‘Big Brother’ Botched Major Twist Reveal on Thursday’s Episode

Big Brother held its first-ever triple eviction on Thursday night. For much of the episode, host Julie Chen attempted to keep the event a surprise to the houseguests. (Despite the fact that this week’s “neighbor,” former winner Will Kirby, hinted that they would all need to be thinking three steps ahead) However, before Chen could reveal the surprising news to the houseguests, a significant flub on the production’s part ended up shedding light on the twist.

During Thursday night’s episode, three houseguests were evicted within two hours. First, Kevin got the boot. They then held another Head of Household competition, which Memphis won. He put Nicole and David on the block. Since Christmas won and did not use the veto, they remained on the block leading into the second eviction of the night. Before they could cast their votes, Chen appeared on screen again. As the houseguests noticed, producers displayed a graphic with the word “triple” behind Chen in the studio, which clued them all in to the fact that it was a triple eviction. Even though the host was not able to share the news herself, the houseguests’ shocked reactions to the production error provided for a truly hilarious moment during the event.

The houseguests were still thrown off guard when Chen did confirm that they would be going through yet another round of play and that another houseguest would be sent home. After David was evicted, Tyler won the next Head of Household. He placed Nicole and Dani up for eviction. Tyler then won the Power of Veto, keeping his nominations intact. Dani was subsequently sent home, attempting to blow up Tyler and Christmas’ “final-two” deal along the way.

Following the episode, Chen spoke with Entertainment Weekly about how the triple eviction panned out. As the host explained, even though the houseguests found out that there was a triple eviction, the whole thing still played out in an exciting way. Chen said about the moment in question, “My first reaction in my head was “d’ oh!” But then as I quietly watched each houseguest’s reaction…the shock, surprise, and genuine confused disbelief… I thought well, this is kind of priceless. It all worked out, and things like this are why I love doing live television.”