BB28Aug 17, 8:31 AM

Morning Update: Veto Ceremony Day—and the Board Still Hasn't Moved

Veto ceremony day arrives with the official board unchanged: Yash is HOH and veto holder, with Angela, Dee, and Haley nominated. Yash still has no locked target, though his shifting math has included Angela vs. Haley and concern that a Haley-Dee vote could get dicey. FAP is pushing to keep Dee and evict Haley while quietly persuading Yash not to use the veto. The bigger uncertainty is Devens’s self-reported power: he rehearsed taking Dee down and causing a replacement, but nothing has been officially confirmed or used. Watch whether Yash leaves the board intact and whether Devens’s plan is real.

When we left off in Saturday's evening update on Yash winning the veto and controlling the board, the picture was simple and lopsided: Yash is the Week 6 HOH, Yash won the Power of Veto, and Angela, Dee, and Haley are on the block. No ceremony had happened yet.

It's now Monday, August 17 — veto ceremony day — and the official board still reads exactly the same. Yash / Yash / Angela, Dee, Haley. Nothing production-side has changed since Saturday's veto win.

What has changed is the number of plans hanging over that board. There are now two, and neither one is a result yet: what Yash does with the regular veto he actually holds, and what Devens claims he'll do with a power nobody's officially seen. Here's everything from Saturday's 8:30 PM cutoff through the house going quiet around 1:25 AM Monday.

Yash after the cutoff: no locked target, and "dicey" math

Saturday evening after the last note, Yash was noticeably softer than the Dee-lean we covered Saturday afternoon. At 9:23 PM he told Mallory he doesn't have a target and is doing pros and cons — his framing being that Dee, Angela, and Haley are effectively a trio who will never put each other up.

Overnight Saturday into Sunday, the HOH-room math kept shifting:

12:03 AM — Yash floated it as "Angela vs Haley." Taylor said Haley goes home; Mallory agreed. Yash said he'd talk to Drew again, noting Drew had said he was cool with whatever.
1:19 AM — On the swirling power talk, Yash said, "I really do think we won't see any get used." Bookmark that one.
1:41 AM — Yash said if Haley wins, they have five votes to evict Dee — but a Haley vs Dee matchup "gets dicey."
1:50 AM — Yash claimed Haley wouldn't put him or "you guys" up. Taylor and Drew laughed, because she already nominated them. Yash called it a "new Haley"; Taylor said it's the same Haley.

So the veto holder went into Sunday without a committed plan. That's the whole reason the next section exists.

FAP wants Haley gone — and wants Yash to sit on his veto

The FAP group (Drew, Barrett, Mallory, Melody — the loose grouping from prior notes) spent Saturday night converging on Haley as the target, and, more importantly, on managing Yash.

At the 11:24 PM hammock meeting, Barrett pushed to keep Dee: "we have the votes, us and Devens." Two minutes later, Drew named the fear out loud — Yash could use the veto on Haley. Melody said that would make Yash public enemy #1, and Mallory said they have to downplay wanting Haley out so Yash doesn't pull her off. Drew said he's willing to "bro with Yash this week and then turn after the Blockbuster," and to reassure Haley she's okay. Melody was blunt: she wants Haley to leave now.

The wrinkle: Melody isn't fully settled. At 1:53 AM, asked Angela or Haley, she said Angela — then immediately said Angela scares her because she flips. And Sunday night at 9:28 PM, Barrett and Mallory told Taylor that Haley leaves if she stays on the block, even if she campaigns. That's their vote-count read, not a locked outcome.

Meanwhile, Haley herself was doing quiet damage control Saturday night — telling Yash and Taylor at 11:00 PM she loves Angela but no longer has the trust, while Yash told Taylor that Angela thinks Haley is the target and told Haley at 11:11 PM that he wouldn't rely on Devens because his trust in him has dropped.

Devens's claimed power: the hedge, then the rehearsal

This is the second plan in the air, and we're labeling every piece of it: this is a self-reported power. Nothing has been used. Devens himself distinguishes it from Yash's regular veto.

Some backstory from Saturday night: at 10:14 PM, Drew and Barrett pressed Devens about having a power (Drew rhyming his way to "Boo Day Tah" / coup d'état). Devens denied it. Barrett guessed "diamond power of veto"; Devens replied "what is that?" To be clear — Barrett's guess is not confirmation of any official name. Dee, for her part, told Melody at 9:18 PM Saturday that she got a power, asked Yash to keep her safe, and he said no — including for $5,000. And by 12:53 AM, Drew was telling Barrett that Dee's power "didn't work." The house's power intel is a mess, which is presumably how Devens likes it.

Sunday morning, Devens hedged. Around 10 AM he asked Dee if they're confident enough in the votes — Drew, Barrett, Mallory, Melody — that he doesn't have to use "this." Dee wasn't 100% and didn't want to regret it. Devens said they could save it and blow it up another time, that he has two more weeks to use it, and that if he blows it up, he's going on the block next week.

Sunday night, the hedge was gone. At 8:07 PM he told Dee they'll "do the dirty work," floated Yash, Taylor, and Lala as a future block target set, and framed saving Dee as a gift for the fans — "the fans want him to save Dee." At 10:06 PM he told the backyard group he's in a good place with Yash and Kamu but will blow that up for "this group" at the first chance. Stated intention, not a move.

Then, from 10:54 to 11:09 PM, the full rehearsal: Devens told Dee they "set the stage for tomorrow's events." Dee asked if he takes her off first; Devens said yes. Dee noted "this is not the veto." Devens said it has rules, a stop and start, and he still needs the full rundown on how to use it and what to say. He told Dee to act however she wants when he uses "the veto" on her. Dee told the camera this is the best day, or tomorrow will be, then scripted a fake-angry "you didn't tell me you had a power" reaction and a line about everyone being scared before a replacement nominee.

All of that is planning and theater. No power has been used, no replacement nominee was named in the receipts, and we're not inventing one.

Ceremony morning: birthday hats and a quiet house

The rest of the window is texture, with a couple of new alliance names to file:

12:05 PM Sunday — LaTrice and Kamu named their alliance "The Covenant." Named, not a proven structure.
10:03 PM Sunday — With Haley in the DR and Taylor inside, the seven left outside rushed a name: "Moshpit." Kamu walked out and the meeting ended. Treat it as an exploratory naming, not a locked seven.
12:00 AM Monday — The house marked Angela's birthday (feeds call it her 53rd). By 12:11 AM she was planning to wear her birthday hat during her veto speech, saying she's excited about tomorrow and good at winging things. Angela also asked the group Sunday night at 10:05 PM not to let it break up if she leaves, while Dee told Melody, Barrett, and Drew she'd rather be taken out by them than "the other side."
12:45 AM — Melody said they'll be woken up early. Kamu: "veto ceremony day."

After about 1:25 AM, the house wound down to snacks and bed. No ceremony.

The board, as of this morning: HOH Yash. Veto winner Yash. Nominees Angela, Dee, and Haley. Unchanged since Saturday.

What to watch today: whether King Yash uses his veto or leaves the board intact; whether FAP's downplay campaign actually kept him sitting on it; and whether Devens's claimed power turns out to be real, usable, and used the way he rehearsed it — or stays a story he told Dee at midnight.