Big Brother 19 - Episode 34: Well, That Escalated Quickly...

Paul has been playing the of the conductor in this year's Big Brother Orchestra, painstakingly planning every move that both he and the other houseguests make.  What's even more brilliant is that he has just about everyone believing that they are coming up with these ideas themselves.  His next plan is to have the vote come down to be a tie so that Christmas can have the final blow, evicting
Jason from the house.  If he and Alex vote for Kevin to be evicted, when Christmas evicts Jason it will keep Paul's hands clean. This is a best-case scenario for Paul in the meantime...as the HGs dwindle their numbers, Paul will eventually be exposed.  Josh is NOT down with this plan at all.  Josh recognizes that it puts an even bigger target on his and Christmas' back.  Alex will trust Paul because he will have done nothing wrong in her eyes.  He saved her from the block, and he voted to keep Jason.  The only votes getting Jason out of the house would be Raven (entirely expected seeing how Jason took Matt out of the house), Josh, and Christmas.

Julie announces that it's another Double Eviction night with no time to waste.  The live vote goes down exactly the way Paul wants it to.  It's a tie that Christmas has to break.  Jason is COMPLETELY blindsided by this and speaks to no one as Julie tells him to grab his belongings.  Honestly, I wasn't expecting that.  He didn't even speak to Alex on his way out.  Talking to Julie, Jason doesn't know WHAT to think.  He's not even sure that Alex isn't one of the ones who betrayed him...which I kinda think is bullshit.  I mean yes, Big Brother ends up being a very deceptive game, but everyone ends up with a ride-or-die in some form or fashion. That is the one person that knows your entire truth and truly plays the game with you, no deception necessary.  If Jason actually doubted Alex in those few moments, it shows cracks in that foundation.  I saw it a little during the HoH competition where Jason and Alex were talking deals when they were the last two left in the comp.  I think it was only half-scripted...they had trust issues.

Jason watches his goodbye messages, and Josh royally blows up Paul's game.  He tells Jason that it was Paul's elaborate plan to get Jason out of the house, while right after Paul says in his goodbye message that if he's watching that, someone betrayed him in the house and he would take Alex all the way.  Josh knew exactly what he was doing.  He wanted to secure a jury vote for himself...possibly two.  If he makes it to final two and Alex is in Jury, Jason will tell Alex what a snake Paul was in the house, orchestrating Jason being sent packing.

The HoH competition was trivia based, and Alex took the prize.  It seems like it always happens that way, and I'm sure if I went back to previous blog posts I have typed that sentence before.  Unlike other Double Evictions, there was no time to strategize, and the HGs had to immediately go to the living room so Alex could make her nominations.  She put up Raven and Kevin, which confused me.  Why not put up Christmas and Josh?  You clearly aren't aligned with them, and they not 30 minutes ago sent your partner home!  You put them up, and it guarantees one of them has to remain on the block.  Even if one of them does come down and you don't have the votes, you throw Kevin up there, and you are guaranteed that one of your targets goes home.

The Veto comp involved finding green lime colored balls in a sea of yellow lemons and running back to the end of your lane to drop a total of four lime balls into a tube.  The first HG to accomplish this won Veto.  That competition was a lot harder than it looked.  The hardest part was dropping the ball down into the tube.  The balls were only slightly smaller than the mouth of the tube, so they did not go in smoothly.  While the competition was frustrating, Josh eventually came in with the win and decided not to use the Power of Veto.  The HGs were given a minute to confer before votes were cast.  In another shock (to me anyway), Paul and Christmas voted for Raven and Josh voted for Kevin.  Raven was the casualty in this DE, and I did not see it coming.

I understand that Raven voted for Jason, but if you keep that logic, you also put up Josh.  I don't know why Paul voted for Raven to leave.  He had a final two deal with her...she didn't trust anyone else in the house.  My only thinking is that Paul could be changing his plan and taking Kevin to the final two, trying to hedge his bets.  He probably doesn't think Kevin would have the votes to beat him.  Honestly, I wouldn't think so either. I also don't understand why Christmas voted for her.  Raven is now all of a sudden more of a threat than Kevin?  The two of them must've had time to talk before voting.  I guess it's possible Paul agreed to take some heat to let Josh off of the hook and prevent his incessant crying for a few days.  As Raven left, Alex said, "Raven, it wasn't me!"  What did that mean?  I can't wait to see those few minutes in between the Veto meeting and the eviction vote.

The next two weeks are going to be packed.  Sunday we get to see the HoH competition and find out who gets nominated.  There is a special eviction episode on Wednesday, followed by a regular eviction night on Thursday.  The remaining three will battle it out for final two.  I can't believe it's going to be over on the 20th, but I am super excited for Celebrity Big Brother this winter!  The end of this season will also effectively begin my campaign for #BB20, #ButFirst... (HA!  See what I did there?)

Tune in Sunday night for all of the awesomeness!  I'll be watching.  I'll even try my damnedest to post my recap in a timely fashion.  Sorry, #3kids!