Why Austin Hasn't Received An Eviction Nom On 'BB'

You guys, we need to talk about the elephant in the room. The six foot tall, bearded and bunned elephant in the room. Because it’s getting a little awkward, and I have to say it: Why hasn’t Austin been nominated for eviction from the Big Brother 17 house? Do you ever wonder that? Because I do. All. The. Time. Remember when that was what everyone thought was going to happen? Austin was going to be nominated somehow — either backdoored by Vanessa or sent packing by a majority of the house — and then the biggest threat in the house would be eliminated. But, something changed after that one time Austin came super close to be evicted: Alliances shifted, other threats became more obvious, and Austin seemed to seriously switch up his game play — and Austin was never so much as nominated.

But, what exactly has led to Austin staying out of the eviction hot seat? It turns out there has been a lot of moves and decisions that have seriously kept him safe in the Big Brother house.

First of all, the threat that was Austin/Judas changed in a big way when Liz came into the picture. Remember the Austin before Liz? He was one of the biggest players in the game, gunning hard to win it and to take down as many of his adversaries as he could. And then, Liz came along, and he fell hard and fast in a way that completely changed his strategy. Did Austin fall in love and turn into a selfless martyr for Liz’s victory, or did he realize that he was playing too hard and he had to take a backseat once the eviction threats started rolling his way?

Maybe it was some combination of both: Perhaps he fell in love for real and, at the same time, realized he needed to take a backseat to all of the game play in order to keep himself and his love safe.

Either way, there has been a serious shift in Austin’s strategy and that has, in part, kept him safe for the past few weeks.

And then there’s the fact that so many other people have become threats in the meantime. (AHEM, Clay and Shelli.) Having the house focus on evicting those threats kept Austin safe for a while, which was just enough time for his super tight alliance with the twins and Vanessa to solidify and become a majority in the house. That extra time and extra close alliance may have been what saved Austin from ever going up on the block in the first place.

Now that Vanessa has positioned herself squarely at the center of everyone’s target, it’s even less likely that Austin will be nominated for eviction. Unless something totally unexpected happens, like Meg making it through another week and becoming HoH.

But who knows. Crazier things have happened in the Big Brother house.

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Image: CBS (2)