“I Don’t Know If I’m Built to Play This Freaking Game… I’m ready to call a house meeting”

Where things stand Friday morning

Big Brother 28 spoilers: Haley won the BB Blockbuster, Chuk was evicted 9-1 with only Haley voting to keep him, and Yash won Head of Household. He spent most of the night trying to solve one problem from every direction: how to nominate the people the house expects without creating enemies he doesn’t need.

By the end of the night, Angela and Dee were clearly ahead of the rest for two nomination seats. Yash thinks Angela is more likely to nominate him, while Kamu argued Dee is the bigger long-term threat because of her influence and ability to move between groups. Haley is the problem in the third seat. Yash doesn’t trust her, much of the house wants her up, and she has already put people in his circle at risk — but she can win competitions, could work with Yash, Drew and Kamu, and might be more useful to them as a shield than as an enemy. His description of putting her next to Angela and Dee: “the most barbecue chicken lineup I’ve ever seen in my life.”

The other overnight development is Drew, Kamu and Yash. They are operating much more tightly than most of the house appears to know. Drew offered to vote however Yash wants, Kamu offered to gather information and do damage control, and Yash told them he trusts information inside that three-person group. He called it “the triangle.” Devens is still completely safe with Yash, but no longer unquestioned — they are now comparing notes on what he knew about the last two vote flips and why he was involved in the push to keep Haley.

Friday morning brought a different fight. Lala tried to apologize to Haley for carrying Angela’s anger through the week. According to Lala, Haley rejected it, called her a mean girl and a bully, and said everybody in the house had been coming to her saying the same thing. Lala then went room to room checking that claim. Mallory told her directly that she had never said that to Haley. Melody, according to Lala, gave a more complicated answer: she wouldn’t call it bullying herself, but could understand how somebody else might see it that way.

The apology tour also damaged Lala’s view of Angela. Lala says Angela had previously been upset by the way Haley spoke to her, but softened that account once she and Haley repaired their relationship. Taylor’s advice was to stop reacting and let her work the house instead. By the end of their pod-room conversation, Lala had moved from defending Angela to saying the Icons have to go — “including Angela.”

Then Dee walked into Yash’s HOH room. She named Drew and Haley as people who make her uneasy, told Yash that Haley has lied repeatedly, and finally asked him not to blindside her if she’s going on the block. Yash gave her almost nothing back and went straight to questions about Angela. Dee doesn’t know that she spent a large part of the night near the top of his board, or that Kamu had already told Yash that Dee floated keeping Haley and specifically said not to tell him.

And the power problem is still sitting underneath all of it. Yash and Taylor keep planning around the possibility that Dee has a power. Dee does have the BB Bribe, but the power that can blow up Yash’s nominations is actually sitting with Devens: the Diamond Power of Veto, still unused.

BB28 Time Capsule tally

The BB Time Capsule is a multi-week America’s Vote twist running Weeks 2 through 7. Each week America votes one houseguest into the capsule, that houseguest plays alone, and they come out with either a power or a punishment. One trip each – once you’ve been in, you’re out of the pool.

Three powers, two punishments, two weeks still to come.

10:19 AM — Dee and Yash (HOH)

Dee comes up to the HOH room. They start on the competition.

Yash: “Look, bro, I was stalking you guys.”
Dee: “It was in the bag for you, for sure.”
Yash: “I was due.”
Dee: “I was kind of scared between you and Barrett, though, because he did good on that one round.”
Yash: “I feel like now Barrett is due. He is absolutely freaking due.”
Dee: “He’s been knocking on the door.”

Dee: “All right, now the games begin. Do we need to talk for a long time?”
Yash: “I don’t think so.”
Dee: “Do you need anything from me?”
Yash: “No, I don’t think so. I mean, what are your thoughts in general? Like, if you were me, what would you do? Who do you think might put you up?”

