BB28 Thursday Live Feed Update July 16, 2026

Hello everyone and good morning. Welcome to our live feed update for July 16th. I'm your host Ear Armstrong and I'm here to update you on everything that happened yesterday on the Big Brother 28 live feeds. It was day nine in the house and a lot going on. There's a lot of chaos from the night before. The plan had changed to keep Ashley and things went a little haywire with that. We have new plans for the eviction. We have all kinds of mess to report on. And with me to talk about it all is Rob Cesternino. How you doing, Rob?

>> There's a twist. There's a survivor player on the live feed update now. Oh no.

>> Oh no.

>> Yes. But no, I'm so excited. This is the first time I've joined you on the live feed update, I believe, since Big Brother 21. So, this is I have a seven-year itch every time to come to the back to the live feed update. So, I'm so excited to be here on our first eviction day.

>> Yes. Uh and there's and there's plenty to talk about as well. Uh, seven years being Big Brother 21 is that's Yeah. Okay.

>> Yes. Uh, where did the time go? But we could say the same thing about this first week.

>> Yes. Yes. Uh, well, as everybody knows, D is the HOH. She initially nominated Mallerie Taylor. Yash Mallerie won the veto. Ashley went up in her place the night before yesterday on day eight. um the crossovers and the Red Corner Alliance had kind of come together and agreed that keeping Ashley was a priority. And this is something that we had talked about on the podcast that if if anything, keeping Ashley makes the most amount of sense for the crossovers because she's the least connected player. and Taylor is connected to Lala who's connected to Jason and Rome and that whole group where they have like the least amount of connections themselves. Uh they've basically realized that and came to the conclusion that they should keep Ashley. But in the process they were pretty messy about how they wanted to do it. They spent uh and I say they, it was primarily Drew, uh Barrett, and D, though Angela was with there with them at that uh at some points as well, talking to Ashley, coaching her up together as a trio, or more so as uh like a duo with with Drew on the outside.

>> Rob a little bit like um like Bryce in the in the in the house

>> when the bombshell came.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> Um and uh and telling Ashley what to do, how to say things, who to go to, and uh and it genuinely I think in Ashley's mind, telling her like, "Oh, let people know that you have some backing and that there are sides and that you, you know, they should vote with you on those sides." It immediately led to Ashley talking to Taylor and letting her know that there's a whole side that wants to keep her that is like not keep her in that in the conversation with Ashley but or with Taylor but that there is a side and that it consists of Kamu Haley Chuck uh Angela Dans Barrett Drew. Um, and that's a bad thing for Ashley to be saying. And it's a bad thing to have given Ashley that information in any capacity. We knew that, but it seemed like, you know, Taylor took that and she talked to Angela and she was like, "You're not going to vote me out, are you?" And Angel's like, "Of course not." And was like, "Okay, it didn't really go anywhere. It seems like this might this might just be fine, Rob."

>> Yeah. It seems like maybe in hindsight, looking back at this, maybe you could just keep Ashley. You don't need to have Ashley campaign for anything. You had the votes to keep her. And so we have watched Ashley play for a week now. Maybe not the most gifted big brother player. Maybe don't set her loose in the house to try to campaign on her own behalf. Especially Drew and Barrett with D. like linking those three together is exactly and and then saying like that they're you know that they need to get the votes of uh of Chuck and Haley and Kamu. It like it links everything together. Where are those votes coming from? And and it just it gave Ashley what she thought was the information that she should be do giving away according to what was being told to her. Um, and uh, and so yes, the the ultimate thing here is uh, and this is what I talked about yesterday. I felt like they had the the information, they had the the influence to go and do this on their own. They did not need to do this with Ashley, but it's what they decided to do.

So we so we start the day. Uh, another story from yesterday, from the day before, of course, was that uh, it was, you know, do we trust Drew? Do we trust Drew's information? And by the end of the night, Angela had been feeling like, "Okay, I apologize, Barrett and D. I shouldn't have been so suspicious of Drew." Uh, but Angela wakes up in the morning and she goes to D and she's like, "But do you think he's really telling us everything?"

>> Yeah.

>> Very uh I don't know if this bug is going to go away. It does seem like it's a constant question. Um, with Duin, I think with other pieces of information that Angela is going to, she's not saying there's conspiracies. She's just asking questions and she is a a true skeptic of almost anything that she gets in the house.

>> Listen, you want to just believe what everything Big Drew tells you?

>> Yeah. Yeah. That's what they want you to think. don't be naive.

>> Mhm.

>> Um D kind of talks her down. Uh and they have another conversation later as well where uh De's kind of like, you know, it's like we should be listening more. Uh and you've you've taught me, you know, some things too, like uh you've really been coaching me up, Angela. And Angel's like, "No, I can only tell you what not to do." That was what I gave you advice for. I gave you advice for what not to do as HOH. Um, and after D leaves, Angela's just by herself, like I can't I've got to do better. I've got to do better. I can't be so paranoid. I need to be a good alliance. Be a good alliance, Angela. Yeah, Angela is really giving us a lot in terms of her internal monologue, which uh we really do appreciate. She doesn't get the credit for some of the other people get for their cam talking, but the Angela self-talking is also really hitting.

>> Yes. Yes. She doesn't talk to us. She talks to herself

>> out loud.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. Um, so Ashley begins her campaigning for the day in earnest and this is bad news and it's really like this might have been able to be nipped in the bud here uh the night before when Taylor went to Angela with Ashley's pitch. The the problem is that Angela when bringing that to the rest of the crossovers the night before was more concerned about uh as was Taylor more concerned about like that relationship Angela and Taylor and not really mentioning the idea that Ashley was pitching this larger group and that's because it didn't land with Taylor very much and so it didn't get communicated to to Angela as much but if they had recognized that was what was happening they might have been able to go to Ashley to stop her from doing what she was about to do. But she goes to Lyric and Mallalerie and pitches them the idea that there are sides of the house. And now this is it's it's been very confusing for people I think exactly what happened and why. Um, but basically in Ashley's mind based on the conversation that happened the night before, she sees again the mega alliance, which does now exist that I was calling the Red Cross, uh, of the crossovers and the red corner, as votes for her to keep her against the, you know, the Roman Empire, uh, Rome and his people. Um, and Ashley has a good relationship with the women, the trio of women, Mallerie, Melody, and Lyric, and felt like I can pull these women uh over to the other side with me. They get them on board to vote with me so that they're in the majority, which already exists because I've already been told by the swing votes like Drew and Barrett, that I'm good. So, let me campaign because this is what they were saying to do. Talk to the women about being with them and say there's this big side doing this. So, she makes this pitch to Lyric and Mallerie, but of course, all it really does is panic Lyric. Oh my god, there's another side of the house. Yeah, Ashley probably. I don't know if she flies a lot, but when you're on the plane, they tell you to, you know, make sure you put your own face mask on before you start trying to help other people. And I do feel like that she from a good place is trying to help her friends. Uh, but in the process is not doing a lot of great work for herself. help her friends. I think while helping herself in the sense that like

>> by by letting them know this that they will come on board and vote to keep her. Uh for sure. Now this is another big like uhoh alarm bells are ringing. Now L is worried. L does go to Rome and says I'm worried that there are sides. I'm hearing that there are sides. And Rome's like nah there's not sides. That's not that's not a thing. those people are Devons is with us like don't worry about I've talked to Devon like uh he kind of like settles her down like this is not that big of a deal actually um and uh and we don't need to worry. So once again it doesn't really go anywhere. Lyric is uh is is sort of quelled here and um and and and nothing nothing bad is going to happen.

>> Okay. So far so good.

>> So far so good. In fact, things are looking kind of up because uh in terms of the plan, just to make this clear, the plan to keep Ashley requires a couple of extra votes because the Red Cross grouping, right, they don't want to expose the fact that they're all working together all the sides. It's why this is bad news that Ashley might be talking about them as a group. Um but they only have the votes to make it a tie uh without anybody else. and de does not want to break a tie against Taylor. She's given Taylor her word even though she first gave Yosh her word. Um and and and in particular like doesn't want to ruin her relationships with people like Jason and Lala and whoever else. Uh so she wants to break a tie in favor of Taylor even though she wants Taylor to go and Ashley to stay. So they need a couple of extra votes to not only prevent from being in that position but also to just hide the grouping that they are in. shouldn't be too hard considering they have a few parachutes here and there. Mallerie, Melody, uh, and and maybe even a couple of other stray votes. Um, and uh, and Mallerie and Melody are both kind of like very open to keeping Ashley. In fact, Melody in the morning kind of wants Ashley to stay, but doesn't know if the votes are there. However, Lyric is a little bit worried about Ashley staying because she's worried about there being sides. And so Lyric tries to talk Melody into the the idea of like I think we should actually not keep Ashley around. I think that uh Taylor is more uh important to like what we have going on especially because we're working with Rome and we're you know we have a good relationship with Jason and Jason is with LA and LA's with with Taylor and we wouldn't want to make any of them mad and this kind of lands with Melody early in the morning and so Melody is still still kind of like ruminating on this when she talks to Drew and Drew is in the mindset of time to convince Melody to vote for Ashley to stay, except his plan is still a little bit like, but I'll do it last minute. Uh, so she brings up the vote and he's kind of like, yeah, I feel like it could be a game time decision, you know? Like, I just want to be in the majority. Like, he's not trying to convince her that there's any value in one person or another. He's trying to convince her to just like not make a decision until literally the two minutes after the blockbuster,

>> right?

>> Which is just not going to happen. And so she ends up kind of pitching like, "Well, I was kind of feeling like it like Ashley should go." Uh, and he's like, "Oh, yeah. No, I mean, yeah, whatever the majority thinks." Probably like a game time decision.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Drew is in such an interesting spot this week. uh as somebody who is, you know, playing the middle as this like big question is starting to emerge around Ashley.

>> Yes.

>> Um and to make things worse for Drew here, like because Barrett has spent so much time with D, he has at this point in the day at least kind of lost some of the influence he had. Like he should have been spending all that time with Mallerie the yesterday or the day before. Um but instead he was glued to D. And so Drew's kind of been left alone to solo carry the influence of the entire other side of the house. Um and he just doesn't have it like uh for as much knowledge as some of these players have. They don't have a lot of experience. And uh and and they don't have experience of like how to influence people to do what they want. I think uh you know this was an issue that we had with with Vince and with Zach. uh last season that like they had good connections, but they didn't know how to exert their influence. They were very passive players. And we're seeing a little bit of that from uh from like Drew and Barrett here where they hear they hear somebody express an opinion and they go,

>> "Well, that's their opinion. That's what they that's what they think."

>> Uh instead of thinking, "Okay, how do I convince them otherwise?" Um, and so Drew is just like trying to stay stave back like just let's just wait. Let's just wait until the game time decision. Um, and uh and you know at this point it's kind of fine. It's not that big of a deal. There's plenty of time to convince her otherwise. Um,

>> yeah, he's really like uh the master of whisperers. Uh, it's giving Varys in the house.

>> Yeah. Uh, he he really I mean he's Yeah. the traitor of secrets here. Um, now earlier in the day, Melody had been talking to Mallerie and Mallerie continues to express that she doesn't really trust Drew. And so, Melody actually gives Drew a heads up like, "Malerie's not really trusting you a whole lot." Uh, and this is going to be important just a bit in a little bit later. Um, and then the Mal the Melody Drew conversation uh kind of switches to a lyric Rome Melody Drew conversation. They've been talking about building a four-person alliance together for a little while. Drew has already exposed this to the crossovers and Rome has already exposed this to Mama's Angels. So, uh, before it even started, it was already exposed, but they're now officially coming together. Uh, they call this alliance the Four Seasons.

>> Yeah, probably huge fans of the Tina Fey Netflix series.

>> Who wouldn't be? Uh um Rome is winter cuz he's like Jon Snow.

>> Okay.

>> Uh um Drew is fall. Um Lyric is spring and Melody is summer.

>> Okay,

>> there you go. Um

>> dispute it. So, uh, so they talk about the vote and because Lyric is already on that page, uh, they're all kind of talking about how they're obviously going to be keeping Taylor, uh, and, um, and probably evicting Ashley. Uh, although, you know, evicting Ashley at this point is still sort of secondary to evicting Yosh. Like Yash is still kind of primary target, number one, Ashley secondary target. when they talk about evicting Ashley, it's usually against Taylor. Um, so, uh, so again though, Drew is kind of like, "Yeah, you know, I do want to be in the majority. That's what I care about." Um, and so, uh, Drew is feeling at this point like, "All right, you know, we got to make some progress, uh, eventually, but right now, I'm just kind of holding off the, uh, the forces, uh, of of Taylor protection." Um, but then Rob, this is when things finally get bad because Ashley goes and makes her pitch to Melody.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. And it's a similar pitch, but this time it was it's really like and again, you have to understand in Ashley's mind, Drew was with Barrett and D giving her advice on how to stay. Drew himself giving her marching orders about sides and you should go talk to these people. And everyone by design sees Drew as his like his number one is Melody. And so Ashley thought Melody was already clued in to this whole thing. Uh and she's like, "Yeah, so uh like I don't know if you've been clued in yet, but you know, this is what I'm hearing. I've got all these people um and I think you should come on board like if you haven't already. And she and Melody's like, "What are you talking about?" She's like, "Oh, you haven't like Drew didn't tell you like what do you mean?" He's like, "Yeah, Drew was like leading the charge. He was telling me all these things like he was saying that we've got like two sides and uh I was talking with these people and it's and it's you know, she names all the people. Um and Melody's like, "Well, yeah, I haven't I haven't heard about this. Uh you're like Drew was there. Um she's like, "Yeah, yeah." You know, and and so I think that like you should come on board with me and we should join this side. We'll have the numbers. Uh and and and you know, it all it'll all be great. And Melody's just like, "Oh my god."

>> Yeah. Yeah. This was a very funny conversation to watch. Uh like because Ashley speaking as the nominee is really speaking from uh like her pitch to Melody is like hey like I I don't want to see you get left out of like this is going to be because this is happening. The trains left the station. You better you better get on board.

>> Yeah. Which again like I you can see where she's coming from. But it was a very bad way to pitch this because it really it really sparked a lot of fear in Melody who who really like isn't that well positioned on the Rome side of things either and kind of is in a spot where like she like in a perfect world she's playing with Drew to play the middle. Yeah. Um, but because Drew is not bringing her in on any of the middle play, uh, she's kind of getting trapped on one side and, uh, and unable to work any of the other side and therefore is,

>> you know, also probably one of the most active and game-minded players on the Rome side of things. And so despite like Taylor and Lyric and Mallerie and Rome all hearing about this, it's Melody that realizes, "Oh my god, this is a huge issue. We need to raise the banners." Um, and you know, and she's probably like the last person that should be raising the banners for that side. But she's the only one that recognizes that this is actually very dangerous

>> because they want to keep her. If they want to keep her, we shouldn't want her.

