BB28Aug 31, 9:18 PM

Evening Update: Devens Is Up

Monday evening the ceremony is done. Yash used veto on himself; Drew put up Devens. Final noms are LaTrice, Taylor, and Devens. Drew says he will campaign to keep Devens if he loses Blockbuster, and that Taylor is the backup. Dee is already calling the volunteer a blindside. Nothing is locked.

The morning note left you at the door of a ceremony that had not happened. That door is closed. Yash Patel used the veto on himself, Drew Campbell named Rick Devens as the replacement, and the final nominations for Week 8 are LaTrice Verrett, Taylor Brown, and Devens.

PocketBB's board already says that. Yash is off. Devens is on. Nine people remain. You are here for the afternoon and evening, which is where the actual game lives.

How you know

You did not watch the ceremony. Feeds cut to animals at 11:25 AM. Whatever Drew said standing up, whatever face Devens made — that belongs to the edit, not to you. You will not be inventing speeches.

Around 12:37 PM the usual accounts — hamsterwatch, Big Brother Network, Junkie, Taran — made the first public call: Yash off, Devens up. At 1:04 PM the feeds came back: Dee Valladares, Angela Murray, and Devens in a room, Angela looking concerned, Devens saying he's up now, they trust Barrett Pfeiffer, so he leaves it up to that. Dee noted that Angela heard something Devens did not know. File that.

The first hour

By 1:07 PM Devens was telling the room he trusts Drew and Barrett. By 1:13 PM he was telling Barrett directly: they crossed that bridge, he trusts him, don't worry. Barrett is the same person who told Melody Morris on Sunday night that he'd vote Devens out.

Dee was already running damage control on Angela — chill, stay out of open conversations in front of Drew, because if they show they don't trust Drew and Barrett, they're next. Correct advice. Also a preview.

Melody's read at 1:14 PM: putting Devens up is a respectable game move, she respects it, Yash will too. At 1:16 PM Drew and Melody agreed on the HOH bed that Devens took it pretty cool. Everyone is being very mature.

The evening

At 5:52 PM Devens told Drew he feels okay about this. It is not the first time he has said some version of that today.

At 5:59 PM Drew told Barrett he thinks Devens wins Blockbuster. Angela doesn't think so. Drew's answer: then we have Taylor. That's the backup as of Monday evening — Taylor Brown, not Lala, is the name he reaches for if Devens saves himself. Sunday's Lala talk is still in the room. Nobody restated it tonight.

Barrett says nobody has approached him about a Devens vote. Drew says Melody thinks Devens doesn't have the votes to go — and that he'll be super vocal about keeping Devens if he loses Blockbuster. Barrett: if Melody thinks Devens doesn't have the votes to leave, don't worry. Barrett has now said one thing to Melody and another to Drew.

At 6:05 PM the Crossovers — Icons plus Drew and Barrett — huddled in storage. The goal is two of them in final two. Drew compared it to the Cookout. Angela reminded him she fought for him not to sit next to Lala last week. At 6:10 PM she promised none of them go up if she wins HOH. At 6:20 PM Melody walked in on all of it and walked back out. Drew said he already told her he's working with them. No hiding it now.

One more wrinkle at 6:27 PM: Barrett is worried that if Yash wins HOH, Yash can't put up any of the three Icons — that's Yash's deal. Drew notes Melody doesn't know about it; she thinks Yash would target the Icons. She is doing vote math with a piece missing.

Then Dee, at 6:29 PM, to Angela: she told Devens he's stupid. Men don't grow up. This is a perfect time for a blindside. If they get blindsided, they have to work with "them." Why did Devens do it — it's him. Angela is not sitting quietly through this.

Where that leaves you

Blockbuster and the live eviction are Thursday. If Devens wins it, Drew already has Taylor's name loaded. If Devens loses it, Drew says he'll campaign to keep him, Melody says the votes aren't there to cut him, Barrett has two versions of himself, and Dee has already drafted the blindside.

Nothing is locked. The board says three nominees and a Thursday. The house says everything else.