Dee: “I feel like we have the same thoughts. I don’t want to kind of throw anybody under the bus, but I feel like Drew is all over with everybody. That is a little shaky, but I feel like everybody knows that. And probably Haley, because her and Lala argued this morning.”

Dee: “I talked to Lala though, she seems good. Lala went to apologize to her, and then Haley wasn’t having it. Which is kind of crazy, because if someone apologizes to you and you’re in a game, you should fake it or something. But no, they kept going, and at one point I’m like, oh, I’m going to walk away. But I think Lala’s good.”
Yash: “So you and Haley aren’t cool?”
Dee: “I like her as a person. I do. She’s grown on me. But there’s no secret that she’s lied, like, from the beginning. To everyone, multiple times. But up to you, dude. Whatever you do, I’ll support.”

Yash: “I’m trying to think about how I want to do it. I don’t really know what I want to do yet. So I’m like, let me talk to everyone and use this to just have people tell me things, ask questions. Is there anyone you’re nervous would put you up besides them two, Drew and Haley?”
Dee: “Anybody, really, because you haven’t been up. And last week was a whole f—ing thing. That is f—ing scary.”

Dee: “Did you talk to Kamu last night?”
Yash: “Yeah, he came up. I’m not telling anyone me and him spoke. Everyone doesn’t need to know that.”
Dee: “And was Drew up here too?”
Yash: “Mm-hmm.”
Dee: “The whole time?”
Yash: “For a little bit of it. But I told Kamu, we were like, yo, come back whenever, tomorrow. I think he was like, I’m just going to play it chill. I was like, yeah, bro.”
Dee: “Yeah, of course. He probably doesn’t even need to come up again.”
Yash: “Exactly.”

Dee: “All right, cool. Just making sure we’re good. Because if you’re going to put me up, I would prefer not to get blindsided.”
Yash: “Yeah, no, no. Yeah, I know.”

Yash: “Have you spoke to Angela since the whole thing?”
Dee: “Since what?”
Yash: “Like the gym?”
Dee: “Not deeply about who said what. Nah. Because honestly, it’ll hurt whichever way it goes. Of who lied and who said what.”
Yash: “Because I’m just confused about her positioning with Haley and Lala.”

The clip ends here, with Yash mid-sentence.

9:33 AM — Lala and Kamu (Bathroom)

Lala is recounting her apology to Haley this morning.

Lala: “In my apology, she says, well, you know, you’ve been a bully all week. I was like, what? I said, I didn’t even talk to you this week, so I was a bully? The whole thing happened with Angela. I was upset that you hadn’t apologized.”

Lala: “So she says, well, everybody says that you’re a bully. Everybody’s been coming to me. Everybody has said that. And I said, that’s not the narrative that I want to create, because my daughter was bullied in school, and I never want to bully anybody. If you consider that bullying, then I guess that’s what it was. But I’m not a bully. So I want to make sure that I’m talking to you and to everyone else to let you know that’s not where my heart was. If that’s what the narrative is, that is incorrect.”

Kamu: “I hope you guys are able to talk it out again and squash it. Tensions have been so high with everybody that people aren’t willing to hear each other out. It’s going to be a really uncomfortable place to live in if people can’t hear each other out and apologize and forgive and move on.”

Lala: “And that’s why I came to apologize. I just wanted it to be known that I made the attempt. Angela was here when I made the attempt. That’s all I can do. I’ve made the attempt, and the rest is on her then. I prayed about it last night.”

Kamu gets called away mid-conversation.

Kamu: “Sorry, Lala, I can’t stay.”
Lala: “I know, baby.”
Kamu: “Hopefully, like, in time, things will smooth out.”
Lala: “It’s okay. I know I made the attempt, and that’s all I can do. You’re at the DR downstairs?”
Kamu: “Yeah, they called me probably like five-ish minutes ago. Keep your head up. These things will work out in time. We all live together. She and Angela blew up at each other — now they’re doing all right. In time, you guys will be doing all right.”
Lala: “Thank you, honey. I appreciate it.”

