Pooch from Big Brother is blindsided as the house's new target

Breathe easy, Taylor Hale—you're no longer target #1 for the housemates of Big Brother season 24. It looks like Pooch from Big Brother is now the big baddie of the BB Motel, much to the surprise of the cocky competitor. 

At the end of the last episode, this week's Head of Household, Jasmine, nominated beauty queen Taylor and bartender Joe “Pooch” Pucciarelli as up for eviction, with the latter choosing to throw himself into the mix as a strategy to get Taylor out. However, Jasmine quickly assured Taylor that she was chosen as a pawn and Pooch was unknowingly the house's new target. 

"Our best move is to get Pooch out of this house. You know he's going to be a big threat later down the line and we're really trying to make it to the end," Jasmine revealed in a talking head.

However, despite assurances from the Girls' Girl alliance, Taylor was still worried about her safety this week. "I'm really, really nervous that everyone else is playing me. If the girls are setting me up, I'll be devastated," Taylor whispered to the cameras. 

"As much as I want to trust them, because of my experience last week, I know that the only way you can keep yourself safe in this house is to take the reins yourself," she said in a confessional.

Ameerah, Michael and Terrance joined Taylor and Pooch in the veto competition, which is a "Mermaid Fest" that required the competitors to don a mermaid fin and have to "swim" down an ocean lane pushing a volleyball "pearl" using only their heads and try to shoot the pearl into a clamshell at the lane's end. The first competitor to get three pearls in a clamshell won the power of veto. 

After some strenuous play, Taylor and Michael were tied with two pearls and she asked him to let her take her shot first so that she could potentially win the veto. Alas, she missed her third pearl so Michael shot his and won the power of veto for the second time this season. 

Pooch still believed he was largely safe, but BFF Joseph warned him not to get comfortable and that the plan might be that he was actually the chosen target of the Big Brother season 24 cast this week and Taylor was just the pawn. 

"That would be the dumbest move in Big Brother history," Pooch told him, incredulous. "If they pulled it, it would be the smartest," Joseph warned him." "I love him but he's an idiot, bro," Pooch later told Turner. 

In fact, Jasmine, Michael and other housemates were planning to pull a strategic move, but not entirely the one Joseph thought—Michael threw out the possibility of using the veto to swap out Taylor for Joseph himself. "Joseph and Pooch are very close in this game so putting them up against each other would ensure that one of them goes home," Michael confessed. "I think Joseph is a bigger threat in this game, it's something worth exploring," he told the housemates. 

However, at the veto meeting, Michael stuck to the original plan and kept the eviction nominees as is. "I have decided not to use the power of veto this week. Pooch, Taylor, I have nothing but respect for both of you as people and players in this game... I ultimately do want to respect Jasmine's wishes as HOH this week," Michael announced, saying that switching in Joseph wouldn't have been good for his personal game. 

So will Taylor or Pooch be evicted next week? Stay tuned!

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