>> Exactly. Uh, so Melody starts to freak out and goes to look for Drew. While she's doing this, while this conversation was happening, Drew was upstairs doing another bad thing for Melody, which was immediately going and talking to Mallerie about how he's heard that she doesn't trust him. Uh, and this information had just come from Melody, which who had just been told it from Mallerie. Uh, so the chain of uh, custody on this information is pretty obvious. Um, and he's just like, "Yeah, I've heard you. You like you said you didn't trust me." And they just have this like kind of clearing the air conversation. Mallerie completely denies it. Uh, eventually comes around to this idea that uh like, "Oh, maybe somebody like Haley, who is the house scapegoat, uh, talked to me about like, "How do you feel about Drew?" And I was just like, "Oh, I don't know because I don't want to because I don't trust Haley. I'm not going to tell Haley anything." Um, and so they they kind of like figure that out and and Mallerie says like, "I totally think we're good. Like, we're the Outcasts, a hot tub crew." And Drew's like, "Yeah, that's what I thought, too." Um, and so they're busy having that conversation. Mallerie finally finds Drew up in the up in the gym. That's where they've been having the conversation. She's been looking everywhere for him because she needs to question him about what in the hell Ashley was talking about. She finds him with Mallalerie and uh is like she's trying to give him the eyes, right? She's trying to give him like the like Yeah. So, what are you two? Yeah. So, you two are talking about how Oh, clearing up that you don't trust. Okay. Thanks, Drew. Uh and she's so clearly pissed in this convers pissed that he's clearly like divulging the fact that she already told him that Mallerie doesn't trust him. clearly pissed that she wants to talk to him because she thinks he might be playing her after all that all of that Ashley information trying to get him alone, but Mallerie won't leave and he won't end the conversation. So, she eventually just dips. She's like, "All right, I'll leave." Um, and uh, you know, just just heads out and goes downstairs and finds Rome instead and tells Rome everything. Now, Rome's already kind of heard this, but she specifically says, "And apparently Drew was part of it. I don't know, like I don't know if we can trust him. I don't know if I can trust Drew."

>> Yeah. Um, very good question. Uh, because Drew is everywhere. He is. And this is like, you know, this is this is very dangerous. Again, going to Rome, uh, and Rome hearing this information, like if Rome was the figurehead that a lot of people fear he is, like this would be terrible. Uh, luckily for Drew and the rest of them, Rome, despite being very influential in the house, uh, and very liked, um, not super game focused, uh, if it doesn't have to do with his relationship with Lyric.

>> Yeah,

>> he's not that into it.

>> It's hard to have a work life balance, Taran. You know this. And so for Rome, he's juggling a lot. He's got a new relationship at the same time.

>> It's He really is like um he's like a Johnny Bravo in the like he very much is just like just there to have a good time. Uh lots of people coming like people really overestimate him in terms of how game focused he is and yet almost underestimate him in terms of how influential he is. this whole thing happened like the entire reason why any of this is happening aside from the the messiness with the Ashley stuff. Um but the reason there's any amount of push back at all is because Rome just kind of decided he was like yeah I think Ashley should definitely go over Taylor and Yash should probably go over Ashley. And because he just kind of like decided that an entire side of the house decided like that's what we must do. Uh and to go against this is to go against Rome and therefore we'd be drawing lines in the sand.

>> He's too much of an alpha tar that people are just all the betas and submissives are just seeding their power to Rome.

>> Yeah. He later declares him himself president of the house. Uh so um so this is dangerous of course but ultimately not that bad that she goes to Rome because Rome doesn't really go anywhere with it. But she does eventually find Drew alone um and is like are you are you playing me?

>> Yeah.

>> What what do you mean? What do you mean? It's like why why is Ashley coming to me saying that you are part of a side that is trying to keep her and like draw lines in the sand and and like you know take out Taylor. Um and he's like whoa what are you talking No. That's not that's not what's happening.

>> Nar this is when they're they're playing pool during this. Okay. Uh, I found that like I think this is a bad sign where she's asking like very pointed questions about the alliance and what he heard. I feel like that he like takes a while to like he's very focused on like the business of the pool game. Like he takes a long time to answer like any question that's about the actual game of Big Brother. And I feel like that that's that's a bad sign.

>> It is a bad sign. I will say that the the nature of where they were having the conversation

>> middle of the day,

>> gave him a little bit of cover, which I think he was intentionally using. Uh cuz when you're out in the backyard, you kind of have to like pretend like you're not talking game. And uh and so you have to kind of be like uh like, you know, you're doing your oh look, I'm doing a like uh or uh that's that's literally what Melody was doing. I was like, "What?" Okay. Um, and then uh and then like doing the pool and then of course Barrett comes over as well

>> and starts to uh to talk with them as well about this. But but basically she she she questions him and he he denies even really knowing what she's talking about. Uh she says, "Are you with them? Are you with that side and you're playing me?" And he goes, "No, no, of course not. Uh like I I'm not keeping Ashley. Like that's not even I don't even know what she's talking about. Um and uh and and I you know I'm being vague about what he says because he doesn't really even have a good denial. Yeah. He really just starts to uh I this is I call this uh word salading.

>> Wording where Yes. where like

>> you know you just kind of keep talking until it gets confusing about what's even being talked about. Um, and even though Ashley told Melody specifically about what happened in the conversation, relatively specifically about what happened and specifically named Drew as part of the conversation, Drew was able to say like, I wasn't ever in a room with Ashley. Like, I was never in in that room. I don't know if she's using my name or anything like that. Um, and I think that Melody comes around to believing that story just because she's remembering the conversation wrong with this. was a lot to take in. And now she's hearing a lot from Drew. Uh, and he's essentially like the the ultimate conclusion they try to come to here is this is just this is just a nominee doing their nominee thing. You know, you know how it is. You know, you're a nominee and you're just like, "No, I do have the numbers. I swear." And you start naming a bunch of people. uh like that's I think that's probably what's going on here. And so Drew and then subsequently Barrett who joins the conversation as well try to both angle it in that direction um to to kind of calm Melody down and in the conversation itself it starts to work. But she's not going to let this go. Uh, and she's not going to let the idea go that like now Ashley definitely needs to like there's no way we can keep Ashley if the other if there's even a chance that the other side are going to vote to keep her in order to strike at us at like at this side then we need we can't be with and the thing is they think they have you Drew and they think you they have you too Barrett. They're like well they yeah they don't have us. Well then then then we have the numbers then they don't have the numbers to do this. The only reason they think they have the numbers to do this because they think they have you. So, we're good. We can get rid of Ashley.

>> Yeah, it's a tough spot for these guys because that that we know about their role in the crossovers and how that they have already made up your mind with you also with the red circle that okay, they are definitely keeping Ashley, but Melody like really point blank gets both of them to say that they're going to now vote out Ashley. They're definitely voting out Ashley. So, a real crossroads uh for them.

>> Yeah, it's they basically just got snared in their own trap. Uh and instead of like subtly trying to influence the vote and masking who's even behind it, it's now become deadly obvious that if any of them vote to keep Ashley that they are declaring war. uh ex and now but now a problem that they have that they're going to have to solve throughout the day is that if they don't vote to keep Ashley they're kind of declaring war in the other direction to the to the red corner. So uh so they're they're again just both kind of being like yeah we just want to make sure we're in the majority though just like maybe last minute game time decision. Uh and she's like no we can't like we need we need to be the majority at this point. We are the swing votes. Uh, and they're like, "Oh, right. Yeah, okay." Because they are. And that's the problem. It's they are completely exposed. Um, there was one point that Drew made that maybe could have worked, which was like, "Why don't we just pick up Ashley ourselves?" And she's like, "Okay, okay, wait, no, that could make some sense, but it doesn't really go anywhere." Um, and so, uh, so this is bad news and Drew is going to immediately start spreading this to the crossovers in the Red Corner that like Ashley told Melody all of our names and now Melody's spreading it everywhere and she wants Ashley gone. And honestly, at this point, screw Ashley. I think we should just vote her out. I can't believe she did this to us.

>> Yeah, Ashley really becomes uh the uh real pariah in the retelling of this and uh this is not going to go well for Ashley. No. Uh and and I you know there's a lot of dunking on Ashley in the house from this point forward. There's been a lot of dunking on Ashley that I've seen online as well. Uh, and very fair a lot of it. But I do want to just reiterate that like she did do what she thought she was told to do by Drew and Barrett and D uh who were very messy and very unclear about what exactly she was supposed to be doing in the first place. And the message she got that was sent to her should never have been sent to her. She should never have been directed to do this anyway. And so the fact that they are now like I can't believe she would do this after basically telling her to do it is like it's rough. It's rough for Ashley though she still should have known better.