Kamu leaves. Alone, Lala keeps talking.

Lala: “I don’t know if I’m built to play this freaking game. I don’t know if I’m built to play it. This is crazy. So funny how narrative can completely change, and then try to just turn it around on me. I don’t even understand that. That’s crazy. Am I being painted as a mean person? That’s not good. Because I’m protective of people that I care about.”

A few minutes pass. Big Brother: “Please go to the diary room upstairs.”

Lala: “It’s not good at all. Calling me a bully, but I’m not a bully. Playing the game with somebody on the block is one thing, but being a bully?”

9:52 AM — Lala and Yash

Lala brings the same story to the new HOH.

Lala: “I just wanted to share something with you real quick. This morning I went to apologize to Haley about upstairs in the HOH room. Angela was hurt, and my thought process was, I just want to make sure that she doesn’t say something to make her upset again. So I apologized. I said, listen, I apologize, because sometimes you take on other people’s hurt — people that I love. And she was like, well, I don’t accept your apology. I was like, okay. She said, all week you’ve been acting like a mean girl. And everybody’s come to me and told me that you are such a big bully. And they apologized to me for you being a bully. And I was like, because I didn’t talk to you? Because I didn’t say anything to you? That’s not me being a bully.”

Lala: “So she was like, well, everybody in the house has come to me and said that. So I wanted to say to you, if that’s the way you feel, I want to say I’m sorry, because that’s not the portrayal that I wanted to have. Because my daughter was bullied in high school, and I never forgot. So I just want to say to everybody that I apologize, because that’s not the narrative that I want to create.”

Yash: “You’re good, Lala.”
Lala: “I love you.”
Yash: “I love you. You’re loved too.”
Lala: “Thank you.”

9:55 AM — Lala, Mallory and Taylor (Pod Room)

Lala brings the apology to Mallory, with Taylor in the room.

Lala: “I want to apologize to you. I apologized to Haley this morning, because I took on Angela’s hurt. When she hurt Angela’s feelings and Angela cursed her out, I sat there, and I was fanning myself, and I was watching just to make sure that she wasn’t going to say anything to hurt her again. What I think I’ve done is I’ve taken on other people’s pain — people that I love, that I care for. I take on their upset and their hurt, and I shouldn’t do that. I should release, because they’re fine now, and I still had that kind of feeling in my heart. So I went to Haley and I apologized. And she told me that she didn’t accept my apology, because I had been a bully all week long, and that everybody in the house came to her and said that I was being a bully.”

Lala: “So I’m coming to everybody, because she said everybody in the house said that I was being a bully. I just want to make sure that I apologize to you as well. Because my daughter was bullied in middle school and high school, and I would never be a bully. I don’t want to be a bully, and that’s not the narrative that I’m trying to create. So I just wanted to make sure that I come to everybody in the house and apologize if that’s the way that it looked, because that’s not what it was about at all.”

Mallory: “All right, yeah. You don’t owe me any apology. I get really upset for people I care about, too, when their feelings are hurt. So I understand that.”
Lala: “That’s where that was coming from. It wasn’t anywhere else. She and Angela are fine now, and I was still holding that on my heart.”
Mallory: “Don’t worry. And maybe she just needs a little time or something, because she did just lose her friend. She probably is just upset and angry right now, even though it’s just a game. That all happened yesterday. Maybe she just needs a little more time.”

Mallory: “I never said anything to her like that.”
Lala: “I didn’t think so, but I just wanted to make sure the narrative is not skewed. And Taylor, I apologize to you as well. I was told that I was not being nice to you as well.”

They exchange I-love-yous.

Lala: “But I don’t like that narrative being put next to me. That’s not cool.”

“People will just say stuff like that. If someone sent home my close friend, I’d probably call them a bully and a bunch of things too.”

