“He loves you” .. “Not Enough To Use That Damn Veto On Me”

Drew sat with Melody until she asked him not to leave, then walked out and spent fourteen minutes in the bathroom agreeing with Dee that she is the one going. Two doors away, Melody was telling Taylor he didn’t love her enough to use the veto on her. Everyone on Big Brother 28 was asleep by 12:30am.

11:52 PM — Taylor and Melody (Pod Room)

The two women on the block, alone, the night before the vote. Drew has just been in and left. Two minutes from now he is in the bathroom with Dee.

They start on what tomorrow might be.

Taylor: “I just keep thinking that how they said that the only people safe is the veto and the HOH. So that’s just like regular veto. It’s probably like regular, because that means that he can put me up, but he’s not going to.”
Taylor: “If it’s that s— with the live vote. If it’s a public thing. And it’s me, you and D. I don’t know.”
Melody: “I have no idea how the f— that’s even going to go. And I don’t want to do that.”
Taylor: “I don’t either.”
Melody: “And then that’s if it’s just us three who vote. But if everybody votes—”
Taylor: “It wouldn’t be us three that vote. I would think that us three will be on the line. And all of us can vote.”
Melody: “That’s right. These are the three people who can go home. Go vote.”

Then Taylor changes the subject.

Taylor: “What would your mom say right now?”
Melody: “I don’t know.”
Taylor: “She’ll still be proud.”
Melody: “No, yeah, definitely. It’s normal mom s—.”
Taylor: “You just won the f—ing… you just did a double whammy.”
Melody: “My mom would just be like, bro, you’re rocking it, it’s fine. And she’s right. But I don’t know. I’m just — I mean, I’m sure we all are — I’m just hard on myself. I guess it’s just annoying. Like, I wish I did better. Do better. Just everything. Just anything.”

Melody

“My mom would just be like, bro, you’re rocking it, it’s fine. And she’s right… I’m just hard on myself.”

Taylor: “We made it this far. Doing this. Beat out 12 other people. Doing whatever the hell you did.”
Melody: “S— was not easy, bro. And I know it wasn’t easy for you either.”

Melody: “Man, I literally have never laughed so hard. Here. Like, consecutive days in a row. Like, tears coming out of my eyes.”
Taylor: “Mallory was funny, too. She’d make you laugh the hardest. Probably the most, right?”
Melody: “She’s so funny. We would just run bits back and forth with each other, trying so hard not to laugh. At one point we would walk up to each other hella serious and be like — I was like, hey. And we’d be like, okay. Like, what? Like, somebody really close to you. And we’d try not to laugh. And then she’d be like, wait, oh my God, who? And I’d be like, I can’t tell. We’d just try to keep the bit going. And it was so fun. The whole time, it really was.”
Taylor: “Oh, f— yeah. Y’all thought it was a game. That s— was real.”

They reenact sitting across from Mallory.

Taylor: “I’ll never forget. I’ll sit here. You sit here. Mallory sit here. She’s in there. Me and you looking at her like, b—-tch, please. I really hope they got that conversation, because it was all over our face.”
Melody: “Because I literally remember sitting and looking at her like… b—-tch.”
Taylor: “I’m having on sunglasses because my face is so loud. My face is so loud.”

Taylor

“I’m having on sunglasses because my face is so loud.”

Melody: “I was so f—ing fed up.”
Taylor: “I have to have so much decorum in here. I do not have half of the decorum in here that I have in real life.”

Which is where she gets going.

Taylor: “…while being in my f—ing pod. Because I hate you all and I know y’all all fake as f—. I don’t want to talk to you, because I know you was just talking s— about me. But I can’t say that I know that you was just talking s— about me. So you know what, I’m gonna just stay to myself.”
Taylor: “Because I hate all you motherf—ers. I can’t stand you. I know exactly what you did. And I’m going to act like I don’t know what you did. So instead of being fake, I just won’t.”
Taylor: “I can’t be fake. That’s the hardest thing in this game, is being fake. And I’m not. So I’d rather just shut the f— up.”

Taylor

“That’s the hardest thing in this game, is being fake. And I’m not. So I’d rather just shut the f— up.”