>> You know she has to play her own game too. Like she it's like uh you know the other players told her to go you know jump off of the top of the big brother backyard. Should she do it? I completely agree that and that is where like you know if if we're talking to Ashley on Friday morning I'm gonna be like

>> did you think it was a good idea to name a whole side like

>> Yeah. But I've really I've come around to if if it is Ashley that goes home tonight because I think that like this group I feel like we've been talking about this like nobody here I felt like was playing that bad. Nobody here felt like a first boot. But now, like after this day has started to uh come together the way that it is, I'm starting to see the vision of Ashley as a Big Brother first boot of I think that we will think of her as the person. Remember the girl, she never ate a hamburger before and then she told everybody that she was safe and she wasn't. Like it it's starting to coalesce for me as I could I could see her as a first boot. Rob, she she gave up her never eating a burger status for this show and she's gonna go out first week.

>> It'll be so memorable.

>> She'll never be able to tell that as a fun fact ever again. It's on national television.

>> She can say, "I only ate one burger ever and it was in the Big Brother house."

>> So Drew goes around, he starts saying like, "I think maybe Ashley just needs to go." But despite the initial frustration uh as a reaction to hearing about this, people like Angela and Kamu and Haley and all of these people are saying that's really annoying, but we still need to keep her. So the the idea is that they still need to keep. The problem is for Drew and Barrett, there's no way to keep her at this point without completely exposing themselves. So uh so that's not really okay for their games. Um, now while all this is happening, there's some other stuff going on, of course. Um, Jason's been having a rough morning, uh, and a bit of an emotional morning. And, uh, what's funny is that he's genuinely starting to come around on Angela as a person because of Angela really turning on the charm, knowing that Jason was playing her. He there's something about like a dream that like Rome has or Lala has and he's like I would never betray them. I'm so I I love them so much. Um and he actually cries to Angela. Uh like you know he's like Angela I really hope that you know that Haley can't convince you to not like me because Haley's just like spreading things and you know I just I've just been really feeling rough this morning. And Andrew's like, "No, no, Jason. No, don't be paranoid. That's what I was like on season 26. You know, don't do that. You know, you're doing you're doing a great job, Jason. Uh like, you're going to you're going to be fine. Like I'm I know." I'm just like, "No, don't cry. Don't cry." Uh and he's like, "Oh, thank you so much, Angela." And they hug and he leaves and she goes, "I'm doing a great job of convincing him that he has me in his pocket."

>> Yes.

>> Yeah. But that's the same thing that he did to her the other day. So, you know, he's like the boy who cried wolf. Like, you can't right do fake crying to Angela and then they like, "You're not my mom." And then and then do real crying to Angela and and expect it to be real.

>> Exactly. She She like She's literally like, "I see what he's doing now. He's trying so hard. Uh but I've got his number now and I'm uno reversecarding him." And all he had to do was just not tell people that he was doing fake crying to Angela,

>> right?

>> And it would be fine.

>> Yes. Um, Mallerie also is going around. She talks to Barrett who is finally getting back to work. He's like unstuck himself from D. Uh, and he's talking to Mallerie about the vote. Um, and she was open to the idea of keeping Ashley. In fact, she kind of wants Ashley to stay. uh which could theoretically be that other vote they have. But even then, even if they had Mallalerie, they both need to vote that way, which is still exposing their games at this point. So, it's still a rough spot to be in. Um she's talking to Barrett now. She has told multiple people she doesn't trust Drew, but Barrett's one of those people. Um and Mel Melody's the one of the other people. But to to Barrett, she's like, I don't even know where he would get this idea. I think I think maybe it was Haley. um to Lyric later she says, "I think Melody told Drew about me not trusting him." Uh so she does know despite the uh denials. Um and you know, Lyric is actually kind of like we do need to be a little careful with Melody. The two of them bond a little bit. Like Lyric, you know, she she's she's got some instincts here as well. Um, and uh, she now has kind of separate two, like final two-ish deals with both uh, Melody and Mallerie. I don't know why she would put herself in that position because she's bound to make a mistake. I I can vouch for that. Uh, so we'll see what comes there. But, uh,

>> well, if you're working with both of them, then there's less of a likelihood like it doesn't it's it's like it's not like she has two fake alliances, right?

>> No. No. She's it's it's it's like what uh Memphis tried to do at the end of All Stars like uh

>> and the other thing

>> I can never remember what they want the gentlemen or something. Um and and one of the one of the alliances was with Christmas um and he just called two alliances the gentlemen. Just like just call both alliances the same thing and then you'll the wise guys. Thank you. That's it.

>> Wise guys. Yes.

>> Um I knew it was gendered because it was because one of them included Christmas and I thought that was funny. Um anyway, uh D and Drew talk uh and Drew lets her know about what's happening with the Ashley situation and the melody situation and uh and this is like Drew is finally getting some traction here basically. And I thought this was actually a pretty fascinating conversation when it comes to strategic analysis because you know we talk a lot about like if you have a number on the block, you have an ally on the block like keep them even like even if it means you have to like push really hard or expend a little capital like having that number is really really important. But and they recognized that but they were also like but is Ashley even that much of a number for us? She clearly was just went rogue and exposed our whole thing. uh is having is taking away a number from the quote unquote other side and keeping a number for this the red corner side is that worth it to basically expose our whole hand

>> because our secrecy is really important to our position and if we give up our secrecy for Ashley is that a good trade because it doesn't feel like it's a good trade and that's an interesting question to ask.

>> Yeah, it's a fascinating scenario for uh the dynamics of this house. I think that probably for the, you know, uh more exposed people, Kamu, uh Chuck, Haley, like uh no, it doesn't make sense to vote out a person uh when you could clearly take out a number from the other perceived other side. But for all these people who are playing the middle, uh, Drew and Barrett specifically, and to a lesser degree, the returning vets, uh, that it's not ideal for there to be two, uh, distinct sides. You kind of want like this big like amorphous middle of blob of like a big like a unanimous house vote.

>> Exactly. And I think that they ultimately come to the correct conclusion in this hypothetical scenario at least where for Ashley who you don't even really have that much of a rel you just saw her as a number you could pick up uh and clearly somebody that has gone rogue already rogue to whatever degree you want to call it rogue. Um, it's probably not you're not on the red corner side. You do have connections to the Roman Empire. Um, but uh, so so it's not even that big of a deal. And and drawing a line in the sand and putting Barrett and Drew on the side of D, Devons, Angela, Chuck, Kamu, Haley, Ashley is really dangerous. Like it's that just blows up the whole thing. So I agree. I think that keeping the secrecy is a lot more important. The issue is, and this is like the key, you can't like the the the cat can't be out of the bag already. Like Ashley is already spreading this stuff. Melody now has it in her head. If the other side is smart enough to realize they tried it and failed and there are two sides, now you do need to keep Ashley because the numbers actually really matter. Because I if if it's if the other side already is preparing for war and you're like, "No, but we can keep our secrecy and you give up one of your pieces to keep your to keep a secrecy that doesn't exist." That's a huge mistake. So the question is like, do we still actually hold the position that we think we do? Because if we do, then we can safely sacrifice Ashley and maintain our position. Uh and the reality is based on what we've already seen on the feed and what we continue to see on the feeds today is that they do. that Melody's the only person that this set off alarm bells for. Rome keeps hearing about it and going, "Nah, I've got great relationships with them. It's going to be fine." Uh Jason hasn't really heard about it much, so who knows exactly how he'll respond. Um but uh but for the most part, all of these other people are pretty lulled into uh this feeling of nah, I'm good. It's not there's not sides. Don't worry about it. So ultimately I do think D and Drew come to the correct conclusion here. Uh which is it's time we should just drop Ashley. But that does introduce a new problem which is how do we deal with the red corner who is going to war right now who does want is like relatively happy to draw those lines. Uh how do we get them to not be pissed at us and feel like we're drawing a line against them if we vote out Ashley?

>> It's a good question. It is a good question. So, uh they spread this to the rest of the crossovers who all kind of agree. Angela took a little more convincing uh because she initially still wanted to keep Ashley and take out Taylor, but they all eventually mostly agreed. Barrett certainly does. Um and Barrett and Drew are gonna actually have to go to Devons to fill him on in on it later, which will be a key part of that uh plan. But in the meantime, Haley, who is informed about what Ashley did, but still planning to keep Ashley at this point, goes and confronts Ashley. She sits her down in the living room. She's like,

>> "So,

>> listen." And this is like um this is like your manager at work is like sitting you down to let you know not that you're fired, but that like you've done something really wrong and you need to learn to not do it.

