Big Brother Season 17 Episode Four Recap: A 16 Person Alliance

By Mark Drum
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There was paranoia, tears and anger on last night's episode of Big Brother. It would seem as though the plan to backdoor Jace was a sure-fire plan, however being in the Big Brother house can cause houseguests to go a little crazy. We also saw the Have-Not room, which wasn't anything like John's office, but still a sight nobody wanted to see. There was some spelling and a blindside. Without further ado here's my recap of yesterday's episode.

Securing the Numbers

After Jason was dethroned from HOH during the BOB competition, James was the sole HOH and his nominees; Steve and Jackie remained on the chopping block. The goal however was to ensure Jace would be backdoored. Hoping Jace won't have a chance to play in the POV competition, James wanted to make sure his plan would go through by getting the numbers to vote for Jace's eviction. With the outgoing HOH, Jason, along with DaVonne, Audrey, Meg and Clay all formed an alliance. DaVonne was not a fan of everyone in this alliance and was certain the alliance would crumble before it even started. Little did she know her words would speak so truthfully.

Meanwhile, Austin having a good perception of the house, wanted to give a small pep talk to his right hand man Jace that they should talk with James to see where his game is. In the next clip, we see Austin and Jace chatting with James. Who is also in the room, it's none other than Audrey and seems to be in every conversation this week. Which is very reminiscent of Devin from last season and we saw how his gameplay ended. But "CloudTown," was formed with James, Jace, Austin and Audrey. Which is another alliance that has been formed and by watching the clips we're up to four. However "CloudTown," is not really real in the eyes of both James and Audrey. This alliance is only to assure Jace he isn't a target and to make him and Austin think they can control James' HOH. What Austin and Jace don't know is they're both going to be blindsided.

Damage Control

After the alliance was formed and preparations for the Veto competition were about to begin, DaVonne being a fan of the show, knew in a future competition there would be a memory competition of items in the Big Brother House. To be ahead of the game, DaVonne went around the house counting and looking in different rooms. Some odd looks were given to DaVonne by Shelli, Clay and Jeff, which then caused a scene that would soon be blown out of proportions. Being in the Big Brother House, emotions are running high and it's never good when emotions are high and for DaVonne that was happening. DaVonne didn't appreciate the odd looks and suspicions from Clay and Shelli as well as being interrogated by Jeff. After the confrontation, DaVonne went to the HOH room to have a discussion with Audrey and Jason. DaVonne was livid with Clay and Shelli's attitude and was having a fit. However Jeff felt as though he had done something wrong and went to the HOH room to do some damage control.

DaVonne was not having any of the damage control that was being done by Jeff or by Clay later on. It drove DaVonne even more mad was the fact that Audrey went to speak with Clay to try and help calm DaVonne down. DaVonne then speaking to the camera to the viewers that she sees through Audrey's "puppet master," ways. Which is a little ironic because earlier in the clip, Clay feels as though DaVonne is being a "puppet master," herself. The emotions were high and this was a great moment watching because it just shows how even the smallest reaction can turn into a dramatic scene. I was slightly sad that there wasn't more fighting or seeing more houseguests whispering, "he said, she said." One thing was certain, the house is definitely not united and there are not a lot of strong alliances. None with sole power but were still only in Week One. Seems as though these houseguests are playing too hard too quickly. I had a little bit of deja vu of last season.

Steve the Trombonist wins POV

Players were chosen for the POV competition at random draw by the HOH and two nominated houseguests. Sure enough Jace was not chosen to play, however Steve drew the "Houseguest Choice," and selected Jason. James selected Austin as the host, who was wearing his "hat," which recalling from his interview with Jeff Schroder at the Press Junket, he would be his alter ego, Judas. Though I don't believe Judas was around during this competition. During James DR, I was laughing how James was shocked that Austin and Jace were cheering about Austin being the host of the HOH competition, when James' target is to ensure Jace to be evicted for the week. It would seem like everything was going to plan, the only thing left was to ensure to win the POV and put Jace up as the replacement nominee.

It was a spelling competition for POV and surprisingly all the houseguests by the end spelled words correctly. Jason made a comment that he was proud he spelled a word correctly unlike Jeff Schroder who spelled technotronics. Having only 10 minutes to search for letters and spell out a word, houseguests scrambled to correctly spell a word that would be worth a big amount of points. When time was up all houseguests had a word spelled out. It would seem like James' word, "lifeguards," would win the competition, but it was "trombonist," spelled by Steve that would earn him the POV. Many of the houseguests were shocked by Steve's word and also were not surprised that he would come up with a word that long. This win however ensured Steve's safety for the week and sealed the fate of Jace's.

My Prediction for Eviction

Since Steve did use his POV on himself, James nominated Jace up for eviction. Both Jace and Austin felt blindsided by this decision. I cannot wait to watch tonight's episode to see the aftermath. However if you've subscribed to the live feeds, you know exactly what happens and it'll be interesting to see what the editing will look like. It would seem like with James' alliance he has the numbers. But with slight paranoia from DaVonne's outbreak, Audrey had some doubts they would have the numbers to evict Jace, so she recruited Jeff and Shelli to the alliance. James said it best, it's as if they're all in a 16-person alliance. Again is very reminiscent of last season with Devon's failed attempt to run the house. Which James even had the idea of possibly putting up Audrey instead of Jace. It's only week one and we've already got several houseguest playing this game way too hard and fast.

I do predict however Jace is evicted by a vote of 10-3. The houseguests I believe to keep Jace and to evict Jackie would be Austin, Liz and Vanessa. Things can change from what has transpired from last night's episode. So tune in tonight at 9pm to CBS Detroit 62 to find out whether Jace or Jackie will be evicted from the Big Brother house. Comedienne Kathy Griffin will be doing a "BB Takeover," so we'll see what she's got planned and maybe we will find out which houseguest is a part of the "Twin Twist!"

Mark Drum is a Farmington Hills, MI native and Big Brother fan since 2000. Mark is a graduate from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Theatre Arts.