jamie	Zoe	Tommy	Head of Household	Nominated	Ikke	Ikke	Tina	Nominated	Head of Household	Nominated	Evicted (Day 85)	Jessica	1
Buddy	Mike	Tamara	Willy	Jamie	Head of Household	Immune Nick	Zoe	Paula	Holden	Nominated	Tina	Nick	Nominated	Evicted (Day 78)		Tommy	4
Nick	Head of Household	Tamara	Head of Household	Jamie	Ashlee	Nominated	Evicted (Day 43)			Immune Ikke	Head of Household	Nominated	Evicted (Day 71)			Jessica	10
Tina	Mike	Head of Household	Jessica	Jamie	Zoe	Head of Household	Zoe	Vetoed Paula	Head of Household	Ikke	Nominated	Evicted (Day 71)				Tommy	4
Ikke	Nominated	Tamara	Willy	Nominated	Vetoed Ashlee	Nick	Vetoed Zoe	Head of Household	Nominated	Nominated	Evicted (Day 64)					Tommy	9
Holden	Ikke	Tamara	Willy	Jamie	Immune Ashlee	Vetoed Nick	Zoe	Paula	Nominated	Evicted (Day 57)						Tommy	3
Paula	Vetoed Ikke	Tamara	Willy	Head of Household	Zoe	Nick	Zoe	Nominated	Evicted (Day 50)							Tommy	6
Zoe	Ikke	Nominated	Willy	Jamie	Nominated	Nick	Nominated	Evicted (Day 43)								Tommy	11
Ashlee	Mike	Tamara	Jessica	Jamie	Nominated	Evicted (Day 36)											6
Jamie	Mike	Tamara	Immune Willy	Nominated	Evicted (Day 29)												10
Willy	Mike	Tamara	Nominated	Evicted (Day 22)													9
Tamara	Ikke	Nominated	Evicted (Day 15)														11
Mike	Nominated	Evicted (Day 8)															9
Evicted	Mike 9 of 13 votes	Tamara 11 of 12 votes	Willy 9 of 11 votes	Jamie 10 of 10 votes	Ashlee 6 of 9 votes	Nick 7 of 8 votes	Zoe 7 of 7 votes	Paula 6 of 6 votes	Holden 3 of 5 votes	Nick won re-entry into game	Tina 4 of 4 votes	Nick 3 of 3 votes	Buddy 2 of 2 votes	Simon 1 of 1 votes	Ava 1 of 1 votes	Jessica 2 of 9 votes	Tommy 7 of 9 votes
										Ikke 2 of 5 votes

Weekly Summary

After a round of ads, a video montage is shown with clips from the previous seasons, showing the biggest moves made in the franchise, as well as the crowning of the four previous winners. A voice-over asked “who will claim the Fifth title from The Spying Machine?” before it cuts to the real show. The Host appeared on the screen with a lot of cheers from the audience. As always she stated that this new season will be a long and twisted ride for the 16 brand new housemates embarking this summer-long journey. This year, the house had been decorated as The Grotto of Mystery and it mixed a lot of modern and ancient pieces of furniture. It looked like an underground loft, with some rooms decorated as a night-club. It's very modern and uses very raw materials.

She then introduced the 16 houseguests, including personal trainer Tina, car salesman Holden, trendy stylist Tamara as well as Jamie, a bartender from Florida. They were the first four to enter the Big Brother house and immediately claimed their beds before the new four entered themselves. They were Zoe, a sweet southern girl, Buddy, a professional football coach, Nick a young model from New York City, and also Ikke, a short young woman who aspires to become an actress. She was immediately spotted by Holden who described her as “a stunner”. In a comical way, she said in a confessional that he was definitely the Token nerdy guy of the season, and those were not really her type of people.

The first eight were then joined by entrepreneur Ava, TV Producer Paula, Dartmouth student Mike and Tommy, a self-proclaimed mama's boy. The latter entered the house while shouting “What's uuuuuuppp losaaaahs !!”, and was immediately noticed by Tamara who sassily stated Tommy, hum... No comment in the Diary Room. She also commented to Zoe that he was the type of guy that never shines away from the spotlight. Eventually, Jessica a babysitter, Simon, a journalist, and Willy a teacher entered the house as well as detective Ashlee. They were warmly welcomed by the others and an excited Simon shouted in the DR about how he has always dreamt of shouting in the DR.

As soon as all the beds were claimed, the houseguests gathered in the living area and started introductions. Ava was the first one to stand up and speak. She announced that she seems intimadating and shy from the get-go but that she is super excited to know them all. Tamara reacted in the DR by saying “Guuuurl ! You ain't goin' to Big Brother if you're afraid of people! Shy People gotta go...”. She then introduced herself as the “resident loudmouth” to which Tommy stated he was his main competition on the loud part of the game. Nick was the next one to stand up and described himself as a young model from the Big Apple, staying quite humble on his past successes. While a few girls commented on how handsome he is, he stated in a confessional that these people will never see him coming and that he was definitely the brightest and the most athletic one in the House. Then, Holden followed up and announced that he has come to the house to find a half million dollars and the love of his life. Everybody made a nice “ooooh” to signify “cuteness”, but Paula, the oldest houseguest reacted by whispering “Poor Boy” to her neighbor. Eventually, Ashlee was the last one to introduce herself as a stay-at-Home mom from Orange County which prompted a rather awkward reaction from the other ones. In a confessional, Tina said that she hated “spoiled brats that turns into those kind of stuck-up bourgeoise”. And with that, the episode of the introductions was finished.

Week 1

HOH    Nick

Immune    Ava

Pre-Veto Nominee POV    Paula

Nominee 4 votes    Ikke

Evicted 9 votes    Mike

After a small ad break, the Houseguests were shown entering the backyard for their first HOH Competition of the summer which is all about endurance. The decorum of the backyard was the one of a nightclub and everybody had to stand on a giant wine glass which will be turning at about 4 feet above the ground. At some point during the competition, the glass is going to become smaller making it harder to stand on it. They would also be thrown water and other kinds of thick red liquids. The last houseguest standing will become HOH.

The first players to fall off, namely Tamara, Jessica, Tommy, Ikke and Willy mainly dropped because they suffered from being dizzy. In fact, Tamara was the only one to jump because she wanted to avoid being the first HOH. They were soon to be followed by Holden and Ava. The latter could have stayed longer but she slipped on her glass and fell hard on her back. The remaining nine challengers lasted for more than 45 minutes before the glass became really small and both Ashlee and Buddy fell down because they struggled to contort themselves. A few minutes after them, Jamie jumped off, out of nowhere. He justified himself in the DR by saying he was distracted. Then, Zoe dropped and right on her tail, Mike also let it go. Before he jumped, he tried to strike a deal with the remaining four houseguests. They agreed on paper, yet, they seemed more focused on the competition than on Mike's proposal. They were standing there for more than 2 and a half hours when Paula jumped. Moments before, she was describing how the competition was terrible and how she was about to puke when she jumped. Her fellow competitors recognized though that she was in amazing condition for a 53-year-old woman and Ikke even said that she was dead jealous of her already. A few others such as Mike and Buddy reckoned that she was one of the main physical threat already.

There were only three players on their glass, Nick, Simon and Tina. After almost four hours, Simon tried to convince the others to keep him safe. Nick immediately agreed whereas Tina stood still, ignoring him. That's why he really hesitated to let go, but ten minutes later, he jumped. In a final showdown, Nick and Tina battled it out like heroes, and eventually, Nick triumphed when his challenger sat by mistake on her glass. She declared in the DR that she was absolutely gutted to lose like that and that now the house might believe that she is a fool. The two players got down and hugged. Nick whispered in her ear that she was “1000% safe this week” before he went to take the key of the HOH room.

After yet another commercial break, Nick was seen chilling in the HOH room with Simon and Mike. The latter proposed from the get-go to form an all-guys alliance because they dominate the game in many seasons of Big Brother. Furthermore, the fact that the three of them were the last men standing in the HOH Competition makes him believe that they would be an invincible alliance. They started counting the people they wanted in (namely Buddy, Jamie and Tommy) and the camera showed their faces at the same time. They agreed that they would create this pact and be the “Thinking Head” of their group, the three other guys being only there for numbers. When all six of them were gathered in the room, they sealed the deal and named themselves “The Foxfaces” and Tommy coined a silly sign they would make with their nose and their fingers when voting to evict their target. Then, they chose to go after “floaters” not to make too much waves for the first week. Obviously, by floater, they intended “girls”.

Later on, Ashlee was shown aligning with Tina. The latter declared in the DR that the detective “is not the type of people she usually surrounds herself with in her daily life”, however, she reckoned that Big Brother is also about getting together very different people and that creating an alliance was a win-win situation for the both of them. Knowing that Buddy was befriending the younger guys a lot, they immediately tried to recruit him in their alliance as well as Willy who Ashlee had spoken a lot with already. Both guys were keen on joining their little group and the became the “Gen. Ypsilon”. At some point, Willy proposed also to recruit Paula and to create a more powerful alliance, but neither the girls nor Buddy were willing to get “grandma” on their side after she showed how much of threat she was in competitions. At this point, Buddy was clearly one of the best positionned housemate in the house, being at the core of two major alliances. In a confessional, he admitted that he is weighing the pros and the cons on whether he should take advantage of his position to make the first big moves or if he should on the contrary stay under the radar and act as a number for both groups.

All these alliances were created before the other housemates' eyes but many seemed oblivious to what was really happening around them, notably Jessica and Zoe who didn't seem too focused on the game at the moment. On the contrary, Tamara seemed very aware of the house dynamics and she clearly described that the dynamics, of the house, the divide in two groups, the age being the main factor of this fracture. She also remarked that the younger guys are always together and have formed a “popular clique”, with Ikke openly flirting with Jamie and Jessica trying some approaches towards Simon. She herself tried to integrate this majority alliance, yet, she noticed that each time she tried to speak with Nick and Simon (who she said are “totally bromancing at the moment”) she felt very awkward and the discussion was not really evolving. Therefore, she decided to rally up the girls around her and alerted them on the possibility of an all-guys alliance being formed already. At first, the ladies didn't seem to receptive, but later on, Ikke, Jessica and Ava formed a secret trio-alliance, unbeknownst to Tamara who was left clearly on the outs.

Just after that, Big Brother gathered all the housemates in the living area to tell them about the big twist of the summer : the Safety Competition. Basically, each week, the housemates will decide whether they want to compete in a special challenge to earn immunity. There are only six players who will be able to participate in the competition and the first six to come to the DR and ask to compete will be able to earn Safety for the week. Right of the bat, Ava, Jessica and Ikke claimed a spot in the challenge because they felt threatened by Tamara's confessions and they were joined by Ashlee, Holden and Willy. The special challenge was a memory competition where the houseguests had to remember the order in which each participant fell in the competition as well as the time they spent on their glass. After a tense battle for Immunity, Ava beat Ashlee and earned the first Immunity of the summer.

She was rather lucky because the guys had already decided to target the girls and Ava was one of Nick's choice for being a bit on the outs of their “popular clique”. During the nomination ceremony, he chose to put Ikke and Paula on the block, stating that he has no particular target for the moment and that they are both pawns. The TV Producer seemed very pissed at the young man in the DR as shouted “Grow some balls Nicky-boy ! You're HOH, you need to set a target, dah...”.

Afterwards, a short clip of Paula trying to flirt with the younger male houseguests is shown for comic relief. She openly tried to seduce Nick, Tommy, and even Jamie who had clearly started a showmance with Ikke. In a confessional, he seemed very amused by the situation, and declared “Sorry Paula... I always fall for actresses and I guess the Producer's gotta stay behind the scenes !”. It then cut to a commercial break.

For the Veto Competition, the HOH, the two nominees, as well as Zoe, Simon and Tommy, selected by random draw, had to cross a balance beam 100 times to push a red button on each sides. If they fall down the beam, they have to start again from the start. Rapidly, Zoe and Tommy show how bad their sense of balance is while Simon, Ikke and Paula seemed to do a pretty decent job. The latter almost fell twice but she has a good way to recover from bad situations. Simon was clearly in the lead however, he slipped and tumbled after he had crossed the beam 92 times. It was then a race between Ikke and Paula and the TV Producer raced and tried to cross quicker, to gain momentum. Her younger challenger tried to follow her pace but she was unable to do so and dropped, leaving the 53-year-old in top position. After a few more minutes, Paula claimed the first Golden Power of Veto of the Season, and Nick admitted in the DR that she is clearly a “badass competitor”.

Knowing he would have to nominate a replacement nominee, Nick discussed with Simon and Mike the possibility of backdooring a bigger target. He thought mainly about nominating Tamara who had been acting fishy since the start of the game. Mike advised not to name the stylist as she already had a huge target on her back and was pretty isolated in the house. The Engineering student had another threat is sight : Tina. He pushed hard for the bodybuilder to go on the block, however, Nick felt very uneasy with the idea of nominating her as he had promised her she would be safe after the HOH Competition. Mike did not really care that much and a montage showed that for a few days he has kept pushing for Tina to go on the block. At some point, Buddy and the other guys discovered this plan and, to all appearances, they didn't seem to bothered. However, later on, the football coach who was also aligned with Tina let her know and promised her he would do everything to keep her safe. He then went to Simon and Nick telling them how nominating Tina wouldn't be a good move. Out of nowhere, when the guys asked him who he thought should go up instead, he answered... Mike. He admitted that his pushiness and his wishes to control everybody early on is getting on his nerves. Furthermore, he tried to show how it would be in Nick's best interest by demonstrating how much big moves matter in this game. The young model seemed a bit unsure, and in his confessional, before the veto ceremony, he reckoned that he had three possibilities : Tina, Tamara and Mike and that he considered each and every one of them.

At the Veto Ceremony, Paula played the POV on herself, obviously, and Nick decided to nominate Mike for his “pushiness”. He knew that he could be thrown under the bus at any time and that's why he was not willing to have him as an ally, even more as a housemate. The student was furious, and he refused to talk to the guys as Nick started doing some damage control. Therefore, the HOH gathered Tommy, Jamie and Ikke and explained to them the reasons behind this nomination. He did rather efficient damage control and at the end of the discussion, all the Foxfaces turned on Mike and Ikke had become a de facto sixth, in replacement of the student. At some point, Tina interrupted the conversation to hug Nick and thanked him for keeping his promise even though her name was mentioned.