— Mallory

Mallory: “People will just say stuff like that. If someone sent home my close friend, I’d probably call them a bully and a bunch of things too.”
Lala: “I’ll be fine. Thanks, Mal.”
Mallory: “I’m sure everything blows over here. You saw how Angela and Haley hated each other. They probably just need more than a day.”

10:00 AM — Lala and Taylor (Pod Room)

With Mallory gone, Lala gives Taylor the full account of the bathroom confrontation.

Lala: “This morning in the bathroom — I honestly wanted to apologize. I wanted to squash it, because I prayed about it. I said, okay, everybody else can squash it, let me just squash it. And the best way to do that, go and apologize. And Angela was there. And then she was just like, I don’t want to hear what you have to say. You’ve been walking around. Why are you telling people not to talk to me? I said, I didn’t tell anybody not to talk to you. I said, you were campaigning. You were on the block. What do you want me to do? Give me a freaking break.”

Lala: “She was like, but I talked to every person in this house, and every person in this house said that you were a bully. They’re coming to me apologizing. And she kept saying bully, bully, bully. So I was like, no, you’re just trying to change the narrative around. You were on the block. I wanted you gone. That’s not bullying. That’s when she turned into that other person. I was floored. I was like, wow. Okay.”

Lala: “I’m ready to call a house meeting. So I want y’all to know, I didn’t say that. If y’all feel like I’m a bully, I apologize, because I wasn’t trying to be a bully. But in no way was I showing bully tendencies. She was on the block. Was I campaigning? Of course I was campaigning, because that’s what you do.”

Taylor: “She love that word, everybody. She love that word, everybody.”

Lala runs through what the rest of the house said.

Lala: “Melody said, well, I wouldn’t say it was a bully, but other people might have seen it as a bully. And I was like, really, Melody? Really? Wow.”
Lala: “I talked to Melody, I talked to Kamu, I talked to Barrett.”
Taylor: “What did Barrett say?”
Lala: “Barrett was like, Lala, you were wonderful. You put me on the block, but you checked on me every day. You made sure I was okay. You reassured me. He said, you were great. I was like, thank you, Barrett.”

She also says Angela is now walking back what she’d said about Haley.

Lala: “I said, so why did you say that you didn’t feel comfortable with the way that she was talking? She said, well, no, no, no — that was Haley talking. Haley was good. Haley didn’t raise her voice. I was like, you told me something completely different.”
Taylor: “But she had an attitude. Just because somebody don’t raise their voice doesn’t mean they don’t have a big chest about it.”
Lala: “Exactly. It’s called energy. And that’s the same energy she just gave me in the bathroom. And then she’s like, well, I’m friends with both of you. I was like, you can be friends with people, but be neutral then. Because now what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to flip things. You told me one thing, now you’re telling me another thing. That’s not cool. I’m not even pissed off. My feelings are hurt. Because I opened up.”

Lala: “They isolated themselves last week. Even when I came back, when I go out to say hello or good morning, I touch their shoulders, say good morning. I never not spoke.”

Taylor: “You can’t be too emotional in this game.”
Lala: “I don’t like this game.”
Taylor: “I know, but you can’t be too emotional. You almost can’t show no emotion. But to her, because I don’t show emotion, I scare her. That’s what works for me. You can’t show emotion, because people use it against you. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

Lala tells Taylor how she found out about last week’s flip talk.

Lala: “The reason I knew what was going on in the other room — Dee came to the storage room, Angela was going to the storage room, Dee went in the storage room, and I went in behind them. And Dee was like, well, Angela, I just want to let you know what’s going on. The vote — they’re talking about possibly flipping the vote. I said, what did you just say? And she said, well, that’s what they’re talking about, possibly flipping the vote. And that’s when I came.”
Taylor: “That’s why I kept looking at you like, I got it. That’s why I was going in the rooms and talking to people. Because I knew when you came around, they didn’t want to talk to you. They wasn’t going to talk around you. But they was going to talk around me.”

