‘Big Brother 27' recap: Rachel becomes the No. 1 target in the 5th HOH competition

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11 hours ago

Heading into the fifth week of Big Brother 27, Rachel Reilly was feeling alone in the game because she'd lost her two closest allies, Jimmy Heagerty and Amy Bingham. The other side of the house had a numbers advantage going into the Head of Household competition, with Rachel's depleted team only including Ashley Hollis, Ava Pearl, and Will Williams. The self-described BB "queen" was about to become the No. 1 target in the HOH comp, so would she survive another week off the block?
Read on for our recap of Big Brother Season 27, Episode 16, which aired Sunday, Aug. 10 on CBS. This season's theme is the "Summer of Mystery" and the house has been transformed into the Hotel Mystère, where secrets lurk behind every corner. The 13 players still in the running to win the $750,000 grand prize are:
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Ashley Hollis (25): Attorney from Chicago
Ava Pearl (24): Aura painter from Long Island, N.Y.
Katherine Woodman (23): Fine dining server from Gwinnett County, Ga.
Keanu Soto (33): Dungeon Master from Miami
Kelley Jorgensen (29): Web designer from Burbank, S.D.
Lauren Domingue (22): Bridal consultant from Lafayette, La.
Mickey Lee (35): Event curator from Jacksonville, Fla.
Morgan Pope (33): Gamer from Palm Springs, Calif.
Rachel Reilly (40): BB12 contestant and BB13 winner from Hoover, Ala.
Rylie Jeffries (27): Professional bull rider from Luther, Okla.
Vince Panaro (34): Unemployed from West Hills, Calif.
Will Williams (50): College sports podcaster from Wallace, S.C.
Zach Cornell (27): Marketing manager from Cartersville, Ga.
We begin where the last episode left off, with Jimmy leaving the house by a 9-2 vote over Kelley. The two people who voted to keep Jimmy were Rachel and Ashley, though Ashley later tried to change her vote on live television. "No, no, no, no," declared host Julie Chen Moonves. As Rachel's allies were evicted one by one, she began to feel like an outcast in the Big Brother house. Thus, the impending HOH competition would be do-or-die for Rachel's game. Let's go!
Successful(?) HOH
Despite sending a player home that vowed he was never going to target her, Mickey was proud of her "successful" reign as HOH because she used her mystery power to keep herself off the block and got a big target out. It was hard for two-time player Rachel and other allies of Jimmy like Ashley and Will to understand Mickey's motivations. Ava was another potential vote to save Jimmy, but knew that the majority of the votes would be against him and so she stuck with the numbers as well.
Everyone expected Rachel to vote to save Jimmy, but they didn't see a second one coming so naturally they wanted to know who cast it. The perception was that because Jimmy hugged Ashley on the way out that she was the second vote, but she was adamant to everyone that it wasn't. The only people that know she was the vote is Rachel (who convinced her in the hallway) and Will (who she admitted it to in the hallway and warned her it was the wrong decision). Will kept Ashley's secret when asked about it by Mickey and so they wondered if someone else cast the vote in order to frame Ashley.
Yours Dearly, Ava Pearl
As the eligible houseguests prepared for the next HOH comp, the unknown second vote made many of them feel like this was the week they needed to win while Rachel and Ashley both felt like their backs would be against the wall if they didn't earn the throne. In the "Jack the Dipper" knockout style comp, the players faced off two at a time to be the quickest to answer correctly about images of "Jack" dunking chips in dips.
In the first round, Rylie eliminated Lauren then chose Zach and Kelley to face off next. In the second round, Zach eliminated Kelley then chose Morgan and Will to face off. In the third round, Will eliminated Morgan then chose Katherine and Vince to go next. In the fourth round, Vince eliminated Katherine then chose Ashley and Rachel to go head-to-head. In the fifth round, Rachel eliminated Ashley and chose Vince and Zach to go next. In the sixth round, Zach won again then brought Rachel back up to go against Keanu. In the seventh round, Rachel won again then brought Zach back up to go against Rylie. In the eighth round, Rylie eliminated Zach and brought Rachel and Will up to compete. In the ninth round, Will beat Rachel. In the tenth round, Ava beat Rylie, setting up a final round between Will and Ava. In the end, both wanted to win, but it was Will that chimed in way too early with an incorrect answer and so Ava was anointed the new Head of Household.
Soap Opera Tears
With the HOH key around her neck, Ava laid down her first rule that there'd be "no one-on-ones, I'll call you." That was a new approach for the player in charge and illuminated for the people on the opposing side of the house like Vince and Keanu that they'd have their work cut out from them to stay off the block. As soon as she could, Ava promised safety to Rachel and assured her that she has "nothing to worry about." She communicated similarly to Zach and Morgan, setting them at ease, and then named Vince, Keanu and Ashley to Mickey as her initial thoughts for noms. Ashley's name was a shock for Mickey to hear, but Ava insisted that the "chatty Catchy" can't be trusted.
Not yet knowing that he's for sure on the chopping block this week, Vince approached Rachel to try to apologize for targeting her in the comp in the hopes that it would smooth things over so that Rachel puts in a good word for him with Ava, but Rachel saw right through Vince's "soap opera tears." After drying his eyes, Vince tried the same strategy with Will, including the water works, but the crying could not move the emotions of the guy that's already been nominated twice this season.
Wanting to save Ashley from the block and hoping that Ava would go for stronger players, Will supported the idea of both Vince and Keanu up as nominations, but then named Zach as a better third option instead of Ashley. Due to her trust in both Will and Mickey, Ava took a second look at Zach and re-evaluated her personal desire to make Ashley vulnerable to eviction this week.
At the nomination ceremony, Ava revealed her final decision for nominees as Keanu, Vince and Zach. She told the room that she picked the players that were "most shaken" by her winning HOH and said that it shows none of them trust her. Unlike Vince and Zach, Keanu was okay with going on the block again because it offers him a chance to four-peat as a Power of Veto winner. Zach was angry that Ava went back on her word, but felt assured that he'd remain safe this week because he still has the chance to buy his safety with the $10,000 prize/power he won earlier in the season.
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