'Big Brother' Blowout: Head of Household Scottie Declares War, Risks Blowing Up His Own Game

It's been remarkable how tight the alliances in the house were from Day 1, as that never happens on "Big Brother." Early alliances are too big and you just don't know who you can really connect with as well. Maybe it comes down to "BB" casting so many bros and she-bros this season, as they all bonded immediately and formed Level 6.

But Level 6 hasn't been in power since Week 1, and each week we've gotten a wild card Houseguest in that top spot, which makes for exciting and unpredictable television. We weren't sure where Scottie was going to look this week now that he's in power, as he's not been strongly aligned with either side of the house, but he made that very clear tonight.

Level 6 is very much social clique of the jocks, and Scottie clearly isn't super comfortable in that world. The remainder of the house is made up of misfits, and so he gravitated more toward them. That said, he may be overplaying the strategy a bit if he wants people to trust him and work with him after his reign ends.

We're going to run this season like you'd run a department store. Each product, or celebrity, may have come in with equal value, but pretty quickly you start to see that certain ones aren't working. First, you try discounting them to see if they can turn things around and become solid performers again. But if that doesn't work, it's time to put them on clearance so you can sell them out (the door). With that said, let's take a look at our inventory, ranked from our strongest performer to our weakest ... after we spotlight a new item in stock.

Scottie wore a Swaggy C t-shirt and bandana to the last eviction ceremony, but then he voted to evict Swaggy. It was all part of his strategy to "cause potential chaos.' He explained that he wants to work with the remnants of the F.O.U.T.T.E. alliance, which means Bayleigh, Faysal, Haleigh and Rockstar, but that he wants to "cause potential chaos" so he won't be on the bottom of the totem pole.

This is a terrible idea, because why would you want to cause your own alliance to question one another's loyalty and honesty? That's a recipe for disaster, and especially this early in the game. On top of that, Haleigh saw right through that crap and told Rockstar she was certain Scottie had flipped his vote.

She and Rockstar dubbed him an "evil mastermind genius" for the lengths he went with his subterfuge, and Scottie proved them right when he laid out his master plan for nominations this week. Check this out:

"The bros are definitely the biggest threat on the other side of the house," he explained. "It's time to take a shot at them and level this playing field. So I need to build a case against Brett and Winston. My plan is I'm going to ask everyone the same two questions. 1) What happened the week Steve went home? 2) Who are you most scared of in the house? And no matter what they actually say, I'm going to say that they're all actually saying the bros. And these two questions are what I'm going to base my nominations on. I'm going to make it seem like it was everybody else's idea."

Good lord, dude, just make your nominations and own them. And yet, he went through with questioning everybody, where he learned something very important.

A new product on the shelves this week is the return of "Big Brother Mist." Former houseguests like Dan Gheesling (fake funeral anyone?) have possessed this item, and Scottie was almost swayed by Brett's healthy dosage. Brett is part of the bromance with Winston, and suspecting that the two of them would be targeted after Sam outed them as having lied to Scottie, he went up to the HOH bedroom to work his magic.

It was almost flawlessly executed, except that Scottie was left with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was practically swooning and swallowing everything Brett was saying. On the other hand, his rational mind was telling him this was a snowjob of epic proportions. Klaxon bells are clanging everywhere. Abort! Abort!

The potential drawback for Brett in all of this, since he was unable to totally hypnotize Scottie, is that the HOH totally called him out for his "BB Mist" at the nomination ceremony. If that little kernel nestles in other people's ears, they might find themselves feeling a healthy does of skepticism next time he's spinning a yarn their way.

Tyler (up 1) somehow managed to emerge at the top of this heap even in a week when he has no power and showed he has no influence in the house. What he does have, though, is a powerful alliance that has remained secret -- or at least his involvement in it. Because of that, he also shares tight relationships throughout the house, which he can usually leverage to get what he wants, including both Scottie and Sam opening up to him this week.