>> Yeah.

>> So, I've been told that you went and uh started naming uh names earlier today and you really shouldn't have done that. You really shouldn't have done that. Was not a good idea, Ashley. Now she's like, "What? What do you mean?" She's like, "I I've heard that you are uh that you named me that you said that I and and and to to Ashley's credit, she did not say that Haley did this." The problem is that again, Haley is the resident scapegoat of the house. So, the fact that basically as this starts to spread, it all gets blamed on Haley. And so, in Haley's mind, Ashley was like, "Hale's leading a charge to keep me." and Haley had nothing to do with it. Um, yes. Go ahead.

>> No. Um, it was uh I mean we've had so few confrontations in uh the in the game so far that this was like uh kind of like just like a whispery uh sitdown. Uh uh maybe this is like uh we've had a lot of intrigue but maybe this is the first like interpersonal conflict really

>> a little bit. Yeah. Uh listen you and and Ashley's initially kind of deny like no I haven't done that. I haven't said I because Haley keeps saying you you're claiming that I am leading a side and drawing lines in the sand to keep you. And Haley's like no I haven't done that at all. She's like, "You told Mallerie." Nope. Sorry. You told Melody.

>> Uh, and then Melody went and and ran it around to everyone. Um, and and hey, and and Ash's like, "No, no, I mean I I I mean, I I talked I I've bar I just talked to Melody. She couldn't have ran it around the house." She said, "No, you talked to Melody earlier this morning, and ever since then, this has been spiraling around the house."

Uh, and Ash's like, "What? No, that doesn't I mean I I didn't I I it's not like I was naming names like that. I I that's not what I like meant to it." And he was like, "Listen, I you did it. It doesn't really matter what you meant to do because this is the result, okay? And it's a big problem."

Uh, and Ash's like, "But that's not what I was doing. That's not what I was like. I mean, I I you can't listen, Melody. You You need to What you need to do is stop talking. Just don't don't campaign. Just stop trying to talk to these people. Melody is not with you. I don't know if you thought Melody was with you. She's not with you. It's like, well, apparently. Geez. Um, it's like, so that's that's just it. I listen, I'm not trying to like argue with you or anything. Uh, it's just like you really you you should not have done that."

Um, and she's like, "Listen, Haley, I'm not going to lie. like I was told to do that. I was advised to do that." He was like, "By who?" She's like, "Well, I mean, I don't I don't want to like tell I don't want to like be more messy like tell you." She's like, "You I mean, you should tell me." It's like, "Okay, well, so basically," and then she starts telling the story about how Drew and D and Barrett essentially told her to do this in her mind. Uh, and uh, and Haley's just like, "Well, you shouldn't have done that."

And she's like, "Haley, Ash is like, it's genuinely this wasn't even my game plan. Like, I had no intention of doing any of this. It's not even what I was inclined to do. The only reason I did it was because I thought that's what they were telling me to do."

>> Yeah. And she's still naming names.

>> And she's still naming names. Mhm.

>> Uh unfortunately for her this I mean it doesn't really help that she was told to do it. Uh it's which which Haley essentially says like it doesn't really matter how this came about. It happened and now this is a big problem. Uh and there's not really a resolution for it. There was really you know uh no reason to because like it was talked about should we talk to Ashley about this and everyone was like no it's not even worth it. Uh but Haley, you know,

>> just she wanted to have the conversation, let Ashley know what she did wrong, I guess.

>> Yeah. And so she's she's in hot water and um you know, Haley says she's going to forgive her, but uh she's not going to go unchecked.

>> Yeah. Um so Angela continues her uh rounds through the day. She ends up talking to Lala uh because Angela's really trying to work on this relationship. she she really liked her relationship with Lala and then found out that Lala didn't like her much, but was able to blame it all on Haley, at least initially. Um, and so they're working on that. Uh, she also mentions that she hasn't really talked to Rome much and Lala's like, "Well, let me fix that." And she gets Rome and Angela talks to Rome. Um, and Rome says he really likes Angela and that like uh, you know, he feels like it's his role to protect the betas and the he didn't say betas, but he kind of implied like it's his role to like as because he gets along with the alphas so like he can communicate with them and kind of protect the the non-alphas in the game and he could see Angela being a part of that and uh, it's, you know, it's he really like he's in his own world but it's a world where like it's actually working for him right now.

>> Yeah, I I think that Rome does come across as uh very likable and you know, uh maybe like the verbiage is not great, but maybe the heart is good with Rome.

>> It I mean it so far, yeah, like he seems like a pretty decent guy. Um but uh and and I think that's part of why like in a house full of schemers like Rome is really

>> like one of the few people who has influence that is not just like actively scheming. Um and like he's playing the he's having this is crucial he's having game conversations tons of them. Um but he's very straightforward. Uh, and he's like, "I've got Lyric. I'm close to LA. I like Jason." Like, his allegiances are very out in the open. Um, and because most other people are trying to hide a lot of theirs, him being out in the open makes him very powerful

>> because everyone else is is limiting their power in order to hide their position. In the in the same way that like the crossovers could carry this vote, but they don't want to because that would expose themselves. Whereas Rome is carrying this vote without even trying because he's the only one that's very willing to be like, "Yeah, well, I want to do this." And then all of his numbers kind of like back him up. Um, you know, we'll see how long that position lasts with him being so exposed. But, uh, and and you know, the tradeoff of like being exposed and having this influence is it again, it's that same question. Is that worth it right now? uh or is it better to keep your uh your your allegiances and and power structures hidden? I think in general we know that it's probably best to keep it hidden, but for right now it's working for Rome.

>> It's working for Rome. And you know, we were talking about his work life balance earlier jokingly, but I do think that there is probably a happy medium in terms of like the people who are spending all of their time thinking about the game. You can't and it sounds right on paper, right? You want to be thinking about the game all the time. But I also think that those are the types of thinkers that tend to tie themselves up in knots and have unforced errors from overthinking. So if yes, he's way too invested in the lyric of it all, but like it probably is like a happy balance to okay, I'm going to, you know, actually not be gaming for some of the time and then also still like have active game conversations.

>> Yeah. I agree. And I think that a good example of this is that D is going to talk to Angela later and Angela fills her in on her conversations with Lala and Rome and D had just had a conversation with Taylor and she was reminded of how much she likes Taylor and how she doesn't want to break a she would never want to break a tie. I'm definitely breaking a tie in favor of Taylor. Um and that you know again they're agreeing that they're keeping Taylor. They're evicting Ashley at this point. Um, and they're like, "Well, maybe we should work try to work more with Taylor and LA. Uh, like we should try to make this relationship happen uh as much as possible because like we're seeing what Drew and Barrett are doing and like they have all these connections and like that's dangerous, right? Like we want we want to have the connections. Um, and we want to like we don't want them to be in a better position than us. Like we should start working the other side more." And I think what's happened with the crossovers to some degree is that they were they were in this very good spot and they're still in a pretty good spot if they can able if they're able to sort of like hush this down just sacrifice Ashley and then maintain their position. Um but their instincts are not the the big brother instincts like D has survivor instincts. Devon's actually I think is has some great big brother instincts, but like uh they see the game as like I want to be in with as many sides as possible um and uh myself so that I have all the options. But how really successful Big Brother majorities work, if you're keeping it a secret, is that you divide and conquer. You have Drew specifically there with Melody. You have Barrett out there with Mallalerie. You have D in there with the red corner. You have Devon's doing his thing. You have Angela over doing her thing. Like, it's okay to separate and have your different pockets of people. If every one of the, you know, five of you are all trying to play all sides at the same time, uh, that's when you get into these positions where it's like none of you can vote the way that you need to because by doing so, you all get exposed at the same time. Uh, and it's like this is this is probably how like again in Survivor if you're trying to like pendulum uh like it's okay to work as like a group that's sort of like trying to play both sides, but on Big Brother dividing and conquering is is the the key to the game here.

