“I didn’t even realize I had to nominate people” – Devens

The Big Brother 28 feeds came on for forty-five minutes after the live show, then went dark for the rest of the night. Nobody in the house was up before one in the afternoon. Devens is the new Head of Household, he is nominating today, and he knows less about this week than the people watching it.

1:25 PM — Devens and Taylor (Kitchen)

The house got up in the afternoon. Devens comes into the kitchen and greets it accordingly.

Devens: “Hey, good morning. 1:33.”
Taylor: “Yard’s open.”
Devens: “Things just keep looking up.”

He is also the new Head of Household, and he found that out roughly an hour ago.

Devens: “I was really hoping I was off the hook for that. It’s gonna be some weird thing.”
Devens: “And I don’t play the HOH next week. So that’s pretty… I mean, I guess it’s good news, bad news.”

Taylor has the one piece of information anybody has been given, and it came from production.

Taylor: “They said the only two people who are safe are the HOH and the veto holder.”

The two of them then try to work out what that leaves, and get stuck on the same problem from opposite ends.

Taylor: “So that means — is it going to be the thing where, say, can the veto holder use it on somebody? That means two people would be safe. You know what I’m saying?”
Devens: “Right. Yeah. Then there would not even be a choice for a renom.”
Taylor: “There’d only be one choice.”

Devens works it through with himself out of the equation, because he has to be.

Devens: “It can’t be me, so I put two people up. Yes, they could save one person and themselves, and then the other two would be up.”
Taylor: “Yeah.”

Dee comes in. Devens points at the screen.

Devens: “Did you see the TV?”
Devens: “And I don’t know anything about what’s going on in terms of it being like a weird week. That’s my guess. I haven’t gotten any insight.”
Devens: “It sounds like that’s not what it is, because I don’t think you nominated people with that.”

The house’s only other contribution to the conversation arrives over the speakers.

Dee goes. Taylor asks the Head of Household the standard question and gets the least standard answer of the season.

Taylor: “Any thoughts going into this week?”
Devens: “No, I didn’t even realize I had to nominate people. I thought I was off the hook. Now there’s like four people.”
Devens: “I really need to talk to them and figure out what this thing is.”

He has already tried that once.

Taylor asks whether anybody managed to sleep.

Devens: “But yesterday got so crazy.”
Taylor: “Yeah, I went right to sleep. But did you guys rest?”
Devens: “Yeah.”

1:38 PM — Devens and Dee (Backyard)

Thirteen minutes later the two of them are outside working out what he can safely nominate. They are already counting further ahead than that.

Devens: “At least one of us. Final three.”
Dee: “Yeah. I thought about that, too.”

The problem with going after Melody is Drew. If Devens nominates Melody and leaves Drew off the block, Drew can win the veto, pull her down, and force Devens to name a replacement — and there is only one person left for that job.

Devens: “Right, exactly.”
Dee: “That’s what I was going to tell you. Remember when we were in the living room? I was thinking in my head if I won.”
Devens: “Oh, when you asked if there was game talk.”

Her read on Drew is that he takes the shot precisely because he has not taken one yet.

Dee: “He would absolutely take her off to make a move, because he hasn’t. You know what I mean?”
Devens: “Right. And he’d rather sit next to her.”
Dee: “Yeah, 100 percent.”

Which settles it: whoever else goes up, Drew goes up with them. Then Devens looks around the yard he has not seen in daylight for a week.

Devens: “It’s weird coming out here and the balcony’s already sunned over. And hot.”
Devens: “Like, I wanted to go sit on that hammock, and I’m like, I bet it’s hot.”

3:58 PM — Dee and Devens

Dee finds him to tell him she has not moved, and that she is not going to.

Dee: “No, we don’t even have to talk. I was just going to tell you that I didn’t budge, to make it easier on you.”
Dee: “Because it’s like, bro, if you’re not budging, I’m not going to budge either. I didn’t want to make it harder on you.”
Devens: “And he’s not budging either. Obviously.”
Dee: “I know, I know. But say whatever you need to say.”

She goes further than that, and offers herself up as the excuse.

Devens has a plan for Taylor, and it is a straight trade.

Devens: “I’m going to get Taylor to say, like, listen, I’m not going to nominate you, but you have to keep noms the same. Do we have a deal on that?”
Dee: “Of course you do.”

And then the part he has not said to Drew’s face yet.