Bayleigh (up 3), Faysal (up 3), Haleigh (up 3) and Rockstar (up 3) rise in the ranks because Scottie indicated he wants to work with them. On top of that, Bayleigh scored the Power App for the week, allowing her to take over HOH duties at any point until Top 8 to choose her own nominations. But primarily, these four are proving themselves loyal to one another, making them a power foursome that could be dangerous down the road. Scottie wants to be part of it, but they're having trouble trusting him right now.

Scottie (down 5) made his own bed here, but playing the game a little too hard and playing his mastermind strategy entirely by himself. He's not socially savvy, though he is clever, so the social fallout of his hard work could jeopardize his game tremendously as soon as he's out of power. The former F.O.U.T.T.E. doesn't trust him, and he's targeting the bros of Level 6, putting himself in a very tough spot moving forward.

Kaycee (up 3) somehow joined Tyler in being close enough to Sam that she opened up entirely about her own Power App, which is good through next week. We didn't know the two had bonded, but that is another vote and potential ally for Kaycee's game, which has seen her aligned well and otherwise flying under the radar. It's a smart move early game.

Sam (down 4) remains without an alliance, but she is doing a better job of managing her social game. Aligning with various members of Level 6 will be beneficial to her short-term game, but there is no future in it as they'll cut her loose as soon as she's not valuable to them. But she has time to work her magic on them. Plus, if Scottie has his way, it'll only be Level 5 after this week, so they may need to recruit, and she is well positioned for that call.

JC (down 6) continues to be virtually invisible in the house, which occasionally wins "Big Brother." It will probably carry him far, and if he has a plan to make it to the end, he'll have a decent shot at second place. But unless the jury is very bitter, they respect strategy and game play, and JC has shown neither thus far.

Kaitlyn (down 1) is grateful she was able to disappear after her big old mess of an HOH reign last week, but she's almost completely isolated from anyone in the house, and no one trusts her. Even Faysal, her one-time best friend, is hesitant around her. The good news is, the way Scottie is managing his own HOH, they may be two pees in a pod come week's end and they can become the ostracized alliance of two.

Angela (down 1) and Rachel (down 1) are fading into the background of Level 6, which is good for both of their games. Angela, especially, should be grateful as she emerged as a big target early on. Now that the spotlight has faded, the girls are content to sit back and let other people do the dirt work and whittle those numbers down.

Brett (down 3) and Winston (down 3) are just about dead even on the clearance rack, as the bros become Scottie's top two targets. Honestly, we're not sure if he cares which one goes home, but by putting them both on the block at the same time, he severely weakens Level 6's ability to save one of them. If the POV is used and he puts another L6 up, he'll keep his advantage. If it were up to us -- and we suspect Scottie feels the same way -- we'd target Brett first because of that persuasive "BB Mist" of his.

• "By flipping my vote, it will cause potential chaos. --Scottie (he's right, but didn't think this one all the way through)

• "I don't know where his head's at. Obviously he didn't vote for me, you know. He was wearing a Swaggy t-shirt for crying out loud." --Winston on Scottie (except he totally did, operation: mindgame is working)

• "He's a genius. Wore the t-shirt, wore the bandana." --Haleigh (suspecting Scottie's chaos strategy)

• "He wore a Swaggy t-shirt. He wouldn't flip." --Faysal (wants so hard to believe in people)

• "No one would blame the guy wearing the t-shirt, unless he planned this all. What if, just what if, he's an evil genius mastermind?" --Rockstar (trying to help Faysal see the truth)

• "He's probably not even a virgin." --Rockstar (questioning everything about Scottie now)

• "Who don't you trust right now?" --Kaitlyn

• "I don't know who I trust right now." --Faysal (now you're getting it)

• "If we're being honest, Brett's charisma is just out of this world because I am intoxicated with everything he's saying. BB Mist? He has it, because I am buying all the crap he's spewing. No matter what he says, I want to believe it so bad." --Scottie (trying to convince himself he was misted)

• "I was not planning on taking English Literature in the Big Brother house this summer. --Haleigh (after getting the "Read It!" Crap App, forcing her to read 'Hamlet' out loud in its entirety)

"Big Brother" airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET, Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET and Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.