'Big Brother' recap: Cliff Hogg evicted over Holly Allen after Jackson Michie breaks deal and casts sole vote

Big Brother evicted Cliff Hogg instead of Holly Allen during Thursday night's live eviction episode on CBS, determining the Final 3 houseguests for Season 21.


Cliff was evicted from the Big Brother house on Day 93 after Jackson Michie won the Power of Veto and was able to cast the sole vote to evict. Although Michie had promised Cliff a Final 2 deal, he never had any intention of taking anyone but Holly to the end.

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Big Brother 21 - Episode 38

The Big Brother broadcast began with Nicole Anthony saying that since Michie won the Power of Veto, she knew he'd use it on himself and Cliff would go up on the chopping block as his replacement.

However, Nicole was hoping Michie would honor his deal and send Holly packing instead of Cliff once it became time for the live eviction.


But Michie dropped a bomb on Nicole right as she was about to relax.

"I love you to death, more than anything. But I do want you to know this will be the Final 3," Michie suddenly told Nicole. "Holly and I were unwaveringly loyal to y'all."

Cliff then interrupted the conversation, and Nicole went into the Diary Room to vent her frustrations.

"Michie hammered me and Cliff last week about not sticking to our word, not sticking to our deal," Nicole told the cameras.

"How dare we even consider getting rid of Holly before Final 4. Michie makes a Final 3 with Cliff -- looks him in the eye and shakes his hand -- and low and behold, Mr. Integrity himself breaks it."


Michie assured Nicole this wasn't the type of Big Brother game he wanted to play. He said his word is rock solid until it's not reciprocated, referring to how Nicole and Cliff had been moments away from keeping Tommy Bracco in the game over Holly, but Nicole asked him not to use that as an excuse.

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Nicole told Michie that Cliff was not the one who had been questioning voting out Holly, that she was the one to blame for that.

"I've always said you're not a fourth wheel to a tricycle," Michie told Nicole.

"So I'm a third wheel to a bicycle! This is going to be a great finale night!" Nicole yelled.


Michie promised Nicole that wasn't the case and said his word had been unbreakable until Nicole and Cliff started lying and considering going back on their word.

Nicole didn't believe him, insisting Michie and Holly had a master plan to go to the Final 2 together from the beginning.

Nicole cried because she had trusted her gut the entire game, and when she trusted Cliff's gut for the first time, this happened. She wished she had kept Tommy and couldn't believe she was left in a Final 3 with a showmance.

"Michie tells me to do him a favor and not tell Cliff. Tell you what, Michie, you do me a favor -- go f-ck yourself!" Nicole said in a confessional.

Nicole then warned Cliff about what was to come, and he comforted Nicole and said it was okay.


Cliff admitted he was "numb" and "disappointed." While he acted calm in his conversation with Nicole for her benefit, he was apparently screaming at the top of his lungs on the inside, thinking, "How could you do that to me?!"

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Nicole said she was "infuriated" and "disgusted," and then Cliff said he believes there's a difference between a Final 4 agreement amongst a group of people and two guys shaking hands word to word, looking at each other in the eye.

Cliff said they had worked so hard and he didn't go on the show to land in fourth place. He called Michie a "hypocrite" and had no intention of quitting or surrendering. Cliff told the cameras people would have to drag him out of the house.

Big Brother then checked in with the jury house, when Nick Maccarone walked through the door. Although Kathryn Dunn didn't like Nick, it turned out the pair grew to like each other and now have a romance going on.


"Once you're in the jury house and you've got your Big Brother goggles on, everyone starts looking really good," Kat said with a laugh.

As fans probably recall, Nick had a showmance with Isabella "Bella" Wang earlier during the season and seemed to be crazy about her.

Viewers also saw Jessica Milagros and Christie Murphy walk into the house one by one, followed by Tommy later on.

Kat said she didn't like Michie's "dirty game." Although he was a comp beast, Kat said the winner of Big Brother needs to play a good social game and be a good person too. Analyse Talavera agreed she didn't like Michie but respected his game.

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Nick was really glad to see Christie enter the jury house because he accused her of lying her way out of everything and betraying most people in the game.


When the group watched footage of the season back, everyone gave Nicole props for having been underestimated. Jessica pointed out that Nicole might've had a strategy all along, although it hadn't been obvious to anyone.

"Nicole seems like she's been saving up her steam. No one saw her as a threat, but I also think Nicole has been a huge factor in every freakin' eviction," Christie told the cameras.

"I mean, it seemed like almost every vote has come down to Nicole's choice and whom she was going to vote for. For someone quiet, she's making quite the impact on this game."

In addition, Tommy and Christie revealed to the jury they knew each other before the game because she had dated one of Tommy's family members for seven years.

The pair confirmed, however, there was no twist and they didn't know they'd be playing the game together until they stepped into the house. Nick felt more betrayed by Tommy than ever at that point.

Nick acknowledged it was not going to be an easy decision to determine the winner of Big Brother, but he planned to vote for the person who played the best game.


Prior to the live eviction, Cliff confronted Michie about what he had heard. He knew Michie was stubborn and asking Michie to evict his girlfriend would be tough.

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"I have a few cards up my sleeve. He can destroy my game, but I think I can destroy his as well," Cliff noted.

Cliff therefore told Michie they had a man-to-man agreement and it wasn't fair their deal had become a one-way street. Michie explained that once Tommy was close to staying, everything changed, but Cliff pointed out he had made every effort to honor their agreement.

Cliff thought their handshake with Michie was "unbreakable," and so he threatened to ruin Michie's game by voting for Nicole or Holly in the Final 3 -- as well as throwing him under the bus to the jury members.

"I know how much you want to be at the top of this thing, and I feel like it's a lot easier to do it if Holly is over there [in the jury] championing your cause as opposed to me being over there and talking to a few of those guys over the next few days," Cliff said.


Michie didn't expect Cliff to lay guilt on him or threaten to swing the jury against him.

Michie was really angry, telling the cameras, "I have 10 wins up to this point, and you're going to hand the half a million dollars to Holly because I won't stick to a deal that you pushed me into taking?! Damnit!"

It then became time for the Veto Meeting, and Michie announced he had decided to use the power on himself.

Michie announced he had been forced to adapt in an environment where he had no choice in the matter. Michie said they all had a clean Final 4 but Cliff needed to replace him on the chopping block.

The Veto Meeting led into the live eviction, and Holly explained she couldn't earn her spot in the Final 3 because she had to throw the previous Head of Household competition in order to keep their alliance intact. She therefore reminded everyone how she deserved to stay in the game and really wanted to stick around.

And Cliff addressed the cast, saying he'd love Michie's vote but would respect his decision no matter what.


"I get it. I may disagree with your decision. I may disagree with the justification, but I respect you as a gameplayer and I respect you as a man. Friendship forever, and whatever you do, I get it, okay?" Cliff said.

Cliff added he was going to walk out of the game with honor and his head held high considering he had played a loyal game with a lot of humor.

Michie then announced his word is his bond and he was always "unwaveringly loyal to those that are loyal" to him.

"I've been burned in life; I've been burned in this game... I've learned the moment I feel things are not mutually reciprocated, that my loyalty is also severed," Michie declared.

"And I felt like I had to do everything and anything necessary to protect my own game and to protect Holly's, and this has never been personal. As much as this decision kills me, I'm glad I can look everyone in this house in the eyes when I make it. I love y'all and I ultimately have to do what is best for my game... Cliff, I'm sorry."

As a result, Michie cast his sole vote to evict Cliff from the game. Cliff told everyone the game was an adventure and he didn't take his ouster personally.


Michie then asked Cliff to remember going into jury that Big Brother is just a game and he should vote according to game with the other jury members. Michie basically demanded that Cliff not bad-mouth him to others.

Cliff joined Big Brother host Julie Chen for an interview following his eviction after 93 days in the game.

Cliff admitted his major mistake was getting "too dependent" on Michie and Holly. Cliff apparently thought he could ride behind a huge threat like Michie while waiting for somebody else to take him out -- but that didn't happen.

"I think I just trusted him to falter when he never really did," Cliff explained.

Julie suggested Cliff and Nicole had the game on lock and could've targeted Holly and Michie but they chose to get rid of Tommy instead.

"It was a strange situation. Nicole was a little closer to Tommy and I was a little closer to Holly and Michie, so we had a little bit of conflict. I was really scared of Tommy," Cliff explained.


"I thought we'd have more mental competitions coming up, and I knew how strong Tommy was with that. I also expected he'd be much more likely to take Nicole going forward than myself."

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Cliff said he was playing the game for first place and he and Nicole bounced back and forth between evicting Holly or Tommy.

Julie then asked Cliff in what world Michie would take him to the Final 2 over his girlfriend. Cliff laughed and confessed he had been gullible while Michie had always been honest with him up to that point.

"I looked him in the eye, we shook hands, and he said he was going to do it. And I fell for it," Cliff admitted. "I got played."






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