Melody: “I genuinely thought that the aspect of the game was going to be way f—ing easy. I was like, oh, it’ll be super easy, whatever. I pull up and I’m like, oh, hey, I know who I am.”
Taylor: “No, b—-tch. I don’t like you. And I can’t act like I do. So I won’t f— with you. Sorry, I’m not talking to you. I don’t like you.”
Melody: “Sorry, I’m not selling out.”
Taylor: “Call me what you want. Making a fake f—ing alliance just for your benefit so I can just snitch on everybody else — you got the wrong one. Get somebody else to do it. And you mad at me? B—-tch, f— you. That made no sense to me.”
Taylor: “You mad at me because I won’t give you information on another side of the house that is actively picking us off.”
Melody: “No, but they low-key had that s— on lock, though. Because motherf—ers work.”
Taylor: “I made it this far. Not selling nobody out.”

Then they start doing their own exit interviews.

Taylor: “I know exactly what they said about you. I’m not telling you that. I’m going to keep that to myself.”
Melody: “What you think about so-and-so?”
Taylor: “I know that she don’t f— with you and she’s going to get you out the first chance she gets. But she cool with it… she really likes you, actually.”
Taylor: “That’s what y’all gonna see me doing. Taylor know damn well she hates her.”
Melody: “She really likes you. She really likes you.”
Taylor: “She hates her. And I know that.”
Melody: “But she don’t need to know that. I’m gonna be funny as f—.”

Taylor: “You can’t even plan for tomorrow, because you don’t even know what the f— tomorrow is. Hopefully if they do tell us what the hell about to go on, they give us some time to—”
Melody: “All I know is I’m waking up immediately. And I’m taking a f—ing shower. And I’m doing my hair. And my makeup.”
Taylor: “I’m just happy I’m packed.”
Melody: “All my s—’s still in my suitcase.”

Julie comes up.

Melody: “Miss Julie’s like 50% of the reason why I watch this f—ing show.”
Taylor: “If I didn’t win the Blockbuster, my ass would’ve met Miss Julie.”
Melody: “I can’t wait to watch this. It all sucked so bad, too, because it was happening within, like, ten f—ing minutes.”
Taylor: “There was no time to, like, think or, like, do anything.”

Neither of them has eaten much. Taylor: “That’s been me for, like, two days too. I haven’t eaten. I only had a bowl of cereal today before dinner.” Melody got hungry and then didn’t.

Melody: “I just got into, like, a mood. And I was like, all right, I’m not hungry anymore. I’m gonna take a shower and go to bed.”
Melody: “And then I forced Drew to hang out with me. He, like, came and checked in on me, and then he’s like, all right, I’m gonna leave. And I was like, please don’t go.”
Taylor: “Oh, just now? I come in here, his ass crying. I said, who the f— on the block?”

Taylor: “He loves you, though.”
Melody: “Not enough to use that damn veto on me.”

Melody

“He loves you, though.” — “Not enough to use that damn veto on me.”

Taylor: “You should give him a chance outside of here, though.”
Melody: “No.”
Taylor: “Oh, my God. Melody. One date.”
Melody: “No.”
Taylor: “You playing. Bro, this is game. You never know. Drew might be one hell of a nice guy outside of here. You gotta go one day. So if he was to ask you on a date, you would say no?”
Melody: “Yeah.”
Taylor: “You’re such a liar. You know damn well you would not say no.”
Melody: “How the f— you gonna tell me?”

Sixteen minutes later Taylor is still on it, and Melody is still saying no.

11:54 PM — Drew and Dee (Bathroom)

Drew won the veto it is assumed that Taylor is going up in his place. This leaves Drew and Dee as the only two votes and Melody as the one going. Just before midnight the two of them end up in the bathroom and spend fourteen minutes talking themselves into it.

Dee: “The heck have you been up to? Are you going to go to DR?”
Drew: “Yeah.”
Dee: “I just got out.”

She asks whether he has been with Melody. He has.

Dee: “Dude, I feel so bad. I don’t want her to go home.”
Dee: “I know it’s not even — it’s not me, you know. I want her in the game. It’s not me.”

Which is true and also the most convenient thing in the world to be able to say. Dee then goes looking for the thing that is actually bothering Devens, and finds it.

Dee: “But would he freak out if you wouldn’t put her up or something like that?”
Drew: “I wouldn’t probably put her up.”
Dee: “Oh, you wouldn’t put her up. Oh, I see.”