>> Yeah. I was thinking about uh a little bit of what you're talking about with D in particular as being somebody who's played Survivor in the new era where um in watching the feeds like it it was really like uh like I I was having a realization that most of Big Brother is pretending you're not having game conversations. you have to like pretend you're having like a normal life in the context of playing this game, which is not really the case on Survivor. Maybe a little bit more so in the 39day game, but the the new era of Survivor, it's so fast, you know, 26 days and we're always going to tribal council. Maybe a little bit in the premerge you have to do this, but but that's all D has known. And so to h come into this game where so much of it is just like I'm pretending like I'm living my normal life and then in the shadows having game conversation it is much different than Survivor.

>> Yeah. And uh and I think that I it's my theory is that you know D and Devans both came in studied up on like the for the most part like the methods of how to do this uh and they set up these pieces in the right place places. Um and similarly with Barrett and Drew like they knew what they were doing coming in and they've developed this great position and strategy. Uh, but then as the week is progressing, like De's survivor instincts are kicking in and it's kind of like drifting her slightly away from where things are. And for Barrett, like you know, cuddling with D is really nice. And so that's kind of drifting him away into a different strategy. And so, um, you know, this is a very, very effective strategy, but you do have to be dedicated to following it through. Um, and I don't know that it actually fits their play styles at this point. Um, at least, you know, again, it's it's so early in the game and everybody's still learning how to do this. So, the execution on these strategies uh is still kind of like in its fledgling form. Um, so it's it's very interesting stuff and uh I' I've been very fascinated, especially over the course of the day yesterday with how this is shaping up uh to be. Um, so we'll see what happens next week. Obviously, the HOH is going to be hugely important and uh and we'll see I think if like the Crossovers Alliance can maintain their positioning through potentially uh tumultuous uh waters uh here, but the day is not done. Uh there is still work to be done. Of course, Barrett and Drew fill in Devon's uh about what's been going on and uh basically like let him know like, "Yeah, so we're basically deciding we're taking out Ashley if that makes sense to you." He's like, "That does make sense to me." Like it would be one thing if Ashley were a number that like we were super locked in with, but the fact that she's already doing all this and Deans has no idea that she was basically told to do it either. He's just like

>> can't believe she's doing all that. Uh I don't think it's worth like exposing our hands for a player like Ashley. Um and and it's so funny because Drew and and Barrett are basically like asking their dad to fix things for them. They're like, "So, do you think you could talk to Kamu about this and help figure out how to get help us get away with not voting to keep Ashley with Kamu?" Uh, and he's like, "Don't worry about it. I'll I'll I'll have the conversation. Like, I I'll I'll fix it up."

>> Yeah. Um so uh Rick also uh seems like uh very down on uh melody and lyric. He's really uh has uh his sight set on them.

>> Very frustrated with Melody for causing all this chaos. Uh as is Drew, but Devons does tell Drew like you should still stick to her obviously. Like it's good that you're with her as much as possible. Um and uh and yeah, Devons is not a Lyric fan. Uh he doesn't really enjoy their conversations. and he I think rightfully sees that Lyric is actually the link between the littles like the the trio of of women Mallerie and Melody to Rome and the rest of them.

>> So like relationship with Rome. Uh so yeah interesting he doesn't he doesn't love uh Rome's uh boo.

>> Exactly. Uh and and one thing that's interesting that we're seeing as well is that like Rome because of his connections to people like Devons and stuff like is actually in a decent position with a lot of those other people uh where you know Devon is talking about potentially taking Lyric out. Now the the problem is with Big Brother unlike Survivor a surgical strike is really difficult to pull off. Uh especially now with the blockbuster. So for as much as Deans might want to take out Lyric over Rome to get either one of them out, you kind of have to put both of them up and then who knows what happens with the veto and the blockbuster. So right, uh, you know, we'll see. But um, but interestingly on the other side of things,

>> uh, we all kind of thought Kamu would emerge as one of the bigger targets of the trio between himself, Haley, and Chuck. But actually, he's the safest amongst the three of them because he's the most active. because he's done the most to have conversations. People like Rome like Kamu and want to work with him. They he just doesn't like Chuck and Haley. And it's the same with D. And it's the same with like even Jason is talking about like let's target Chuck. Uh keep Kamu and Haley around. Like uh Chuck and Haley are actually getting the bulk of this. Again, can't really surgical strike that well, but it's looking decent for for Kamu right now. um when it's all theoretical, maybe once he's on the block things change, but like people actually like Kamu and they want to work with him and they want to free him from the shackles of uh his relationship with Haley in particular. Uh but really this whole trio with him and Chuck. And it's largely because Chuck barely talks to anybody outside of his alliance. And when he does, he doesn't give them anything. And Haley, who does talk to people outside of her alliance, just makes them annoyed.

>> Yeah. You know, I'm not in on the stockwatch, but I do feel like that Kamu could be somebody that if you wanted to do like a long-term play, and I don't know if he's going to win, but I do feel like that he's somebody who might be kind of lower that could like have have a peak, have a run at some point.

>> Certainly could. Um, again though, it is one of those things where it's like almost the fact that everyone is saying they want to keep Kamu might be the reason why once he's on the block after a week of him on the block, you go,

>> he is more dangerous though. But, you know, who knows? Who knows? Uh, so Deans does go and talk to Kamu uh to basically try to convince him it's okay to take out uh Ashley this week. Uh, and he does a phenomenal job here. Um, you know, the the red corner is so valuable for the vets because they're so easy to just persuade. And this is like the first time I'm seeing people in the crossovers actively work to convince somebody of something and it goes beautifully and it's just like this is all you need to do. It's so easy sometimes. Deans basically gives Chives Kamu the pitch that D and Drew talked about like uh because of what Ashley did by voting to keep her will be drawing a line in the sand and do we want to do that considering some of the relationships that we have? Um and Kamu is kind of convinced by this because Kamu feels like he does have a decent relationship with Rome. Um, and Devon's sort of like incepts the idea into Kamu's head that like Kamu, you know, you can kind of get get ahead of this, sacrifice Ashley, who's barely a number for us anyway. Um, and uh, and, you know, have a conversation with Rome. He's like, go talk to Rome about like who you should vote for. K's like, that's a great idea. Like, I'll go to Rome and be like, listen, I've heard this thing about what Ashley's saying, but I'm not on board with that. Who do you want to vote out? like I want to be in good with you. Um and Kamu is like this is great. This is great. I'm liking this idea. Uh like this this this works.

>> Yeah. Um Kamu and Rome, this is interesting, right? I I kind of feel like the season doesn't end without us at some point getting like the two of them together. And it's like look at us. Like uh would it be crazy? Should we just Should we just do this? Should it just be me and you? And I think we get like a week or two where people are making the fan cams and I think people like they turn on each other eventually, but people like I think I see it at some point. They seem like that they were getting along so good. It seemed effortless.

>> Well, I mean I think really it it feels like Haley is more the sticking point in the relationship at this point because they did I think start the game kind of close. Uh so so yeah, Kamu goes and he talks to Rome and it's they're very aware of like the positions. They're like kind of like, oh, it's the two leaders of the uh the house coming together and having a chat.

