Big Brother 21 Episode 17 recap: fireworks galore…. until the vote

A brand-new episode of Big Brother 21 aired last night on CBS. It was Big Brother 21 Episode 17. In this episode, we saw fallout from the Power of Veto ceremony, chaotic last-minute scrambling, and the live eviction. After the live eviction, we saw the beginning of the Head of Household competition and Julie revealed full details of the America’s Road Trip twist.

Big Brother 21 Episode 17 aired last night on CBS. In the previous episode, Nick Maccarone and Sam Smith were the nominees. However, Nick won the Power of Veto. Kathryn “Kat” Dunn volunteered to go up as the replacement nominee. At the Power of Veto ceremony, Kat was named the replacement nominee by Head of Household Holly Allen.

In this episode, we saw the fallout from the Power of Veto ceremony, total chaos, and the live eviction. Once the live eviction was complete, Sam had his exit interview with Julie. Big Brother 21 Episode 17 concluded with the beginning of the Head of Household Competition.

Big Brother 21 Episode 17 begins

Host Julie Chen-Moonves opened Big Brother 21 Episode 17 by greeting CBS viewers to open the show and with the crazy last-minute scrambling, they didn’t even know what was going to happen. After Julie’s opening, the show launched into a recap of the events so far this week. This lasted for a couple of minutes. The main title sequence was not shown as is typical on eviction nights. After the recap, Big Brother 21 Episode 17 picked up where Episode 16 left off, at the end of the Power of Veto ceremony.

Power of Veto ceremony fallout and total chaos

Nick felt bad for Sam but knew the Six Shooters had the majority of the votes and it wasn’t looking good for Sam. Holly said it was unfortunate that Sam’s friendship is what hurt him in the game but knew they had to split up Nick and Sam. Kat knew she was going up as it had been part of the plan she made with Holly. Even though there was a chance Kat could go home, she felt good about the plan.

Then, Analyse Talavera and Sam were seen chatting in the backyard. Analyse tried to give Sam encouragement. In private, Sam felt Analyse would be a vote for her to stay but knew powerful voices were in her ear. With this in mind, he knew he needed a different plan to stay in. Analyse felt bad for Sam and in private, revealed if there was a way to help him stay, she would.

Christie Murphy and Tommy Bracco were freed from their poison ivy punishment. To celebrate, they went outside and took a shower. With their poison ivy punishment, they could not shower or go outside for four days.

Kat then had a conversation with Holly in the Head of Household room. Kat then told Holly that Christie and Tommy had said they didn’t want to go to final six with the couples. This confirmed what Analyse relayed to Michie and Holly in the previous episode. As a result of Kat’s information, Holly lost trust in Christie.

Holly and Analyse then had a conversation in the Head of Household room regarding their concerns about Christie. They felt she was playing too hard and spilled a lot of information to everyone. Holly then cited Christie making a deal with Cliff to not use the Panic Power as an example of this. Flashbacks showed Jack Matthews, Michie, Holly, and Analyse not being fans of this decision by Christie.

Christie then had a conversation with Cliff. Cliff tried to plant seeds of doubt to Christie about her alliance members. Christie told Cliff she didn’t want to go to the six with the couples because she knew that she and Tommy would be picked off first. Christie knew she needed to start building an army for when the Six Shooters exploded because it was a ticking time bomb.

Holly revealed to Michie that Christie and Tommy didn’t want to go far with the couples. Michie realized the threat that Christie posed to his game as a result.

Sam went to Michie and told him that Christie was willing to get rid of Michie and Jack Matthews. However, she wanted to let Cliff take the shot. With Michie having even more doubts about Christie, Sam tried to make a deal with Michie for his safety. Michie considered keeping Sam.

Michie then revealed the information he learned from Sam to Holly. Holly told Michie that Christie was trying to make deals with the other side of the house. Despite Sam’s promises not to come after Holly, Jack, or Michie, Holly felt Kat needed to stay and regretted nominating Kat instead of Nicole.

Michie and Jack had a conversation about the information he learned. Michie felt that while Christie wouldn’t take him and Jack out yet, she would eventually, and she was forming an army to do it for her.

Live eviction

At the live eviction, Julie congratulated them for making it 44 days inside the Big Brother house. She also asked Cliff and Nicole how it felt being away from home for so long. Houseguests got to see a clip from the live feeds of the flash mob Tommy organized.

Next it was time to vote. Unfortunately for viewers, the vote was not flipped. Sam was evicted by a vote of 9-0.

After Sam’s eviction, he walked out of the house where Julie conducted an exit interview with him. After Sam’s interview, he received goodbye messages from his housemates. Once the goodbye messages were over, Julie revealed details of the America’s Field Trip twist.

Julie revealed that three houseguests would be going on America’s Field Trip. The audience gets to send three players on the Field Trip and compete in a special competition.  The winner gets safety for the week, second place receives a punishment, and the loser becomes the third nominee. This vote would end after 8 days and affect next week’s action.

After a commercial break, Julie revealed to the remaining houseguests that they had made at least jury. Then it was time to begin the Head of Household Competition.

Head of Household Competition

For this week’s Head of Household Competition, themed kiosks were spread throughout the backyard. These kiosks contained advertisements for different kinds of camps. They would be given a certain amount of time to study the advertisements. After time was up, houseguests had to head to their booth.

At the booth, they would be asked questions about what they saw. If the answer was correct, they remained in the competition. If they got it wrong, they were immediately eliminated. The last houseguest remaining would be crowned Head of Household. Then, houseguests began studying for the competition. Big Brother 21 Episode 17 ended with Julie teasing what was to come on Sunday and showing a clip we didn’t get to see on television because it was so last minute.

Tune in Sunday at 8 pm eastern to see who wins Head of Household and what craziness lead to the flip vote being called off!