On the other hand, Mike felt suddenly much more isolated in the house and he really had a hard time campaigning. He was clearly on the bottom, and neither the Foxfaces nor the members of Gen. Ypsilon seemed to be very receptive to his arguments. In fact, there was only the “outsiders” who listened to him and Tamara who was really ostracized during the first week became his sidekick. She campaigned with him and managed to convince Paula that he was worth keeping in. Mike also took advantage of the fact that Zoe and Holden were on the outs to convince them that a few people in the “popular clique” will give him sympathy votes and therefore that they could keep him by voting out Ikke. He promised them that the first thing he would do should he stay in the house, would be creating a “misfits alliance" with all the people on the outs.

During the Eviction Ceremony, the houseguests cast their vote to evict, and Mike was voted out by a vote of 9 to 4. His campaigning was rather effective, yet, he did not manage to convince the two bigger blocks that he was worth keeping in. He became the first evictee of the season.

Week 2

HOH    Tina

Immune    Tommy

POV    Buddy

Nominee 1 vote    Zoe

Evicted 11 votes    Tamara

A few minutes after Mike's eviction from The Spying Machine, the housemates were gathered in the backyard for another HOH Competition on the theme of a mechanic store – which prompted Holden to say that this challenge is right up his alley. The 14 competitors each had a slippery line they had to cross while brining “oil” in a small cup. With this liquid, they had to fill a jar to retrieve a ball inside. In fact, they had two jars to fill : they could go for the HOH and fill the big jar or aim at a smaller one to win $5.000. The first candidate to claim the prize money will be unable to win HOH, and there was only one prize money available. Right of the bat, the Houseguests found out how much this competition is intense as they struggled to even stand on their feet. Ashlee, Tommy and Willy were the ones who fell the most times. Gunning for the small jar were only Tommy and Tamara and even though he struggled to find his balance, the young man was way ahead as Tamara had chosen a very slow approach. Eventually, he claimed the prize money and she had a lot of time to make up. In the lead for the main jar at this moment were Tina, Simon and Holden, and they were closely followed by Paula and Buddy. The other competitors were pretty much dead weight at this point. This is a very close race, and anybody among these five still had their chances at the HOH Crown.

The mother-of-three was very excited about being HOH because she would “have the chance to read from her loved-ones and kick some floaters' ass out of the house”. Her agenda, as she rapidly exposed it to the other members of “Gen. Ypsilon” was to gun for people who were alone in the house not to get too much blood on her hands. She didn't want to waste her HOH though and that's why she notably mentions Paula and Tamara as they both had proven that they were playing the game, even though they were a bit ostracized by the other houseguests. This plan really satisfied both Buddy and Willy whereas Ashlee was a bit more perplexed. “Why would you give your all in the competitions if after that you just wanna throw the HOH?” she asked herself in the DR, underlying the fact that her ally was already a huge threat for many other housemates.

There was another reason behind Tina's strategy and we are then shown in a flashback that Tina and Nick made a pact called “The Covenant” the previous week, just after the Veto Ceremony, where they promised not to go after anyone in their respective alliances, therefore only leaving a few outsiders as possible targets. They reflected on how cool it would be for them to keep this secret alliance for a few weeks, and why not go to the Final 2 together.

In the mean time, Tommy began to have seconds thoughts about taking the Prize Money and he confessed to Paula and Holden that he feared that he has painted a big target on his back. The TV Producer tried to comfort him – without much success – by stating that “it was clearly not the best move to stay under-the-radar”, even though she was convinced that Tina had much bigger fish to fry. This statement scared even more the young man that now was afraid that he was not playing the game as hard as he should. In his confessionals, a few twitches were coming back, and that's the moment he chose to explain that he has struggled with OCD his entire life and that sometimes it comes back to haunt him. He also opened up to the house – reassuring Ava who had noticed that he was behaving weirdly under pressure. Tina then declared in the DR that “Tommy's journey is really inspiring and that although she wishes him to go the furthest possible in the game, his confession now makes him very sympathetic and therefore he needs to go home”.

The next day, the Safety Competition was organized and the first six housemates who asked to compete were Tommy, Ava, Tamara, Holden, Simon and Zoe. Jamie also wanted to play but he was not quick enough and therefore he did not have the possibility to play in the Special Challenge. It was a rapidity competition that required houseguests to guess a special secret code with clues appearing in front of them. In classic Big Brother style, the housemates would face two by two and the winner then chooses who are the next two to face off. Ava won the first round against Zoe, Simon the second one against Tamara, and Tommy then eliminated Ava from the competition. In the penultimate round, Simon was ousted by Holden who was himself eliminated by Tommy in the last round. The young Mexican-American therefore won himself immunity for the week. At the end of the challenge, Holden confessed in the DR that the selection of people competing was very interesting as they were neither the ones in Nick's popular clique, nor Tina's inner circle – who he thought was composed of Buddy and Willy only. He realized that “all these people were clearly at the bottom of the totem pole and if they kept playing under the radar, they would all go home one after the other before the jury even starts".

At the following nomination ceremony, Tina first congratulated Tommy for earning himself safety for the week and then decided to nominate Tamara and Zoe for eviction. Her reasons behind her choice was that “they had not built a strong bond with anyone yet” and that “free agents always go too far” to her liking in Big Brother. This choice really convinced Holden that he had to do something. Mike was right about the “Outsiders” position in the house, and he regretted even more his departure.

He waited no longer, and gathered Tommy, Zoe, Ava and Tamara in the parlor to show them that they were clearly on the outside. At first, Ava and Tommy seemed very skeptical but he managed to show her she was on the bottom of the popular clique as the boys were all hanging out together and both Ikke and Jessica were trying to have a showmance with one of these guys. They formed an alliance and simply nicknamed themselves the Underdogs. Their plan for the week was to give their all in the Veto Competition and try to switch the game's social dynamics a little. Tamara was very excited to be part of an official alliance at last. Her attempts to infiltrate the popular clique were very unsuccessful the previous week and now that she was on the block, she was determined to “have her revenge”.

After the alliance was formed, Tommy and Ava discussed together their position in the game. At the moment, they were literally included in two alliances, but probably at the bottom of each one. Although Ava argued she felt they were pretty safe, Tommy on the other hand was more careful and he suggested that should one of them win the veto, they should really ask themselves whether they should use it on either of their new allies. Ava agreed, however in a confessional she stated that Tommy is persuaded that she is her de facto Number 1 ally since they are together in two pacts. She highlights the act that herself has another side-alliance with the girls and therefore does not feel threatened whatsoever. “Sorry Tom” she said.

For the Veto Competition, Buddy, Jessica and Tommy were also picked to participate. The goal of that famous competition was to remember a sequence of ingredients to create a cocktail. The competitors would be shown a series of ingredients and then they would have to pour them in a bowl, in the correct order. As soon as they are wrong, their cocktail would explode, eliminating them from the competition. Jessica was eliminated in the first round, and she was followed by Zoe in the second one. The remaining challengers were all fierce competitors, advancing through the rounds. Tina's cocktail exploded during the sixth round, leaving Buddy, Tommy and Tamara. The latter knew she had to win if she wanted to enjoy the rest of the week out of the chopping block, nevertheless, she was eliminated in the final round, alongside Tommy. Buddy won the Power of Veto, which was also his first competition victory of the summer. In the Diary Room, he declared that he was not willing to use it, but if Tina wanted to backdoor a bigger threat, he would not be against it.

Both of them met rapidly in the HOH room, and Tina said that she was fine with her nominations staying the same. She was not willing to get more blood on her hands already. Buddy immediately agreed.

Then, a clip was shown of Holden trying awkwardly to seduce Zoe. In his standards she was “by far the nicest and the most gorgeous housemate of the game” and he seemed convinced that there was something going on between the two of them. Images of the young saleswoman laughing to Holden's jokes were shown to corroborate his claims, however, in the Diary Room, the Southern Belle affirmed that “he is sweet and quirky and fun... But honestly, he doesn't stand a chance at all”. She confirmed that she “adored him” but also that their relationship would stay an amazing friendship.

Holden felt like he needed to prove his worth in the game and he therefore tried to foment a plan with Tommy's help. Unbeknownst to him, the young man was really determined to keep the nominations the same. As he was unable to convince Holden that both girls should stay on the block, he went with thim trying to plead Zoe's case to Buddy. The football coach found his attempt very cute, and he considered for a moment using the POV on the saleswoman. He said that Zoe was the definition of a floater and that she was not a threat whatsoever. Saving her would perhaps help his game as he would gain the loyalties of both Holden and Zoe, who he nicknamed Zolden. After his move, the mechanic left the room, and Buddy asked Tommy what he needed to do with the Power of Veto. The young man said that it would be better for the Foxfaces to keep the nomination the same as none of the nominees were in the Popular clique. As for earning Holden's loyalty, he said “what for ? He is at the bottom of the house now, and he will probably be the next one to go...”.

In the mean time, Tamara who did not really expect the POV to be used on her immediately tried to campaign and rally votes. She knew that her Oustiders alliance would be divided on that matter and therefore she tried to appeal to the girls. She talked to Paula about how they were both immediately ostracized by the house and how they should have each other's back. She mentioned to Ava that being both Black Women, they have a special bound and that they needed to protect each other. She also talked to Ikke and Jessica about how they should do moves sometimes and not let the boys they fancy decide the game for them. The aspiring actress noticed that Tamara was hoping to pit her and Jamie against each other and it was a “really smart move”. She also said that she did have to worry, that she was the one calling he shots in her showmance and that Jamie was her puppet and would do anything she said.

At the Veto Ceremony, Buddy gave each nominee a chance to plead their case before he decides to use the veto or not. Zoe tried to use her charms to convince him that she was a lovely presence in the house and that if he wanted to keep her in he could just hand her the veto. On the other hand, Tamara adopted a more aggressive approach and stated that even though she would appreciate the veto being used on her, she was not expecting him to do so. She reiterated the fact that she was a lone wolf in the house and therefore she wasn't really much of a threat. Eventually, Buddy chose not to use the POV and Tina, in the DR said that she was gunning for the “wolf”. “It is open season and I'm gonna hunt her down” she told the viewers, with a blink.

Tamara was not going down without a fight and she tried to convince Ashlee that she was worth keeping in but the detective was not receptive at all. Afterwards, she tried to speak with Tina, but the bodybuilder confirmed her that they had not started the game together and although they had a lot of common points, it was “too little, too late”. Eventually, she tried to convince Tommy to vote out Zoe as both of them viewed the Zolden showmance as a dangerous one down the road. Furthermore, she noticed that Tommy was friendly with the popular clique, and that could be an asset for her. He talked about keeping her in with his own allies, but Nick and Simon were firmly opposed to that.

On eviction night, Tamara became the second evictee of the season, only earning a sympathy vote from Ava. Her elimination resulted both from her early isolation from the rest of he Housemates as well as her desperate alliance with Mike the preceding week.

Week 3

HOH    Nick

Immune    Jamie

POV    Tommy

Nominee 2 votes    Jessica

Evicted 9 votes    Willy

After Tamara's eviction, the Houseguests were gathered in the backyard for yet another physical HOH competition. Obviously, since she was HOH the previous week, Tina was unable to compete. The backyard was designed as an underwater grotto and the players have to stay on a rather small platform on the wall. The thing is, the wall would be moving during the competition, and the housemates would be thrown ice cold water and other things. They could also receive wind in the face to symbolize current. The last person standing on their platform would become the third HOH of the summer. Immediately, it appears that both Zoe and Jessica are struggling to focus. This a competition about mental strength and stamina, and those two were really not in the game at that moment. They were the first to fell down. Upset, Zoe declared spitefully that “she did not wanted to win anyways”. The other eleven players were really doing a good job and they almost all stayed more than 30 minutes. Almost, as Jamie jumped at 29 minutes after receiving a splash of water. The next to fall down were Tommy and Ava. Both of them had decided to throw the competition before hand and they figured out that they could drop since they were not the first down. Simon and Nick were determined to win another HOH and they both seemed the most solid, alongside Buddy. On the other hand, both Paula and Ikke started to struggle when the wall was moving down and they fell, soon to be followed by Willy and Buddy who lost their balance. At that point in the competition, only Nick, Ashlee, Holden and Simon were still on the wall. On the bench, Zoe commented that she did not expect Ashlee to hold on for such a long time, and she did a great job, because she even outlasted Holden and Simon. For the final homestretch, she was up against Nick but eventually she dropped, exhausted. They stayed on their platform for more than 4 hours, and they were warmly congratulated by their fellow housemates. Simon and Jamie cheerfully celebrated the young man's second HOH win while Tommy and Holden seemed less enthusiastic. The former said in the Diary Room that “as long as Nick was still in the game, none of them had a reasonable chance to win competitions” and that made him a huge threat.

A few moments after Nick had read his letter from home and all the Underdogs had left the room, he asked members from both his alliance and Tina's to stay in the HOH room so that they could discuss what the plan was for the week. He did not want everybody to stay in the HOH room as he though it could be perceived as huge majority alliance – which it was in reality. Therefore, only Nick, Simon, Tommy, Ashlee and Tina stayed and all the others left. Buddy was scared to be left out of this all important discussion, however, he felt relatively secure as many of the people staying were his friends.

Basically, Nick's plan for the week was to backdoor Holden who had proven to be a rather dangerous player in competitions. Tommy did not object but he pulled an anxious face to the camera for a brief moment. Tina was visibly on board as well as Simon. Ashlee on the other hand, was more prudent and she stated that they needed a back-up plan should he win the POV. Then Nick proposed to ether go against Zoe, his number ally, or Paula who everyone was a bit wary of. This plan was contenting everybody. They also discussed about nominating one people in each of their alliance so that it did not look too suspicious. The meeting was adjourned. Later, Nick gathered all his clique, namely the six members of the “New Foxfaces” (including Ikke), as well as Jessica and Ava who were often hanging out with them. He told them about the plan that was decided with Tina and Ashlee and one of them had to volunteer as a pawn. As no one was willing to, Nick became more and more annoyed and eventually, Simon proposed to draw straws, which they did. However, the young man manipulated the random draw purposefully giving a shorter straw to Jessica. That's why she was forced to “volunteer” to go up as a pawn. Nick also advised them to play hard in the Safety Competition so that Holden would not be able to win it. In the mean time, Tina let her allies' know about the plan also, and Willy volunteered almost immediately to be the pawn.

