'Big Brother' recap: HoH Alex Ow nominates Elena Davies and Jason Dent for eviction with plan to backdoor Cody Nickson

Big Brother's new Head of Household, Alex Ow, nominated Elena Davies and Jason Dent for eviction, with Matt Clines on the chopping block as the week's special third nominee, during Sunday night's Season 19 broadcast on CBS.


Alex nominated Elena and Jason for eviction, telling Elena that her position on the block is just part of playing Big Brother and Jason that she wants to compete against him in the upcoming Power of Veto competition.

In addition, Matt is a special third nominee because he had finished the "Temptation Competition" in last place. However, Matt actually threw the competition so that Cody Nickson could not finish in last place and guarantee himself a spot to play in the PoV competition.

Although Alex wanted both Mark Jansen and Elena on the block, Mark won the "Temptation Competition" and was therefore granted immunity for the week.

The whole house is gunning for Cody at this point, so the former Marine's only chance to save himself is by stirring the pot enough to switch the target or being randomly selected to play in the Power of Veto competition when players are picked. Alex's plan is to backdoor Cody, so right now, her plan is being executed perfectly.


The Big Brother broadcast began with everyone congratulating themselves on making the jury after Jessica Graf's eviction.

Cody couldn't explain how it felt to be alone in the game without Jessica, but he wanted to advance for both Jessica and himself as a way to strip the $500,000 prize from as many of "the idiots" left in the game as possible.

Before Jessica left the game, she warned the house that Paul Abrahamian was the biggest target left in the game and the houseguests would be "idiots" to keep him around any longer. Mark agreed with Jessica that Paul was running the game because every person either listens to him or doesn't disagree with him when a decision is made. Mark was hoping other people would catch on soon.

Meanwhile, Raven Walton hoped Alex's targets would be Mark and Elena this week because they still appeared buddy-buddy with Cody.

On the same page as Raven, Christmas Abbott called Mark "a competitor" and Elena "persuasive," making them both dangerous in the game. Christmas also worried that the showmance might bring Alex, Jason and the "fifth wheel," Cody, in to align with them -- which would ultimately give them a strong alliance as well as the numbers.


Alex's plan was to take out Cody by backdooring him and have everyone in the house play in the "Temptation Competition" in order to worsen Cody's chances of winning immunity for the week.

Alex figured that Matt and Elena should be her "expendable pawns," but her close ally Paul suggested she not piss off two power couples in case they pull in Cody to work with them. Paul suggested that Mark and Elena would be good choices, adding that everyone should make them feel comfortable.

Alex didn't mind tearing apart a showmance in the house, calling herself the "showmance killer," but Paul has already called himself that.

Meanwhile, Cody talked to Kevin Schlehuber about how he'd never vote Alex out of the house so it would be a waste of her HoH reign to get rid of him. Kevin wanted to work with Cody as of last week, but the player's blowout fight with Josh Martinez squashed any chance of that happening.

However, Kevin decided to keep Cody close in case he managed to stick around this week and win the upcoming Head of Household competition.


Alex caught Kevin and Cody talking and grew wary of Kevin's suspicious game. Alex initially wanted to take Kevin to the end, but because he was "acting strange," she began second guessing herself. Alex and Paul weren't okay with Kevin's apparent "side game."

Mark then spoke to Jason secretly about how Paul was running the show and the houseguests would be "lost puppies" if they were to kick him to the curb. Mark and Jason strategized about how to go about this since everyone feared that targeting Paul would ultimately make themselves a target. The guys intended to keep their discussions between themselves.

Before the "Temptation Competition," Alex asked someone in her alliance to throw the competition to ensure Cody could now throw the competition and end up on the chopping block. Matt volunteered.

Meanwhile, the houseguests were hearing a series of strange noises as the hours passed. While the houseguests thought they had to remember the order in which they had heard the noises for the next competition, it turned out they had to recall which room they were sitting or standing in at the time the noise was played.

The "Temptation Competition" required the players to stand on a labeled room inside a giant blueprint of the house once a noise was re-played to show where they were located at the time they first heard the noise, which meant that every player had a different correct answer.


If a houseguest chose the correct room, he or she would earn one point. The person with the most points at the end of the competition would win safety from nominations and eviction. Every single person in the house chose to play in the competition, except for Alex, who served as the host.

Cody's strategy was to throw this competition so he could ensure himself a spot in the Power of Veto competition. He recalled spending zero time in the "Have Not" room leading up to this competition, so his plan was to stand in that room every time a noise was re-played.

It quickly became clear to everyone that Cody was throwing the competition, but so was Matt.

Towards the end, Cody accidentally got an answer correct, and footage played of him sitting in the "Have Not" room for a brief period of time. Paul couldn't believe that Cody didn't just choose the Head of Household room every time given that Josh had occupied it and Cody therefore never stepped foot inside.

Cody hoped Matt would at least get one answer correct to result in a tie, but that didn't happen. In the end, Mark won immunity and Matt became the week's special third nomination.


Cody was running out of options, so he decided to plant a seed in everyone's mind that Paul should be the target because he was gunning after certain people.

Meanwhile, Alex was figuring out whom her pawn should be since Mark was no longer an option. Alex needed to nominate someone she trusted -- someone who wouldn't mess with her nominations if he or she was to win the upcoming PoV competition.

Jason suggested to Alex that Paul should be a pawn because he'd be a great physical competitor in the PoV if Cody was actually selected to play. Paul went along with the plan but obviously preferred not to be a pawn. Elena also hated the idea she was expendable to the group.

Cody then got inside Elena's head by telling her that Kevin, Jason, Alex and Paul were all working together to get Mark and herself out. Cody said that Kevin had asked him to briefly join their alliance in order to make those two evictions happen. Elena was pissed off because she really loved and trusted Paul.

Cody insisted to Elena, however, that Paul had made a deal with every person in the house. He also promised the radio personality that if he won the veto, he'd remove her from the chopping block.

Christmas observed Cody talking game with Mark and Elena, and then she called Mark out for flipping every single time there was a new HoH. Christmas and Josh agreed that Mark was disloyal because he always teamed up with the people who had the numbers. Mark, on the other hand, yelled out that that's the game of Big Brother.


The episode concluded with the Nomination Ceremony and Alex revealing her choices of Elena and Jason. 






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski