‘Big Brother’ Season 19, Episode 20 Recap: With Josh In Charge Jessica Is Not Safe

Day 41 of the 19th season of Big Brother began with something quite unexpected. Having been the ire of the house for the majority of the season, Cody the “Meatball” Marine broke down in tears into the arms of his girlfriend, the equally hated Jessica.

Cody’s tears were a result of days under the rule of the new Head of Household, Josh, who has long been Cody and Jessica’s main enemy – Josh also coined Cody’s “Meatball” nickname.

When Josh was first named HoH, he decided to seek help from Paul, everyone’s favorite Big Brother maverick. But without much power, Paul secretly has made moves to put him in a better position, all behind Josh’s back.

Josh had already placed Elena on the elimination block for personal revenge reasons when Paul insists that Jessica is the bigger target. In way of this theory, he urges Christmas to use the replacement ring but she is hesitant. When Cody, Jessica’s only saving grace, is randomly picked for the Veto Competition, it seems that now is the perfect time for the ring. Eventually, with Josh’s OK, Christmas uses her power, leaving Jessica without any allies.

In another strange Veto Competition, house guests are forced to find shoe soles with numbers on them at the request of an animatronic demonic pig named OTEV who likes to spit Exorcist bile on the guests.

Jessica and Josh are both eliminated from the challenge quite quickly, leaving Alex and Mark to battle it out. The one-on-one competition doesn’t disappoint, as Mark wins down to the wire and on an unexpected technicality. For his victory, OTEV showers him with green slime. More importantly though, he now has the veto power.

Mark uses the veto power to remove himself from the block and Josh decides to put Raven on the block in his place, but only as a pawn. With Raven, Jessica, and Elena on the block, Josh has a tough decision to make. While Raven will be safe, Josh’s hatred for both Jessica and Elena might begin to blind his decision-making processes.

Ultimately though, Paul has shown that even without any serious power, he has the ability to influence all of the major decisions being made without him, and this week, he wants Jessica gone.

Tune into CBS’s Big Brother at 9 p.m. EST on Thursday to see if Jessica can somehow survive another week.