Big Brother featured Michael Bruner winning the Power of Veto and choosing to keep the Head of Household Jasmine Davis' nominations the same during the Season 24 broadcast that aired Wednesday night on CBS.
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Michael Bruner, a 28-year-old attorney from Saint Michael, MN who currently resides in Rochester, MN, won the Power of Veto and decided to keep both Joe "Pooch" Pucciarelli, a 24-year-old assistant football coach from Staten Island, NY who currently resides in Boca Raton, FL, and Taylor Hale, a 27-year-old personal stylist from West Bloomfield, MI, on the chopping block heading into the next eviction of the season.
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Michael made the decision in order to please the HoH, Jasmine, a 29-year-old entrepreneur from Terry, MS who currently resides in Atlanta, GA.
The Big Brother broadcast began on Day 10 following the Nomination Ceremony during which Jasmine Davis had nominated Taylor and Pooch for eviction.
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Taylor said she wasn't worried at all because she knew that she was the pawn this week and Jasmine was gunning for Pooch, but hoped to win the Power of Veto anyway in order to feel totally safe.
There was a plan in effect to take Pooch out, but Pooch thought his master plan -- to volunteer himself, a popular and well-liked player, as a pawn -- was in action to take out Public Enemy No. 1, Taylor.
Ameerah Jones told Jasmine, Alyssa Snider, Nicole Layog, and Brittany Hoopes that she wanted to take a guy out of the house or else they'd eventually target the girls one after the next. The girls also assured Taylor that she was fine.
Ameerah, however, said in the Diary Room that if Pooch won the Veto and pulled himself off the chopping block, Taylor should be worried.
"If the girls are setting me up, I'll be devastated," Taylor admitted to the cameras.
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Earlier in the game, Pooch had formed an alliance called "The Oasis" with Monte Taylor, Matthew "Turner" Turner, Kyle Capener and Joseph Abdin, and so Pooch felt like he was going to avoid eviction.
Joseph and Pooch also had a bromance in the house that Michael joked he wanted no part of.
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But Monte was pretending to go along with this "Oasis" alliance given he was actually loyal to Kyle, Nicole, Michael, Alyssa, and Ameerah.
"I know that they're a stronger alliance... and have more longevity in this game," Monte explained.
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It then became time to pick players for the Power of Veto competition. In addition to the Head of Household, Jasmine, and the two nominees, Pooch and Taylor, three players were selected by random draw to participate.
Ameerah was chosen to play in the PoV competition as well as Michael and Terrance. Jasmine was also able to pick a host for the competition, and she chose Daniel.
Jasmine and Ameerah asked Terrance Higgins to keep nominations the same if he won the PoV, and he agreed to completely.
Michael knew he had a lot of options going into the competition. While he told Taylor that he didn't really want to win the golden power, he didn't want Pooch to win the competition either. Michael even said he'd considered throwing the competition to Taylor.
For the Power of Veto competition, Daniel was dressed like The Little Mermaid's father, and the participating houseguests were required to wear mermaid fins and push a white ball, using only their heads, down a sand dune. They were not allowed to touch the "pearl" with their hands.
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Once a player reached the end of his or her lane, he or she had to try to push the ball into a target using only the face and head. The players had to repeat this process in order to land three pearls in each of the three clam shells.
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Jasmine decided not to compete due to her sprained ankle, and she hoped anyone would win except for Pooch and Taylor.
Michael wanted to save Taylor, but he wasn't sure doing so would be best for his game. Michael didn't want to rock the house or show his cards, and so he hoped Taylor could win and save herself.
But Taylor just missed her third shot, and Michael said he couldn't risk Pooch coming from behind and winning the veto. Michael therefore lined up his shot, sunk it, and won his second Power of Veto competition of the summer.
"I'm starting to think that maybe gold is my color," Michael joked.
Taylor felt very comfortable after the competition, but she didn't let Pooch see that in order to prevent the strong male player from fighting hard to stay in the house and rallying votes.
After Nicole opened up and cried about how she's playing Big Brother to win for her mother, Jasmine said she didn't care which one of her nominations ended up going home.
Daniel said it would be best for his game to send Taylor home because he had her blood on his hands, but he also wanted to work with girls over guys -- and the girls wanted Pooch out first.
Suddenly, Michael pitched the idea to a group of houseguests of saving Taylor and naming Joseph the replacement nominee.
"Joseph and Pooch are very close in this game, so putting them up against each other would ensure that one of them goes home," Michael said in the Diary Room.
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Michael told Daniel, Ameerah, Alyssa, Jasmine and Indy Santos that he viewed Joseph as the bigger threat in the game, and the women seemed to agree. The group realized Joseph was "a boys' boy" and would probably be a beast in competitions.
Jasmine liked the idea of taking out a physical threat as well as Pooch's right hand man, but she wasn't sure it was the right time to make such a big move.
At the Veto Meeting, Michael announced he had decided not to use the Power of Veto.
Michael said he had love and respect for both Taylor and Pooch but wanted to respect Jasmine's wishes as HoH this week.
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Michael felt great about blindsiding Pooch, and Taylor said she understood how Michael did what was best for his own game.
Pooch still believed he was going to be safe and assured home viewers that he'll be sticking around longer.
Big Brother's next episode will air on Sunday, July 24. The special two-hour broadcast will feature the first eviction of the season.