Big Brother 21 – Wednesday Recap for 9/18/19

 

Good eviction morning BB Junkies! We’re less than a week away from knowing the winner of the season. Just when it seemed Cliff was to walk away with nothing except Orwell the stuffed owl hidden in his jacket, he gave his final pitch and gave us a little entertainment. I don’t see him benefiting from it but at least Jackson isn’t happy.

There’s no point in doing my normal format for a recap today because there was only one conversation that mattered. Before that, Cliff taught Nicole how to play gin and Beth got mad over Nicole and Cliff not doing dishes. Beth told Jackson she’d cleaned the entire kitchen after Taco Tueaday and couldn’t believe they didn’t wash the dishes. (If you’ve cleaned the entire kitchen, wouldn’t that include dishes? I’m going to assume she put away the ingredients she used, wiped off the counters and called that cleaning the kitchen) That’s what happened yesterday before Cliff asked to talk to Jackson so I’m going to begin the recap there.

Beth=Holly

Beth was in the DR so Cliff thought it would be a good time to speak with Jackson alone.  It was obvious Jackson was dreading it because he asked Cliff to give him about 5 minutes. Cliff headed to the hoh room while Jackson slowly prepared himself a snack.  It felt like it took forever before he joined Cliff upstairs. Nicole was taking a nap.

Cliff told Jackson he didn’t want to go down without a fight and asked Jackson to hear him out. He started off by telling Jackson he respected him, wanted to be friends after the game and so on.  Jackson told Cliff he was leaning towards keeping Beth. He acknowledged he believed Cliff had always been loyal to him but said he knew Nicole was his #1 and Cliff had put that above his loyalty to Jackson. He said Beth had always been loyal to him. Cliff brought up the deals they’d made, said he didn’t want to rehash it but wanted Jackson to know which specific thing bothered him about it. Cliff said it wasn’t the deal making, it was the fact that Jackson didn’t break it until after he’d won the veto and knew he was safe. Cliff told him he could’ve just told Cliff he didn’t want to make a F3 deal.  Jackson said after they considered going against their 4 and almost kept Tommy, he changed the way he was playing the game. He said at that point, he had a right to make deals and break them. Cliff tried to get Jackson to admit Beth was always his F2 person but Jackson stuck with saying that only happening after he felt like Cliff abandoned him last week. He told Cliff he should’ve given him the one vote he needed, regardless of what Nicole was trying to do.

Cliff said he still felt the handshake between he and Jackson alone should’ve meant something and the two of them alone making a pact was different from the four of them saying they’d work together to get to 4. He told Jackson after the show, he’d see Cliff on camera telling Nicole he planned to honor his part and take Jackson to the final 3 if he had won the veto. (We all know this conversation because we’ve been hearing it all week. Basically they were debating which came first, the chicken or the egg)

Jackson managed to argue (quite well) every point Cliff was making. Cliff addressed them one by one and once they had agreed to disagree over one point, Cliff would move on to the next one. There was talk of why Cliff was having to pay the price for the move Nicole tried to make. Jackson told him again, he wanted it to be Cliff in the F3 but Nicole was the one who couldn’t be evicted this week because Cliff made Beth throw the hoh to her. (True) Jackson said it never should’ve happened and if it hadn’t, Nicole would be going home.

Cliff reminded him he was the one who convinced Nicole to keep Beth. He said, in order to keep everyone happy, he felt the deal to throw the hoh was necessary so Nicole didn’t feel left out. Cliff also tried to ask Jackson why he talked so much about wanting Cliff, Nicole and Jackson to go to the F3 if he’d planned to keep Beth. Jackson started talking about how he had to make whatever deals he could since they almost betrayed the 4. (This didn’t explain why Jackson was saying the F3 stuff to them BEFORE they almost evicted Beth. This went nowhere because Jackson wasn’t going to admit any fault to anything)

