‘Big Brother’ 21: Christie Accuses Jack of ‘Strong-Arming’ Her as Backdoor Plot Hangs in Jeopardy

Christie Murphy isn’t willing to be pushed around by Jack Matthews, even if it means throwing her alliance’s backdoor plan to the win. Cracks in the majority Big Brother Season 21 alliance began to form after week one’s veto competition, when the Head of Household began to doubt if the group’s backdoor plan was all the result of one player’s manipulation — and this is all before the first elimination!

Tuesday’s episode of the CBS reality show picked up after first Head of Household Christie nominated Kathryn Dunn and Cliff Hogg III to go home with the veto competition, backed by her alliance of eight, dubbed “Gr8ful.” Forced to catch falling bits of salad, “meatballs” and strawberries from the sky, Sam Smith walked away with the Power of Veto, taking some of the power away from Gr8ful, but using it to take Cliff, intended to be a pawn in the first place, off the block.

To replace Cliff, Christie decided to put Ovi Kabir on the block, despite Gr8ful alliance member Jack targeting Kemi Fakunle hard. Jack taking charge so aggressively without even being in a place of power, Christie thought, was a major “red flag,” and a sign that he was trying to play her.

“I’m pretty strong and I’m pretty smart and I could do without the mansplaining,” she told the camera, later adding that Gr8ful’s plan was “not sitting right” with her, as she liked Kemi and didn’t have any reason to send her home.

“He’s strong-arming me, and I didn’t come here to play some man’s game,” she cried to Smith.

Ovi, meanwhile, had previously grown wise to rumblings there was a group of eight houseguests working together, but unknowingly tried to combat the growing majority by forming an “alliance” of five with half the members of Gr8ful.

“He’s sort of a mystery in this game,” Christie said of her reasoning. “I feel like he’s aligned with everyone in this game and no one.”

With the elimination ceremony airing during Wednesday’s episode, it’s unclear if Ovi can work some magic and win over enough houseguests to stay in the game or if his fate has already been sealed.

Things are still looking worrisome for Kemi, whom many in Gr8ful claimed could drive a wedge in their alliance due to her close friendship with other alliance member Isabella Wang. Many Big Brother fans, however, have noticed a pattern of racial bias when it comes to some of the alliance member’s attitudes toward Kemi, including Jack saying he wanted to “stomp a mud hole through her chest.”

As a result, fans launched a Change.org petition Monday asking CBS to remove Jack from the competition in order “to show that it’s not OK to be racist in 2019, especially on TV.”

CBS has not issued a public response to the petition at this time.

Big Brother next airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Photo credit: Sonja Flemming/CBS