Lala: “All I could think about was the way things happened the week before, and I was just like, this can’t happen this week.”
Taylor: “It wasn’t going to happen. They were just talking. That’s what people do. They just talk.”

“I can’t stand phony, fake people. I really cannot. And in this thing, you’ve got to be phony and fake.”

— Lala

Lala: “I’m just going to sit back and shut the f— up, because I can’t do this. I’m so emotional. These people getting on my f—ing nerves. I can’t stand phony, fake people. I really cannot. And in this thing, you’ve got to be phony and fake.”
Taylor: “I need you to trust me for a while and just let me work and just listen, okay? Just let me work and just trust me, and I’ll pull you through.”
Lala: “That’s why I went to apologize, because I didn’t want anything coming back on you.”
Taylor: “It’s fine. I’m a big girl.”
Lala: “I’m gonna just shut up. I’m not gonna say anything. Just sit back and shut up.”

10:22 AM — Lala and Taylor (Pod Room)

Lala and Taylor go over the morning’s rounds. The clip starts mid-conversation.

Taylor: “I feel like you guys have a good relationship. I think you got everybody. You apologized to Dee, too?”
Lala: “Mm-hmm.”
Taylor: “What did Dee say?”
Lala: “You don’t have to apologize. She said, bully? You ain’t no bully.”
Taylor: “She know exactly what happened.”

Lala: “She be working hard, though. That Dee be working. And she funny. That’s a Survivor.”
Taylor: “She said they can’t sleep.”
Lala: “No.”
Taylor: “She said you got to be in every conversation.”
Lala: “In everything. And that’s exactly what she does.”

Taylor: “What about Devens? What did Devens say?”
Lala: “Devens was in there when I first started the apology, with Angela in there. Haley was like, respectfully, I’m gonna respectfully just decline and leave. So I was like, okay. So I turned to Devens, I said, I apologize that you had to wake up to all this. He said, I woke up to whatever the first song was. I said, I apologize, Devens. He was like, nah. He said, it’s the game.”

She recounts the bathroom conversation with Kamu.

Lala: “And then Kamu was like, well, you know, maybe after a little while passes, you guys can squash it. I said, it’s not about me squashing it. I already came to her with an apology. She doesn’t want to do it. So he was like, well, her and Angela are cool now after their big blow-up. Sometimes it’ll just take time. I was like, I’m good. It’s on her now. I put it out there. I just don’t like that narrative.”

Taylor: “That’s not even how I play. I would never.”

Lala spent the morning on an apology tour and came back with a new problem. The apology to Haley — with Angela and Devens present — was declined on the spot, and Haley answered it with “mean girl,” “bully,” and the claim that everybody in the house has come to her saying so. Lala then went person to person repeating the same message at every stop: I made the attempt, it’s on her now, I’m not a bully, my daughter was bullied. By 10:22, Taylor’s read is “I think you got everybody.”

The “everybody has come to me” line has feed history on both ends. On Tuesday, Haley told Chuk she would “throw out the bullying word” and said every man had come to apologize for how she was being treated. And overnight, Melody told Yash that Devens spent the week arguing Lala had bullied Haley and wanted her kept. So the word was planned before it was thrown, and the campaign behind it was real.

Dee’s morning is the one to watch twice. To Lala’s face, per Lala’s account, it was “bully? You ain’t no bully” — while Dee’s stated reason for the keep-Haley push, per Kamu’s overnight account, was not liking how Haley was treated by Lala. And in the pod room, Lala and Taylor land on the same read of Dee that the HOH room settled on overnight: never sleeps, in every conversation, “that’s exactly what she does.” Every camp in the house is now describing Dee in identical terms, and none of them are comparing notes.

Yash, for his part, mostly listened — “You’re good, Lala” is nearly his whole contribution — which is the collect-information day he told Kamu and Drew he’d run.