Cliff could see he was losing him and for a minute, I thought Cliff was going to give up on the real reason he was talking to him. He didn’t give up and told Jackson his word meant something. He said the way he saw it, he kept his word and Beth kept her word so Jackson was the only person who didn’t. He told Jackson he hoped it didn’t make him mad and it was purely a game move, but he would vote for Beth if she and Jackson were the F2 because she kept her word to him. Cliff said he and Nicole already discussed it and she felt the same way so he’d lose her vote too. (He had Nicoles permission to say this) Cliff brought up Nick probably going along with them and said he’d  be in jury and would most likely have influence over others as well. He told Jackson “if you don’t have votes from Nicole and me, you’ll have to get votes from 5 of the 7 people who are in the jury right now.” He asked Jackson if he’d  thought about the votes. He also said if Jackson sent Beth to jury, he’d have her vote and she would campaign for him to win as opposed to Cliff campaigning for Beth to win.

Jackson had been very talkative throughout the conversation but the moment Cliff brought up his vote, Jackson never spoke. He just sat there fuming. When they were done, Cliff asked for a hug, told Jackson it wasn’t personal and said he hoped they’d remain friends outside of the game. Jackson told him he had a lot to think about and said he was going to take a shower. Cliff left and Jackson was pissed. He talked to himself saying “unf*cking believable.” He mumbled about being threated with jury votes and took his angry shower.

Cliff told Nicole everything they talked about and Nicole debated what her next move should be, if any. They heard Jackson heading downstairs so they split up. Jackson banged around the kitchen, was furious and waited for Beth to get out of the DR.  He began stress eating and had a fight with the frig. He was closing it hard enough that he dislodged a shelf and had to fix it:

Nicole’s face when she noticed he was having a tantrum:

Jackson angry shuffled cards while he waited for Beth:

 

Once Beth was out of the DR and about to start dinner, Jackson took her up to the have not room and filled her in on the things Cliff told him.

Beth started saying “bullshit.” She said she had a feeling that’s what Cliff would do as a last ditch effort.  Jackson said “he strongarmed me in a corner and threatened me and is going to take away a half million dollars.” Beth said “great, say that in your f*cking speech.” He told her Cliff said he’d be in the jury for 6 days campaigning against him. (No, he won’t actually) Jackson said (very sarcastically) “you’ll get their votes for holding up your end of the deal but I won’t for not holding up my end.” Beth said it was Cliffs desperate last attempt but when it comes down to it, he’ll vote for Jackson. Jackson said it just made his decision so much easier and his speech won’t be nice either.  Jackson said he wasn’t going to be strongarmed  and backed in a corner.

Beth brought up the comment Cliff made at dinner the night before about having to vote for one of them and said it made her think he might try this. Jackson said “sounds to me, if I’m sitting next to you, you’ve won half a million.” He also said he shouldn’t lose a half a million dollars for staying loyal to Beth. Beth said “that’s bullshit and it pisses me off.” (The absurdity of that pissing her off shouldn’t be lost) He told her if she wanted to let the meat marinate and save it for the next night, he didn’t have much of an appetite. (That’s when I knew he was super pissed)

Beth started in on the bullying stuff again. (She thinks everything is bullying)  She was very upset for Jackson but on the inside, surely she’s  telling herself “cha ching!” (At no time during this, did Jackson seem to grasp he was insulting Beth because in his mind, this is already his money and someone is trying to steal it from him and worse, give it to someone undeserving)

Cliff was called to the DR and here’s Jackson watching him as he went in:

Nicole camera talked about what a big baby Jackson was being and said he could dish it out but he couldn’t take it. She made her ‘I’m a big man imitation.’

While Cliff was in the DR, Nicole told Jackson he looked like he needed a hug (time for someone else to be gaslighted a little bit) so she gave him one. Jackson told Nicole about Cliff threatening his vote. He said he’d never do that to Cliff and said he sealed his fate with that conversation and he’s leaving. Nicole remained in a good mood, decided to help Beth with dinner and surprisingly, Beth was a little more chipper too. She was also very nice to Nicole. (Haha, something tells me Beth’s gonna want to be friends with Nicole again) Beth needed more coconut milk for dinner and Nicole eagerly offered to head to the storage room for it. Once in there, Nicole started laughing and scolded herself for it.

