Big Brother Blowout: Tiffany Makes Her Nominations But Loses HOH -- So Who's in Power?

And with that, the High Roller's Room is no more on this season of "Big Brother," but it took the House for one last spin as the Coin of Destiny stole power from Tiffany.

Luckily, before the game even opened, Tiffany had time to enjoy pictures of her family, the music of Beyonce and one-on-one conversations with everyone in the House. It allowed us a chance to see how she manages the game from a position of power.

Tiffany has been a favorite of ours to win this game for a long time, though we started to worry she might falter a couple of weeks ago when she was letting personal feelings impact her strategy, and even revealing her feelings more than expected.

It looks like she's settled back down to her masterful strategic self, coolly maneuvering her way through important conversations, and even going so far as to lie to her actual target. We're actually a little surprised she was as convincing as she was, and that this person appears to be trusting her.

That's an incredible testament to Tiffany's performance, because her target is one of the least trusting people in the House. But she also appeared to get a little rattled when Derek X called her "cold af" on his way out of the house. She was cold as ice in all of her chats during her reign, though, and keeps her feelings so far buried she often appears to have none.

As we predicted, following her week targeting Derek X, Sarah Beth is the clear target this week. And not just because it's the obvious choice for the House. She's also the biggest danger to The Cookout of all those remaining in the House and the first threat of the three remaining non-Cookout members that needs to go.

She's just a bigger comp threat than either Claire or Alyssa, and if the six wants to be Top 6, they need to pick off these outliers in the right order. So far, they've been doing extremely well in this. Even when not in power, like last week, they're best targets have gone.

If they do make Top 6, it might just be the smoothest ride an alliance has ever had to their ultimate number. This week could be their biggest challenge with Xavier as a guaranteed third nominee and the Coin of Destiny threatening to disrupt everything.

As expected, and he was totally prepared for it, Kyland wound up on the Block next to his side ally Sarah Beth. Tiffany created these side duos with intention, and that intention has done its job of both helping The Cookout control the vote, and keeping it off of everyone's radar.

The big danger for Tiffany came with the opening of the High Roller's Room and the opening of the Coin of Destiny. The winner of this game had a 50/50 chance of anonymously taking over her HOH reign. Immediately, her nominees would be off the Block and new nominees would be revealed.

But no one would know who won. With envelopes of cash (either BB50 or BB100) from the last competition and one last round of America's vote, several Houseguests could potentially find themselves with enough BB Bucks to play.

As they were starting to make their way into the game, though, Hannah came to a realization and concocted a brilliant plan of her own. If the winner of the Coin of Destiny does usurp Tiffany's HOH, they wouldn't be eligible to play in next week's HOH competition ... but Tiffany would.

Hannah determined that the best case scenario for everyone in The Cookout would be for Claire to be the only one who played. If she won, she'd be more likely to leave Tiffany's nominations alone, and then she wouldn't be able to play next week, moving The Cookout one step closer to Top 6.

Honestly, it's a brilliant plan. The only wrinkle, so far as we could tell, was that everyone in the House knew Derek F had enough to lay. So even though Tiffany told him not to play, just in case it was revealed who all played the game, regardless of whether they won or not, he opted to play the game with his incredible BB425 -- and threw it.

He still almost won.

It turns out rolling coins down a lane into three vertical slots is way harder than it looks. Claire, who didn't know the whole plan, still nearly lost to Derek F. But she won, securing the plan of The Cookout by promptly putting Sarah Beth and Kyland back on The Block.

And for now, no one knows who the anyonymous HOH is as no one knows who all wound up with enough BB Bucks to play. Ultimately, only Hannah also earned enough BB Bucks, though she chose not to play to try and ensure Claire's victory.

Oh, and our favorite part of the High Roller's Room is that it serves as a real-time metric of how America is perceiving the Houseguests week after week. As Sarah Beth pointed out accurately, America still doesn't really like her that much, giving her the lowest amount.

With nine players, it's split evenly this time. The top three vote-getters each got BB100, the next three BB75 and the last three BB50.

Along with Sarah Beth, it was the third straight week of lowest rankings with America for Azah and Kyland. For Azah, the ultimate floater in the game, we suspect that's why America isn't impressed. As for Kyland, he's perhaps a bit too arrogant -- and being tied closely with Sarah Beth isn't helping.

In the middle of the pack were Alyssa and Xavier again, with Derek F slipping down to join them. We suspect America knew that Derek F had the BB Bucks to play already, so strategically, they were trying to boost the totals for some of the other players. But with Derek X gone and Derek F slipping here, that meant two new faces in the Top 3.

Claire again picked up the top vote, which was enough to secure her ability to play no matter what was in her envelope. We suspect America knew that. Beyond her, love was shown to Hannah and Tiffany. We suspect America is rooting for the two power femmes in the house. We know we are.

