BB28Sep 2, 7:08 AM

Morning Update: Sharpie It

Wednesday morning the board has not moved: Drew is HOH; LaTrice, Taylor, and Devens sit. Tuesday Barrett told the camera that if Devens is still on the block Thursday, he is voting him out. Drew is still saying he will scream to keep him. A camtalk is not a ballot. Nothing is locked.

It's Wednesday morning in the house and nobody is saying anything yet, which gives you a minute to catch up on Tuesday, when Barrett Pfeiffer sat down alone and told a camera exactly what he plans to do Thursday night. If you missed Monday night's version — Barrett telling Yash Patel and Melody Morris that Drew Campbell doesn't know how far along they are — that's in Tuesday morning's note. This is the sequel, and it has a quote in it.

Here's your four sentences of context and not one more. Drew is HOH. The final nominees are LaTrice Verrett, Taylor Brown, and Rick Devens, after Yash used the veto on himself. Haley Thogmartin already went home this cycle, so nine remain. Drew is still telling Devens — in the gym, out loud — that he'll campaign to keep him.

The camtalk

Barrett warms up at 2:15. Alone with the lens, he says the only way he can be proud of his game is taking out the Icons, even if he goes down doing it. He doesn't want to get dragged to the end. He will be selfish Thursday. Yash and Melody probably won't take him to the end anyway. And the Icons told him they didn't trust him, then suddenly trusted him after the renom — weird, in his accounting. He loves Angela Murray, he says, but her "I trust you" was great acting.

Then he comes back at 5:24 and stays, and this is the one you should read twice. He needs Devens to flop the Blockbuster. One less Icon would be more fun. Devens is so gamey nervous and shouldn't be allowed to just sit there and roll forward. Barrett doesn't want to get through this game because he was Icon-strong — they're sus of him, and he can do it no longer. If Devens loses Blockbuster, Barrett will show his cards. He'd rather go out 8th trying to play his own game than 5th loyal and feeling awful. Devens' pitch that nobody votes for you in jury if you cut Crossovers? Barrett's word is bullshit.

And then the sentence: if Devens is on the block Thursday night, Barrett is voting him out. Sharpie it. "Am I being dumb? Maybe, but I will do it anyway." He closes with a dedication — in the words of Mallory Aurichio, F the Icons — and immediately hedges like a man who has watched this show before: if Devens wins Blockbuster, not the worst, because Barrett hasn't shown his cards yet.

A little later he's still going. He hopes Devens doesn't force a loyalty test before the vote. He doesn't know where Melody is, or whether she's been playing him. Yash and Melody at the end, he can live with; Dee Valladares and Devens at the end is a nightmare. Why play with just one side, he asks the camera, which does not answer.

This is a camtalk. It is a man alone in a room making promises to a lens. People have sharpied worse and flipped by Thursday.

The other rooms

At 12:56 Lala tells Angela she's winning Blockbuster, that anyone else winning the next HOH is bad news, and that if they lose Devens this week it will be Angela, Dee, and Barrett. At 2:38 Devens asks Taylor if he can count on her vote if Blockbuster doesn't go his way. She says ditto.

In the gym around 3:05, Devens works Drew, and Drew delivers the line he has been workshopping all week: if Devens loses Blockbuster, Drew will scream that he's keeping Devens. Devens turns to Barrett — you won't yell you're voting me out? The update lane does not catch Barrett's answer. The camera gets it two hours later.

At 5:18 Dee is in bed and has been crying a bit. She doesn't even like thinking about voting out Devens. By 6:13 she and Angela have found a way to think about it: one of them blindsides Devens, they claim they kept him, and it's their word against Barrett's. Nobody would suspect them — they'd suspect Barrett. Angela's read: Barrett is too kind to hurt them, and it's not too soon to strike. Dee's read: they're at the bottom of the Devens–Barrett–Drew three, and Devens would take a shot at them. Barrett, for his part, tells Taylor at 6:08 that the vibe is Lala's going and Taylor has his vote against her.

Overnight

Melody spends 12:22 to 2:47 in the HOH with Drew. She says now that they're in jury she's figuring out how to move — house talk; Julie has confirmed nothing. She tells Drew that getting rid of him would be a banger move, then says she won't, then makes him promise loyalty, then reminds him he broke her heart voting out Mallory. Drew asks if Yash, Taylor, and Lala are still sliding out the Icons. Melody: yes. Around 2:42 he decides a sleepover is not the right move and she leaves. Texture, not spine.

Wednesday at 6:42, Lala walks to the bathroom and back to bed. That's the whole morning so far.

Thursday is the Blockbuster and then the live eviction, September 3. The board hasn't moved. A camtalk is not a ballot, and a sharpie is not a vote until someone stands in the diary room and casts it. Nothing is locked.