After Thursday’s double eviction fiasco, I think most of us thought that half the house would realize what had happened and kick themselves for letting it go down that way. By my – and many other fans’ – estimations, John, Steve, and Vanessa made things much more difficult on themselves by keeping Julia and voting out Meg and James. However, while we don’t really know how John feels in Thursday’s aftermath, it appears as though Vanessa and Steve are actually happy with how things turned out. Now, I’m going to guess that these two filmed their DR sessions after Steve won HoH, so therefore, they had something to be happy about. If things had gone the other way, and Julia or Austin had won the competition, I’m guessing their attitudes would’ve been much different.

And I’m not going to lie. Some small part of me wanted the Austwins to win HoH, just so that the other three could see that they’d made a huge mistake in keeping the Austwins in the game. It would serve them right to lose, one by one, for falsely assuming that MEG of all people was a big threat, simply because she was close with James. Ridiculous.

But, the past is the past. Let’s move on to the present, shall we? When we come out of the eviction, Vanessa and Steve are happy that James is gone, as previously stated, but for some reason, Liz is upset about the situation. So upset that she’s actually in tears, which I find so weird, considering they were all trying so hard to get rid of him just a few minutes before. Is she pulling a Steve and only playing at sadness the way he had during his DE reign? Or is she actually upset that she evicted him? And if so, why? It’s not as if they were ever really that close. In fact, just a little while ago, they were trash talking him about how untrustworthy he was. The tears make no sense, Liz!

Anyway, once Austin calms her down, he goes to Steve, wondering what he’ll do should he become the next HoH (and in my opinion, he talked as if he was already HoH. Ego, Austin? Check it at the door). He knows he’d put up John, but who should he put up next to him? He hedges at putting up Julia, but to me, it seems like he’s hoping that Steve will offer to go up as a pawn to make it easier on Austin. Austin, who ISN’T EVEN HOH YET. Vanessa, on the other hand, tells Austin that if Steve becomes HoH, he’ll probably put the twins up, because he and John are tight. Austin, of course, is upset that his girls could be going home, but he’s got to think of himself. Plus, he really doesn’t care about Julia. Like, at all. She urges him to throw the challenge, and she’ll make sure that John votes with her to get rid of Julia. She’s good at that sort of thing. And he actually seems to be buying it! I still don’t understand how someone who’s been caught in as many lies as Vanessa has can convince these people again and again to follow her. I have to admit, she’s good.

However, she’s a little afraid that Steve won’t target the Austwins if he becomes HoH, though I’m not sure why. If he doesn’t target them, his only other options are John and Vanessa herself, and they’re his main alliance now. I like to think he’s smart enough to see that turning on them would be bad. He assures her that he’s ready to take out the twins if he needs to. And then, to prove he really doesn’t see his mistake on Thursday night, he tells us that he thinks that Austin was incredibly stupid for keeping John over James. And, okay yeah, I think it was a stupid move too, since James probably would’ve gone after Vanessa before the Austwins, but really Steve? You can see Austin’s terrible move, but you couldn’t see your own? Really?

Well, the HoH competition comes around, and the house guests are ready. Vanessa, Steve and John are all eager to move against the Austwins, FINALLY. Liz is convinced that the only person she needs to worry about is John, even though she’s been told more than once that Steve would go after them. Austin knows slightly better, knowing that the other three will probably try to oust him and his girls because that just makes sense. He knows he’s got to fight hard to save his lady love and her sister.

In this game, the house guests are shown a quick procession baseball cards featuring their fellow house guests, past and present, and once they figure out which on is missing, they’ve got to complete a block puzzle depicting the house guest that’s missing. Vanessa has a good strategy in looking at the six sides of the blocks to figure out which house guests are contenders before looking at the cards to figure out which of the six is missing. Unfortunately for her, as she’s working on her puzzle, she forgets there are three more blocks lying around behind her, which have to be used, and by the time she remembers them, she’s the last person to buzz in, so she’s out of the competition.

Now, to me, this seems pretty suspect, as A) these blocks are big and B) you can clearly see that there is enough space in the box for twelve blocks, not nine, so how could she miss them? I’m convinced she threw the challenge so that she wouldn’t have to be the one to go against the Austwins. After all, just last week, she mentioned the fact that these three were the only three she hasn’t pissed off over the course of the summer. That’s the reason she didn’t target them last week, so why would it be any different now? If one of the boys can do her work for her, why bother winning and having to do the work herself?

Anyway, the rounds go quickly. Austin and Julia are the next to go, leaving Steve and John in the final round. Yay for the (stupid but) good guys! It looks like a pretty even race, but then John decides that, since he’s safe this week with Steve pulling the strings, he’d rather be free to compete next week instead. So he gives up, and Steve wins the competition!

Just about everyone except Austin is happy. Julia and Liz are still convinced that Steve will get rid of John for them. Vanessa is extremely happy because now they can target the Austwins, but she won’t be blamed for it. Once one of the three is gone, there will be two duos left, fighting each other, and they’ll forget all about targeting her. Steve himself is happy because he wants to do the dirty work himself this week. He knows that you can’t win just by sliding by. You have to make some big moves in order to win the title. Only Austin seems concerned. He’s pretty sure that Steve will vote against him and his girls.

