Big Brother Recap: The Penultimate Eviction Pits Drew Against The Icons One More Time

Well, well, well. If it isn't the consequences of the "Big Brother" icons' own actions!

All summer long, "Survivor" alumni Dee and Devens have toyed with ally Drew's emotions. They've nominated him for eviction when it hasn't been necessary, they've systematically booted all of his friends on the other side of the house, and they've littered the BB house with lies about taking him to the Final Five, Final Four, Final Three... you get the picture.

How poetic, then, that Dee and Devens — who have delighted in their own cutthroat gameplay all season — found themselves not only on the verge of separation during Thursday's live eviction episode, but at the mercy of Drew, who was casting the sole vote to evict. After their cavalier treatment of Drew this summer, which reality TV icon could make a more convincing plea to him to stay in the house?

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Well before Drew made his eviction decision, there were still multiple competitions to be played on Thursday's broadcast, along with a nominations ceremony and veto meeting. Let's jump in, shall we?

Following Melody's abrupt Egyptian eviction on Wednesday, there's a flurry of chatter among the Final Four regarding who they each want to take to the Final Two with them. At this point, it's impossible to gauge who Dee, Devens, or even Drew would actually take to those two pivotal chairs on finale night, but for now, Dee is busy convincing Taylor that they ought to bring one another to the Final Two, since Drew and Devens are surely planning a guys-only Final Two of their own, right? Funnily enough, Drew and Devens do have a separate conversation about taking each other to the end, but they both confess in the Diary Room that their Final Two plans are still in flux, so, who knows?

There's an interlude here at the jury house, where the recently banished Barrett and Yash join Lala and Angela after the double eviction. Barrett's eviction comes as no surprise to the ladies, but Yash's definitely does, and he's left to explain why on Earth he would have made that ill-fated deal with Drew during the Pressure Cooker veto competition.

Back at the house, it's time for the next Head of Household competition — a fun, "Eternally Yours"-themed game in which players must identify the one houseguest who does not appear in a fast-moving video montage of this summer's contestants, then must complete a three-dimensional puzzle of said houseguest's face. The puzzle-challenged Dee gets knocked out after the first round, leaving Taylor and Drew to duke it out in Round 2... and Taylor gets the big win! Not a moment too soon, eh?

Taylor only has three options for her nominations, and it hardly matters who she puts up, anyway; this week is really about the Power of Veto competition, so nominations are more of a formality. In any case, Taylor puts Drew and Dee up on the block, and we collectively head to 2027 — the future! — for the final veto competition of the year.

As it typically does, the final veto competition calls on the players' knowledge of teeny-tiny specifics about the entire season: Here, they must look at snapshots from previous days in the BB house and correctly lock in the exact day those events took place; if they're the last to answer correctly, they'll get a strike, and three strikes will eliminate them from the competition.

Although Dee and Devens each have a healthy number of competition wins under their belt, they're the first two kicked out of this detail-oriented challenge. So, for the second time in this episode, it's down to Taylor and Drew — and this time, it's Drew who pulls out the all-important win. But, oof, he hardly gets to relax after scoring the veto, because now he's got to seal the fate of one of his closest allies.

Which one, though? For the last few days since Drew's veto win was revealed on the live feeds, his eviction decision has been a mystery. Dee and Devens have both campaigned hard to stay, and Drew has shed his share of tears as he's agonized over the choice. On Thursday's live episode, Drew, of course, officially uses the Power of Veto on himself, and Devens goes up in his place. The "Survivor" alumni make their final pleas to poor Drew, who looks like he's ready to toss his cookies at any moment, but he powers through and votes to evict... Dee!

Sheesh. We all were prepared for that finale confetti to rain down on Dee, right? (Julie Chen Moonves definitely was!) It feels a little surreal that she's now walking out the door — at Final Four! — but her picture on the Memory Wall is indeed black and white. In her post-game Q&A, Dee says she wanted Drew to have the "killer instinct" that would have allowed him to evict Devens, and she does think Drew's decision will ultimately cost him the game if he's sitting next to Devens in the Final Two. That said, Dee admits that she also would not have had the heart to boot Devens if it had been up to her tonight — even though she does possess the killer instinct that Drew lacks — so she can't really fault the little weasel (her words this season, not mine!) for doing what he did.

With that, I hand it over to you! What do you make of Drew's decision to evict Dee? And who are you rooting for as we head into the finale? Tell us below!