Going into Thursday, it all came down to the Final Four, before getting whittled down to the Top Three.
*Caution: Spoilers ahead!*
As this season of Big Brother nears the end, the game play is only getting more intense! With only four houseguests left, Thursday's eviction was the last until next week's big finale -- but who got sent home?
If you're anxious to just find out who got kicked out, scroll down below. But first, it's important to see just how this eviction played out over the last week.
Last week, the historically successful six-person alliance The Cookout came to an end after all the members made it to the final six, and therefore had to start evicting one another.
The game became something of a boys versus girls competition as Derek Frazier, Kyland Young and Xavier Prather worked together to orchestrate the elimination of Tiffany Mitchell and then Hannah Chaddha in the two-hour surprise double eviction episode.
During that time, Azah Awasum decided to side with the boys, working in concert with the trio of male houseguests. As she quickly found out after the double eviction -- this likely wasn't the best game move.
In the subsequent Head of Household competition, Xavier ended up earning the title, and had a lot of trouble figuring out where his true allegiances rested. He wound up nominating Azah and Kyland to the block.
Azah then learned, from Derek, that he has long had a final two deal with both Kyland and Xavier. Kyland and Xavier have also had a final two deal. Azah pointed out that this essentially meant a final three deal that she wasn't a part of at all, and thus her fate was likely sealed.
That being said, Azah played the one move she's been cultivating all season -- painting others as bigger targets and more dangerous threats. Specifically, she planted the idea that, when it came to the finals, Kyland would be harder to beat than she would be, and therefore it would make more sense to bring her and let the chips fall where they may.
This week's Power of Veto competition, therefore, was one of the most important of the entire season for both Kyland and Azah -- both of whom realized just how important it was for them to guarantee their own safety.
The Veto comp involved walking across a seesaw and balancing a specific number of balls on a shovel. It was a physically and mentally challenging game -- that Xavier wound up winning.
Kyland became increasingly unsure of whether or not he could trust Xavier and Derek to keep their word that they'd bring him to the finals, as the power fully rested in their hands.
Thursday saw tensions escalate further, as Azah started to get into a disagreement with Derek -- and the tensions between them lead to further tension between Xavier and Derek. All the alliances began to implode while Kyland mostly sat and worried about his fate.
Xavier was committed to getting Kyland to go home, and the more he felt he couldn't trust Derek, the more he felt like taking her off the block with his Power of Veto, and putting Derek up instead.
However, he ultimately decided to leave the nominations as is, and hope Derek played with his head instead of his heart.
Derek, being the only deciding vote, proved that he could be trusted to play smart and carefully, and voted to send Kyland to the jury and bring Azah to the final 3.
This led to one of the most contentious exits from the house all season. Kyland started talking trash about Xavier not being a good role model for his nephew -- whom Xavier has talked about frequently -- and Xavier warned him to stop talking.
It was very bad look for Kyland, and host Julie Chen Moonves intervened, telling Kyland multiple times that he had to leave the house, before punches could be thrown.
Speaking with Julie after his exit, Kyland opened up about his final two deal with Xavier, an alliance which they'd called The Gentlemen.
"I thought we were both on board with the name, in terms of being gentlemen, because it's like both of us are competitors. Both of us don't have to make underhand moves because we can compete," he said. "Being the first Black winner, I want them to win with some sort of honor instead of win by any means necessary."
The final three episodes of Big Brother season 23 air Sunday, Wednesday and the grand final on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. For more, watch below.
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