“I don’t think anyone wins against Yash with this jury” – Devens to Dee

9:46 AM — Devens and Dee (Backyard balcony)

Drew and Barrett are still in bed. The two Icons have the balcony to themselves and get to the point.

Devens: “Dude, we are so close.”
Dee: “I know, dude. There’s a path.”
Devens: “There is a path. We just have to win, because Drew staying in this game is perfect.”

Devens: “I hope Barrett goes. I love that guy. Probably, honestly, my favorite guy to spend time with in the house.”
Dee: “Yes, he is the best person ever.”
Devens: “But, like, we need to get rid of one more competitor.”

Dee asks about something she has only heard secondhand.

Dee: “Did you hear about after the HOH comp, she, like, jumped on Drew and wrapped her legs up?”
Devens: “I saw it. Taylor and I were the ones that witnessed it. Taylor and I were looking at each other like, haven’t they been hiding this all season?”
Devens: “We were sitting in the kitchen and they did it coming off the staircase. And I harassed Drew about it to his face.”

Then the home videos, which the Icons have read as instructions.

Dee: “I understand you’re trying to hype Barrett up. But in a way, it’s showing us we’ve got to get rid of him even more now.”
Devens: “That was about you and I. The whole video was about you and I. They’re like, don’t make peace with them. Keep going.”

Dee: “He came to talk to me on my bed — but that was when he thought I was going home. I told him, I know this is not game, he was being very genuine. I freaking love Barrett.”
Dee: “I immediately started crying, because I was like, I feel for you, but also I’m going to f—ing come for you, you know?”
Devens: “Right. We have to. Be silly not to.”

Devens: “I saw his face. He was trying to hide the surprise. He and Melody and Drew were all shook. They were sure it was going their way.”
Devens: “The way that that trio isolated themselves so arrogantly was just insane.”
Dee: “They got too comfortable.”

Lighter, in between. Devens has been counting the slang.

Devens: “Listening to Melody and Drew talk, I lose my mind. If they don’t use hella every other word, they will explode.”
Devens: “I’m such an unk, bro. Hella low-key, low-key hella. That’s the entire conversation.”
Devens: “But then I look at how my talk has changed being in this house. I used lit yesterday, non-ironically. People are going to look at me like such a poser when I get back.”

And Dee on how Yash handled her crying over Angela.

Dee: “He just comes up to me. He’s such a dude. He just goes, it’s going to be okay. And taps me up. I’m like, bro, this is not what I need right now.”
Dee: “Angela, I miss you. This was our little morning spot. I’m stuck with the boys. They’re awesome, but they don’t have that emotional depth.”

10:25 AM — Drew joins them (Backyard balcony)

Two hours after the wake-up call, Drew finally surfaces, hair unbrushed.

Drew: “They’re on my case today.”
Devens: “It’s two hours after wake-up call. Is that why they’re on your case?”
Drew: “I think so. I was like, all right, all right.”

Devens: “The Jack vibes you are giving off right now are warming my heart so much. The crazy hair.”
Drew: “I feel like no one’s going to talk to me because I’m 22 years old. They’re going to be like, ah, we’ll see him later.”
Dee: “I’d be pissed if you didn’t call me. I will show up in Temecula.”

Devens: “I’ve been telling Drew, I’m going to get more street credit for my kids being friends with him than I am for anything I do on the show.”
Drew: “Dude, I’m going to get so much street credit for being friends with all three of the Icons the whole time.”

11:11 AM — Devens and Drew (Backyard)

Dee has gone in. This is the one that matters — an hour before the veto meeting, and the first time Devens says the quiet part to Drew’s face.

Devens: “You excited for this double?”
Drew: “It’s gonna be a wild one. I’m okay for like the same amount of time as everybody else. I don’t got a week. I got the veto, so I’m like, nice. I still could be leaving Thursday.”
Devens: “That’s exactly how I feel.”

Drew: “I really don’t know what’s going on on Thursday, bro. I feel like I have less of a grasp of where the house is at right now than I have in weeks.”
Devens: “Me as well. I think you’re probably in a decent spot, to be honest.”
Devens: “For a house that’s going to have six people, there’s still a lot of big people. A lot of scary people. Relationships are all over the place. And then Barrett comes back, it’s even more complicated.”

On who wins the Blockbuster, Devens will not write Taylor off.

Devens: “I would definitely think that he’s going to be the favorite. But I could also see Taylor winning, to be honest with you. She almost beat me in that first one.”

Then Devens lays it out.

Devens: “I was very happy that you won that veto.”
Drew: “Oh, were you?”
Devens: “Oh, yeah.”
Drew: “I think you might have been the only one.”
Devens: “I don’t think so. I think Dee was happy. Dee was telling me, she’s like, I don’t want you to go this week.”

And the reason Barrett cannot be saved, which is the family video again.

Devens: “Seeing Barrett’s message from his family, it’s like they’re just encouraging him to keep going after us. That message made it almost even more like, ooh, we can’t keep Barrett.”
Devens: “I wish we could get back on track with some stuff, but I don’t know how I could ever trust him again.”
Drew: “Well, I’m sure you could say the same for me.”
Devens: “Not you specifically. But I’m sure Dee is weirded out by it.”

Which does not stop Devens planning Barrett’s post-show career an hour earlier, unprompted.

Devens: “I’d really like to get Barrett hooked up with them as like a production guy. I think he’d fit their vibe perfectly. It’s a very cool, open, progressive company who really takes care of its people. No room for a-holes at all. Barrett would be so perfect there and so happy there.”

Drew’s read on Yash is the bleakest thing either of them says.

Drew: “I’ve screwed Yash so many times. But he’s the front runner. If he gets to the end—”
Devens: “Oh, yeah. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. Especially if he just breathes.”

Drew: “He reminds me so much of Jack from 25, where he just kept winning. It’d be like, oh, he won HOH, and then he won the veto. Oh, he’s not HOH, but don’t worry, he won the veto.”
Drew: “And he still stood up as long as I did, and he was dying, like sick. That was very impressive. This dude is a dog.”

Drew: “He’s the type of dude that would bring Taylor and then you or Dee to final three and smoke you guys in the first one. And then Yash would probably win that third. Because he’s just so social.”
Devens: “What is the third part?”
Drew: “Asking questions from the jury. He’s got a lot of friends in there.”
Devens: “That third part is what would f— me.”

Neither of them commits to anything, which they both notice.

Devens: “It all depends on what you guys want to do, genuinely. Because I think it’s going to be between you, me and Dee.”
Devens: “I definitely think that you’re his focus right now. But as soon as you’re gone, obviously we’d be his focus.”
Drew: “Dog, you and I have been on this thing all season. I don’t think I’ve ever screwed you up once. I’ve probably screwed everyone up. But not you.”

Devens: “On our two down days, we should definitely talk a lot.”
Drew: “All right, I’m going to go in. I’m going to start getting ready.”

One last thing before he does.

Drew: “Maybe I’ll come with you on Blood versus Water.”
Devens: “He’s not biologically, but I’ve adopted him.”

And a thought about how the Pressure Cooker is going to land in the jury house.

Devens: “I can’t wait to see the reaction when they go in the jury house and they bring the episode. Lala’s gonna be like, f—ing Drew stood there for 12 hours. Out of all the people.”
Devens: “She and Angela will probably both be like, we could have outlasted them. And they might be right. Lala would have to use the restroom like eight times, but she probably wouldn’t have moved.”
Devens: “I would be shocked if there’s not some reference to her winning the wall.”

4:40 PM — Devens and Dee (Backyard)

Walking laps. Taylor is on the block behind them and neither of them mentions her for the first five minutes, because the board is already fine.

Dee: “Even then, they put up who they should. Whoever wins — one of us is still guaranteed to stay. So even that is maximizing our chances.”
Devens: “And that’s amazing. But also, their biggest vendetta is with each other.”
Dee: “I know, that’s so stupid, dude.”

Devens can see the day Yash works out that Drew is not his problem. Then he says the thing neither Icon has said out loud before.

Dee: “100 percent. I am putting that out there in the universe. He is the best competitor.”
Devens: “No doubt. And a great social player. Of all the people left other than you, he’d have my vote.”
Dee: “Yeah, I agree.”

Which turns into a jury conversation on day 70, with nobody evicted yet.

Devens: “I would want to give it to Drew.”
Dee: “It would be very hard for me. But it would be really hard not to.”
Devens: “My heart’s with Drew.”
Dee: “Correct.”
Devens: “The fact that I screwed Yash over that many times and he’s still there and he was still cool — I don’t know if I could not give it to him.”

Dee: “With Drew, we knew where he was at the first half of the game. With Yash, I don’t know where the f— he was at the first half of the game.”
Dee: “So it would be a weight. And yes, my heart would want to give it to Drew. And will I regret that if I look back and it’s like, that’s my friend?”
Devens: “Right. That’s life-changing money.”

Devens: “But I would love to give it to Yash, too. Yash has been a friend to me the whole game. When I came out week two and was like, I’m not putting you up — he and I were locked in.”
Dee: “That would be tough if it was them two. But that’s not going to happen.”
Devens: “No. You and I are not going to let that happen. We have to get there. It’s up to us.”

And then the actual plan, which is to do nothing and let the two of them keep going.

Devens: “If they’re so distracted by each other, that’s great.”
Devens: “But Yash is more likely to come for us, because he’s going to be less threatened by Drew — whereas Drew is legitimately threatened by Yash. And needs to get Yash on his resume at this point. He’s talked so much about it.”

Devens: “I hope Barrett loses this thing, man. Honestly, as much as it would suck, if we get two of the comp threats out on Thursday — oh my God.”
Dee: “I know. We can run away with it.”

They handicap the Blockbuster, and end up betting against each other.

Dee: “On paper, it seems like Barrett will win. There’s still a world Melody could pull out and win. But she hasn’t won anything.”
Devens: “Or even Taylor. Dude, Taylor almost beat me in my first Blockbuster.”
Dee: “Wait, yeah. You’re right.”

Dee: “Although I feel like I have more hope for Melody, because she hasn’t won not one thing. So she has that in her, like, I need to win something.”
Devens: “I’ll put my money on Taylor.”
Dee: “Really? Okay, I’ll put my money on Melody.”
Devens: “All right, winner takes all.”

Devens has a theory about why Barrett is not the lock everyone assumes.

Devens: “I don’t think the Blockbuster games lend themselves to Barrett. Ropes should be — the way I envision it, it’s hard for a very tall person. And the other ones are kind of mazes and stuff. He’s good with ball stuff, so I can definitely see him getting that. But if it’s a word thing, that’s almost random.”
Dee: “He’s actually not that super competitive. I thought he would do better and be quick.”
Devens: “No, he doesn’t hustle that much.”
Dee: “Like, why was he not even on the scoreboard?”

Dee: “I can see that world, because I’ve envisioned Barrett going into the jury so many times. You have no idea. Just so that Angela could be like, what the f—?”

Then they settle Thursday, in about forty seconds.

Dee: “No, but yeah, I’m in. No need to even talk about it.”
Devens: “We’ll have to just get lined up. I think we’re on the same page. We’ll do what we have to do.”
Devens: “But if Barrett wins, easy. Drew and Barrett next to each other. Trying to get Barrett.”
Dee: “Yeah, Barrett — so that Drew and Yash can stay fighting.”
Devens: “100 percent.”

Devens: “Yash will team up with Bear in a heartbeat if he felt like he needed to, whereas he and Drew were not going to.”
Dee: “They’re trying to team up on each other.”

And a Taylor problem Dee has not raised with anyone else.

Dee: “When we were watching you guys, Taylor was like, yeah, we can get Bear out whenever. And I’m like, Taylor, when is whenever? That’s literally next week for me.”
Dee: “I’m like, uh-uh. That means that you and me are next, and I’m not okay with that.”
Devens: “Right, exactly.”

The last minute is the two of them realising where they are.

Dee: “Dude, we’ve done so good. Can you believe this?”
Devens: “It’s crazy. And they can only win every other week. You and I can win every week.”
Dee: “Every week, yeah.”
Devens: “Dee, listen, it can all fall apart just as easy. But the fact that we’re here is just such a gift.”

Devens: “I don’t even know if Big Brother would like that.”
Dee: “I don’t give a damn what anybody will like.”
Devens: “You realize at this point, three Survivor players have played Big Brother. And the worst anyone has ever done is sixth place.”
Devens: “Survivor represent.”

Dee: “At first I was nervous, because I’m like, dude, how could I ever? Coming in here and being the only two Survivors after her. Are you freaking kidding me? It’s so much pressure.”
Devens: “She always sets the bar.”

5:20 PM — Barrett, alone

Barrett is on the block and has run out of people to talk to, so he talks to himself. Ten minutes of it, out loud, in full sentences — the pitch, the counter-pitch, the reason the pitch does not work, and then the entire rest of the season bracketed out to a Final Four.

He starts with the version where he grovels.

Barrett: “I’ll put up whoever they want. I will vote however they want. If I win the veto, I’ll do whatever they want with it.”
Barrett: “And if they win HOH, they can throw my ass on the block again if they want to.”

That is the Icons pitch. Total surrender. He gets about four seconds into it before he finds the hole.

Barrett: “I can’t tell them opposite things though, can I? There’s no way that would work.”

The opposite thing being what he would have to tell everybody else — that he is coming for the Icons. He tries that version out loud, then kills it himself inside of twenty seconds.

Barrett: “Unless I tell the other three that I’m trying to target the Icons and they’re keeping me.”
Barrett: “But in what world does that make them want to keep me more? It just makes me look way more untrustworthy.”

Barrett: “I pitch to the Icons, I’ll do whatever they want. I’ll sell my soul to them, and then I’m pitching to everybody else that I’m going after the Icons. In what world does that work?”

So he switches sides of the house and finds something he likes better.

Barrett: “Does it make more sense to just tell Drew and Taylor and Yash that I’m a better shield?”
Barrett: “Getting nominated next to me is much better than getting nominated next to Melody or Taylor, depending on who I’d be sitting next to.”
Barrett: “That I’m not going after any of them if I win that double eviction HOH.”

Then the lie he would stack on top of it, laid out with no particular guilt.

Barrett: “I could even tell Yash that I would nominate two Icons or Drew. And my three targets would be the Icons and Drew.”
Barrett: “I could tell Drew that I’m telling Yash exactly that, but I’m bulls—ting him.”

All of it rests on one vote.

Barrett: “It comes down to if Drew would keep me over Melody.”
Barrett: “Which, if he sees the advantage in me being a better person to sit next to than Melody, then maybe he would do it.”
Barrett: “But he’d have to really believe that I wasn’t gonna go after him.”

His lever there is Yash.

Barrett: “I could probably tell him everything that Yash brought to me about him and the ceasefire, even though they probably already talked about it.”

Then lean on the Middlemen. Us two to the end.

Except Drew alone is not enough, so he has to solve Taylor too.

Barrett: “I think I could convince Taylor probably to keep me. If I could convince Drew to keep me.”
Barrett: “But then Taylor and Drew would have to have that conversation. And that’s having Taylor trust Drew for some s—.”
Barrett: “Which is a tall task.”

Then, working the Taylor angle, he says something that should worry Yash more than anything else in the ten minutes.

Barrett: “Maybe pitch to the Icons of like, who wants to sit next to Taylor in this game ever anymore.”
Barrett: “Or maybe that’s even more appealing to Yash. If Yash was willing to vote out Taylor against Lala, maybe he’d be willing to vote out Taylor against me.”

Week 8 went 4–2 to evict Lala, and the two votes to keep her were votes to evict Taylor. Yash cast one of them and has been telling Devens he did not. Barrett and Drew had that second vote pinned on Dee. Talking to an empty room, Barrett has just put it back on Yash.

Barrett: “Just from Yash’s perspective, I’m a way better shield to keep in the game, and also, like, not only a shield, somebody that you know is gonna go after the Icons.”

And the Icons, by his reckoning, want him gone worse than they want Yash gone, and far worse than they want Taylor gone.

Barrett: “So maybe that’s the play.”

Then the reason the Icons pitch was dead before he opened his mouth, which is the sharpest thing he says all evening.

Barrett: “I just don’t think that will work out for me.”
Barrett: “Because as soon as they cross-reference with anybody, because they would know I’d need that third vote, and they would be probably asking themselves, what the f— is he telling the other people in the house?”

Strategy settled, he builds the rest of the season.

Barrett: “If I won Blockbuster, I’d vote out Taylor. It wouldn’t do any good. Melody would go. I’d be down to six.”
Barrett: “If I won that HOH in the double, assuming it’s the double, I’d put up Dee and Devens. With Yash as the renom. I don’t really care at that point.”

One of the three goes and he is fine with any of them.

Barrett: “The votes would be — Drew would vote out… Who would Drew vote out? It don’t matter. Yash and Taylor would vote out Devens, probably.”
Barrett: “So then the final five would be me, Drew, Dee, Yash, Taylor.”

He hands Yash the next HOH, because of course he does.

Barrett: “Let’s say Yash wins that f—ing HOH again. Who the f— knows? Dee and Drew.”
Barrett: “That’d be f—ing sick. Then if he won the veto, even sicker.”
Barrett: “The votes would be me and Taylor. And Drew would probably go with that. That’s a Final Four. Me, Yash, Taylor, and Dee.”

Final Four, and he knows exactly where it turns.

Barrett: “The veto’s the one that really matters there.”
Barrett: “If I won that veto, I could take out Yash. If Yash won that veto, he’d take out me.”

He sits with that for half a minute. Then, to nobody: