Are Dee Valladares and Rick Devens surviving as Big Brother houseguests?

Anyone who has seen Dee Valladares or Rick Devens playSurvivorknows they are hardcore gamers, chaos demons, and people who would rather get eliminated for playing hard than sit back, passive or carried, in the game. Therefore, it hasn’t been a surprise for OGSurvivorfans to see this duo thriveall summer in theBig Brother28 house.

Valladares and Devens came into the BB game with a bond from having just playedSurvivor 50a year prior, and while they weren’t precisely allies on the island, that connection has grown from a Survivor alliance into an unbreakable bond (at least, up until this point). From the get-go, both Valladares and Devens, as well as the third season’s icon and ally Angela Murray (BB26), set up the house’s power structure, positioning themselves at the top with their “Crossovers“ alliance with Drew Campbell and Barrett Pfeiffer.

During the first two weeks, Valladares and Devens won two consecutive HOH competitions (house leaders with immunity), and Devens then won the Veto, giving them near-total control of the house. While a group of players started to rise against the icons, they were promptly eliminated one after another, such as Rome Seymour, Jason De Puy, and Lyric Medeiros.

The icons then allied with another trio who had named themselves the Red Corner Alliance (Kamu Kirk, Haley Thogmartin, and Chukwudi Anyanwu), the three most physical competitors in the game. Because of this alliance, as well as their onion alliance with the Crossovers, the icons had protection for the next two weeks.

In week 5, La Trice Verrett won the iconic wall competition, and even though the icons weren’t working closely with Verrett, they managed to stay out of trouble by turning against their Red Corner allies, sending Anyanwu out of the game. At this point, the iron fist that the icons had on the game was undeniable, which was further cemented by the icons earning two advantages (Devens acquired the Diamond Power of Veto, which could be played at any point during the first six weeks, and Valladares got a $5,000 Bribe).

However, complacency came with security, and Valladares’ social game, especially, began to slip, costing her a nomination alongside Murray in week six by Yash Patel. Valladares was the primary target that week, as she was seen as the icons’ ringleader, but Devens still had another card up his sleeve.

At that week’s Veto ceremony, Devens decided to lay his Diamond Veto on Valladares and pulled her off the block, and nominated former ally Kirk in her place, which ultimately resulted in Kirk’s elimination. While several players noticed the icons flipped week to week, they decided to go along with it because they saw Kirk as the house’s primary physical target.

Valladares then won HOH once again in week 7, and it was revealed that several players threw the competition in her favour, including Mallory Aurichio, who had wanted to target the icons for weeks. This move speaks volumes about the pressure that the icons have held over the house throughout the game, as players were either too scared to target them or those who had dared had already left the game.

While Valladares had several plans in a row about who to target during her HOH week, due to various circumstances including the Veto and the Block Buster competition (the last comp opportunity the players have to pull themselves from the block and save themselves from eviction), Aurichio ended up leaving the game, furthering the icons' chances of reaching at least the jury phase of BB28.

Following the show’s 1000th episode on August 27th, a new twist was revealed that could potentially upend the icons’ strategies. Echoing last season’s White Locust twist, which saw no HOH, Veto, or Blockbuster competitions and led to BB legendRachel Reilly’sshocking exit after a single Hamsterwheel loss, week 8 would begin without those key comps. Instead, whoever loses this week’s twist would immediately be sent home. Also, BB host Julie Chen Moonves announced that there would be no live feeds throughout the weekend.

However, fans were surprised to see this no-live-feeds rule cancelled on Saturday night, and (massive spoilers alert!) they confirmed that Thogmartin was the twist’s victim. Later, Campbell was revealed to be the next HOH, and while he hasn’t nominated any icons so far, after Patel won the Veto, any of the icons could go on the block and become the season’s first jury member.

Also, fans caught on the feeds that Devens offered himself up on a silver platter to Campbell as a potential pawn on the block if he needed to nominate someone, which, suffice it to say, could be Devens’ biggest blunder and could cause him to lose the game. Just as inSurvivor,you never offer yourself as the bait option because you never know if you will end up getting eaten instead.

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