Big Brother Blowout: Final 4 Revealed, New Showmance & Alyssa Pitches Uselessness: 'I'm Dog S---'

This is also the last time that an outgoing Head of Household won't be able to play, making this an incredibly important decision for Monte. He needs to make sure that no matter who stays, they'll have his back this next week.

After that, it'll definitely be every man and woman for themselves, but they'll also have the ability to play in every competition from here to the end, so their fate will entirely be their own to dictate.

For this week, though, Alyssa and Taylor's fates were definitely not in their hands, so it was time to scramble and see what they could do to convince at least two of Turner, Brittany and Monte that they're better for their respective games.

On top of that, a surprise secret showmance emerged that could change everything. Of course, we say that and Kyle spent half the summer lying to his showmance -- though he did start protecting her game to the death. Hell, he's the reason Alyssa is even still here.

We do have to give credit where it's due, though, as Alyssa had a pretty hilariously valid argument she shared with Turner as to why she should stay, telling him that Taylor has a resume that would be hard to beat, and that she's basically "dog s---" and has done nothing all summer.

This is the point of the game where plenty of people have taken floaters to the end of the game because what compelling argument can they possibly have to win? At that point it all comes down to how salty the jury is, but this jury seems pretty level-headed, overall.

Brittany was in the midst of an emotional breakdown that started after Michael's surprise eviction -- and aggressively throwing her under the bus to try and save himself. In his defense, her gameplay has been incredibly sloppy and only gotten worse in his absence, but it's still hard to see her feeling so alone.

The rest of the House has adopted an up-all-night attitude, partying together in Monte's HOH Room until the wee hours of the morning, leaving Brittany very much out of it and alone. So of course she found herself wondering where she stood in this game.

After the Veto Ceremony, Brittany and Taylor had a conversation where they seemed to agree that their best bet was to fight to the end together, assuring that the boys would be the next ones to go. But then, Taylor ignored her completely.

Forget Jury management, that's not good fellow Houseguests management. Especially at this late stage of the game, emotions start to overflow as everyone is stretched to the max, and things start to feel very personal.

Take Alyssa's final pitch to Turner, when she started to get a sense that he wasn't going to save her, despite them being best friends in the House. She flat-out told him that she'd never forgive him outside of this game if he voted her out.

His surprised reaction really said it all. Turner has always kept his cards close to his chest, and Alyssa has let her emotions fly throughout the season. So her tears were real. She might have gotten into his sympathy if she hadn't also threatened him a Jury vote.

With that one shift in comment, it became less believable as a genuinely emotional moment and Turner found himself questioning if there was strategy behind the display. Honestly, at that point, we found ourselves wondering, too.

While Taylor was distancing herself from Brittany, a potential key vote to keep her in the House this week, she was definitely getting closer to the potential tiebreaker if Turner and Brittany split their votes.

All of a sudden, Monte and Taylor went from cuddling and flirting to kissing pretty aggressively in the HOH room. We may have thought this was in the middle of the night, but it was apparently during the day as it's clear the Houseguests are on upside down schedules at this point.

Regardless, that's a huge development, and it's not entirely clear how much the rest of the House does or doesn't know about it. Alyssa crashed the party at 2 p.m. thinking Turner was also in there, but Taylor did a good job of flopping to the other side of the bed to make it look no different than their slumber parties.

Did Alyssa suspect something more was going on? She quickly went and spoke to Brittany about it. Regardless of making out, this only further solidified Brittany's believe that Taylor doesn't have her back in this game.

This is what drove Brittany into trying to make something happen with Alyssa, and why Alyssa was working Turner so hard. Turner and Monte were under the impression that Brittany was going to vote to evict Alyssa. If they lean into that and Alyssa can convince Turner to throw a sympathy vote her way, Monte would expect to be a tiebreaker and send Alyssa packing.

But if Brittany flips her vote without Turner knowing, they'd both be voting Taylor out and she'd be gone. With Taylor burning that bridge with Brittany, she set herself up to potentially get backdoored. But could Alyssa convince Turner to give her a sympathy vote?

WIth only two people going into the Diary Room to vote, it certainly looked like things might go Alyssa's way when Brittany voted to evict Taylor. All Turner needed to do was throw that sympathy vote and the flip was up.

But then he didn't.

Turner voted to evict Alyssa, forcing a tie that Monte inevitably broke Taylor's way, sending Alyssa out of the House. And on top of that, the whole House knows that it was a split vote, and it shouldn't take long for it to become clear that it was Brittany.

That can't be good for Brittany's game with so few options left in the House. Basically, almost everyone at this stage would be gunning for her. Surely, Monte and Turner would more than likely take that shot at Brittany, while she and Taylor would probably still love to take Turner out (or Monte as a consolation prize).

We firmly believe that no matter what happened with this week's vote, if either woman rises to power, they'll rekindle their conversations about getting one of the guys out to better assure their chances of an all-woman finale.

Aside from the gender thing, both Monte and Turner have had incredibly solid games and they were instrumental in getting Michael out. Their resumes are packed and neither should want to face him in the end. So whether or not anyone knows it, we might have a bit of a guys v gals thing brewing here.

This is an interesting Head of Household at Final 4. While they secure their own safety into the Final 3, that's about all they can do. Everyone plays in the Veto, so it's really the Veto that dictates who's sitting on the Block come eviction night.

The only way there can be any choices post-Veto is if the HOH wins the Veto, as well. Otherwise, the Veto holder will be safe and the two Houseguests who are not HOH or the Veto winner will sit on the Block.

But it's also key in that it does punch your clock into the Final 3 and you get to play in the final Head of Household competition to try and win back-to-back and punch another ticket into one of those Final 2 spots.

This competition was all about a surprisingly lengthy video of Julie Chen shifting through outfits she's worn this season while dancing and snapping and doing various other things. In other words, there were a ton of details they had to sift through to answer seven questions.

With Monte ineligible to play, you just know he was hoping for Turner or Taylor to win -- but more realistically, he probably wanted Turner to win. After all, a Turner win most likely guarantees Brittany the target this week, whereas Taylor might again decide to take a shot at the guys.

The showmance might save Monte from going first, as Turner is seen as the bigger threat at the end, but Monte isn't interested in going to Final 3 against Brittany and Taylor, with both of them likely gunning to take him out.

Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that Turner was guessing wildly with every single question. Now, he wasn't alone, as Brittany was also all over the place. Taylor might have been guessing, too, but her reserved body language hid it better.

Despite the random guessing, it was a tight game with Turner taking an early lead before coming short by just one point behind a tie for first place after seven questions.

Coming down to a tie-breaker, it was Taylor who pulled out a huge victory, setting up a very interesting week ahead as far as what she's going to do.

We suspect she'll be wanting to get Turner out, but there's also the fact that Brittany took a shot at her in tonight's eviction. Was that to make it look like she gave Alyssa a sympathy vote? We're not yet sure what her strategy was there, but it might have just been that Taylor kind of dismissed her this week and she was hurt, hoping that Turner would come through and get her out.

That didn't happen, though, as Turner took the shot at his bestie and now the person Brittany took a shot at is sitting in power. Thankfully for Brittany, she could try to lie about who threw the vote to evict Taylor, pinning it on Turner, or just push Taylor to realize there are bigger fish for her to fry than any hurt over Brittany.

In her farewell message to Alyssa, Taylor did say that she would do what she could to ensure two women are in the final two seats, but when did she film that message? Before she and Monte got hot and heavy? It was definitely before Brittany took a shot at her, so who knows if she'll still hold to that.

Taylor Hale (27) takes power at a pivotal point in the game that could set herself up for an impressive underdog journey straight to finale night. If she can mend an all-girls thing with Brittany and keep Monte close with her showmance, she could be very well positioned to get herself to the end. It's not a lock yet, as there's a real chance no one will want to sit next to her, so she could get cut at Final 3 if she doesn't get that HOH. Grade: B-

Monte Taylor (27) is more vulnerable than he might know, but also has some influence over Taylor due to their long relationship in the game, his extremely gifted ability to talk and the fact they've started making out. It may be real, but we wouldn't put it past him to leverage it to protect himself and his interests in this game if that's what has to happen. His best case scenario is that either he or Turner win Veto, because then they'd also cast the only vote to evict and could protect one another. Grade: B-

