‘Big Brother 18’ recap: ‘Surprise eviction takes us to the final four’

We kicked off the special live show Tuesday with Julie Chen calling the HG into the living room. She tells them about the night’s surprise eviction episode. We skip the opening credits since we have a packed episode. #ButFirst it is day 87 in the house and Victor and Paul are feeling betrayed. Victor is Corey’s main target (which I personally don’t like). “Mama raised a coward,” Paul thinks. James is sitting pretty and might be able to sneak his way into the final three or two.

Victor and Paul are upset and Paul decides to work his social game. He goes to the HOH room to talk with Corey and Nicole. He asks them depending how the veto goes if they would consider going after James. They stay silent and Paul tells them that Victor is upset. Corey calls Victor up to the HOH room where Victor is confrontational and tells Corey/Nicole that if he stays, he is going to come after them. (I respect his honesty). Victor is an emotional player and it is really showing. If he can survive this week I’m pulling for him.

It is time for a very important POV Competition. #BBComics is back. Each HG will play this individually and it is a memory competition. They have to memorize the order of the comics and replicate them on their computer. The shortest time will bring home the POV and you can’t go longer than 35 minutes. I remember this competition from BB16. Paul goes first and does well but can’t get the order right. He struggles a bit as Nicole is up second. She seems to be doing well. Victor goes third and being the beast competitor he is, I expect him to do well. You can never tell with this competition. James goes next and I don’t think he is winning this. He has yet to win a POV this season. I don’t see it happening here. Corey is the final one. It is time to look at times. I can’t believe Nicole did it in 13 minutes. The other times are far off and Paul did it in 18 minutes, just missing her time by 5 minutes. Nicole wins her second POV in three weeks. I’m impressed. It looks like nominations aren’t going to change.

Julie sits down with Derrick, the winner of BB16. He thinks it was very smart of the couples to team up together and about the genuine bond you form with some people in the house. Derrick and Cody had "The Hitmen" alliance which took them to the final two. Derrick thinks Nicole is playing a smarter game than she did in BB16 and is rooting for her to win it. (We haven’t had a woman win Big Brother since season 13).

A predictable Veto Meeting shows Nicole not using the POV and ensuring that either Paul or Victor will be leaving the house next. We see James/Nicole/Corey do the usual back-and-forth about how to evict this week. Paul and Victor know one of them is leaving and they won’t campaign against each other.

It is time for the live vote and eviction where either Paul or Victor will become the seventh member of the jury. They both give excellent speeches to their HG and Nicole and James both cast their votes to evict VICTOR. Victor leaves the house for the third time and chats with Julie. (“I feel like we are best friends!” Victor says to Julie). Victor thinks he should have seen the Final Four alliance crumbling and that trusting people cost him the game. He hopes Paul can make it to the end.

It is time for the most important HOH of the season. The winner of this is guaranteed final three. The competition is called “What The Bleep?” The HG view statements from their housemates with a word bleeped out. Julie will read the words and they have to decide if what she read is true or false. Paul and Nicole stay even throughout the competition while James falls way behind. Paul and Nicole end up tied at the end and then have a tiebreaker question which the answer will be a number. They have to guess in seconds how long the BB Slide N Theater competition went. They both went over but Paul was closest which means he is the new HOH! Friendship!! Paul secures a spot in the final three. I’m happy about this. The best move would be to split up Corey and Nicole.

We will crown the winner of BB next Wednesday night but first we will have another live eviction, the final power of veto competition and an explosive confrontation at the jury house. We are on the home stretch of the season!

Tune in Wednesday night at 8 p.m. on CBS!