For the Safety Competition, Tommy, Jamie, Holden, Ava, Simon and surprisingly Jessica were the first ones to ask to compete. When Holden asked in the DR to play in the competition, he affirmed that he knew for sure that he was going on the block this week. His statement was corroborated with Black and White images of Tommy filling him in about Nick's objectives for the week. The young man was definitely playing both sides. This new competition was a spelling one and the Houseguests had to find tiles with letters in a small room decorated as a Haunted House. In last place were Jessica and Simon because they both made a spelling mistake. The young man said in a confessional that he was “so ashamed” since “the words were bread and butter” for him. Then came Tommy with a six letter word, and Ava with a seven-letter word. It was down to Jamie and Holden, and eventually the latter lost with an eight-letter word against Jamie's nine-letter one. The bartender earned himself safety, even though he didn't really need it. Disappointed, Holden said that he was “gutted that out of all people, it was Jamie who claimed the immunity against him”. Nick was really comforted in his plan even though it was a close one, and he congratulated Jamie for his “first victory of the season”. It then cut to a commercial break.

When the show went back on, images of Simon and Nick hanging out together, playing pool together and just totally enjoying their bromance were shown. The shots of the two guys having fun together alternated with pictures of Jessica clinging on to the young writer and a confessional from Simon. The young man said that he has not come to terms entirely with his sexuality and even though all his friends and family know about it, he is still “scared to death” of people judging him. He clearly was emotional talking about that and had this deep consideration : “coming out to the world is not the hardest part of being gay, at least in my standards. I believe that coming out to yourself is the hardest thing in life and I know that I am not entirely ready for that... And that sucks dude !”. Then, the two guys are seen hanging out in the HOH room and Simon says something like “Hey Bro ! I need to tell yah something but...”. Seeing him looking for his words and struggle a bit, Nick jokingly said “what you are gay or something ?”. Simon started to blush a lot and immediately came out to his friend. The young model was then shown hitting himself on the head while in the DR, shouting “why can't you never shut up you dummy !”. There was a puzzling silence in the HOH room before Nick broke it to say it was perfectly fine by him that he had no problem about it and that he was glad to be the first to know in the house. In the DR he reiterated that he did not matter to the slightest to him, and that the was used to work with gay people, however, he seemed to be annoyed that his friend waited so long to tell him. After that, he asked him about why he was always hanging out with Jessica, tolerating her obvious and awkward attempts to seduce him, and Simon answered that he was not against a massage once in a while and that way he knew that he could do whatever he wanted with Jessica, that she was just a puppet for him. The two men laughed it out and high-fived. Nick concluded the scene by saying in the DR that he was so glad that his “Bro” told him about his deepest secret, however, he also realized that Simon was a game player and that he did not came to the game to be dragged to the end. He noticed that for now he was fine having a sidekick with such a good social and strategic game, however he said that he should totally get rid of him sooner rather than later.

After this important and tense moment, it is time for the Nomination Ceremony. After saying the usual blathering about the process of nomination revealing, Nick turned the two keys and revealed that he had chosen Willy and Jessica to go on the block. He then gave as reasons for his choice that the two of them were “unfortunate pawns in a grander scheme of things” and that he was expecting them to fight hard in the Power of Veto. Holden was visibly unimpressed by the speech and shouted in the DR that “these dummies don't know what's coming their way”.

The following episode started with the random draw for the Power of Veto Competition and the three other players selected to compete were Ashlee, Ikke and Tommy. The latter was the sole member of the Underdogs to be randomly picked and he knew that to be sure that he was deciding which way this evictions was going to go he had to win the Golden Power of Veto. The Competition required housemates to explode balloons to find a golden key inside. Each round, there were one less golden key to find than the number of players, therefore one would be eliminated each round. The Arena would be filled with new balloons after each round. During the first two matches, Willy and Ashlee were eliminated and they were followed by Nick in the third round. The HOH really hoped that the young nanny could win the POV as she was a valuable ally and it was the only way to be 100% that Holden could get backdoored. It showed that he was not totally sure that Ikke and Tommy were trustworthy enough. Sadly for him, Jessica was evicted in the fourth round, and eventually Tommy claimed the victory in the last round. He was very happy, but on the other hand, he knew that he had a tough decision to make.

Obviously both sides of the house tried to convince him to play his veto according to their agenda. Holden and Zoe begged him to honor their outsiders alliance while pretty much the rest of the house was asking him to play the Veto. Jessica tried to use her charms to convince the young man that she was deserving to be saved and she also said that as she was third in the POV she was more deserving that Willy. The young man was really conflicted and therefore he confided in Ava, who he still considered as his Number 1 ally. She advised him to use the veto as it was not worth getting the entire house on his wrong side during the third week of the game. Although she still thought that he was really unpredictable and that she was not sure that she wanted to align with him long-term, Ava said that the kid was growing on her and that she had a lot of sympathy for him. She hoped he would make the right decision for his game, yet she knew deep down that he would not use the Power of Veto as he really liked hanging out with Holden.

At the Veto Ceremony, the young Mexican-American man did not try to confuse the issue and he immediately stated that he would use the Power of Veto to “honour the HOH's first decisions”. Nick was obviously pissed and he clashed Tommy on the terrible decision he had made. The young man immediately started to have second thoughts but both Holden and Zoe were very thankful and later Ava tried to comfort him by having a 1-on-1 discussion with him. She said that he had “definitely drawn a line in the send”, but eventually, Nick and Simon would get over it and if he managed to go under the radar for the next weeks, he was guaranteed to make the jury. She advised him to do just like her, playing all sides while winning the fewest competitions as possible and let “the bigger sharks bite each other”.

Jessica was very upset by the fact that she was still on the block against Willy but Simon was there to comfort her. She addressed with him the reasons why he kept rejecting her and his ambiguous behavior. It would have been the perfect time for him to tell the truth, however, he preferred pursuing the masquerade and simply said that “he promised not to have a showmance in the house” that he intended to keep the promises he made. He then promised her that he would campaign for her to stay in the house as long as she wasn't letting herself go. She didn't and spoke with all the female competitors about how it would be the good opportunity for the women to take the leadership. Ikke and Ava obviously accepted to keep her in – the trio were absolutely allied – and both Paula and Zoe also seemed receptive as Willy did not even bother trying to earn their votes. He chose a more under-the-radar strategy.

Meanwhile, Simon also tried to mend his relationship with Tommy and Holden, and for that, he had to distance himself a bit from Nick. He said that it would take time for his friend to get over this failed HOH, however he wasn't himself too upset about the outcome. He really had a friendly approach and even though the Underdogs were a bit distrustful at first, they agreed that they needed to stay cordial to each other. They also said that they would keep Jessica in as Willy was not bringing much to the table and they would hate a floater like him to outlast them. “At least, Jess is candy for the eye !”, Holden said. It was literally the only reason he had for keeping her in he declared in the DR.

Tina and Ashlee began to see that the house dynamics were starting to change and even Buddy was keeping his distances from them. They tried to campaign a bit with Willy, but even him thought that Jessica had more to give than him and he seemed ready to go. The two of them then had to address the problem of the rest of the game : what should they do ? Tina said that they should try to expand the Covenant and work more closely with Nick and Simon. Ashlee agreed but she advised her ally to appear less threatening for a few weeks so that the Guys' alliance would take all the heat for the moves while they fight against the Outsiders. They reinforced their unlikely alliance and Tina admitted that at first she had a bad opinion on her friend and that she now changed her mind. Ashlee felt a bit awkward aftyer this weird confession, yet, she told Tina that she was glad that the trust was growing between them.

Eventually, on Eviction night, Willy was evicted by a 9 to 2 votes, only earning Ashlee and Tina's vote. Both women seemed frustrated that the plan they had established with the other side at the beginning of the week did not work out, however, Willy mainly suffered from his unwillingness to campaign agressively.

Week 4

HOH POV    Paula

Immune    Tommy

Nominee 0 vote    Ikke

Evicted 10 votes    Jamie

Immediately after Willy's exit, the host welcomed the houseguests for their fourth HOH Competition of the summer, which was another physical one. As both Holden and Simon said in the DR, this challenge was the one with the highest stakes yet. It required competitors to make eggs cross an obstacle course while they would be caged. Basically, the only way for them to complete the challenge was to use their fingers. This competitions is usually played two by two, but this time, it was everybody on their own. The winner would be the first housemate to have 10 eggs on the other side of the course. Rapidly, Paula showed that she was in it to win it and she managed to cross two eggs first, with only Holden on her tail. Jessica was really like a fish out of the water, and she was almost crying in the HOH arena out of spite. Zoe was also doing a rather poor performance but she blamed it on the young nanny's constant complaints. Also struggling was Buddy and Jamie, two big guys, whose fingers were very large compared to small holes of the wired fence. Even though the latter was giving it all, he really had a hard time. At some point in the competition, Ava and Simon began to gain momentum while Holden lost a bit of ground. Paula was steady and still in the lead, however, she dropped her first egg (the seventh one) after quite a long time. She was convinced that “Slow and Steady wins the race”, yet, Ava and Simon were right on her tail, and at some point, the young writer was even before her. Tina, Ashlee and Tommy did quite good, however they were still far from the head of the race. Eventually, Simon dropped two eggs in three minutes, giving back the advantage to Paula. She kept digging and eventually, the oldest housemates earned her first HOH Competition of the summer proving once again how much of a powerhouse she was. She seemed ecstatic to win the very coveted key but stayed rather respectful to the others who were all very worried not knowing where her head was at.

Holden was very disappointed that he did not take home the victory, mainly knowing that his showmance with Zoe and his strong alliance with Tommy were seen as very dangerous by the majority alliance. Furthermore, as he said himself in a confessional, the rest of their housemates completely lost respect for them when they isolated themselves at the end of the previous week. Yet, he saw Paula's victory as a “silver lining”, figuring out that he still had a chance to plead the case of his little “misfits” alliance. “The popular clique” on the other hand was more stressed out, mainly Nick who had nominated the new HOH during week one. He tried to flatter her by saying kind words and how much he respected her. Paula said that it was music to her hear, and that anyways she had other plans. She was not gullible though and she reckoned that the main “Cool Kids Alliance” was starting to be agitated.

For the safety Competition, Simon, Zoe, Tina, Tommy, Jessica and Nick were the first six to come to the Diary room. The competition was designed as a farm challenge, and the houseguests were ridiculously dressed as cows. Their costume was a big sponge and basically they had to dive into a “pit of milk” to get some milk and then put all their milk in a big pot by pressing their spongy costume. Nick, Tina and Jessica were very bad at this competition, and the most agile players proved to be Zoe and Tommy. The latter eventually one safety as he was taller and managed to get more milk in his costume – which Zoe found “really, really unfair”. She said in the DR that she was starting to think that the show was rigged for Tommy.

The next morning, Holden went to see the HOH on his own, without even letting his alliance about it. He tried to preach for the Outsiders and demonstrate how much it would be stupid for her to gun for them since they had common enemies in the Fox Faces. The TV Producer agreed, yet she also saw an opportunity to go unnoticed, and stay under the radar, by going after the House's target. She did not completely ruled out nominating one of his own, but she tried to reassured him, and the young mechanic also did a pretty good job bonding with her. Later, Nick and Simon also came to see her and try to see where her head was at. They tried to make her promise to keep them safe and create a power house alliance. She kinda accepted, yet she still refused to let them influence her nominations. She stated that whatever she would do, these guys would have to follow through. Both young men were not confident at all after this strategy talk, and she really convinced Nick even more that she needed to be taken out rapidly.

Tina and Ashlee were quite happy that Paula was HOH, and they managed to stay under her radar by playing the card of the “older women” sticking for each other. Without even telling Buddy who was spending more and more time with the younger contestants, they let her know about the Generation Ypsilon alliance and integrated her to replace Willy. The TV Producer really loved that now that she had power everybody wanted to befriend her and be smooth with her while until then, she was only sought after for “doing the dishes or voting the House's target”. She found it even more ironical when Jamie and Ikke went to see her and ask for safety although they had been bitching on her since the start of the season. The bartender's exact words were that “they had not started this game on the same footing, however it would be cleverer for all of them to start seeing things the same way”. When she asked him who would he nominate, he answered Ashlee and Tina, hoping to backdoor Holden. She made her final decision.

At the Nomination Ceremony, everybody were still in the dark. A succession of confessional was shown were everybody was telling the audience about how anxious they felt and how no one knew about what was about to happen. When she turned her two keys the faces of Jamie and Ikke appeared on the memory wall, and none of them seemed to be pretty shocked. She then started a very long speech, listing each and everything she did not like about them. She called them a “poisonous and disrespectful team”, reminding everybody how “Jamie had been rude” to her since the beginning of the game and how “Ikke was acting like the Princess of the House” even though she was the wannabe actress and Paula was the Producer. A bitter Ikke answered something like “But hey Honey, I am THE Princess in here”, and the HOH sassily snapped at her by noting that “they would not be any other princess in the house under her reign” and that she could “go back to the sewer where Jamie picked her". This last statement made Zoe chuckle and Jessica laugh out loud, and therefore Paula also shut them down. The discussion rapidly escalated when the young saleswoman as well as Ikke started to shout at the new HOH, and all the guys tried to separate them. Holden tried to calm his ally down but she obviously really angry and screaming at Paula who was brought to the HOH Room by Tommy and Buddy. She stayed very calm and rather serene during the whole argument. Nevertheless, in the Diary Room, Tommy said that she had gone in “TOTAL WRECK-MODE” and clashed the game of all the girls. He added that the target on her back had grown much bigger whereas all the younger women were now considered as a bunch of hysterics drama queens.

Similarly, Holden seemed amused by Paula's strategy coming into the Nomination Ceremony, however what he liked much less was how Zoe reacted, painting an even bigger target on the back of the “Underdogs”. He confided in Ava and she confirmed that he should totally try to distance himself from her, that she was making him look even dumber. He understood her point of view, yet, he reasoned that he couldn't help himself and that he was really falling in love with Zoe.

The only people who managed to stay completely clear from all this tension were Ashlee, Tina, Nick and Simon who were watching tension escalating from the sidelines. They spoke together about how they had been the ones calling the shots for the entire game and still, they managed to keep a rather small target on their back thanks to “the lunatics” they were living with as Simon described them. They were alone in the backyard when Ashlee proposed to cement their four people alliance which they called “The Covenant 2.0”. They were all really excited about the fact that they could spend the game playing both sides with everybody in the house and that nobody would figure out the power they really have. Tina was very satisfied with it as she had been looking for an opportunity to work with Nick, her main physical competition, since the beginning. Simon also liked the idea as he felt he had a lot more of common points with Ashlee than he had with the other Fox Faces, mainly Jamie, Buddy and Mike.