>> Um and uh and Kamu does a lot of explaining about like so Ashley did this thing where she used my name and I hadn't even talked to her yet, which is kind of true. Uh and uh and and I did not tell her she was able to do that. I don't know what she's talking about with the sides thing. I think she's just trying to pretend like she's got votes, but she doesn't have votes. I wanted to talk with you about like what you were thinking in terms of the vote. And Rome again, because he's kind of playing level one big brother is kind of just like, well, I was thinking take out Ashley, you know, keep Taylor. Uh, and Kamu was like, I'm actually thinking the same thing, especially after Ashley was doing all that. Uh so you know like all this stuff and and Rome I think is fully like on board with this. He believes that Kamu was not uh a part of a side that was going to keep Haley, especially because Devons also talks to Rome after this uh and uh and confirms it as well. Like like Rome really likes Devons and fully believes that Devons would never be part of a side. Uh because Devons is selling him this line about like well those are the cool kids and I don't really fit in with them and nobody really talks game. Deon has done a really great job of looking like a lone soldier. Uh because he hangs out by himself a lot and uh and he has a lot of these individual relationships with people where he's like uh like I don't really get included in a lot of things, but I feel good with you. Um and that really lands with Rome who does not believe that Devons could have been a part of like any kind of side. Uh, and so anytime Lyric brings this up or it's talked about uh, in the night, Rome is like, I don't think I think that whole thing was blown out of proportion. I don't think Ashley was telling the truth. Uh, and um, and he really vouches for Devons a lot. And he also tells Deans he likes Kamu and uh, and all this stuff. So, and this is why he says he feels like the president of the house. He's like, I got Kamu coming up to me. I got Devon's coming up to me. Uh, I'm just like weirdly in like a powerful position. Um, and without even trying really it's like

>> Yeah.

>> Look at Rome. Does that make Lyric the first lady?

>> I I guess it What's the What's the Roman equivalent? If If Rome is the empire emperor,

>> um, is she the empress?

>> Empress? Yeah. Not I'm not sure.

>> Um, he I mean because he calls himself the president, but I I like I feel like Come on, Rome. You you you can do better than this. We your name is Rome.

>> Yeah. You've you've talked about that site as the Roman Empire. Is that terminology used in the house or not at all that?

>> Yeah.

>> It's really good. It should be.

>> Thank you. Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> It's just you people call it Rome's side of the house. Um and honestly, it's more Jason's than Rome's. Uh Rome has more influence, but Jason's the more active player

>> uh in terms of like strategizing.

>> But Right. I think so. Uh, and I like this idea that we're divided into the Red Cross and the

>> Jason's like, "This is my Roman Empire."

>> Um, Deans does talk to Drew later as well. Uh, he's he tells Drew he is gunning for HOH even though like obviously it'll get tons of he's like and I'll do whatever. Like I'll put Rome up. I'll put Kamu up. Like I don't care. Um, and I I think he means like when he talks to Drew in particular, like he loves Drew. Uh, he's like that's that that's a good kid right there. Uh, and he's telling Drew like

>> if at any point I become a liability to you. Feel free to just drop me. Let me know. Like I'll I'll distance myself. I'll do whatever I need to do. Like I'm I'm looking out for you, kid. Uh, and um, and you know that means also like winning HOH and making moves that other people maybe can't make and stuff like that. Um, which is an interesting uh, position for for Devon. Uh, and I and I think not the worst. I'm curious to see if how that actually plays out if it happens.

>> Yeah. I thought that that was so interesting what he was saying because I don't know if we've ever had somebody there who is is he's basically willing to do any type of uh you know maybe kamicazi type uh maneuver in the game of like hey if we're in a bad spot I'm not going to throw you under the bus. let me do I just let me have a moment of glory of like he's willing to do that for his allies and you know in the past like uh you know he he's willing to do like uh you know Dan's funeral but also like selflessly which is very interesting. I don't know if we've ever had that. Maybe like uh maybe Tucker was getting there a little bit of like hey I don't care if I go home or not. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be a legend and keep things interesting. I think Rick, we know, has a great family life. Rick is like, I'm ready to go home and go back to my family at any moment. It's not my dream to be here. So, if I could do anything, if if things get bad enough, like, let me like I'll I'll jump on a grenade. I don't care.

>> Yeah. And it really is like it really is dad vibes. I think it's very much like uh like I'm the dad of the alliance and therefore like if somebody needs to take a hit, let it be me. Uh like I'll do it and I'll do like not not to say that like I'm, you know, he's like intentionally tanking his own chances. Like he's playing very well. He's doing a great job. He's helping the alliance. Um and he's advancing his own position. And quite frankly, it's not like any of this is necessarily going to actively harm his game. I think in some ways being that person can be very good for you. If he's the one that like jumps on the grenade,

>> other people tend to see that and they go, "Who are you jumping on the grenade for, Deans?" And they think that other people are pulling his strings because no self-interested player uh would would do these things without being directed by somebody else. And so, you know, it could actually work out as well. But interesting stuff. and and very uh I think telling as to why Devons is probably doing the best in this alliance right now in all the chaos. And it's because he his laid-back attitude is is really helpful. Uh I think to to like he's not doing too much. He's not trying to be on everyone's side. He's just maintaining these light connections, gathering information, and then striking surgically when he has to. making these big moves like convincing Kamu to take out Ashley which was a very good move uh and and stuff like that. So, uh very impressed with Devons yesterday.

>> Yeah, I even heard him talking uh with D the other day about how um I think it was with D where he was talking about how he's like look like I'm not going to do anything that's going to screw up my reputation. I'm thought of as a good guy. Like you could trust me. And I really do believe that. I I don't I really think that the way that he looks at it, he's not going to scumbag uh one of his allies ever in this game. Like he may he's going to scumbag his enemies. He he will do that gleefully, but he's not going to stab people in the back.

>> I agree. Uh and I I think that like you know the thing is that I think most people think that of themselves and what happens is they will find like a justification

>> to betray their allies. Uh so you know we'll we'll see how how long like I'm sure there might be a reason to betray eventually but like I I agree in the sense that like if he feels like his allies have been up and on the up and up with him I don't think he's going to like actively uh scumbag them in any significant way.

>> so, uh, that's mostly the night. Barrett does talk to the cameras. Uh, he says he is also potentially gunning for the HOH. And if he wins, he plans to nominate the cool kids, uh, Kamu, Haley, and Chuck, which I actually don't love for him, uh, if you're going to win HOH, taking out that side in the way that you would be doing that is is like not really the strategically sound thing in my opinion. Uh especially because he doesn't even have that strong a connection to the Rome side other than Mallalerie. Um so you know

>> zero% chance this actually happens.

>> I would hope so.

>> Yeah. D will talk him out of it. Devon will talk him out of it. So I I think it's maybe some bluster.

>> Yeah. Um so uh so we'll see. We'll see what what comes of that. But uh but basically where we leave the night off is that Ashley's done. Not only is she done against Taylor, she's actually also done against Yosh now. Like they were so mad at her for doing what she did that they plan to vote Ashley out if she doesn't win the blockbuster. Period.

>> Okay, so first things first, uh, tonight Ashley has to win the blockbuster. I know I said she'd be such a great first boot, but it's so much messier if she comes back into the house after all of this. So that I think that our number one rooting interest needs to be Ashley to win the blockbuster. But you know, going back to when you were talking about Haley and Ashley and that conversation where Haley told her, "Hey, stop talking. Stop saying stop saying the things." It's was such good advice. I believe in this live feed update of the day before the eviction, I believe there was one total mention of Taylor and Yash, the other two nominees of what they were up to. And I think that the Taylor mention was like first thing in the morning, nowhere to really be seen, not having any of the conversations. And what a day for Taylor and Yash. She spent the morning in bed. Yeah, Yosh does spend some time campaigning, especially once the Ashley stuff goes down, more people start talking to Yosh. And here's the thing, too, about the Yash the Ashley decision. Yosh is not locked in anywhere, including with the Rome side. Um, and so like he can really be picked up by most people. Now, obviously he has a thing with D because she nominated him, but uh but but Yash is very much still a free agent right now and nobody's really picked him up in any significant way. So, where he could fall is is pretty interesting. But, uh, but yes, right now Taylor should be lock safe. Yash is evicted only in the event that Ashley wins the blockbuster and Ashley will be sent home if she does not win the blockbuster.

>> Yeah, HOH is incredibly important. There are a lot of people who plan to throw it, including seemingly Rome, but we'll see. Um, Red Corner is pushing for it, I think, a a bit harder than they were before, and they need to, and uh, and Crossovers are really hoping that Red Corner wins it because that would be phenomenal for them because it would be.

