Big Brother 23 week 3 recap: Brent makes an early departure

Following the eviction of two agreed-upon house targets, week three in the Big Brother 23 house proved to be no exception to this season’s eviction pattern.

After getting on a number of houseguests’ nerves and spending the week convinced he was sitting pretty and didn’t need to lift a finger to ensure his safety, the New Jersey-based flight attendant Brent was shown to the nearest exit by a unanimous 11-0 vote after spending all next week next to Britini on the block, courtesy of HOH Xavier.

Big Brother 23: The Kings remain on top

After ridding the house of the chaos-causing parasite Frenchie, it was Team Kings member Xavier who snagged power from outgoing HOH Kyland, keeping control in the hands of “The Cookout” and ensuring that the majority alliance called the “Royal Flush” (The Kings, The Queens, and Derek X) remained safe another week.

Though the plan going into the HOH Thursday night wasn’t for Xavier to win (The Royal Flush had agreed to throw the HOH to keep the blood off their hands), he didn’t have to sweat too much about messing up his (until now) fairly solid under-the-radar game: yet again, as a house target had emerged at the end of the previous week, this time in the form of Brent.

Though not a member of any meaningful alliances or even in a powerful Team (Brent was a member of Team Aces, which also includes Derek X, Hannah, and Whitney), Brent had inadvertently painted a target on his back the previous week thanks to a number of off-color comments and generally obnoxious behavior over the course of the game so far.

Hannah and Whitney (his own team members) were two of the houseguests on the most frequent receiving end of his tone-deaf comments, and thus the more adamant that he leave this week – all unbeknownst to Brent, who continued horsing around and upsetting houseguests, none the wiser that everyone around him wanted him gone.

Week three also saw another houseguest win safety in the Wildcard comp but decline the potential security in favor of not upsetting the balance of power – Tiffany (playing alongside Derek X for the Aces and Britini for the Jokers) pulled out a win in the Wildcard after working with Derek X to box Britini out of the competition and make sure the Brit was eligible to be nominated.

Though their plan worked like a charm and Tiffany won the Wildcard (declining to use the power, which would’ve saved a randomly selected player from the Aces and the Jokers in addition to protecting Tiffany), she and Derek X inadvertently invoked the ire of Azah, who was upset to see them deliberately knock Britini out of the competition.

Big Brother 23: The rise of a Blockstar

For the second week an arrow, come nomination day, Britini was one of the faces on the memory wall for eviction – which made her none too happy, and also upset her fellow Jokers teammate Azah. After hearing that Britini would be going up as a pawn, Azah (upset at seeing her friend used yet again) confronted her fellow Cookout member Xavier about his decision and even offered herself up as a pawn to be nominated in Britini’s place.

Despite her emotional plea, when Xavier turned the keys in the nomination box, Azah’s proposal to Xavier was in vein – Britini and Brent sat side by side on the block heading into nominations.

Unfortunately for Brent, though, even seeing himself up on the block (despite his numerous assertions that he was in no danger of nomination this past week) wasn’t enough to convince him that he was in serious trouble, and he didn’t do any legitimate campaigning or game-talk. While Brent (incorrectly) assumed he was a pawn, the *actual* pawn, Britini, (who was still upset about being put up again) took the correct course of action and laid low, trying to keep her target as minimal as possible and not make waves to steer the ‘Brent eviction’ ship off course.

Big Brother 23: Comp beast Christian?

Heading into the veto competition, the name of the game for The Royal Flush was to keep nominations the same, thus minimizing the blood on HOH Xavier’s hands and ensuring that Brent would be sent packing come Thursday night. Players picked for the veto were HOH Xavier, nominees Britini and Brent, and three players chosen at random draw: Christian, Derek F, and Whitney.

Unfortunately for the houseguests unlucky enough to get picked to play in this week’s veto, the competition was the infamous (and often nausea-inducing) “bowlerina” comp, where houseguests don tutus and attempt lawn bowling after being spun in dizzying circles to disorient them.

Though in the past this competition has yielded some iconic moments (Vanessa misting Julia to pick Austin to play against her in BB17 comes to mind), BB23’s bowlerina passed relatively uneventfully, and Christian tucked another competition win under his belt, bringing home the gold for himself and keeping the power (yet again) within the Royal Flush alliance.

Christian’s veto win was good news for the entire house – including the misguided Brent, who celebrated the win and lobbied for the veto *not* to be used because he was so sure that Britini would be heading out the door on Thursday night.

Of course, in reality, Britini and Xavier were the ones who had cause for celebration – Christian winning veto meant the HOH Xavier wouldn’t have to name a replacement nominee, and though she didn’t come down from the block, Britini could rest easy knowing that Brent couldn’t save himself and a more well-liked houseguest wouldn’t be sitting next to her on the block heading into eviction night.

Big Brother 12: The flight attendant is sent packing

Although all week long Brent continued to remain completely oblivious to the fact that he was heading out the door by a unanimous vote, the other shoe finally dropped when Derek F revealed to Brent on Wednesday that he didn’t have the votes to stay. True to form, though, Brent adamantly believed that he would be able to rally the numbers, but come eviction night (after a blessedly rap-free plea from Britini) it was the Jersey boy who was sent packing by a whopping 11-0 vote.

Brent’s departure (no pun intended) marked the last of the easy, unanimous house targets to leave the BB23 house, meaning that from now on, the gameplay will likely get much more complicated and alliances will truly begin to be tested. In a team-based puzzle-building competition, it was Christian who pulled out the HOH win, securing safety (yet again) for the Kings and granting him ultimate power for week four of the game.

Christian, who’s in a showmance with fellow King Alyssa, will likely take her advice into account all week long, which could spell trouble for Azah, Whitney, and Hannah – all three of whom Alyssa has discussed as potential targets, should she win HOH. Though Christian will likely remain loyal to the Royal Flush, it’s also entirely possible that he could turn on them thanks to his newfound power – but only time will tell where the new HOH’s true loyalties lie.

Big Brother 23: Week 3 Superlatives

Clutch Play of the Week: A toss-up between Tiffany and Derek X boxing Britini out of the wildcard comp, and Christian winning veto to ensure noms stayed the same.

Most Memorable Moment:  Brent barfing during the bowlerina veto and following it up with “we have fun”

Houseguest in the Best Spot: Despite coming off of an HOH reign, Xavier remains protected on nearly all sides, thanks to immunity via his teammate winning HOH, and being a member of both the Cookout and Royal Flush alliances.

What did you think about this week in the Big Brother house?