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Big Brother Season 16 Episode 31 Recap: Beast Mode Dud

Well Michiganders it's not looking too good for our houseguest, Nicole. Being nominated against her frenemy in the house Christine it was clear she needed to win the POV. For Christine it was to prove to her Bombonator alliance that she isn't going to let them control her fate in the game. Derrick continues to play puppet master and soon finds out that his game is being seen. Derrick is even given the compliment of being a good player this season as Michigander two-time finale houseguest, Season 10 winner and Season 14 runner up, Dan Gheesling. Hearing this news put Derrick in paranoia and started to do work. I wonder when these houseguests are going to make "big moves," or just let Derrick win this game. Here's my recap and breakdown from last night's episode!

The Real Target for Eviction

After nominations it was clear, that Christine was on the bottom of the totem pole with the guys. Derrick's plan for the week was to keep Nicole safe and evict Christine. However for this to work needed to convince his fellow alliance members that it would be the best move for their game, mainly Caleb. However Caleb is intent in making sure Nicole isn't able to use her second chance to play in this house to win the game. Slowly but surely Derrick gets Caleb on board with the plan.

Meanwhile after being nominated, Nicole finds solace in talking with Derrick as a friend and not as a competitor. Derrick talks some sense into Nicole making sure that the only way to ensure her own safety was to win POV. Which brought Nicole back into the game, however knows that her only ally in the house was someone who hasn't done much of anything in this house, Victoria. Ironic that she admitted that she was in trouble when she needed to rely on Victoria. Which is exactly correct because she was in danger if she didn't win POV because her odds of staying in the house over Christine were slim. But if Derrick has any say which he's had for many weeks was that Christine is the target for the week.

Christine Detonates To Win POV

The POV competition was fairly simply, memorize the sequence of colors then cut the correct color to the answer of the question. But the stakes were high because if you were the first person or persons out then you would don a dinosaur outfit. The POV players were picked and the only one not picked was Frankie. Frankie has only been selected to play POV once and that was last week. However he's played when he was the reigning HOH. But Frankie felt he had no luck in being chosen at random draw and it disappointing for him because he couldn't guarantee his own safety. His consolation however was to be the hose for the competition.

I was laughing when Cody's DR was playing and he was saying he was great at memorizing things and the next clip we see is him being the first eliminated from the competition. Being exploded by paint and then remembering he would be wearing a dinosaur outfit for the week. Meanwhile Derrick being an undercover cop says he has a photographic memory wanted to make sure Christine didn't win the competition but also not win and have the decision of removing either one from the block. When it was down to Christine, Nicole and Derrick, Derrick it was time for him to detonate himself from the competition an intentionally get the answer wrong. While Nicole had a method of memorizing the color sequence in song, drew a blank on which color to cut and in doing so gave Christine the win. A very ecstatic Christine was relieved and ensured her safety for the week.

Derrick Reveals His Game Strategy

There was a good segment during this episode in where Derrick revealed to America how he's getting himself through this game. His goal was to get Caleb on his side rather than Caleb on Frankie. Pretty much Derrick's plan in doing this was to admit he was a horrible game player, he would take Caleb over Frankie or Cody and that he would be ok in being runner up. For anyone to believe this in the house is baffling because the goal of this show is to win the game. To have Caleb take the bait from Derrick shows how easily Caleb is in being manipulated and being a puppet in Derrick's game. Week after week, Derrick continues to influence the houseguests in nominations as well as get those he want evicted out of the game. I'm surprised the other houseguests have yet to realize he hasn't been nominated and why they put him up. But shows how much Derrick is in it to win and using his experience outside of the house as an undercover cop.

During a late night conversation with Nicole in the Have Not room, Nicole gives the compliment to Derrick that his game play is good this season and closely resembles Dan Gheesling. Derrick knowing that being compared to Dan as a big compliment also raised red flags in him. Donny last week was seeing how Derrick was playing the game and made sure Donny was walking out the door. Having heard the compliment from Nicole being compared to Dan had him question who else she may have said that too. Which doesn't look good for his game and realized that maybe keeping Nicole isn't the best decision. So his brain was turning and wanted to make sure whoever his target was this week would get evicted.

Caleb's Makes A Safe Pick

After the POV competition, Frankie had loudly celebrated Christine's win and was causing some doubts from Caleb. Which fueled Cody to entice Caleb to think about putting Frankie up as a replacement nominee. But Derrick saw differently and wanted to make sure that Caleb's original target, Nicole would still be the target rather than Frankie. Both gave their sides of why Frankie and Nicole should stay over the other, but in the end it was Caleb's decision to decide who would be nominated as the replacement and who his target was. In no surprise, keeping with his alliance, kept Frankie safe and put up Victoria as the pawn and replacement nominee. Doing so made sure that Nicole would be his target for the week and to go home. Surprisingly hearing Victoria talk about game and saying it was a bad move for Caleb putting her on the block instead of making a huge game move was a bit surprising to hear. However it's no surprise to see Victoria on the block as well as knowing she'll probably safe this week.

My Prediction for Eviction and Double Eviction

Sadly it looks like our Ubly, Michigander Nicole will be the sixth houseguest (Amy season 3, Kaysar season 6, James season 9, Brendon Season 13, Judd last season) in the same season that had been evicted once to be evicted a second time in the Big Brother house. Which the vote is looking to be yet again unanimous since it looks like no one in the house can go against the group as well as continue the dominance of the Bombonators alliance. However things will change for the Double Eviction week. The obvious target would be Victoria as she's the only one not in the alliance, but it will be clear that it would be the perfect opportunity to evict another alliance member. I predict Frankie winning the Fast Forward Week then nominating Victoria and Christine, then Frankie winning the POV and then saving Victoria and putting up Cody. Ensuring that Christine going to jury right after Nicole. I would be surprised if any of them put up Derrick for eviction as well as Victoria winning HOH. But tonight's episode will hopefully be exciting and not predictable.

Tune in tonight at 9pm on CBS Detroit 62 to see if our Michigander Nicole can stay safe or if she'll be heading back to the jury house, who the new HOH will be for the Fast Forward week and second eviction of the night. So much happening tonight and I can't wait!

Mark Drum is a Farmington Hills, MI native and Big Brother fan since 2000. Mark is a graduate from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Theatre Arts. Connect with Mark! Blogspot / Twitter / Facebook / Email

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