Simon and Ashlee were actually picked to play the veto, alongside the HOH, the two nominees and also Buddy who had been chosen by Jamie thanks to the “Houseguests' Choice” chip. The competition was a “racing one” and basically, the housemates had to press two buttons while waiting for the screen in front of them to read the word “GO”. They then would have to run to press a buzzer at the end of their line. If at any point they dropped one of their two button, they would be eliminated. During the first round, both Jamie and Ikke were eliminated, the former because he did a fake-start and the latter because she was slower. The bartender was really worried and was hoping that either Simon or Buddy could pull a win. The next round, the young writer decided to throw the competition so that he wouldn't get much blood on his hand and his newfound ally was also eliminated as she was slower than the two others – although Paula was not far before her. The housemates were really impressed by Buddy's performance given the fact that he still limps from a youth injury. In the last round, Paula mumbled to Buddy that he needed to throw it, that he would never be on her radar and that she had to get one of the girls out. He took a few moments to think about it before he also “faked a fake start”. Jamie was utterly disappointed as he noticed his allies had let him down, while Paula was literally jubilating. She discreetly thanked the football coach for giving her complete power for the week.

Knowing there was hardly any chance that she would use the Power of Veto on either him or his showmance, Jamie still tried to convince Paula that backdooring a bigger threat such as Buddy, Nick or Holden was a better option. He had no second thoughts throwing his alliance members under the bus as they clearly did not have themselves when they threw the competition so obviously. She was firm on her position though and said that she would not come back on her first decision. She admitted that she would rather see Ikke go though than him and it comforted him a bit. He then tried to go to the bottom of the problem she had with them and he rapidly figured out that since he rejected her flirting during Week One, there was a kind of ongoing, latent tension between her and Ikke. The fact that one was a successful producer and the other an ambitious – but failed – actress was not helping either. Jamie was really concerned about how personal Paula's choices had gotten and when he tried to confront her about it he pissed her off and she asked him to leave the HOH Room.

At the Power of Veto Ceremony, Paula obviously did not use her power. She started another monologue listing all the things that her rival had done – or not done – since the beginning of the season. She really wanted to drag Ikke in the mud, saying things about how she stole the spot of the three first evictees and that the Housemates should not be foolish about how it was ridiculous and dangerous to drag such a floater further in the game. The wannabe actress blinked and blew a kiss to the HOH and the latter answered “Don't you dare blow me one more drop of your sewer-saliva, I can end your career before it even begins”. She then went on to say that she really appreciated Jamie and that she hoped that on the outside world, they could still be friends even though they had not started the game on the same page. Upset by the whole situation, the bartender added that he “highly doubted that”. Things started to escalate again when Zoe tried to defend Ikke and when Jamie went for Paula calling her a “coward and desperate little girl”. Once again, the other housemates had to split them all.

There was a weird atmosphere in the house following the meeting. Jamie started to campaign as well as his showmance. He knew that she was sure to have Jessica, Ava and probably Zoe's vote (feminine solidarity), and himself was not very sure that all the other Fox Faces would keep him in after they integrated Ikke in week two. Although they were a strong duo, they agreed that they would both fight to stay in the game, that it was worth it. Their original alliance seemed pretty much torn apart, with Buddy now hanging out more with the members of the “Covenant 2.0”, Ikke cementing her position with the girls and Tommy staying with the underdogs. Eventually he tried to convince both Holden and Tommy that together, they could do great things, and that the “popular clique” was no more. During the rest of the week, Ava tried to integrate Ikke in their Underdogs alliance (she chose to keep Jessica out of the loop because she was still clinging to Simon), and Tommy pushed for the integration of Jamie. Eventually, they agreed on the fact that everybody should vote for who they wanted and they would “officially align” with the one remaining.

Later that week, Ava discussed the elimination with Nick and Simon with whom she had a small bond, as well as with Ashlee and Tina who were considered as a strong duo by the entire house. She pushed for Jamie to go as he was more dangerous competition-wise and Ikke could clearly be used as a shield for them all going forward. They all agreed on that matter. Just before the eviction, she told Holden and Tommy that all the house would get Jamie out.

On eviction night, the bartender was eventually eliminated by an unanimous vote. Paula expressed her disappointment when he left by the front door, however, she was not completely in the dark as Tina told her about the plan shifting, not to blindside her. She became officially a useful number for the “Covenant 2.0”. Even the Underdogs all decided together to keep Ikke in as they did not want her to feel at the bottom of their little group right of the bat.

Week 5

HOH    Buddy

Immune    Holden

Pre-Veto Nominee POV    Ikke

Nominee 3 votes    Zoe

Evicted 6 votes    Ashlee

The twelve remaining houseguests minus Paula as outgoing Head of Household then participated in their fifth HOH Competition of the summer which by the way, was the first memory competition. Earlier that day, each houseguest was given a “fake tabloid” with a lot of false information in it about themselves. There were also mean tweets and that kind of stuff. To shake things up a little, Big Brother also hid several facts that were not completely false also. As a matter of fact, Simon was said to have come out as the “biggest wiener lover” on Earth, Ashlee was described as an undercover cop, and Tina's success as a bodybuilder was also reaffirmed with pictures of her in competitions. Seeing this kind of news really worried Ashlee who felt like she was being sold out by Big Brother himself. Hopefully for her, nobody seemed to catch on. The competition itself was a “True/False” challenge where houseguest had to answer about facts written in their tabloid. After only two rounds of questions, Zoe, Tommy, Ava and Tina were already eliminated. Jessica answered wrongly in the fourth round, and Simon was eliminated the following one. With only five people remaining and always answering correctly, the tension was rising, and Nick was eliminated just one round before the tiebreaker. Buddy, Ikke, Holden and Ashlee all moved on to the last step of the competition and the football coach won HOH when all three of his opponents answered with a too big number. He was really enthusiastic about it, knowing that this particular week would be a tense one given the fact tha jury is coming.

Buddy's game until that point was really interesting as he had bounds with both the Fox Faces and the older people's alliance. However, when the former alliance crushed down the previous week, he tried to get back with Tina and Ashlee but they acted like they were a bity wary of them. He immediately knew that something was up and given the time Tina and Nick played pool together, he figured out that both of his pacts had made a side alliance in which he was not really included. He summarized his position in the DR by stating that he could either go against the “Underdogs”, namely Tommy and Holden, (which were not really outsiders anymore given the number of people they were now allied with) and therefore proving his loyalty to his side, or he could do a bigger move and get rid of a big threat in his own alliance.

In the mean time Nick who had also been more or less denounced by Big Brother in the tabloids as a world class model began to feel a bit suspicious. He was the only houseguest aside from Simon himself to know about his homosexuality and Tina had already told him that she previously enjoyed quite a success in Bodybuilding. The fact that the quiet Ashlee who nobody seemed afraid of, was said to be an “undercover cop” really intrigued him. What if that was not totally a lie ? He started to tease her about it and although she denied it with a bit of humor, she definitely looked uncomfortable talking about that. In a confessional, obviously upset, she asked “why Big Brother did that ? Did you try to screw me over ?”. She felt really annoyed by the young model and she stated that she would not mind seeing him backdoored just before the jury starts.

For the Safety Competition, Holden, Ava, Tommy, Simon, Ikke and Paula all asked Big Brother to participate. After her crazy HOH the previous week, the TV Producer was really willing to earn herself some more safety as she had become the target of all the younger girls in the house. She was also more or less aligned with Tina and Ashlee, but not knowing about their ties to Buddy, she felt heavily threatened. The competition required challengers to stand on a platform while being slapped with a big hand and kicked with a big feet. At some point in the competition, Big Brother would ask them how many times they have been slapped and the winner would be the houseguest which number was the closest to the truth. Only Holden and Paula had the good idea to count, and eventually, she made a small mistake (she forgot one kick), and therefore, Holden won the Safety Competition. This first victory really made him really happy as he could relax for once and not being considered as a potential backdoor target.

After his victory, Holden celebrated with Tommy, Ava and Zoe in the storage room. Ava remarked that they really played a good game as everybody has them on their radar for three weeks and yet none of them has gone home yet. They also rapidly discussed how they saw their alliance moving forward, and agreed that they should integrate Ikke in their plans. Ava also confirmed her that she could perhaps have Jessica as a number for their group, however it was too dangerous to let her know about everything given the fact that she is very “high up Simon's ass”. After this small meeting, Tommy recognized in the DR that Ava was probably the Most Valuable Player in their alliance given “her amazing social game”. On the other hand, Holden seemed a bit more cautious. He really felt that she was indeed useful to their game but she could become dangerous as soon as jury hits. He reckoned that if he wanted to win the Grand Prize, he had more chances against Zoe than against Ava.

In the mean time, Buddy was considering all his options for the Nomination Ceremony. In a “private camtalk” with the live-feeders he stated that he really wanted to make a big move but he was also scared that it was too early. Timing is everything. He considered for a moment nominating people from his alliance and let the House get blood on their hands by not letting the POV get played but it was a rather risky move and it would require a great share of luck. He also thought about nominating two pawns and then backdoor a bigger threat. He said that should he be the one to dethrone Nick he would be thr proudest man in the world. However, he feared that he had too many connections and that the former “cool kids” would go after him... Eventually, he made a rather wise decision, and at the Nomination Ceremony, he put Zoe and Ikke on the block, using the excuse that their behavior towards Paula the previous week was really disrespectful and that being together on the block should be a lesson for the both of them.

The wannabe actress was obviously angry about being nominated for the third time, and she voiced her concerns in the DR, that maybe her rivalry with Paula would be haunting her until the end of her game. She declared that she really did not want to be “that mean girl that bullies the Ole'Lady of the house” yet, she also said “Guuuurl ! I can't help, I just hate her guts !”. She was disappointed in Buddy's move, but remained rather quiet, whereas Zoe on the other hand made a few snarky comments, saying that the football coach was a floater and that he should grow up. As she began to be angry again, Holden and Ava took her aside and tried to calm her down. The young saleswoman started to weep about the fact that everybody hated her and that her game was shitty. They both comforted her, even though the entire situation amused them. While hugging her, Ava was making funny faces to the camera, and she later commented in a confessional that Zoe was the worst Big Brother Player ever, and that she would have loved to go after her if they were not aligned. She also added that Holden should definitely distance himself from her before she sank his game.

For the Power of Veto Competition, Ashlee, Tommy and Jessica were randomly picked to play. The six challengers had go dive into a muddy pool to retrieve puzzle pieces and then complete a special puzzle representing the Power of Veto. Right of the bat, Jessica and Zoe fell behind, and the latter cried in the Diary Room about how unfair it was that all the competition Big Brother created were challenges she was bad at. Tommy and Ashlee were doing pretty good, however as they both felt quite safe they did not give themselves a hundred percent in the competition. Ikke on the other hand, was on fire, running quickly through the mud, and then assembling her puzzle very methodically. Buddy also competed hard, but he was much slower because of her limp. Eventually, the race for the POV was a close race between Ashlee, very good at mental comps, and Ikke who did not want to be nominated once again come Eviction Night. Eventually, she pulled it through and won the Golden Power of Veto, earning herself safety for the week. She dedicated her victory to Jamie, shouting that she “wouldn't let him down”.

With one of his nominees being vetoed, Buddy had to find a back-up plan, and right after the Competition, Jessica seemed like the logical option to him. He discussed about it with the four members of The Covenant 2.0, and they all seemed to agree... Nevertheless, Nick stayed in the HOH room a bit longer while the three others had left and he tried to push for Ashlee to go on the block and be backdoored. He expressed his doubts about her being an undercover cop as the tabloid said before the HOH Competition. The football coach seemed a bit surprised by this move and was not really convinced that Nick was right about his suspicions. He reckoned however, that Ashlee was certainly a strategic threat as well as mental competition beast, and since he was rather good at these himself, getting rid of her would ensure him a few more victories. Later that day, Ashlee also came to see him, asking if he was really considering such a stupid move as nominating Jessica. She herself tried to push for Nick to become the replacement nominee, has he was the most dangerous social and physical player in the house and he really annoyed her. Indeed, the young man was teasing her a lot, calling her “Lieutenant” and spreading the rumor in the house. The detective was absolutely scared that her secret would become a known fact among her adversaries and she wanted Nick gone before he literally blew up her entire game.

Buddy was really amused by the whole situation. Seeing two allies turning on each other so early after their pact was sealed was rather surprising to watch and he saw there an opportunity to make a bold move and draw a line the sand. Before that however he had to protect his own back and he had a private talk with Tommy and Ava about it. He considered the both of them as two level-headed players with whom he could go further. They both played a similar game as he was and he really wanted the opportunity to work with them. He played the card of honesty and much to the surprise of the two allies, he told them all the plans he was considering. They were both excited about these news and were really encouraging him to strike against either Ashlee or Nick. They formed a secret alliance (let's call them ToVaDy), and promised to keep each other safe. When Buddy asked them about what he should do, they did not have the same agenda: While Ava did not mind either of them going on the block, Tommy who still got along quite well with Nick tried to save his former ally. Unbeknownst to him, he painted an even bigger on the Model's back, showing to everybody that they still had connections.

At the Power of Veto Ceremony, Ikke obviously chose to save herself from elimination and therefore, a replacement nominee had to be named. Buddy chose carefully his words, and decided to nominate Ashlee who he felt like was the biggest threat to his game. The members of The Covenant 2.0 looked shook, even Nick who tried to fake surprise. After the Ceremony was adjourned, the detective hugged Buddy and whispered in his ear that “he had chosen to the fight an unnecessary battle”. She also reckoned that he played her good, and that she would have to get her skates on if she wanted to stay in the house.

In an attempt to secure the three votes of her alliance members as well as Paula's, Ashlee decided to admit that she was not un undercover cop, but that she was instead a private detective. Nick celebrated, shouting “HAAAAA ! Told'yah !” in the Diary Room. She also told them that this information should absolutely stay between them if they wanted to stay together, and get Buddy down. With their four votes, she needed just one more to stay in the game and her best option was to appeal to Jessica. Both her and Simon tried their all to convince her, but there was also Ava trying to get into her ear. The young entrepreneur argued that the three girls should vote together and keeping Zoe would protect the three of them as she was fodder for a potential HOH who would not want to get blood on their hands. The young nanny was torn apart between her feelings for Simon who was investing himself in their relationship for once and her alliance with Ava who had a more strategic value. The young writer said in a confessional that he literally betrayed himself by flirting with Jessica to get her vote, and that he had just sold his soul to the devil. The Underdogs agreed to side together and keep Zoe no matter what. Ashlee was a bigger threat to them, mainly because of her ties with Tina and Nick.

