BB28Sep 4, 1:34 PM

Afternoon Update: Nominations Tonight

Friday afternoon the monitor says nominations today, and they are tonight. Barrett still has not named them. He told Melody only Drew knows, because he wants a fun reveal. Scorched earth in HOH; Angela and Dee already splitting off Devens. Eight remain. Nothing is on the block.

It's Friday, early afternoon, September 4, and the house is waiting on Barrett Pfeiffer. This morning's note already has the shape of the night: the 4–2 that sent LaTrice Verrett home, the jury starting, Barrett winning HOH, and the 2:13 AM camtalk where he said out loud that he wants an Icon or Yash gone and that the cleanest way is all three Icons on the block at once. At 9:04 AM the living room monitor confirms what the camtalk implied: NOMINATIONS TODAY. Nominations are tonight. The board, as of this writing, is empty.

One sentence of housekeeping: Week 9, Barrett is HOH, no nominations, no veto, eight remain, jury has started, Dee Valladares and Melody Morris are have-nots, and Julie said last night the veto this week is BB Comics — a schedule line, not a result.

What you already have

Thursday is filed and you don't need it twice. Lala went, Taylor Brown stayed, jury opened, and Barrett spent his first night as HOH telling a camera his plan at 2 AM. The morning note has the spine of that camtalk — lie to Devens, target an Icon or Yash, protect Melody and Drew. Today is about what he does with daylight.

Late morning: Dee's claim

At 11:16, Dee tells Barrett her deal with Yash — the one the house has been calling a bribe — covers all three Icons: Dee, Devens, and Angela. Barrett's review: "That's crazy!"

Twenty minutes later he carries it to Drew Campbell, and neither of them is sure it's true. That's the right posture. This is Dee's claim, not a verified power, and by 11:43 the two of them are shopping nominees between the Icons and Yash while wondering, reasonably, whether Dee is even allowed to lie about it. Nobody in that room knows. Neither do you.

The HOH table

The real work happens between 12:29 and 1:02, HOH room, Barrett and Melody, then Drew.

Melody opens with the thesis: this would be fun to watch from home, but she's here, and if all three Icons survive this week, they go to the end. Barrett says she's preaching to the choir. Angela, he reports, came up to the HOH "cracked out of her mind."

Then the plan, in Barrett's words: put them all up. Put one up and you piss them all off anyway. The Icons have had an easy game. There's a wrinkle — Melody asked Drew what he'd do with the veto, and per Barrett, Drew said Devens. Barrett thinks Devens would drag Drew to the end because he could beat him. Melody thinks Devens wants to lose to Dee.

The FAP question comes up — does the three go to the end, does Drew have to choose — and Barrett is blunt: he's not F'ing with the Icons anymore, and yes, he told Drew he would have voted Devens out yesterday. He wonders if Drew will pass that along. Melody wonders the same thing, out loud, with the phrase "father-son."

At 12:38 Barrett drafts a speech. The clear parts: Big Brother 28 has just begun; Lala said he had to choose a side, and he hopes tonight makes it clear; he is dragging Melody whether she likes it or not. A drafted speech is not a ceremony, but it's a mood.

And the tell of the day, 12:41: Barrett has told nobody but Drew who is going up, because he wants a "fun reveal." Melody, sitting right there, does not know the names. If it blows up this week, he says, at least he tried.

The nostalgia break is worth a line: Melody says the Icons used Kamu, Chuk, and Haley for dirty work and discarded them, and Barrett says Mallory going home changed everything — when Mallory left, the week sucked; when Haley left, he saw a path. It feels good now, he says, to say F everybody.

Drew walks in at 12:54 ("4 eyes"), gets the temperature check, and takes it. Melody asks how far he'll ride; Barrett asks if he can feel the Icon rave; Drew's opening defense of FAP is "I did not put you up," which Melody answers with "you cannot serve two masters." By 12:59 Drew says he won't use it on Devens — a veto hypothetical about a veto that hasn't been played for nominees that don't exist — and admits he's scared of Yash. Melody's counter: you're not scared enough of Devens. At 1:02 Drew tells Barrett he's okay with scorched earth. Then Taylor arrives, the yard opens, and cookies end the war council.

The parallel room

Same hour, different floor. Drew tells Devens that if Barrett goes crazy, he doesn't want Angela or Dee thinking they had anything to do with it. Devens wonders if Barrett was asleep this whole time just to blow it up — "I hope not but it would be kind of fun," says the man most likely to be the blast radius.

They agree Yash is the biggest threat of the game, majorly, and they agree Thursday's vote was weird — Drew and Devens both say they were out of the loop; Devens saw Yash and Angela whispering. Devens thinks Barrett might notice that too.

In the yard at 1:10, Angela finds Devens and reports her check-in went fine: why would it go any other way, we're together, no reason to worry. Devens: "you are turning it up really hard right now."

He means it. A few minutes later he's talking to himself, then to the camera: you are so difficult to work with, Angela. Less than 24 hours ago she told him he was definitely going home if he didn't win Blockbuster because of Barrett or Drew — did she forget, or is she an absolutely crazy person? Then he walks into HOH and asks Barrett to talk again before noms. Upstairs, Yash feels like nominations might be soon. Everyone but the Icons finds the snacks and decides Barrett is HOH for his birthday — it's the 9th.

Meanwhile Angela is already in a different movie with Dee. Devens snapped at her; if he blindsides her with Barrett she will go off. The vote with Devens last week, she says, goes to their graves. Dee thinks dropping the bribe bomb helped get Barrett mad at Devens, and she would like to stay out of the next embroidery. Angela will play Barrett's heartstrings. Devens may not be a partner — he might be an enemy. Melody is involved in all of it and Angela is sick of it. Dee says chill. Of course she'll have Angela's back.

The close

Nominations are tonight. The plan on the table is three Icons and a speech about choosing sides; the only person besides Barrett who knows the names is Drew, and the reveal is supposed to be fun. Devens wants one more talk. Angela wants a grave and a heartstring. A fun reveal is still not a ceremony. Watch the noms.