And then the house’s third participant.

Production: “Please put on your microphone.”

Twice, in ninety seconds, straight over the middle of the exchange. Drew carries on regardless.

Drew: “That’s what he’s worried about.”
Dee: “But you just told me you wouldn’t. So his worries are valid then?”
Drew: “Yeah.”

So that is the shape of it. Devens’ problem with Melody is not this week. It is that Drew would never put her up, and Drew has just confirmed to Dee that Devens is right about him.

Drew: “I thought that if you were actually gonna, like, put her up or something, then I would have been down. It’d be so awkward anyways if I would have to put one of you guys up next to her. But also, the veto is what matters the most.”
Drew: “I don’t want him to be, like, freaking out.”

He runs the numbers on what he actually wants and arrives, reluctantly, at the answer Devens would like.

Drew: “Would I rather have her be here over Taylor? Yeah, of course. But also — yeah, it is what it is. We don’t want Devens to be, like, freaking out at final four. I think it’s probably better if it’s just us three and Taylor.”

Then the part he has already put in writing with the Head of Household.

Drew: “I told him, I said, listen, like, you know, I can’t vote Melody out. He’s like, yeah. He’s like, I’m going to be breaking the tie.”
Dee: “Right. Yeah, and I’d be the deciding factor.”

Drew has bought himself a clean conscience and handed the actual eviction to Devens. Dee, who is the other vote and therefore the person the whole arrangement rests on, wants it noted that she is not going rogue.

Dee: “I mean, I would never do anything without consulting you guys.”
Dee: “It’s tough.”
Drew: “Because I do think she probably deserves to be here. But at the same time, I’ve been rocking with you guys.”

Then, flatly, what Melody currently believes.

Drew: “She still thinks it’s up in the air. She thinks that you like her more than Taylor. So she’s like, maybe she’ll save me.”
Dee: “My God. I haven’t talked to her yet.”
Drew: “And I’m like, I have no idea.”

Melody is running a campaign at the one person who has already decided not to run it for her.

Drew: “It’d be fun to have, like, all four of us in the house. But also, I don’t think Devens wants her here. And I don’t want him to be mad, because it’s his HOH. And he kept you safe.”
Dee: “Of course. I would never.”
Dee: “I’m just asking, because I haven’t talked to her… obviously I told Devens I would do whatever he wants.”

Then both of them on what the last day has looked like from the outside.

Dee: “It’s just sad. And, like, to see the way that she’s moving, it’s just sad.”
Drew: “Yeah, this is not her.”
Dee: “It’s like she knows.”
Drew: “Not the way she… this is a very different her. It’s pretty sad.”

Drew’s fear is not this vote. It is the next one.

Dee: “It’s probably almost better if you don’t have to do that. Or even, like, have a thought.”
Drew: “I don’t want to. I don’t want to be on my HOH next week and then I have to put her out.”
Dee: “Yeah, no, that would be terrible.”
Drew: “Heartbroken. She’s going to be heartbroken anyways.”

Which is the argument he lands on: better she goes now, on somebody else’s week, than in six days on his. Dee will do it, and says so in the flattest possible terms.

Dee: “No, I’ll do that for you, but I really don’t want to, you know what I mean? Personally-wise or whatever.”

They compare the two of them and Melody wins it on effort, which is not a comfortable thing to conclude about the person you are evicting.

Drew: “I do think she wants to be here more than Taylor does.”
Dee: “I agree. She’s super cool, but she’ll make comments.”

The feeds flip for a couple of minutes. When they come back, Drew is still on Taylor.

Drew: “That’s how she’s felt the whole game — whenever she’s on the block. Which kind of irritates me. But also, like, when you haven’t done anything… if it’s, like, who’s more deserving, like, probably Melody over her. She’s actually done, like, some stuff.”

Dee changes the subject to the thing nobody can put a shape on.

Dee: “Do you think something’s weird going to happen with this curse thing?”
Drew: “Yeah, I could see it being, like, a competition.”
Dee: “If it’s a competition eviction, then it’s, like, out of our hands. That’d be the best case.”

Twelve hours earlier Drew was telling Dee the season had already spent its twists. Now he thinks the curse might be a competition, and Dee has worked out that she would very much like it to be — because a competition eviction takes the vote, and the guilt, off her entirely.

Drew: “I still want somebody from Crossover to win. A hundred percent. But if for crazy reason all of this lost, which is impossible—”
Dee: “No, no, no, dude, no. That is not even in my head. There’s no way.”
Drew: “Well, two of us are guaranteed to be at the end.”

He describes the evening he has just had with Melody, and it is the only time in fourteen minutes he sounds shaken.

Drew: “It is weird seeing her, like… she’s, like, moping around. And then she was, like, crying outside. And then Devens walked out. And I was, like, hugging her.”

Then, because it is Drew, back to the arithmetic — the same run he did on the backyard couch that morning, unchanged.

Drew: “Sixty-six chance that you or me win HOH. So we’re immediately in the final. And then the seventy-five percent chance that one of us wins the veto.”
Dee: “Yeah, we have good chances. We honestly have good chances against either of them.”

He tries to get her to name who she would take to the end. She doesn’t, and neither does he. Drew’s reason for asking is at least honest — “there’s a reason I’m asking you” — and his reason for not answering is that she wouldn’t answer either. Dee says she and Devens have never discussed it.

Drew: “No, not really. Right now, we’re just, like, living in bliss of, like, we’re all going to make the final three.”

Drew: “I honestly think I’m the best person to sit next to, because I pissed off everyone that’s in the jury.”

Dee: “You played a really good game, dude. Just because you pissed off people, don’t think — because you have your perception of the jury. But once the jury becomes a jury, they change. Either for good or for bad. You get what I’m saying?”
Dee: “And even somebody that you thought wouldn’t vote for you to win ends up voting for you. And you’re like, oh, they respect you. Or someone that maybe you played with didn’t. Like, it happens all the time. All the time. So don’t put that in your head.”

Dee: “If you were to get there, whether it’s with me or anybody else, don’t put that in your head. Just fight like you’re winning.”
Dee: “It’ll shock you. You’d be surprised.”

Drew: “It’d be so hard to choose between both of you guys.”
Drew: “It feels like everyone thinks Devens is, like, the guy to win this whole thing. Which is funny. And I don’t think they’re wrong.”
Dee: “No, they’re not wrong.”

12:08 AM — Taylor and Melody (Pod Room)

Fourteen minutes after Drew and Dee finished settling it in the bathroom, Melody is in the pod room with Taylor, eating strawberries and laughing. Twenty-five minutes of the two of them on the beds, and almost none of it is about the game.

It opens on Taylor still going about earlier tonight — “we was f—ing red in the face, laughing hard as f—” — and about the fact that every single person who wandered off came back with the same excuse.

Taylor: “Every time one of you got up the first time, me and Dee was over there cracking up. You told us, I got FOMO. Then you came over there and Dee told us, I got FOMO. This s— got funnier and funnier.”

Then she starts trying to set Melody up.

Melody: “You’re too skinny for me. Look at my legs, bro.”
Taylor: “So what? You can still rock and roll. One date won’t hurt. Just one. Just to go.”
Melody: “No, Drew’s probably hella fun to, like, hang out with.”
Taylor: “He don’t have your ass in a helicopter.”
Melody: “With what damn money?”
Taylor: “The $10,000 he just got for pressing that f—ing button.”

Taylor has been reviewing the tape in her head and she is certain about who cashed in.

Taylor: “Him and Devens got that s— for sure. I looked back during the thing. They both had that face. Devens was doing this. He turned red. And then Drew was doing this, and he had his eyes like this.”
Melody: “He was turned red too. I said, what are these motherf—ers got here?”

Melody was the one person who announced out loud that she wasn’t going for it, and she has been regretting the announcement more than the decision.

Melody: “I’m not pressing the button. You don’t have to press that f—ing button.”
Melody: “And then everyone was like, I did it. And I was like, oh, here we go. I was like, why did I even f—ing say anything?”
Taylor: “I should have pressed that b—-tch, bro.”

Her reason for not pressing it was a worst case she talked herself into.

Taylor: “My worst case, I was like, okay, you press it and then you get pushed into this weird-ass challenge, that if you don’t beat the challenge your ass go home. I was like — and y’all know my record.”

Melody: “Dude, I should have thought about s— like that. Thank God that wasn’t what it was, because I didn’t think about that.”

Taylor kept going. She had built a whole second theory on top of the first one.

Taylor: “Then I was like, okay, well, a game means that it’s rounds. So I was like, okay, it’s going to be more money. I guess I was being greedy too. But then I was like, there’s no way — this is just too good to be true. Obviously, it was just the curse of a fast week.”
Taylor: “I just knew the person who got that money in secret, it was gonna do some f— s—. Like, if you don’t win this s— you get a penalty nom or a penalty vote or penalty something, and you gotta buy your ass back in this game. Something in secret, of course. Ain’t no telling. I just knew: don’t press that b—-tch.”
Taylor: “I should have pressed that b—-tch.”
Melody: “I mean, you were half right.”
Taylor: “Yeah, half right. But not half right enough to not press that b—-tch.”

Then she does the part she has clearly already done privately, out loud, twice.

Taylor: “My brother’s going to be mad. I’m at 17K. I would have had 27. At least 27.”
Melody: “That’s a lot of f—ing money.”
Taylor: “That’s a lot of f—ing money.”
Taylor: “27 — let me do a number. 27 after taxes, what’s that? It’s not down… 19,000. Save half of it. I could put 10K in my savings. I could live off the other nine for the next three months. Three thousand a month.”

Melody, who did not press it either, is angrier about it than she lets on.

Melody: “I was hella ready. I was ready to press that s—, bro. I was pissed. I was like, how the f—?”
Taylor: “I probably could’ve got it, too. Because I heard the static before it started. I heard the static before the laugh, so I knew the laugh was coming. So I could have… damn it.”
Taylor: “It’s okay. It’ll come back tenfold.”

Taylor starts on Melody’s strawberries and reads out the only line of a nutrition label she has ever cared about: “One serving size is one bag. The whole bag. And it’s only 100 calories. That’s the only part I know how to read on this nutritional facts stuff.”

Then a game.

Taylor: “What former houseguest do you have a crush on?”
Melody: “Probably Cody.”
Taylor: “Cody is too old for you. You talking about Cody when Cody was here, or Cody now?”
Melody: “Cody when Cody was here.”
Taylor: “Okay. Try again. Because ain’t Cody married? His wife is beautiful. With hella kids?”
Melody: “I think. I’m just guessing. I don’t know.”
Taylor: “At this point, he should have about two, three of them if he do got kids. Two, three, four, five of them.”

Melody tries Cam and Keanu and immediately walks it back — “I don’t know if I would say, like, crush on them” — which Taylor does not accept.

Taylor: “You tell me if you was in a house with them, you wouldn’t say what’s up? Or if they said what’s up, you wouldn’t say hey.”
Melody: “No, I would say hey.”
Melody: “I’ll probably give in just a little bit. I’ll definitely flirt a little bit, and then it’ll turn into hella flirting, for sure. I mean, you see me and Drew.”
Taylor: “Yeah, that’s your man.”
Melody: “No, that’s not my man. Not like that.”
Taylor: “But that’s your house man. I wish I had a house man.”

Which turns into Mallory, and the running joke nobody ever got Mallory to admit to.

Melody: “The funniest part about Mallory is she would just always be like, I don’t think Kamu is attractive. And she’d be dead the f— out.”
Taylor: “Really? Why?”
Melody: “I guess he’s not her type. She was like, he’s too macho for me.”
Taylor: “She likes scrawny little motherf—ers. Her type was f—ing Drew with blonde hair.”
Melody: “Low key. And we would always say that to her. She’d be like, no.”
Taylor: “I was like, Mallory, you’re describing Drew.”

Taylor has a Mallory story of her own, and it is really a Barrett story.

Taylor: “I was laughing at Devens when Devens was like, Mallory need to get her s— together. Talking about Barrett. And Barrett walked in… He said Mallory can make her own decisions, or some s— like that.”
Taylor: “You think Barrett would date Mallory?”
Melody: “What is Barrett’s type, though? We don’t know. Yeah, literally no clue.”
Taylor: “I don’t know what Barrett’s type is. But Barrett is so f—ing funny.”
Melody: “Bro, Barrett is so funny. I miss Barrett.”

