‘Big Brother 27' recap: Mickey makes new enemies, betrays close allies in chaotic Veto episode

Yahoo

08-08-2025

Heading into the fourth Veto episode of Big Brother 27, Head of Household Rylie Jeffries had just been dethroned by Mickey Lee and her "HOH Interrogation" power. When Rylie took things personally, Mickey tried to explain how it was "just a game" that they were playing. (You'd think all the cameras and microphones would have tipped him off.) In Wednesday's jam-packed 90-minute episode, Mickey names her three nominees, and then the Veto competition and Veto meeting both take place. Who's got the popcorn?!
Read on for our recap of Big Brother Season 27, Episode 13, which aired Aug. 6 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 14 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.
Jimmy Heagerty (25): AI consultant from Sarasota, Fla.
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 Rylie seeing red (much like the bulls he rides) after Mickey took over his Head of Household reign. Meanwhile, Rachel and Ashley were still fuming over their earlier confrontation with Katherine, whom Rachel called a "bully" after she accused Ashley of appearing too happy during Rylie's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. There's no smiling allowed, apparently!
So, how will Mickey's newfound power shake up the house? It's time to find out.
From One HOH to Another
Rylie was able to calm down long enough to meet with Mickey one on one where he furthered his lie to her that he was not targeting her and her allies with his HOH. He remained pissed off that she stole his throne and warned her that there's other people that are bigger threats and going against her in the house. The silver lining of the experience was that the heightened emotions drew Katherine closer in to him on a personal level and their blossoming showmance gained new petals.
In power for the second time this season, the "Triple Threat" alliance of Mickey, Morgan and Jimmy had a number of options to consider for Mickey's nominees. The obvious choices were those that voted to evict will last week so it was only a matter of deciding which three of Katherine, Rylie, Kelley and Keanu would have the pleasure of seeing the block.
After volunteering to be nominated for the first three weeks of the game, Kelley attempted something different with Mickey -- she asked to not be nominated out of respect for it being her birthday week and swore that she wouldn't change the noms if he won the Power of Veto. Despite being so upset over losing his chance to see pictures of his family, Rylie attended the reveal of Mickey's HOH room and then tearfully apologized to her for the way he spoke to her. Once their amends were made, Mickey asked him to go on the block "as a pawn" with the intent of beating Keanu for the POV so that they can finally evict him.
At the nomination ceremony, Mickey followed through with putting Keanu on the block as her chief target and named Rylie and Kelley as apparent pawns. Kelley took her fourth straight trip to the block very hard, requiring the rest of the houseguests to gather around her with hugs as she sobbed at the table.
From One Comp Beast to Another
After conversations with both Rylie and Kelley about how she wouldn't want them to win the Veto on themselves (crazy, right?), Mickey gained a boost during the player selection meeting when Kelley hand-selected Rachel and then Morgan was drawn as the sixth player. For the comp, "Flee the Scene," the players had to navigate a series of tiles where only half of them were the correct path. The comp was played in a tournament of head-to-head matchups until only one winner remained.
In the first round, Keanu defeated Mickey in 2 minutes 49 seconds. In the second round, Rachel defeated Morgan in 2 minutes 32 seconds. In the third found, Rylie defeated Kelley in 2 minutes 54 seconds. Because she had the fastest time of the first three rounds, Rachel automatically advanced to the final round against the winner of Keanu vs. Rylie. In that fourth round, Keanu knocked Rylie out after Rylie wasted precious time stepping on to the same exact incorrect tile multiple times. In the final round, Keanu officially dethroned self-anointed comp beast Rachel by defeating her and earning his third POV in a row.
Following his win, Keanu noticed that none of the houseguests were cheering for or congratulating him, something that has become standard game etiquette even for your enemies. Out of frustration, he turned to the comp host Ava and said, "I believe you have a prompt," in order to move the process along, but Ava did not take kindly to the statement. Instead she accused him of talking down to her because of the way she dresses and then strutted over to him and handed him the medal with an off-prompt congratulatory "there ya go." Later they both apologized to each other for speaking outside of how they normally would, acknowledging that tensions are high and getting the best of them.
The Faux Alliance
Wanting to play both sides of the house, Jimmy proposed a "faux alliance" with Kelley, Keanu and Vince after Adrian's eviction with the objective of going against the tight trio of Ashley, Morgan and Mickey. He solidified that again with Keanu as a way of supporting him after the nomination ceremony.
Due to Keanu's win, Mickey was facing the undesirable position of having to name a fourth nominee for the week. Rylie was able to get through to her about not nominating Katherine, an act that Mickey agreed would be bad for her game because it would just piss him off and focus the wrath of the other side of the house against her. Later Rachel told Mickey that Katherine would be a waste of an HOH reign and instead asked her to consider Vince because he's playing the middle and has shown a lot of sway over the game. Mickey considered it because it would be drawing a new line in the sand (bad) while potentially improving her position in an alliance with Morgan and Zach (good).
When Mickey was straight-up with Vince that he's in the pool of players she's considering as a renom, he realized an opportunity to change that by informing her, Morgan and Zach of the faux alliance that Jimmy formed with Keanu and Kelley. He angled it as a serious conversation that Jimmy started to ensure his own safety with the other side of the house and emphasized that he "probably doesn't want to win HOH soon" in order to maintain his spot in the middle of the house. They had Vince's tea confirmed by Keanu later and added that Jimmy specifically wanted that new alliance to target Mickey and Morgan.
Knowing Jimmy is prone to explosive Veto meetings, Mickey gave him an 18-minute heads up that his name was thrown around heavily all week. She said that it's made her question whether he truly puts their alliance ahead of everyone else, but he insisted that he's "honestly shocked" that she's even considering it and pleaded that always had the "Triple Threat" trio at the top of his priority list.
At the Veto meeting, Keanu removed himself from the block and Mickey named Jimmy as his replacement. She called it a "battle with [her] mind and [her] heart" and said that she "honestly don't respect" his game anymore. Ultimately, Mickey thought that Jimmy needs to be taught a lesson and hopes that he's the one to be evicted this week. She chose not to nominate Vince because it would hurt her relationship with Morgan, but the decision to do Jimmy instead may just tarnish her relationship with Rachel and certainly with Jimmy if he finds a way to survive the week.
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