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‘Big Brother 27' recap: Did the Week 1 Veto save Zae, Amy, or Ashley?
Heading into the Week 1 Veto episode of Big Brother 27, Zae Frederich, Amy Bingham, and Ashley Hollis had just been nominated for eviction by Head of Household Vince Panaro. In doing so, Vince chose not to accept Kelley Jorgensen's unique offer of going on the block as a pawn to hide their final two deal. The three nominees had the chance to save themselves in the Power of Veto competition, so let's see how it all played out on Wednesday night.
Read on for our recap of Big Brother Season 27, Episode 3, which aired Wednesday, July 16 on CBS. This season's theme is the "Summer of Mystery" and the house has been transformed into the Hotel Mystère, where secrets lurk behind every corner. The 17 players in the running to win the $750,000 grand prize are:
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Adrian Rocha (23): Carpenter from San Antonio, Texas
Amy Bingham (43): Insurance agent from Stockton, Calif.
Ashley Hollis (25): Attorney from Chicago
Ava Pearl (24): Aura painter from Long Island, N.Y.
Jimmy Heagerty (25): AI consultant from Sarasota, Fla.
Katherine Woodman (23): Fine dining server from Gwinnett County, Ga.
Keanu Soto (33): Dungeon Master from Miami
Kelley Jorgensen (29): Web designer from Burbank, S.D.
Lauren Domingue (22): Bridal consultant from Lafayette, La.
Mickey Lee (35): Event curator from Jacksonville, Fla.
Morgan Pope (33): Gamer from Palm Springs, Calif.
Rachel Reilly (40): BB12 contestant and BB13 winner from Hoover, Ala.
Rylie Jeffries (27): Professional bull rider from Luther, Okla.
Vince Panaro (34): Unemployed from West Hills, Calif.
Will Williams (50): College sports podcaster from Wallace, S.C.
Zach Cornell (27): Marketing manager from Cartersville, Ga.
Zae Frederich (23): Salesperson from Paducah, Ky.
One week in, there are several alliances already forming inside the house. Vince and Kelly have their super early "final two" deal, Rachel and Amy created the "mom squad" duo, and Jimmy, Morgan, and Mickey cemented their "triple threat" group, complete with a special three-fingered wiggle-shake. And, as usual, there's also a "guys' alliance" forming around the outdoor gym that includes Zae, Keanu, Rylie, and Zach.
NOMINATIONS FALLOUT
Having made a deal with Ashley, as the players in the Head of Household competition, that they wouldn't nominate each other, Vince found himself in hot water with her following his decision to put her on the block. He tried to smooth things over by telling her that he got the feeling she wasn't trusting of him and that "if [he] was going to nominate [her] at any point that [he] wanted to do it upfront." Ashley responded that he broke their agreement, she "generally trusted" him, and that if she wins next week he will be put on the block. Potentially fumbling with her again, Vince stumbled into telling her that if he wins the POV that he'll use it on her even though (according to a Diary Room confession) he wouldn't actually do that.
Amy's response was a more social one, looking for and receiving support from Morgan, Lauren, and her "mom squad" ally Rachel who committed to taking her off the block if she wins the Veto because "Rachel Reilly doesn't not make waves." At the same time, Vince secured himself his own soldier for the Veto comp with his number one Kelley who remained committed to make a big move for him if asked to.
Later, when Vince got time alone with Zae, he was relieved that his third nominee was keeping it cool and would still possibly work with him in the future. For that reason, Vince determined that it would be in his best interest if Ashley stays on the block and is the one evicted this week, all without him having to name a replacement nominee at all and potentially disrupt a connection with a fourth houseguest.
"FRIENDS FOR NOW"
As soon as Zach set eyes on Lauren the first day in the house, he was looking forward to a possible showmance. He refers to her as "the sweetest person" he's "ever seen in [his] life" and it's clocking to him that she's exactly his type, but Lauren is worried that if even Showergate can get someone put on the block then she needs to be careful about getting involved in a showmance. Instead she would like to remain "friends for now."
BB queen of showmances, Rachel, did not share Lauren's aversion to romance in the house so when she learned from Rylie that he has a crush on Katherine, she was happy to encourage him to "start on a friendship basis and see what happens."
RACHEL'S IMPACT
Keanu connected with Rachel in a touching moment of vulnerability where he explained that his motivation for coming on the show is family. As his dad battles spine cancer back home, Keanu wants to make him proud and show him that people are fighting for him. The conversation made Rachel feel closer to him, giving her a reason to want Keanu to stay in the game, but she knew she'd need more than just a few connections in order to overcome her big reputation.