Tiffany Mitchell (40) was as successful in her HOH reign as we expected, and even more impressively was able to basically hold onto power and keep her plan in place even after she lost power to Claire in the High Roller's Room. Poor Claire has no idea what's coming her way, but Tiffany has her loyalty, which is just further proof that her side duos plan was perfect conceived and executed. Grade: A+

Hannah Chaddha (21) bounced back after losing Derek X with her head firmly in the game and on the endgame for The Cookout. We suspect she and Tiffany are already plotting their next move once they get there, but even so, Hannah's idea to throw the Coin of Destiny to Claire was proof how savvy and clever she is in this game. Grade: A+

Azah Awasum (30) is floating into an interesting position in this game. She's positioning herself now as someone to either take to the end as an easy one to beat -- and we don't think she could talk her way into a win -- or someone to eliminate by people who want to face real competitors. For now, she just floats in the middle, awaiting the stance of whoever will or won't take her any further. Grade: A-

Xavier Prather (27) should be absolutely fine this week, despite being on the Block. He is beloved by everyone and no one is looking to take shots at The Cookout just yet. We can see him being in trouble in a bit, though, as one of the biggest threats in The Cookout. He's got Azah on his side, but we're not sure about everyone else. That time is coming soon! Grade: A-

Derek Frazier (29) is probably going to find himself in a powerful swing position. The problem for Tiffany, in particular, is that he doesn't like her and would boot her in a heartbeat. But he's also a smart player who can put his emotions to the side. If it comes down to it, he might stand a better chance against her than Xavier or Kyland, so he might take his shots that way. But we do believe he'll be the pivotal player. Grade: B-

Kyland Young (30) is definitely in more danger than Claire, being on the Block while she's safe as the secret HOH, but it won't matter. He'll outlast her in this game. But we're starting to wonder if that might not be about as far as he goes. Xavier would love to eliminate the potential physical threat once it's just The Cookout, and the rest of the alliance seems to be cooling on his personality a whole lot. He comes across as arrogant, and this season has been all about setting egos aside for the larger purpose of The Cookout. Grade: C+

Alyssa Lopez (25) is just about out of time. Depending on who rises to power next week, it will either be her or Claire who goes home (unless one of them wins -- and then we'll really see The Cookout scrambling to get the other one targeted). We have a feeling Alyssa will feel like the safer one to keep around longer. Grade: C-

Claire Renfuss (25) is now HOH and will probably be on the Block next week, and possibly targeted for elimination. Not being able to play makes her incredibly vulnerable. In a non-Cookout season, her and Tiffany would make for an incredible team, but she is unfortunately being steamrolled for a statement like those who've gone before her. Again, we find ourselves hoping "BB" does some kind of "second chance" season or something to give some of these players a different experience. Grade: D

Sarah Beth Steagall (28) might be buying that Kyland is the target this week, but he's totally not. She's been on everyone's hit list for weeks now, and finally someone is going to take the shot. It'll take a Veto win to save her at this point. Can she do it?. Grade: D-

• “He’s just so good.” --Kyland (crying over Derek X eviction)
• “He will understand once he sees everything.” --Derek F
• “At the end of the day, we’re doing what we set out to do. We’re doing it. We’re almost there.” --Derek F (about getting The Cookout to the end)
• “I mean, I can’t lie. Derek’s speech was hurtful. Even though it does hurt to hear, I just have to stick to my guns and remember what I came here for.” --Sarah Beth (after Derek X called her “cold af”)
• “I know she can’t nominate me, because I’m already up there.” --Xavier (guaranteed third nominee)
• “We chose us before we chose anyone else. And we have unselfishly played for each other. And people will get hurt along the way.” --Tiffany (helping Hannah mourn Derek X)
• “If not for The Cookout, DX would definitely be my number one in this game. Because he had my back.” --Hannah
• “It’s just me and Claire. There are no guys fighting for me in this game. I’m just here by myself. You did jeopardize my game indirectly, and, it’s like, okay, we didn’t kill you but we cut off your legs.” --Tiffany (to Sarah Beth about evicting Derek X)
• “I’m hoping I can convince her I didn’t send Derek X home to weaken her game -- even though that’s not exactly true.” --Sarah Beth (about Tiffany)
• “Sarah Beth is very convincing. I mean, she ran Alyssa over with the bus. Alyssa is in the ICU right now; that’s how hard Sarah Beth came to get Alyssa on the Block.” --Tiffany
• “I know you would save him, I know you would fight for him, so the best opportunity for me to have a shot is for him to not have the help.” --Tiffany (telling Sarah Beth Kyland is her target)
• “I think that makes complete sense, if Kyland is your target, for me to go up beside him.” --Sarah Beth (buying it?)
• “What if Claire’s the only one that plays? Next week we need as many members of The Cookout eligible to be HOH.” --Hannahy (to Tiffany about Coin of Destiny)
• “I”m gonna play, because I don’t want anyone to do anything messing around with your week.” --Claire (to Tiffany)
• “But then you’re not gonna be able to play next week.” --Tiffany
• “That’s fine.” --Claire
• “Pretty sure America’s happy I’m in danger.” --Sarah Beth