Evening Update: Birthday Crowns, Bathroom Poses, and a House Still Split on Yash

Tuesday on the feeds was two shows running at once. One was a house full of people celebrating LaLa's birthday with a made-up song, a crown, a pool party, and a genuinely inexplicable bathroom pose circle. The other was a vote that still won't sit down. Eleven hours since the morning maps note, the campaigning is loud, the counts are soft, and nobody has actually talked to Ashley.

Board, unchanged: Dee 🔑 HOH, Mallory 🏅 safe, and Ashley / Taylor / Yash 🎯 on the block with the Blockbuster comp still ahead.

LaLa's Day (and the weird stuff)

The house sang happy birthday to LaLa around 8:18 AM — her 58th — and by 8:32 AM BB told them to knock off the singing. The houseguests protested that it was a made-up song, which is a fair legal argument that went nowhere. LaLa got a crown out of the deal, Taylor admired it, and LaLa was still wearing it in the backyard at 1:50 PM like the elected official she basically is today.

Elsewhere on the silliness ledger:

• ~8:56 AM, Yash did Ashley's makeup — notable both as a nice moment and as one of the only times a non-Rome person spent real time with Ashley all day. More on that below.
• ~1:48 PM, full-house pool party in the backyard. Everyone in, birthday energy high.
• ~5:30 PM, the bathroom turned into a photo shoot: Yash and Chuk posing and cracking up, Kamu joining, and eventually a whole circle of guys striking poses at nothing. No context ever arrived. None was needed.
• ~5:37 PM, Angela pulled Devens into a hand-in-hand kitchen dance with the ruling "you are going to eat," and Devens committed to dancing like Jason after he eats. We'll hold him to it.
• Haley and LaLa had a light disagreement over medicine. Filed under: Tuesday.

The vote, which is not settled

Under the crown and the poses, the real story: Yash is campaigning hard, and the house still hasn't picked a lane.

Yash and Melody talked through the morning. His read: he needs himself or Taylor to win Blockbuster, Chuk says the same things to everyone, Angela's floating, and Haley is steering Dee. He's counting on a 7/7 tie with Dee breaking it, told Lyric/Melody/Mallory "you 3 are the realest," and has Melody's vote locked by her own word. Mallory wants Haley on the block; Jason wants Devens.

The counterweight is Barrett. He told Melody and Dee that most of the house wants Chuk/Haley/Kamu up next with Haley the target, floated keeping Yash to go after that trio — but his real pitch to Dee was blunter: Ashley is the safe vote. Nobody gets exposed evicting Ashley. Dee would rather keep Ashley personally but is leaning keep Taylor, which is the same place she was this morning. Barrett, for his part, wants Yash out if Yash doesn't win Blockbuster. So the HOH's lean and her closest ally's target are two different names, and the "safe" option is a third.

Taylor's own math: she has "the littles" — Melody, Mallory, Lyric — plus Angela as a secret vote, per Taylor. She's over being a pawn. LaLa's stated preference is anyone HOH but Haley, best case Jason.

Meanwhile Rome is shopping Devens' vote. Devens told Rome he won't nominate him if he wins HOH, and Rome relayed to Jason, LaLa, and Taylor that Devens' vote is available and he's not with Kamu/Chuk. Devens himself is mildly annoyed — Yash only just campaigned to him when Devens assumed he already had the votes — and says he wants the house to vote together, which is what everyone says right before a 7/7 tie.

Other threads worth logging: Kamu told Mallory that Ashley goes if she doesn't win Blockbuster — a "wasted first boot" in Mallory's framing — and between Ashley and Taylor, Kamu takes Ashley out; Melody would rather Ashley stay. Both agree lines get drawn next week, and both are campaigning against Haley. Angela and Dee did an HOH-room session (Haley rang the doorbell; Dee didn't open it — a receipt in itself) covering a spy-shack plan, testing Drew without Barrett knowing, and Angela's non-fear of Yash, plus Angela's review of Melody: "stab my ears out." Angela and Mallory also cut a small pact to talk their respective alliances out of nominating each other. Lyric and Melody clocked Ashley as an early filler-floater and noticed Drew sniffing around a Lyric/Rome formation.

And Ashley. Rome's read got her down, but she told Dee she'll campaign anyway — and Dee herself said it's messed up that nobody talks to Ashley. On a day when everyone counted her as the safe evict, her longest conversations were a makeup session and a pep talk from the HOH who might send her out.

What's open

Blockbuster. If Yash or Taylor wins it, Ashley's "safe vote" status stops being theoretical and Barrett's math becomes the only math. If Ashley wins it, the house has to actually choose between Yash and Taylor — and today proved they haven't.

Receipts

• ~8:18 AM — house sings happy birthday to LaLa (58th); ~8:32 AM BB shuts it down, HGs protest it's a made-up song
• ~8:56 AM — Yash does Ashley's makeup
• Morning — Yash/Melody: 7/7 tie math, "you 3 are the realest," Melody confirms her vote
• ~1:48 PM — pool party, whole house in BY; LaLa in crown ~1:50 PM
• Afternoon — Barrett to Dee: Ashley is the safe vote; Dee leaning keep Taylor
• Afternoon — Kamu/Mallory: Ashley out if no BB win; campaign against Haley
• ~5:30 PM — bathroom pose circle: Yash/Chuk/Kamu
• ~5:37 PM — Angela/Devens kitchen dance; "you are going to eat"
• Evening — Rome relays Devens' vote is available; Devens wants a unified house vote
• Evening — Ashley to Dee: down but campaigning; Dee: nobody talks to Ashley