Big Brother 19 live feed spoilers: All about overthinking (day 17, morning)

If there is one thing we can say about the Big Brother 19 house at the moment, it’s that there are people who are spending WAY too much time trying to be cute with nominations … and the worst one is Paul. He’s a great underdog player, but he’s not very good playing from ahead. This includes being Head of Household; he wasn’t amazing when he got rid of Da’Vonne last season (especially since her vote cost him the win), and he’s thinking too much about his nominations this time around.

Last night, after some rigorous debate and an incredibly dumb plan to nominate two of his own allies, Paul decided on a plan to nominate Alex and Josh for eviction. Josh? That’s the part of this that seems to be the worst, since he’s putting someone on the block who voted to keep Christmas and someone who is emotionally unstable in the game and could view this as a personal attack. There are very few scenarios in which Josh goes home this week, but if we were Paul, we’d be bringing Josh in and acting like the two are going to be the best of friends until the end of time. He would be fiercely loyal if you just showed him love and affection.

The plan here is for the Veto to be used, and for Cody to go up as replacement nominee. There’s still a chance that Cody plays in the Veto if he gets drawn, and if that happens, at least Alex and Josh seem competitive in theory — as is Paul. There’s also the chance Ramses uses his curse here since Cody is the clear target this week, and Paul wouldn’t mind the opportunity to get him out of the game.

Personally, we’d go about this week a little bit differently — just nominate Cody and Jessica and don’t get cute with it. Have confidence that someone will win the Veto other than the two of them, and if one wins, just get rid of the other and don’t make anyone else sweat being on the block. Splitting them up should be the goal; as of now, there are still variables where this plan doesn’t work and they both end up staying.

Will there be a Battle Back?

Maybe that competition per se will not happen, but it doesn’t seem that Jillian is being let out into the real world. Cameron also hasn’t been heard from since his eviction, so clearly production is looking to do something with these people — at least for now. They could always change their mind later, but Megan’s departure could necessitate someone coming back once for the schedule to work and for there to be a couple of double-evictions during the season.

Ratings update

Great news! The show keeps going up. This past episode generated in total a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic, the best total of the whole season. Given that this season’s been incredible entertainment so far, we’re rather thrilled to see that. Consider this further justification that newbies are often the way to go rather than returning players — sure, we’ve got Paul, but he’s only a fraction of the reason why this season is great.

Coming up…

Later today, we’re expecting to have our latest Q&A with executive producer Allison Grodner online! Be sure to head over to the link here to visit our archive; that’s also where that will be posted. (Photo: CBS.)