Brittany Hoopes (32) comes in just above Turner because she's been beating him in more recent competitions, and we really think that's what it will take to determine who goes home this week. If Brittany or Taylor wins Veto, they're more than likely going to ensure that both Monte and Turner are on the Block so Brittany can vote out Turner. This Veto is truly due or die for everyone this week. Grade: C-

Matt "Turner" Turner (23) is more than likely a target this week, but he's got a 50/50 shot of being saved. If either him or Monte win the Veto, there's a good chance he'd be saved and Brittany would go home. No matter how much Taylor might pressure Monte, we just don't see him taking out Turner and going into Final 3 with Taylor and Brittany both gunning for him. Grade: C-

Alyssa Snider (24) made it very far for someone people have been wanting out for months due to her great social game. The fact she made Final 5 with zero competition wins is impressive. Brittany had a chance to try to go to the end with her, but she blew it. On top of that, had she kept Alyssa in the House, she might have been HOH right now, and anyone could beat Alyssa at the end. Alas, it wasn't to be. Grade: F

• "Alyssa should be going to Jury this week." --Monte (in Diary Room)
• "If I can paint her as somebody you don't want to take all the way to the end, maybe I can flip th vote my way." --Alyssa (in DR)
• "As long as you got me." --Tayor (to Brittany)
• "Taylor, I got you. It's not a question. I think we both know we have the best chance of winning against each other." --Brittany
• "If we don't stick together, we are signing up for third place." --Taylor
• "If she has my back, then yeah, I'll have hers." --Brittany (in DR)
• "She stays, wins HOH, more than likely gonna go after you. And Taylor can write the best speech in the history in two days. She would have survived the Block five times. She has an HOH, she could have another one. She has everybody's votes. Everybody loves an underdog. Me, I'm dog s---. I would have to win multiple things and, like Michael said, I've been dragged along this entire game, so I'm easier to beat." --Alyssa (to Turner)
• "Oh my god, your thighs are like tree trunks." --Taylor (to Monte, checking out his bod)
• "They are indeed." --Monte
• "I prefer to be fully pursued. Come for me, hunt me down. So I'm gonna play possum for a little bit and see if he pounces." --Taylor (in DR)
• "Let me know if I get too close to you. I don't want to intrude on your space." --Taylor (in bed with Monte)
• "It's all good if you want to get some warmth ... if you want to soak in the heat of the bear." --Monte
• "Are you offering?" --Taylor
• "I'm invited in my own bed." --Monte (and then the kissing begins)
• "Dammit, it's been 70 days, and I"m just a man." --Monte (in DR)
• "Sorry, Joseph." --Taylor (in DR)
• "I do feel lucky to be able to see that great of a game player in person." --Alyssa (about Michael to Monte and Taylor)
• "It doesn't feel good to hear everyone recount how much of a f---ing idiot you looked like on double-eviction night, but whatever." --Brittany (to Alyssa)
• "It's just win, and hopefully win until the end." --Brittany (to Alyssa)
• "It doesn't have to be that way. You and me are both, I would say, disposable to everybody else. We need to get to the Final 2. F--- Jury management, like at least we can make it there." --Alyssa
• "They've made it impossible for me to help you this week." --Brittany
• "I'm just confused if Turner's not being honest with me or if he's really conflicted." --Alyssa (about Turner's vote)
• "If I can get him to think this is a sympathy vote and I'm going anyway, then I might be able to stay in this House." --Alyssa (trying to get Turner's vote)
• "Be honest with me ... 'cause if you were to vote me out of this House, I wouldn't forgive you." --Alyssa
• "You wouldn't?" --Turner
• "I would not. I wouldn't see it as a game move, because I would die for you in here." --Alyssa
• "I think you're having trouble separating game from being your friend. You can have a friend who kicks you out of the House." --Turner
• "No." --Alyssa
• "This actually makes me kind of want to vote her out." --Turner (in DR)

Following is the expected schedule for the remaining episodes of "Big Brother," all airing on CBS.

• Sunday, September 18 at 8:30 p.m ET (after NFL football--nominations and Veto competition)
• Thursday, September 22 at 9 p.m. ET (live eviction)
• Friday, September 23 at 8 p.m. ET (Final 3 host season retrospective)
• Sunday, September 25 at 8 p.m. ET (2-hour live finale)