'Big Brother' Blowout: Veto Competition Threatens to Expose Hacker

In what could have been the sweetest, most brutal speech of the season, Angela used the power of Veto to pull Tyler off the block, and then took the moment to pinpoint the BB Hacker in the house. It was great. Eloquent and harsh, well-planned and well-executed, it was perfect -- except she targeted Bayleigh, who was not the hacker. Hayleigh was.

So yes, it was another sweet, sweet blind side, but the speech was painful to watch because we knew that despite how exact it was, it missed the mark completely.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

This episode was a Power of Veto episode, which gives one of the contestants the ability to veto a nomination or pull themselves off the block for eviction. For this competition, the show brought in a special host, one that was awful to watch and beyond frustrating to see with our eyes and hear with our ears: Mr. Pectacular, from Seasons 10 and 11. All he did was flex and not be charming. No, thanks.

The competition itself was relentlessly physical. Tyler's side of the house had four members competing against Rockstar and Scottie, so they had the upper hand and were gunning to get their boy off the block. But one by one, Scottie slayed that side of the house (and, well, it goes without saying that Rockstar was of course the first one out). In 100+ degree heat, Tyler and Scottie made it to the final round, where Tyler came out on top.

Then the weirdest thing happened.

Scottie won $5,000 for coming in second but had the ability to swap it for any of the other prizes the others had won before him. And he wanted the Power of Veto. But wait -- Tyler actually won the entire thing, so he'd just be taking the Veto from you, Scottie, in like minutes... so why are you even entertaining the idea of taking the POV from Angela just to lose it again?

Angela actually had to talk him out of it. Then, Angela convinced Tyler -- who was on the block and in danger of going home -- to not take the POV from her and promised to take him off block anyway. He AGREED TO IT. Yeah, they're in an alliance, but that's still a risk no matter what. So instead, Tyler took Brett's trip to Hawaii.

And then that's when Angela was set to make the big move to get the BB hacker out of the house. A big move, yes, but the hacker it was not. Hayleigh was smart to keep her mouth shut about her Hacker status.

We're going to run this season like you'd run a department store. Each product, or Houseguest, 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 item in stock.

We can't get past Scottie trying to trade $5,000 for the Power of Veto, knowing full well that Tyler still had the option to trade after him. Tyler would 100 percent take the Power of Veto from him, leaving Scottie with whatever terrible punishment Tyler unveiled as his prize.

What's the thought process here? Did he think he could convince Tyler, who was on the block, not to take it from him? Scottie was no longer on the block because of the Hacker, and needed it considerably less! Why on Earth would he even attempt this?

And then it was like his lapse in judgment moved to Tyler, who, regardless if it worked out in the end (it did), got convinced by Angela not to take the POV from her, even though he was on the block and in danger.

We're glad he didn't go home after that, and he was lucky his trust in Angela was right.

Tyler is the best player in this house. If he doesn't get taken down by accident (by someone who doesn't know the full scope of what he has accomplished), he will win. Not only has he had a hand in everything that has happened since the beginning, he had four people playing for him in the veto. That's loyalty, and a pretty good bulletproof vest.

Hayleigh managed to keep her mouth shut about being the Hacker to EVERYONE. Nobody has any idea, and as a result, she kept herself totally safe -- and lucked into Bayleigh taking the fall, even though Bay was on her side. Only one person can win in the end, so there are plenty of moves Hayleigh can make to align elsewhere. If Hayleigh was smart enough to target Tyler from just the tip of the Tyler iceberg, she could go far.

Scottie is a competition beast, even though he's masquerading as a huge dork. He has consistently been winning, or almost winning, for weeks now. Tonight, he came in second in one of the most physical competitions of the season so far, and he's shown an evil-genius level of awareness in the house.

Angela is here to play, even though she got the Hacker identity wrong and blew her speech without knowing it. She is fearless in both competitions and making big moves, and her confidence is both her strength and her weakness.

Brett has dodged bullets for two weeks, and came in third in the competition tonight. If he can keep talking himself out of the crosshairs, win some more competitions, and create more chaos to paint the target on others, he just might make it a few more weeks before the level of his threat gets too high.

Sam managed to power trip for her whole HOH and still not be on anyone's radar for eviction. Mix that with loyalty with Tyler -- even though she's not part of his alliance -- and she's sitting pretty.

JC, while not the smartest in the bunch (he asked Tyler if he put himself on the block tonight), is still loved by everyone in the house, and despite not having won anything yet, is not anyone's target. His social game is strong, and he could keep it going for a while.

Kaycee always seems like she's going to be great at competitions, and then she isn't. Still, she is in the stronger of the two major alliances and was talking legit game moves with Angela. She's not just sitting around and floating by. She's trying.

Faysal didn't get much screen time tonight, and that's because he didn't really do anything. He didn't compete (though he's great at competitions) in the Veto. He's this low on the list because we feel like if anyone keeps getting the raw end of a blind side, it's him, because of how vocal he is about it -- and he'll probably get blindsided right out of the house, eventually.

Bayleigh went from HOH to being on the block super fast, and after powertripping last week, we can't help but agree with her current position on the couch. She can win competitions, and she's smart, so it would be the right thing for everyone's game to send her packing. BUT, we've seen crazier things happen, and wouldn't be totally shocked if she talks her way off the block somehow -- as long as she can keep her ego in check.

Rockstar can't win a competition for her life, and her social game has tanked for a while now since Brett's uncalled-for lies worked during a speech. Yeah, she's harmless in the scheme of things, a true floater, but the only reason she'll stay this week is if Bayleigh doesn't talk herself out of the corner, not because anyone thinks she deserves to be there.

• "Are you the Hacker? Did you put yourself up" - JC

Honestly, this was a pretty tame week for things that were said, except for Angela's super incorrect speech. But, it was a long speech, and we're definitely not going back to transcribe it this late in the evening.

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