And he’s right. He goes to Steve to remind him of the Scamper Squad (STILL a stupid name). If Steve stays true to the squad, Austin will do what he can to make sure that Steve stays safe. And Steve finally grows a pair (sort of) and reminds Austin that he’s at the bottom of the totem pole in that alliance and that he’s thinking of putting the twins up. Austin, of course, tries to deny it, but there’s not a whole lot he can say. So he tries a different, even more self-serving tactic. He really doesn’t care if Julia goes home, just as long as he and Liz are safe, so he says that if Steve can make sure that it’s Julia going out the door instead of Liz, Austin will make sure that Steve isn’t voted out next week. He’ll make sure that John and Vanessa go up instead.

Oh, but Steve’s been lied to before. Why, just a couple of weeks ago, Austin promised he wouldn’t put Steve up on the block next to John, and what did Austin do? Put him up next to John, of course! And Austin’s excuse? Oh, well they didn’t shake on it, so it wasn’t official. This, though, this will be iron clad. He’ll make sure that Liz won’t come after him. Of course, Steve doesn’t believe a word Austin says, so he doesn’t agree to a deal. I have to give him credit for smoothly telling Austin they’ll talk about it the next day. Impressive.

Naturally, Austin tells Liz about his conversation with Steve, and Liz tells Julia. And here is where we really see that Austin’s feelings for Liz are much stronger than hers for him. While he’s admitted that he’ll go against Liz if he absolutely has to, she’s immediately ready to cut him if he gets in her way. It’s pretty clear that she won’t hesitate to throw him under the bus if she needs to.

When it’s time for everyone to see his HoH room, the twins are all over Steve, clearly trying to butter him up so that he won’t nominate them. It’s not going to work, girls. Even if he can’t see what you’re doing, John definitely can. Anyone can. They are way over the top.

Vanessa gets a chance to talk to Steve about nominations, and when he tells her that he wants to put the twins up, she counters with a better idea, and for once, I agree with her. She tells him that they’ve got to keep the weakest of the three off the block. So Steve needs to nominate Liz and Austin and keep Julia off. If he nominates the twins, and Austin wins the Veto, he’ll take Liz off the block, and then they’ll both be safe, forcing Steve to nominate John, and then Austin and Liz will vote him out. Julia’s only won one competition, so she’s the least likely to win the Veto, so she needs to stay off the block.

And when Steve talks to John about it, he agrees, though for a slightly different reason. He’s noticed this summer, that Austin and Vanessa are very close. If Liz it out of the picture, then that leaves room for Vanessa and Austin to hook up and go to the final two together. Plus, Julia is also close to Vanessa, which wouldn’t be good for Steve or John. Steve has a hard time with the idea of nominating Austin, since they’ve had a connection all summer too, but he knows he’s got to do it. With Austin out of the way, he says, he’ll ensure that he’s Vanessa’s number one ally.

But that doesn’t mean he wants Austin to go into the nomination ceremony blind. He feels the need to warn him first. So after creeping over a sleeping Austin for about twenty minutes, he finally gets his chance when Austin wakes up. Austin clearly doesn’t buy Steve’s lame reason for why he can’t put the twins up against each other (it’s too much, he says), and it shows him that Steve is gunning for Liz. While he’s not happy with the news, he buys Steve’s assertion that he’s got the votes to save Austin, and that’s enough for him. Liz will just have to understand.

So the nomination ceremony comes around, and Steve indeed nominates Austin and Liz. He sounds like he’s near tears as he gives his speech, but he makes it through, and then Liz gets up and runs away, crying about being nominated. Now, she in particular, has spent the past few weeks badmouthing everyone they’ve put up on the block. Oh, John’s complaining about being nominated? How annoying. Steve’s upset about being put up? Maybe they should send him home instead. Well, I say it looks good on her, and on Austin too. They’re so hypocritical, acting so affronted when someone is upset that they’ve put them on the block, but now that they themselves are on the block? It’s a completely different story. Liz feels so betrayed by Steve, but meanwhile, a couple of weeks ago, they were ready to vote him out of the house. They’ve treated him badly and shown him that they have no loyalty to him, so why should he do anything to save them, especially when their plan is most likely to vote him out immediately after John?

I think this week will be interesting. If Julia somehow manages to win the Veto, John and Steve are screwed. Vanessa sort of is too, but not as much. Vanessa’s hope is that, if Julia does win Veto, she’ll be able to convince her to keep the nominations the same in order to get rid of Austin. I think that would be really interesting to see. Vanessa’s good, but is she that good? I’m not sure. And if both Liz and Austin stay on the block, I have the feeling Austin will go home. It would be better for Vanessa’s game (and to a lesser extent, Steve’s and John’s too) to get rid of Liz, since she’s the lynch pin in that alliance, but now John seems to want Austin out because of his tie to Vanessa. Julia will automatically vote out Austin. And Vanessa will probably follow suit so that she won’t make waves.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be interesting. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait until Wednesday!

– Rebecca