Big Brother Season 20 recap: The BB App Store opens for business

On Big Brother Season 20, the houseguests pay their first visit to the BB App Store. A showmance develops, Sam continues to feel like an outsider, and the two powerhouse groups in the house choose names for their respective alliances.

Tyler’s decision to put Steve and Sam on the block is safe but lame game play on Big Brother. Neither are a threat and could easily be absorbed into existing alliances or used as pawns in the future. Social media followers aren’t loving Tyler, and his move has made Sam a huge fan favorite. Those fake tears also elevate him to D-bag status.

Sam calls all the houseguests into the storage room for one-on-one chats with mixed results. Bayleigh looks bored, JC reassures her that she’s not going home, Haleigh and Winston can’t get past their preoccupation with Sam’s volume control, and Rockstar is sympathetic.

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It’s Kaitlyn whose chakra is all out of alignment. With her mouth full of potato chips, she just wants to know if Sam is ready to really start playing the game. Kaitlyn gives the worst pep talk ever, stating if she were in Sam’s position, she’d use being nominated as a way to light a fire under her ass, and win that veto!

This doesn’t go over well with “Sambot” who lets Kaitlyn know that her current predicament doesn’t allow her to cozy up to Fessy in the hot tub to further her game play. Kaitlyn stomps off, and Tyler — who witnesses the entire exchange– suggests Sam not make waves. He’s worried her attitude might affect his game.

Unlikely friendships are commonplace on Big Brother, and this season Scottie and Steve are looking to win “Cutest Couple.” Socially awkward and super petrified of women, Scottie feels comfortable with Steve who has a much better social game (according to himself) and suspects Scottie is more of a “beast” than he’s letting on. Steve sees Scottie as a loyal ally, and Scottie has made saving Steve his top priority.

Swaggy and Bayleigh continue to hang out. She does throw some shade about his whole Swaggy C persona, pointing out it isn’t  a nickname someone else gave him, but an alter ego he constructed himself. She’s equal parts awed by his staggering self-confidence and hopeful that more of the sweeter, softer Christopher emerges.

Swaggy begins to worry that his attachment to Bayleigh could be getting in the way of his game and decides to back off. Bayleigh is content to keep Swaggy deeply entrenched in the friendzone, telling Haleigh, “If Swag had a crush on me, I’d actually be really turned off.”

When Bayleigh says turned off, she must actually mean turned on because these two enjoy a make out sesh minutes later (thanks to creative editing). Swaggy immediately regrets the lip lock. He’s not in the market for a showmance. He believes a romance only works to the woman’s advantage when it comes to Big Brother.

We’ve seen how much Sam’s punishment sucks on Big Brother, now we get a look at how the “Pinwheel of Doom” punishment is affecting Kaycee’s game. She might not be quite as isolated as Sam, but Kaycee definitely feels like she’s missing out, trapped in rooms by herself during family dinner and Rockstar’s birthday party.

Kaycee may be bummed about her frequent time outs, but, unlike Sam, it’s not adversely affecting her social game. She’s still working with Rachel, Winston, Tyler, Angela and Brett who decide to call themselves, “Level 6.”

Level 6 has a pretty good idea of who their adversaries are in the house. Tyler tells his crew about Kaitlyn, Faysal and Swaggy cornering him and telling him to put up Angela and Winston. Angela isn’t surprised, and she’s fuming. She knows her alliance has her back, so Swaggy better watch out.

Sam continues to struggle to fit in. Even when she’s “offline,” she can’t figure out how to assimilate. There are lots of tears and complaints about how fake everyone is in the house. She misses her real friends, her real family and her real life.

It’s JC who gives Sam some tough love. He encourages her to be strong and positive and not focus purely on the negative. He reminds her how many people would love to be in her shoes. She’s won the lottery, and all she can do is complain.

After nearly a week of a pretty cushy existence on Big Brother, the time comes for Tyler to designate the first Have-Nots of the season. He’s spared being the bad guy when Winston, Kaitlyn, Scottie and Brett volunteer to take cold showers, eat slop and sleep in the crappiest room in the house.

Brett, Faysal and Swaggy have decided they, along with Winston, are the biggest physical threats in the house. Brett, Faysal and Brett make a “gentleman’s agreement.” They’ll target the floaters (JC, Steve, Scottie and Sam) before they go after each other.

Swaggy feels he’s made a great deal. He doesn’t realize that Brett isn’t quite willing to put his money where his mouth is. Brett doesn’t feel Faysal and Swaggy yield the power they think they do, but he’s willing to play along in case one of them gets HOH.

Brett immediately runs and tells his alliance members about the conversation. With Swaggy laboring under the misconception that he’s running things, Tyler and his alliance decide that if one of the nominees wins veto, Tyler will put up Bayleigh — Swaggy’s strongest ally. This would be a better plan if Swaggy wasn’t itching to disentangle himself from his fledgling showmance. He’s already proven he thinks Bayleigh is expendable.

Swaggy, Kaitlyn, Faysal, Rockstar and Haleigh (no Bayleigh) decide they need a nickname for their alliance, F.O.U.T.T.E (Five Of Us To The End).

Big Brother‘s latest high-tech twist comes online, the Big Brother App Store. The houseguests get all the details about this game changer. Once a houseguest receives an App, they aren’t eligible to get another.

Each player is called to the BB App Store to find out if they win an advantage (most trending) or are saddled with a “Crap App” (least trending).

Faysal is genuinely shocked to learn he is the least trending. He has to choose a punishment and picks “Hamazon.” Faysal’s meals will be delivered all week-long, and because this mystery food has a short shelf life, he has to eat it all right away.

Sam is the top trending houseguest, so she gets her choice of rewards. Sam picks “Bonus Life.” This power gives Sam — or the houseguest of her choice — the chance to return to the game if evicted. The power is good through the first four evictions. If the Bonus Life isn’t used at one of the first three evictions, the fourth person evicted automatically gets a chance to return to the game.

Let the speculation about who has the power begin.

Next: Big Brother recap: HOH nominates first two houseguests for eviction

Should Sam tell anyone about her power? Wil Bayleigh and Swaggy’s showmance last? Is Tyler a good HOH? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Big Brother airs Sundays at 8/7c, Wednesdays at 9/8c and Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS. Tune in Wednesday, July 4 to see who wins the Power of Veto.