Her approach with Jimmy was to connect with him on a strategic level, not knowing that his original inclination was to try to get her out as soon as possible. They discussed "working toward a goal" as a strategy and for the time being was able to lower her threat level to Jimmy. Following their convo, Jimmy went to Zach to build a larger alliance that would include Rachel, Morgan, Vince, and Rylie as a start. The idea was that getting together people "at midnight" that are "strong in competitions" would help hide their alliance because, according to them, no one would think they're working together. Sticking with the competitive angle, Morgan and Jimmy came up with the alliance name "Heavy Hitters."
After agreeing to be part of the Heavy Hitters, Rachel admitted in the DR that she actually wants to get that group of people out "one by one" and her true allegiance is to Amy.
VETO COMP
Following another long shower from Ashley, the ceremony to pick the players for the Veto comp was able to take place where Vince would pick two other houseguests to play for the Veto alongside him and the nominees. From the chip box, Vince pulled out the chips for Amy and Zach. Because Amy was already set to play, she got to choose Rachel to join the competition. As new factors in Vince's plans for the week, he met with Zach and Rachel to communicate that he would like nominations to remain the same, but they did not commit that to him and, in fact, Zach said that if given the choice he would want to remove Zae. She didn't say so, but we as the audience also knew that Rachel would gladly use the power to take Amy off the block.
For the comp, titled "Campside Caper," the players were disguised as park rangers tasked with identifying three culprits responsible for odors stinking up the camp at "Felony Forest" by examining shoe prints, vehicle tracks and scents at three different crime scenes. Following multiple trips to the outhouse to stick their head in a toilet seat and to the tent to sniff up a dirty mattress, "detail-oriented" Zach got most, if not all, of his guesses wrong, one-time comp beast Rachel struggled make any headway, and newly-minted "heavy hitter" Vince failed to get on the right track. Zae and Ashley had the strongest showing in the comp, and it came down to which of them could lock in the correct answer for their third crime scene first. Luckily, her love of all things potato clinched the answer for Ashley and she was able to buzz in first to claim the season's first Golden Power of Veto.
CONVINCING VINCE
Ashley's win was "worst case scenario" for Vince, forcing his hand to nominate a fourth houseguest to the block. Wanting to avoid creating that friction with someone new, this was Vince's chance to take Kelley up on her own original idea to be nominated as a pawn and a chance to hide that they're super close in the game. While Vince may think nominating someone that isn't his number one ally is his worst case, we as fans of the show know that the actual worst case is nominating your number one ally and watching the house send the pawn home.
Wanting to finagle the game in the direction he wants it to go (getting a "bro" out), Jimmy suggested to Vince that he nominate Keanu, but quickly understood that he'd need the house's support in order to convince Vince that it's in his best interest. He thought he was going to get his way until Wreck-It Rachel heard the plan and went straight to Keanu to give him the heads up.
Keanu went "straight to the source" and asked Vince about the plan, but Vince (truthfully) denied that he ever said it and knew immediately that it was Jimmy's doing. Vince was adamant to Keanu that he never said it and that he's not going on the block, and while Jimmy's antics angered Vince, it also provided him a reason to potentially "teach him a lesson" and make him the replacement nom.
KEANU VS. JIMMY
In an odd turn of events, Jimmy thought it would be a good idea to have a conversation with Keanu to see if they could bond and feel good about each other, possibly opening a door where he'd go back to Vince and tell him not to nominate Keanu after all. Because Keanu already knew Jimmy was the one putting his name out there, he understood that Jimmy was willing to lie to people's faces and so he went to Vince later that night with a pitch to get Jimmy out now before he can do too much damage.
Wanting to solidify something with Ava, Keanu decided to inform her about the intel on Jimmy, referring to him as "the head of the snake." Despite being safe as a Have Not and not needing to get in the middle of anything, Ava saw it as an opportunity to escalate things between Keanu and Jimmy by telling Jimmy what Keanu said. When word got back to Vince that both Jimmy and Keanu were now aware of what the other is saying about them, he saw it a golden opportunity to keep both of them in the game so that there would be their bigger rivalry for the house to deal with rather than looking at Vince as a threat.
To that end, it solidified for Vince that when Ashley used the POV on herself at the Veto Ceremony he took Kelley up on her offer as the replacement nominee. Not to be left out of the equation or adjourned against his will, Jimmy used the ceremony as a platform to call Keanu out for calling him a snake in an epically rehearsed monologue that included instantly iconic lines like "I'm not this chirp chirp chirp bullsh--" and "the only thing fake about me are these goddamn sunglasses" and "buckle up, buddy, coz this snake has a bite." Cooly, Keanu's only response was "How long did it take for you to come up with that?"
Meeting adjourned. Hottest feud of the summer ignited.
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