>> Um,

>> and uh, and that's pretty much where we are here. Rob, anything else from yesterday that you wanted to talk about?

>> Um, I I it's kind of a moot point at this point, but I I really did not love the way that D handled the tiebreak situation of that her entire alliance is voting to keep Ashley and then she would because of a promise she made to Taylor break the tie in her favor. a not so great man once said, uh, you can bounce checks in the Big Brother house. Like, I I don't think it would be that, oh my god, D would be the ultimate villain of the house if she uh evicted Taylor in that spot if it was a tiebreak. And I and she like told all of her allies that and every like, oh, no, we totally understand. We totally get it. Um, I just thought that that was it was bad on D. And also like nobody's pushing back on that in any way. Like like but D like are you more loyal to Taylor or are you more loyal to us?

>> Exactly. If you position yourself as an obstacle within your own alliance, it's just like it's not a good look. And again like the thing is and I think this is probably again just like her her inexperience with Big Brother but also experience with Survivor where like on Survivor the vote is happening like now tonight. Uh, and you if you're not going to do something, if you're like, I'm not going to vote this, like you need to tell them like this is I'm I'm sorry, but I'm not going to vote Taylor out. Uh, we need to do something else. We need to vote for somebody else or whatever. Uh, on Big Brother, you have days and days and days a lot of the time, and the plan is constantly changing a lot of the time. And so, you know, when they're like, "Oh, we we might end up getting seven votes. It could be a tie." It's like, it's probably not going to be a tie. It's very rare that things end up being a tie. So, you don't actually have to tell them what you're actually going to do during a tie. Like, uh, like, "Oh, are you willing to break a tie to keep Ashley over Taylor D?" O, I mean, that is tough, but I, you know, I'd be open to it if if that's what we needed to do. Um, and then hope that it doesn't actually come to that and then give arguments for why it shouldn't come to that because that would really draw lines in the sand and so on and so forth. you never have to expose that like you are uh actively a roadblock into the plans of the alliance because it was never going to happen anyway,

>> right? Yeah. So, I just thought that that was like a little bit like what are we doing? But doesn't seem like that that's a remotely possible scenario now.

>> Um also, uh somebody mentioned in the chat the there was yes a Drew conversation with Kamu as well late into the night. They've been talking, of course, uh this is post Kamu uh agreeing to the Ashley plan. Uh mostly just continuing to solidify their relationship. Um there was talk of a like a final two kind of scenario. Um but uh but this is something that's been in development in development and I think will continue to be in development uh as Drew further ingratiates himself with the red corner. Um, which again it's like, you know, good for Drew that he has this relationship with Kamu, but like he doesn't need to be in the red corner. Uh, like it's better for Drew to be in the Four Seasons with a connection to Kamu that's like a secret final two than for Drew to be fully pulled into the red corner. Uh, because then the Red Corner expects them him to vote with them while the Four Seasons expects him to vote with them and so on and so forth. Do you have a pick for uh the week two boot? If you had to call it right now,

>> the week two boot, I would say Haley is one of the more likely people.

>> Yeah.

>> And um if Red Corner wins, you could probably expect like Yash and Taylor and Ashley, whoever survives on the block again. So, you know, honestly, give me Yosh, Taylor, or Ashley, whichever one is not evicted, as a high potential second boot.

>> How about Melody as a dark horse?

>> Melody is possible. Uh, you know what? Here's how Melody leaves. Um, somebody from Rome's side wins HOH and the Red Cross grouping

>> all throws Melody under the bus as much as possible.

>> Uh, because she's the weakest link on the other side that there are a lot of people that don't like her. Like, hey, do the house a favor and put Melody on the block instead of actually targeting one of us. Um, and then Melody could take a hit from that, but her connection to Drew makes her valuable to a lot of other people. So, uh, that could be the one thing that keeps her a little bit more safe.

>> Okay, All right. Well, should be a busy night.

>> Should be, uh, you know, the day could be interesting if Ashley starts talking again. Uh, you know, the night should be interesting based on who wins HOH. So, I'm excited. This was a very interesting week between like it was a lot of good gameplay with some sloppiness at the end that kind of derailed it and led to some very interesting scenarios and I think uh a whole tinder box for for week two. So

>> see where it goes.

>> Yeah.

>> All right. Well, that's what we have then today. Of course. Um we'll be we'll both be live tonight for the recap of tonight's eviction ep the first eviction episode tonight. Is it are we or is it 90 minutes?

>> I think we're at 1 hour now.

>> Okay.

>> I think we're finally at 1 hour. Um which is which is funny because this is probably like the most packed episode that we need.

>> Sure.

>> Um but uh we'll be recapping it. I'll be streaming it live on YouTube, Twitch, and Patreon. Make sure you join me there. Uh, I'll be back tomorrow morning. Uh, tomorrow morning, uh, timing is going to be a little little strange because we've got an X interview. Yes. Um, so we're gonna aim for around noon Eastern for the update tomorrow. So, keep that in mind at least an hour later,

>> but it might be a little bit later than that. We're going to try to figure out the best timing because, you know, the the exit interviews, they're not always like strictly on time. So they're not always strictly on time, but I think that there there was that maybe it was like Big Brother 24 where we were on hold for like I feel like we were like an hour and a half behind. I do feel like that they keep it pretty tight these days. So I I'd be surprised if we fall especially behind schedule.

>> Yeah. So we're going to we're going to shoot for around noon Eastern if we're like a few minutes late. Uh you know uh have some

>> Yes. uh if it's going to be more than a few minutes late, of course, I'll I'll tweet it out. I'll let you guys know that uh like uh we'll be a little more late, but um, but that's uh that's where we'll have the update tomorrow. We'll have hopefully a ton of new information for you for the new HOH and everything. Um and we're also going to like I'm always interested to learn like what is the pacing for the for the state of play in the house? Like how do they schedule things? Because last season they basically like never talked at night. They saved all of the talk for the next morning. Um, and I'm curious to know if this cast is going to be a little more talkative for strategy the night of, but we'll see.

>> Yeah.

>> Um, and uh, and that's basically uh what we've got going on. Again, check out uh my Patreon. I'm watching Love Island or I finished watching Love Island. Uh, Jet Lag is still going. All kinds of fun stuff over there. Um, and Rob, I saw uh a video, a promo video that you put out. Yes. That was uh number one, phenomenal, and number two had phenomenal news.

>> Phenomenal news. Uh, The Summer of Stein is here. Eric has agreed to talk about Big Brother 28. We know that we are certainly going to talk about the premiere that will happen later on today. And if Eric wants to, he will come back every week. But we'll see. He might do one and quit. It's possible. It's in the realm of possibility.

>> Have we considered the idea that he's still riding the high of being a mastermind and he's just doing this to mess with us

>> and get our hopes up and then pull the rug out from under us.

>> Yeah, it's a possibility. I'm going to record that in uh maybe in in about an hour and we should have that up uh later on this afternoon. So, at the time like the feeds go off and we'll have a couple hours before the episode. to check out the premiere of Summer of Stein 2026.

>> All right. Anything else to to promo here, Rob?

>> Uh, just that Taran and I did a great podcast on uh we dropped it yesterday. Uh, it's a new patron show. We're calling it the Big Brother Mailbag, but we put it out for everybody to see, but we did something really fun. We assigned the win equity for all of the players. might need it need to be adjusted from when we did it uh the other day. But we tried to assign a win probability to each of the players and we want to update it every single week and we want to track at the end of the season the graph of like who fell off a cliff, who who hit zero the earliest and uh it should be a fun thing to do and we'll be taking mailbag questions from the patrons all season long. So check that out as well.

>> All right.

>> And we talked to Julie Chen Moon on Wednesday.

>> We did. Yes. Uh that was very very interesting. Uh very fun to it. My first time meeting Julie uh in any capacity.

>> So yeah. So check uh check that out as well.

>> Yes. Uh all right. That's what we have for you. Thank you all so much for joining us here today. I will see all of you

>> tonight.

>> Next time.

>> This is RHAP. We know reality TV.