Big Brother recap: Nicole unknowingly puts a target on her back

Following Nick’s nomination ceremony, Nick and Bella try to talk about the bomb Nicole dropped on them right before noms. If you’ll recall, she said that Michie, Sis, Holly, and Jack wanted to get them out this week because they were bullies. And then everyone comes into the HOH room. Instead of hashing this out privately, Bella tells everyone what Nicole said. Even Sam is in there!

After hearing that her own name came up, Sis says it was the other way around: Nicole told her that Nick and Bella were bullies, which isn’t exactly what happened. But Bella thinks Sis and Christie’s anger about the situation must mean Nicole is lying.

Both David and Cliff try to go into the HOH room while they’re talking, and they block them. Cliff goes and tells Jack, who for some reason was MIA, that they’re having “meltdowns” and he should go handle it. Before he can get there, Nicole tries to enter. Michie just says “bad time” and closes the door in her face. And then Jack goes in and closes the door on her face, too.

Nicole, Jess, Cliff, Kat (who I honestly keep forgetting is in this game), and the Comeback Kids are all downstairs trying to figure out what’s going on. But Nicole knows what happened. She realizes they talked to each other, and she “put herself in her own pickle.”

Ovi gets upset about Nicole getting kicked out, and he wants to tell them as much. They’re saying “Ovi, no” when he tries to walk in, so instead, he yells through the door that it’s not cool for them to shut Nicole out. The groupthink decides this is the perfect time to include Sam into their alliance. Gr8ful has become Unde9able. Gag.

In the storage room afterward, David asks Jack and Christie what he did to Ovi. They say he should have kept his mouth closed — and Ovi is standing outside the door listening. He lets Christie leave and then asks for a moment with Jack. He asks if everything is okay, and Jack says everything is fine. “You’re in Camp Comeback, I can’t touch you,” he says … and it kind of sounds like a threat?

So Bella thinks it’s a good idea to find Nicole and “say her piece.” Nicole gets emotional, saying that it was unfair for Bella to share what she’d confided with her. Bella takes that as her cue to go on full attack mode and finishes up with “I’m not here to listen” when Nicole tries to explain herself. Tommy, as the moderator, is starting to see that maybe Bella is bullying her. (YA THINK!?)

The next day, Nicole apologizes to Bella if she said anything to upset her. Bella says it’s unfair that she called her and Nick bullies. Then, Nick walks in with Tommy. So Nick takes his turn “talking” with Nicole, where he just talks at her. When Nicole tries to speak, Bella tells her she’s just being defensive because she’s “caught in a lie.” And that’s the final straw — Nicole decides she has had enough and calls out Bella for being the person who twists and lies and plays both sides in the house. The fact that no one in the room gave her a standing ovation is truly a shame.

Anyway, when it’s time to pick players for the veto competition, Nick draws Jackson, Cliff draws Kat, and Jess draws houseguest’s choice and picks … Christie. Honestly, girl, why do you keep doing this!?

Kaitlyn from Big Brother season 20 hosts the comp, which is a spooky replay of her puzzle challenge. The players must find the puzzle pieces in a dark mirror maze first and then build the standing puzzle. Kat — who apparently is in Mensa — pulls a quick lead and a win! Unfortunately, this puts her in a bad spot. Cliff is like her dad, and both Jess and Nicole are her friends.

The next morning, Nick comes in to wake up Christie, and she senses that something is wrong … you know, with that intuition of hers. He talks about craving brussels sprouts, and she decides he must be trying to backdoor her. She convinces herself that it’s happening so thoroughly that she starts crying to Kat about it. Like, full-on meltdown crying about it. She even admits she knows she’s “losing it.” But that doesn’t stop her from considering to use her Diamond Power of Veto to stay off the block.

In the end, though, Kat gets to use her Power of Veto, and she pulls Jess off the block. And, surprise, surprise, Nick puts Nicole up. Well, until tomorrow, I’ll be crossing my fingers that Julie will introduce a twist that lets all the Camp Combackers replace four players of America’s choosing. Who would get your vote?

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