SPOILER WARNING: A Power Struggle is exploding inside the Big Brother 28 house. This story contains major BB28 spoilers from the live feeds, including Wednesday’s eviction scramble, shifting Big Brother alliances and the latest Big Brother strategy heading into Thursday’s BB Blockbuster and live eviction.
Okay, Big Brother fans, forget about everybody calmly waiting for Thursday. The house finally woke up. For most of the week, Mallory Aurichio appeared headed toward the door if she couldn’t save herself in the BB Blockbuster. Dee Valladares and Rick Devens wanted to break apart FAP, and the numbers seemed to be moving in that direction. Then Wednesday happened. Barrett found out just how serious the plan to evict Mallory had become, pushed back against the veterans and eventually started talking about something that would have sounded ridiculous a day ago.
Evict Drew Campbell instead. Yes. Seriously.
By Wednesday evening, Barrett, Taylor Brown and Yash Patel were discussing a possible Big Brother blindside against Drew, while Mallory and Melody Morris were furious about how closely Drew had continued aligning himself with the Icons. Suddenly, depending on who wins the BB Blockbuster, Drew may be in much more danger than anybody expected. Oh, this got good.
Power Struggle turns Mallory’s eviction upside down
Earlier Wednesday, the veterans finally started letting Drew and Barrett know that Mallory was in legitimate danger. The original idea had been to potentially keep the two men in the dark, but that became increasingly difficult as the vote conversations spread through the house. Haley Thogmartin even accidentally helped expose the plan while talking with Drew, and Barrett began realizing the veterans really were prepared to remove one of his closest allies.
That’s when the week started changing. Barrett had already been uncomfortable with the idea of evicting Mallory, but Wednesday he became much more direct about it. He argued that he felt burned after helping build trust between his side of the house and the veterans, only to watch Drew get nominated and Mallory become the replacement nominee. He wasn’t interested in simply voting however Dee wanted because everybody else had decided that was the plan. And eventually, Barrett started looking at Drew differently too.
Barrett finally woke up, but did he wake up too loudly?
So Barrett finally decided he’s had enough of the veterans. Good. We’ve been waiting for somebody to wake up.
But with all due respect to Barrett, what are you doing telling Dee so openly that you aren’t willing to simply vote out Mallory? The decision to question the Icons isn’t the part we have a problem with. Actually, that may be overdue. Barrett has watched Drew go on the block, watched Mallory become the replacement nominee and finally seems to understand that being useful to the veterans isn’t the same thing as being protected by them.
Great. But realizing that privately and advertising it to the current HOH are two completely different things. Barrett still hasn’t won a competition. Right now, his biggest concrete piece of power is his vote and whatever numbers he can quietly assemble around it. So why announce that you’re willing to defy Dee before you have the HOH key around your neck? That’s where we think this becomes a foolish move.
For much of this game, Barrett has occupied a pretty comfortable spot. He wasn’t controlling the house, but he also wasn’t the player everybody woke up wanting to evict. He could move between relationships, keep bigger targets in front of him and let other people take the heat. Now? Don’t be surprised if Barrett suddenly becomes a very attractive target next week.
Unless, of course, Barrett wins HOH Thursday just to make us look completely ridiculous. Watch it happen. That’s Big Brother. We’ll spend an entire article saying the man needs power, and he’ll probably walk outside and win the HOH before we’re finished laughing.
But until then? Wow. Oh, Barrett.
You went from being a relatively safe floater with relationships on both sides to openly showing the current power structure that you might be willing to move against it. Maybe this is the beginning of Barrett finally playing his own game. Maybe it turns out to be exactly what he needed. But if he doesn’t win power soon, he may have painted a target on himself that wasn’t nearly as bright 24 hours ago.
Power Struggle may make Drew the sacrifice nobody expected
The wildest part is why Barrett appears increasingly willing to lose Drew. For weeks, the two have been closely connected. But even after the veterans nominated Drew, he continued looking for ways to repair his relationship with them. Then Mallory went up, and Drew still seemed more interested in maintaining his position with the Icons than completely turning against them.
That appears to have finally been enough for Barrett. He started telling Mallory and Melody about the extent of his and Drew’s relationship with the veteran players. He also made it clear that he’d consider evicting Drew if the Blockbuster leaves Drew vulnerable. Mallory and Melody weren’t exactly celebrating the possibility of losing somebody from FAP, but they were willing to listen.
And by Wednesday evening, this wasn’t just Barrett throwing out a crazy idea. Yash and Taylor were in on the conversation too. That’s a voting bloc, and suddenly the possibility of a vote flip looks much more serious than it did 24 hours earlier.
Yash has wanted Drew out for a while
This is why we were careful yesterday about describing Yash’s relationship with Mallory as fake. It isn’t that simple.
Yash has repeatedly shown that if he gets his choice, Drew is somebody he’d rather remove. Earlier in the week he told the veterans he preferred Drew leaving even while agreeing he could ultimately follow the group’s decision. Wednesday night, he became far more aggressive about the possibility of actually making it happen.
That matters because the BB Blockbuster creates three completely different eviction nights. If Drew wins, nobody can touch him. If he doesn’t? Uh-oh.
The vote flip depends on Thursday’s BB Blockbuster
This is where we need to throw yesterday’s simple vote count in the garbage. If Drew wins the BB Blockbuster, then Mallory and Taylor remain nominated. In that scenario, Mallory may still be in serious trouble. Devens, Angela Murray and other players have spent much of the week preparing to remove her, and Drew would obviously be available to vote. That’s still a very dangerous matchup for Mallory.
But if Taylor wins? Now we’re looking at Drew versus Mallory, and suddenly there is a real path for Drew to leave. By Wednesday night, Barrett, Taylor and Yash were actively discussing the move. Melody would have every reason to protect Mallory, and there are scenarios where the numbers come together against Drew.
If Mallory wins the Blockbuster, then Drew sits beside Taylor. And guess what? There may be enough votes to keep Taylor too. So Drew, who looked reasonably safe while everybody obsessed over whether Mallory or Taylor would leave, could suddenly be the person walking out the door.
That’s Big Brother.
Mallory finally knows this week isn’t comfortable
The Power Struggle has also changed Mallory’s understanding of where she stands. We need to retire another part of yesterday’s story. Mallory isn’t sitting around completely convinced she’s safe anymore. Wednesday she was packing, crying, talking through votes and directly asking people where they stood. At one point she approached Angela about what would happen if the final choice were Mallory versus Taylor, and the response wasn’t exactly something we’d want to hear if we were sitting on the block.
The Big Brother blindside may still exist depending on how Thursday unfolds, but this is no longer somebody who has absolutely no idea she’s in danger. She knows. What she doesn’t know is exactly where every vote will land once the Blockbuster determines the final two nominees.
And right now, we’re not sure anybody does.
Melody finally has something more useful than a battle plan
And then there’s Melody. Oh, Melody.
Yesterday we joked that before she starts planning the great war against the Icons, maybe she should win a competition first. We stand by that. But Wednesday did give her something potentially more useful than another imaginary HOH plan: numbers.
If Barrett truly breaks away, and if Yash, Taylor, LaLa, Mallory and Melody can find enough common ground, there is at least the beginning of a group that could challenge the veteran power structure. That’s far more meaningful than simply saying, “We’re coming for the Icons.”
Of course, somebody still has to win HOH. Sorry, Melody. We’re not letting that part go.
Taylor keeps looking smarter and smarter to us
And once again, look who’s sitting close to the middle of the possible counterattack. Taylor.
We’ve been saying this for days. Of the people outside the Icons, she continues to strike us as one of the players who actually sees pieces of the board before other people do. She still has problems. Her social game hasn’t always made her life easy, and game awareness means very little if you never get the power to act on it.
But now this Power Struggle has put her in conversations about a vote flip against Drew and weakening the veterans’ numbers. Wednesday afternoon she was also actively working Angela, making her case and identifying Dee and Devens as bigger threats inside the Icons structure.
Again, we’re going to say it. Give Taylor an HOH. We want to see what happens.
Power Struggle changes the Big Brother alliances
That’s probably the biggest takeaway from Wednesday. Twenty-four hours ago, the story looked simple. Mallory needed to win the BB Blockbuster or she was probably going home.
Now? Mallory could still go. Taylor could still go. And somehow, Drew has gone from looking like the safest of the three nominees to potentially being blindsided if he loses the competition. Meanwhile, Barrett has gone from quietly floating between relationships to openly pushing back against the people who’ve controlled much of his game.
That’s a lot to change in one day, and there’s still Thursday.
If Barrett wins HOH after we just spent all this time questioning why he’d expose himself without winning a competition? We’ll take the loss. We’ll even start the next story with: Oh, Barrett. You got us.
But until somebody puts that HOH key around his neck, we stand by it. Turning against the Icons may make perfect sense. Showing them your cards before you have the power to do anything about it? That’s one heck of a gamble.
And right now, this Power Struggle and Thursday’s BB Blockbuster could decide whether Barrett’s rebellion looks brilliant, whether Mallory’s game gets new life or whether Drew becomes the blindside nobody saw coming at the start of the week. Buckle up.
Big Brother airs Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS, with episodes also available to stream on Paramount+.
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