Devens: “I really do want to keep Drew.”
Dee: “Yeah, of course.”
Devens: “If you win veto, pull him off. And if I win veto, I’ll pull him off.”
Dee: “Yeah, yeah, of course.”

4:07 PM — Drew and Devens (HOH)

Nine minutes after Dee tells him she will not move, Drew comes upstairs to say the same thing from the other side. He wants neither himself nor Dee on the block, and he has eleven minutes of reasons.

Drew: “It’s like, how could Dee be upset if we’re both not on the block? And if noms stayed the same. And you’re the man who always wins HOH and then veto.”
Drew: “You’ll probably just keep them the same. And then me and Dee will be like, oh, all that bickering was for nothing.”
Devens: “No matter how it turns out, you guys are going to be like, all that bickering was for nothing.”

Devens does Dee’s side of it for her, praise first and grievance second.

Devens: “Dude, you were huge last night. You’ve come through time and time again.”
Devens: “But the week before that, she’s going to be like, he voted to evict me. And now all the power’s in his hands. The person he wouldn’t put up as a renom, and he put you up instead — he can save her and he can send me home, and she’s going to be freaked out about it.”

Drew’s answer is that the whole season has been this.

Drew: “And then I’ll prove to her again that I wouldn’t do that. This whole game has been me trying to prove to the Icons that I’m trustworthy, and then you guys always go — well.”
Devens: “I mean, you did vote her out.”
Drew: “I did vote her out. But I never voted you out.”

They then spend a minute arguing about who saved whom last night, and get nowhere, because both of them think the answer is themselves.

Drew: “Can she do me a favor and allow me to prove myself again? Like, I just did.”

What Drew is actually afraid of is Taylor, and what she needs from this week.

Devens: “But she has just won one comp all season.”
Drew: “I know. And Melody has won nothing, and just won two back-to-back.”

Then the jury arithmetic, which is the real argument underneath all of it. Drew counts his losses first.

Drew: “I’m not getting Lala’s. I’m not getting Taylor’s. I’m not getting Yash’s. And if I don’t use the veto, I’m not getting Melody’s.”
Drew: “Everybody has constantly said, if Devens doesn’t go, he wins the whole game.”
Devens: “Yeah, but they don’t really believe it. That’s just because they want to get me out. I’ve never heard anyone say that.”

Drew: “Every single time. Dude, during the double, it’s like, we have to get Devens out right now. He’s going to win the whole thing if we don’t.”

Drew: “I don’t have Lala’s vote either. And I got her out.”
Drew: “And Angela would vote you over me. Because Angela was telling Dee, I’m not going to give money to a 22-year-old.”
Drew: “Yash isn’t going to vote for me. Yash is going to be like, Drew just got me out.”
Devens: “Dude, you guys are going to drive me freaking crazy.”

Devens points out that he is the one who has to disappoint somebody today, and that neither of them is volunteering.

Devens: “I’m just waiting for one of you to be like, okay, fine. But neither of you is going to do that. It’s just going to be on me.”

Which is when Drew produces his collateral.

Devens: “Don’t do that.”
Drew: “I will. That’s what I’m doing.”
Devens: “Don’t do that. Your stuff’s not welcome in here. This is my room.”
Drew: “Dude, that’s what I’m gonna do. Straight up.”
Devens: “I’ll start wearing it.”

He keeps trying to hand it over for the rest of the conversation, and Devens keeps refusing it.

Devens: “That’s what’s so maddening. I trust both of you. I think both of you are gonna do what you say you’re gonna do.”
Drew: “I’m not even saying put Dee up. I’m saying don’t put either of us up. That is a compromise.”

Devens names the person the whole week has been shaped around.

Devens: “Dude, if Melody was gone so much longer ago, this would not even be an issue. She’s the wild card in all this.”

Drew’s counter is the final four, and then the version of it where Devens is the only man left.

Drew: “You know I’m taking you to the end, especially if she’s not here. Then you would have me and Dee probably taking you to the end. And then you would have me and Dee playing in that HOH.”
Drew: “If for some reason s— hits the fan and it’s Taylor, Melody and Dee playing in that HOH that you can’t play in — you’re the only guy left. You’re the odd one out.”
Drew: “Then you’re hanging out with me and Barrett and Yash in the jury house.”
Devens: “Yeah, we will be awesome in the jury house.”

Then he lays out the version he wants, which is the simplest one available.