She said she didn’t mean to laugh but said Jackson’s done everything he’s accusing Cliff of doing to other people. She said he wants to be the martyr and make up excuses for everything  he does. She said he’s threatened and strongarmed people all season so she doesn’t really care. She said “I’m done, I’m done.”

Beth cooking dinner and her version of depressed on Jacksons behalf:

Some other moments from last night:

• Cliff feeling proud of himself as he had to change clothes and go back into the DR for round 2. (They make them do this a lot so the clothes match whatever time they’re talking about)
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• Jackson holding his blankie probably thinking “where’s mama?”
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• While Jackson was in the DR, Nicole thanked Beth for keeping her word with their deal. She said she can’t respect Jackson having so many excuses instead of just saying that he’s keeping Beth. (Nicole knows this will get back to him)
• Jackson kicked around the idea of using the veto on Beth so she’d have to be the one to evict Cliff. (Haha, he won’t do this if for no other reason, he’ll want to sell his “reasons” one more time)
• Nicole told Cliff if she ends up in jury, her vote for Jackson will depend on whether or not he can own his decisions. (She’s gotten a little lost on this word keeping crap but at the core, she’s a gamer. That’s what most fans want, play your game and even play dirty, just OWN IT)
• Cliff said he fully expects to be voted out but said it was worth the try.

I’m with Cliff and expect him to be evicted this evening. He had the right idea but really bad execution.  Trying to break up a shomance probably has about a 1% chance of working but with this particular couple, I’d have given it about a 10% chance if Cliff had done earlier and done it a different way. He needed to do it early to give it time to fester. Since he’s the one threatening to take away Jackson’s money, he’s the enemy right now. With more time, (and Jackson’s personality) if Cliff had dropped this info and walked away days ago, there was time for Beth to become the enemy. Maybe Jackson would’ve started resenting her and they might have argued which could have turned into something. Even if they didn’t argue, he could’ve still began to see her as the one remaining obstacle between him and 500k. I don’t think he would have evicted her but with more time, I could absolutely see him try to get her to take one for the team and volunteer. (Where her heads been lately, she might have done it)

Cliff should’ve let go of all the other mess about breaking deals, handshakes, keeping your word and got right to the point. All of Cliffs soft selling and leading up to saying he wouldn’t vote for him, made it seem even more of a threat, instead of a negotiation.

The last thing I think Cliff should have done was go further than throwing Nicks name out as an example. Instead of saying I won’t vote for you, he should have started off by asking Jackson if he’d actually taken time to think about the votes. He could have named off different people and given a legitimate reason why they might not vote for him over Beth. He could’ve circled back to adding Nicole and himself as votes. He needed it to be more about whether or not Jackson had given thought to being able to beat Beth. Sure, Cliff was still threatening his vote but he would’ve been giving Jackson other people’s votes to worry about too.

Beth may have woken up and being reminded that this isn’t Jacksons money yet, might make her fight for it. Who knows? Maybe she’ll cut Jackson. (Ya, I know, not happening) This might also help Nicole because Jackson may start counting those votes and decide he has to take Nicole to F2. I doubt it, but hey, this game isn’t over yet. If Josh can win BB19, Nicole isn’t out yet.

Using your jury vote is a legitimate strategy. It’s usually the last resort but that’s where they’re at right now. I don’t have a problem with it, only the execution. I also don’t  have an issue with Nicole joining in because she’s in the F3. They can’t do anything to her since she has to win or leave anyway. She’d rather fight one person instead of two at the end.  No matter what happens today, I’m just going to enjoy how pissed off Jackson is at the moment.

Have a great Thursday!

Mel