‘Big Brother’ 2021: Episode 17 Recap

CBS Tonight on "Big Brother", which houseguests earned the most votes from the viewers at home?

On Thursday night’s episode of “Big Brother“, a new twist was revealed. Tonight, we’ll learn which houseguests received the most votes from viewers at home and how the lucky winners will spend their BB bucks in the High Rollers room. We may even get to see who wins this week’s special power.

A new Head of Household will also be crowned. Who will be nominated for eviction tonight?

Follow along with our live coverage of tonight’s episode below.

Do not keep reading if you do not want to read spoilers of tonight’s episode.

8:04 PM EST: Welcome to the BB lounge! This week’s Head of Household competition is called Name That Croon. Houseguests will face off against each other two at a time. They’ll hear a short tune about one of the competitions from this season. They’ll have to decide if it was an HOH, veto, or wildcard competition.

8:05 PM EST: Britini and Claire are up first. Kyland says he doesn’t want to win this week. He knows Sarah Beth is on The Cookout’s radar for their next target and he doesn’t want to be the one to put her on the block.

8:06 PM EST: Tiffany wants anyone from The Cookout to win…except for Kyland. She knows he’s too close to Sarah Beth to put her up.

8:06 PM EST: Claire is eliminated.

8:07 PM EST: Britini selects Kyland and Sarah Beth to play next. She chooses them because she knows they’re a tight duo. Sarah Beth is eliminated.

8:07 PM EST: Kyland selects Britini and Azah to play next, as they’re a tight duo as well. He took it as an attack that Britini picked him. Britini is eliminated.

8:08 PM EST: Azah selects Kyland and Alyssa to play next. Alyssa is eliminated.

8:08 PM EST: Kyland only has members of The Cookout to choose from now. He selects Azah and Big D. Azah is peeved that Kyland has now picked her twice. She doesn’t understand why Kyland is going after her.

8:09 PM EST: Derek F. is eliminated. Azah selects Tiffany and Hannah to play next. Hannah is eliminated.

8:10 PM EST: Tiffany selects Azah and Kyland to play next. Azah is eliminated. She’s upset with Kyland because he didn’t need this HOH win. She thinks he should’ve thrown it to her.

8:11 PM EST: Tiffany and Xavier face off. Xavier throws it to Tiffany and he is eliminated.

8:12 PM EST: Tiffany whispers to Kyland that she wants this win. He seems willing to throw it to her but Tiffany is struggling for the answer.

8:15 PM EST: Ooof, Tiffany buzzed in with the wrong answer. That means Kyland is the HOH for the second time.

8:15 PM EST: Azah is upset. Kyland told her he would throw this competition to her and he didn’t.

8:16 PM EST: Tiffany is upset that she couldn’t pull out the win this week. She’s frustrated with herself, especially knowing that Sarah Beth won’t be going up this week.

8:17 PM EST: Azah cries and confides in Xavier. She’s sad to think that Britini might be the target this week.

8:18 PM EST: Derek F. and Kyland chat. Derek F. is still paranoid about the guys being outnumbered in the house. He tells Kyland that people consider him and Sarah Beth the new Christian and Alyssa in the house. They’re too tight.

8:18 PM EST: Kyland’s three target options for this week are Claire, Alyssa, and Britini.

8:19 PM EST: Xavier and Tiffany chat. Tiffany admits she didn’t want Kyland to win HOH this week. She also admits that she feels closer to some people outside The Cookout than she feels to some people inside it. They agree it’s getting more and more difficult to face the idea of betraying people they’ve grown close to inside the house.

8:20 PM EST: Ooooh tense chat between Azah and Kyland. She asks him why he kept picking her in the HOH competition. He tells her it was only about keeping The Cookout hidden and that he was trying to eliminate Britini, not her.

8:22 PM EST: Kyland asks Azah if they can reset the tone of the conversation and drop the attitude. He is frustrated with the way Azah communicates. Azah does not feel like she’s being heard by some of her alliance members.

8:26 PM EST: Kyland meets with the houseguests one on one. In the Diary Room, Claire acknowledges that she and Kyland haven’t talked game in the past couple of weeks.

8:27 PM EST: Uh-oh, Claire. She mentions to Kyland that targeting Xavier or a member of the former Jokers could be a smart move. Little does she know she’s mentioning three of Kyland’s allies and has just put a target on her back.

8:28 PM EST: Claire’s meeting with Kyland is cut short when she has to play 52 card pickup as a result of her Duke of the Deck punishment.

8:29 PM EST: Derek F. floats the idea of using Sarah Beth as a pawn and Kyland says he doesn’t want to do that. Kyland asks Derek F. what he thinks of being the pawn this week. Big D doesn’t love the idea but he agrees to it.

8:31 PM EST: Britini really has Azah and Derek F. offering themselves up for nomination just because they don’t want to hear her cry all week if she’s on the block.

8:36 PM EST: It’s time for the nomination ceremony!

8:37 PM EST: Kyland has nominated Claire and Big D. Britini looks shocked.

8:38 PM EST: Azah is surprised by the nominations as well. Derek F. isn’t going to tell her he’s a pawn because he says she has a bad poker face. No one tells Azah anything. Some alliance!

8:39 PM EST: Tiffany tells Claire she’s her best friend in the house and she’ll vote for her to stay.

8:40 PM EST: The High Rollers Room is now open!

8:41 PM EST: There are three games in the High Rollers Room: Veto Derby, Chopping Block Roulette, and Coin of Destiny. Only Veto Derby will be available this week. If players do well on Veto Derby, they’ll be able to bet on the winner of this week’s Power of Veto competition. If their bet comes true, they’ll win a second Power of Veto.

8:42 PM EST: Houseguests will have other opportunities to earn BB bucks besides votes from viewers.

8:47 PM EST: Sarah Beth is in The High Roller’s Room. She got 50 BB bucks from America, the least amount you can get.

8:48 PM EST: Sarah Beth decides to play Veto Derby with her money. She also explains the rules of the game in a very scripted-sounding Diary Room session. The game is like shuffleboard, only with Mint Juleps instead of discs. Aww!

8:50 PM EST: Hannah is surprised to see that she has won 75 BB bucks. She’s going to save her money. Xavier also won 75 BB bucks and is going to save his money as well.

8:51 PM EST: Britini has won 100 BB bucks, meaning she’s in the top three in terms of votes from America. She’s extremely excited and decides to save her money.

8:51 PM EST: Alyssa and Azah both win 50 BB bucks and both save their money. Kyland wins 50 BB bucks as well but decides to play.

8:52 PM EST: Claire advises Tiffany not to play Veto Derby, but Tiffany decides to play anyways with her 75 BB bucks.

8:53 PM EST: Derek X. has won 100 BB bucks. He’s in the top three. He is going to save his money for next week and try not to let people know he’s rolling in BB bucks.

8:53 PM EST: Derek F. has also won 100 BB bucks. The top three players in America’s hearts are apparently Britini, Derek X., and Big D. Or at the very least, America thinks they need the most help. Big D. decides to play Veto Derby.

8:54 PM EST: Claire has won 50 BB bucks and decides to play.

8:58 PM EST: Time for the results of Veto Derby. Kyland had the best score, followed by Derek F., Claire, and Sarah Beth. Those four will be able to place bets on who wins the Power of Veto this week. That means one of them could win a second Power of Veto.

9:00 PM EST: Tiffany really wants Claire off the block and it sounds like she’s willing to take her off herself. What will that mean for The Cookout?

Tune in for a new episode of “Big Brother” on Wednesday, August 18 at 8 PM EST.

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