On eviction night, Paula, Simon and Tina voted to evict Zoe whereas Tommy, Ava, Holden and Ikke voted for the detective to get the boot. Nick really hesitated because he knew that if Jessica did not flip to the outsiders alliance, his risky move could come back to haunt him. Eventually, he voted to evict Ashlee, and so did the young nanny who admitted while casting her vote that it was probably her only strategic move yet. Eventually, Ashlee was voted off by a 6 to 3 vote, and the members of The Covenant 2.0 seemed completely blindsided. Neither Tina nor Simon even thought that Nick had turned his back on them. During her interview with the Host, Ashlee said that she knew Buddy did not do the move on his own, but she wanted to avoid blowing up the game of her allies if she was wrong. She guessed that Simon was the one who betrayed her but she was not too surprised to find out it was Nick.

Week 6

HOH    Tina

Immune    Buddy

Pre-Veto Nominee POV    Holden

Nominee 1 vote    Tommy

Evicted 7 votes    Nick

Following Ashlee's exit from the House, Nick felt more threatened than ever and he reckoned that he wasn't expecting Jessica flipping. He hoped that his alliance members would not suspect him to be the sixth vote and decided to give his all in the HOH Competition to avoid being in real danger. Another Houseguest eagerly looking forward to winning a bit of power was Tina who felt absolutely betrayed by the eviction of her number one ally. She was determined to have her vengeance and the only way for her to do so was to win the HOH. Going into the Competition, she was convinced that both Jessica and Paula were responsible for the detective's exit and she set her target on these two women. The TV Producer who was equally blindsided by the result of the Eviction Ceremony immediately sensed that Tina looked distrustful of her.

The HOH Competition was a physical one. It required the housemates to walk on a big cylinder while holding a rope, tied to a rock. If a housemate falls from his cylinder, and therefore drop his rock in a pond, he is eliminated. The challenge would go on until one competitor is left standing. Immediately, Simon and Ava look very uncomfortable and they are the first one to fall down their position. They are rapidly followed by Holden who slipped after only 9 minutes in the competition. The seven remaining houseguests looked very focused, and they managed to hit the hour. Zoe chose to throw the competition as she found her spot in the house quite comfortable and was not ready to get blood on her hands. That situation profoundly annoyed both Tommy and Ava who judged her as a piece of dead wood in their game. The young saleswoman was followed a few minutes later by Jessica and Ikke. The latter wanted to go further but her legs were shivering too much to hold on. With only four remaining, Tina and Nick looked the strongest, the most focused. Noticing that she was having a hard time and that she would not win, Paula jumped of her cylinder after almost two hours. She was followed by Holden half an hour later. The Final race opposed Tina and Nick. The bodybuilder tried to convince her ally to give her the HOH title so that she could target the people responsible for Ashlee's eviction. Uncomfortable, Nick said to her that it was his goal too. Buddy, sitting on the bench noticed their little exchange and he began to feel a bit in danger. He considered blowing up the model's game before deciding that he should keep some cards up his sleeves. Eventually, Nick and Tina were staying on their cylinder for more than 5 hours when he eventually dropped out, giving Tina her second HOH victory of the summer. While kissing the HOH key, the bodybuilder looked at the camera with an angry grimace. She dedicated her victory to her former ally and announced to the rest of the house that they should all be worried as after what they collectively did, no one should feel comfortable. She stated “All of you who had a hand in voting out Ashlee, you better watch your front, because I'm gonna make sure you go down... And I will do it with pride and honour and I will front-stab you like you would have never expected it”. Both Ava and Holden affirmed in the Diary Room that they were not afraid the slightest since they were at the head of the majority alliance (at last) and that Tina would eventually have her comeuppance for her threats.

Nick on the other hand was feeling less comfortable. He took advantage of a pool game he was playing with Simon to tell the young writer about the reality of the sixth vote. The young man was shocked, as he was convinced that Paula was responsible for what he saw as a stray vote. He did not really understand his ally's move and that is when the model revealed him about how he worked closely with Buddy the previous week to make sure Ashlee would get backdoored. In the Diary Room, Simon confessed that he started to feel scared by his own bromance. He realized at last that Nick was in the game for himself and that in the end, they would have to be split up. And he added that it would rather turn his back on him before “he gets Ashleed himself”.

In her HOH Room, Tina contemplated all the possibilities she had that week. She could either go against Buddy who was HOH the previous week, go after Ava and Holden who she considered to be the thinking head of the opposing alliance, or even take aim at Jessica and Paula who she deemed untrustworthy. These five players, alongside Tommy, obviously did not feel safe as they all chose to participate in the Safety Competition. They were asked to complete mean tweets about themselves with a mystery word. They learnt harsh truth about themselves: Ava and Holden were accused of being floaters and not having a game entertaining enough while Jessica was described as a stupid, clueless young woman. The audience also said that Paula was so unaware of herself and of her position in the house, being a hot-head and a wannabe cougar, that Tommy was using his speech impediment to gain sympathy votes from the others, and eventually, that Buddy was a coward essentially. The latter was tied with Ava for the quickest answers, but he won the Safety Competition in the tiebreaker round which saw another series of mean tweets about the rest of their housemates.

With Buddy being immune, Tina had to make a decision about who would take the blame for Ashlee's departure. While discussing the situation with both Simon and Nick, the young writer made her remark that since the beginning of the game, Tommy and Holden were on everyone's radar, being the House's target several times, and always get away with it. He advised her to nominate them as should one of them be saved with the veto, the other could go home or she could even decide to backdoor someone else. This was clearly the most appealing plan to the Bodybuilder as she felt that she was going after the biggest threats, and that Jessica and Paula could become later targets. At the Nomination Ceremony, Holden and Tommy were therefore nominated against each other. They did not seem to surprised by the result, and Tina's speech did not upset them although she chose some words to alienate them even more. In a confessional, Ikke remarked that Tina was drawing a line in the sand and digging it so deeply that she was isolating herself from everybody. Nick also noticed that, and he was feeling rather good about it as he knew that eventually, he would have to go after his ally before she catches up upon his betrayal.

A few days later, Buddy and Tina were shown discussing about their lives back home. The HOH stated that she liked talking with him because they were about the same age and had a lot of common points such as their love for sports. However, she also reckoned that he was probably one of the most dangerous player still in the house, and as much as she liked him, she said that she could not trust him a hundred percent. At some point in their conversation, Tina asked him why he decided to go against Ashlee as they aligned at the beginning. Buddy admitted that he was pressured by other housemates. When she started digging, he eventually told her that it was Nick who was gunning hard for the detective. He also mentioned that this movement was mutual, with the mother-of-one going after the young model. Tina did not seem too convinced as she was not sure that Ashlee was indeed seriously going after Nick, a member of their own alliance. Nevertheless, he still managed to plant seeds of doubt in her head.

Confused, she later decided to confront Nick and Simon about the whole situation. Obviously, they both denied, but the writer felt a bit uncomfortable talking about it and that's why he let his friend do all the talking. Nick was very good at lying and he chose his words carefully to dismiss his ally's suspicion. He rejected the fault on Buddy alone, and he added that the only thing the football coach wanted was to save himself and erase the target he had painted on his back. Tina was left very unsure about the conversation, and going into the Power of Veto Competition, she was very worried.

Holden, Tommy, Tina as well as Jessica, Simon and Paula all participated in that special competition which was named “OTEV the Sassy Salmon”. The Goal was simple : OTEV would roast one of the previous evictees and the Housemates would have to dive into the garden to find a chip with the name of the housemate OTEV was referring too. Each round a player would be eliminated. In the first two rounds, Jessica and Tommy were eliminated as they both failed to find the correct chip at all. For the third round, OTEV roasted Tamara for having too much of a big mouth and it was a close race for elimination between Tina and Simon. The writer arrived first because the bodybuilder slipped and fell before coming back to OTEV. Paula then threw the Competition during the fourth round, only leaving Holden and Simon to fight for the Golden Power of Veto. The latter was determined to win to leave the nominations the same and be sure that the Majority Alliance would be weakened, and the former also felt the pressure as he was on the block against one of his closest ally. It was a very close race but eventually, the mechanic brought the correct chip the fastest and one himself safety for the week. Nick and Simon were obviously gutted while all the “Underdogs” celebrated their victory.

Knowing she would have to name a replacement nominee, Tina was seriously considering nominating Paula as she still thought that she was the flipper. She went to confront her about it, and the TV Producer denied voting against Ashlee. She tried to demonstrate to the Bodybuilder that she did betray the “Oldies” by telling her that she was a lone dog, a Free Agent in the house and that what they had the three girls together, was the closest thing she had to an alliance. She would have been completely stupid to turn her back on them. Tina was left very unsure and when she asked Paula about who she believed flipped, the TV Producer said it had to be Nick. Tina was more and more considering putting the young model on the block, and that's why she wanted to talk with Simon about it. The young man was feeling bad having to lie to her, and the HOH noticed that he was very stressed out by the situation. She told him that she knew he was lying. Simon felt like he had no other choice but to admit what his ally did, if he wanted to gain back Tina's trust. Crying in the DR, the bodybuilder had a tough breakdown about how her entire game had been based on lies and that she could not trust anybody. She obviously felt really saddened by the whole situation as she did not feel confident enough to go after one of her few allies given the fact that they were in the minority now.

At the Power of Veto Ceremony, Holden obviously chose to save himself. He then told Tina she had to name a replacement nominee. While standing, the HOH was still thinking about who she should go after. Her speech really reflected her indecisiveness, but eventually she said that Nick had to take a chair alongside Tommy as he was not to be trusted and had to pay for betraying his own alliance the week prior. The entire house seemed absolutely shocked. Buddy had a satisfied smirk, Zoe, Ava and Ikke all together opened their mouth in surprise and Simon dug his head between his hands. Nick was blushing and looked obviously decomposed.

In the aftermath of that crazy Power of Veto Ceremony, the five “Underdogs” plus Jessica all celebrated in the storage room. They were clearly in the majority and they had the numbers to ensure they could roll over together to the end. Tommy said in a confessional that for the first time since the beginning of the game, he felt confident in his chances to win the game, which was kind of ironical since he would be on the block come Eviction night. In the mean time, Tina was still crying in her HOH room while being comforted by a compassionate Paula whereas Simon, Nick and Buddy went working out to the backyard.

The young model was still looking for options and wanted to have a counter-attack plan. He was already guaranteed Simon's vote a hundred percent and Buddy told him he would also save him if he managed to flip three more people. The challenge was difficult but it was worth it. Simon and Nick targeted respectively Jessica and Ava and they agreed that they would do some damage control with Paula and Tina afterwards. Jessica seemed more receptive to what the young writer had to say, and he tried to cement their relationship by coming out to her. The young nanny was absolutely shocked and, weeping in the Diary Room, she declared that she was torn between a sentiment of joy that he felt comfortable enough to tell her and a kind of bitterness as she had been clinging onto him and ridiculing herself since the beginning of the game. Ava on the other hand was approached with a more subtle game-oriented approach. Nick tried to appeal to her strategic appetite by telling her that they could form a secret bond and steamroll all the other housemates while none of them noticing it. He also tried to flatter her by saying she was “the brightest one in the bunch”, referring to the “Underdogs”. The young entrepreneur admitted in the DR that she was a gambler and that she would have loved to align with Nick early on, but now, it was too late.

On Eviction night, the Host congratulated the housemates for making it to the jury phase. She also announced a new twist : the vote to win of the first jury member would be cast by America, and therefore the first juror would become “America spokesperson”. Then, she told the house they would proceed to the eviction, and without much surprise, Nick was eliminated by a 7-1 vote, only receiving Simon's. During his exit interview, the Host teased him about the fact that he might have a chance to get back into the house, and the model was very ecstatic about it. He was dying to get back to the House and have his vengeance.

As the Housemates were coping with the aftermath of the Eviction, the Host came back for another announcement: the first Double-Eviction of the summer !

HOH    Simon

POV    Ava

Pre-Veto Nominee    Ikke

Nominee 0 vote    Tommy

Evicted 7 votes    Zoe

The Competitors were rapidly rushed into the garden for a new question-like HOH Competition. As the last evictee, Nick would have to answer the same questions as the competitors, and would be eliminated all the players who would answer differently from Nick. During the first three rounds, only Buddy and Zoe were eliminated. The fourth round was the deadliest, with Paula, Holden and Ikke all answering incorrectly. Then, three other rounds passed and the four remaining all answered correctly. For the last round, Tommy was eliminated. Moving on to the tiebreaker question were Ava, Jessica and Simon, and the Houseguests were asked to reveal the number of cameras there was in the house without going over. Ava said 79, Simon said 81 and Jessica wrote 100. With the correct answer being 96, Simon won the all important Competition. He had to make his nominations immediately and he chose Ikke and Zoe.

Participating in the Power of Veto Competition alongside the HOH and the three nominees were also Tina, Ava and Tommy. The six challengers had to rush into a pool with balls in it to find three golden keys. They then would have to figure out which key open the door, and rush through a small corridor to grab the Golden Power of Veto. The Houseguests were rapidly tied when they found their first key, then, Tommy and Zoe started to fall behind. Simon was the first one to get all his three keys and he was rapidly followed by Tina and Ava. The latter find the correct key the first attempt and she rushed to the POV. Simon opened his gate two seconds later but it was too late as Ava had just one the Competition.

Her alliance were all pressuring her to use it on one of the two nominees and they voted on who should be saved. Holden and Zoe voted for Zoe while Ava, Tommy, Jessica and Ikke chose Ikke. Meanwhile, Simon was planning his potential replacement nominee with Tina and Buddy. They both advised him to go after either Holden or Tommy. As the POV was used to save Ikke, Simon chose Tommy to go on the block for a second time that evening.

During the commercial break, Holden had a small breakdown as he felt as though he could not choose between his closest ally, the one that saved him at the beginning of the game, and his showmance. Jessica and Ava tried to reason him, to prove him that the choice should be obvious, that Zoe was just a number for their alliance and that she did not bring much to the table. In the mean time, Tina and Paula discussed the vote with Buddy and he was set on saving Tommy as he felt closer to him. Tina was not convinced at all, but Paula also chose to evict Zoe because of their altercation during the fourth week of the game. Isolated, Tina also fell in with them, and she told Simon that the plan was to send Zoe to the jury house. Both of them agreed that it was not the best plan at all, but they had to go along with it.

Eventually, Zoe was voted out unanimously from the house and she left sobbing like a kid. Even when the host told her she had a chance to go back into the house, she did not seemed very cheerful and she was visibly gutted to be eliminated.

