Thursday's jam-packed two-hour double eviction night was filled with some wild twists and crumbling alliances.
*Caution: Spoilers ahead!
Bros before show-mances! Big Brother delivered a special two-hour live eviction episode on Thursday, and with it came all the twists, turns, double-crosses and imploded alliances you could possibly hope for.
For the first time in weeks, it wasn't immediately clear to everyone watching who would be heading home when it came time to vote. Or how Kyle Capener's not-at-all subtle showmance with Alyssa Snider (who is not a part of his alliance) would drive a wedge into his alliance (which, and this is very key, she is not a part of. This is mentioned twice to emphasize just how many poor choices are being made in this house).
If anyone ever says Big Brother isn't the best show on TV, they are objectively wrong.
So, which two houseguests sent packing? Scroll down for the big reveal. Otherwise, here's how everything that led up to and played out during Thursday's live show.
As any season of Big Brother progresses, the gameplay gets messier and alliances strain, often to a breaking point. When you add romance into the mix, things only get more complicated. Which brings us to this past week.
Last Thursday, the house kicked out Daniel Durston during Michael Bruner's reign as Head of Household. Then, host Julie Chen Moonves dropped a bombshell, strategically speaking -- the "Festie Bestie" twist -- where all the houseguests were paired up -- was coming to an end.
This was a huge blow to The Leftovers -- the dominating alliance made up of Matthew "Turner" Turner, Monte Taylor, Joseph Abdin, Taylor Hale, Brittany Hoopes, as well as Kyle and Michael. The Leftovers had been using the pairing system to pick off people outside of the alliance. But now, it would be harder to keep their hands clean and their alliance a secret.
After outsing Daniel, Taylor became the Head of Household, marking her first time with real power -- and it proved more difficult than she seemed to imagine it would be. Ultimately, she chose to nominate two people outside the alliance -- Terrance Higgins and Indiana "Indy" Santos.
Taylor's ultimate goal was to use Indy as a pawn, and instead backdoor Alyssa -- one of the stronger competitors physically -- by use of the veto.
Now, this is where things get complicated. Kyle was the one who wound up winning the Power of Veto. Not only was Kyle in a showmance with Alyssa -- he is also in a side alliance -- the terribly named Five Swatters -- with Indy, Jasmine Davis, Alyssa and Joseph. However, for Kyle and Joseph (who are also Leftovers) the Five Swatters is an objectively fake alliance just meant to placate the female houseguests who aren't part of the real alliance.
Seriously, it's so complicated it seems that most of the houseguests involved in the layered gameplay don't actually know what they are part of, and are just careening around from day-to-day pretending to know what is happening -- like when you fall asleep in the middle of a work meeting and wake up with a bunch of new responsibilities and no idea what any of them mean.
Ultimately, Kyle decided to save his girlfriend -- literally, he asked Alyssa to be his girlfriend while making out in one of the bedrooms -- and went against his alliance's wishes by not using his power of veto. This also felt like a betrayal for the Five Swatters, but that's far less important because that's all just nonsense.
Kyle's role this week wasn't just concerning because he went against his alliance, but also because of a very uncomfortable conversation he had with Michael and Brittany (all three of whom are white), in which he claimed that Taylor, Monte and Joseph (all three of whom are POCs) are forming a side-alliance inspired by The Cookout from last season.
This suggestion doesn't sit well with Michael and Brittany -- who are also each other's final two -- because A) they feel the optics make them look kind of problematic, to say the least, and B) They don't even think it's true. They don't understand what good it would do to rip The Leftovers apart based on the word of one dude who isn't playing at 100% because of his showmance-clouded judgment.
When Brittany not-so-subtly explained to Kyle how bad his insinuations might look if anyone were to see them -- you know, on all the cameras running 24/7 or the hugely popular TV show they are all competing on -- Kyle dropped the subject pretty immediately.
So, with Kyle opting not to use his veto, Indy and Terrance were locked in on the chopping block -- marking Terrance's third time on the block. And, like every other time, his saving grace is that he's just seemingly not a threat to anyone else's game. People have made it far, and even won, with this kind of strategy.
Now, the only thing left for The Leftovers to decide is whether or not to blindside Indy with a unanimous vote or to throw her a sympathy vote.
And that brings us to Thursday's live eviction night!
Despite Indy's best efforts, her fate was all but sealed. Apart from a sympathy vote from Michael -- which was really just a strategic move to try and win Indy's favor, as she's the first member of the jury this year -- Indy was evicted by a vote of 7 to 1.
Unlike Daniel's dramatic and somewhat unsportsmanlike exit last week, Indy gave hugs to everyone and delivered a powerful (if somewhat scattered) speech to the remaining houseguests right before walking out the door.
"Please keep having fun, doing the best that you can. Do your part. Let god be god. I'm walking through this door... You had my best. Whenever you get home, you will see I gave my best to each of you," she said, with tears in her eyes. "I hope you guys really regret this. But anyway, you will have a friend. I will be praying for all of you."
"I want the best person, the most honest, most loving and most amazing person to win this money," she added. "If this money goes to the wrong person, then I'm going to be angry. But I'm not right now. I'm glad I had this opportunity. I love you so much. Do your best. Be loyal. Be the best version of yourself so your family is proud of you."
After leaving, Indy sat down for her exit interview with Julie, who asked her if she blames Taylor -- who nominated her -- for her eviction.
"From Taylor, I really believe that she had other priorities. I really don't see that was her intention to see me in this position right now," she shared. When asked who she does blame, there was no hesitation when Indy responded, "Kyle."
"Because we had an alliance when he was on the block, we made an alliance. I picked him to play the veto. He won the veto and he didn't save me," she explained, completely accurately. She was a little less accurate when she suggested that Kyle was trying to "protect Monte" because "Monte was Taylor's target." Which obviously isn't correct in a number of different ways.
After Indy's eviction, Julie addressed the houseguests and dropped a whole new bombshell twist.
"You need to know, the Big Brother game is about to completely change," Julie said. "You are about to experience a week of Big brother like it has never been played in over 20 years of this game. Get ready for the split house twist."
"What does that mean? This week, there will be two games of Big Brother being played simultaneously and separately. Tonight, two heads of household will be crowned. One HOH will live inside the house this week with four other houseguests playing one game of Big Brother at Big Brochella. A second HOH, along with the remaining four houseguests, will be living in the backyard all week long. They will be playing their own Big Brother game at Dire Fest."
"These two groups of five will have no contact for the entire week. They will be completely separated. One inside, one outside. Both will have their own nominations, their own veto competition, their own veto meeting and their own vote and eviction. That means one person in each group of five will be HOH, two will be nominated, only two people will vote and one will be evicted... [meaning] two houseguests will be sent to the jury in a double eviction like no other."
As for Thursday's HOH comp -- Michael and Terrence wound up claiming victory, with Michael winning over all and being HOH inside the house, while Terrence is HOH of the group that will be living outside the house for the next week. As for how the houses will be divided? "The classic schoolyard pick," Julie explained.
Now we just have to wait and see who gets picked for which one the two tribes houses.
Season 24 of Big Brother airs Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on CBS.
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