Heading into the second live eviction episode of “Big Brother 25,” last night, Head of Household Hisam Goueli had just won the Power of Veto and decided to keep his nominations of Cameron Hardin and Reilly Smedley the same. That means the young Handful alliance is about to lose a finger, and it’s all thanks to their elders, aka The Professors. So how did the houseguests vote on Thursday night, and who became the third HOH of the summer?
Below, read on for our minute-by-minute “Big Brother” Season 25, Episode 7 recap to find out what happened on Thursday, August 17 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Here are all of the houseguests still in the running to win the $750,000 grand prize: America Lopez, Blue Kim, Bowie Jane, Cameron Hardin, Cory Wurtenberger, Felicia Cannon, Hisam Goueli, Izzy Gleicher, Jag Bains, Jared Fields, Kirsten Elwin, Matthew “Matt” Klotz, Mecole Hayes, Red Utley, Reilly Smedley and Cirie Fields.
9:00 p.m. – “Previously on ‘Big Brother’!” In the sixth episode, Jag returned from the nether region and later chose Bowie to follow in his footsteps, which meant she was ineligible to play for the Veto. The Scramble-verse-themed Veto competition took place in the backyard with Hisam easily beating his fellow players. That gave him all the power this week, and he (not so surprisingly) decided to keep his nominations the same. That means either Cameron or Reilly is about to have a one-on-one conversation with Julie. Let’s go!
9:06 p.m. – Following Hisam’s direct and line-drawing Veto speech singling Reilly out as his target, The Handful alliance saw a victory in their sights knowing that they only needed one more vote in order to save Reilly. Little did they know that The Professors alliance was concerned that Hisam’s speech was too aggressive and could begin a rally cry to save Reilly this week. Cirie reflected on a promise Reilly made her during her own HOH tenure that she’d keep her safe in return for being kept safe by Cirie. Still, Cirie was not sure if doing Reilly that favor now would be best for her game long-term because of her alliance. Cirie touched base with Matt later, telling him that she has no reason to vote Reilly out. Matt obviously had a strong interest in keeping Reilly because they’re such close allies.
9:09 p.m. – Cory “knew” that the plan was to get Reilly out, but Hisam’s speech made him think about why he’d do what Hisam wants him to do instead of doing the exact opposite. Cirie and Felicia spoke privately about how they’re swing votes in this week’s decision because if they decide to go against Hisam they could pull Jared and Izzy with them. Cirie’s point was to do what is best for their game for future weeks — could Reilly or Cameron help them get farther in the game?
9:15 p.m. – As the week went on, more and more players started to consider their options with the vote and whether they should follow through with Hisam’s bidding. Jag met with Cirie to discuss a plan for everyone in the house to vote for Reilly to stay — noting that himself, America, Cory, Blue, Matt, and Jared would all be voting to keep her. It surprised Cirie that Reilly had so many people supporting her and that let Cirie know that she could get in with that group if she worked with them to vote Cameron out.
9:18 p.m. – During a champagne toast in Hisam’s HOH room, The Professors met to discuss that the other side of the house would be scrambling to save Reilly. Hisam wanted to make sure everyone is aware of this and to stress that no one should build a new alliance with any of them. When Hisam raised the idea of who to go for after Reilly, he asked for opinions from the others but then cut both Bowie and Mecole off to give his own answer to his own question. It put everyone off because it was clear to them that Hisam only cared about his point of view and wasn’t interested in a collaborative approach to their alliance. When Hisam started talking about Jared as a target, Cirie got worried.
9:20 p.m. – After the meeting, Izzy went to Cirie to discuss the high horse that Hisam has put himself on this week and that it might be in their best interest to go against him next week as a backdoor option. They looped Felicia in on their plan who was also frustrated by Hisam’s “dictatorship” reign.
9:25 p.m. – Knowing that he can’t compete in the HOH comp next week, Hisam did his best to “make in-roads” with the other side of the house. He approached America as someone he’d be willing to work with because she’d “be a really strong endurance competitor.” He repeated his Veto speech comment that because of Reilly people were put on a side of the house even though they may not have wanted to. America thought it was weird that Hisam was going against the people he’s working with and that she could use it to her advantage. She informed Cory of the conversation, who immediately saw it as information he could share with Cirie, Felicia and Izzy in order to get on their good side.
9:28 p.m. – Hearing that Hisam is going around the house making new alliances, members of The Professors wondered if they should send a message to Hisam by saving Reilly and letting her go after Hisam next week for them. Cirie knew that if she was going to make a big move she’d have to include as much of her Bye Bye Bitches alliance as possible. That being said, she thought that Bowie would prefer to not know about it, but that Mecole would want to know. When Izzy and Cirie presented the idea to Mecole, she was not as confident that it was a smart decision because Reilly isn’t as likely to come to their side as everyone seems to think. Mecole didn’t want to save Reilly, but also understood that it wasn’t a hill she was willing to die on if the rest of the alliance wanted to do it.
9:37 p.m. – Before the houseguests got to voting, the two nominees had a chance to pitch their case to remain in the game. Cameron and Reilly both used their time to shout out family members and thank everyone in the house for the time they’ve shared in the house instead of making any promises that might sway some votes in their direction.
9:39 p.m. – The houseguests began the process by casting their votes to evict: Red for Reilly, Bowie for Reilly, Jag for Reilly, and Cory for Reilly.
9:45 p.m. – The voting continued: Matt for Reilly, Blue for Reilly, Cirie for Reilly, Felicia for Reilly, America for Reilly, Mecole for Reilly, Izzy for Reilly, and Jared for Reilly, making it another unanimous decision by a count of 12 to 0.
9:55 p.m. – In her exit interview with Julie, Reilly said that “there’s a lot of fear going on” and that ultimately even her own alliance couldn’t pull anyone from the other side to work with them. In the end, Reilly gave her alliance permission to not vote to save her so that they could do what’s best for their own game. She also told Reilly that the first week was tense and that being the HOH put a target on her back and naming Hisam as a strong game player meant he had to come for her. Like Kirsten last week, Reilly had no idea that Jared and Cirie were related despite admitting that they are acting really close in the house.
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