Week 7

HOH    Ikke

Pre-Veto Nominee POV    Tina

Nominee 0 vote    Simon

Evicted 6 votes    Paula

The double-eviction really shook the entire house as every side had lost an ally and the house was down under 10 players which is very significant as Buddy underlined in the diary room. He noted that he was really excited about the outcome of that special night and could not wait to compete in the next competition and get a threat out of the game. Simon on the other hand was really saddened : he had lost is closest ally that night and he did not really have any control over is own HOH. Coming into this new week, he stated that he “never felt so down and threatened”.

The houseguests were then led into the background where a very special “Survivor-themed” HOH Competition was about to be held. In fact, it was hosted by Survivor's famous host Jeff PROBST and was a remake of a recurring challenge in that rival show (Get a Grip). It required houseguests to hang onto a pole for as long as they can. The last person left holding on without touching the ground wins. Immediately, Paula and Buddy shown signs of weakness while Ikke and Tina seemed to be rock solid. Both women knew they were in a very precarious spot and that should they lose that challenge, their name would certainly come up as options. Paula fell down first, and was followed by Tommy who just slipped along his pole. His fall came out of nowhere and really destabilized his ally Holden, as he was the next one to fall. With five competitors remaining, the stakes intensified and Jeff really underlined Buddy's performance as he had been struggling since the beginning of the challenge and yet, he was still on his pole. Ava was the next one to jump as she could not bear the pain in her feet any longer. Buddy let it go just two minutes later and he slowly limped to the bench where everybody congratulated him for his performance. Jessica was strongly attached to her pole when she tried to strike a deal with her competitors. Ikke immediately promised her safety whereas Tina stayed silent. Still unsure, Jessica refused to jump, and when the Personal Trainer slipped she decided to give up, eventually granting power to her friend Ikke. With this first victory under her belt, the aspiring actress celebrated and promised in the Diary Room that she would avenge her fallen allies... Or maybe go rogue, she was not totally sure yet.

Paula was absolutely gutted that her rival had won HOH and the fact that she was the first one to lose really made her sad. She complained to her allies Simon and Tina about how she felt useless and how she was not sure she could prove what she came to prove. They really confronted her and Tina told her she was one of the strongest people she has ever met and that she hoped to be such a tough cookie at 53. On the other hand, the Outsiders celebrated their comeback to victory and in the living area, Ikke and her friends danced before the memory wall. With her fingers, she imitated a gun and aimed at Tina, Paula and Simon, whispering “you're going down”. Everybody in their group seemed enthusiastic aside maybe from Jessica who was a bit on the side, alone. She said in a confessional that she felt the game slipping between her fingers and that nobody really respected her as the game player she was. This was confirmed by two confessionals from Ava and Holden who said that she was basically deadwood and could go anytime their three opponents had the power.

Oddly enough, none of the three in the minority went to plead their case to Ikke as they did not want to give her the pleasure to rub her victory in their face. It annoyed both the HOH and Buddy who felt that they were not playing the game anymore. He tried to convince Tina to save herself as Ikke was waiting for a little something from her however, the mother of three was not going to follow his advice. She told him that he needed to stop being so patronizing and that he certainly did not need to carry her through the next stage. The football coach's ego was hurt about their discussion and he set his target on Tina as he reckoned that she was “the biggest competition threat after all”.

At the Nomination Ceremony, Ikke made a rather violent speech about how the Outsiders has defeated their Competition and were now about to steamroll everybody that would stand in their way. She then stated that her nominees were Paula and Tina as they were both going after her at some point in the game. She had very hard words against them saying that Paula needed to go back quickly to her retirement home driving her nurses mad instead of her and calling Tina an insecure and butch lady. They were not impressed at all by these insults and ignored her. Simon on the other hand was very uncomfortable about the words that were said and he decided to complain to Big Brother about how he felt offended that Ikke wrongly brought sexuality when talking about his ally. As a result, Ikke was given a warning that she should be careful not to be insulting towards her fellow housemates.

Jessica was also very uncomfortable about the way her ally handled her HOH and she confided in Ava telling her how she did not like Ikke's way of “reigning” over the House as if she was some sort of Dictator. The young entrepreneur reassured her by saying she understood where she was coming from and that whatever happens, they should stick with the aspiring actress for the only reason that she was becoming a bit more of a Jury Goat everyday. Indeed, even people inside the “Outsiders” alliance felt bothered by her antics, including Tommy who told Paula about how few common points he actually had with the young woman, or even Buddy who reaffirmed his position as a Free Agent to a worried Holden that asked him about his ties to the HOH. Ava on the other hand seemed very confident in the trust she had placed in Ikke and that's probably because she was the only one which the young women told about everything. The only time she actually opened up about her life, it was to Ava, and that's why both women were closer than ever. She said in the Diary Room that Jessica's doubts about their alliance was actually quite good as she could use them to advance, and who knows, maybe build a stronger alliance to go beyond their de facto group of six.

For the Veto Competition, Jessica, Holden and Buddy were drawn to play alongside the HOH and the two nominees. It was once again a Survivor-themed competition where Houseguest had to eat disgusting things as quickly as possible. Each round, the slowest eater would be eliminated. The six competitors had to eat dry worms in the first round, and both Ikke and Jessica struggled, but eventually, the young nanny pulled it off and advanced to the next round. She was eliminated as she could not swallow the cooked cockroach of the next round. The last four contenders then had to eat a scorpion and Holden finished last, just after Tina. The fourth round was about eating living coconut worms and everybody was really disgusted by it. Eventually, both nominees felt the pressure and advanced to the final round, where they were asked to eat a big fish eye. It was a real match, a competition of Titans as the two older women battled it out? Eventually, Tina was a more efficient chewer and she won herself the Golden Power of Veto, much to Ikke's disgust. The young HOH said in the DR that she had just lost any ounce of respect she had left for the personal trainer.

The choice of the replacement nominee seemed very obvious to Ikke and the Outsiders : Simon needed to go on the block at least as a pawn. Jessica was really uncomfortable with that and she told Ava and Ikke that she had the young writer's trust and that maybe it was time to turn on their “allies”. Both of them were quite surprised to see her come up with some strategic plan and they asked her who should go on the block. Without much hesitation, Jessica threw Buddy under the bus, highlighting how he had been playing all sides of the house since the beginning and that he was probably the least loyal of their group of six. In private, Ava told Ikke that their ally was not in the wrong about the football coach, however, she also made her realize that maybe Jessica was the least valuable player in their alliance as she was the first one to actually mention turning on the six before their opposition is completely annihilated. Going into the Power of Veto Ceremony, Ikke was considering all her options and she recognized that maybe it was time to make a big move.

That episode ended with that particular Veto Ceremony where Tina chose to use the POV on herself. She did not make a long speech she just stared at Ikke in the eyes and told her that in the end “Mean girls always have to pay back their antics” and that she had just lost any chance at the Prize Money by being so vile the other day. The aspiring actress then “thanked” her ironically and decided to name Simon as a replacement nominee. She then added that it was too early to turn on her alliance and that the renegades should be careful if they wanted it to reach the top of the totem pole. Doing so, she gave a small death stare at Jessica who could not do anything else than gasping and blushing. Obviously everybody noticed the little interaction and Jessica was exposed, although Tommy admitted in the Diary Room that he was puzzled by the entire situation.

Not knowing who to talk to, Jessica remained alone on the couch for a while before being joined by Simon. She could not help it but fall in his arms, crying. He really was her best friend in the house and by trying to save him, she alienated a five-people alliance and might become a target much sooner than she thought. The young man comforted her and told her that she could count on him no matter what. Still crying, the young woman then said in the DR that she had made bad choices during the entire game by associating herself with Ikke in the All-Girls alliance and then becoming a sidekick of the “Outsiders” alliance who she now realized had never wanted to integrate her properly. She realized at that point that she was as expendables as Zoe was and that made her sob like a baby.

Later, Simon decided to start campaigning for votes. He said that if there is one thing that Nick would be disappointed in, it would be to see his best mate joining the jury house without having even tried to save his spot in the game. He convinced Tina that she was his new ride-or-die and that he never really wanted Ashlee out himself. The bodybuilder was going to give him her vote either way as she knew that he was more valuable from a strategic standpoint than Paula who had been floating for a while now. Then, he tried to have a 1-on-1 discussion with Tommy as he felt closer to him than any member of the opposite alliance. He flattered the young man, who was really amused by the situation. In a rather comical confessional, he told Big Brother that if he had not been flirting with Jessica for the entirety of the game, he would think that Simon was gay and trying to seduce him. The writer then told in the DR that Tommy was definitely the most sexy man left in the house... Since Nick's exit ! On a more serious note though, Simon made him think about how he would have to turn on his allies as soon as the following week should Tina or Paula win HOH – which was actually quite plausible. He also added that in the end, they both knew that they did not want to see Ikke go to far as they were annoyed by her abrasiveness. Eventually, he proposed him a potential, alliance that could include the two of them, Jessica, Tina, Ava and Holden. It would still be a rather big alliance, but a fair one in his opinion, with more or less three people from each former alliance. After this talk, Tommy said that Simon was definitely a smart and kind fellow and that he could see himself working with him... If his alliance followed !! Also, this small talk confirmed one thing to him : Jessica could not be trusted whatsoever and if he should jump ship, then, the young nanny would have to be sacrificed.

The following day, Simon targeted Ikke who he said was never going somewhere without Ava. He recognized the entrepreneur's strategic abilities but at the same time he was really annoyed by the fact that she was constantly brown-nosing the most influent player in their alliance, whoever that was. He let his griefs aside and went to campaign to them. He insisted on how getting rid of Paula was actually the best thing to do as she was a physical threat, and somebody the jury could reward for her overall sympathy. Blinded by her sentiments towards the TV Producer, Ikke was immediately convinced whereas Ava was more dubious about it : Simon was definitely one of her personal biggest threat as they both played mainly on the social and strategic levels. She tried to show Ikke how dangerous he was, but she was not heard at all. Finally, when Holden, Tommy, Buddy and the two of them met, they all agreed to vote out Paula. They also cemented their five-people alliance, excluding therefore Jessica. They nicknamed themselves “The RING”.

Just before the eviction, Ava really started having doubts about keeping Simon in the game and she mentioned it to Holden and Tommy. The former had a rather calm week after his showmance was evicted, and he voluntarily chose to fly under the radar. His head was not entirely in the game he admitted himself, and Ava plea seemed like mad man's words. On the other hand, Tommy was a bit more receptive but he said to her something like “Let's keep him for now, he won't win any physical competition anyways”.

Frustrated not to be heard by any of her alliance members, Ava contemplated going rogue. Yet, she eventually decided to side with the house and during the Eviction Ceremony, Paula was unanimously voted out. When the host told her she might be able to come back in the house, she seemed quite satisfied.

Week 8

HOH POV    Tina

Nominee 2 votes    Ikke

Evicted 3 votes    Holden

Following Paula's expected exit from the Big Brother house, the pressure was on the new unlikely trio formed by Tina, Jessica and Simon. Both women were still quite distrustful of each other but they really did not have much other choices than having each other's back as the rest of the house was gunning for them. Simon was quite optimistic for once, with the upcoming HOH competition looming. He rightfully noticed while during a confessional that he was member of a minority of three the previous week, and that he was still in a minority of three that week. He added that at the end of the day, it is the majority that has lost a number and now it would be easier than ever to shake things up. Ava on the other hand was far more on the edge of her seat as she did not suffer well that her ally dictated her how she should vote. She was considering going rogue more than ever, but for that, there was only one solution : win the HOH Competition.

Speaking of which, the new challenge was designed to test both the mental and physical abilities of the houseguests. The competition is divided in three rounds and each round, they would have to memorize a series of colored dots. If they are correct they can advance to the next round, if they are not, they need to complete an obstacle course. The winner would be the player who complete the three rounds and push the buzzer in the shortest amount of time. The players would compete in the HOH arena one after the other. Jessica admitted herself she has a very bad memory and obviously, she could not remember any series of dot, just like Holden who was not focused on the game. Buddy did pretty good, but he stumble during the second series and lost a lot of time. Simon and Tommy also made some mistakes however they were quite efficient in the obstacle course. Eventually, Tina and Ava chose a much different approach, going slow and steady, taking their time to memorize the dots and advancing to the next level. They both failed the last round, however, Tina was much faster in the obstacle course, and eventually, she granted herself a third HOH victory. Her allies celebrated and everybody congratulated her warmly. Ikke put on a fake smile while hugging the mother of three, put she was visibly upset. In the DR she made a weird face and mumbled a decomposed “Oh Shoot”. As everybody was hugging each other, Tommy whispered “the tables have turned, bro” in Simon's ear, much to the young writer's delight.

Later on, Holden was having a conversation with Tommy in the garden about how Zoe was the one girl he has ever wanted that bad and although he was dead set on getting a revenge for her, his head was not completely in the game at the moment. He did not seem very saddened though the whole situation was amusing him, much to his ally's annoyance. Tommy shown a lot of uncertainties in the Diary Room about keeping Holden as his ally. Indeed, he needed the money himself and at that moment in time he felt pretty well positioned and therefore he was not ready to give up. He confided his doubts to Ava with whom he had a shared a very special relationship since the beginning. He admitted himself that he considered her as a kind of mentor, a peaceful presence that was really pleasant for him to develop strategic plans. The young entrepreneur agreed that Holden was really “annoying the shit out of her” and that it might be time to throw him under the bus.

On the other side of the house in the mean time, Simon was insisting on fomenting a counter-attack plan with Tina. The personal trainer agreed that this HOH win was really what they needed to build a new alliance that would be more efficient to advance them, yet, she was not sure that Simon should be the one initiating it. As a matter of fact, she was still quite unsure about whether she wanted Jessica in or not and she did not want her HOH to be “hijacked” by Nick's best friend as, in her words, it would be a sure way to “get Ashlee-ed”. He still proposed her a plan that would include Tommy, Ava and Holden, leaving Ikke and Buddy on the outs. Although he told her that they could make it happen, this plan did not really please her as it was everything but a long-term solution. Indeed, she was really distrustful of that potential alliance as she was surely going to be at the bottom of the totem pole. Simon saw that Tina was not too receptive to his ideas and began to feel a little bit frustrated. He talked about his with Jessica who advised him to take his time and wait a little, to let the plan they discuss sink into Tina's mind.

