After a long and emotionally taxing week, one of the season's most controversial contestants got the boot.
*Caution: Spoilers ahead!
There's a lesson to be learned from Kyle Capener's past week in the Big Brother house: if you ever think it'd be a good idea to try to divide groups among racial lines because you don't trust Black people, you're probably the one in the wrong and you should probably just stop talking.
Well, on Thursday, after planting the seeds of racial discord, Kyle was sent packing from the Big Brother house in an emotional exit. By a vote of 5-0, Kyle was evicted.
In his exit interview, Kyle explained, "Man, it was a very, very tough week, but honestly, I'm feeling so grateful to have this experience with all these amazing people. They shared so much love and compassion for someone as flawed as I am. Like I just feel so grateful to have had this experience and to have it with these houseguests."
When asked about the racial implications of his attempts at an alliance, Kyle said, "As terrible as it sounds, at the time, it didn't click in my mind. And after looking back in the multiple conversations with Michael and Brittany and the multiple conversations, you know, this week, I now realize how terrible that was, and I should have realized it from the start. And I apologize to everyone watching and everyone in the house."
Here's how everything that led up to and played out during Thursday's big show.
It was a long and challenging few days after the Split House twist came to an end following the evictions of Joseph Abdin and Jasmine Davis.
As of last Thursday, Kyle had totally betrayed The Leftovers alliance to Terrance Higgins and Kyle's showmance girlfriend Alyssa Snider. Kyle, Terrance, Alyssa and Matthew "Turner" Turner had formed their own group, The Afterparty, and were going to reunite with the other houseguests armed with information the others didn't know they had.
However, there was still some vitally important information that Kyle left out when he was selling out all the houseguests whom he'd been closest to. Throughout the season -- and especially beginning in Week 5 -- Kyle had started spouting off about how he was suspicious of the BIPOC players, and suggested they might be forming a secret alliance inspired by Season 23's Cookout alliance.
Essentially, he told Michael Bruner and Brittany Hoopes that the Black players were secretly joining together along race lines, and not-so-subtly implied that the white players should band together against them. Michael and Brittany immediately realized how bad that sounded and how racist it all looked from an objective perspective and declined to follow Kyle's lead on that.
However, it appears that they also didn't mention the remarks to anyone, and seemingly kept Kyle's highly problematic remarks to themselves for strategic purposes. Which is problematic in its own way, really.
On Wednesday's episode, after Turner wins the Head of Household competition, he nominates Taylor and Brittany. As Brittany and Michael are besties -- and Michael is a comp beast who is a record-breaker when it comes to HOH and Veto comp victories -- after Michael wins the Veto Comp yet again, they decided to share the news of Kyle's past suggestions.
To make it seem like they aren't just using racism as a game token, they first go to Monte Taylor and Taylor Hale -- two of the Black houseguests whom Kyle included in his paranoia. Michael reveals what Kyle had been saying and then asked if they felt like they should bring it up to Turner. Monte and Taylor leave it up to Michael and Brittany, who eventually tell Turner.
They also tell Alyssa that her boyfriend has been pitching these ideas to everyone, and stuff gets super awkward there as well. Everyone agrees that Kyle's remarks are awful and they don't want to play a game of race-baiting.
All the while, Kyle is picking up on the awkward, unspoken vibe and calls a house meeting to talk about everything that has happened. And this is where Season 24 really reaches an interesting crescendo.
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