Big Brother houseguest Alex Ow won the Power of Veto and took herself off the chopping block, leaving Head of Household Cody Nickson with the task of choosing a replacement nominee for eviction during Wednesday night's broadcast of Season 19 on CBS.
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After Alex won the Power of Veto competition and used the power of veto to save herself from eviction, Cody decided to nominate Paul Abrahamian as her replacement.
However, Paul revealed he had previously accepted the "Pendant of Protection" in the "Den of Temptation," granting him three weeks of immunity from both nominations and evictions.
A frustrated Cody was then forced to put another houseguest on the chopping block, knowing there was so much blood on his hands already. Cody decided to nominate Christmas Abbott for eviction alongside the Head of Household's original nominee Jillian Parker.
The Big Brother broadcast began where Sunday night's episode had left off, with Cody admitting in the Diary Room that he had only nominated Alex for eviction to make his alliance happy because they viewed her as a threat.
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Cody had a lot of respect for Alex and didn't want to see her go yet, but she had previously expressed no interest in aligning with him. Alex had also suggested to Cody that she wanted to target the power couples, and he was one of them with Jessica Graf. Despite Alex's resistance to Cody's pull, it was clear they had a connection -- which Jessica called "nauseating."
Alex told Cody that she didn't want to work with his side of the house because the ladies in his alliance didn't like her. Cody began to regret ever nominating Alex to begin with, and she wasn't shy about voicing her disappointment with his decision.
Meanwhile, Mark Jansen thought it would be "smooth sailing" for the next couple weeks because he assumed his alliance of Cody, Jessica, Elena Davies, Raven Walton, and Matt Clines was solid. In addition to the couples, Mark also believed Christmas, Dominique Cooper and Paul were working with them.
Cody, however, still had it out for Paul and didn't trust the Big Brother veteran at all.
It then became time for the Power of Veto competition dubbed "Fin to Win."
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Cody, Alex, Jillian and three other players selected by random draw -- Matt, Raven, and Alex's ally Jason Dent -- were required to wear flippers and look for starfish in the backyard filled with water. As each person's "aqua clock" slowly ran out of water, the houseguests had to stack as many starfish as possible on a shelf.
During the competition, Raven found the special "Golden Starfish," which means she'd never be a "Have Not" this summer again. As a consequence for choosing to play the "Golden Starfish," however, she was forced to drop out of the PoV competition.
The battle for the veto was close, but in the end, Alex won by stacking 14 starfish compared to Jason's 14 starfish and Matt and Jillian's 10 starfish each.
Towards the end of the competition, Cody appeared to give up when he only had two starfish stacked on his shelf. Alex, along with his alliance, assumed he had thrown the competition so Alex could win it and take herself off the block. Jessica was pissed off and later confronted Cody about his actions, but Cody insisted he "1,000 percent" wanted to win the PoV and stay in control.
Cody was extremely happy Alex won the PoV, but she really didn't seem to care about him. Cody risked exposing himself for an alliance that may never happen.
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Paul later headed into Cody's HoH room and suggested he nominate Jason or Ramses Soto since Jason is a physical threat and Ramses is very intelligent. Cody thought Paul was trying to play him, which he didn't appreciate at all. Cody said Paul talking strategy made him dislike the veteran even more. Cody even went as far as to call Paul "poison" in their group.
Cody remained tight-lipped and emotionless until the Veto Meeting, but he did tell Jason that he would keep the rodeo clown safe as long as he swore to not nominate anyone in the power couples, or Dominique, if he won Head of Household the following week. Jason knew it was ridiculous to agree to such a plan, but he didn't feel he had another option.
Jason figured that the person sitting on the block next to Jillian on eviction night would be the one going home since Jillian was in no way a threat to anyone's game. Once Jason agreed to the deal, Cody revealed his decision will actually hurt the numbers of his own alliance, calling the move "counterintuitive but cool."
Cody thought Paul and Christmas were impossible to control, and that's why he had no intention of keeping them safe.
Once at the Veto Meeting, Alex saved herself and then Cody attempted to nominate Paul due to the returning player's apparent "disloyalty and distrust." Cody felt Paul was a personal attack on his game, but then Paul revealed his "Pendant of Protection."
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Cody appeared flabbergasted at the idea he had to nominate someone else, getting even more blood on his hands.
"Christmas, you got screwed. Take a seat," Cody announced as Paul shook his head in disappointment.
"Now I know who I can trust in this house," Paul said under his breath once the meeting concluded.
"Oh! So this was your agenda? To try to backdoor the vet? Real original buddy," Paul subsequently vented in the Diary Room. "You just showed your cards to the entire house. So guess what, Cody? I'm going to play the victim and turn this table real quick."
Elena was also upset that Cody had just split the house in two, and she didn't understand what he was thinking. Cody knew the "Den of Temptation" twist really hurt his game, and he anticipated going head to head with Paul in the days to come.
Also during last night's episode, viewers learned that Ramses has been cursed as a consequence of Paul choosing to take advantage of the "Pendant of Protection" temptation.
While Paul remains safe from nomination and eviction for three weeks, Ramses will have to choose a time to become the third nominee for eviction over the next three weeks. Ramses will have to place himself on the chopping block prior to nominations being revealed, and it's up to him if he wants to explain the curse to his fellow houseguests.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski