‘Big Brother’ Recap: Vanessa’s Plan To Evict James Is Put In Jeopardy After Austin Throws The Veto Competition

Vanessa Rousso’s plan to evict James Huling is in jeopardy after Austin Matelson throws the Veto Competition to John McGuire on Big Brother.

Big Brother 17 Recap

Worried that Vanessa and Austin are going to try to backdoor her and get her out of the house, Audrey Middlton goes looking for them. To her surprise, Vanessa and Austin have no intention of kicking her out this week – they’re after James, who is on the block with John. So, Vanessa and Austin agree to keep Audrey close for now, but they don’t trust her.

With the Veto competition coming up, Jeff Weldon goes to visit Austin to try and secure his place in the house. Jeff immediately starts talking smack about other houseguests, saying, among other things, “I love Clay, but Shelli’s f—king him up.” Jeff’s poor attitude rubs Austin the wrong way and convinces him that Jeff is the one they should be evicting this week.

Competing for the Power of Veto are John, James, Vanessa, Shelli Poole, Austin and Audrey. The competition, ‘Gronk and Roll,’ is a physical and mental challenge involving huge dice in one-on-one challenges. Vanessa is up first and challenges Audrey, but throws the competition to convince her fellow houseguests that she is on board to backdoor Audrey. Of course, nothing goes to plan in Big Brother, and Vanessa is forced to watch John effortlessly kick Audrey out of the competition. Austin knocks out James and then Shelli, leaving Austin and John. Austin is confident he can beat John – and he needs to if the plan is to keep the nominations the same. Unfortunately, Austin loses last minute and John is granted the Power of Veto.

Vanessa is furious with Austin, convinced he threw the competition on purpose. Austin tries to deny it, but Vanessa isn’t stupid – she saw that he was close to winning and then threw it all away. Of course, Austin did throw the competition, and he eventually cops to it and makes up with Vanessa.

Vanessa and Austin fix up their relationship in time to come up with a new game plan. Vanessa is pissed because Austin has now put her in the position of making enemies as HoH. John is going to take himself off the block, meaning she will have to nominate someone else, alienating that houseguest and his or her allies.

Meanwhile, the entire house is forced to party at the most inconvenient times due to the Gronkowski Takeover. The houseguests start out enthusiastic, but quickly become exhausted at the constant “partying” required.

As the dust from the Veto Competition settles, Jeff pays a visit to Vanessa. She reveals her plan to get rid of James, not Audrey, leaving Jeff stunned. He’s convinced Vanessa has allowed herself to be manipulated by Audrey – a suspicion he decides to share with Jason Roy, Clay Honeycutt and Austin. Austin tries to act surprised at the plan to get rid of James, but Jason can tell he’s faking and now Jeff suspects Austin and Vanessa are in an alliance. Jeff takes this new information to Clay, who plays dumb and then tells Austin who tells Vanessa about Jeff’s knowledge, making Jeff the perfect patsy. Jeff has been talking about the entire house, giving her an excuse to throw him under the bus and nominate him for eviction after John takes himself off the block.

Vanessa wants to make sure that the house feels Jeff’s nomination is justified, so she and Austin begin spreading rumors about his two faced ways. Austin and Vanessa call out Jeff in front of the entire house, revealing that he told Austin that he can’t work with Shelli and Clay as a couple. When Jeff denies it, Vanessa acts offended, making a show of saying how furious she is that Jeff is making her look like a liar in front of the entire house.

At the Veto Ceremony, John used his Power of Veto to take himself off the block, ensuring his safety for another week, and Vanessa was forced to make a show of nominating Jeff to take his place.

Big Brother continues Thursday at 9 p.m. on CBS.