He has been gone since Thursday and they have already worked out that he is doing better than they are.

Melody: “He’s in a better place. The jury house has, like — hello. Liquor, movies, music.”
Taylor: “No cameras.”
Melody: “It’s definitely a better place.”
Taylor: “Better in these circumstances, no. But it is a better place.”
Melody: “All the gossip that must be had. Oh, my God.”
Taylor: “And we’re missing it.”

Then Taylor on the thing she has been managing all season.

Taylor: “I pretty much say everything I be thinking. That’s why I be having to be quiet. Because I don’t be wanting to get canceled.”
Taylor: “F—ing Devens be like, Taylor, you want to be a principal? I’d be like, oh yeah. Let me go back to my pod. Shut the f— up.”
Melody: “Yeah, I feel like I’ve been maybe a little bit too much of myself in here.”
Taylor: “At least you can watch it back and be like, that’s me. I don’t want to watch this and not recognize myself, so I am happy about that. So I’m fine. It is what it is. Because this is real. This is me.”

Her plan for the wrap party is already fully formed: “They need to play that s— at the bar. I’m going to get on the bar and do the knees… I’m gonna embarrass myself on purpose. Did y’all see f—ing Taylor? That’s what I want everybody to think.”

They go back to premiere night, and a grievance that has clearly been sitting there since day one.

Taylor: “They had all their asses in sneakers on the first day, and we was all mad as f— about it. I wanted to wear heels so bad. It ruined my outfit.”
Taylor: “You can look at all our outfits and say, they made them wear them sneakers. Especially Lala. And Mallory — she was wearing, like, a dress. And sneakers. All the girls wanted to wear heels and they made all of us wear sneakers.”
Melody: “And, of course, the only sneakers I have are these, the f—ing running shoes. I’m like, bro. At least Lyric had, like, Forces.”

Taylor knew which bed she wanted before she ever walked in.

Taylor: “I knew exactly what bed I wanted before I got here, from watching the show. I said I wanted to be in the furthest back bedroom and the furthest back bed. And I came straight back here and went to the backest bed on the bottom bunk.”
Melody: “I walked in and all the beds were taken and I was like, hmm. I got that one. I like my bed, though. I like my pod placement.”

Melody was in the last group in — her, Drew, Haley and Chuk. Taylor was in the first, which is how she got the bed she had picked out at home, and she has never given it up: Lyric had it week one, handed it over when Taylor came off have-nots, went on have-nots herself the following week, and by the time she was free again Rome was gone and she took his bed instead.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, the two women on the block agree on who wins the season.

Taylor: “I love that Drew’s senior quote was ‘half man, half amazing.’ I think that’s so funny.”
Melody: “That’s perfect. He really might win this s—. That’s crazy.”
Taylor: “I’m not mad at it.”

Then a trivia question neither superfan can answer. Taylor: “The two times Janelle got third — who didn’t take her to the finals?” They spend three minutes on it, get as far as Will and All-Stars, establish that Will won his own season and went out early in All-Stars, wonder whether it was “the one with Nicole Franzel” — Taylor: “That one, the cold one. I don’t know. I didn’t watch it” — and give up without landing it.

Melody needs to take her contacts out and put Icy Hot on her neck, which Taylor finds very funny given how little she was actually doing.

Taylor: “You was going crazy.”
Melody: “Bro, I wasn’t. I was definitely dancing a lot, but—”
Taylor: “Your neck just didn’t know what was going on. At all. We haven’t done this in three months.”
Melody: “Because I’m usually a frequent person.”

Taylor’s diagnosis is unsympathetic: “That just shows that you should stop doing it. Your body has healed and it can’t handle it anymore.” Melody’s mother, apparently, has said something similar and less politely — there was a show Melody had to leave recently because she couldn’t hold her head up, and the response at home was “dude, what the f—. Chill.” Taylor has a precedent ready: “That’s what Haley said. She said she woke up one morning and she couldn’t move her neck.” Melody: “That’s terrifying. And also just, like, die.” Taylor, helpfully: “Chilling out is probably…” Melody: “Chilling out is probably in the future.”

It ends on a bonnet neither of them has seen in days, and this.

Taylor: “I appreciate you.”
Taylor: “Who says yes to me saying I appreciate you?”
Taylor: “I’m tired.”