A few weeks ago, it seemed that Austin was certain to be leaving the Big Brother house and Liz would no longer have to be forced to pretend to like him. Now, Austin is in the best position in the house and Liz seems to genuinely like him. There's a reason that Big Brother's motto is "Expect The Unexpected," and it's because of situations like these. (The only thing that hasn't changed has been Julia's distrust of Austin.) Currently, Austin and the twins are running the Big Brother 17 house, and it's not just Liz's recent HoH win that is allowing them to maintain control.
The twins and Austin haven't been playing the best game of Big Brother, but they have been playing a good one. They were able to ride the Sixth Sense alliance all the way to the Jury, and with nine houseguests left, their partnership makes up 1/3 of the house. The Austwins (as fans have dubbed the alliance) have also managed to stay on top of the house while getting almost no blood on their hands, and not being anyone's primary target. How did Liz, Julia, and the seemingly aloof Austin somehow manage to be playing the best game this season?
The best move that the three have made so far is playing both sides of the house by creating a lot of alliances. Their current main alliance is the Scamper Squad, including Steve and Vanessa. In addition to this alliance, they also have the "Austin's Angels" alliance with Vanessa and not Steve. Vanessa believes she has the Austwins in her pocket and is able to control them, but this trio is starting to catch on to her many lies.
Although Becky is Liz's prime target this week, the trio has also discussed the possibility of evicting Vanessa, and replacing her spot in the Scamper Squad with John (who works regularly with Steve). Their fear of Vanessa led to them making an alliance with James and Meg called "Brass Tacks." This five-person alliance has declared a goal of eliminating all players outside of the alliance (Vanessa, Steve, Becky, and John) before going against each other. James has told Meg that he would be willing to turn on the deal if Jackie came back into the house, but for the time being, this alliance can only prove to be beneficial for both parties involved.
The Austwins have also managed to keep a lot of their strategy secret, which is rare for the Big Brother house. Everyone knows about their connection with Vanessa, but Meg and James have no idea that Steve has partnered with the three. In addition to this, Steve and Vanessa have no idea that the Austwins have made an agreement with James and Meg. Not only do they have seemingly no enemies, but for some reason, nobody sees them as a threat. As long as Vanessa is in the house, the Austwins will not be the primary target, and will be able to progress through the remaining weeks while maintaining a majority of the votes when they are not nominated for eviction.
If these three manage to make it to the final 3, it's very likely that one of the twins will get more votes than Austin from the jury. As long as they can remain on good terms with everybody and keep Vanessa around as a bigger target, this trio may go down as the least expected winners in Big Brother history.
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