Then, the HOH was shown talking with Buddy about their family back home and she confessed in the Diary Room that she has always felt close to him since the beginning of the game and she can always talk to him about her life he was the one that understood her the most. They talked mostly about personal stuff, but at the end of the conversation Tina let slip that Simon was fomenting a “young people” rebellion against Ikke and that he was not included. The football coach was really puzzled by this confession, unsure about Tina's motives and he confronted her about what she wanted to do herself. She said that eventually, the pool of people she could name was getting smaller and smaller and there were some people she did not want to have a hand in their eviction. Buddy was one of them. She then added that she wanted to cooperate more closely with him and did not understand why he associated himself – even loosely - with brats like Ikke. It was a very good opportunity for them to form the first official Final 2 deal of the season. They were both happy about the outcome of that discussion and agreed quickly on who needed to be on the block.

At the Nomination Ceremony, Tina revealed that she had nominated Holden and Ikke for eviction. She really criticized the latter on the way she handled power the previous week, called her “a brat” and a “joke act”. Holden was clearly the pawn in her speech and she advised him to win the Veto Competition.

After that Ceremony, Simon, who was thinking that Tina was following his plans to backdoor Buddy congratulated her. He was really pleased by the outcome and they celebrated in the Storage Room before being interrupted by Ava. “Well some people are happy... Can I know what this all about ?” asked the young woman jokingly. The youg nanny was quite embarrassed as they were caught up while on the other hand Simon said to her that she should bring Tommy, and Holden to the pool and that they needed to have a discussion. Fifteen minutes later, Simon revealed the “grand scheme of things” to the three of them about how he felt that they would be stronger together and needed both Ikke and Buddy out. He also said to them that Tina's nomination choices were He talked about how they needed to band together to be guaranteed final 6. Jessica hated the way the entire thing was done and shouted in the Diary Room that Simon was losing his mind. Ava and Tommy listened to his plea carefully but were not as enthusiastic as the young writer expected at first. When they debriefed the small talk together they recognized that maybe they should jump ship. Ava was not a hundred percent sure that she was ready to partner with Tina and Simon. She said later that “making up with Jess, I can do that, but working with a Tin-Mon power duo. I need to think this through”.

Just before the Veto Competition, in which everybody but Buddy and Jessica was to participate, the eight remaining housemates received the visit of... ZINGBOT !! He immediately slayed Holden on how his love for Zoe was clearly one-sided and awkward and Ikke on how her career would never evolve if she was having beef with the first producer she met. Tina was zinged on her looks, just like Jessica who started crying in the Diary Room. The slight overweight she had gained in the house was something she was really touchy about. Buddy was exposed for playing all sides and Ava was zinged on how she was changing friends anytime the HOH changed. She immediately said to Zingbot that he had become her bew BFF. Eventually, Tommy was made fun of about his speech impediment while Simon was zinged on his “power-impediment” that his to say his inability to win HOH or to do something meaningful with it (Zingbot referred here on how he wasted his HOH on Zoe who everybody agreed was a floater).

For the competition itself, the housemates had to use a slingshot to land some weights on a target. The housemate who would score the least would get eliminated. It was also a competition where “everybody gets something”, but the eliminated player could switch their “prize” with the previous losers. Tommy was eliminated first, and his prize was the Veto. Simon was the next one eliminated and he won $2.000 which he decided to keep for himself. Then, it was a close one but Holden was eliminated and exchanged his “Pony-tard” costume with Tommy's veto. Ava lost next, and when she saw that she had another “Pony-tard”, she gave it to Holden. The car salesman moaned a bit but she blinked to him that she wanted the power to herself, that he would not keep it either way and that it would be fun to see both Tommy and Holden in a Pony-tard together. Eventually, Ikke lost the Final Round and won a trip for two to the Seychelles, and Tina took the Veto from Ava, giving her... Nothing.

Immediately after the challenge, Simon asked Tina whether she was going to follow through on His idea to backdoor Buddy which she did not seem to be fond of. She was really considering to keep the Nominations the same, much to the young man's disappointment. He told her about how a stupid move it would be to keep the football coach in the house, not knowing that the two of them had solidified a partnership. Pushed by their allies, Ikke and then Holden tried to convince Tina to use the Power of Veto on one of them. Whereas the former was really apologetic and said that she had said things just to get attention, the latter was really trying to play on Tina's soft side about how he was still distraught over Zoe's boot. She was not really impressed. Seeing that, Holden was very confused and he told her everything that Simon had leaked to him and his allies, and the personal trainer was really offended. She confronted the young writer about it and told him that he was nobody to speak in her name that she did not need to be dragged. The young writer was really puzzled by the HOH's rant and he started to fear that he could go up as a replacement nominee. She said he was a “dummy” to think that and they both still needed each other. She gave him a warning and told him “never again”.

At the Power of Veto Ceremony, Tina decided not to use her special power. She said that her mother has always told her to trust her gut and to be bold, and for that reason she did not want to question her first choice. Everybody seem to understand. As she was about to end the Veto Meeting she added that no women should never be belittled and nobody should never talk on behalf of a women on a privilege she has. She added that she was really hurt about some of the talks the house had about how They should try to influence her and that she did not need nobody to speak in her name. Obviously, everybody got that she talking about Simon.

In the aftermath, the young writer talked with Jessica about how he felt sad about the way Tina had decided to humiliate him publicly. Smoking a cigarette, he said that he always had confidence issues and that him not being able to come out at his age was a result of that. He was obviously always scared of being judged or even criticized and Tina's move was really something that hurt him. In the Diary Room later, Jessica confirmed that although she admired the personal trainer for being one of the “toughest cookie” she's ever met, she was really lacking a bit of finesse. She added that there was no way she could reach the Final 2 as she was constantly burning bridges with the rest of the housemates instead of trying to build something. She admitted that she was her prime target in the coming weeks.

Then, Tommy dressed as a pony, was shown discussing the vote with Buddy. At first, it seemed pretty straight forward to him that he was going to vote Ikke out, yet, the football coach planted seeds of doubt his mind. He said that he was really annoyed at Holden for giving up and then at the end of the day if he decided to wake up and play the game again, he would have become far less of a threat than Ikke. He even added that it was probably a strategy on the car salesman's part, and Tommy was very scared of that possibility. Ava on the other hand, was also a bit confused because she felt closer to Ikke and at the same time, she could have deeper strategy sessions with Holden. She wanted to do something meaningful for her game. When Buddy approached her and advised her to vote out Holden she still needed to talk with Tommy before making her decision.

The house started boiling like never before for the coming vote. At first, the five people voting gathered and seemed to agree that Ikke needed to go home. However, Tina and Buddy had other plans, and they brought Tommy and Ava to the HOH room to try and convince them to turn on Holden. They demonstrated that the four of them could actually work together pretty well and that a four-person majority in a house of seven was just what they needed. Still unsure, Tommy and Ava wanted guarantees, but all Tina could give them was her trust. She added that she would not have the power the following week so she put her faith entirely in their hand. The two friends really started weighing the pros and cons. Essentially, they had to choose between the pair of Simon and Jessica and Tina and Buddy's duo. Just before the vote Ava said “that's our time to shine don't you think ? Whatever we do, we will rock the boat !”.

On Eviction night, Holden was voted out by a 3 to 2 vote. He did not seem shocked at all, unlike Jessica and Simon whose jaws dropped to the floor. He told the host he was excited to see Zoe in the Jury house, to know if their flirt could evolve in a proper romance. Then, he noticed the three last evictees sitting behind him on the stage. He immediately understood that one of them was coming back.

Week 9

Re-entered Immune    Nick

HOH    Jessica

POV    Tommy

Pre-Veto Nominee    Ava

Nominee 2 votes    Buddy

Evicted 3 votes    Ikke

After a short commercial break, the Host explained to the four jurors as well as the audience how things were about to happen. The public at home would have one day to vote for the housemate they want to see reintegrate the house. In the meantime, the remaining competitors will be playing in a HOH Competition without knowing that one of their previous casualties would enter the house shortly after. The juror who enters back the house will be immune for one week. Then, from the Final 7 everything would be fair game.

A new endurance competition was launched, with the Housemates standing on a moving platform, attached to the wall. Watching from the bench, Tina felt a bit sad that she was not able to participate in such a classic Big Brother Competition, that she would probably have been good at. Rapidly, Buddy and Tommy showed some signs of struggle. Their size and their weight make the challenge even harder for them. Out of nowhere, Ava was the first one to jump off. People wondered for a minute if she tried to throw the competition but she certainly seems annoyed to be out so quickly. She is followed by Buddy and eventually Tommy after one hour of competition. Out of the three remaining competitors, Jessica looked the less solid but she kept fighting. Simon and Ikke are not budging at all. The young writer was determined to win his first HOH Competition, and outlast Ikke. The young actress did not want to bend down, however she started suffering from a cramp on her leg. She falls down after ten minutes of struggle. At that point, Simon expected his ally to abandon as she really seemed to have a hard time, but instead Jessica started to beg for him to give up. The young nanny had not win anything since the beginning of the game and he knew he could really trust her come nomination time. He considered it for a few minutes – his ego still pushed him not to abandon – before jumping. Unexpectedly, Jessica won her first HOH Competition of the summer. She got down her platform in tears and fell in Simon's arms, thanking him for giving up the victory. On the sidelines, Ava and Tina were not impressed and the latter commented that there was no glory to have a competition thrown to you. For a few weeks now, she had been quite distrustful towards Jessica and her winning HOH was not ideal for the personal trainer’s game.

Exhausted, the seven houseguests entered the house and were shocked to see the first four jury members standing, immobile in the living-room. Before they could even jump in excitement, the host asked them to sit on the couch. She the declared that “for the past week the audience has been voting for which juror they wanted to reintegrate the game”. None of the houseguests seemed quite happy about it except Simon who was grinning and blinking to Nick. The host continued: “the jurors who has received the most votes is… NICK. Congratulations, Nick you have effectively reentered the Spying Machine!!” The jurors were then allowed to unfreeze. Everybody started shouting and hugging each other. The host made one final announcement: Nick would be immune for the week as he had not participated in the HOH Competition. The first three jurors congratulated the remaining eight housemates and gave paroles of encouragement to their former allies before exiting the house definitely. Obviously, Nick and Simon were very enthusiastic about the former’s second chance, and Jessica also seemed quite pleased. After the blindside they lived at the previous eviction, it was really good for them to have all the power. ‘’’Tina’’’ on the other hand was livid. She was responsible for the model’s eviction and even though Buddy tried to comfort her, she was starting to feel that the game was escaping her grasp once again.

As soon as the HOH room reopened, Jessica, Simon and Nick reaffirmed their loyalty to each other and started to brainstorm a few ideas for the week at hand. Nick mentioned that with only eight people left, they needed to think long-term, mainly because they would still be in a minority the following week. Two plans became apparent rapidly. Either they would try to get Buddy and Tina on their side by going after the Underdogs alliance, or they could try to work with Ava and Tommy who have been riding the middle for a long time. Obviously, Nick was determined to take his revenge on Tina, but conscious that revenge is better served cold, he knew that the time had not come yet to strike.

After having one-on-one conversations with the entire house, Jessica became frustrated that everybody was trying to be friendly with her and appeal to her emotions more than her gameplay. Her former allies were all talking to her as if she was still part of the Underdogs, mainly the girls who tried to diminish the fact that they have been giving her the cold shoulder for a few days. Tina also tried to convince her by talking only about how she was fighting for her kids and that as a nanny she should understand. She also tried o save herself by mentioning they were in the same position the previous week, but that argument did not really worked after Tina had distanced herself from Simon and Jessica as an HOH. Then came Buddy. Unlike the other players, the football coach laid out to her how he saw the game evolving after that week. He correctly identified Jessica and her trio, as well as the fact they would still be in a minority the following week. He talked to her as an equal strategic player and the young woman felt somewhat empowered about the talk. When the trio met again, Jessica convinced the two other guys that they needed to pull Buddy in. She also mentioned that going after Tina would be necessary in order for them to win his trust a hundred percent. The guys generally agreed with her plan.

At the Nomination Ceremony, Jessica revealed her nominations to be Ava and Ikke. She criticized how they have been treating her since Ikke's last HOH and announced that “mean girls never win in the end”. Both women were a bit sad to be nominated against each other as well as the lack of efficiency of their plea. They were not really shocked though.

Everybody was able to participate in the POV Competition except Tina and Simon. The two nominees as well as Tommy, their number one ally were determined to win this competition or else, they were guaranteed to see become a minority the following week. The game required the housemates to cross an obstacle course and remember a specific setting they needed to recreate on the other side of the course. The winner of the competition would be the one that reproduced the setting in the shortest amount of time. Right of the bat, Buddy was shown to struggle in the obstacle course because of his limp, while Jessica's bad memory forced her to cross the obstacle course numerous time. Nick and Tommy were shown powering through the challenge whereas the two nominees also had quite a fire in them. Ava moved more methodically while Ikke crossed the course several times at a rather fast pace. In the end, when the results of the competition were revealed, Tommy won himself another Power of Veto, finishing fourteen seconds before ‘’’Nick’’’ and seventeen before Ikke.

There was no question for Tommy that he needed to use the POV. He still wanted to talk about it to ‘’’Jessica’’’ and her allies. At first, the HOH tried to convince him not to shake things up, but ‘’’Nick’’’ rapidly cut the conversation short and warned Tommy that he needed to make the best choice for himself as the one girl he would leave on the block would end up going home in the end. Mathematically, it made sense as ‘’’Nick’’’ and ‘’’Simon’’’ would vote for the same person and that Buddy and Tina had become quite close the previous week, after bonding over their life back home. Jessica was really annoyed that her allies were talking over her and imposing their own agenda and strategy. In a moment of anger, she told Simon she really wished she could nominate Nick. The young writer confessed in the DR that he was the cement of their three-person alliance and that should he go, both his allies would rather sabotage their game than work together.

After the talk he had with the trio Tommy considered his options very carefully. Saving Ava would be an asset to his game as the two of them were really close and talked strategy very often. It would also ensure Ikke's exit and strengthen the entrepreneur’s loyalty towards him. On the other hand, saving the aspiring actress could also benefit his game as she would always be a bigger target than him in their alliance. Saving Ikke to use her as a shield could be an even better strategy as Ava was a bigger threat down the road as people could consider that he rode her coattails if they end up in the Final 2 together.

Meanwhile, Jessica talked with Buddy and Tina about nominating one of them as a pawn against the remaining nominee. She was careful not to invite the two boys in that conversation – they were shown spending time together and catching up in the backyard – as she wanted to be the master of her own strategy. She first asked if one of them would volunteer and obviously none of them was eager to do so. She tried to convince them, assuring that they had the three votes to keep the pawn in the game, but even that seemed too risky. As neither of them was budging, she said that nominating Buddy was the better option as Nick could have a secret agenda and change his vote to Tina to get his revenge. The personal trainer felt relieved while Buddy became scared.