Drew: “This is supposed to be so easy. Just put up Melody and Taylor. If one of them wins it, I’ll be the renom. So I have a reason to keep it the same. And a reason to gun for the veto. Then you never have to put Dee up.”
Drew: “And if I’m sitting next to Melody, I’ll be like, ah, damn. This is how it ends, huh?”

Devens: “But what if you won that veto? Or threw that veto?”
Drew: “If I threw the veto, then you’d have to put me up as the renom. I don’t want to go up as the renom. I still don’t want to give an eviction speech.”

Drew goes back to last night and the renom he says he got wrong.

Drew: “If I knew that Barrett would have voted you out, I would have put Barrett up as the renom. But I thought we trusted him. We all did.”
Drew: “And if that’s what’s weighing on your mind — oh, he put me up already — I never wanted to. Dude, I cried.”
Devens: “It’s not that you put me up, because I said to put me up. It’s just the melody of it all.”

The final-two maths goes round twice, and both of them keep arriving at the same seat.

Drew: “Dude, everyone’s going to vote for you if you sit next to me.”
Devens: “Everyone’s going to vote for you if you sit next to Dee. But there’s no guarantee that it’s going to be you and me, dude. Someone else could win next week, and then someone else could win the week after that.”

Devens has one piece of leverage on Dee and does not want to spend it.

Devens: “Dee’s put her up a bunch, and I’ve never put her up. So any leverage I have, I give away if I put her up. That’s like the only thing I have over Dee on that one.”
Drew: “You’d get Lala, Taylor and Yash. Which is why we should be in the final two. You would have three over me already. And I bet you’d have Barrett over me.”
Devens: “Which is why you should make a big move this week.”

Drew’s patience goes at that.

Drew: “I’m like, am I an idiot? I keep f—ing following the Icons and then the Icons put me up.”
Drew: “I’m like, I got you, Dee. And then Dee puts me up on her HOH. Yo, I just saved Dee — you win that veto, and I’m like, dude, let’s go, you have to save Dee. I got you guys. And then you win. And then it’s like, all right, cool, dude. Now you have to go up.”

Devens tries to close it by naming the only scenario that hurts Drew.

Devens: “But you’re good under every circumstance.”
Drew: “Besides one.”
Devens: “The one of Taylor winning and using the veto on Melody.”
Drew: “And why would she not use it on Melody?”
Devens: “Because all she has is that she’s been straightforward in this game, she’s been direct. And I’ll be like, you have to promise — if I don’t nominate you, you won’t use the veto.”

Drew does not buy it, and says why.

Drew: “I just don’t want to go up on your HOH, because then it proves Yash right.”
Devens: “You’re not going to go. Neither of you are going to go.”
Drew: “What if Taylor wins, dude? She’s won a veto. I just got out Yash. She has every reason. And she just had a kumbaya with you all last week — with Yash, you and Dee — and you guys declared war on me.”
Drew: “She’s going to take Melody off the block.”
Devens: “But that would be breaking a word.”

They finish where they started, louder.

Drew: “I know you’re going to put me up. It’s so annoying, dude. We’re here at top five. You guys are killing me.”
Devens: “We got rid of Barrett. I voted Barrett out. One of you guys has got to do something.”
Drew: “You know how pissed I was all the time Barrett put you guys up?”

And Devens finishes Dee’s case against Drew for her, which is also his own.

Devens: “All Dee’s going to be like is, dude, he voted to evict me. He’s going to choose Melody over me. He’s going to make this big move because he needs to make a big move before the finals.”
Devens: “He keeps telling us that we’ll beat him, but this is a huge move. He could be the one who takes out an Icon and saves his closest alliance.”
Devens: “Dog, you see the position I’m in?”

Drew says he does, and then says the thing he came up to say, one more time.

Drew: “The second I win that veto, boom. This has nothing to do with loyalty either way. You know I’m taking you to the end over Dee.”
Drew: “Well, I’m giving you my mom’s letter, dude. I’m telling you, I’m not gonna use the veto.”

Devens sends him back downstairs with an errand.

Devens: “Dude, go talk with Dee. You guys go figure something out. Tell her you’ll give her the letter and everything.”
Drew: “Dee’s not gonna budge, dude.”
Devens: “I gotta talk with Tay and Melody, I guess, because I’m running out of time.”
Devens: “I just think we’re going in circles.”

Somebody comes in with a coffee. Devens admires the bottle, decides it looks like a Jamaican beer he cannot name, and Drew takes himself out of the room.

Drew: “All right. I’ll let you guys talk. I’ll let you guys do your thing.”