'Big Brother' recap: Paul Abrahamian wins Power of Veto, Kevin Schlehuber replaces Alex Ow on eviction block

Big Brother houseguest Paul Abrahamian won the Power of Veto and then used it to remove Alex Ow from the chopping block during Wednesday night's Season 19 episode on CBS.


Alex and her closest ally Jason Dent were sitting on the chopping block heading into the Power of Veto competition.

Once Paul won the Power of Veto, he decided to save Alex and allow for the week's Head of Household, Christmas Abbott, to nominate Kevin for eviction in her place. Although Alex and Jason believe Kevin is the backdoor target this week, Christmas and Paul have every intention of kicking Jason out of the house in order to break up a power couple.

The Big Brother broadcast began with Christmas declaring how Jason is her target this week. Alex was still convinced the house was going after Kevin, but Jason didn't know what was going on since Christmas had decided to place both Alex and himself on the chopping block instead of using a different pawn, like Raven Walton.

Paul played dumb in regards to Christmas' nomination choices, but Jason was growing skeptical of Paul since he was pretty certain the veteran player had a hand in everything that was going on in the house. Jason worried Paul was pulling a fast one on him just to keep him quiet and comfortable.


Jason was distraught over being on the block, especially since Kevin later warned him that either Alex or Jason was going home depending on which person wins the veto.

Jason then asked Josh Martinez why Raven wasn't one of the pawns, and Paul interrupted their conversation venting about how he was probably being backdoored. Paul's little victim speech didn't make sense to Jason or Josh, so they wondered if Paul was fibbing as a way to remain on everyone's good side.

Josh seemed to suddenly realize that Paul was a good player and working all angles of the house. Josh confessed that he, himself, was even buying everything Paul had to say.

Going into the Power of Veto competition, Christmas noted that neither Jason or Kevin could win it, and she talked with Paul and Josh about removing Alex from the chopping block if one of their alliance members happened to win the power this week. Christmas was amazed Jason and Alex felt really safe.

Meanwhile, Paul was trying to convince Jason and Alex to throw the PoV competition so he could win it and pull one of them off the chopping block while keeping himself safe.


Josh then walked into the room where the conversation was taking place, and Jason pointed out that Josh was in an alliance with Christmas.

Josh has been trying to keep that alliance under wraps, so he figured someone was feeding the power couple information -- and that person must be Paul. Josh felt no one would have known about his deal with Christmas otherwise.

Josh told the cameras in the Diary Room that Paul was working the whole house and playing the best game of the season.

With that being said, Josh told Christmas that he believed Paul was only looking out for himself and protecting himself in the game, because if Alex ultimately stayed in the house and won a subsequent Head of Household competition, she would probably nominate both Christmas and Josh for eviction as revenge -- and Paul would be in the clear.

Christmas acknowledged Josh had a point, but she told the cameras she needed both men in the game to win competitions for her and take her to the end. Christmas knew her chances of getting deeper in the game were better with both of her male allies still around.


Christmas was therefore okay with getting a little blood on her hands, but Josh was preparing to take a shot at Paul at the first opportunity.

When it became time to pick players for the PoV competition, Jason selected "Houseguest's Choice" and chose Paul to play for the veto since he trusted Paul more than Josh. Kevin and Raven were also picked to play in the competition at random with the HoH and two nominees.

For the Power of Veto competition, each houseguest stood inside a contraption that featured a giant boot, hand and boxing glove. The participants were repeatedly punched in the gut, kicked in the butt or slapped in the face, and they had to answer questions about each sequence or pattern of blows they had received.

For every correct answer, a player would receive one point, and the person to rack in the most points by the end of the competition would win the veto as well as a behind-the-scenes experience on the set of the new show Me, Myself and I in Los Angeles. Actor Bobby Moynihan also entered the house to host the competition.

In the end, Paul won the veto, and he was looking forward to splitting up the power duo.


Josh then confronted Paul and asked him not to use the veto in order to benefit all three of the members in their alliance.

Josh suggested it wouldn't be fair for Paul to walk out of the situation looking pretty while Christmas and himself would have a lot of blood on their hands. Josh noted that Paul would look like a hero, while Christmas and himself would look like villains, so Paul should take one for the team.

Paul, however, quickly argued that opting out of using the veto would not benefit his own game because Jason and Alex would be upset with him.

Paul was ready to make a move that was best for his own game, especially since he insisted he had dragged Josh to get to this point in the game. Christmas also assured Josh that everything was going to be fine and he needed to stick with the plan.

Paul promised Josh and Christmas that he wasn't going to make a mistake and was going to take them to the end because he knew what he was doing.


At the Veto Meeting, after Paul pulled Alex off the chopping block, Christmas announced that Kevin was the replacement nominee because everyone else in the house had been nominated for eviction already multiple times. Paul, however, later bragged in the Diary Room that he was also never nominated for eviction this season.

Kevin felt "railroaded" and vented about how he should've used his head and never thrown the previous Head of Household competition just because Paul had told him to. Kevin swore to himself that he was not going to listen to anyone going forward.

Because Paul followed through with the decision to save Alex, Jason finally felt confident that Kevin would be going home next and Paul was definitely on their side. But Josh hated the move and was contemplating changing things up in the game since he thought Paul was being selfish.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski