Big Brother All-Stars Blowout: Nicole Ready to Blow Up Committee to Save Ian -- But Does It Work?

Once again, viewers have no idea who the current Head of Household is as the broadcast cut before the competition was complete. But they do know the one player who didn't make it far enough into the game to even play in it. Was it Ian or Tyler?

It was a wild week of "Big Brother," with HOH Dani having to put up a grand total of four nominees. One of those happened to be a member of her own alliance, as she considered taking out one of the biggest threats in the game.

We've seen a lot of that this season with The Committee, but thus far they've remained easily one of the most loyal large alliances in the history of the game, and easily one of the most dominant as well.

Coming into this week, they'd won five of the first six HOH competitions, with the odd one out going to Enzo, their unofficial seventh as he's working closely with so many members of that group.

If anyone can find a crack and break into The Committee, it'll be Enzo, But it doesn't look like he knows about its existence, so it would have to crack from the inside to his benefit. In fact, we'll give The Committee credit for that as well. An alliance this big and they've managed to keep ti on the down-low from everybody!

Tonight's episode was all about Nicole, struggling with her position in The Committee and her friendly allegiance to Ian. On the one hand, the alliance has made its decision and Ian has to go, but that's her number one in the house.

As she pointed out to Cody, he gets to keep two of his close allies in Tyler and Enzo, but she has to lose hers. Why is that fair? Well, it absolutely is not. But it does tell Nicole where she stands within the rankings of The Committee.

Somehow this season, no one within The Committee has really considered their ranking within the group, and we're still not sure they're doing it. But it's pretty clear that Tyler and Cody consider themselves at the top, and probably all three girls are somewhere below that.

Nicole may have thought she was in tight with Cody -- they did have a Final 2 at one point -- but his unwillingness to even consider budging on this one proved that not to be the case. His allegiance to Tyler, at least, is stronger than his to her.

And Memphis flat-out threatened her with eviction if she fought too hard to keep Ian in this house. Nicole quickly realized he was dead serious about that, which was a Godfather move, and all Cody had to tell her was that she needs to be careful. In other words, she's expendable and here at their whim and mercy.

Unfortunately, even if Nicole is realizing she has no hope within The Committee, it is far too late to do anything about it. The dominant alliance has all the numbers and absolutely no willingness to break ranks before the work is done of sweeping everyone else out the front door.

Ian, on the other hand, proved just as gullible as every other player in the house. He was convinced that Dani had made a mistake nominating him as a pawn, even aggressively chiding her about it. But it was all strategy, with him the target the whole time.

That's not to say Dani wasn't considering evicting Tyler, but like with Nicole, she is too afraid of her own alliance to turn against them. By our reckoning, that puts these two ladies right at the bottom of it. If they had the nerve to break ranks they could flip the house the way Jackson and Holly did last season.

It would certainly make things interesting, but both of their actions this week proved that they are too intimidated and scared to do anything, meaning they'll likely just get picked off when their time comes.

Despite Nicole's efforts to sway votes toward Ian, even she didn't have the nerve to throw a vote his way, sealing his fate for fear of angering the best of her own supposed allies. And so, Ian became the first member of the Jury.

It's not a real surprise that Ian took it with class and grace, but we were more than a little surprised when Cody and Nicole both exposed the existence of The Committee to him, with Cody even naming names.

With his level head, though, Ian isn't bitter about any of it, which could make for an interesting jury experience for those who come behind him. He was thrilled to see that there was actual strategy and subterfuge in his eviction, and he might be able to influence the jury away from becoming bitter about their own experiences.

Clearly, Cody and Nicole took a chance in sharing the alliance with Ian. But they (rightly) anticipated that Ian, a student of the game, would respect the play rather than be angry about it or take it personal. And, in fact, he felt better about the whole experience with that information.

Cody Calafiore is able to dictate terms in someone else's HOH. He's riding high with Final 2 deals and alliances all throughout the house and no one ever seems to be gunning for him -- he's got Tyler as a meat shield ahead of him. Cody is easily in the best position in the house right now. Grade: A+

Memphis Garrett may actually be running this house, and yet no one outside of his alliance has any idea that he is. The only reason that he's not definitively at the top of these rankings is that he doesn't appear to have a ride-or-die and that's going to make it harder for him toward the end. Grade: A

Daniele Briones survived a wild HOH and is more than likely not in any danger this week (she didn't even use her Replay power; likely saving it as a bargaining chip with the next HOH). Hers is a wild and dangerous game, which has cost her trust in her own alliance. But she's also proven loyal (of late), so she should be good for now. Grade: B

Christmas Abbot is just a loyal soldier in The Committee army. She's closer to Enzo strategically than anyone actually within her alliance, and that makes her expendable when she's no longer of value to the games of those above her. It's really her own fault as she never really carved out her own path or vision for victory -- maybe her plan is to just win her way there. Grade: B

Tyler Crispen slip a little only because Cody made it clear that Tyler is expendable to him and not even as high on his radar than Enzo. This is clearly a boys club season -- the girls sealed their fate by eliminating so many of their own with the boys -- but Tyler might not have any real people in his corner anymore. Plus, his stunt with Bayleigh and Da'Vonne has tarnished his reputation in the house. Grade: B-

Enzo Palumbo is in a great position in this house, depending on who is in power. He's got solid working relationships with Tyler and Cody and Christmas, but not really the rest of The Committee. If they keep holding onto power, he's looking at a 50/50 chance that's good news for his game. However, with the right people in power, he could outlast some Committee members. Grade: C+

Nicole Franzel showed her cards a bit this week by fighting for Ian, and then she caved and voted him out anyway. Cody proved he doesn't value her over Tyler and now as the only winner left in the house, she's an easy target when it comes to it. She'll likely be the first of The Committee to go, and might not even outlast everyone outside the alliance. Grade: C

Da'Vonne Rogers saved Kevin, but unless she can do something about this massive power alliance she only has a vague idea of (and no one seems to think Memphis is in it, making him the best decoy to mess everyone's game up) her clock is fast ticking as she's the strongest non-aligned, non-Enzo player left. Grade: C-

Kevin Campbell and David Alexander are still in the house. Neither is really doing much (or in the case of David, is being totally extra and doing too much) and they'll likely get nominated again and picked off again. We could see that starting up right away this week, assuming someone from The Committee wins, because they're all about not making big moves and these are the smallest moves available to them. Grade: D

• "I just need a tie, right?' --Ian (thinking Dani is gunning for Tyler)
• "The more you're forced to name people, the more cards you're showing. And I literally just showed half my deck." --Dani (after naming her fourth nominee)
• "Back-to-back, it isn't fair." --Da'Vonne (not wanting to lose an ally two weeks in a row)
• "You know that I'm going to literally campaign for you all week to stay." --Dani (lying to Ian)
• "I need four votes, then you'll break the tie in my favor." --Ian (believing her)
• "Basically, Tyler and I are going to be best friends until I decide we're not best friends anymore." --Dani
• "I was convinced it was either going to be or Enzo." --Memphis (pretending he's a lone wolf)
• "As good as Tyler might be, Ian won first place. If you have a shot, you gotta take it." --Memphis
• "I kind of expected a higher caliber of decision-making on All-Stars." --Ian (misunderstanding that he's actually the target)
• "The one piece that is not sitting right with me is why Tyler is not campaigning. When you're on the Block, you campaign." --Kevin
• "The Committee does not want him. They want Tyler." --Dani (telling Nicole she can't try to save Ian)
• "They're going to know if I turn against Ian that it's because of an alliance." --Nicole
• "Look, if you want to go hang out with Ian in jury so bad, we can make that f--king happen." --Memphis
• "Did Memphis mean that." --Nicole (to Cody)
• "No." --Cody
• "I think he did." --Nicole
• "Possible. That's what I'm saying. Watch yourself." --Cody
• "My game is getting blown up, Cody, you see that right? When I don't vote for Ian, I am going to look so bad. He's my best friend. I am a monster to everybody. If I can do that, I can cut anyone's throat at any time." --Nicole
• "I just feel like you shouldn't make this mistake your third time playing ... for it to end on not even my mistake." --Ian (to Dani, except it's not a mistake)
• "It's all on me if I want to be the fourth vote and make Dani break the tie." --Nicole
• "For a while I thought I was just getting ganged up on by lousy players. But to see that it's a good plan and they got me, that's awesome. Good for them. Kudos." --Ian

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