Big Brother 20 recap: As the eviction approaches, Level Six's loyalties begin to strain

This time last week, Scottie gritted it out to win his way back into the Big Brother house.  Now, he could be sent back to the jury house just as quickly.  With he and Haleigh failing to win the veto in last night’s episode, and Level Six still split on who to send home, tonight’s evictee is far from set in stone.  But with the seeds of discord firmly planted within the powerful alliance thanks to JC’s scamming, will both nominees see the growing divides as their way to safety?

With this week’s nominations unchanged after the veto, both Scottie and Haleigh are uncertain of their respective fates. Both are being told they’re not this week’s target, but clearly someone’s being lied to. Haleigh runs to Tyler for the umpteenth time to ask if she’s really the target, which is starting to visibly annoy the usually collected HoH. When she tells him that Scottie declared himself the pawn this week, Tyler again tries to calm Haleigh down as she tells him she’s not freaking out (even though she clearly is). Later on in the kitchen, an overly confident Scottie shares a laugh with Tyler about Haleigh’s campaigning as he’s convinced that he’ll be safe. Tyler tells the diary room he feels bad about having to blind-side Scottie yet again, but that it’s all just for old times’ sake. Another Tyler and Angela moment in the HoH room is interrupted by JC, who, after Angela leaves, asks Tyler to define the nature of their relationship. Tyler tries to brush it off as a simple friendship, but JC reveals that Brett’s picking up on their showmance as well and that he’s looking to target Angela and Kaycee next week. “I need to get through to Tyler somehow, this is just another tactic,” JC says in the diary room. Tyler tries to shut down the talk, telling JC it’s a dumb idea while keeping his final two deals with both ladies close to his vest.

As late-night approaches, Tyler cuddles with Angela and spills about JC’s snooping and gossipping about their showmance. Angela laughs it off but tells the diary room that she’s ticked off with JC’s antics, even if it is just his strategy. She wonders aloud if JC plans to catch them in the act and reveal their showmance to Brett in an attempt to split up Level Six. Tyler doesn’t believe this is the case, but Angela keeps at it by declaring that JC may need to be dealt with before Haleigh.

Tyler again is dismissive of all this, believing JC sticking around may be better for him than keeping Angela. Tyler’s quickly realizing that he may have dealt himself into oblivion and is a red-faced anxious mess in the diary room. “I like Angela a lot, and I know JC wants to come for her. Game-wise, it’s way better for me to just let JC take a shot at her because I can’t do it myself,” he says in maybe his most explicit strategy reveal in weeks. The fact that Tyler is so willing to throw away his showmance and alliance with Angela for a far-from-certain F2 with JC is both a bizarre and possibly fatal move with only three weeks left in the season.

Even though Scottie is the likely target for eviction this week, Brett decides to pick his brain about what the view from the jury house looks like. Scottie fills him in on everything from Angela wanting to use him as a “shield” in the game to how everyone there hates Angela for her smug attitude and goodbye messages. Brett, already thinking of flipping on Angela, starts to believe that if he manages to be the one to send her packing that he could finagle some veto votes simply on goodwill. He meets with JC in the hammock to commiserate on their shared dislike of Angela’s effect on Tyler and determines that if one of them wins HoH next (ha), they’ll absolutely have to get her out. Knowing that she has both Kaycee and Tyler firmly in her pocket, the two determine that it has to be a backdoor situation, as both would use the veto on Angela. Brett ultimately tells the diary room that while he’s truly aligned with Level Six, he’s taking part of JC’s “paranoia” so that he gets no blood on his hands if JC wins HoH (again, ha) and takes a shot at Angela on his own.

We then get a one-on-one between Julie and BB16 winner Derrick as he gives his thoughts on the season so far. He gives Level Six props for becoming a dominant alliance so early in the game and sticking together for this long, though he wonders when they’ll start to turn on each other. Derrick provides an adept view on how the game’s panned out, giving reasons for how everyone left in the house (except Sam for some reason) could win. When asked about Tyler’s multitude of final two deals, Derrick points out the need for jury management to win the game. “It’s not only about getting to the end, it’s how you get there,” he says, adding that bringing Kaycee to the end may end up backfiring on Tyler as she’s managed to maintain positive relationships with everyone in the jury. On that note, we move to the live vote and eviction. Scottie channels Degeneration X by telling everyone but Tyler that they can suck it if they don’t make the right choice, while Haleigh revisits her Shakespearean roots and urges them not to banish her to the freezing cold before switching to her usual love and light. When the results come, it’s Scottie who’s evicted for the second time this season with his second unanimous vote of the season. In his spastic interview with Julie, Scottie owns his unpredictability and says that he figured he’d be evicted once again because the houseguests are bad liars. He calls Tyler a “coward” for always following what the house wants but also says he would have likely continued working with him over Haleigh because he had the numbers, so who knows where exactly his head’s at.

The HoH competition, “Shell or High Water,” has the houseguests maneuvering a three-pronged “seaweed” ramp by hand to land three pearls onto three oysters at the end of each of the ramps. The first person to land pearls on all three oysters and buzz in will be the new HoH. Kaycee lands her three pearls in quick order and wins her first Head of Household of the season, making this her fourth major competition win in 4 weeks (the hacker competition, two vetos and now the HoH). While this gives Level Six all the power once again, it’s almost anyone’s guess what the outcome will be this week. With JC  eager to split up Tyler and Angela by any means necessary, will they simply consider him too much of a risk to keep around? Or will they take the easy route and send Haleigh packing? There’s a good chance both these events could happen next Thursday as we get our first double eviction of the season. If past doubles are any indication, next week could be the moment Big Brother 20 changes once and for all.