At the Veto Ceremony, Tommy chose to use the POV. He asked his two allies to make a speech before he chose to give the necklace to Ava. He explained his choice by the fact they were on the same page since the beginning, and also saying that Ikke had been saved a few times already and that maybe she’ll have another chance. Jessica then stood up and chose Buddy to sit alongside the aspiring actress. She explained that he was strictly a pawn and that Ikke would finally be heading to the jury after all the bitterness and the negative atmosphere she had created in the house.

Following the renom, Buddy and Tina spend the rest of the week working on the trio to ensure that they had their votes. They did everything in their power to solidify those votes. In a confessional, Tina admitted that she felt horrible having to “suck up to that little entitled brat”, speaking about Nick. Everybody was conscious that Nick would be the deciding vote and he took pleasure being in such a power position. Simon tried to warn him that he should not get too cocky, but the young model was really enjoying his position. Ikke also tried to campaign to him, without much success. From a personal perspective, he would have loved getting rid of Buddy and get his revenge on Tina, but from a game perspective, he needed them as numbers to be in the majority the following week. In the end, Ikke was unsurprisingly evicted by a vote of 3 to 2. She became the fourth member of the jury.

Week 10

HOH POV    Nick

Pre-Veto Nominee    Tommy

Nominee 0 vote    Ava

Evicted ? votes    Tina

After Ikke’s eviction, the remaining houseguest competed in one of the most grueling endurance competitions. Standing inside a giant transparent box, the six competing housemates had to keep their hand on a handle above their head. At regular intervals, the ceiling of the box would go up, thus making it harder for the contestants to hold their handle. The winner of the HOH competition would be the last one standing. Rapidly enough Ava and Simon seemed to struggle because they had the weaker legs out of the six people participating. Buddy also looked like he had a hard time. All of them abandoned during the first hour of the challenge. Tina narrated the challenge and confided in the DR that her main objective was to hold on until she was facing Nick. Then, she would maybe strike a deal with the young guy so that she could increase her chances to stay should he win or backdoor him more easily if she won the HOH title herself. She started cramping after two and a half hour of challenge however and she had to drop in third place, leaving Nick and Tommy to battle it out for the win. It was an intense battle, but the model pulled through after almost five hours. He earned himself the HOH title for the third time.

He rapidly celebrated with Simon, his best friend in the house. Happily, the young writer joked with his friend about how he had missed him a lot during the first half of the jury part of the game. Both of them were now guaranteed to make it to the Final 6 and they definitely were the strongest pair in the house. Watching their bromance rekindle, their friend Jessica noted that the two guys are “the cutest together, that’s such a shame Nick isn’t gay”. According to her, there was not doubt that Simon had a big crush on his “bromance”, a crush that is not reciprocated at all (even though the two guys are quite physical with each other. A small montage of the other houseguests raising questioning their sexuality was then shown, with Jessica doing a lot of damage control to protect her friend’s secret.

Nominations wise, Nick definitely wanted to get Tina out after she got him evicted a few weeks back. The only question for him was “what is the best way to get rid of her. With seven people left in the game, only one of them would be prevented from competing in the POV competition. The HOH considered putting Tina on the block immediately, before he thought about how she might not even play in the Veto. He finally decided that a backdoor was the best option and he chose Ava and Tommy as his pre-veto nominees. He explained that the two of them were a worrying pair to him since they allied very early on and never turned on each other. He then wished them good luck for the POV.

The two nominees rapidly consulted with Nick about his plans for the week. That’s where he strongly advised them to do their best to save themselves from the block as they were not his main target. Both of them understood that anyone but Tina should win the power of veto. For that competition, the houseguests had to Find three different objects in a maze in the shortest amount of time. Everyone was picked to play except Simon. Once thrown into the maze, it rapidly became clear that Nick, Tina and Tommy were in it to win while both Jessica and Buddy were blatantly throwing it. Ava was just simply struggling. The first three competitors had each found one token when Tina’s ankle started to cramp. She got distanced by her two main opponents. Eventually, Nick claimed the victory by finding his way back to the starting line a few seconds before Tommy.

Immediately after the competition, the HOH along his two main allies quickly got their story straight : Tina was their target. For a few hours, both the nominees and the mother-of-three tried to sway Nick’s agenda. The young man heard their arguments but there was not much they could do either way. Because he did not want to blindside her, he told his former ally that she was his target because of how she got rid of him a few weeks back. Without any surprise, Nick swapped Tommy for Tina. The young man felt relieved but he also promised in the DR that he would not forget that he was put on the block by the young model. ”I too will get my own revenge...”

Following the Veto Ceremony, Tina knew she did not have much chance to escape the eviction. First, she figured out rapidly that Tommy would never turn his back on Ava. Buddy would probably be willing to keep her in, in order to honor their Final 2 deal, but in order to stay in the house, she would need at least one more vote. The entire week, Jessica and Simon spent time in the HOH room, planning their next steps. She correctly identified the young nanny as the easier one to sway. That being said, she would also need Nick’s vote to break the tie. She held a house meeting during which both nominees pleaded their case and she certainly did a good job painting a target on Ava’s back. The entrepreneur did not have much scrambling to though to convince Nick and his allies to get rid of their main target.

On eviction night, Tina was evicted unanimously. Even Buddy voted against her as it rapidly became obvious that the personal trainer was heading to the jury house. The Host then announced to the remaining players that the second Double Eviction of the season was about to happen.

HOH POV    Tommy

Nominee 0 vote    Simon

Evicted 3 votes    Nick

The instant HOH Competition required the Houseguest to lay a giant memory game with 10 pairs of cards (representing the first 10 evictees). In the end, Tommy won his first HOH competition of the season by getting five pairs. Behind him Buddy had three while Simon and Ava each had one. He had to name his nominees immediately and without much hesitation he chose Simon and Nick whom he called ”the biggest and most dangerous showmance of the season”.

Everybody was able to fight in the POV Competition which required them to dive in a ball pit to retrieve four puzzle pieces and then assemble then. Without much surprise, Tommy and Nick, two very athletic guys were ahead of the others. The young laundromat employee got himself another win by just a few seconds. He was just quicker on the puzzle.

He was then shown having one on one conversations with everybody. First off, Ava jumped to his neck (something she was not used to, being a rather cold and collected player). She told her ally that she was so proud aligning with him and she promised she would work her ass of in the HOH Competition. Then, Buddy also tried to celebrate loudly the young man’s win and he advised him to keep the nominations the same before exiting the pantry. When he got out, Tommy rolled his eyes, not being used to having everybody suckin up to him. Simon was obviously stressed out, he just told the young man that he would appreciate working with him going forward and that he hoped that he was not the target. In tears, Jessica prayed him not to nominate her and eventually Nick tried to appeal to the HOH’s strategic side. He threw the name of everybody in the house (but Simon’s) and said that voting out somebody that had already been evicted was not the greatest move.

Eventually, Tommy decided not to change the nominations stating that the house was more even when Nick used to be in the jury house. After laying out his instructions, the houseguest voted and with three votes to evict, Nick was evicted once again from The Spying Machine - this time for good. He was shown holding hands with Simon through the whole process and he asked him to go to the end while giving him a last hug.

Week 11

HOH    Simon

POV Pre-Veto Nominee    Tommy

Nominee 0 vote    Ava

Evicted 2 votes    Buddy

Following the Double Eviction, the Final 5 celebrated reaching this crucial step in the game with champagne. Obviously, it was quite bittersweet for Simon after he lost his number one ally (and bromance) for the second time. A small montage of all the housemates going the Diary Room saying they needed to step up their game was shown, interspersed with images of the other houseguests celebrating. Over the night, Simon actually got quite drunk - to the point here Jessica and Ava had to put him to bed before he started to feel sick.

The following day, a Memory HOH Competition was held and although he suffered from quite a hard hungover, the young writer knew he had no other choice but to win if he wanted to ensure his safety. Since Nick and Tina’s eviction, the coach acted way closer to Ava and Tommy, something the young man did not appreciate. In the end, the two guys were facing each other at the tiebreaker, and they were both admitted in the confessionnal that they would target each other. In the end, Simon pulled through. He quickly celebrated his victory with Jessica, happy that, this time, he would be able to enjoy the HOH room.

From the get-go, his plan was to backdoor Buddy, but for that, he needed everybody on board. The last thing he needed was Jessica, his only ally left, on the block on eviction night. He made his plea to the opposite alliance and exposed to them that having two duos in the Final 4 was like the fairest thing that could happen. Obviously, Ava and Tommy agreed, even though they were not feeling too good about sitting next to each other at the Nomination Ceremony. The end of the episode was not a surprise.

At the Veto Competition, Buddy correctly identified that he was one of the biggest threat to win remaining and that he needed the POV to save himself. Once again, the competition was a close race, but it’s actually Tommy who earned the coveted prize. The young man pursued his winning streak. The rest of the week was fairly obvious : Tommy removed himself from the chopping block, forcing the HOH to put Buddy in his place.

We then witnessed a few days of hard campaigning. Jessica really wanted to make a big move to develop her resumé - a move that would be hers and hers only. She considered betraying Simon as Buddy tried to make a Final 2 deal with her. On the other hand, the young writer reminded her that she had no chance to win against the coach in the hand. Tommy himself, considered getting rid of his number on ally as their journey was probably too similar. He feared that people would see him as being a coattails rider. Eventually, the two discussed the vote and agreed on a plan. They even got closer and admitted that they both had quite a weak résumé compared to their three opponents. They agreed to take each other at the end if they manage to win the Final 3 HOH Competition.

The night before the eviction ceremony, the remaining houseguests enjoyed their last meal together in a very pleasant moment. Simon finally decide to come out to his housemates and his vulnerability was well accepted by everybody. Nobody was shocked though, but it was a good opportunity for him to talk about his difficulties to be proud as a gay man. Tommy then talked about how he always felt like an outsider because of his OCD and Jessica admitted that she was sad to always be underestimated. She said that she was not as dumb as people thought and that she could not help but act dumber than she really is. The conversation ended the show on a very positive note.

At the Eviction Ceremony, Buddy was evicted unanimously after a very interesting speech where he painted a big target on Ava’s back. Still it was not enough and he finished in fifth place.

Week 12

HOH    Tommy

POV Pre-Veto Nominee    Jessica

Post-Veto Nominee 0 vote    Ava

Evicted 1 vote    Simon

At the crucial Final 4 HOH Competition, the remaining houseguests had to compete in a grueling physical competition (a huge obstacles course in the backyard, followed by a labyrinth and a puzzle). In the end, Tommy pulled through and won his second HOH Competition of the season, thus ensuring he would be part of the Final 3. The young laundromat employee did not strategize much : he quickly announced that he would name both Simon and Jessica for eviction (although the two made a deal a few days prior).

At this stage in the game, their only way to make sure they would not get voted out was to win the POV and cast the sole vote to evict. During the POV Competition, both Ava and Jessica wanted to prove something, and Simon knew he had one of the biggest target on his back. Eventually, it is the young nanny that one her second competition of the summer. She celebrated with Simon while Ava seemed crushed. The entrepreneur actually had a breakdown in the Diary Room. “All of that for nothing”.

She still tried to campaign to Jessica, but her case did not seem very efficient. Simon seemed very confident and he did not bother checking in with his allies, confident that the two of them would get further. The young writer tried to build some trust with Tommy, knowing that he had more chances to win the Final 3 competition than his number 1 ally, and that clearly bothered Jessica. The final nail in the coffin happened when the HOH appealed to her strategic senses : if she wanted to make her big move, now was the time.

At the eviction ceremony, Jessica blindsided Simon in one of the most shocking boots of The Spying Machine’s history. Ava’s jaw dropped to the floor while Simon congratulated his ally for her big move on his way out.

HOH Pt. 1    Tommy

HOH Pt. 2    Jessica

HOH Pt. 3    Tommy

Nominee 0 vote    Jessica

Evicted 1 vote    Ava

The final HOH Competition was divided in three parts. The first one was an endurance challenge which Tommy won easily. The second one was a more mental comp and it was a much closer race. Eventually, Jessica pulled through, thus eliminating Ava from contention. The young woman had another breakdown, because she felt frustrated oh her inability to win any competition. She knew that she’d have to be dragged down to the end : a crushing feeling. Eventually, on Finale night, Tommy won the last challenge which consisted in questions about the entirety of the season.

During the entire week Ava tried to defend her case on how she would be the obvious choice to get to the Final 2. If Jessica seemed to consider it for a moment - after all, the entrepreneur strategic abilities seemed to have decreased progressively in the second part of the game. Tommy on the other hand, seemed more reluctant. The young man has made Final 2 deals with both of his housemates and he knew he had to betray one of them.

When it was time to make a decision, he put the final nail on his main ally’s coffin. He declared that it had been a real honor to play alongside her and that he hope they would be friends for life after that, but that he felt more confident in his chances against Jessica. Just before she got out, Ava whispered to his ear “Congrats Tom, you’ve won the game. I love you but I knew I needed you out for a long long time”. When quizzed about her relationship with Tommy on the set, Ava said it was like her younger brother and that she really underestimated him both physically and strategically.

Finale

Winner 7 Votes    Tommy

Runner-Up 2 Votes    Jessica

Tommy Ava

Jessica Simon

Tommy Buddy

Jessica Nick

Tommy Tina

Tommy Ikke

Tommy Holden

Tommy Paula

Tommy Zoe

Facing the jury, the two finalists first suffered a rather lackluster welcome. They were both accused of being floaters by Paula and Ikke - for once, the two nemesis seemed to agree on something. Buddy declared he was really annoyed because he did not feel like any of them were really worthy of the title, but when he asked what moves they made made them deserving, both finalists defended their case well. Tommy described himself as a social threat and underlined his many victories at the end when the numbers were dwindling, while Jessica highlighted her power move at the end, as well as her ability to turn on all her allies who either did her dirty or underestimated her.

Simon defended the young woman stating that she had blossomed into the house, becoming a fierce player. Ava did the same with Tommy highlighting how the both of them had been swing votes during the entire game. When Zoe asked who was the coat-tails rider in the pair, Ava  answered sassily that there was none, but should there be one, it was probably her, given her inability to win competitions.

Eventually, Tommy was awarded the Grand Prize, by a vote of 7 to 2. Jessica finished in second place, only gathering the votes of Nick and Simon.