Day 11 - A Veto competition with big stakes for everyone

It's Day 11 (Saturday) in the Big Brother house. After the explosive fireworks at yesterday's nomination ceremony, the houseguests are focused on the outcome of today's Veto competition. Although there are the usual pleasantries as people go about their morning routines, the tension in the house is palpable. Alina has calmed down from yesterday's anger, but she's still avoiding talking to other houseguests aside from Eugene and Julian, despite their urging her to make amends.

JULIAN - "I know you don't like Daisy Mae, but this is a game. You don't have to be her best friend, just go to her and talk it out."
ALINA - "I have nothing to say to Miss Tits McGee. I'm done with her."
EUGENE - "Do you want to get evicted?"
ALINA - "I want to keep my dignity."
JULIAN - "Look, you know we've got your back and if I get picked to play Veto, I'm 100% using it on you, but if we're gonna survive long-term in this game together, you can't isolate yourself like this."

As if on cue, it's at this moment that Daisy Mae emerges from the Diary Room to announce to the house it's time to pick players for the Veto competition. All of the houseguests gather in the living room while Daisy Mae, Alina and Eugene stand at the front of the room with the Veto draw blind bag.

DAISY MAE - "Only six players will participate in the Veto competition: the Head of Household, the two nominees, and three other players selected by random draw. One at a time, we will each put our hands into this bag and pull out the chip of one houseguest who will compete. As HOH, I will pick first."

Daisy Mae reaches into the blind bag to grab a player chip and, in the aired episode, they overlay a confessional of her sharing her hopes for the draw.

DAISY MAE (Diary Room) - "Even though there's a backdoor plan to evict Julian this week, I'd rather keep the nominations the same and send Alina home, so I'm hoping that either John or someone we can persuade not to use the Veto gets picked."

Daisy Mae pulls out a chip and announces she drew Chirag's name. Chirag cheers and goes up to join the others at the front of the room while the other houseguests clap. Alina is second to draw and reaches into the blind bag.

ALINA (Diary Room) - "The only person I trust to play for me in this Veto is Julian, so I either need to pick him or someone I can beat."

Alina pulls out her chip and turns it around to reveal Ethan's name. Ethan joins the other competitors at the front of the room as Eugene draws the final chip from the bag.

EUGENE - "Houseguest choice!"

The other houseguests give a collective 'Ooh' and wait to see who Eugene will pick to play as he looks out over the group.

EUGENE (Diary Room) - "So I get the Houseguest Choice chip and I have about three seconds to make a very important decision. Do I pick someone that I think might use the Veto on me? Do I pick someone I think I can beat? This could potentially be a $750,000 decision."

EUGENE - "I choose...Ellie."

Ellie goes up to join the other players at the front of the room. The six players for the Veto competition are now finalized.

EUGENE (Diary Room) - "I decided to pick Ellie because we have a good relationship and I think I could convince her to use the Veto on me if she won it. I could tell Julian and Alina were disappointed I didn't go with him, but I've got to look out for myself at this point."

DAISY MAE - "I also have the responsibility of naming a host for this Veto competition. I choose Danielle."

Danielle gives an excited "Yay" and does a little dance in her seat.

DAISY MAE - "Big Brother will inform us when the competition is to begin. Good luck, everyone!"

After the Veto draw, the houseguests scatter to their own corners of the house. With the players selected, the pressure is off for many of the houseguests and they can return their focus to their daily lives. For one houseguest, however, there's a burning question that demands an answer.

JULIAN - "Why didn't you pick me, dude?"

Julian has cornered Eugene in the side bedroom where Eugene's been sleeping.

JULIAN - "I thought we were on the same page."
EUGENE - "Look, man, I gotta look out for myself."
JULIAN - "But don't you want you and Alina to stay in the game?"
EUGENE - "Sure, but I have to guarantee my own safety first."
JULIAN - "And you think Ellie's going to use the Veto on you?"
EUGENE - "Well, she's more likely to than you. You told me to my face you'd use it on Alina!"
JULIAN - "Of course! But one of you has to come off the block for both of you to stay. Why not stack those odds?"
EUGENE - "You just want me gone so you can have Alina to yourself."
JULIAN - "That's not true. We're all on the same team. You just have to trust me."
EUGENE - "You nominated me in the first week! Why would I trust you?"

At this point, the two men have started to shout and gotten the attention of other members of the house. Liam and Danielle come into the room to break up the fight before it gets any worse.

EUGENE (Diary Room) - "Julian's trying to guilt trip me about not picking him for the Veto. He wants to be Alina's knight in shining armor by saving her from the block. News flash: this isn't a storybook, it's the Big Brother house. If you're getting upset with me for acting in my own best interest, then that just goes to show I can't trust you in this game."

Later in the morning, you are hanging out with Victoria and Danielle in the lounge when Ethan comes in and asks to speak to you privately. He takes you to the storage room and shuts the door, then starts vibrating with excitement as soon as you're alone together.

ETHAN - "I did it. I asked Raquel on a date!"
John - "Nice, and what'd she s-"
ETHAN - "She said yes!"

Well, how about that? You honestly didn't expect Raquel to agree to a date after how much Ethan had stared at her over the past several days, but as Julie Chen always says: expect the unexpected. You stick your hand out to Ethan and he pulls you into a bro handshake.

John - "Hey, congrats! So what's the plan?"
ETHAN - "We're having dinner tomorrow night. Do you think Daisy Mae would let us use her HOH room?"
John - "Well, you'll have to ask her, but I don't think that'll be a problem."

The two of you continue to talk through plans, figuring out what to do for the dinner and giving him some pointers for what to do on the date: asking her questions, listening, and trying to relax and be himself. You also take the opportunity to congratulate him on being picked for the Veto, and nudge him towards trying to win it.

John (Diary Room) - "I want Ethan to gun for this Veto because, out of everyone competing, I think he's the only one who would want to keep the nominations the same. He's not in on the plan to backdoor Julian, and he's good friends with Daisy Mae. If Ethan wins, Daisy Mae and I can keep the target on Alina this week without directly going against The Senate's wishes."

Before you know it, Danielle emerges from the Diary Room and announces it's time for the Veto competition. The six competing houseguests are pulled aside from the producers to get changed into costumes while the remaining houseguests file into the backyard to check out what's in store.

MARCUS (Diary Room) - "So I walk into the backyard and it's set up like a crazy rugby carnival game. There's a bunch of rugby balls and some ramps with rugby fields painted on them. I played rugby for three years in high school, so this is bringing back some good memories. And a lot of painful ones, too. Rugby is not for the faint of heart *chuckles*."

The non-competing houseguests file into a viewing area. Before long, the competitors come out dressed in rugby shirts of their assigned colors.

Danielle, the host of the competition, then comes out wearing an official's jersey and stands in her designated spot.

DANIELLE - "Houseguests, in this week's Head of Household competition, we played a version of modern day Rome's most popular sport: soccer. Today, we're having team tryouts for another sport that's all the rage in Italy: rugby! But before you're ready to scrum, you'll need to prove you've got the skill and discipline to make the team by completing my drill. Here's how the competition works. Each player will start at the base of their sloped rugby pitch with three rugby balls.

When the horn sounds, you will attempt to roll your first ball up the pitch so that it stops inside the in-goal area at the top. If your ball falls off the pitch or rolls back down, you must retrieve that ball and try again. Once you've landed your first ball in the in-goal area, grab your second ball and repeat the drill. Be careful not to knock your previous balls off the pitch, otherwise you will have to roll and land them again. The first houseguest to have all three of their rugby balls resting in their in-goal area at the same time will win the Golden Power of Veto. Who's ready to play 'Pitch Perfect'?"

The houseguests all cheer and clap as the competing houseguests get into position at the base of their color-coded pitch. It'll only be a matter of moments before the competition gets underway.